Apple Bars

Yield: 4 dozen
Time: 20 minutes prep, 20 minutes bake at 350F, 30 minutes cooling before glazing



Ingredients:

• 1 c. brown sugar, packed
• 1/4 c. milk
• 1/4 c. vegetable oil
• 1 egg
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 1-1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp. ground nutmeg
• 1/4 tsp. ground cloves
• 2 c. flour
• 2 small to medium sized apples, peeled and cut into approx. 1/4" dice
• 1 c. chopped walnuts or pecans
• cinnamon glaze

Method:

1. spray a 13" x 9" baking dish with non-stick spray, and heat the oven to 350F.
2. mix the oil, egg, milk, and sugar
3. stir in the dry ingredients: flour, baking soda, and spices
4. stir in the apples and nuts
5. spread it out in the baking dish, and bake for 20 minutes, until a toothpick or bamboo skewer comes out clean from the center
6. let it cool for half an hour, in the pan, on a rack
7. mix your glaze: 1 c. powdered (confectioner's) sugar, 1 tsp. of cinnamon, and 1-1/2 Tbs. of water
8. drizzle the cinnamon glaze over the bars, while still in the baking dish
9. let cool completely, then slice into bars

Notes: This recipe has a moist, but fairly light texture, like good gingerbread. If you don't use air conditioning in the summer, and it's humid, you may want to refrigerate them to get the glaze to set; otherwise, it stays a bit sticky.

Recipe: Raw Apple Bread

Yield: 1 loaf
Time: 20 minutes prep; 50-60 minutes at 350F
Source: Beard on Bread, Ballantine paperback edition, 1981, pg. 153

Ingredients:

• 1/2 c. butter or margarine (1 stick)
• 1 c. of granulated sugar
• 2 eggs
• 2 c. of flour
• 1/2 tsp. of baking soda
• 1/2 tsp. of salt
• 1 tsp. of baking powder
• 1 tsp. of vanilla extract
• 2 Tbs. of buttermilk, or soured milk
• 1 c. coarsly chopped unpeeled apples
• 1/2 c. of chopped walnuts

Method:

1. cream the butter
2. mix in the sugar, a little at a time, creaming it into the butter thoroughly between additions
3. beat in the eggs, milk, and vanilla
4. sift together the dry ingredients
5. mix them into the wet ingredients, a little at a time
   
6. stir in the chopped apple and walnuts
7. spoon it into a greased loaf tin
8. bake at 350F for 50-60 minutes

Notes:

1. this makes a pretty sticky batter
2. I used approx. 2 cups of chopped apple, and 3/4 c. of chopped walnuts; everything else I measured pretty accurately, as per the recipe
   
3. according to James Beard, this tastes better left to sit for a day (it tastes pretty good still slightly warm from the oven, though, IMHO)
4. it supposedly stores really well

Recipe: Apple Crisp

This is one of those idiot-proof recipes that is fine by itself, warm from the oven, with or without a dollop of vanilla ice cream on top, or even cold the next morning for breakfast.

Yield: one bread loaf tin, or an 8" x 8" baking dish (4 to 6 servings)
Time: 75 minutes (30 minutes prep, and 45 for baking at 350F)

Ingredients:

• 4-6 apples (depending on size), peeled cored, and sliced/diced, not too thinly
• approx. 1/3 c. of white sugar
• approx. 2 tsp. of cinnamon
• approx. 1/2 tsp. of nutmeg
• approx. 1/3 tsp. of cloves
• approx. 1/2 tsp. of allspice
• 1/3 stick of butter, melted
• 1/3 c. of brown sugar
• 1/2 to 2/3 of a cup of rolled oats (quick cooking, or regular doesn't matter)

Method:

1. peel, core, and slice the apples into a mixing bowl
2. mix the white sugar and spices, then toss them over the apples, a little at a time, tossing the apples around to get them fully coated
3. Let the apples sit to juice for 10-15 minutes
   
4. brush the loaf tin or baking dish with melted butter, then plop in the apples, and spread them out fairly evenly
5. Mix the remaining melted butter with the brown sugar and oats thoroughly (I use the same bowl the apples were juicing in, so that I don't miss any of the spices)
6. Dump the topping mixture over the apples, and spread it out fairly evenly
7. Bake at 350F for 45 minutes, give or take a few -- it's done when it smells done, the apples and sugar get bubbly, and the topping isn't too browned

Notes:

1. I've tried this with Granny Smiths, but prefer Yellow Delicious apples
2. I don't find the need to use flour in the sugar mix for either the apples, or the topping, but if your apples are especially juicy, about 1 Tbs. should be enough, in each of the sugar mixtures, before they go on the apples
   
3. This reheats really well in a microwave
   

Apple Pie

I baked this to bring over for Easter dinner for my parents. It's got a basic double-crust, plus the requisite spiced-up apple filling. I use lots of cinnamon, a dash of nutmeg, and a dash of allspice. This time around, I used Golden Delicious apples, but I normally use Granny Smiths.

Does anyone not know how to bake an apple pie? I can try to give my recipe for it, but about the only things I actually measure are the fat and flour ratio for the crust (1:3). Other than that, I just eyeball the ingredients, and go by smell/taste. I got sloppy when pinching together the crust around the rim, by using my knuckles and a pinky finger, but this was home cooking, for my family, and nobody who's going to eat this will ever care what it looks like, as long as it tastes good.

Regardless, it smelled phenomenal while it was cooling, and will slice up just fine tomorrow . . . heated at 250F while we eat dinner, with a dollop of vanilla ice cream melting over it, for dessert. Simple, but it's a perpetual crowd pleaser.