Sweet Cooked Apples

More and more apple stuff! I know, this whole week has revolved around apples, and it just keeps getting better. I realized last night that this weekend, my hometown is having their annual Apple Festival. I’m so excited, and it’s another reason to get pumped up about eating healthy. Well, ok, so not all of the food I’m going to be eating this weekend will be healthy, but apples do have their benefits. Check out my last post on their nutrition.

I never really thought about how many different ways you could use apples in cooking. At the festival, some of the different food booths sell apple dumplings (which are completely amazing!), apple fritters, apple burgers, apple pancakes, caramel apples, chocolate covered apple-ka-bobs, and of course, apple pie. I just expect all of these tasty treats to be fabulous, but did you know that different types of apples are used for different food textures and tastes?

For a list of many different apples and cooking uses, check this site out.

Most often, people view apples as crisp or soft. A great crisp apple is the Red Delicious. This apple is commonly known to be very hard. It is great for a fresh snack with dipping caramel. It’s not good for baking because it doesn’t cook down and loses some of its flavor.

A common cooking apple that people are familiar with is Jonathan. When cooked in pies, it is a soft apple, but it holds its shape and brings out a wonderful sweet/tart flavor. Some people think that this apple is the best for baking because it’s not mushy and makes scrumptious pies.

Another common cooking and eating apple is Golden Delicious. It is much softer than the Red Delicious but is still crisp when eaten fresh. When baked, it has a soft texture. Golden Delicious is definitely my favorite apple because it is very sweet and easy to peel and slice. It makes great apple dumplings! Here’s my recipe.

If you haven’t experimented with different types of apples, you should. It’s fun to see what apples you really like best, and it’s a great way to get a healthier dessert. For other apple dessert recipes, click here.