Apple Cider Sugar Cookies

Remember, remember... the fifth of November...

... as the day I talked about these sugar cookies.

gimmicks. yes!

Being that it is fall, what better than make a seasonal cookie. And not just any cookie, but something in the shape of the cookie's flavor! Fall. Apples. Cider. Apple cider sugar cookies. Perfect? Perfect.

I used a recipe I found on Julianne Hough's website. You know, from Dancing with the Stars. I gotta say, it is a decent recipe and will now be on the baking rotation. Baking these will make your kitchen smell wonderful. The apple cutter is from Michaels, and I went with my tried and true sugar glaze. Used whatever I had leftover from Halloween, so not only did I have Red Delicious looking cookies, but Golden Delicious as well. Next time I make this, I'll try it with boiled cider. I'm thinking it will make for a stronger apple flavor.

Fall Means ACD

This past Saturday I had my first apple cider donut of the season. When that donut was finished, I proceeded to have my second. The following day I had two more. A few days would pass before I gave in and bought some store made (gah!) ones and proceeded to eat half the container. The ones above are from Depiero's by the way, and WOOHAH! They will be around for another 2-3 years. Take that, Wegmans!

Anyways, I write about the ACDs because they are delicious. They may not necessarily be nutritious, but sugars and fats are what calm the civilized beast. It's true. I read it in a book somewhere.

I also write about the ACDs because this Saturday I will be partaking on another Tour de Donut. I went to one a couple of years ago and it was fun. And it's a big deal - I am passing up on my morning exercise class so I can stuff my face with food. Which is nuts because I really really really like this exercise class. If you can, you should make the trip up to Clifton Park and join us. We're starting at Lindsey's Country Store. 8:30 AM. On the dot folks, we got eating to do.

Field Goods 2013 Week #2

Just when I thought I was done with the frozen vegetables, I got green beans and cauliflower from The Farm at Miller’s Crossing. If anything can be said about my eating habits since signing up with Field Goods, it’s that my vegetable consumption has gone through the roof. Straight through… sky high.

Salad greens! Half a pound of it, and it’s keeping remarkably well in just the plastic bag. Definitely will take this over the store bought stuff… seems hardier. If that means anything. Organic, from Pleasant Valley Farm.

Swiss Chard from Barber Farm. Organic, and I got half a pound. Will probably end up just sautéing it.

Two pounds of Empire apples from Migliorelli Farm. Oh boy… if I eat these apples I will turn into an apple. Seriously. It’s applesauce from here on out, folks!

Two pounds each of Adirondack Blue and Red Skin potatoes from Rexcroft Farm. I bought some leeks so potato leek soup is in my future. And then there is your traditional roasted potatoes. Toss in a bit of oil, with some salt and pepper.

Pie Season

"Don't forget to bring the pie home today, okay?"

Recently a co-worker went apple picking with his wife at a nearby orchard. I asked what she planned on making and he answered matter of fact, "a pie, of course." Considering she just moved here from another country... one where making apple pies isn't a common occurrence, I was curious how it would turn out.

Holy moly, was this pie good! It was an apple crumb, a pie I'm not that big into, but this may have changed me on them. A nice thick layer of apples, the filling was moist and not overly sweet. It almost tasted as if it was a caramel apple pie. Could you imagine? A caramel apple pie? Me want. NOW.

M and I fought over the remaining slices. We tried our best to be equal, but it's hard when the pie was so good.

I think I'll have to find out that recipe.

Pick Your Own Apples Season 2011

Labor Day Weekend marks the unofficial end to summer, and the start of the best season – fall! Yes school is starting up again, but not to fear kiddies, you can go apple picking on the weekends.

Here is the info on some of the orchards here in Capital Region and Hudson Valley
**Note: prices listed are from their websites, they may have not been updated.**

Maskers Orchards (Warwick, NY)
45 Ball Road
Warwick, NY 10990
845.986.1058

Opened September 3rd. Open daily 9-5. Free admission, free parking, free bags. $24.95/half bushel bag; $2.95 apple cider jug.

Saratoga Apple (Schuylerville, NY)
1174 Route 29
Schuylerville, NY 12871
518.695.3131

Opening date not listed. Open 9-6 year round, 9-7 September – October. $6/person (weekdays), $7/person (weekends) includes half peck of apples. Three people can share a half bushel bag $17 weekday, $20 weekends.

Indian Ladder Farms (Altamont, NY)
342 Altamont Voorheesville Rd.
Altamont, NY 12009
518.765.2956/866.640.PICK(7425)

Currently open daily 9-5.

Altamont Orchards (Altamont, NY)
6654 Dunnsville Rd.
Altamont, NY 12009 

Opening September 10th. Open daily 9:30-6 weekdays, 10-4 weekends and holidays. $12/half bushel bag, $8/8qt bag. Admission only with the purchase of a bag.

Sbardella Orchards (Hampton, NY)
141 Manchester Road
Hampton, NY
802.345.2704

I’m not sure when this was last updated, but on their website it says it won’t be open this season because of frost wiping out their crop. Hours listed 1-5 weekdays, 10-5 weekends.

Goold Orchards (Castleton, NY)
1297 Brookview Station Road
Castleton on Hudson , NY 12033
518.732.7317

Opened September 1st. Open daily 9-5. $0.85/pound (apples), $0.65/pound (pumpkins).

Bowman Orchards (Rexford, NY)
141 Sugar Hill Rd.
Rexford, New York 12148
518.371.2042

Opened August 31st. Open daily 10-5.

Riverview Orchards (Clifton Park, NY)
660 Riverview Road
Clifton Park, NY
518.371.2174

According to staff, PYO will probably begin on Wednesday, September 7th.

Billy Bob’s Orchard (Putnam Station, NY)
720 County Route 2
Putnam Station, NY 12861
518.547.8309

No opening date posted, but they’re open 10-6 Wednesday-Sunday.

Hick’s Orchard (Granville, NY)
18 Hicks Road
Granville, NY 12832
518.642.1788

Open for apple picking September 3-5 for the holiday weekend 9-5. $17/half bushel bag, 2 bags for $30. PYO season officially starts September 10th.

For a list of other orchards in the area, please check out this link for a listing of orchards by county.

Pie

I did indeed bake some pies with the apples that I picked from Altamont Orchards. Aside from eating a bunch of them and giving them away to family, I ended up making three pies and two quarts of applesauce.

More Apple Picking

I guess it’s official – apple picking season is over. I was in the car this afternoon and the reporter had mentioned that most orchards are just about picked out. The warm spring led to earlier harvests, and the storms that passed through this area didn’t help with the whole pick-your-own situation. But it does help with cider making… and I do love cider.

Apple Cider Donuts: DePiero’s Farm

I was looking forward to the Daniel B’s Tour de Donut, but it landed on a weekend that I already had made plans. To make up for the lost donut adventure, I’ve decided to seek out apple cider donuts in the New York/New Jersey area. Specifically, Rockland and North Bergen County.

To start things off, I checked the bakery at DePiero’s in Montvale, NJ.

Altamont Orchards

I finally got my apple picking fix! The plan was to hit up Indian Ladder for the apple goodness, but The Profussor gave me the heads up that they may be out.

And sure enough, they were. Luckily, I had a back up plan, Altamont Orchards.

As of Sunday, they still have apples. 55 cents a pound, or 11 bucks if you completely fill up the 1/2 bushel bag. Great deal, considering it’s going for $24.95 at Maskers. I’m not sure of all the varieties they have still, but I do remember Spy, Empire, Fuji, and Red Delicious.

Tuxedo Farmers Market Purchases

Finally putting these pictures up. Word is that the apples are ready… and being September, it’s apple picking time. So if you’re in the area, check out the Tuxedo Farmers Market (Saturdays, 9-2). It’s on the way to Masker Orchards, as well as the Renaissance Faire and Warwick Valley Winery.

Expect heavy traffic on Route 17, so leave early or find an alternate route (I think on the Masker website they give directions to avoid the Ren Faire crowds).

Bella Napoli (Troy, NY)

M and I finally made our way to the other side of Troy and visited Bella Napoli. I took a quick look at the cases, and decided on a jelly filled donut, two mini cannolis, and an apple dumpling.

First, the apple dumpling. One whole cored apple, stuffed with butter, cinnamon, sugar, and raisins. It's wrapped in dough and baked until golden brown.

Not bad, but the apple was a little too tart for me. Flaky dough, both crunchy and sweet.

I liked the cannolis. I thought I tasted some anise flavor to it, which is a nice change from the usual cannoli. Then again, I could have totally imagined that anise flavor. Who knows.

The look I gave M after he made fun of my comments about the lack of chocolate chips.

Hard Apple Cider

So R's been on my back about posting here for a long time. Problem is, unlike R, I'm just not that into food. I mean, sure, I eat it almost daily, but when I do -- it's mostly just to stay alive.

But this is different. Of all the things I care about in this world, very few lie above the glory of booze. Delicious, fizzy booze. And it just so happens that this is apple-pickin' season -- so I decided to make a batch of home brew hard cider.
You really can't get any more basic than this when it comes to home brew, but for those of you who may not be in the know, I will give a very generalized equation of the science of home brew...

Sugar + Yeast = Ethanol + Carbon Dioxide

Sooo, during alcoholic fermentation, yeast ferment the sugars found in cider and in return produce alcohol and carbon dioxide as waste.

In order to make your own you need the following items:

5 gallons of Fresh apple cider (see below) ***
2 6.5 gallon buckets (one to be used as a primary fermenter with airlock and lid - the other as a bottling bucket w/ spigot)
bottle filler
Racking cane and tubing
capper
bottlebrush
santizer
1 packet yeast (I used Red Star - Cote Des Blanc, which is a wine yeast, but there are many other options available out there.. just ask your friendly brewer at your nearby home brew store.)
2 lbs brown sugar
3/4 cup pure cane sugar
~55 clean and sanitized 12 oz. bottles

*** Make sure to get Fresh apple cider. That is, cider with No preservatives (sodium benzoate or potassium sorbate) and preferably UV pasteurized. Heat pasteurization changes the chemical structure of the apple lectins, causing them to precipitate out. It also effects the taste. Cider that contains preservatives can be used with limited amounts of success when using a starter batch of yeast, but for the sake of simplicity, I'm not going to go into that here.***

Sanitize all equipment prior to brewing. Wild yeasts and bacteria can cause all sorts of unwanted flavors to pop up. It can seriously be the difference between 5 gallons of hard cider and 5 gallons of apple cider vinegar. So please, sanitize. I used a trick I learned from my mom, watching her can fruits and vegetables. After scrubbing the bottles with a chlorine solution (I used LD Carlson no-rinse cleanser, but 1 tbsp bleach in 1 gallon water will do just fine in a pinch), I boiled a small amount of water in a stock pot and placed the bottles upside down to steam for 5-10 minutes. This may be overkill, but again, it can be the difference between sweet sweet hard cider and a useless vat of moldy apple juice.

Add 1 gallon apple cider to 12qt pot and heat to near boiling, but do Not boil (remember what I said about the lectins?) Add 2 lbs of brown sugar and stir until completely dissolved. Add 4 gallons of cider to primary fermentation bucket (let's just call this, bucket #1). Pour in cider/sugar mixture and allow to come to room temperature. Add yeast, then seal with an airtight lid w/ airlock). Place in a cool, dark area and allow to ferment for 2 weeks.

After the fermentation completes (usually within 2 weeks), the airlock will no longer bubble. Now it's time to bottle your cider. Boil 1 cup water and dissolve 3/4 cup sugar. Allow to cool for a few minutes then add to the bottling bucket (bucket #2).

Elevate primary fermenter (#1), taking care not to disturb the sediment that's accumulated on the bottom. Open and insert racking cane and tubing. Siphon the cider into the bottling bucket (#2). This will mix the saturated sugar solution and the cider.

Elevate the bottling bucket (#2) and attach the bottle filler. Fill the bottles to the brim by pressing the bottle filler down on the bottom of the bottle. When you remove the filler, it will leave a sufficient amount of airspace. Use the bottle capper to fit the caps to the bottles. Store for 3+ weeks in a cool, dark place. Then.. enjoy.

Quick Pie

one minute Apple pie from Animi on Vimeo.

If only cooking could be as fast as this. Then again, if it were super fast... I'd weigh so much more than I do now. Yay laziness?

Planning Ahead

I don't really want to say I'm a procrastinator... but I have a tendency to avoid what needs to be done. For example right now: I should be going over my renal/reproductive notes, but I thought I should catch up with my posts.

Okay, okay... I'm a procrastinator. Happy now?

For all my put off tendencies, I can pull through if pulling through calls for it. Take holiday dinners for example. I decided this year to make pies, and I did it. Finally. They're in the freezer right now and hopefully nobody decides to cook one up before Thanksgiving.

My apple peeler/slicer/corer makes pie making so much easier. My parents used to have a really good one years ago, but this one gets the job done. As you can see, the apples still started to brown, even with adding lemon juice. Should I have kept the apples in a bowl of lemon water? I shouldn't really worry about it, because it goes into a pie, so you don't see if pre-cooked the fruit is brown. The dry ingredients are fairly basic- flour, sugar, cinnamon.

Very rarely do I find pie shells that are free of cracks. Not that it's really a big deal, when it's at room temperature, you just fix and use. Before placing the top layer of dough, I cut up some butter and mixed it throughout the filling.

I had a little bit of filling and dough left over, so I made up a tart. It was as big as a sandwich place, and easily fit the toaster oven (no point in starting up the oven for something so small). 350 degrees for roughly 20 minutes.

Just imagine a huge scoop of Vanilla ice cream on top...

Escape to Albany (Part Three: Indian Ladder Farms)

Yeah, yeah... the farm is not necessarily in Albany, but it's close enough. I grew up apple picking at Masker Orchards in Warwick, NY and every other place I've been to has not matched them. If you've never been there, I urge you to go. It's great if you have little kids, and it has nice views. But enough about them... let's get back on topic.

The drive out there was wonderful, but you have to keep an eye out where you're going or you can get lost. During the rest of the growing season, they have pick your own strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, tomatoes, and pumpkins. In the main building you can pick up fresh produce and stop by the cafe for a quick bite to eat. If you're ever planning a trip to Thatcher State Park, it might not be a bad idea to stop by on your way there.

As expected, the place was busy. The set up is a little different than what I'm used to- there's one main parking lot and then you walk through the taped off path to the apples ready for picking. There is one stand for purchasing your bags (1/2 bushel bags), and compared to Maskers, it's ten bucks cheaper ($14 vs $24.95). It looks like they go with the honor system at ILF- I didn't really see any staff going around the parking area to make sure people weren't dropping apples off in the car and going back for more (I have no idea who would do that... really, what could you possibly do with all that fruit?!?)

Those incredibly bright red apples in those pictures? Isn't that fantastic? This is why I love fall. I'm pretty sure those apples are Macoun, which is a cross between a Mac and Jersey Black. It's on the sweet side, so good for regular eating. The other apples that were ripe at that time were Cortland, Liberty, Jonagold (for week 3), Honeycrisp, Gala, Mac, Jonamac (the earlier weeks). It looks like they have a really good crop this year. The apples on the trees were nice and big, and unlike last year's crop, hardly any blemishes.

A tree that looks like it had been recently cut down. That tree must have been HUGE! I can only imagine what it looked like.

If only they rented out picking poles. Then there wouldn't be pictures like this. And if you were curious, I had like half a dozen apples while we were there. And it wasn't some weaksauce two-bite chucks- I went and finished each apple. Forgot to bring the salt. Whoops.

Apple Picking @ Indian Ladder Farms from Under the Copper Tree on Vimeo.