One of the things Erin and I have enjoyed the most over the last few months has been the weekly deliveries from Boston Organics. Unfortunately, we found ourselves neglecting the occasional apple thrown in the bin with the rest of the delicious fruits and veggies.

Of course, an apple here, and an apple there, and all of a sudden we had close to two dozen apples sitting in the crisper drawer. What were we to do?

I’d always wanted to try and make applesauce, but imagined it to be some sort of difficult and elusive recipe, a black art impossible for a mere mortal like myself to tackle. Browsing through Cooks Illustrated, I found something entirely to the contrary:

“Choose the right apple, don’t peel it, and add nothing more than sugar and water. It’s that simple.”

Heeding that advice, I thought it was definitely time to make some homemade applesauce.

This is probably one of the easiest recipes I’ve ever come across. It’s pretty much on par with making oatmeal. I don’t know why I let myself be so intimated by a little old apple!

Simple Applesauce (Reprinted with permission. Originally published in the September 1, 2002 edition of Cooks Illustrated)

If you do not own a food mill or you prefer applesauce with a coarse texture, peel the apples before coring and cutting them, and, after cooking, mash them against the side of the pot with a wooden spoon or against the bottom of the pot with a potato masher. Applesauce made with out-of-season apples may be somewhat drier than sauce made with peak-season apples, so it’s likely that in step 2 of the recipe you will need to add more water to adjust the texture. If you double the recipe, the apples will need 10 to 15 minutes of extra cooking time.

Applesauce
4 pounds apples (8 to 12 medium), preferably Jonagold, Pink Lady, Jonathan, or Macoun, unpeeled, cored, and cut into rough 1 1/2-inch pieces
1/4 cup granulated sugar
pinch table salt
1 cup water

Optional Flavorings
2 tablespoons unsalted butter - stir into finished sauce
3 inch cinnamon sticks (2) — cook with apples and remove prior to pureeing
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon - stir into finished sauce
1 cup cranberries (fresh or frozen) - cook and puree with apples
4 whole cloves - cook with apples and remove prior to serving
1 1/2 inch piece fresh ginger , sliced into three pieces and smashed - cook with apples and remove prior to pureeing
1 teaspoon lemon zest - cook and puree with apples
2 tablespoons lemon juice - stir into finished sauce
2/3 cup Red Hot candy - cook and puree with apples
2 pieces star anise (whole) - cook with apples and remove prior to serving

1. Toss apples, sugar, salt, and water in large, heavy-bottomed nonreactive Dutch oven. Cover pot and cook apples over medium-high heat until they begin to break down, 15 to 20 minutes, checking and stirring occasionally with wooden spoon to break up any large chunks. (Note: I added water as the apples cooked to keep the “applesauce” liquidity throughout the cooking process. I also added ground cinnamon at this stage in lieu of cinnamon sticks, as I didn’t have any.)

2. Process cooked apples through food mill fitted with medium disk. Season with extra sugar or add water to adjust consistency as desired. Serve hot, warm, at room temperature, or chilled. (Can be covered and refrigerated for up to 5 days.) Note: As we don’t have a food mill, I used the Cooks Illustrated-sanctioned alternative method of breaking them up with a wooden spoon during the cooking process, then using a potato masher at the end to break it into the right consistency.

My love of potatoes knows no bounds. I’m especially fond of breakfast potatoes. This morning when I woke up and started rummaging around in the refrigerator for something to eat on this bright Sunday morning I was instantly drawn to last nights leftover casserole of scalloped potatoes, zucchini, red peppers and ham. “Eat me Erin! Eat me Erin,” it seemed to call from under its snug Press’n-Seal cover. I somehow managed to resist the cheesy temptation momentarily before I moved on to another, slightly more morning appropriate option. I decided to make sweetly spiced sweet potato latkes and bake them. Baking was the ultimate concession as yesterday morning I shamelessly coaxed CK into picking up a box of munchkins for us to snack on all day.

These latkes are thicker than the baked russet potato version that I made previously, and much more hash-brown like in consistency. Don’t forget to top them with your favorite condiments. I prefer sour cream, light of course — sticking with the whole donut guilt theme, but apple sauce or a fruity yogurt would also be a great addition.

Peel & Prep	Grate (the Easy Way)
Combine Potatoes & Spices	Drop by 1/3-Cupfuls
Flatten	Sweet Potato Latkes on Parade

Baked Sweet Potato Latkes (based on the recipe originally published in Women’s Health Magazine)
Makes 12 Latkes

2 pounds grated sweet potatoes
1 medium onion, grated
2 eggs, beaten
1/4 cup flour
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg

Preheat oven to 400°F. Spray a cookie sheet with nonstick spray or use a silpat.

In a large bowl, combine all ingredients. Drop by 1/3-cupfuls onto cookie sheet. Flatten with spatula.

Bake for 25 minutes; flip and bake for an additional 15 minutes.

Serve with light sour cream and a dash of cinnamon and nutmeg.

Christmas just wouldn’t be Christmas without gifts to yourself and this year Chris skipped that cookie downing middle man, Old Saint Nick, entirely and treated himself to an amazing new Canon EOS 40D camera. Obviously I thoroughly benefit from this gift as well. Since picking up the camera a week ago we’ve shot practically everything in the house and have now moved on to food.

I had several packages of puff pastry in the freezer left over from the holiday party that I mistakenly purchased to make Spanakopita. What can I say…I had a lot of recipes on my mind that day. So after searching around online for a bit I decided that Ina Garten’s Apple Turnovers were the way to go. Ina is smart and fabulous (or her assistants are smart and fabulous) and someone came up the idea to use orange juice and orange zest in the turnover filling instead of lemon. It’s scrumptious! And I’m completely fascinated by puff pastry. I kept turning on the oven light and crouching down to peak at it bubbling and growing in the oven. I tend to regress quite dramatically during the holidays due to all of the stress and sugar so this probably means that your 5 year old will love watching the baking process too.

These spiced apple treats will actually receive double billing today as I plan to serve them to my dinner guests this evening for dessert, heated and topped with rich vanilla ice cream. I figured it would be appropriate since they’re all coming over to watch the Pats and Giants game. Let’s hope the Pats don’t get too many “turnovers” tonight or everyone is going to be very very sad.

Zest	Freshly Squeezed
Peel	Dice
Measure	Toss
Lightly Flour	Slice
Fill	Fold and Seal
Brush	Sprinkle
Vent	Touchdown!

Apple Turnovers (originally published by Ina Garten)

1 teaspoon grated orange zest
3 tablespoons freshly squeezed orange juice
1 1/4 pounds tart apples, such as Empire or Granny Smith (3 apples)
3 tablespoons dried cherries (Note: I used dried cranberries)
3 tablespoons sugar, plus extra to sprinkle on top
1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
Pinch kosher salt
1 package (17.3 ounces, 2 sheets) frozen puff pastry, defrosted
1 egg beaten with 1 tablespoon water, for egg wash

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Combine the orange zest and orange juice in a bowl. Peel, quarter, and core the apples and then cut them in 3/4-inch dice. Immediately toss the apples with the zest and juice to prevent them from turning brown. Add the cherries (or cranberries), sugar, flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt.

Flour a board and lightly roll each sheet of puff pastry to a 12 by 12-inch square. Cut each sheet into 4 smaller squares and keep chilled until ready to use.

Brush the edges of each square with the egg wash and neatly place about 1/3 cup of the apple mixture on half of the square. Fold the pastry diagonally over the apple mixture and seal by pressing the edges with a fork. Transfer to a sheet pan lined with parchment paper. Brush the top with egg wash, sprinkle with sugar, make 2 small slits, and bake for 20 minutes, until browned and puffed. Serve warm or at room temperature.

After spending the morning picking apples at the Nashoba Valley Winery I decided to make my annual attempt at baking a pie. This time I decided to branch out from my horribly lazy habit of using already made pie crust and really went outside my comfort zone with a super special Martha Stewart recipe that included a decadent Cheddar Cheese Crust. It took forever, and I desperately need someone to teach me how to properly crimp those adorable decorative edges, but the crust tasted fabulous and earned high praises from my friend Anna, a self-proclaimed none crust loving individual. The sweet and spicy flavor of the apple filling, combined with the savory pie crust was the epitome of a homemade slam dunk. There’s a reason Martha Stewart is as famous as she is, and I’d love to shake the hand of the intern who wrote this recipe for her (ha ha). So while the pie wasn’t picture perfect, it was certainly tasty and all eight slices were gobbled up in record time.

Grate Cheese & Slice Butter	Combine in Processor & Pulse
Peel Apples	Mix
Roll Out	Top
Decorate	Brush with Egg Wash
Cool & Enjoy The Crispy Cheesy Crust

Apple Pie with Cheddar Crust (Originally Published by Martha Stewart)

For the Cheddar Crust (Makes enough for one 10-inch double crust):

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting
1 teaspoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
14 tablespoons (1 3/4 sticks) cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
4 ounces white cheddar cheese, coarsely grated (about 1 1/2 cups)
1/2 cup ice water

Process flour, sugar, and salt in a food processor. Add butter; pulse until pea-size lumps appear. Pulse in cheese. With processor running, add ice water; process just until dough comes together.

Turn dough out; gather into a block. Wrap in plastic wrap. Refrigerate until cold, at least 30 minutes or up to 2 days. Dough can be frozen up to 3 weeks.

For the Apple Filling:

1 1/2 pounds (about 3) Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored, and cut into 1/4-inch-thick wedges
2 pounds (about 5) Cortland apples, peeled, cored, and cut into 1/4-inch thick wedges
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
1 large egg, beaten

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Divide dough into two pieces. On a lightly floured work surface, roll out each to a 13-inch circle.

Fit one circle into a 10-inch pie plate; transfer plate to a baking sheet. Put other circle on another baking sheet. Refrigerate dough until cold, at least 30 minutes.

Stir together apples, sugar, flour, lemon juice, cinnamon, nutmeg, salt, and cloves. Spoon into bottom pie crust. Dot filling with butter. Cover with top crust. Fold edges over; crimp decoratively to seal. Cut a steam vent. Chill in freezer until firm, about 30 minutes.

Brush with egg. Bake pie 10 minutes. Reduce oven temperature to 350 degrees.bake until golden brown, about 45 minutes. Tent with foil; bake until juices are bubbling, about 45 minutes more. Let cool at least 1 1/2 hours before serving.

Let’s face it, cinnamon rolls do not need any explanation. They really should be considered a right and not a privilege. Therefore enjoy!

For the filling I used:
1 stick softened butter
1 cup brown sugar
1 tablespoon cinnamon

For the Icing I used:
1 1/2 cups of powdered sugar
1 tablespoon of vegetable shortening
1 teaspoon of vanilla
Then I added tablespoons of milk until the icing was the correct consistency.

PS: There is no shame in using pre-made bread dough. I’m terrible at baking bread so frozen loaves have become my saving grace.

Cinnamon & Brown Sugar	Mmm Butter!
No One Needs to Know (Shhh)	Roll Out
Spread	Cover
Roll Up	Slice
Arrange	Cover & Let Rise
Double in Size	Mix Mix Mix
Bake @ 400 for 15 Minutes	Drizzle

That Smells DELICIOUS!

Yesterday I went apple picking at the Nashoba Valley Winery. It was so much fun and I came home with some absolutely delicious fruit. I think heaven must smell like fresh picked apples. So of course I just had to make an apple pie. I’ll be straight with you and admit to the fact that I use those Pillsbury ready made crusts.

Erin Picks	Bounty of Fruit
6 Cups Sliced	Cinnamon & Sugar
Empty Crust	Filled
Finished Off	Brown & Bubbly