It’s clearly the peak of apple-pie season—and just as clearly apple pie is one of the miracles we encounter every once in a while on earth, like good flower gardens and cheerful toddlers. But let’s say you want to decide between all the easy and difficult apple-pie and apple-pie-like recipes, and you wanted someone to line them all up for you. What then? Well then read this!
Haralson Apple PieOkay everyone loves a totally basic apple pie, and for some reason every online recipe says Granny Smith. Not Granny Smith in Minnesota, though! In Minnesota we use Haralson, Regent, Jonagold, Keepsake, or Fireside which is also known as Connell Red. Those are our pie apples! Which any orchard should tell you. After that, all you need is a good crust, and you’re golden. Is this the year you perfect your lattice crust? Do it!
Barefoot Contessa’s French Apple TartYou can do this with store-bought puff pastry, or you can make your own if you’re ambitious. What a pretty way to use apples!
Brown Butter Custard Apple TartI love a brown butter custard, and for this tart you’re basically making a simple custard, pouring it into a tart shell, and then placing apples in the custard. At the end you get something spectacularly rich and lovely. As you deserve!
Cinnamon Apple CrumbleMy sixth grader has discovered crumbles over the summer so we are crumbling everything—peach crumble, pear crumble, blueberry crumble. If you got it, we’ll crumble it. If you don’t know, crumble is when you make little crumbs of butter, flour, and a brown or other sugar, and you toss them on your fruit and bake. You can make a bottom crust if you’re feeling fancy, or just crumble and bake, if you’re willing to serve with a spoon. Crumbles forever!