Good to the core

Autumn is my favorite season. The trees are dressed in all their colorful splendor and our stores and markets are filled with Mother Nature’s beautiful bounty.

Farmers’ markets and produce stores are still brimming with sweet corn. My advice is to buy several dozen ears, scrape the kernels off the cobs, place them in airtight Ziploc bags and stash them in the freezer.

For the next few weeks, I will give you recipes for fall fruits and vegetables. The harvest has been glorious and I have found a number of delicious bargains throughout the city. Watch the sales, read your supermarket circulars, go to the Reading Terminal Market or take a trip to a farm store. I make frequent visits this time of year to Springdale Farms in Cherry Hill. I especially love their homemade pies.

When I was growing up, the only apples available were Washington State, Red Delicious, Rome Beauty — perfect for turning into baked apples — and McIntosh. Today we have Gala, Fuji, Jonathans, Granny Smiths, Empire, Jonagolds, Courtlands and more.

Pears are not to be outdone by their apple cousins. My favorite pears are green or red Anjou. They can be eaten as is, baked or cooked.

It’s easy to support local farmers, as Pennsylvania grows some of the finest apples and pears in the United States. Across the river in New Jersey, farmers also are bringing in baskets of apples.

Regular readers of my column know I’ve never been too keen on baking. Now, several easy baking books have recipes that have changed my mind. One is Ready, Set, Dough!: Incredibly Easy and Delicious Ways to Use Store-Bought Doughs by Melanie Barnard ($17.95, Broadway Books, paperback). Another book is Baking from the Heart: Our Nation’s Best Bakers Share Cherished Recipes for the Great American Bake Sale by Michael J. Rosen ($29.95, Broadway Books, hardbound with full-color photographs). A portion of the proceeds benefit Share Our Strength, one of America’s most important anti-hunger agencies.

Here are recipes for apples and pears from these books. The recipe for baked apples is my own.


Apple Tube Cake
From Baking from the Heart

Ingredients:

5 large Granny Smith apples
2 teaspoons cinnamon
2-3/4 cups sugar
4 cups unbleached flour
4 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup orange juice
1 cup vegetable oil
4 large eggs

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Butter and flour a 10-inch tube pan. Do not use a Bundt pan.

Peel, core and quarter the apples. Cut each quarter into 1/4-inch slices. In a small bowl, combine the cinnamon and 3/4 cup of the sugar. Toss the apples with 3 tablespoons of this cinnamon-sugar mixture and set aside.

In a large bowl, sift together the remaining 2 cups of sugar, flour, baking powder and salt. Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the orange juice, vegetable oil and the eggs. Pour the egg mixture into the dry ingredients and mix well.

Pour half of the batter into the pan, scatter half of the apples over the batter and sprinkle with the cinnamon-sugar mixture. Top with the remaining batter and the rest of the apples. Then top with the remaining cinnamon-sugar mixture.

Bake for 90 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

Transfer the cake to a wire rack to cool for at least 30 minutes. Remove the cake from the pan.

Serves 10-12.

Note from Phyllis: This is the classic Jewish apple cake recipe that has been popular for about 30 years. You could use a handheld mixer to make this cake, and even could make the batter in the food processor.


Apple-Pear Galette
From Ready, Set, Dough!

Ingredients:

1 sheet frozen puff pastry from a 17.3-ounce box, thawed but well-chilled
1/3 cup finely chopped walnuts
1/3 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
2 small tart apples, such as Granny Smith, peeled, cored and thinly sliced
2 ripe firm pears, peeled, cored and thinly sliced
1 tablespoon chilled unsalted butter, cut into four pieces

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

On a large, ungreased baking sheet, roll the puff pastry into an 11- or 12-inch square. Use a sharp knife to trim the edges evenly, then cut a 1/2-inch strip from all four edges. Place the strip on top of the edges to form a border on all four sides. Place the baking sheet in the freezer for 10 minutes.

In a mixing bowl, stir together the nuts, sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg. Sprinkle half of the mixture on the puff pastry, inside the border. Make alternating and overlapping rows of apples and pears on top of the nut mixture. Use your fingers to rub the butter into the remaining nut mixture until it is crumbly. Sprinkle the nut mixture over the fruit.

Bake until the pastry edges are well-puffed and rich golden-brown, the fruit is tender and the topping crisp, about 30 minutes.

Let the tart cool on the baking sheet, then use a wide spatula to loosen it. Serve warm or at room temperature, cut into squares.

Serves six.

Note from Phyllis: You can make this tart either all apple or all pear. If so, use four apples or four pears.


Baked Apples

Ingredients:

6 Rome Beauty apples
1 tablespoon butter
3 tablespoons chopped walnuts
2 tablespoons orange juice
3 tablespoons lemon juice
3/4 cup maple syrup

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.

Core the apples, leaving about 1/2-inch core on the bottom of each. Remove about 2 inches of peel from the top of each apple.

Butter a baking pan well. Place the apples in the pan, being careful that they do not touch each other or the sides of the pan.

Divide the walnuts into six equal portions and fill each apple with them. Pour the juices and maple syrup on top of the apples. Bake for one hour or until the apples are soft. Serve warm or cool.

Serves six.

Note from Phyllis: Please use real 100-percent pure maple syrup in this recipe and in any recipe. Most commercial syrups contain more sugar than syrup so read the labels carefully. Pure maple syrup can be found at Whole Foods, Trader Joe’s, some supermarkets and gourmet stores. Once you’ve tasted the real thing, you’ll never go back to Log Cabin or Mrs. Butterworth.