Applesauce Spoonbread
Somewhere between apple bread and a warm bread pudding, this applesauce spoonbread is the kind of dessert made for chilly fall weekends. It starts on the stovetop with homemade applesauce—great for when you have a lot of apples to use up—before the rest of the ingredients are stirred right into the same pot. The spoonbread bakes up moist and custardy and is best scooped warm into bowls. There are little pockets of tender apples and dulce de leche throughout, plus a buttery almond crumb topping for some crunch. Finish with a dusting of confectioners’ sugar and a highly recommended scoop of vanilla ice cream.
Apple Strudel
This apple strudel is a labor of love—but one that’s far more approachable than it seems. The key is patience: a very thorough knead and a long rest transform the dough into something supple and surprisingly easy to stretch paper-thin. A layer of buttery toasted breadcrumbs adds more than just flavor—it acts as a buffer, absorbing the apples’ juices so the pastry bakes up deeply golden and crisp. Filled with spiced apples, plumped raisins and walnuts, the finished strudel tastes every bit as impressive as it looks. Serve it simply with a dusting of confectioners’ sugar or if you really want to go all out, with a dollop of whipped cream alongside.
Upside-Down Apple Crisp Cookies
These cookies are handheld versions of the ever-popular fall treat – apple crisp – with an oat streusel topping and held together by a cookie shell that tastes similar to a snickerdoodle. The apples are roasted first to deepen their flavor and release as much water as possible; we highly recommend Honeycrisps for their sweet, bright flavor and ability to stay intact after roasting. They are assembled in reverse with the oat streusel in contact with the baking sheet, so it browns and crisps beautifully.
