How to Cope with too Many Cooking Apples

I have a slight glut of cooking apples which is particularly edifying when one considers that I don’t have an apple tree! I do however have a generous friend. The apples she’s given me are Bramleys; lovely apples with the useful advantage of being self-puréeing, so an obvious thing to do with too many cooking apples is make …

Apple Sauce

This is so easy I don’t think it can actually be called a recipe.

~  Peel and slice cooking apples.
~  Taste a bit and then sweeten with as much sugar as you see fit. If you’ve no idea then add just a little and adjust with more sugar when the apples are cooked!
~  Put into a large pan with a tablespoon of water. This helps them get started but that’s all you need; too much and the sauce will be runny.
~  Put over a medium heat, cover and cook, stirring every few minutes till you have apple sauce!
~ Taste and stir more sugar as necessary. 

If you have made loads freeze some, it freezes really well and ice cubes are a good idea so that you can thaw just what you need, or add a cube or two to soups, sauces or even cocktails. Or here are some more ideas for leftover or too much apple sauce …

15 Ideas for “leftover” Apple Sauce 

1.   Freeze as ice lollies!
2.   Stir into pork gravy or add to pork braises or stews.
3.   Fold into mashed potato to serve with ham, pork or  bacon.
4.   Add to pumpkin or other squash soups – delicious!
5.   Spread into bacon, ham or pork sarnies.
6.   Spread on the toast before the cheese when making  Cheese on Toast.
7.   Mix into mayonnaise – this makes a great dressing for  coleslaw. Lots of ways to flavour mayonnaise here.
8.   Add to braised red cabbage.
9.   Make little apple tarts or turnovers with leftover pastry scraps.
10. Use instead of jam to fill a Vicky Sponge, scones and  similar.
11.  Make an Apple Crumble, Cobbler or Sponge – recipes here. (Incidentally you can make one of these without cooking the apples first – they will break down just fine as the topping is cooking – see here for Christmas Apple Crumble and here for Toffee Apple Crumble which is so good!
12. Apple Crumble Sundae – layer up apple sauce and cooked crumble mix (bake it on a baking tray for a few minutes in a medium oven till crisp), or use leftover Apple Crumble, with ice cream.
13. Stir into yogurt or porridge for breakfast.
14. Dollop into rice pudding
15.  “They do say” that fat in baked goods can be replaced  by apple sauce but I’ve not tried it myself yet.

Devonshire Apple Dappy

When I posted this I had the most visits to my blog ever and was very confused. Read here for the Apple Dappy recipe

My apple dappy post was surprisingly popular (to me at least) and here is explanation of its popularity. 

And this which I don’t think I’ve mentioned here before and which my sister and I concocted years and years ago when we were baby chefs …

Cornish Apple Cribbly

This is a superb way of using up leftover bread and apples at the same time. 

~  Peel and dice an apple and toss with sugar to coat.
~  Have ready about the same quantity of similarly diced stale or leftover bread (and in this case white bread is probably best).
~  Melt a knob of butter and cook the sugary apple in it till it is softening and browning and oozing lovely caramelly juices.
~  Use a slotted to spoon to remove the apple from the pan and set aside.
~  Add the diced bread to the pan and cook till the juices have been absorbed and the bread is turning crisp and golden.
~  Return the apple, toss all together and serve immediately with ice cream or cream, preferably of the clotted persuasion.

Creative Ways to Use Up Leftovers

Several of these ideas are included in my book. If these are just some of the suggestions I can think of for Bramley apples don’t you wonder what ideas I have for the other 450 potential leftovers? 

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