THE APPLES OF THEIR EYE

Two area cooks share a slice of their knowledge about the apples they use in their favorite recipes.

Apples are a favorite snack year-round but, come October, their popularity is at its peak with the profusion of fruit available this month.
While most folks just continue to enjoy apples out of hand, some cooks - like Betty Carpenter of LaPorte and Dorothy Haussman of Hobart - are taking advantage of the fruit's versatility by incorporating it into everything from pies and pancakes to pork dishes and pizza.
Every cook has a favorite apple.
For Carpenter, it's the Ida Red.
"It's an all-purpose apple that holds up well, doesn't get soft when cooked and doesn't turn brown as fast as other varieties," she said. "I keep them on hand for the winter in the refrigerator and they stay nice."
Carpenter uses the tangy and tart bright-red fruit in pies, cookies and even as a topper for browned pork chops -"almost anything that calls for a good baker apple," she said.
Haussman swears by Northern Spy, a venerable old apple discovered south of Rochester, N.Y., around the turn of the 19th century.
"It's a good-flavored, all-around apple which doesn't get mushy when cooked," said Haussman, who uses the yellow-green gem with a red blush in her apple pies, apple dumplings, apple coffeecake and sauerkraut.
But other varieties such as Golden Delicious and Granny Smith sometimes crop up in Haussman's German apple pancake and apple dumplings, a "very rich, sweet, good dessert" topped with a sugar-based sauce.
Apples have thrust Carpenter into the culinary spotlight on a couple of occasions.
"I won the apple pie-baking contest sponsored by Garwood Orchards two years ago," she said. "My pie was a little different since it contained lemon juice and grated lemon rind and walnuts, had a streusel topping and crust made with butter."
The apples, however, were Granny Smith, not her signature Ida Red.
But she did use Ida Red in the apple chip cookies with which she copped the top prize in a cookie contest sponsored by her local radio station five years ago.
"The cookies are made with chopped apples and butterscotch chips and covered with a glazed frosting," Carpenter said.
Since the Carpenters are hog farmers, pork finds its way onto their table often - along with apples.
Betty incorporates the fruit, along with dried apricots, orange juice, brown sugar, onion and butter, into the stuffing she makes for her rib or boneless pork loin roast.
"You insert the stuffing in slits made in the roast at 11/2-inch intervals and, after it's done, you slice the meat at the divisions and it's very pretty when placed on a plate," Carpenter said.
Apple byproducts go into other unusual Carpenter family favorites.
"I make an applesauce cake that's baked in unsealed pint-sized, wide-mouth jars," Carpenter said. "You grease the jars, fill them half full with the batter and bake them for 45 minutes. When the cakes are done, you wipe the top of the jars, place the lids on and let them cool. They seal as they cool."
Carpenter decorates the top of the bottled cakes and gives them as Christmas gifts.
There's no better gift for her four children than mom's apple pizza pie which, Carpenter said, "is fast, easy and good."
The thin crust, made from a boxed pizza dough mix, is baked for 10 minutes, after which it is topped with canned apple pie filling sprinkled with brown sugar and baked for another 8 to 10 minutes.
"After it comes out of the oven, you drizzle a powdered sugar glaze over the pie," Carpenter said.
Here are some recipes from Betty Carpenter:
Apple Chip Cookies
1/2 cup butter
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup cream
1 egg
1 cup peeled, cored, chopped apples
1/2 cup butterscotch chips
1 cup chopped walnuts
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
2 cups flour
Cream sugar and butter together. Beat in cream and egg. Sift together baking soda, salt, nutmeg and flour and add to sugar mixture. Add apples, chips and nuts. Drop onto greased cookie sheets by teaspoonful. Bake at 350 degrees for 12 to 15 minutes. Do not overbake. Cool, then frost.
Frosting:
3 tablespoons melted butter
1 teaspoon cinnamon
2 tablespoons cream
2 cups powdered sugar
Stuffed Pork Loin Roast with Crab Apple Glaze
4- to 6-pound pork roast
1/4 cup chopped dried apricots
1/4 cup orange juice
1/4 cup finely-chopped onion
1 tablespoon butter
1 cup chopped, peeled cooking apples
2 tablespoons (packed) brown sugar
Cut a pocket into roast every inch. Be careful not to cut through; leave about 1 inch on the bottom. Mix together stuffing and fill pockets with equal amount of mixture - about 1/4 cup. Place roast in an open pan (do not cover) and roast at 325 degrees until thermometer reaches 170 degrees (about 21/2 to 3 hours). Allow 20 to 30 minutes per pound. During last 20 to 30 minutes, brush roast occasionally with Crab Apple Glaze.
Crab Apple Glaze:
1 16-ounce jar crab apples
1/8 cup brown sugar
1 tablespoon lemon juice
Drain crab apples and combine liquid with brown sugar and lemon juice in saucepan. Bring to boil, stirring to dissolve sugar. Cook slowly for 5 to 8 minutes.
Applesauce Cake Baked in a Jar
2/3 cup shortening
22/3 cups sugar
4 eggs
2 cups applesauce
2/3 cups water
2/3 cup chopped nuts
31/3 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
2 teaspoons ground cloves
Cream shortening with sugar. Beat in eggs, applesauce and water. Sift dry ingredients together and add to applesauce mixture. Add nuts. Pour into eight well-greased wide-mouth (no neck) pint jars until they are half full. Bake at 325 degrees for about 45 minutes. Remove one jar at a time from oven. Wipe sealing edge clean, put on dry lid and ring and screw tight. Jars will seal as cake cools.
Here are a couple of Haussman's apple recipes:
Apple Dumplings
Make a pie pastry for a two-crust 9-inch pie. Roll out and cut into 7 to 71/2-inch squares. Peal and core six medium apples such as Northern Spy or Granny Smith. Then prepare the syrup.
Boil together for 3 minutes:
1 cup sugar
2 cups water
3 tablespoons butter
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
Place an apple in the center of a pastry square. Fill the core cavity with cinnamon sugar (chopped walnuts can be added if desired). Place a dot of butter on top of the sugar. Bring opposite corners of pastry squares over top of apple. Dot with water to seal. Carefully lift dumplings into a 9- by 13-inch pan. Pour hot syrup around dumplings. Serve warm with syrup poured over top and a dollop of whipped cream or ice cream
German Apple Pancake
2 sweet apples, such as Golden Delicious, peeled and sliced
1/2 stick butter or margarine, plus 5 small pats
1/2 cup Bisquick
1/2 cup milk
3 eggs
1/2 teaspoon sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon sugar
In cast iron skillet, melt butter or margarine and fry apples until soft and beginning to brown. Mix together next four ingredients and pour over apples. Bake in preheated 450-degree oven for 15 minutes or until pancake has risen about 11/2 inches. Remove from oven and place pats of butter around top. Sprinkle with cinnamon sugar. Bake another 2 to 3 minutes. Serve warm with syrup if desired. APPLE GETS AN A FOR NUTRITION
As the old maxim proclaims, "An apple a day keeps the doctor away."
With their nutritional value, why stop at one. New research continues to confirm that the red, green and gold fruit is one of nature's most effective health foods.
The new nutrition label for apples, approved in June by the Food and Drug Administration, tells the story.
One medium apple contains no fat, no cholesterol and no sodium. It provides 80 calories, none from fat.
The fruit gives a natural lift as a snack food with its 16 grams of sugar.
The apple's dietary fiber of 5 grams provides 20 percent of what a person who eats 2,000 calories per day needs.
Much of the fiber content of apples is the soluble fiber pectin, which has a record of success as a cholesterol reducer, dating back to research in the early 1960s. Apples rank near the top among fruits and vegetables as a source of pectin, providing .78 grams per 100 grams of edible portion of the fruit.