Baked Apples

baked apple with bleu cheese

Mother didn’t like the idea of my going to a strange boarding-house, so Miss Mills kindly made a place for me. You know she lets her rooms without board, but she is going to give me my dinners, and I’m to get my own breakfast and tea, quite independently. I like that way, and it’s very little trouble, my habits are so simple; a bowl of bread and milk night and morning, with baked apples or something of that sort, is all I want, and I can have it when I like.” —Louisa May Alcott, An Old-Fashioned Girl

Elisha: I thought these up this morning when Schatzi and I were beyond hungry and trying to figure out what I could possibly make with the little ingredients I had available. I saw Schatz’s bag of apples and thought to myself jokingly that I could make baked apples. Then a second later I realized that was a great idea.

You may leave the blue cheese off, and they will still be delicious, but even someone like Schatzi who has a love/hate relationship with blue cheese thought that it added an amazing creaminess and sophistication to an otherwise homey dish.

the apple of my pie

Secret Apple Pie a la mode

Schatzi: Portland has been beautifully autumnal this past week, with crisp, sunny days and cold nights, and most surprisingly, no rain! Capitalizing on the perfect weather, I made an apple pie last week. It’s not the prettiest of pictures–maybe I should have styled it–but it tasted damn fine. Unfortunately for you, I can’t share the recipe, as Maiya was sworn to secrecy, but I have a few things to say about it.

I used some of my heirloom apples, Cox’s Orange Pippins, to be specific, and if you can find them, I urge you to use them. Or to try any one or a melange of heirloom varieties, because the apples in this pie were the finest pie apples I or Eli have ever tasted. They were firm, kept their shape, and had a perfect bite, and also had amazing apple flavor which was not masked by sugar and spices. Cox’s Orange Pippin is by far my all-time favorite apple. Martha Stewart Living also has an heirloom apple pie recipe this month, check it out.