Fall in the Kitchen

  Crisp, glistening, apples. Warm aroma of cinnamon. Fresh, hot, apple pie. Delicious, pleasing savor of homemade bread smothered in rich, apple butter. Ah, the delightful season of fall. There's just nothing quite like it.

   I must say, this has been one of the most enjoyable autumns I have ever had. I'm not sure if it's the beauty of this gorgeous fall weather, my exciting new baking ventures, the extra time on my hands now without school work, or a combination of them all. Whatever it is, I'm reminded that God is so gracious and that every good and perfect thing is from Him. Indeed, all of my thanks belongs to Him.  

  Now, about those baking ventures. Every year, we purchase yummy, fresh apples from a quaint, small shop by an orchard tucked away in the beautiful hills and mountains of Pennsylvania (love that trip!). Mom always makes apple pie then, so this year I thought I'd try my hand at it. I've helped make pies before, but recently I read an article about pie making at Kitchn.com (helpful website by the way, and lots of step-by-step articles which I'm strangely attracted to). So after reading the hint of keeping the crust cool while making it, I made two 10 inch pie crusts that turned out quite well (at least according to mom anyway). Believe it or not, I'm not crazy about fruit pies. Of course I always eat a little because they look so irresistibly tasty. So I'm not so sure what the crust should be like other than flaky. Anyway, if I start to make them more often, which I might actually start doing, maybe I'll know eventually what a good pie crust should be, and who knows...fruit pie might become one of my favorite desserts!
  My other kitchen enterprise this fall is making apple butter. When there's something I've never made before that's always a reason to try to make it and perfect it by making it again and again. So, here it  
is. We used almost half a bushel of empire apples and filled four and half quart jars. It turned out rather thin, but it still tastes good. I think one reason is because we might have cooked it too long. I might try making it in the crock pot next time. I really wish I could make more now, but we're running out of apples. We already got more apples and made applesauce with them earlier this week. And then today I made two more apple pies. So yeah, I've been busy. But happily busy.