That most glorious of thunderson family weekends is here...Apple Weekend!




York, Red Delicious, and Golden Delicious


For three days our kitchen will smell of Applesauce, Apple Butter, Apple Cheese Pie, and Apple turnovers.

My wife is the greatest!

I may be able to pry a few jars of something away next week for a karma. More to follow.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: thunderson,

Hell yes!

Forget pumpkin spice muffins and non-fat double-whip vegan soy skinny pumpkin spice lattes with extra sprinkles.

I'll take a slice of hot apple pie and a glass of apple cider, please.

Mrs Thunderson's apple butter is hands down the best i've ever had so consider this a preemptive “i'm in”.

The fall to me means apple butter, and in years past, before my maternal grandmother passed away it meant home made apple crisp.

I was at Wally World the other day here in Kannapolis:

I saw:
Pumpkin flavored Mini Wheats, Frosted Flakes and Special K, not to mention creamers, muffins, twinkies etc..

If it ain't apples then it is time for sweet tater pie.

My Apple Strudel Recipe:

Apple Strudel



2 cups flour
1/2 tsp salt
1 egg,slightly beaten
2 Tbs cooking oil
1/2 cup lukewarm milk
1/4 c butter, melted
1 1/2 cups white bread crumbs,browned in 1/2 cup butter
7 cups tart cooking apples, washed, pared, quartered, thinly sliced
1/4 cup seedless raisins
1/4 cup currant
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 tsp cinnamon
powdered sugar

Sift the flour with salt into a large bowl; make a well in the center & put in the egg & cooking oil. Stir while adding the water gradually to make a soft, rather sticky dough.

Work the dough in the bowl until it comes away from the sides; turn out & knead for about 15 minutes with little or no additional flour. Frequently slap the dough down hand on the board and work it until it is elastic & silky smooth. It must not stick to the hands or board. Form into a ball, set on a clean towel & let rest for 1 hour in a warm spot, covered with a bowl which has been warmed in hot water.

Warm your rolling pin. While the dough is resting, cover the work surface with a cloth and rub in about 1-2 Tablespoon flour, brushing off any excess. Then place the ball of dough in the enter of the cloth & roll with the warm rolling pin into a sheet 1/8" thick. Lift and turn to prevent sticking to the cloth. Take off your rings. Now stretch the dough, using your floured hands, palm side down under the dough. Work carefully, stretching from the center toward the outside. Don't raise your knuckles too high, make a fist and lift from the wrists only. Work gently or you'll puncture the dough. Stretch as thin as possible, moving around the table, unless you can get someone to help you. It should cover the table & hang slightly over the sides of an oval or rectangle about 36" to 40" long and 30" wide. Trim off the edges, which will be a little thick. If you have made a hole, moisten the area around it with a little water and patch with a thin piece of dough from the trimmings. let the dough rest and dry to 15 minutes while you peel, core & slice the apples.

Now brush entire surface with melted butter, then sprinkle with bread crumbs. Mix sliced apples, raisins, currants, sugar & cinnamon. About 3" from on edge of the pastry and running the long way, shape fruit mixture into a bar, leaving 2" margins each side.

Fold 3" end piece of dough over apples then fold the 2" margins in too. Now life the corners of the cloth & let the pastry roll up. Stop after each turn, patting filled pastry to keep bar shape even. Roll until stretched dough is used up. Brush with melted butter & side strudel onto lightly buttered baking sheet, curving it into a U shape.

Bake in a 375 degree oven for about 40 minutes or until golden brown.

Sprinkle with powdered sugar & serve warm. Pan size 10x15".

Serves 10-12


I'm thinking Pizza Mike could do this!

I love this time of year and I look forward to fresh apples, apple pie, apple cider and anything else apple related that I can lay hands on. The summer hasn’t ended until I can walk into my local grocer and deeply inhale the scent of fresh apples from across the store.

We had a bunch of apples one year and made an apple chutney. It was more savory than sweet, but had the sweetness of the apples under it. Delicious.

So many good newer varieties like Honeycrisp, Jazz and Pink Lady but I miss the old standards like Staymen Winesap, Grimes Golden and Wolf River.

"You can keep your Pumpkin Spice..."

I like apples (and apple pie and apple cake) better than pumpkin/pumpkin spice, too, so I recently wrote the following poem in response to a challenge.


Ode to Autumn
By VStarTraveler

Summer is over,
And autumn is here,
The heat's almost gone
And cooler is near.
Geese chart their courses,
As starts the school year.

Leaves, their colors, start to change,
Spooks and goblins, all so strange,
World Series and football, too,
Gosh! There's just so much to do!
Yes, I must admit the Fall's so nice
('cept for that damnable pumpkin spice).

P.S. Instigated in part by someone bringing home pumpkin spice Krispy Kreme doughnuts instead of real Krispy Kreme doughnuts.

last years Michigan apple's were the absolute best.

hope this years are as good

You made my wife's day SpinZone!

Great Recipe Downtownv!

Love the Poem StarTraveler.

I'm not a pumpkin (or sweet potato) person. Several years ago when pumpkin spice stuff started showing up it was novel. Now it's just ridiculous. He who controls the pumpkin spice controls the white girls.

The process has begun!!!

Agreed. I actually bought a Wolf River 15-20 years ago just for pie apples. Small crop but enough for me-the squirrels just need to be dispersed. And I think I finally found my childhood favorite- the tree I used to climb and sit in for hours eating big green sour apples - Bramley. I’m really hoping it takes off for me.

quote:

Originally posted by doublesharp:
So many good newer varieties like Honeycrisp, Jazz and Pink Lady but I miss the old standards like Staymen Winesap, Grimes Golden and Wolf River.