Bumper Crop: Beginning with Apples

By Cynthia Briggs

For apple lovers this recipe collection offers savory Curried Apple Soup, Applesauce Cornbread and Cranberry Apple Salad as unique starters to a meal.

Cornish Game Hens with Apple Onion Stuffing, Roasted Pork Loin with Baked Apples, or Pork Chops with Apples and Sweet Potatoes take center stage as stunning entrees.

Dazzle your guests after a meal by serving Dandy Danish Dapples, Grandma's Apple Rolls, Sour Cream Apple Pie or Apple Custard for dessert.

Bumper Crop offers the opportunity for turning any variety of apples into irresistibly delicious soups, salads, entrees, and desserts just like Mom and Grandmother made for you as a youngster.

This is a delightful collection of recipes that brings your family and comfort food back to the dinner table.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Cynthia Briggs
• Release date: Sep 27, 2010
• ISBN: 9781452441542

Cynthia Briggs

Well-known and highly-regarded newspaper food columnist Cynthia Briggs is the author of three cookbooks and one children's fable. Pork Chops & Applesauce: A Collection of Recipes and Reflections (in print), Sweet Apple Temptations (in print), Bumper Crop: Beginning with Apples (e-book), and The Adventures of Lily and Leon: A Soppy Fish Tale (e-book). Cynthia's cookbooks have a home-spun feel that show her passion for cooking and baking. Her children's fable was created out of a need for parents to be more attentive about teaching their children that, no matter the color of our skin, our innermost need for love and acceptance is the same in all our hearts. Cynthia’s popular newspaper food columns (over 200 of them) have appeared in various publications since 1999. Her work has also appeared in New Mexico Magazine, New Mexico Woman, Funds for Writers, Woman's World Magazine, and Seasons of Our Lives: Summer, Autumn and Spring editions. She has contributed to the Chicken Soup series with an essay in Chicken Soup for the Mother and Son Soul, Sister’s Soul 2, Divorce and Recovery, My Resolution, Food and Love, Just Us Girls, The Dog Did What? and Finding My Faith. Briggs has talked food, writing and techniques for living a more gratifying life on radio and TV, at rotary clubs and women’s associations, and at schools and universities. She teaches publishing to budding authors and memoir writing to those who wish to capture and then share their stories with upcoming generations. She writes and publishes, the "Country Cook Newsletter," which is a monthly publication. She also maintains her blog that's filled with family oriented stories and recipes that come from the heart.

Book preview

Table of Contents

A Bite of Apple History

Curried Apple Soup

Apple Cranberry Spinach

Cranberry Waldorf Apple Salad

Applesauce Cornbread

Heart Smart Apple Oat Muffins

Apple Muffin Puffs

Pork Chops with Apples and Winter Vegetables

Cornish Game Hens with Apple Onion Stuffing

Roasted Pork Loin with Fig and Marmalade Baked Apples

Homemade Chunky Applesauce

Apple Custard

Apple Pumpkin Brownies

Apple Butterscotch Squares

Island Style Apple Pineapple Cake

Mom’s Basic Apple Cake

A Twist of Fall Apple Cider Cheesecake

Dandy Danish Dapples

Apple Raisin Oatmeal Cookies

Apple Crisp

Sweet-Tart Apple Rhubarb Crisp

Applesauce Cupcakes

Autumn Apple Dumplings

Grandma Briggs’ Apple Rolls

Apple Cheddar Streusel Pie

April’s Blue Ribbon Sour Cream Apple Pie

Sinful Applesauce Tiramisu

Apple Caramel Trifle

Apple Apricot Pizza Dessert

Apple Toffee Dip

Apple Caramel Fondue

Tart Apple S’mores

A Bite of Apple History

It is believed the apple's birthplace was in Alma-Ata, Kazakhstan thousands of years ago where the same wild variety grows in the area today. The apple comes from the rose family of plants (interesting because the rose is believed to be the oldest flower). Apples are a sturdy breed of hard fruit that has earned its way into Norse and Greek Mythology, and early-on became a symbol of Christianity.

Apple seeds came to the United States from Europe in 1620.They were transported in tiny bags by pilgrims who built their homes and planted orchards throughout the east coast colonies of America. In 1792 Johnny Appleseed (real name John Chapman) from Massachusetts became a legend in American folklore by taking apple seeds west to share with the pioneer farmers in Ohio, Indiana and Illinois. Many others followed Appleseed's example, which eventually lead to apple orchards popping up throughout the United States.

Today 2,500 varieties of apples grow in all 50 states. 7,500 to 10,000 varieties are grown worldwide. The largest apple producing states, in their respective order are Washington, Michigan, New York, Pennsylvania, California and Virginia. Leading apple producing countries aside from the U.S. are China, Turkey, Poland and Italy.

There are 100 varieties of apples grown commercially in the U.S. and 15 varieties account for most of the apples we see in our produce markets which are Red Delicious, Golden Delicious, Granny Smith, Fuji, McIntosh, Gala, Rome, Jonathan, Idared, Empire, York, Cortland, Northern Spy, Rhode Island Greening and Stayman. New varieties