How to cook apples?

[VitoScaletta]

Stewed? In the oven?
I don't do well with complicated recipes and I don't really care for taste, I'm looking for practicality mostly. Though it's a nice bonus if it tastes good of course.

@ecstatichamster @Recoen @Amazoniac

 

[Sphagnum]

If practicality is your main priority then baking would be less prep, less active work (i.e. stirring,) less clean up, possibly faster, possible lower utility usage, easier to transport if you’re taking them with you somewhere.

I would say stewing has more you can do as far as flavors if you eventually get bored with the same thing. It would be as simple as sprinkling something in (cinnamon, ginger, clove, etc) which would be pronounced than sprinkling it on a baked apple.

Personally, the main thing with cooking any apples is getting the right variety of apple. Cooking is going to change the texture, and the variation on how that happens with apples can range from subtle to dramatic.

 

[Eberhardt]

I just slice it fingerthick and fry them in the pan with the meat or just a teespoon butter. Works well

 

[ww3not4me]

When my wife and I just want something fast and simple we will just cut the apple in half and core it often leaving the skin on. Spinkle them with sugar and cinimon and a little bit of vitamin c and pop them in the convection oven for something like 10 minutes. I am talking a table top Nu Wave Convection Oven like thing. You can put some butter on it if you like or eat it as is.

You can peel and slice them and do the same and then serve them with tapioca, rice pudding, bread pudding.

Some people will do the above and stuff them into store bought puff pastry or pie crust etc.....It can be as easy or as complicated as you want to make it.

If you wanted you could dice them up and toss them into a pan with sugar and spices and just cook it down until the sugar carnalizes and starts to crisp.

 

[loess]

Do you have an instant pot? Core apples and slice them in half, put about 1/2 cup of water in the instant pot, set it for ~25 minutes on high pressure. Apples come out soft. Pretty mundane but it does the trick. I either just eat them like that or sometimes I'll mash them up and add sugar and cinnamon to make applesauce.

 

[Zsazsa]

- 4 apples in thin slices (with or without skin)
- 2 cinnamon sticks
- 4 cloves

Put everything in a pot, cover with water and let it boil for about 15 minutes. I holds for a week in the refrigerator in an air-tight jar.

 

[ww3not4me]

Do you have an instant pot? Core apples and slice them in half, put about 1/2 cup of water in the instant pot, set it for ~25 minutes on high pressure. Apples come out soft. Pretty mundane but it does the trick. I either just eat them like that or sometimes I'll mash them up and add sugar and cinnamon to make applesauce.

I like my apple sauce kind of chunky, not sweetened and strong of spice! So my wife peels them and dices them up into the crock pot they go. I have type 2 diabetes. It is funny though I was still @ university when my Dad became diabetic and I gave up sugar in tea, coffee, stopped drinking pop/soda/fizzy drinks etc....So a good 20 years before I became diabetic I gave up sugar. So most things are simply too sweet for my liking. I grew up in Germany 1979-1991 so most food was not 1/3 as sweet as it is in the USA. So I find most fruits especialy if you cook them down are sweet enough with no added sugar.

So for Christmas and Thanksgiving dinner I will actual make pies and such with white sugar and brown sugar but a lot less. I often use 1/3 as much sugar in most pies and no one can tell.

 

[Lilac]

From The German Cookbook, by Mimi Sheraton:

"Although a recipe for this is hardly necessary, it is such an important item on German menus, it seemed a good idea to point out a few things about making it. Do not use apples that are too sour and do use apples that have red skins. (Macintosh apples make superb applesauce.) The skins should be cooked with the fruit, as they add color, flavor, and vitamin content of sauce. Apples should be washed, quartered and cored, then cooked in as little water as possible, about 1/2 cup water to 1 1/2 pounds fruit. Add a strip or two of lemon peel and 1/4 cup sugar, cover pot, and simmer until fruit just begins to fall apart. Do not overbook. Puree through a sieve and flavor with more sugar as needed."

Other flavorings she recommends; lemon juice, white wine, a few cloves, 1/2 cinnamon stick; or add cinnamon powder after cooking, or vanilla.

The lemon peel is fantastic. I like a couple of cloves in the cooking pot. Then I add powdered cinnamon when it's finished. I don't sieve it any longer, as I like chunky applesauce. And since getting into Peat, I don't add the skins (pesticides). But red skins do make the sauce beautifully pink.

 

[Zsazsa]

Before and after cooking

I love to eat it with honey (this is why I cook it without sugar) and cottage cheese, also goes well inside a tapioca or omelette wrap ?

 

[VitoScaletta]

Thank you

 

[johnsmith]

I boil mcintosh apples apples in a pot with a lid on it, a small amount of water, and 1tbs of maple syrup and a bit of cream and cinnamon.

Does anyone else find that eating baked apples is hard on their teeth? I started adding a bit of baking soda to my boiled apples, and based on the reaction that takes place from doing so, it seems apples are incredibly acidic.