How about them apples?

I'm a HUGE fan of apples and, along with that, of apple picking. I usually go every autumn. This year we got into the late part of the season before I planned the extended family apple picking outing. There was one Saturday when we had just enough time to get a trip in and still get kiddos back for soccer practice as needed. Then Puddin' got invited to a birthday party for that very same day. The little tot has a rather limited social life so in this case her event trumped mine. I was bummed: no trip to the countryside, no apples, no family time. The rest of the gang went without us and from what I heard, enjoyed themselves. More importantly, they brought us apples!

Apples that haven't been to the grocery store taste marvelously free. I've been slowly snacking my way through my bag (apples with honey, apples with peanut butter, apples and pancakes, and of course just plain apples) but yesterday I started baking. The apples have peaked so now it's a race against time to enjoy their goodness while it's still there. So far I've made apple cake with walnuts (moist, tasty, needs a caramel or streussel topping) and apple cinnamon scones (made into an appropriate breakfast food with the addition of whole wheat flour and some ground flax seed.)

My parents bought themselves a tool but it arrived after they'd finished all their apple recipes so I'm testing the gadget. For those who don't know, let me introduce the Apple Master.

This gal does three jobs - she cores the apple (although you can remove the corer), she peels it, and she slices the apple into one long spiral (kinda like a curly fry.) The peel comes off in one long, even, curly strip which would be lovely to do something with except for the fact that I have no idea what to do with just apple peel. The one downside I've found is that the apples (which have been off the tree for two weeks so they're a little sensitive) get a bit mealy with all that man-handling.

Given the easy apple prep, I'm ready to keep on baking. My family, most of whom don't like apples as much as I do, might not be able to keep up with me. Just about the time the dear darlings hit their limit I'll pull out the crockpot and whip up a batch of apple butter, which makes apple-y goodness last until next year's crop is ready for me to pick.