"Fried" Apples - A Great Fall Recipe

I posted earlier about canning apples, and it might seem that I'm an apple fanatic, given I posted that and a photo of my apples yesterday in my camera comparison, but I promise.....I'm not some sort of apple freak.  I like that apples are healthy, inexpensive in the fall, and the things you can do with them are seemingly endless.

I make unsweetened applesauce and can it to use in recipes in place of vegetable oil.  You can't really substitute applesauce for oil on a flat one-for-one basis...you have to balance the fat and liquid content too.  Here's a good resource that I found for getting that balance right.  I also like to make apple butter for my family and for gifts, cinnamon applesauce, apple bread and muffins, and various forms of an apple side dish for breakfast, lunch or dinner.  While my first attempt at canning apples (link above) was pretty good, I really think I need to add more sugar to the syrup mixture and compress the apples in the jar more so I don't get quite as much syrup in each jar.

One of my family's all time favorite side dishes is what I call fried apples.  I don't really have a "recipe" per se, I just kind of wing it.

For about 2 cups cooked (which would feed at least 6-8), do the following:

• Peel, core and slice 12 apples - I use golden delicious - and place in a plastic bag or large bowl.
• Sprinkle with sugar - I would guess I use a couple tablespoons, but depends on the sweetness I'm looking for and how many apples I am using.
• Sprinkle with cinnamon - again, to your taste, but I would guess I use 1-1.5 tsp.
• Sprinkle with ground nutmeg and ground cloves - I just give a couple of good shakes.
• Mix well so all the apples are coated.
• Add to a large saute pan (can melt a couple pats of butter if you want a richer texture) and cook for a few minutes on med-high, mixing constantly.
• After a couple minutes, I like to turn my stove off and cover the pan and let set for a few more minutes to soften up further and make a nice syrup with the condensation.

As you can see, this recipe is so versatile and customizable to your own preferences.  You can cook less to have crisper apples or more to have soft ones.

With my Victorio apple peeler and my Pampered Chef apple corer/wedger, I can make this side dish up in just a few minutes!