By Claire Frost
We hope you enjoy this guide to making the most of fall.
Step One: Get Your Apples
B.J. Reece Apple House in Ellijay offers U-Pick Orchards. Guests can enjoy picking Red Delicious, Braeburn and other varieties. For the young, and the young at heart, BJ’s offers an apple cannon and a petting zoo for entertainment. Special treats are available from the on-site bakery.
R&A Orchards in Ellijay presents tours and apple picking every weekend during September and has a market that sells homemade items like dressings and salsas, which are great to bring home. From the Futch Family table to your table!
Panorama Orchards in Ellijay is a fruit farm that has been in business since the 1920s and boasts an apple packing plant with storage for up to 10,000 bushels! With the abundance of space, they offer 20 varieties of apples that pair beautifully with their line of baked goods, including the newest addition: homemade fudge.
Step Two: Get Things Cookin’
Homey Aromas
From Nitasha Ginn
Home brew potpourri by boiling the following:
1 apple, cut into eight slices
1 medium orange peel
1 teaspoon cloves
2 cinnamon sticks
4 cups water
Bring to a boil and reduce heat to simmer on the stove. Water can be added every 30-60 minutes as needed throughout the day and stored in the fridge overnight and used again. One batch is good for a full weekend of that amazing apple-cider smell.
Spiked Cider
From Claire Frost
If you want to kill two birds with one cinnamon-flavored stone, you can take the aroma recipe mentioned above and change it just a little. Because I love you, I’ll let you in on my famous cider recipe.
Gallon of cider
1 orange, cut into circular slices
4 cinnamon sticks
1 tablespoon cloves
White wine of your choice
Let the items simmer in a crockpot on low all day. Lid off: Smells great and drink as needed. Lid on: Store overnight for a whole weekend of “yum!”
Simple Apple Pie
From: Jessica Owens-Pannell
Apples
Store bought pie crust
Ground cinnamon
Lemon juice
Brown sugar
Allspice
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Core and slice apples into eight slices, then split those slices into 2-3 pieces each. Toss in cinnamon, allspice, brown sugar, and lemon juice and pop them in the oven on a low setting while you work on your dough. (By “work on” I mean unpack a refrigerated pie crust from the store and place into a pie skillet.) Pull out the apples and place into the pie. Then top with the other crust and bake.
When preparing the top crust, get fancy. Cut slices and weave or braid. (That’s what I like to do.) Then brush with butter and bake.
Apple Pie Slices
From Amanda Buczek
¼ cup packed light brown sugar
1 teaspoon apple pie spice, additional ¼ teaspoon apple pie spice
3 tablespoons melted butter
1 small Granny Smith apple, cored and sliced
1 (8-ounce) can crescent rolls
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Combine sugar, apple pie spice into a bowl and set aside. Core, peel and slice apples into eight slices. Toss apples in melted butter. Arrange crescent rolls triangles on parchment paper and evenly sprinkle brown sugar mixture onto triangles. Sprinkle chopped pecans on top of triangles and then place one apple slice at the large end. Roll the crescent around each apple. Brush with remaining butter and sprinkle with a little apple pie spice or cinnamon/brown sugar mixture. Bake for 10-12 minutes.
Step Three: Get Crafty with the Apples of Your Eyes (Your Kids!)
Apple Toes
To keep the kids entertained and stick with the “core” trend (Get it?) you can make apple crafts! Simply paint the kiddos’ tootsies red and place onto a piece of paper. Add in a little embellishment for the stems and you have an adorable set of apples to adorn your fridge.
Popsicle Stick Apple Cores
Glue three Popsicle sticks together for the perfect apple core. Then glue green or red semi circles cut from construction paper to the top and the bottom of the three sticks. It’s starting to look like an apple, right? Just dot a few seeds in the middle of the sticks. Add a green construction paper leaf, brown twine in a loop for a stem and you’re finished! Now your little apple core can hang from any spot in the house.
Tissue Paper Core
Draw black seeds on a toilet paper dowel. Stuff red tissue paper into the top and bottom. Glue a green construction paper leaf onto the top. 3-D apple core!
Floating Apple Boats
Anyone who has ever bobbed for apples knows that apples float. Slice them in half and place make-shift sails in the top using paper and wooden dowels and you’ve got your very own floating ship battalion.
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