Fried Apples and Apple Harvest

The apples across the road from us are almost ready for harvest. The big wooden packing boxes have been hauled in and the color on the apples deepen by the day.  There is the promise of the glorious, spicy scent in the air that only happens in the autumn when the apples are ready to harvest.

I love apples and could happily eat one every day. 

My mom used to fry apples sometimes, and they were so, so yummy. 

Fried apples go back a long way into culinary history. 

During the Civil War, they were a favorite sweet side dish or dessert, cooked in cast iron and sweetened with honey, brown sugar, or molasses. 

My grandma, Southern born and raised, brought the recipe with her when she and my grandpa moved o the Pacific Northwest in the early1940s. She taught my mom to make it, and Mom taught me. 

When I make fried apples, it takes me back to happy days spent in the kitchen with the my mom when cinnamon lingered in the air, and fall settled like a cozy blanket over our farm.

 Fried apples are awesome as a dessert or side dish, and they are also tasty for breakfast.  They go great with pork or chicken dishes or anytime you want something delicious to add to the table. You can spoon them over vanilla ice cream, serve along side spice cake or just enjoy the spicy, caramel goodness all by itself. These are also really easy to make. Serve them warm, though. They just aren't the same when they get cold. 

 

Here are the simple ingredients. Plan on half an apple per person.

 

Slice and core your apple, leaving the peel on. You can do this while your butter is melting in the skillet. I like to use a cast iron skillet for the apples.

  

Once the butter is melted, add apples, cinnamon and sugar. 

Cover and let simmer, stirring occasionally.

 

Cook until the apples are tender and the cinnamon, butter and sugar 

have created a beautiful caramel sauce on the apples.

 

Then enjoy! Just look at all that caramel-y deliciousness.

Fried Apples 

 1 apple 

 1 tbsp. butter 

 1 tsp. cinnamon 

 1/3 cup brown sugar 

 Wash apple then core and slice. I like medium-thick slices (about 1/3 inch). Melt butter in a non-stick skillet over medium heat. When melted, add apples, cinnamon and sugar. Stir until apples are coated. Cover and simmer until apples are tender (about 15 minutes) and the sauce is thick and makes you want to eat it with a spoon. Inhale the fragrant scent and enjoy!

Join me for the a celebration of autumn and sweet historical romances 

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USA Today bestselling author Shanna Hatfield grew up on a farm where her childhood brimmed with sunshine, hay fever, and an ongoing supply of learning experiences. 

Today, Shanna draws on her rural roots to create historical and contemporary sweet romances filled with hope, humor, quirky small-town characters, realistic heroes, and women of strength. 

When this award-winning author isn’t writing or testing out new recipes (she loves to bake!), Shanna hangs out at home in the Pacific Northwest with her beloved husband, better known as Captain Cavedweller. 

Follow her online at shannahatfield.com, on Facebook or BookBub.

Pear Cobbler

by Shanna Hatfield

We live in a valley where an abundance of fruit is grown. Right across the road from us there are acres and acres of apples and beyond that are orchards with cherries, nectarines, peaches, and pears. And grapes. Yep, there a bunch of vineyards in our area, too. 

This time of year, when the fruit is being harvested, I love to eat it fresh. There's nothing quite like biting into a crisp, juicy apple with the lingering perfume of sunshine wafting from it's skin. 

I also enjoy baking with fresh fruit. Autumn seems like a perfect season for making cobblers, crisps, tarts and pies. 

Pie was developed from the Romans who sealed meat inside a flour and oil paste crust then cooked it. From there, the ingredients evolved and some really smart person came up with the idea of substituting fruit for meat. 

Early American settlers had a penchant for improvising. Although they brought many of their favorite recipes with them, they lacked the ingredients for things such as English steamed puddings. So they instead came up with buckles, slumps and pandowdies.  In fact, the colonists were so fond of these juicy, fruit-laden dishes, they served them for breakfast or even a first course. 

It can be confusing trying to keep it all straight. Some of the most common dishes, though, are pie, cobbler, and crisp.

Pie has a crust on the bottom, and generally one on the top with the fruit sealed in the middle.

Cobbler is a deep-dish dessert with a thick crust on top, often made of sweetened biscuit dough. 

Crisps are baked with the fruit on the bottom and a crumb topping. The topping might be made with oats, flour, nuts, bread crumbs, cookie crumbs, or even breakfast cereal. 

Years ago, I sat, amused, and listened to Captain Cavedweller and my mother discuss (interpret argue) over the difference in cobbler and crisp. Turns out CC was right. The man knows his fruit desserts!  

It wasn't until the early 1900s though, that crisps began to appear on American tables. 

One of the earliest recorded recipes was in the Freeport Journal-Standard in July, 1916.

"This recipe requires eight apples (or one quart), a teaspoon of cinnamon, a half cup of water, one cup of sugar, a half cup of flour and five tablespoons of butter. Butter a fireproof dish and fill it with the apples, water, and cinnamon, mixed. Work together the other ingredients, mixing them gently with the fingertips until crumbly, then spread over the apple mixture. Bake 30 minutes, uncovered." 

Here is a recipe for an easy pear cobbler that is so yummy, especially if you serve it warm with a scoop of vanilla ice cream!

Pear Cobbler

Ingredients:

¼ cup butter

1 cup flour

1 cup sugar

2 tablespoons baking powder

2/3 cup milk

4 cups pears, peeled, cored, and thinly sliced

½ teaspoon nutmeg

1 teaspoon cinnamon

Directions:

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.

In a 9 x 13 baking dish, melt butter in oven.

Mix flour, sugar, baking powder, and milk until just combined. Pour over the top of the melted butter. Do not stir!

Toss pears with cinnamon and nutmeg. Add fruit on top of dough. Do not stir!

Bake for one hour. Remove from oven and let cool. Serve with a generous topping of vanilla ice cream sprinkled with a dash of nutmeg. Makes approximately 10 servings

For more recipes, check out A Cowboy Christmas, my newest release. It features more than 70 recipes with full color images, holiday entertaining tips, decor ideas, interviews with rodeo and ranch families and more!

After spending her formative years on a farm in eastern Oregon, hopeless romantic Shanna Hatfield turns her rural experiences into sweet historical and contemporary romances filled with sarcasm, humor, and hunky heroes.

When this USA Today bestselling author isn’t writing or covertly seeking dark, decadent chocolate, Shanna hangs out with her beloved husband, Captain Cavedweller.

Shanna loves to hear from readers. Follow her online at:

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