Apple Picking

When we lived in New England we used to go apple picking in October. David's all time favorite apple is the macintosh. Ok, it's practically the only apple he'll eat. I'm not as much of an apple snob, but I will admit that I won't eat a red delicious. Ever. So I went on line looking for orchards in Virginia thinking that it would be fun to surprise him with some macs. Found a couple of places, printed out directions and we headed out with friends on a Sunday morning. I forgot to factor in one thing: we're not in New England anymore. That means that the Virginia macs were ready for picking weeks ago... We ended up picking three varieties and the Dickies Brothers orchard (http://www.dickiebros.com/): granny smith, yellow delicious, and empire. I figured all would be good for cooking and hoped that the empires would be a reasonable snacking compromise. We clearly had excellent apple picking karma - as soon as we parked the car in the orchard the sun came out. And when we returned to the barn to pay for our harvest the clouds took over again. It threatened rain the rest of the day.

Last weekend I made apple butter using this recipe. It's one of those family 6 degrees of separation things - my mother mailed it to my niece who scanned it and emailed it to me. It came out well - I might tinker with the seasonings next time (perhaps add a little ginger?). The amount produced is just about perfect, though - 2.5 - 3 cups. I didn't have macs, so I used a combination of empires and yellow delicious. Here's the recipe without adjustments:

6 Macintosh apples
1 T unsalted butter
1.5 t. cinnamon
.5 t nutmeg
2 t granulated sugar

Peel, seed, and core the apples. Cut them into quarters. Combine all ingredients in a 2" deep 9"x9" pan. Cover with aluminum foil and bake for 30 minutes or until tender. Puree the apple mixture in the food processor. Reserver the apple butter.

The recipe didn't indicate what temperature to heat the oven to, so I heated mine to 350. I ended up baking the apples for an additional 5 minutes. I did not pour the accumulated juices from the pan into the food processor.

I've had the apple butter on whole grain English muffins this week and it's been fantastic. I think it would also be good on oatmeal with some chopped walnuts.

Give it a shot and let me know what you think.