Grace has been plugging apples for a while now, and at last my boys have brought in a basket or two of apples from our trees. Well, we call them "the orchard", but I don't know how many trees you have to make an orchard. Anyway, it's fun for the kids to have an 80 year old orchard, isn't it? And from trees that old, you know that these apples are good, not like the flavorless mush they sell in supermarkets these days which are simply called "apples". I digress.
I found this in my Bon Appetit cookbook entitled "Too Busy to Cook?" Interestingly, I found the mail order receipt for this cookbook tucked safely inside it; it dates from 1981. I guess even then I wanted better quality food, without spending all day at it. And this dessert certainly proves that it can be done. Again, I digress. So, without further detour, I present.....
APPLE WALNUT SQUARES
2 cups flour
2 cups brown sugar1 stick butter, at room temperature
1 cup chopped walnuts
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp salt1 tsp baking soda
1 egg
1 cup sour cream
1 tsp vanilla
2 cups shredded apple
Stir together the flour, sugar and softened butter, until the mixture is crumbly. Add the nuts. Press 2 cups of this mixture into a greased 9"x13" baking pan.
To the balance of the flour mix, add the salt, soda, cinnamon, egg, sour cream and vanilla. Mix well. Stir in the shredded apples, and spread atop the mixture which was pressed into the baking pan. Bake at 350F for 35 to 45 minutes.
Now, for the Marjie version of shredded apples, don't fret over peeling the apples. Quarter them, cut out the cores, and put them through your food processor with the grater plate in it. After each batch, you can take the lid off and remove the apple skins from the processor. If a little of the skin remains on the shreds, it won't matter. Was anyone ever harmed by a little more fiber? Anyway, save your precious time for something else.
Serve this warm with ice cream or whipped cream. It is very filling, so don't start out with too big a portion, unless you want to drag your tummy around the house for a while!
So, here are the three boys with their apples last night. They came from 3 different trees; I believe they brought Macintosh, Red Delicious and Gala apples. After they ate a couple, I used all of the rest.
First up was French Apple Cobbler, from the McCalls Cookbook published around 1960. The topping is thin and somewhat crunchy, so you get a lot of the fruit taste, and less bready flavor, such as is often found in southern cobbler. "Cheat Sheet": If you don't have time to cut up the fruit, etc., use canned pie filling and just put the topping on it before baking. No one will call you on it; if you use, say, cherry or blueberry filling, they'll never know..
FRENCH APPLE COBBLER
Filling:
5 cups apples, peeled (or not, as I prefer) & sliced
3/4 cup sugar
2 Tbsp flour
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp. salt
1 tsp. vanilla
1 tbsp. butter, softened
Combine everything except apples in a big bowl. Add apples to coat. Put into greased baking pan.
Topping:
1/2 cup flour
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
2 Tbsp. butter
1 egg
Cut butter into dry ingredients; add egg and stir together. Drop by spoonsful on top of apples. Bake at 375 for 35 to 40 minutes, or until filling bubbles and crust is golden.
This recipe came from Pierre Franey's 60 Minute Gourmet cookbook.
BAKED APPLES
3 large apples, sliced
2 tbsp melted butter
1 tbsp confectioners sugar
Brush apples slices with butter; top with confectioner's sugar. Bake at 400 degrees 10 to 12 minutes, or until tender. If desired, run under broiler to brown them up.
Welcome to fall!
Yesterday afternoon, the little guys went out to play. We have some very old (70+ years) apple trees in our backyard, and the guys found some nice apples on one of the trees, within their reach. Being boys, and always hungry, they picked and ate them. Later, my 11 year old asked, "Mom, why do our apples taste so much better than the ones in the store?" This, of course, launched a discussion along the lines of is this why Dad always says chickens today taste like cardboard, and not like chicken. I tried, maybe successfully, to explain so-called "heirloom plants" to my boys, and even went so far as to point out that when our old lilac trees are 
in bloom, the whole place smells like flowers. I'm still distraught that my peach trees (there were only 2) were killed by the deer last winter, and I believe my plum tree is dead, also. But, by far, my favorite apple tree is the golden delicious tree which has one limb, about 1/4 of the tree, of a red variety. It's a reminder that 80 years ago, there were great gardeners everywhere, including, evidently, one working here who could graft trees together. Besides that, it looks really cool when the fruit has color. This afternoon, they climbed into the treehouse, and one of the boys rigged the pole clipper so they could get to the apples out of reach from them. Here's the little guy with one of his treasures. Looks like baked apples or cobbler tonight.
