Farmhouse Kitchen, November 2023
We are having the most glorious fall! In between our son’s football games, cooler temperatures and all the great fall activities, it feels like our favorite parts of the year fall into these few months. With that in mind, we tend to have weekends packed to the gills with memory-making fun.
The inspiration for this month’s recipes came from our recent visit to a local orchard, where we picked up a bushel of late-season apples. Within an hour of arriving home, my first homemade apple pie of the season was cooling on the counter, and I knew I needed to share some of my favorite apple recipes with you.
The perfect fall dessert will always be warm apple pie topped with a huge scoop of vanilla ice cream. For appearance’s sake, I suppose you should let it cool. That said, I still recommend giving it a heaping helping of ice cream the moment the pie comes out of the oven so the ice cream melts when it touches the apples. It’s simple, seasonal and bursting with flavor. Simple Apple Pie brings you all the flavor you crave with easy, no-fuss preparation.
Chances are you’ve heard of adding applesauce to cake recipes to reduce the amount of fat and keep the cake moist, but most folks don’t realize you can do the same thing with apple butter. As a bonus, apple butter gives you a stronger apple flavor. That’s why Apple Butter Cake is so delicious. Topped with apple butter cream cheese icing, you have a guaranteed crowd-pleaser.
Rounding out the apple recipes I hope you try soon, I am honored to share Apple Enchiladas from Sara Buck. Sara is from Emelle in Sumter County and is known for her delicious creations. She and her husband, Pat, are longtime leaders in the Alabama Farmers Federation (Pat was county president for nearly four decades!) and are familiar faces at Federation events.
Her recipe for Apple Enchiladas was originally shared in the May 2005 Neighbors. This unique dessert is a cousin to apple pie but takes only minutes to throw together, making it perfect for a weeknight treat.
I hope you take time to get out and enjoy cooler weather, come together with friends and family and remind yourself living is more than work and responsibility. It’s taking time to focus on the source of joy in our own lives — while being a light in the lives of others.
Happy Thanksgiving, y’all!