Apples Apples Everywhere! (some yummy apple recipes!)

At the end of September, the weekend before our beautiful Thanksgiving weekend, Alex and I went apple picking. Apple picking is now my number 2 favourite fall activity - it comes in at a close second behind anything and everything to do with pumpkins - the patch, the carving... I love autumn for pumpkins and all the fun stuff that comes along with them! Of course, living in the lower mainland of British Columbia, there aren't exactly a lot of apple orchards around - we have lots of blackberries and blueberries here, but this isn't really apple country, and I wasn't driving all the way to the Okanagan to pick apples! So, I set out on a quest to find a place to pick apples that wasn't a 4 hour drive away, and I found The Apple Barn out in Abbotsford! While it's still a good 45 minutes away from where we live, it was much closer than our other options, and it was awesome!! While we are now at the tail end of apple season, it might not be of use to you now, but if you ever get a chance to go there, I highly recommend it! (they also have a pumpkin patch and lots of kid friendly things like a corn maze and hay rides, so even if you can't pick apples anymore, it could be worth a look, especially if you live in the closer surrounding areas!)

Now, when we went they had two kinds of apples available for picking, Jonagolds and Fujis. I am by no means an apple connoisseur, but these apples are delicious! We definitely picked way too many though... clearly we have no restraint and ended up with 15 pounds of apples. For Thanksgiving, my mom and I made a delicious jonagold apple pie which my family will attest to be one of the most delicious pies ever, but after eating straight apples for the last 3 weeks, I was looking for something new to do with some of the apples that I have left (I've pawned off so many apples, and I still have 3/4 of a 5 pound bag!)

So, this morning while trying to figure out what I wanted for breakfast, I made some freaking amazing apple cinnamon pancakes. I, being lazy and hungry, just used the good ole' Aunt Jemima pancake mix, but if you are more daring and less hungry than I, you could make the whole mix by scratch of course!

Apple Cinnamon Pancakes: 

3/4 cup of Aunt Jemima Pancake Mix
1/2 of a large egg
1/2 cup of milk
OR Your favourite pancake mix in a box, bag, or made by scratch!

1 small-medium apple (I used fuji because that's what I have left, but anything would work I guess - just don't use one too big or you'll end up with a LOT of apple in your pancakes!)
1 teaspoon of cinnamon (or to taste, I love cinnamon, so I use a lot when I make anything with apples!)
a dash of nutmeg*

* I suppose the nutmeg is optional, but in my opinion, nothing makes apples taste delicious like nutmeg! The pancakes taste like apple pie with the nutmeg in them - just trust me!

It's a pretty simple process, mix together the pancake mix with egg and milk, add spices and then add apple slowly to get it all coated in the mix. When you cook the pancakes, just make sure they aren't too big, as the apples make the mix go a lot further than you'd expect (I got 3 HUGE pancakes out of this, and I definitely couldn't eat all of them!) As I learned, make sure you cook them on a medium heat, as the outside will cook a lot faster than the middle, especially because the apples can get in the way of the middle cooking right through!


If you love apples like I do (which I love them a lot!) then you should definitely give this pancake a try - as a chocolate chip pancake person, I can say that this is up there as one of my favourite fall breakfasts now, and definitely turns a cloudy, cold morning into one a little bit nicer! =)


I have also been using my excess of apples to make mini desserts when I'm craving something sweet, yummy and warm! While on Pinterest one afternoon I came across a recipe for single serve apple crumble in the microwave! It has bascially been life changing, as I love apple pie and apple crumble, and this hits the spot when I don't feel up to baking a whole crumble (which is always!)

I don't have a picture of this, as everytime I make it it's gone in about 5 minutes, but here is the recipe so that if you love apple crumble as much as I do, you don't have to make a whole pan-full and feel guilty about eating it all! =)

Single Serve Apple Crumble! (this comes from a recipe on My Happy Place, although this is my variation after much trial and error, I like to give credit where credit is due!)

1 small-medium apple

2 tbsp. brown sugar

2 1/2 tbsp. oats

1 tbsp. flour

1/4 tsp. cinnamon (or to taste, I often use more than this!)

dash of nutmeg

1 tbsp. of butter, or margarine

Thinly slice the apple and place in a mixing bowl. Add 1 tbsp. brown sugar, 1/2 tbsp. flour, nutmeg and 1/8 tsp. cinnamon. Coat the apples with the dry ingredients and put in a microwave safe dish (any microwave safe bowl will do) Mix together the rest of the dry ingredients; put on top of the apples. Break up the butter into small pieces and place on top. Microwave for 1 1/2 - 2 minutes, or until all the butter is melted. The thinner you slice the apples, the less time it will really need in the microwave, I have found that if you like your apples less mushy and more crunchy, leave them a little thicker, or cut the butter up smaller so that it will melt without the apples cooking to mush (you'd be surprised how fast this happens!)

I hope you are all enjoying this wonderful Autumn as much as I am! Pumpkin time is almost here, I can't wait!

Enjoy apple season, friends!

Blog, and be happy!

Kyleigh.