Classic Apple Pie

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.

Experimenting with Infused Honey

Honey is one of nature's best gifts (if not the best). Between school, working as an environmental educator, and baking sweets, I've had the pleasure of getting up close and personal with honey bees and local honey. 

I found myself back on Swarmbustin' Honey's website (West Grove, PA) this week thinking about their flavored honey (did someone say GARLIC honey?!). Although I've tried several different varieties of honey, I have yet to try flavoring my own. That's the inspiration for this post. 

Extracting fresh honey for some excited taste testers at the 2011 Philadelphia Honey Festival.

I spent some time visiting a number of websites, mostly from fellow bloggers, about how to flavor and infuse honey. You have two choices in the infusion process but both end in the same delicious results. Think mint honey in your tea, lavender honey on vanilla ice cream, orange honey on your morning scone, pepper honey on your cheese, or cinnamon honey on your oatmeal. If that doesn't sell you, than you might be hooked on the perfect little gift for a hostess or your next best skin product.

Germantown Hives: For best results, use local honey! 

Flavoring Ideas

Lavender: up to one cup of lavender buds

Vanilla: 2 split beans 

Orange: zest of one orange (could also use lemon or grapefruit)

Mint: 1/4 to 1 cup loosely packed leaves

Ginger-Lime: 10 quarter-sized slices of peeled fresh ginger, zest of 2 limes

Cinnamon-Clove: 5 cinnamon sticks, 1 tablespoon cloves (let stand 24 hours before straining)

Hot Pepper: peppercorns or red pepper flakes

Apple Butter and Appled Brandy for a Homemade Holiday

As soon as you become a pretty serious vegetable gardener, or spend that extra dollar or two to get the freshest produce at the local farmer’s market (or better yet, to pick your own!), you will realize the benefit of preserving the harvest.

I was intimidated by canning for a while. If you have ever read the introduction to a canning book, you know what I’m talking about. Better not screw up or you’ll give all of your loved-ones botulism, right? Wrong, if you’re smart and don’t break the rules. Start easy with acidic foods like fruit butters, jams, and jellies. It’s the low-acid foods like vegetables that are trickier.

What’s the best fruit to can in the fall? APPLES!

My friend Dawn and I ventured to Solebury Orchards in New Hope, PA for our apple needs this year. We hit the orchards in mid-October when the Stayman Winesaps were perfect for picking and both left with 20 lbs. of apples, cider, and the obligatory cider doughnut.