Apples Top Five Recipes
Published October 20, 2011
So, the other night I made a comment on my Facebook page (are we FB friends? If not, I’d love to be! Click on the icon in the top sidebar to friend request me.You can also follow me on Twitter or sign up to get any new posts here via email).
I mentioned that I was making peanut-butter apple crisp for my boys. (Not for me. I was gonna go for the Granny Smith apple slices with some almond butter.)
All of a sudden, friends started asking for the recipe. Some unwritten code of Facebook land that if you mention a homemade food, you must provide the recipe. Since I had neither the time nor desire to sit and type more that day (writing two books at once will do that to a girl), I decided to post it on my blog later.
Well, it is later. Here it is, along with a few other fun apple recipe ideas for fall and one gift idea perfect for a teacher. (All taken from my book, coauthored with friends Trish Smith and Kelly Hovermale, Homespun Memories from the Heart)
I am going away from the Internet/blogging/Facebook Twitter for the next four days to make some progress on my next book. Prayers appreciated.
In the mean time, enjoy these top five apple -eating ideas and leave us a comment with your favorite way to eat or decorate with your apples. One winner will be chosen to receive a copy of A Life That Says Welcome and a $10 Target card to buy yourself something apple-y.
Or not.
Maybe you need new socks.
That is fine too. 
They might just have some cute ones with little apples on the side.
Or not.
Okay—here are the apple recipes. Enjoy! See you Monday.
Caramel Apple Dip
8 ounces cream cheese
1 teaspoon vanilla
¼ cup sugar
¾ cup brown sugar
1 cup coarsley chopped salted peanuts
Blend all but peanuts until smooth. Add peanuts just before serving. Use with a tart eating apple such as Granny Smith, Cortland or Gala. If you must slice the apples long before eating them, soak slices in lemon-lime flavored pop to keep them from turning brown. Drain well and serve with the dip.
My friend Lisa contributed these next two tasty fall treats!
Apple Praline Cheesecake
1 14-ounce bag of caramels
1 ½ cups graham cracker crumbs
¾ cup sugar, divided
¼ cup butter or margarine, melted
1 5-ounce can evaporated milk
2 8-ounce packages cream cheese
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 ½ cups apples, chopped
1 tablespoon flour
½ teaspoon cinnamon
¾ cup pecans (optional)
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix graham cracker crumbs, ¼ cup sugar and butter; press onto bottom and 1 inch up sides of a 9-inch springform pan. Unwrap caramels; place in a 2 quart saucepan or microwaveable glass bowl. Add evaporated milk. Melt over low heat, stirring often, until smooth. Or in microwave cook on high for 4-5 minutes, stirring every 1 ½ minutes.
Reserve ½ cup melted caramel mixture. Pour remaining caramel over crust in pan. Sprinkle ½ pecans over caramel, if desired.
Beat cream cheese, remaining ½ cup sugar, and vanilla until smooth. Add eggs, one at a time, beating smooth after each addition. Toss together 1 cup chopped apple, flour, and cinnamon; fold into cream cheese mixture. Spoon cream cheese mixture over caramel crust. Bake 40 minutes.
Combine reserved caramel mixture and remaining ½ cup chopped apple. Spread over cheesecake; sprinkle with remaining pecans. Bake an additional 15 minutes. Loosen cake and let cool before removing from pan. Chill before serving.
Snickers Apple Salad
6 Granny Smith apples, cubed (not peeled)
¾ cup cocktail peanuts, chopped, if desired
1 8-ounce can crushed pineapple, drained
3 king-sized Snickers bars, cut into pieces
½ cup butter, softened
1 cup powdered sugar
1 12-ounce container whipped topping
Put all above ingredients into a large bowl. Mix ½ cup butter and powdered sugar thoroughly. Fold in whipped topping. Pour over apple mixture and gently combine. Delicious!
Peanut-Butter Apple Crisp
Sorry I don’t have exact measurements for this. I made it up and I just eye-ball it to get it right. So, I will do my best to ‘guesstimate”
Spray a 9 x 13 inch pan with cooking spray. Slice enough Granny Smith, Spy or other tart cooking apples (do not use an eating apple like gala, red delicious, etc..) to fill the pan. Sprinkle with about 2 tablespoons lemon juice and 1/2 teaspoon salt.
Mix together about 1/4 cup flour and 3/4 cup sugar and shake over the top of apples. Toss gently.
For the topping, mix one stick real butter with about 1 cup peanut chunky butter. Add in a 1/2 teaspoon salt, 1 cup sugar ( or a tad more), about 3/4 cup flour and 1 1/2 cups rolled oats (not quick-cooking). It should hold together in clumps when pressed in your fist and not be too sticky. If it is, add a little more flour.
Sprinkle over the top and bake at 375 degrees for about 25-30 minutes until apples are tender and topping is lightly golden. Serve with vanilla ice cream or whipped cream. FABULOUS!!!!!
Caramel Apple Basket
What could be a sweeter fall treat than caramel apples? For a quick, yet delicious gift that a neighbor, friend or teacher would love, place apples, a bag of caramels, and a bag of craft sticks in a basket. Include add ins to sprinkle on the appples before they harden such as mini- M & M’s, chopped nuts, colored sprinkles or coconut.
For an extra-special finishing touch, include a hand-written tag featuring, featuring Psalm 17:8. “Keep me as the apple of your eye; hide me in the shadow of your wings,” (ESV)
62 Responses to Apples Top Five Recipes
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I love the caramel apple basket idea! Inspired! As for decorating with apples…that implies that I decorate!
Wow, these all look great. My favorite apple dessert is apple dumplings. You take a peeled and cored apple and wrap it in a pie crust type dough Then a syrup of sugar, water, butter and cinnamon goes over the apples in a 9×13. Sprinkle tops of apples with cinnamon and pat of butter. Bake. It’s like eating your own little pie, but better.
Yum! Can’t wait to try these:)
My favorite apple treat is caramel apples.
Apple crisp is a favorite around our house. I love the caramel apple basket idea!
I finished reading Made To Crave last night and you were mentioned in her book, so I thought I’d look you up!
My favorite way to eat fall apples is right off the tree, especially if they are golden delicious. YUM!
Glad to have you here, Robin!
We take the kids to pick Apples in Sept. and we have apple EVERYTHING for months!!! We make applesauce, apple crisp, apple butter, apples and pork chops and anything else I can throw apples in. Thanks for the new recipes they will be a hit around here I am sure. For decorating with apples I have a beautiful red bowl and it is always filled with all kinds of different apples … red, yellow and green. My families favorite this season are HoneyCrisp and Jonalicious!!!!
Wow! You listed most of the recipes we make!
My kids love apple slices and peanut butter.
My favorite is apple pie. Whenever I make this it’s in honor of my dad, who loved apple pie. He’d jokingly ask the grandkids after a meal, “Who wants apple pie? Sorry, we don’t have any!” I loved sneaking one in the house to surprise him when he asked
Can’t wait to try your peanut butter apple dessert. I’m sure we will love it! What’s not to love with peanut butter?
I have a recipe for an apple cake that I pulled from Country Magazine many years ago and it is a family favorite to this day, topped with a little whipped cream. It is a beautiful cake too, made in a bundt pan.
Happy writing! Can’t wait to hear what your next project is!
We have 5 children (3 older my husband’s from a previous marriage and 2 younger (age 9 and 4) ) and 5 grandchildren (one just being born yesterday – all under the age of 9 and they are ALL coming to our house tomorrow night for a Mexican Fiesta (our halloween meal tradition) and a caramel apple dipping party – I am bursting with excitement about having all of my loves under one roof for a short period of awesome FUN! God has really blessed our family and I am so happy that they all love me like I am theirs – just as I love them, like they are all mine!
Oh and P.S. I LOVE the caramel apple gift basket idea – easy, cheap, sweet and FUN! Thanks for the wonderful idea!
Loved the basket idea….can’t wait to try the recipes!
Thanks, as always!
I love apples and I can not wait to try your peanut butter apple crisp. My favorite way now to eat an apple is sliced with peanut butter.
I will be praying for you as you work on your book.
Blessings
Hi Karen,
I will be praying for you. That God will guide your thoughts and words as you work on your book project. Also thanks for all of the great recipes. They look delicious.
I guess my favorite way is the apple all by itself. Sometimes with a dip.
I will never forget the time when I had moved to a new town and it was fall. The doorbell rang and it was a friend from worship. She had a bowl of golden delicious apples for me. She had just come back from the mountains. It was a small gift, but a huge blessing to me.
I love slices of Granny Smith apples with caramel sauce–or just a little sprinkle of salt!
Oh yummy, thank you for the recipes. I created a delicious apple cranberry pumpkin butter recipe a couple of years ago. It is autumn in a jar & a great and easy gift to make (just a wee bit time consuming).
I have 6 beautiful “apple” candles that I get out every autumn and use as part of my seasonal decorations. My husband scoffs at me because I never actually use them as candles! But I love them, and will continue using them as purely decoration. I just made my first cheesecake ever a few weeks ago, so now I’m eager to try the apple praline cheesecake recipe you shared!
Favorite way to eat apples…apple pie!! (ala mode, of course!)
My favorite way to eat apples is homemade applesauce, so easy to make. This can be enjoyed in several ways, applesauce as is, applesauce served over a small scoop of vanilla yogurt ice cream, mixed in my plain greek yougurt, used in baking recipes in place of oil, over a small piece of warm gingerbread, served with dinner, etc. etc.
I like hot caramel apple cider on cool, crisp mornings!! I also like to dip my apple slices in caramel sauce! Yummy!
Love them fresh but apple pie is hard to beat.
I’ve made 3 fresh apple cakes in a month’s time – my favorite way to bake with apples.
I love apples!!! I have been eating The Honey-Crisp ones lately Yum!!! I love carmel apples but also love to dip them in peanut butter!!! My Mom used to make an apple crisp when we were young that I loved–oh I am getting hungry!! Thanks so much for the recipes!! Many blessings, Barb
Love apple pie, apple crisp and snickers apple salad. Have made the snickers apple salad twice to take places recently. YUM!!! Can’t wait to try the peanut butter apple crisp this weekend for the family!
Those recipes all look great, one of our favorites (that I haven’t made yet this fall-hmm) is Taffy Apple Pizza! It is very easy and would combine a recipe that you mentioned. Take a refrigerator sugar cookie tube and bake it as the crust. Add the Carmel Apple dip as the sauce, add slices of apples all over the pizza and then drizzle with carmel sauce. Simple, and delicious! But I am definately trying the snickers apple salad!
These recipes sound delicious! I may have to give them a try. I love homemade applesauce, apple crisp, apple butter, and apple pie. Granny Smith are my favorite and I like to eat them sliced (unpeeled) with Triscuits and Pepper Jack or Mozzarella cheese. My son and I love Snickers and I have a feeling we’ll be trying the Snickers Apple Salad real soon!
Thanks for all the great apple recipes! I love a good apple crisp with vanilla ice cream or homemade whip cream. Blessings on your book!
Hi Karen! I just love Granny Smith apples & I would love to win your book!
Blessings,
Janet W.
I love all the recipes. Now when can I come over and watch you make them
I love to cook/bake but for some reason, I don’t have a lot of confidence in my ability to make “fancy” things. The “too much salt or too little sugar” syndrome has thrown me for a loop so I don’t try too many new things.
I love apples and caramel dip. My Mom used to make apple strudel from scratch when we were kids and I loved the smell of it baking not to mention the vanilla ice cream that went with it.
Praying for both a productive and restful four days ahead. Love you!
I don’t really love apples, but your recipes above make me want to try some apple concoctions!
Homemade apple pie is my favorite way to eat apples!!! I will be praying for you and your writing!
I love fresh Apple Cake and also Apple Butter. Love the fall with the delicious smell of apple cooking. Blessings to you and prayers to complete your projects.
I love the apple pie recipe with the crumb topping in the Better Homes and Gardens cookbook. It was the first apple pie recipe I ever tried and it turned out so good, that I’ve not tried another since. LOVE apple season!
Hey Karen! Been a while since I’ve posted to your blog. Was a bit distracted (distracted because I can’t really justify using the word busy) for a while. Anyway… I saw the word “Recipes” in your blog title today and HAD to read. That word jumps off a page at me like a traffic light changing to RED! I’m a recipe/cookbook junkie. All of your recipes sound soooo yummy! I’m also going with the fact that the Snickers Apple Salad has the word “salad” in it, it has to be good for you right?? LOL! Thanks so much for the recipes and for your blog. I’ll try to read and post more often. Oh, and my favorite way to eat an apple is straight off the tree! In a pie is pretty good too.
Thanks for sharing these recipes! My daddy LOVES apples in the fall. I usually make him a delicious apple spice cake once or twice during the season! He’ll email me other apple recipes to try, too.
Thanks for this kind opportunity!
I am an apple crisp person but our youngest daughter loves home-made apple pies. I don’t know why that is since I really never made pies when they were growing up. I also like to get my apples either by making a trip to north Georgia or buying them from our local 4-H organization.
I love applesauce! And even started making it homemade for my son when he started eating solid food!
Gotta try that peanut butter apple crisp! Sounds yummy! I found a recipe I want to try that is Weight Watcher friendly for peanut butter apple oatmeal. Here’s the link: http://www.snack-girl.com/snack/apple-peanut-butter-oatmeal-recipe/ Enjoy!
I so love each and every recipe.
Thank you so much for sharing!!!!!
I LOVE LOVE LOVE apple dumplings most; however, I found some awesome apple recipes in Wanda Brunstetter’s Amish dessert cookbook! Try them, you WILL like them!
Many Blessings and Smiles:)
Charlotte Kay
Homemade applesauce and apple pie have to be my two favorites!
Love, Love, apple recipes. Will have to try your version of apple dip. I make one similiar to yours, minus the white sugar and peanuts, but add 1 teaspoon of caramel flavoring w/ the cream cheese, brown sugar and vanilla. Yum..it’s hard to stop!
Thank you for your encouraging blog!
Connie K.
I love to core apples, sprinkle with Splenda brown sugar and cinnamon and pop in the microwave until tender. Yum-o!
When my children were small, I would core apples and stuff with peanut butter for their snacks.
Fried apples and caramel apple slices are my favorites!
My favorite healthy way to eat apples is with almond butter. My favorite apple dessert is apple rolls(they are a cinnamon roll with apple chucks in them). Your ideas sound great!
Right off the tree-sweet, crisp and pure goodness
Thanks for the giveaway Karen!!
Oh my most favorite way to eat an apple( and honeycrisp are my favorite this season), is sliced up fairly thin (but thick enough to pick up and dip)…..placed in a pretty little bowl with a tablespoon of creamy peanut butter as the dip!
I’ve never thought to decorate with apples. I may need to expand my fall decor horizons.
As for apple treats, I’m all for the quicker the better. For apples, this means coring an apple (with an apple corer) and dipping the wedges in all-natural peanut butter. Quick, simple and healthy.
I like apple slices with Nutella, apples in my oatmeal and apple crisp.
Thank you, Karen, for the wonderful apple recipes. We just went apple picking as a family and have an abundance of apples. Can’t wait to try out some of your recipes. The kids and I love to make homemade applesauce and apple crisp together. I also love displaying our apples in a beautiful bowl in my kitchen – decorative and delicious!
Apple cider! My dad used to visit an Amishman named “Dirtyfoot Joe’s” cider press each fall, and he’d bring back a gallon of it. Fabulous! It was the real stuff – not like the kind you buy in the store these days. Later my grandfather had a small orchard and he’d take some of his apples there to be pressed. I miss that stuff!
Now, my kids and I make applesauce and just eat oodles of them.
Your 5 recipes look like they have my name on them. I will be trying them this fall season. Right now my fave way to have an apple is one that is room temp served with a slice of yummy cheese.
Love apple pie and fall decorating!
Sending prayers your way… The recipes sounds fabulous! I love me some apple pie… though apple crisp is delicious too!
Apple crisp would be my favorite, or sliced apples with carmel ice cream topping. Mmmmm.
Apple crisp is my favorite, or sliced apples with caramel ice cream topping.
yum! love these recipes & the gift basket idea! thanks!
I like eating apples sliced with a little p-nut butter to dip them in.
I have very fond childhood memories of making caramel apples with my mom and sister every fall. Thanks for the recipes; I’m sharing them with co-workers today. Have a blessed day.
Made the Snickers Apple Salad for our church dinner we had over the week end. It was a big hit and several ladies requested the recipe. My husband really likes it and said I can make it again, real SOON!. Next I think I’ll try the crisp recipe. Thanks for sharing.
Boo-ti-ful Blessings!