Easy Apple Recipes for Frugal Fall Cooking

This time of year it’s tough to ignore the presence of fall’s most abundant fruit: apples.

They’re everywhere — from supermarkets to farm stands. Not to mention they are cheap enough to bring pounds and pounds home for just a few bucks.

Which brings us to the next issue: what do you do with them all?

We asked chefs, food bloggers, home cooks and other experts for their best apple recipes.

Here are seven to try:

Parsnip Apple Soup

Registered Dietician Jessica Fishman Levinson, founder of Nutritioulicious.com, turns extra apples into a healthy soup.

To make, heat a tablespoon olive oil in a large pot over medium-high heat. Add two large peeled and chopped shallots and sauté for two minutes.

Add three cloves of minced garlic and sauté for one minute. Add a pound of peeled, chopped parsnips and sauté for three minutes more.

Add five peeled, chopped apples (Levinson suggests a mix of Gala and Granny Smith). Stir for two to three minutes.

Add a half-teaspoon or so of curry powder and stir to coat.

Add five cups vegetable stock and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer until parsnips and apples are tender, about 20 minutes. Let cool.

Using an immersion blender, puree soup until smooth. Thin with more stock if desired.

Season to taste with salt and pepper. Cover and reheat over a gentle simmer.

Serve soup garnished with thinly sliced apples.

Apple Chicken Stew

“You may notice a strange ingredient lurking in this chicken stew 
recipe – apples,” says Pamela Braun of MyMansBelly.com.

The texture is similar to potatoes, but with a sweetness that complements the sausage.

Avocado, Jicama and Apple Salad

It’s Frugal Foodie’s favorite recipe from last year’s apple collection. The apples provide a sweet balance to the spicy chiles.

Rum-Apple Butter

Plain butter is fine for pancakes, cornbread and other fare, but Austin restaurant Swift’s Attic takes things up a notch with a rum and apple spiked spread.

To make, combine two cups diced apples, two cups white rum and a cup sugar in a medium saucepot.

Simmer gently for 10 to 15 minutes. Don’t let the rum flame up – it could burn the apples and sugar.

Remove from the heat and let cool to room temp. Discard the liquid and combine the remaining apples with a pound of softened, diced butter in a food processor.

Blend until smooth. Season with salt to taste.

Apple Chips

You’ll need just two ingredients — apples and powdered sugar — to make this apple chip recipe from Shannalee Mallon of FoodLovesWriting.com.

Canned Apple Pie Filling

Do you have an abundance of apples? This recipe from MintLife’s canning article will help you prep enough for pies throughout the holiday season.

Baked Apples With Maple-Gingersnap Stuffing

“This isn’t your typical baked apple and it only has 200 calories per serving and seven grams of fat,” says Top Chef contestant Marisa Churchill, author of “Sweet & Skinny.”

To make, preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Coat a 9-inch square baking pan with nonstick spray.

Put eight gingersnap cookies into a resealable plastic bag, close, and crush using a mallet until the cookies are in crumbs. Set aside two tablespoons of crumbs and put the rest into a bowl.

Stir in three tablespoons raisins, two tablespoons of coarsely chopped pecans, a tablespoon of melted unsalted butter, a half-teaspoon cinnamon and a quarter-tablespoon ginger.

Cut a quarter-inch slice from the top of each apple (ideally, use small Pink Lady apples, Churchill says). Use a small spoon or a paring knife to scoop out the cores and create an opening that is about two inches deep and 1.5 inches wide.

Pack the gingersnap stuffing into the apples and place them in the prepared baking pan.

In a small bowl, stir together a quarter-cup maple syrup and two tablespoons apple juice.

Spoon the mixture over the filling in the apples, using about a tablespoon for each and reserving the last two tablespoons.
 Bake the apples for 20 minutes.

Spoon the remaining syrup over the apples, sprinkle them with the remaining gingersnap crumbs, and bake for 20 minutes longer, until fork-tender.

Serve the warm apples on individual plates, spooning the sauce from the pan over them and topping with vanilla ice cream.

Frugal Foodie is a journalist based in New York City who spends her days writing about personal finance and obsessing about what she’ll have for dinner. Chat with her on Twitter through @MintFoodie.