Martin's Hillside Orchard

Explore the Orchard

All-Day Apple Butter

by

Take a step back and savor fall. This recipe will fill your home with apple-ful fragrance.  Toss it together on Saturday morn, let the crockpot do the work.   Run errands, watch football, take a catnap – stir once in a while, whisk at the end, and you are done

So cute in a little jar with a cinnamon stick and ribbon on top. Sometimes I think I make stuff in the kitchen just so I can go out and buy cute jars. That’s not a problem, right?

Great on toast. As well, look forward to adding some to oatmeal at breakfast

Anything extra, we’ll freeze for later!

Apple Blonde Brownies?

by

The official recipe calls these apple squares, but they totally taste like blonde brownies with an apple/cinnamon twist

And, to note, this photo does not even begin to do them justice.  So please forgive the photo, but you’ll want to make these. They will not last long, but I think that might be a compliment to the one doing the baking 😉  Take a bow!

 

 

Apple Dumplings

by

Better than candy? I popped these in the oven right before the trick-or-treating started last Halloween. Part way through candy distro, a “ninja turtle” exclaimed “Wow – Are you making apple pie?” Well, sort of, I said, impressed that the baking aroma registered amid all the candy mania. Figured we must have been on to something good.

Find the complete recipe from Food Network

Tips

• Definitely stretch out the biscuit dough – the video they provide with this recipe will show you how.

• How to wrap? First I tried to wrap and seal them on the narrow side of the apple wedge. Oddly, enough the opposite was actually easier – sealing them on the wide edge. However, in the end, they all turned out fine. So, don’t obsess over trying to make them perfect as you place them in the pan.

• Use a mid-sized apple – between size of baseball and softball. Don’t go bigger or the biscuit won’t wrap around the apple

Apple Cider Donuts

by

Donuts and cider = a perfect combination

Who knew there was such a thing as a donut pan you could use to bake donuts? Not me. But we were inspired to track one down (Target, Walmart, etc.) when we saw this recipe. Just had to try it. Pretty amazing. We see more donuts in our future.

Homemade Baked Cider Donut Recipe

Makes about 18 donuts. Plenty for the family with extra to share with friends. We popped the extra batter in a muffin tin – also delicious. Just allow a few extra minutes for that to bake.

Quick Note: You’ll need 1 1/2 cups of cider which needs to be reduced down to 1/2 cup. You’ll find that info in the comments that follow the recipe but it’s not obvious at first.

We are thinking this batter would make an excellent waffle as well. Hmm. Can’t wait for breakfast!

These donuts are baked so they are, maybe, a little better for you than the fried variety 🙂 Still very tasty. Kid-tested

Apple Crostata (open-faced apple pie)

by

All the great taste of a pie and very easy to assemble.  We love Ina Garten’s recipe from  Foodnetwork.com.  We’ve made this in the fall at the height of apple season and then in March with the apples we’d saved up from the harvest.  Delicious every time!

What we learned after having made a few of these:

  • We used pre-made crust for our version. We know homemade crust is the tastiest. But, if your time is limited, the pre-made crust is a great substitute
  • We skipped the food processor when making the crumb topping. We sliced the cold butter into 1/2″ cubes and cut them into the sugar + flour mixture with a pastry fork, working it by hand at the end. Less muss, less equipment to clean.
  • Pleating the edges – Love that we get to make pleats. Small hands can help. Tip: Dampen a finger in water and use that as glue to hold the pleats together.
  • No oranges to zest?  It will still taste great

Baking time and the edges – We found that it took a bit longer to bake the apples than the recipe described. No matter what the timer says, keep baking the crostata until a toothpick shows the apples are tender. Note: To keep the pastry edge from getting too dark while the apples finish baking, we covered the edges with strips of aluminum foil. That was about 30 minutes into the baking process.

This recipe calls for Fuji apples, but any good baking apple will work. Honeycrisp and Jonathans are great options as well