7 Apple Recipes to Sweeten the Fall

Apple desserts begin here.

This moist, spicy apple cake is baked with chunks of apples and nuts for old-timey taste and comfort. As the days shorten and the nights grow cooler, apple cake make the perfect dessert for any occasion. I prefer this one because it has a glaze rather than a heavy icing.

Apple Pie with its flaky, buttery crust loaded with sweet and spicy apples has become a symbol of Americana. Most popular apples for pie baking are Granny Smith, Gala or Macintosh or a combination.

When you don’t want something too elaborate, baked apples make an easy, warm dessert. Served with a scoop of ice cream, it’s a simple autumn delicacy. My mother made them often, especially when we had an abundance of apples following our annual apple pickin’ trip to the orchards of Winchester, VA. Good gluten free dessert and perfect for breakfast the next day.

Swedish Apple Cake, or Swedish Visiting Cake, is foolproof and comes together in under 10 minutes. It’s named for the haste in which a homemaker could throw together the cake for company. 

Turning apples into applesauce is pretty easy and can be done with peeled or unpeeled apples, sweetened to your taste, and spiced with cinnamon and nutmeg. A mix of apples give a better dimension to the sauce. Kids and senior love applesauce and it goes with most any meal. I always offer it at Thanksgiving.

French Apple Cake is soft, tender and brimming with fruit—actually more apple than cake. This recipe is one of Dorie Greenspan’s favorites from her book Around My French Table. There’s a touch of rum!

About all you need for Fried Apples is a cast iron skillet and a few simple ingredients: butter, apples, a bit of brown sugar and lemon juice. The sliced, flavorful apples are perfect for any meal of the day, but I like them best at breakfast with pancakes or with pork dishes.