There's something about autumn that gets me every year. The colors. New smells. The cooler, crisper air. The warm thoughts of holidays to come. A new season of baking.
I made my annual trek to the apple orchard two weeks ago, which means my kitchen will smell like apples for the next month. Here is last year's adventure and once again I returned from the orchard with over 20 pounds of Stayman Winesaps. A side note: I encourage you to try your hand at canning and stock your cabinets with apple butter. It will make you smile on the darkest and coldest of January days.
An apple pie is a fall essential. Make at least one, whether it's for a regular Sunday dinner or an addition to your Thanksgiving meal. I've used this particular recipe several times and have always been satisfied. I've managed to get away without using cornstarch and I'm convinced that draining and saving the spicy syrup makes all the difference.
Meet one of the greatest kitchen tools, the apple peeler-corer-slicer. If you find yourself making many apple-filled recipes, I suggest investing in one of these. Not only is it fun to cover your kitchen counter in apple peal spaghetti, you won't believe how fast you can peal and slice your apples. After running your apples through this machine, you simply run a knife through the slices to cut them in half.
