In late September we ventured into the apple orchards of North Georgia. (Here's Eli roaming around, picking apples with Granddad.)
For a couple of weeks we had an apple kitchen...
Eli turned fresh apple cider into a slushie. (Years ago I had a roommate who had a Donvier Half-Pint personal ice cream maker and I searched eBay until I found one. You freeze the fluid-filled metal insert that is about the size of a coffee mug. When it is solid, you can pour in any cold juice and turn the crank for a slushie.)
We put apple chunks in the Crock Pot and made slow cooker apple butter. The house smelled divine all day! It went so fast that I promptly went to the store for a three-pound bag of Granny Smiths and made batch number two. (If you do a web search, there are several slow cooker apple butter recipes online.)
Eli loved mashing the softened apples for the butter.
We passed out small jars of apple butter but also caramels made with fresh cider.
We also made an apple crisp with graham cracker crust and my very first solo apple pie. My favorite new recipe of the season, though, was a pancake recipe I found in a library book. Because the pancakes are made with oatmeal, they have a wonderful, unique texture. They are also healthy and substantial. I used Honeycrisp apples and added a teaspoon of cinnamon to the batter. We liked them plain or smeared with a little apple butter.
Oatmeal Pancakes with Jonathan Apples and Pecans
1 ½ cups oatmeal
1 ½ cups boiling water
1 egg
1 cup flour
2 tablespoons baking powder
Pinch of salt
1/4 cup sugar
1 cup milk
¼ cup melted butter
3 apples, peeled, cored and chopped
½ cup pecan pieces
2 tablespoons butter
- Combine oatmeal and boiling water. Let stand five minutes.
- Add egg, flour, baking powder, salt and sugar. Mix.
- Stir in milk, melted butter, apples and pecans
- Melt 2 tablespoons butter in a large, flat skillet or griddle over medium heat.
- When butter begins to crackle, spoon on pancake batter to desired size. Gently flip pancakes when bubbles form around the edges and center. Cook for another minute and serve with maple syrup.
Makes about 15 3-inch pancakes. From Apples: A Cookbook by Robert Berkley (NY: Fireside/Simon & Schuster, 1991).
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