The perfect apple

A couple of years ago, my son took us to an apple orchard in Wisconsin. It's just a small place, not like some of the mega-farms and orchards where they have mini-carnivals and a shop full of overpriced accouterments and mixes and what-have-yous. They sell apples, and make cider donuts, and have other apple related food -- and yes, they have a couple of the mixes and what-have-yous. I sampled some of their apples and bought some. Nice texture (not chewy or mealy), nice flavor (not too tart, not too sweet but definitely flavor). 

This year, on an excursion north, DH and I stopped at the orchard again and I got more apples, and I remembered why I liked them so much. The problem is I only bought one pound (for $1.00 a pound!). I checked the grocery stores around my house for that variety and came up short, so I went to our local pumpkin farm and bought a peck of apples I thought would be similar in taste. BOY was I wrong. Nevertheless, I was eating them. Then I stopped at a grocery store I don't frequent very often and discovered - MY APPLES! So I bought three pounds (for $2.49 a pound). Brought them home and they were .... mealy. More disappointment.

Last weekend, we took another excursion north and stopped at the orchard. Oh wait. I already have a peck from the pumpkin farm and three pounds from the grocery. (counting on my fingers - how many apples is that?) But these are the GOOD apples. So now what do I do? I bought a five-pound bag. 

I've been eating the apples from the orchard first (obviously), but I don't want to waste the others. So I started looking up recipes and found one for apple rings. Perfect for the chewy apples, I'm thinking (and I was right!) So I thought I'd share the recipe with all of you!  Happy October - happy autumn!

Spiced Apple Rings

Apples (My baking sheet fits about two apples, so you can plan accordingly for how many you want to make)

2 Tbsp Cinnamon

1 Tbsp Ginger

1 tsp nutmeg

1 tsp cloves

Preheat oven to 200 F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

Wash and core the apples, slice them thin and place them in a single layer on the baking sheet (you might prefer to eat the ends raw rather than bake them).

Mix the spices together and sprinkle over the apples (I use an empty salt shaker to keep the spice mix). 

Bake the chips for an hour and a half. (Your house is going to smell heavenly while they're baking!). Remove them from the oven and flip them to the other side, sprinkle some more, and bake for another hour (up to an hour and a half). Check the crispiness for how you prefer them and cook them longer or turn the oven off. Leave the apples in the oven while it cools down. That allows them to get crunchier.

Store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to a week.

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  A | BN | iB | K