When it starts getting dark earlier in the afternoon, the leaves start getting brighter and more colorful, and there is a distinct chill in the air during the night, you know autumn is on its way. During September, there is a glorious list of seasonal ingredients to cook with. Butternut squash, wild mushrooms, aubergines, quinces, plums, pumpkins…and, of course, apples. This delicious and flavoursome food should be enjoyed before the long nights of winter set in.
These recipes using apples are super satisfying and bursting with seasonal flavours. Apples are equally satisfying in sweet and savoury dishes. In croatia, they have been most often used for pies and strudel, a dish that once belonged to the Austro-Hungarian empire. While apple strudel is the most common dessert in Croatian households, in this article we are offering you three different ideas for cooking with apples.
Apple mousse
- 5 apples
- 100 ml whipping cream
- 2 sticks of cinnamon
- ½ tsp powdered cinnamon
- 4 tbsp honey
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- Walnuts
- Wash apples, peel them, cut in half and core them. Cook in boiling water with 2 sticks of cinnamon for 20 minutes. Take them out and puree in your blender. Add cinnamon, honey and vanilla.
- Whip cream until stiff peaks form and combine with apple puree.
- Serve in glasses. Garnish with some walnuts and powdered cinnamon.
Caramel apples
- 200 g sugar
- 100 ml heavy cream
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 30 g butter
- 100 g dark chocolate
- 1 tbsp sunflower oil
- 8-10 apples
- Sticks or twigs
- Chopped nuts
- Wash apples in warm water, wipe them and remove the stem from each apple. Press a twig (or a craft stick) into the top and let cool in the regrigerator.
- Cook the caramel: melt sugar on low heat until it completely dissolves and becomes light amber in colour. Remove from heat, add heavy cream and be very careful because the caramel is extremely hot. Place the mixture onto medium heat again and cook until it becomes uniform and all the caramel completely dissolves. Add butter and vanilla extract. Let cool slightly and dip apples into it.
- Roll apples into chopped nuts immediately, while the caaramel is still warm. Line apples onto a baking sheet so that the caramel part does not stick to any surface. Refrigerate.
- Melt chocolate on low heat, add oil. Sprinkle chocolate over cooled apples.
Apple pies
For the crust
- 350 g all purpose flour
- 1 tsp salt
- 2 tbsp sugar
- 225 g cold, unsalted butter, cut into cubes
- ¼ cup (60 ml) ice water
For the filling
- 5 apples
- 100 g brown sugar
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 1 tsp lemon zest
- 1 tbso melted butter
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 15 g cornstarch
- Combine flour, salt and sugar. Add butter and mix until the mixture resembles coarse meal. Slowly add water, mix for about 30 seconds, just until the dough comes together. Cover it with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 1 hour.
- Wash apples, peel and cut into tiny dices. Add cinnamon, sugar, lemon zest and juice, vanilla, melted butter and cornstarch. Stir to combine.
- Preheat oven to 356 F (180 C). Grease muffin tins.
- On a floured surface, roll out the chilled dough to about 0.1-inch (3 mm) thickness. Using circle cutters (or a glass) cut out the dough. You will need 2 sizes: bottom part will be larger and top a bit smaller. Take the bottom circle and press it gently into a muffin cup. Fill it with apple mixture, to the top. Put smaller circle on top of your mini pie, press edges with fork or your fingers.
- Using a sharp knife, make slits in the center of each pie.
- Bake for about 40 minutes, until nicely golden.
