Elizabeth Banks

Kelly is bringing you three great ways to use apples (from the orchard or the grocery store) and by the end, you’ll be drooling. I know I was. Enjoy! Try these at home and send me your photos! Xx EB

It's autumn, the prelude to winter, and the best part about this time of year is that it's apple season! There's nothing like the sweet crisp feeling of a cool October morning while you walk through rows of apple trees, picking away. Before you know it, you're armed with a 5 lb bag to take home.

Okay, so you might not be lucky enough to have apple orchards at every street corner, but no matter. Even if you grab a bag of apples at the grocery store, the real question is what do you do with all them apples?! Here are a few ideas!

The Tasty

Apple Pie. Yeah, the good old trusted stand-by. I had never made a pie before I met my husband. Trust me, I'm no June Cleaver. But, pie is something that he grew up with and begged and begged me to make at home. So, I rolled up my sleeves, called my mother-in-law and got her secrets and tips to making a good pie. It's not as hard as you think. For real. The biggest obstacle is getting over the fear of making pie crust. Let's start with the filling, and what better place to turn to than Better Homes and Garden's for their Old-Fashioned Apple Pie recipe for filling:

The What:
6
cups thinly sliced peeled tart apples
1
tablespoon lemon juice
1/2
cup granulated sugar
1/4
cup all-purpose flour
1/4
cup packed brown sugar
1/2
teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4
teaspoon ground nutmeg
dash ground cloves

The How:
In a large mixing bowl toss apples with lemon juice. Combine granulated sugar, flour, brown sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves. Add to apples and toss until apples are coated. Set apple mixture aside.

The Dreaded Crust (recipe that my mother-in-law swears by for top and bottom crust)

The What:
2 cups of all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
2/3 cup butter (chilled)
5-7 tablespoons of cold water

The How:
Mix flour and salt. Cut in butter with fork or pastry blender until it forms small pieces (small peas or smaller). Add cold water until mixture forms a soft ball. Divide in half for each crust. Flatten ball slightly on floured surface and roll as thin as possible. Transfer to pie plate. Fill and add top crust. Seal edges, brush with milk and sprinkle with sugar. Vent the top crust with a sharp knife.

Note: Better Homes and Gardens’ recipe says that you can serve the finished pie “warm with cheddar cheese, if desired.” Personally, I just don't understand why you'd want to put cheddar cheese on apple pie, but hey, go for it if it flips your skirt. But, you MUST, MUST, MUST brush the crust with milk and sprinkle with sugar before you put it in the oven. This was a little trick that my mother-in-law learned from her grandmother. My mother-in-law is the Queen of Pies. She won't steer you wrong!

The Crafty

Why not turn some of those extra apples into a center piece? Sure, you can polish the apples and toss them in a bowl for a quick fix. Or, try carving a hole in the top of each apple and inserting a tea candle. Cute! Mine turned out a little...shall we say...rustic, but hey, we can't all be Martha. Some web sites like Amazon actually sell apple carvers for the tea candles if you want a perfect circle

Donuts!

Truthfully, the absolute best part of apple picking is eating warm apple cider donuts at the orchard. Good luck trying to eat just one. It's not possible. So, how about trying to make cider donuts at home? The Food Network has a great apple cider donut recipe that is rated "easy" (bonus!!).

Apple recipes, crafts, suggestions?
Let me know! I still have about 20-30 in my kitchen!