Apple Recipes

There are thousands of apple varieties, with a range of colors including red, russet, yellow, and green. Textures and flavors vary from tart and crisp to soft and sweet.

In Season: Apple-picking season begins in late August or early September and lasts through November. Because apples keep well in cold storage, they are available year-round.

What to Look For: Choose apples that are heavy for their size and feel firm when pressed gently. Avoid bruised fruit.

How to Store: For the longest shelf life, store apples in the crisper drawer of your refrigerator. Use within three weeks.

This super-simple recipe can be made without any added sugar, making it a healthy snack or a tasty not-too-sweet topping for roast pork or potato pancakes.

Loaded with fall flavor, apple brownies mix up as quickly as the chocolate version -- just the thing for a school bake sale. Any sweet, firm variety of apple will work in this recipe.

Traditional caramel-covered treats are made even better with a sprinkling of sea salt or a drizzle of white chocolate. For a prettier presentation, use apple-tree cuttings as sticks -- ours are from Martha's farm.

Some apples are best baked, others best in salads, and some are just meant to be eaten out of hand. With so many varieties of apples available, choosing the one best can be overwhelming. Watch our guide to choosing the best apple for your recipe.

It's easy to have dessert on demand when you portion this crowd-pleasing cobbler into individual containers and sock them away in the freezer until a craving strikes.

Make your apple fritters the easy way! Simply dip fresh apple rings in buttermilk batter and fry to a golden crisp.

There's nothing like a grilled-cheese-and-bacon sandwich. When you add slices of crisp apple and fresh-tasting sprouts to balance the richness, why, you have yourself a new instant classic.

Maine pomologist John Bunker has dedicated his life to apples, and this is his go-to pie recipe. It’s lightly spiced with cinnamon, nutmeg, and clove, but the flavor of Gravensteins, Galas, and Golden Delicious really shine through.

Pleasingly crunchy, nutty-tasting quinoa is tossed with fresh apple wedges, toasted almonds, fresh mint, and a honey-curry dressing. Add tofu or beans to turn this into a fabulous vegetarian main dish.

One of the definitive desserts of fall, apple crisp is easy and economical. Empire, Gala, or Braeburn apples are especially good in this recipe.

Why pink applesauce? Because it's prettier and because it lets you skip the tedious step of peeling the apples, since the color comes from the skins.

See how to make pink applesauce.

A pandowdy is closely related to a pie -- without the bottom crust. Its pastry top is broken with a spoon halfway through cooking so the collapsed bits soak up the juices and soften. For ours, we used brown sugar and apples and raisins laced with cardamom and allspice.

This sticky-sweet cake stars apples in three forms: Applesauce and fresh apples are baked into the cake and an apple-cider glaze finishes off the fruity fall dessert.

Cheddar cheese is a popular complement to apples. Here, the cheese is part of the flaky crust, which surrounds pleasingly tart Granny Smith apple wedges.

McIntosh apples and oats add a boost of nutrition to these easy, crowd-pleasing muffins.

Spiced apples, raisins, and prunes are folded into layers of flaky store-bought phyllo for a tempting dessert. Honey, which softly sweetens the filling, is balanced by a dash of brandy.

Intense apple flavor abounds in this spread made from apples simmered in apple cider and perked up with a little lemon juice and cinnamon. Apple butter is fabulous on toast, spice cake, or in just about any place you would use jam.

Get the Apple Butter Recipe

This luscious, buttery apple tart takes only 15 minutes to put together, thanks to store-bought frozen puff pastry. After baking, the apples are glazed with melted apple jelly or apricot jam for a glossy sheen.