HAPPY AUTUMN, EVERYONE! I absolutely love, love, LOOOOOOVE this time of year: the cool fall weather, the changing of the leaves, the harvest of the year's growing season, but most of all...apple picking!
Apple Picking and Supporting Local Agriculture
Always a fun activity for the entire family, apple picking is a great way to ensure fresh healthy produce for your family, while supporting local farms. The only downside is that there are not too many local farms that provide organic apples, peaches, and pumpkins; although they do exist! More must be done to encourage our farmers to move away from harmful pesticides and work towards using organic-friendly alternatives. That being said, it is still always best to purchase locally-grown food. Did you know that the apples you find in the grocery store (including the organic ones), not only may have come from halfway around the world, but have been stored for about a year or so in cold storage, thereby decreasing the health value of the apples. Basically, the apples in the grocery store may have low to no nutritional value whatsoever! Check out this post by FoodRenegade.com to learn more: http://www.foodrenegade.com/your-apples-year-old/. If that doesn't encourage you to go apple picking, I don't know what will! "Thanks for the tip on apple picking, Dirt Momma," you may ask, "But what am I going to do with all those delicious freshly-picked apples?" Well I thought you'd never ask! ;-)
1001 Ways to Use Apples
There are oodles of amazing recipes using apples that can be found in cookbooks and online. You can make apple sauce, apple preserves, apple pie filling, cookies, cakes, cider, compote...the possibilities are nearly endless! Inspired by the super-easy bread pudding recipe I use from Mark Bittman's book, How to Cook Everything, and the apple crisp topping recipe that is in my copy of The New England Cookbook by Brooke Donjy, I thought I'd try to combine the two, with some adjustments. The experiment paid off--my family loved it! So head on over to your local orchard to go apple picking, then try the following recipe:
Always a fun activity for the entire family, apple picking is a great way to ensure fresh healthy produce for your family, while supporting local farms. The only downside is that there are not too many local farms that provide organic apples, peaches, and pumpkins; although they do exist! More must be done to encourage our farmers to move away from harmful pesticides and work towards using organic-friendly alternatives. That being said, it is still always best to purchase locally-grown food. Did you know that the apples you find in the grocery store (including the organic ones), not only may have come from halfway around the world, but have been stored for about a year or so in cold storage, thereby decreasing the health value of the apples. Basically, the apples in the grocery store may have low to no nutritional value whatsoever! Check out this post by FoodRenegade.com to learn more: http://www.foodrenegade.com/your-apples-year-old/. If that doesn't encourage you to go apple picking, I don't know what will! "Thanks for the tip on apple picking, Dirt Momma," you may ask, "But what am I going to do with all those delicious freshly-picked apples?" Well I thought you'd never ask! ;-)
1001 Ways to Use Apples
There are oodles of amazing recipes using apples that can be found in cookbooks and online. You can make apple sauce, apple preserves, apple pie filling, cookies, cakes, cider, compote...the possibilities are nearly endless! Inspired by the super-easy bread pudding recipe I use from Mark Bittman's book, How to Cook Everything, and the apple crisp topping recipe that is in my copy of The New England Cookbook by Brooke Donjy, I thought I'd try to combine the two, with some adjustments. The experiment paid off--my family loved it! So head on over to your local orchard to go apple picking, then try the following recipe:
Apple Cranberry Bread Pudding with Oatmeal Crisp Topping
For the bread pudding:
For the topping:
For the bread pudding:
- 2 cups whipping cream
- 1 cup half & half cream
- 4 Tbs butter (salted or unsalted)
- 1 Tbs pumpkin pie spice (I recommend Trader Joe's brand--has cardamom and orange peel)
- ½ cup packed organic brown sugar
- pinch of sea salt
- 8 slices crusty artisan bread
- 3 eggs
- 3 apples, peeled, cored, and finely chopped
- 1 cup plain or orange-flavored dried cranberries
For the topping:
- ½ cup oatmeal (NOT instant)
- ½ cup packed organic brown sugar
- ½ cup all-purpose unbleached flour
- 1 Tbs pumpkin pie spice
- 1/8 tsp sea salt
- 5 Tbs cold butter (salted or unsalted), cut in pieces
To make the bread pudding, preheat the oven to 350° F. In a saucepan, over low heat, warm up the whipping cream, half & half, butter, brown sugar, pumpkin pie spice, and sea salt, until the butter is just melted. In the meantime, grease a 1 ½ quart or 8-inch casserole dish with butter. Cut or tear the bread into small pieces (not too small, though--about the size you'd use for dipping in fondue should be fine). Place the bread pieces in the casserole dish and cover with the hot cream mixture over it. Use a rubber spatula to gently press the bread into the liquid so that it soaks up the liquid. Beat the eggs for a moment then stir into the bread/cream mixture. Add the chopped apples and dried cranberries and stir into the bread/cream/egg mixture. Place casserole dish in a larger baking pan (a large oven-proof skillet works, too!). Fill the larger pan with water up to about an inch from the top of the casserole dish. To make the oatmeal crisp topping, mix all the dry ingredients together. Add the cold pieces of butter and with a food processor (or a clean, bare hand) combine the ingredients until the mixture resembles coarse meal (pea-sized pieces are fine, too, though you may want to add a bit more flour to get more of that coarse meal consistency). with a rubber spatula, spread the oatmeal mixture over the top of the bread pudding mixture. Bake for about 1 hour or until you can insert a knife into the middle and it comes out mostly clean. The center can be slightly wobbly. Serve either warm or cold with either freshly whipped cream and/or all-natural French vanilla ice cream (homemade is even better!).
Making bread pudding is one of the many delicious ways you can use those wonderful fruits collected from apple picking.
There you have it! Feel free to try the above recipe out and share your success stories, along with any changes you made to it to make this recipe even better in the comments section below. You may also share your favorite recipes that turn those delicious fruits from apple picking into something amazing! I look forward to hearing from you.
If you enjoyed what you've read and feel others could benefit from this information, please do share the link to this post on your favorite social media site. While you're here, you can sign up for the Dirt Momma newsletter to receive updates on what's been going on in Dirt Momma's homestead, and learn a few tips and tricks along the way! Thanks so much! :-)
Until next time... Enjoy apple picking!
There you have it! Feel free to try the above recipe out and share your success stories, along with any changes you made to it to make this recipe even better in the comments section below. You may also share your favorite recipes that turn those delicious fruits from apple picking into something amazing! I look forward to hearing from you.
If you enjoyed what you've read and feel others could benefit from this information, please do share the link to this post on your favorite social media site. While you're here, you can sign up for the Dirt Momma newsletter to receive updates on what's been going on in Dirt Momma's homestead, and learn a few tips and tricks along the way! Thanks so much! :-)
Until next time... Enjoy apple picking!