Recipes from Friends of Hidden Hollow

1. Crock Pot Apple Butter
   
   Make this on a day or two when you are going to be at home. The recipe looks complicated, but it really isn't. About half the directions are repeat steps, tips and explanations.
   1 stuffed-full bag of Ozark Gold apples (about 10 pounds)
   1 C. packed dark brown sugar
   2-3 t. cinnamon
   1 t. or less nutmeg
   1/2 cup cider vinegar if desired
   
   Quarter and core all apples. No need to peel. Put apples in two large pots, add water 1/2 way up in pot. Cook covered until very soft, about 45 minutes. Ladle apples into a food mill (Foley) in batches, leaving juices in pot. DO NOT discard juices.
   
   Boil juices down to a syrup. These may be added to apple butter when you add the spices and sugar, OR use as apple honey ... it's beautiful and peach colored and syrupy and delicious over ice cream, or as the base for an apple/raisin/walnut upside down cake, or whatever you dream up. Try not to just eat it with a spoon.
   
   Transfer all pulped apples to crock pot and turn on high setting. Cover. When it's as hot as you can get it, remove cover, lower heat, and cook all day, stirring occasionally. After a few hours, add spices and sugar. Continue cooking 'til bedtime. Cover and leave at lowest cook power overnight and into the second day, until desired consistency and thickness.
   
   Ozark Gold lack tartness, so I add the vinegar at the same time I add sugar, spices and apple honey. This accentuates the rich mellowness of apple butter flavor.
   
   Put up VERY hot apple butter in sterile jelly jars or pint jars.
   

   Suggested by Lynn Scheu



2. Apple Crisp-Cobbler
   
   5-6 diced apples
   1 C. flour
   3/4 t. salt
   1 t baking powder
   1 1/2 C. sugar
   1 unbeaten egg
   Place apples in baking dish (9 in x 9 in). Mix ingredients except egg. Add egg. Mix until crumbly and sprinkle over apples. Melt and cool 1/3 C. butter and pour over apple crumb mixture. Sprinkle with cinnamon on top. Bake 30-40 minutes at 350 F.
   

   From Jeanette, who learned it from her mom, who learned it from her grandmother Bea Tower.



3. Caramelized Apple Pie "to die for"
   
   1 graham cracker crust
   2 small cans of sweetened condensed milk
   Apple pie filling (or microwaved apples, or sliced bananas, or other fruit)
   
   Remove labels from unopened cans of condensed milk. Cover cans with water and boil for 4 hours. Place pie filling (or other fruit) in bottom of crust. Open cans, condensed milk will have caramelized, and pour over pie filling. Serve with whipped cream or Cool Whip
   

   From Pop and Debi



4. Fried Apple Pie
   
   Roll out 1 package of inexpensive refrigerated biscuits to 2 or 3 times original size.
   Fill with chunky applesauce (or microwaved apples, or apple butter, etc.)
   
   Fold over and crimp edges. Melt a little Omega-3 or other healthy shortening, in a frying pan. Cook pies over medium heat about 5 minutes. Turn pies and cook a little longer until golden brown. Drain on paper towels. Serve warm.
   

   From Mo



5. Pumpkin Soup
   
   About 5-1/2 pounds pumpkin
   6 T. (3/4 stick) unsalted butter
   1 white onion (about 4 ounces), peeled, trimmed, and finely diced
   1/2 t. kosher salt
   1/8 t. freshly ground white pepper
   1/4 t. ground nutmeg
   1/4 t. ground ginger
   1/8 t. ground caramom
   4 C. home made chicken stock (see separate recipe) or vegetable stock, heated
   1 C. heavy cream
   1 sprig of fresh rosemary
   
   Garnish:
   1 recipe Cranberry Relish (see separate recipe)
   1 recipe Cardamom Cream (see separate recipe)
   1/2 recipe Spiced Caramelized Pecans (see separate recipe)
   4 tablespoons pumpkin seed oil
   
   1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
   
   2. Cut pumpkin in half and discard the seeds. Brush cut sides with 2 tablespoons of melted butter. Season with salt, pepper, and nutmeg. Place pumpkin cut side down in a roasting pan and bake until tender, about 1 hour. Cool, scoop out the insides, and puree the flesh in a food processor. Reserve. (You should have about 4 cups of puree.)
   
   3. In a medium stockpot, melt the remaining 4 tablespoons of butter. Over low heat, saute the onion. Do not allow it to brown. Add the puree and cook over very low heat until heated through, stirring occasionally. Do not allow it to bubble up. Season with the salt, pepper, ginger, and cardamom.
   
   4. Pour in the stock and bring to a boil, still over low heat, stirring often. Cook about 20 minutes.
   
   5. In a small saucepan, heat the cream with the rosemary sprig. Remove the rosemary and pour the cream into the soup. Transfer to a blender or food processor and process, in batches, for 2 or 3 minutes. Adjust the seasoning to taste.
   
   To serve, ladle the soup into heated bowls. Place a tablespoon of Cranberry Relish in the center, top with a dollop of Cardamom Cream, then sprinkle with chopped pecans. Drizzle pumpkin seed oil over soup.

   From Wolfgang Puck's Savory Squash Soup, suggested by Naira Campbell.



6. Apples, Red Hot (a recipe of bygone days)
   

   Take a quantity of Keswick codlings (sic!), pared, cored, and cut in quarters. Stew them in a little water, but not as long as to allow them to become pulp. Sweeten amply with pounded loaf sugar, and flavour to taste, with cayenne pepper; color with cochineal.



7. Apples Stewed in Whiskey (another)
   

   Pare and core without dividing two pounds of sweet apples. Place them in a saucepan with two glasses of whiskey, a pound and a half of sugar, a little whole ginger, the rind and juice of two lemons, and an inch of cinnamon.

   Simmer very gently for two hours. Take the scum off as it rises, and turn the apples every now and then. When the apples are clear, take them off carefully, place them in the jars in which they are to be kept, and boil the liquid a few minutes, and pour it over them. This is a very nice dessert dish. If tied down closely, the fruit will keep twelve months. Probable cost, 1s. 6d., exclusive of the whiskey.

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