All About Apples

Cook of the Month 
Gayle Fowler, Joe Wheeler EMC

A few years ago, Gayle Fowler’s neighbor had an abundance of apples and shared them with her. Looking for an apple  recipe her family would like, Gayle checked Pinterest and found a variation on her husband’s favorite Strawberry Pretzel Salad, using apples, but “it wasn’t that great.” So she took the apple filling from that recipe and added her own cream cheese layer and her own pretzel layer, and came up with this month’s winning recipe for Apple Cinnamon Pretzel Salad. “My family says it tastes like fall,” she says. Does she use it for a side dish or dessert?  “Yes!” says the retired elementary school teacher with a laugh. “It can be versatile. Some eat it as a salad and others like it for dessert.” Gayle, who taught school in Decatur for 27 years, now lives in Moulton. She loves to cook “and make people happy,” especially when it comes to cooking, canning or freezing vegetables from her husband’s garden. 

-Lenore Vickrey

Apple Cinnamon Pretzel Salad

Apple Cinnamon Layer:

• 4 Granny Smith apples, peeled, diced into small pieces
• 1½ cups water
• ¾ cup sugar
• ¼ cup cornstarch
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 tablespoon lemon  juice
• Cream Layer:
• 1 8-ounce package cream cheese, softened
• ¾ cup sugar
• 1 9-ounces Cool Whip

Pretzel Layer:

• 2 cups pretzels, crushed
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• ¾ cup margarine/butter

Layer 1/Pretzel Layer: Melt margarine or butter. Add sugar and pretzels, mix well. Spread in 9×13-inch baking dish. Bake at 400 degrees for 8 minutes. Cool.

Layer 2/Cream Layer: Mix cream cheese and sugar well. Fold in Cool Whip. Spread over cooled pretzel crust.

Layer 3/Apple Cinnamon Layer: In a medium saucepan, over low heat, bring water, cornstarch, sugar, cinnamon and lemon juice to a boil, stirring constantly. Continue stirring until sauce thickens, about 3-4 minutes. Add diced apples, stir and let simmer for 8-10 minutes. Remove from heat and let cool completely. Spread on top of cream layer.

Cook’s note: I found the apple layer takes a while to cool. Make it first and set aside to cool. Then, make your pretzel layer and allow to cool. Last, make the cream layer.

Fresh Apple Dapple Cake

• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• ½ teaspoon ground nutmeg
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 1½ cups vegetable oil
• 1½ cups granulated sugar
• ½ cup brown sugar
• 3 large eggs
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 4 large Granny Smith apples
• 1 cup walnuts or pecans, chopped

Glaze:

• 3 tablespoons butter
• 3 tablespoons brown sugar
• 3 tablespoons granulated sugar
• 3 tablespoons heavy cream
• ½ teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Place rack in upper third of oven. Grease and flour 9×13-inch baking pan. Sift flour, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt in a medium bowl then sift a second time. In a bowl of a stand mixer with a paddle attachment, mix vegetable oil with both sugars until well mixed. With mixer running, add one egg at a time. Once mixed, add vanilla, mix and scrape the bowl. Slowly add the dry ingredients with mixer running on low, scraping the bowl. Peel, core and cut apples into bite-sized pieces. Fold apples into batter. Fold the walnuts into batter, than spread the batter evenly into prepared pan. Bake in oven for 45-50 minutes until toothpick comes out clean.

As soon as the cake comes out of the oven, put all the glaze ingredients into a saucepan and bring to a boil. Boil and stir with a wooden spoon continuously for one minute. Remove from heat and pour glaze over top of warm cake. Cool the cake or serve warm. May cut into 12 servings.

Sarah Jane Koehler, Baldwin EMC

Apple Praline Bread

• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1 8-ounce carton sour cream
• 2 eggs
• 2 teaspoons vanilla
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• ½ teaspoon baking soda
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 1¼ cups tart apples, peeled, cored and chopped
• ¼ cup pecans, chopped
• ¼ cup butter
• ¼ cup packed brown sugar

In a large mixing bowl, beat together granulated sugar, sour cream, eggs and vanilla on slow speed of an electric blender until combined, then beat on medium speed for 2 minutes. Stir together flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Add to sour cream mixture, beating on slow speed until combined. Stir in apples and ½ cup of the pecans. Turn into a greased 9x5x3-inch loaf pan. Sprinkle with remaining pecans, press lightly into batter. Bake at 250 degrees for 55-60 minutes or until a tookpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool pan on wire rack for 10 minutes. Meanwhile, in a small saucepan, combine butter and brown sugar; mix and stir until mixture comes to a boil. Reduce heat and boil gently for 1 minute. Remove bread from pan. Drizzle top with brown sugar mixture; cool.

Betty J Casey, Dixie EC

Apple Dumplings

• 1 stick (1/2 cup) margarine, melted
• ¾ cup brown sugar
• 1 cup Sprite
• 1 tube Pillsbury Crescent Rolls
• 1 large Granny Smith apple

Open crescent rolls and pull apart into triangles. Peel, core and cut apple into 8 slices. Place 1 apple slice on the large end of a crescent roll and roll up. Place in a large baking dish ½-inch apart. Pour the liquid mixture over rolls. Bake at 350 degrees, 30-40 minutes. Rolls will be golden brown on top. Serve warm.

Diane Jenkins, Black Warrior EMC

Old Fashioned Apple Crisp

• 4 apples cored, peeled and diced (Honeycrisp apples preferred)
• 1 stick cold butter
• 1 cup white sugar
• 1 cup of self-rising flour
• 3 tablespoons light brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/2 cup water

Butter a 9×13-inch baking dish. Mix together flour and white sugar; cut in the cold butter until crumbly. Place diced apples into baking dish, sprinkle brown sugar on top, then butter, flour and sugar mixture. Drizzle 1/2 cup water over and bake for 35-45 minutes at 375 degrees. Serve with a scoop of vanilla ice cream and a drizzle of caramel on top.

Lauren Tidwell, Joe Wheeler EMC

Crockpot Apple Butter

• 6 pounds apples, cored and peeled
• 1 cup packed light brown sugar
• 1/3 cup white sugar
• 1½ cups water
• 1/3 cup lemon juice
• 1½ teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
• 1 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1½ teaspoons cinnamon
• ¼ teaspoon ground cloves
• Pinch of salt

Peel, core and slice apples. Add all ingredients into a slow cooker. Mix to coat apples in all ingredients. Cook on low for 4-6 hours, or until apples are mushy. Use an immersion blender or remove contents and pour into a blender and blend until smooth. Keep refrigerated. Serve with toast or biscuits.

Maddi Cagle, Franklin EC

Apple Pie

• 4-6 large Granny Smith apples, peeled and sliced
• 1 pie dough or pre-prepared crust
• 1 cup granulated sugar, divided
• 3 teaspoons cinnamon
• 3/4 cup all- purpose flour
• 1/3 cup butter, softened

Arrange peeled and sliced Granny Smith apples in a pastry-lined pie pan. Sprinkle ½ cup sugar and cinnamon over apples. Sift together ½ cup sugar and ¾ cup flour. Cut sugar/flour topping mixture and 1/3 cup soft butter with pastry blender until crumbly.  Sprinkle over apples. Bake at 375 degrees for 40 to 50 minutes.

Elizabeth Mosley, Pioneer EC

The Buttered Home

Apple season means that fall is right around the corner! I am usually done with summer by the first of July, so this really has me excited. We have a ton of apple recipes over at thebutteredhome.com and this is one of our favorites. We use applesauce and sugar replacements to sweeten this delicious cake. And you will have to trust me that no one will know the difference. In fact, don’t take my word for it, make it and see!

Healthier Refined Sugar-Free Apple Cake

• 4 cups sliced apples
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon 
• 1/3 cup Swerve brown sugar
• 3 eggs
• 2 cups applesauce, unsweetened
• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 2 teaspoons vanilla
• 3 cups wheat flour
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 cup Swerve granulated sugar

   Preheat oven to 350. Grease a 9×13-inch casserole or cake pan. In a medium bowl, mix sliced or chopped apples, cinnamon, and brown sugar replacement, coating well.

In a large bowl, mix eggs, applesauce, butter and vanilla.
Mix well.

   In another bowl, mix whole wheat flour, salt, baking soda and granulated sugar substitute. Whisk or sift to combine. Slowly add dry ingredients to wet ingredients and combine.     Do not overmix.

   Add half of the cake batter to the prepared pan. Top with half of the prepared apples and spread as evenly as possible. Add last half of cake batter and top with remainder of apples, distributing both as evenly as possible.

   Bake 45 to 60 minutes, checking often. Cake will be done when it reaches an internal temperature of 205 degrees. Cool before serving.