Falling into Autumn

Fall is one of my favorite seasons. The crisp cool air, the warm sweaters, and  the beautiful foliage are the perfect remedy to the goodbyes of summer. 

One of my favorite Autumn pass-times is apple picking. I love the feeling of being able to harvest your own foods, and enjoy them too. My favorites are Gala apples, along with Cortland and Jona-Gold for baking pies! We sometimes always manage to come back with more apples than needed, but we put them to good use; in pies, in lunches, or as a nice centerpiece in the middle of our kitchen.

So on Sunday, my mom, my brother, my sister, my aunt, and I all traveled up to Bethel, CT to Blue-Jay orchards to go pick apples. The drive was beautiful, with cute cottage houses and trees just beginning to change color. 

When we arrived, we were greeted by a little country shop with orchards on either side. We bought two bags and walked up to the rows of trees bearing the shiny, sweet fruit. After a few rows of apples, we finally found the Macouns and the Jona-Gold and grabbed just enough to cover the bottoms of our bags. Then it was more walking, picking, tasting, and hunting until I found my beloved gala apples and some Cortland for 

those pies. 

After filling our bag to the point of balancing apple upon apple, we lugged them back to our cars and headed across the street to have a look at the store. Inside was almost every kind of jam, jelly, and apple products you could ever find. We bought apple cider of course and some yummy caramel dip. My little brother insisted on buying a pumpkin so we had to get one of those too. 

All of this carrying was making me tired and I was surprised I made it to the car without my arms going numb. When we arrived home from our trip, I had to make some form of apple pie. So the some of the apple got cut up, tossed with some brown sugar, spices, and flour, and pored them into a Pyrex baking pan. A buttery strudel was added on top and then it was of to the oven to get nice and crispy.

You can't have apple pie without a little warm caramel, so I made a quick batch if Mel's Divine Caramel Sauce. This is the best caramel that I have ever tasted in my entire life. I don't know what I would do without it! 

The dessert came out great, along with a little whipped cream and caramel sauce. I definitely have to make a recipe for it so that should be coming up soon!

Happy Fall everyone!