From Jen at The Gould House, “Eldress Bertha’s Applesauce”

Jen and her 2-year-old daughter, Ella, used apples from their farmers market to make this applesauce. Jen writes, “Ella enjoyed counting the apples, catching the apple peels as they fell into the bowl, and mashing the apples after they were done simmering on the stove.  She also ate her first whole apple while I was doing the chopping.  The applesauce was delicious and it made the house smell so “autumny”—definitely a keeper!”

From Melissa at Little Locavores, Sausage-Stuffed Acorn Squash — with Apples

Melissa created this fall recipe with the thought of appealing to those who don’t like squash unless it’s doused in sugar. I don’t know if it won her farmer’s sons over, but this flavorful dish has extra kid-appeal when served in an acorn squash bowl. (Melissa and her son recently went apple-picking at Seedling Orchards in South Haven, Michigan.)

From Kelsey at The Naptime Chef, Spiced Apple Cookies

Kelsey and her toddler daughter made these scrumptious cookies, with New York McIntosh apples, to occupy a rainy afternoon — just one of many recipes in her “Apple Mania” arsenal.

And here at FoodieTots, Spiced Apple Hand Pies

We picked apples at Virginia’s Crooked Run Orchard, reviewed How to Make An Apple Pie and See the World, and baked kid-sized apple hand pies. Yum!

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And if these aren’t enough ideas to use up the apples in your crisper, here are a few more kid-friendly apple recipes:

• Roasted Cauliflower with Apples and Red Onion – 1 family. friendly. food
• Caramel Apples (with Bacon!) — Backseat Gourmet
• Baked Apples from the White House — courtesy of Obama Foodorama
• Apple Sausage Skillet Cornbread, Apple Celery Soup , and Pork Chops with Apples and Maple-Rum Sauce — FoodieTots

The Story: This lovely book, How to Make an Apple Pie and See the World, by Marjorie Priceman, caught my eye at the bookstore with its colorful illustrations. In it, a little girl sets out to make an apple pie but discovers her local market is closed. So naturally, she charts a course around the world to pick wheat in Italy, sugar cane in Jamaica, and apples in Vermont. I admit, on one level my locavore’s conscious felt a pang of guilt, but it was too cute a story not to buy. Besides, the point of eating local, for me, is to ensure my son knows where his food comes from. Even if it’s not always somewhere nearby.

The Lesson: My son knows apples grow on trees, and milk comes from cows. This may seem obvious, but it’s not always! My brother went through a phase as a kid where he insisted that milk came from the grocery store. No amount of arguing could convince him it came from a cow. (This was probably just stubbornness, we certainly were exposed to cows.) Anyway, last week I picked up the boy from daycare and headed out to do errands, and I had failed to pack snacks. I asked if he wanted to go to the drive-thru for apple slices, and he replied, “We could go to the farm and get apples!” In an ideal world, yes, but convenience won out this time.

The Recipe: I recently went to Williams-Sonoma looking for yeast. They didn’t have it, but of course I managed to come home with a bag full of new must-have kitchen tools, including these adorable apple and pumpkin pocket pie molds. The boy saw the one I was packing in my niece’s birthday present, and started to whine, “But I don’t have one of those yet!” So he was pleasantly surprised when I pulled out a second one for him. I decided to stick with the recipe on the box for the pie crusts, which I was glad to see called for butter. I halved the recipe to make 4 little pies. This really doesn’t take too much more effort than making a full-size pie, and the results are just too cute.

Spiced Apple Hand Pies
crust recipe adapted from Williams-Sonoma

Crust:

• 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp. salt
• 2 Tbs. granulated sugar
• 16 Tbs. (2 sticks) cold unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch dice
• 6 to 8 Tbs. ice water
• 1 egg, beaten with 1 tablespoon water
• maple sugar

Pulse flour, salt and sugar in food processor to combine. Add butter chunks, and pulse until it resembles a course meal. Add water, a little at a time, pulsing between each addition until dough begins to come together. I only needed 6 tablespoons. Remove and press into flat disk. Wrap in plastic wrap and chill for at least 2 hours. (Or, if you’re in a hurry, 30 minutes in the freezer.)

Filling:

• 1 apple, diced small
• 1 tablespoon flour
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
• pinch salt

Combine all ingredients and set aside while dough is chilling.

To Assemble Pies: Prepare egg wash. Roll out dough to 1/4-inch thickness and use the mold to cut out 8 shapes. If you don’t have the molds, use a large cookie cutter to cut shapes. Cut a leaf-shaped vent into the top crust pieces. Place the bottom in the mold (or on your parchment-lined baking sheet) and place 2 tablespoons of apple filling in the center. Brush a little egg wash around the edge, lay a second piece of dough over and gently press in the mold or together with a fork. Brush the top with more egg wash and sprinkle with maple sugar. Place on a parchment-lined baking sheet and repeat to make the remaining pies. Place in freezer for 30 minutes. Preheat oven to 400 degrees and bake for 22-24 minutes, until crust is golden. Cool on a cooling rack at least 10 minutes before eating. Makes 4 small pies. Enjoy!

Note: I skipped the second freezing step, as we were in a hurry to finish before bedtime, so my crusts browned more quickly than they should have. But they tasted great! Oh, and despite the book’s instructions, our apples and eggs came from local farms.

Recipe: Pork Chops with Apples and Maple-Rum Reduction

Ingredients:

• 4 bone-in pork chops
• salt and pepper
• 8 garlic cloves, skins on and smashed with side of knife blade
• 1 apple, thinly sliced
• 1/4 maple syrup
• 1/8 c golden rum (or apple cider for an alcohol-free version)

Instructions: Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Generously salt and pepper pork chops. Heat skillet over medium high heat and sear pork chops about 2 1/2 minutes per side, until golden brown. Add garlic cloves and apple slices to pan, pour maple syrup over the top and cook in the oven 10-12 minutes. Remove from oven and remove pork chops, apples and garlic from pan, covering to keep them warm. Place pan on stove over medium heat and add rum. Cook until sauce reduces at least by half and begins to thicken. Remove from heat. Arrange pork chops, apples and garlic on plates and drizzle with the sauce. Makes 4 servings. Enjoy!

The toddler picked a few apples, had some fun with the picking stick, and then we headed back to the shade of the country store to indulge in a caramel apple.

We got some beautiful young celery in our CSA bag last week, and I was planning to use it in some sort of soup when I had the thought to use some of our apples as well. This can be served hot or chilled, in case you also live somewhere where the weather and calendar aren’t always in sync.

Recipe: Creamy Apple Celery Soup

Ingredients:

• 2 T butter
• 1 small yellow onion, chopped
• 1 cup chopped celery
• 4 large apples, peeled and chopped
• 2 cups chicken or vegetable broth
• black pepper to taste

Instructions: Melt butter in stock pot over medium low heat. Add onions and cook until soft, about 5 minutes. Add celery and cook 2 minutes more. Stir in apples and broth and bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce heat and simmer over medium low heat for 20 minutes. Remove from heat and puree with immersion blender. Serve with freshly ground pepper warm, or chill for at least 1 hour to enjoy cold. Makes 4 servings.

Notes: This creamy soup is lower in fat than your traditional cream of celery, and the sweetness of the apples will appeal to kids and adults alike.

(Enough preaching – now on with the recipes!)

Autumn means two things at the farmers’ market: apples & squash! This week’s shopping bag contains 5lbs. Jonagold & Staymen apples, pork chops, spaghetti squash, arugula & aged cheddar, plus a loaf of sourdough and wedge of Smoky Blue cheese from the local bakery and cheese store. On the menu this week:

• spaghetti squash with mascarpone
• 5-spice pork chops with cider jus
• harvest salad (recipe below)
• apple-pumpkin muffins

Harvest Salad: For a quick lunch, I tossed arugula and a chopped apple with balsamic vinegar and topped with crumbled Smoky Blue cheese. The spicy arugula was a nice balance to the intense, nutty cheese. It would have benefited from some chopped hazelnuts, to complement the cheese which is cold-smoked over hazelnut shells.

Toddler Version: My kid has a pretty good appreciation for gourmet cheese, but even still isn’t quite ready for blue cheese. So for an easy kid’s plate, I serve chunks of apple, cheddar & gouda, and sourdough toast.