2 Mushy Granny Smiths

[Isryelle]

I've got two Granny Smith apples on my fruit plate that are a little past their prime. They're still good, but they're too mushy to eat raw. Got any ideas about how I could use them? I've thought of baking them (whole, cored, with spices), but I was looking for something a little more imaginative. What do you think?

[merstar]

Apple Bread Pudding, Apple Pancakes, Apple Quick Bread or Muffins, Apple Fritters...

Check this out:

Apple Fritters - Thomas Keller

http://leitesculinaria.com/33236/recipes-keller-apple-fritters.html

Another idea:

Apple Pie Smoothie

http://notecook.com/desserts/pies/healthy-apple-pie-smoothie/

Edited March 3, 2010 by merstar (log)

[Shel_B]

Apple sauce?

[helenjp]

Getting a bit late in the season, and Granny Smiths may be a little tart, but I find woolly apples plus an orange and some spices are great for mulling wine. The wine-simmered apples can be used in something like a relish.

[Chris Hennes]

Helen, do you have a particular recipe you use for mulled wine?

I like to take apples, sugar, cinnamon and brandy and make a quick topping for Dutch Babies. I think slightly-past-their-prime apples would work fine in that.

[helenjp]

I probably started out with a recipe for mulled wine or bishop in Elisabeth Ayrton's "Cookery of England".

If possible, 2 oranges per bottle of wine are best. I usually squeeze the juice in and then toss in the squeezed halves (or some of them) but it's even better to grill the squeezed orange before putting them in the wine, to mellow the harsher aromatics.

Because I squeeze the oranges, I put the cloves into the quartered apples (1-3 apples depending on size and desire for end-product apple). Japanese people are generally not fond of cloves and only mildly enthusiastic about cinnamon, so I only add about 3 cloves and 2 small sticks cinnamon or cassia. I always use nutmeg ( you can smash up a nutmeg and use about half), and often add several slices of ginger. Cardamom or allspice as desired.

Apples do a lot to mellow harsh red wine. Until recently, it was hard to get even moderately good red wine at a reasonable price in Japan, so I rarely mull wine without them now.

Sweetening...I'm not fond of stickily sweet mulled wine - a little mild honey is good, but apples and apple juice add a more acceptable sweetness as well as mellowness, and apple juice also helps to keep the alcohol content low enough for a quaffable drink.

I like the wine-simmered apple with breakfast yogurt, and it also goes well combined with plain apple in crumbles or deep-dish pies.