Apples, Apples, Apples!!!

Every fall my mom makes a trip  to the local apple orchard (ok, so it's not much of a trip, since it's only about 3 miles from our house...) and buys a giant bag of delicious apples.  I love to eat apples all year round, but the grocery store does not offer anything as delicious as the apples grown just down the road.  Since all of her kids are off at college now, mom and dad can't handle that giant bag of apples on their own, so she usually sends some my way.  Apples are delicious by themselves, but baking with them adds delightful variety.  Here are a few of the recipes I made last fall with my apple supply.

Incredibly Moist Apple Bread

Ingredients

1 cup granulated sugar

1/2 cup shortening

2 eggs

1 tsp. vanilla extract

2 cups flour

1 tsp.  baking powder

1 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. salt

2 cups apples, chopped & pared

1/2 cup nuts, chopped

1 Tbsp. granulated sugar

1/4 tsp. cinnamon

Directions

1. Heat oven to 350 degrees and grease a 9"x5" loaf pan.

2. Cream together the 1 cup sugar, shortening, eggs, and vanilla.  

3. Stir in flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt until smooth.

4. Stir in apples and nuts; spread in loaf pan.

5. Mix the 1 Tbsp. sugar and cinnamon; sprinkle evenly over batter.

6. Bake until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean, about 50-60 minutes.

7. Immediately remove from pan; cool bread completely before slicing.

My Notes: This recipe was from the food.com website (contributor: *PENNY*).  I had some issues with the bottom of the bread sticking to the loaf pan, so make sure the pan is well-greased.  I used about 2.5 large apples in my recipe and omitted the nuts (I'm not a big nuts-in-bread fan...). I  baked the loaf for about 55 minutes. In the future, I might add some cinnamon into the batter for that extra kick of flavor.

Apple Peanut Butter Cookies

Ingredients

1/2 cup shortening

1/2 cup chunky peanut butter

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1/2 cup packed brown sugar

1 egg

1 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. cinnamon

1/2 cup grated peeled apple

Directions

1. In a large bowl, cream the shortening, peanut butter, and sugar until light and fluffy.  Beat in egg and vanilla.

2. Combine flour, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon.  Gradually add to creamed mixture and mix well.  Stir in apple.

3. Drop dough by rounded tablespoonfuls on  greased baking sheets.

4. Bake at 375 degrees for 10-12 minutes or until golden brown.  Cool for 5 minutes before removing to wire racks.

My Notes: This recipe is from the lovely Taste of Home website.  It made about 30 small cookies.  I added slightly more cinnamon than the recipe called for and used 1 large apple.  I actually finely chopped my apple instead of grating it (because I am a poor college student with limited kitchen supplies that did not include a grater at the time...). When forming the cookies, the dough was fairly dry, so I pressed the dough into balls to keep it together and baked the cookies for around 8 minutes.

I have one more apple recipe coming, but you'll just have to be satisfied with these until the next post!