Photos by Mark Burstyn
Delicious apple recipes
Whether you buy them at the market or grow your own, try one of our recipes using this delicious and nutritious fall fruit
The heady, sweet smell of freshly baked apple desserts reminds me of mothers. My mother loves apples and for years her signature fall and winter treat was a wonderful upside-down apple cake served with a warm caramel sauce. In fact, whenever we moved while I was growing up, one of
my mom’s first gardening projects was to plant a couple of Cortland apple trees so she would have a supply of fruit at the ready.
Of the more than 7,000 known and catalogued apple species, only about two dozen are well known, widely cultivated and sold in significant numbers in Canada. And, of this small number of apples, only a few have the right texture and consistency for use in recipes. Although many people define a cooking apple as one that is used primarily in recipes rather than eating fresh, many of my favourite cooking apples—Granny Smith, Cortland, Spartan and McIntosh—are also my favourites for snacking. By my definition, an apple qualifies as good for cooking and baking if it has a tangy flavour and a firm flesh that softens but doesn’t break down too much when cooked. For applesauce and apple butter, I have another category that I call “sauce apples;” these apples, Gravenstein and Empire, for example, are flavourful and cook down to a pulpy consistency.
On my dinner table, all of these kinds of apples turn up cooked not only in desserts but also in many savoury recipes where they add just the right texture, depth and sweetness. And while I don’t have my own apple tree, every time I cook with apples I am filled with a wonderful feeling of comfort—the kind only mothers can give.
**Menu**
**Brandied Apple Pecan Pie**
**Caramel Apples**
**Butterflied Sausages Onions Apples
**Braised Red Cabbage-apples**
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