8 Apple Recipes to Obsess Over Right Now

Zowie! How did you end up with so many apples? You started with the best of intentions, apple-picking with your family or stocking up at the farmers’ market. And now you have a dozen, or maybe 20, sitting pretty in the crisper. You can only eat so many out of hand, right?

Right. Thank goodness apples store so well. Compared to peaches and berries, they’re an absolute dream for a week, two or even three if you keep them cool and out of the light. So whether you’re a Gala, Pink Lady, Mac, or Golden Delicious fan, we’ve got the apple recipe for you. Here are a few that have us drooling right now.

1. Prosciutto-Wrapped Pork Loin with Apples and Fennel

First thing first: Almost no other fruit does savory like the apple can. It loves pork. And bourbon. And caramelized onions. Also sage. The list goes on, folks. So consider apple-ing up your entrée, because why not? You can sauté them in the fat from a good pork chop, and they’re excellent alongside roast chicken. This prosciutto-wrapped pork loin is a double whammy of porky goodness. It’s stuffed with herbs and more apples. Mull it over. (Yes, we went there.)

2. Carrot and Apple Matchstick Salad with Radishes

Again with the savory! Watermelon radishes are key to the sprightly look of this salad. Honey and lemon, together, are just the disparate elements to unite radish, carrots, apples and celery leaves under one umbrella. This is the salad to serve people who love bright, light Thai salads or who always reach for raw carrots or apples as snacks. It’s addictively crunchy, to boot.

3. Apple Focaccia with Gruyère and Rosemary

So you’re stumped about what to bring to the picnic. It’s the perfect weather, and you don’t want to be the person showing up with jarred salsa and chips. (Hey, we’ve all been there, and that stuff can be great!) Instead, be the person lazing on a blanket in a flowered day dress who announces, “Oh, I just brought some focaccia with apples, Gruyère and rosemary.” See faces turn towards you like flowers towards the sun. (If you’re single, you may not be for long.) This focaccia takes less than an hour to cook and makes your home smell amazing. Boom.

4. Apple Dumplings

They may look daunting, but the base of these knockout apple dumplings is a simple food processor dough. Oat-almond streusel wends its way through each. You serve them warm with a dollop of crème fraîche. We love that each dumpling conceals a whole apple, cored and ready to be devoured.

5. Mini Apple Tarts With Salted Caramel Sauce

These mini apple tarts are well worth your time, but an apple corer and peeler makes the job even faster. How gorgeous is the final result? They’re drizzled with sweet caramel, served with vanilla ice cream, and just the thing for a small family Thanksgiving. (Each guest gets his own, and no one will have to battle!)

6. Caramel Apples

We know; we know. We’re not trying to rush you into a Halloween costume over here. But lots of you are already thinking about and asking about caramel apples, and who are we to stand in your way? We have a whole post devoted to their goodness, right this way.

7. Endive and Apple Salad With Candied Walnuts

This salad does not, sadly, come with its own picnic blanket, but you know, it may as well. It’s as cooling as a day spent outdoors under the changing leaves. Bright and crisp in summer with supermarket endive, and soothing and warming in winter with in-season endive, it’s the sort of salad you make once, then keep making. (We think it’s those candied walnuts!)

8. Apple Fritters

Sure, you could go to the local doughnut place and be bummed that the fritters sold out in a flash again, or that they taste day-old, or you could Make. Your. Own. Yes, you can! Granny Smiths and fresh lemon juice are the key to the light, bright, tart filling tucked into this sweet, yeasty dough and glaze. It’s a weekend project, sure, but aren’t the best weekends brimming with projects like these?