Caramel Apples

Ahhhh fall... Most people think about crisp weather, turning leaves, and Halloween. Most people think about thick sweaters, pea coats, and pumpkin spice lattes. Most people think about raking leaves, lighting the first fire of the year, drinking hot cocoa, and making s'mores. While all of this is true, my kitchen demands apples...

Our apple tree - which produced NOTHING last year - has produced a bumper crop of apples this year. Branches were so full of apples that two huge branches actually fell! While I feel safer letting little HWB play under the tree now, it was sad to see all of those apples on the ground (at least they don't go to waste - the deer LOVE them)! We were able to grab a huge basket of apples though.

So in addition to Mr. HWB's Apple Surprise Bread, I got inspired by a delicious cookie I tasted and made some oatmeal caramel apple cookies. The dough was delicious. Honestly, I probably ate 3 or 4 cookies just in snacking on the dough.

The cookies are just as you would imagine them. They are filled with oats (like an oatmeal cookie should be) but also has enough apple chunks and caramel to really taste them. I added in a little bit of cinnamon and nutmeg just to boost the flavors. The combination of these flavors (and scents) just made me think about hay rides and apple picking... I had great expectations. And by the way my kitchen smelled and the dough tasted, I thought I would meet these expectations (or even exceed them).

I almost didn't want to wait for them to even cool off for a minute. I did so, just out of deference to my tongue and the roof of my mouth, but it was rather grudgingly.

But to be honest, while the cookies were tasty, I'd probably modify the recipe. The dough was a little soft and wet - probably from the apples - so next time I'll dry out the apple chunks a bit and dust them with flour and sugar as well. Also, the caramel just melted out of the cookies (which made for crunchy caramel instead of soft caramel bits), so I'll probably form a ball of dough around the caramel so that it melts inside the cookie but doesn't spread all over the pan. You can see the crispy caramel in this photo. I'm not opposed to crispy caramel; I was just going for something different. I'd also probably add more spices to them - more cinnamon and nutmeg.

They did go pretty fast though. And they tasted better the day after they were made. But, what can I say? You win some - and sometimes, the recipe turns out to be not quite a failure, but not fully a success.

More apple recipes to come...