Skip to main content

4 best apple recipes to make after picking

September is ripe for apple picking. It’s a super fun family-friendly activity ideal for late summer and fall. There’s something exciting about picking this kid-favorite fruit right off the branch, but once you’ve picked a couple of baskets full what do you do with all those apples? Sure, the apples look amazingly inviting in decorative bowls on your counter. Leave the apples too long though and you’ll have a pile of rotten ones. The solution is to find yummy recipes to make with your apples. There’s no need to search the internet for the best apple recipes. Here are four of the best recipes to make with apples that the whole family will enjoy and the kiddos can help make, too. It all starts with some delicious homemade applesauce.

Two girls helping mom with an apple recipe
Image used with permission by copyright holder

Applesauce

Ingredients

  • 8 to 10 apples (choose your favorites or whatever have been picked)
  • 1 cup of water
  • 1 teaspoon of cinnamon
  • 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract

Directions

  • Peel and cut apples into one inch or smaller pieces
  • Place in a medium-sized sauce pan
  • Add water
  • Stir in cinnamon and vanilla extract
  • Cover and cook until apples are soft
  • Remove from heat and mash using a masher or place in a blender if prefer a non-chunky applesauce
  • Cool and eat or store in covered container

Apple pancakes

Ingredients

  • 1 cup flour
  • 1 egg
  • 1 teaspoon baking power
  • 1 teaspoon cinnamon
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1 tablespoon melted butter
  • 1 cup milk
  • 1 cup applesauce

Directions

  • Combine flour, baking powder, cinnamon in a medium-sized mixing bowl
  • Stir in gently whisked egg, melted butter, and vanilla extract
  • Stir in milk
  • Slowly spoon in applesauce and stir until combined
  • Heat up non-stick pancake pan
  • Using and ice cream scoop to spoon on pancake batter
  • When pancake batter begins to bubble flip
  • Serve warm with maple syrup if desired

Apple Muffins

Ingredients

  • 1 1/2 cups of flour (can use wheat flour too)
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1 teaspoon cinnamon
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1 egg

2 tablespoons melted butter

  • 1/2 cup milk
  • 1/2 cup applesauce

Directions

  • Preheat oven to 350°
  • Spray muffin pan with non-stick cooking spray or line with cupcake liners (use cupcake pan if don’t have a muffin pan)
  • Combine flour, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt in medium-sized mixing bowl
  • Stir in beaten egg and melted butter
  • Add vanilla extract
  • Slowly add in milk
  • Spoon in applesauce
  • Stir being careful not to over mix
  • Spoon into muffin pans filling each one about 3/4 full
  • Bake for 15 to 18 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean
  • Serve warm
  • Can store in fridge or freeze

Apple crisps

Ingredients

  • 4 apples
  • cinnamon

Directions

  • Preheat oven to 200°
  • Line two or three cookies sheets with parchment paper
  • Wash and core apples
  • Slicing horizontally, cut the apples into thin slices
  • Arrange on parchment paper
  • Sprinkle with cinnamon to taste
  • Place in oven, cooking for one hour
  • Remove from oven and turn slices
  • Cook for an additional hour
  • Turn off the oven and allow to continue to crisp in oven for another hour (if prefer crispier slices, allow to cook for an additional 1/2 hour before cooling in oven)
  • Remove from oven to cool at room temperature

Apple snacking suggestions

An apple a day can’t necessarily keep the doctor away as the age-old saying goes, but apples are a healthy snack packed with antioxidants, fiber, and water. Snacking on apples is a great choice for kids and adults, too. Here are a couple of other easy snacking suggestions for those apples your family picks this September.

Apple slices

Ingredients

  • apples
  • toppings (peanut butter, Nutella, cookie butter, sun butter, granola, or any other toppings your kiddos might enjoy on top of an apple)

Directions

  • Wash and core apples
  • Slice apples
  • Spread peanut butter, yogurt, or desired topping onto apple slice
  • Top with strawberries, bananas, granola, or desired topping
  • Serve

Baked apples

Ingredients

  • 6 to 8 apples
  • 2 tablespoons brown sugar
  • 2 tablespoons cinnamon
  • 1 tablespoon nutmeg
  • 1 cup water

Directions

  • Preheat oven to 350°
  • Grease large baking dish with butter or cooking spray
  • Wash and core apples
  • Slice apples
  • Arrange apples in baking dish
  • Add water
  • Whisk brown sugar, cinnamon, and nutmeg together
  • Sprinkle over apples
  • Place in oven, cooking for 30 minutes (can add additional water if need)
  • Serve warm with ice cream, whipped cream, or plain

Picking apples in late summer or early fall is a perfect family-friendly activity kids of all ages and adults can enjoy. Once you get the apples home, though, you don’t want to leave them sitting on the counter until they get too mushy to eat. Apples are an excellent healthy snack for the entire family as is, but there are a lot of delicious and simple apple recipes, too. Homemade apple sauce is healthy and yummy. It can also be used to add a twist to pancakes and muffins. You can make applesauce healthier by skipping sugar as an additive. Then, when you spoon it into pancake and muffin batter, an added sweetener like sugar is unnecessary. After you and your family head to the apple orchard, have fun in the kitchen whipping up one or more of these tasty recipes. You can even get the kids involved in the cooking process giving them a hands-on example of farm-to-table.

Editors' Recommendations

Dawn Miller
Dawn Miller began her professional life as an elementary school teacher before returning to her first love, writing. In…
Kids of all ages can make these easy and delicious meals for Mom on Mother’s Day
Whip up these Mother's Day meals for a thoughtful and tasty gift for Mom
Yummy Mother's Day pancakes on a tray spelling Mom

Mother's Day has a long history, and celebrating moms on the second Sunday in May is a spring tradition. Many kids typically honor their moms and all the wonderful things they do with flowers or brunch out. If you're looking for different Mother's Day gift ideas, why make Mom a special meal?

Mother's Day meals can be a wonderful way to show Mom how much you appreciate her. Cooking her a delicious meal on Mother's Day makes for a gift that comes straight from the heart. It's also a Mother's Day gift idea the whole family can create together.

Read more
The best chores for kindergartners: Teach responsibility in an age-appropriate way
Kindergarteners aren't too young for chores — give them responsibility with these tasks
Kindergarten boy watering plants in the garden

Are kindergarteners too young for chores? Absolutely not. If you haven't already started giving your 5-year-old simple chores around the house, now is the perfect time to start. Having chores for kids to do is more than just giving busy parents a hand.

Chores go a long way toward teaching children important life skills. Doing chores actually has a lot of benefits for kids. These household chores teach children responsibility and give them a sense of belonging. Helping with simple tasks around the house also works to improve a child's confidence and self-esteem. Getting kids used to completing those everyday tasks like making the bed and doing laundry will most certainly be prudent when they're ready to head off to college or get out on their own. So, what are the best chores for kindergarteners and young children?
Chores for kindergarteners
Kindergarten is a wonderfully fun age. At the ages of 4, 5, and 6, kids are curious about everything and love to spend time with their parents. Kindergarteners also want to do the things they see their parents doing, which is why it's the ideal time to introduce them to chores.

Read more
These are the best cities for kid-friendly vacations
Highest ranking cities for the best family vacations
Excited family boarding an airplane for family reunion

Planning a vacation for your family is stressful, which is ironic since vacations are supposed to ease your stress, not cause more of it! But, we all know that booking something the entire family is going to love is no easy feat and often results in you needing a vacation from your vacation.

But if the pandemic has taught us anything, it's how important it is to take that time as a family to enjoy each other's company outside of the normal stresses of everyday life. If you need a little help deciding where to go for vacation this year, Lawn Love has come up with a list of the best cities for kid-friendly vacations that's sure to inspire your family travel plans.
Criteria
Lawn Love looked at "publicly available data" around different factors when creating this ranking. When examining 200 of the biggest cities in the U.S., it created the following six categories to help make its rankings include staying, eating, having fun, getting around, affordability, and safety. These categories were assigned a weighted score, and the totals were averaged for the final ranking to come up with the best family vacation ideas.

Read more