Apple Harvest- Sweet

If you’re lucky enough to have had a great Apple crop, and you’re wondering about what to do with all of them, here are a few ideas.

My favourite apple dishes are apple cake and apple crumble. For the apple cake, I make large quantities, and I bake them in the little foil containers that Chinese food comes in. This way you can cover and freeze, and pop in the oven. Particularly good if you have unexpected guests.

I cut up the apples, and cover the base of the pan/foil dish. I sprinkle a bit of sugar over the apples, depending on whether they were cooking of eating apples – a lot or a little. Sometimes it’s nice to use a dark brown sugar. You could also sprinkle some cinnamon or ground allspice over the apples. Preheat your over to about 150-170C. Make a typical butter sponge mix – you can find a recipe on the net. Add a little milk to the mix to make it runny. Pour over the apples and place in the oven. Bake till brown on top and a knife or skewer comes out clean.

As for the crumble, I like to peel, and chop the apples, and toss them into a ziplock bag, and freeze them. I also make a large quantity of Crumble topping. Then if I need a tasty dessert in a hurry, it’s very easy to assemble a delicious crumble which will defrost and cook in a jiffy. These chopped and frozen apples can also be used to make apple sauce, apple tart, or if you run out of chutney, there’s no reason why you can’t work with frozen apples to make more.