10 Best Apple Recipes for Autumn

It’s getting cooler outside and you know what that means…warm and yummy (and waist-expanding) comfort food! And since the best comfort foods involve sugar and apples, I bring you this week’s post.

However, prior to revealing the recipes, as a former teacher, I feel the need to enlighten you about American apples. Over 2,500 varieties of apples grow in the United States, but only 100 are grown commercially in 36 states, led by Washington, New York, Michigan, Pennsylvania, California and Virginia.

Of the 100 commercially grown varieties, Red Delicious, Gala, Granny Smith, Fuji, Golden Delicious, Honeycrisp, McIntosh, Rome, Cripps Pink, and Empire make up the top ten. However, the most surprising fact is that the average American consumes 115 pounds of fresh or processed apples per year…that’s a lot of apples!

Now that your apple education is at the required level, here are the recipes…

• Curried pumpkin apple soup – is the perfect combination of spicy and sweet, kinda like me. If you’ve never mixed Golden Delicious apples and canned pumpkin with leeks, onions and curry, now is your chance. Contemplate the pairings here.
  
• Cheesecake-stuffed apples – have been known to make Homer Simpson drool, “Mmmmmmm, cheesecake and apples.” It just doesn’t get any better than hollowed-out Gala apples stuffed with cream cheese baked to perfection. Stuff yourself with this recipe here.
• Grilled pork and apple salad – is my lone healthy recipe to make the list. We are here, after all, for comfort food, are we not? Get your inner Peter Brady on (“pork chops and applesauce” he exclaimed in his best Humphry Bogart voice in 1971’s episode 55 of The Brady Bunch) with this dish here.
• Free-form apple tart – roughly translates into “awesomely messy” apple tart. Yeah, slicing all those Rome or Winesap apples may take a while, but, damn, it’s worth it. One last thing, don’t you dare use a store-bought crust. Bite the bullet and make your own…learn how to do so here.
• German Bratwurst with apples and sauerkraut – allows you to make your own Oktoberfest meal…add a pint of hefeweizen to go full German. This dish also dispels the notion that all apple recipes must be dessert based. Get your brat on here.
• Caramel apple cinnamon roll lasagna – is actually a layered apple pie which uses cinnamon rolls as the “crust” which is simply genius. Regardless, it works and the caramel makes it work even more. Heck, you even get to use the icing that comes with the cinnamon rolls, find out how here.
• Applesauce bread – works even better if you make your own applesauce and you can learn how right here. It’s not difficult. You can then brag to friends and family who consume your applesauce bread that you slaved for hours making the applesauce. Oh yeah, I almost forgot, find the applesauce bread recipe here. A two-for-one deal.
• No-bake apple pie parfaits – are easy to whip up and elegant in presentation…that’s my food critic voice talking. Seriously, these things are delicious, simple and, depending upon the type of glass you use to serve them in, really are elegant. I mean, with apples, heavy whipping cream and maple syrup you can’t go wrong. Scroll down through like 50 pics to find the recipe here.
• Original Viennese apfelstrudel – answers the age-old question: who doesn’t like apple strudel? No one, that’s who! Use Braeburn apples for increased authenticity as well as homemade clotted cream to top the strudel. Imagine you’re sitting at an outdoor café in Vienna by making the recipe found here.
• Sheet pan chicken thighs with apples, gin and coriander seeds – sounds difficult but it’s not. It also satisfies my “four non-dessert recipe rule” I created prior to writing this post. The spices used in this recipe looked intriguing indeed, the primary reason for its inclusion. See how easy it is to prepare here.

Now, it’s up to you to get your Master or Iron Chef apron on and try a few of these recipes. Look at it this way, no matter which you choose first, you can’t go wrong. Bon appetit! If you’re intimidated by baking or don’t have time, try our U-Bake Apple-Raisin Strudel – tastes fresh right out of the oven.