3 Easy and Fun Ideas For Using the Abundance of Apples Right now!

I don't know about you, but there are SO many apples around this time of year. I am constantly having people offer me apples from their tree, or finding killer deals on gorgeous apples (Bountiful Baskets!). I always wish I had more ideas of things I could do with them. I have 3 GREAT ideas on how to utilize this fresh produce we have right now.I will do an option for canning apples, a great apple recipe, and the last one is my FAVORITE. It's a great, great idea of something to do that you can use for yourself/neighbors!

The first idea was an option for you if you have oodles of apples, and wanted to do some canning. Have you heard of Apple Butter? It's a misleading name, really. There is actually no butter. It's much healthier than actually putting gobs of butter and jam on toast. The sky is the limit with things you can do with this stuff! You can spread it on toast, muffins, pancakes, a cheese sandwich...spread it over pork roast while it's cooking, on roast, add a little to pork gravy, add it to baked beans...a great snack would be to mix a bit in with plain or vanilla yogurt, and my personal favorite is to add it to oatmeal or granola. By adding it to baked goods, it decreases the amount of fat you put in, and increases the moisture.With that being said, here's the apple butter recipe!

Idea #1 Crock Pot Apple Butter

Ingredients:

• 3 quarts peeled, cored apples*
• 2 1/4 cups sugar, more or less to taste*
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
• Dash nutmeg

Method:

* For more efficient cooking, fill the crock pot with apples. Measurements above are for a 3-quart crock pot, adjust ingredients accordingly.

Peel, core, finely chop and measure apples. Mix apples with remaining ingredients and fill crock pot. Cover and cook on high for 1-2 hours, reduce heat to low and continue to cook 9-11 hours, stir occasionally (Apple Butter will reduce by about half in the crock pot). Remove lid, use hand blender to puree until smooth. Leave lid off crock pot and continue to cook to desired consistency, stirring occasionally. Cool and refrigerate or freeze until ready to use. Makes approximately 5 cups

* You can adjust sugar to taste preferences and apple sweetness. Tart apples, such as Jonathan's or Granny Smith, will require more sugar but have a better flavor. Sweet apples, such as Gala or Golden Delicious require less sugar. I like to use a combination of tart and sweet apples. Start with a lower amount of sugar; taste part way through the cooking process and add additional sugar if needed.

Idea #2  Apple Streusel Bars

SWEET PASTRY:

2 c. flour

1/2 c. sugar

1/2 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. salt

1 c. real butter, softened (no substitutions with this one!)

1 egg, beaten

APPLE FILLING:

1/2 c. white sugar

1/4 c. flour

1 tsp. cinnamon

4 c. (about 3 medium) sliced, peeled baking apples (I've used Granny Smith and Gala)

GLAZE:

2 c. powdered sugar

About 3 Tbsp. milk (whole milk is best, but can substitute)

1 tsp. almond extract

To prepare crust, mix flour, sugar, salt, and baking powder in a medium bowl. Cut in butter with a pastry blender or two knives until you have pea-sized crumbles. Gently mix in beaten egg. Spray a 9x13 baking dish with non-stick cooking spray. Gently pat about 2/3 of the crumb mixture onto the bottom of the dish. Preheat oven to 350 and set aside.

To prepare apple filling, combine flour, sugar, and cinnamon and toss with apples. 

Spread apples out on prepared crust. Sprinkle reserved crust mixture over apples evenly and bake in preheated oven for 40 minutes.

When finished, allow to cool completely.

To prepare glaze, whisk together powdered sugar, almond extract, and enough milk to achieve desired consistency.

Place glaze in a Ziploc bag and cut off a very small portion of one of the corners. (Or just use a fork(Drizzle glaze over cooled pastry and allow to harden (you can place it in the freezer to hurry things along). Cut into bars and serve.

Idea #3 Single Serving  Pies in a Jar (MY FAVORITE!)

 

These are individual-sized pies made in little glass jars that go straight from your freezer to your oven to your mouth. SO cute. This picture has cherry filling, but you can make any kind of fruit pie you like...especially APPLE! Most people make these with store-bought crust and canned filling to make it easier. But since we're wanting to use up our apples, you can find an apple pie filling recipe here,or I will post a simple one later in the post. Just omit the part where you freeze it, and put it in these cute, dainty little pies! This is a GREAT idea to give your neighbors (you will see gift ideas later in the post), or to freeze for yourself, whenever you would like something sweet, you can just pop one in the oven and you have homemade apple pie! Right now tons of canning items are everywhere, so you should easily be able to find them. I can even save money for you to buy any Kerr or Ball item with a coupon, here.

This is the type of jar you'll need.  

 They're half-pint jars. Just remember, short and squatty instead of tall and skinny. 

You might have seen jam in them before. They are really cute! 

Step 1: Pie Dough
If you intend on only making a few, I suggest just buying store-bought pie crust. It's soooo much easier! But for those of you who want to make a large amount (to give neighbors, or for food storage), The first thing you'll need is dough. You can use any pie dough you like. There is a great recipe here, if you don't have one.

Step 2: Make a topper and line the jar 

Roll out a small handful of dough. This is just for the tops of your pies, so eyeball about that much. Grab the ring part of your jar and use that as your cookie cutter. Brilliant, right? Cut out the tops and set aside.
Use the rest of the dough to line the jars. (No, you do not need to grease them) The great part is that there's no rolling required! Just take little pieces and press them in. Make sure it's pressed all the way up to the top of the jar, or pretty close to it. 

Step 3: Fill 'er up
You'll need about 1/2 C filling for each jar. You can use any filling your little pie-craving heart desires, even (gasp) canned!

Here's the basic recipe (for 4 pies)
2 C prepared fruit (pitted, diced, peeled, etc.)
2 T sugar- brown or white (use more or less depending on sweetness of fruit)
2 T flour- (again, more if your fruit is super juicy like cherries, less if it's pretty dry)
1 T butter (divided between the pies)
Seasonings/flavorings- cinnamon, nutmeg, vanilla and almond extract, citrus zest etc)

Play around with it and come up with something yummy!

When your filling is all combined, divide it between the jars and dot a pat of butter on top (about 1/4 T).

 

Step 4: Top it off
Make sure your "lid" has a vent so steam can escape. You can use a knive to make a couple of slits or a tiny cookie cutter to make it decorative.

 When your topper is ready, slip it onto the top of the pie. It will be large enough that the outside edge goes up the side of the dough-covered jar a bit, as show in the picture below. Then use your finger, or a fork, to press the 2 pieces of dough together to seal. And nobody even think about mentioning the state of my fingernails.

Another option is to do a crumb topping. I put a basic crumb topping on my cherry pies and they were sooo yummy.

 Crumb Topping (for 4-6 pies)
1/4C brown sugar
1/4 C flour
2 T oats
1/4 T cinnamon
3 T cold butter
Combine sugar, flour and cinnamon. Cut in butter. Add oats and stir.

 If you are an over-achiever, try a mini lattice on one. 

** Optional step here that I HIGHLY reccomend: Brush pie tops with butter and sprinkle with sugar at this point. Yumminess highly instensified!

Step 5: Freeze 'em!
Ready for this? When your pies are all done and topped, place metal lids back on and seal them tight. Then pop these little cuties in the freezer. There they will stay until you find yourself having an insatiable craving for home-baked goodness. You'll be reaching for the crumbs at the bottom of the keebler box when suddenly your eyes will light up because you remember you have THESE sitting in your freezer.

Step 6: Bake 'em

Now first let me say that one of the biggest concerns from people I've talked to is about the jars breaking in the oven. All I can say it that I've baked hundreds of these and never once has a jar broken. These are canning jars- they are designed to be boiled, pressure cooked, etc. So it's different than putting any ol' piece of glass in the oven. They bake just fine! But if you're freaking out then my advice would be this: remove lids from jars and place jars on a baking sheet. Place baking sheet in a COLD oven. Then turn the oven to 375. That will give the jars a chance to warm up slowly as the oven preheats. If you're really worried you can always let them sit at room temp for a bit first before putting them in a cold oven.  

Bake for about 50-60 minutes, or until the tops are golden brown and the middles are bubbly. If you're baking them fresh and not frozen they take about 45 minutes.

Depending on your filling you can pop them right out of the jar and onto a plate like so.

I said you could give them as gifts. Just cut out some cute fabric, put a tag or something fun on top, some ribbon, and you have a cute visiting teaching gift, or a gift for any time of year for that matter! These little pies are perrrrrrfect for giving. So once you have these cuties made up, people will think you are amazing because not only did you come up with the brilliant idea to make a mini pie in a jar, you also made an adorable personalized tag. Talk about moving up a notch on the popularity ladder. Haha.

I hope you enjoyed my 3 ideas for utilizing the abundance of apples we have!