apples, apples and more apples

Last weekend a good friend of mine organized a "fall-inspired" day packed full of fun seasonal activities: pumpkin picking, apple picking and - of course - a picnic.  As some of my fondest childhood memories include picking apples and coming home to bake them into a homemade pie on a cozy Sunday afternoon, I was super sad to miss out (I was in Maine with the fam).  So satiate my need, Stefan and I decided to do a little trip of our own this past Sunday.

After a good amount of research, I decided on Twin Hills Ranch - it was a beautiful 1ish hour drive north of the city, had gotten good reviews and advertised apples on the cheap - only a buck a pound.

We picked up our well-worn shopping cart basket (not quite the woven version I had envisioned) and made our way through the orchards.

 

 

Since none of the trees were labeled by type, we had been instructed to simply try each tree's offerings to determine whether it was worthy of our pick.  A horrible task indeed.

But it wasn't just the baskets and tree markings that were unkept, the orchard aisles were lined with all sorts of interesting findings:

Here an old, completely rusted-out water tank

and a half-deflated soccer ball

"You'd never see something like that in Switzerland," Stefan told me the second he spotted the old water tank. 
And it was true - the Swiss would never leave yesterday's garbage around for today's viewing.  Even old, never-to-be-used-again bridges, buildings, and autos get deconstructed and disposed of simply because they don't want an eye sore.  While there's something so clean and refreshing about this obsessive cleanliness, there's also a certain charm about these waning items of a day gone by - a reminder of what has been here, in this very spot, not too long ago.

After our basket was too full to be able to carry anymore, we made our way back to pay for our pickings.

In addition to our 14 pounds (!!) of apples,

we left with a huge jug of cider and a

luscious loaf of their signature apple bread

Rather than make an apple pie that evening, we decided to opt for the Swiss route - instead making a homemade apple "mousse" as Stefan so aptly called it.  

Simply chop up 6-8 apples (preferably on the sweeter side), cook them in a bit of hot water for ~10 minutes with a few pinches of sugar and cinnamon, and then blend them to creamy perfection.  You may know this delicious delicacy by its American name: applesauce.

While the sauce was exactly what we wanted, it didn't do much in helping us use up our 14 pounds of produce. 

Any ideas for easy yet delicious apple dishes outside of the traditional apple pie a la mode?

xoxo
KK