Apples, five ways

For Daniel's birthday, we went out to Paonia for a wonderful fall weekend. We came home with a big box of apples and a smaller box of delicious pears and Italian plums. The box of apples sat in the garage for over a month (and kept quite nicely, believe it or not) and no matter how hard I tried, it was still overflowing. How many apples can four people eat? The kids were getting sick of apples in their lunches. I was tired of throwing apples into every salad. I'd already made Carol's famous apple torte (which calls for 5 pounds of apples) and a Jewish apple cake from smitten kitchen (so good). There was no visible dent in that heap of apples.

It was time to get serious.
 

The boys and I borrowed a food mill from a friend and set to work making applesauce.

 

Along the way, we got a fun surprise: the applesauce turned pink because of the skins. (The food mill was a gamechanger, and I definitely plan to buy one.)

Unfortunately (or fortunately), that box taunted me, still nearly full. So, I made bourbon apple butter. This recipe makes me think I actually do like apple butter after all. Nothing like a splash of bourbon to get me excited about eating something. 

There was still half a box of apples left.

At this point, the kitchen was trashed and the kids and I were fried. We threw in the towel. But a few days later, that box of apples was still staring me in the face. So, naturally, I made a salted caramel apple tart, then another big vat of applesauce. 

And finally, just as the fruit flies were threatening to take over the kitchen: success! The freezer is packed with delicious pink applesauce, we've gobbled up enough apple desserts to feel we've paid our dues to the spirit of autumn, and the apple box is finally empty.