16 Varieties of Apples / Vegan Apple Butter Cookies / Double Crust Apple Cobbler (vegan friendly)

I love apples! And because I am weird in a lot of ways, I went in search of apples over the weekend to find as many varieties as I could locally. I found 16 and I'm looking forward to doing some serious taste testing this week.

One of my very favorite apples, Pink Lady, was nowhere to be found so I'm thinking that it's out of season. If you see some snatch them up while you have the chance--they are incredibly crisp and delicious.

In no particular order, the 16 types of apples I found are:
Jazz
Golden Delicious
Pippin
Red Delicious
Crabapples (the little guys)
Ambrosia
Aurora
Braeburn
Fuji
Gala
Cameo
Honeycrisp
Granny Smith
HoneySpice
Sonya
Rome

















So many apples, so many good things to bake!

These vegan apple butter cookies are chock full of apple flavor and full of nice fall spice. I love 'em! I've never made an apple cookie before and I wasn't sure how these could turn out to be anything but mushy. But fear not, they bake up slightly crispy yet chewy at the same time. Cookie perfection.

Apple Butter Cookies from The 100 Best Vegan Baking Recipes by Kris Holechek.
2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup margarine, softened
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar, packed
3/4 cup apple butter
1 teaspoon vanilla

Preheat the oven to 350F. Line baking sheets with parchment paper.

In a small bowl, sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger and salt. In a large bowl, use a whisk or an electric hand mixer on a low speed to beat sugar, brown sugar and margarine until creamy. Add apple butter and vanilla. Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients in two batches and mix until well-combined.

Drop rounded tablespoonfuls onto baking sheets, 2 inches apart. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes or until the edges look slightly browned. If you are baking more than one sheet at a time, rotate the sheets halfway through the baking time. Cool cookies on the baking sheet for 5 minutes, then transfer to cooling rack. Store cooled cookies in an airtight container at room temperature.

Dave is all about fudge, caramel, chocolate and really sweet things, while I love fruity desserts best. Apples, raspberries, pineapples... I've made apple cobbler oodles of times but I was so intrigued when I read a recipe for a double-crusted cobbler. If there was a contest for best dessert of the season, this would be a winner for me. It's SO good. The dough part is delicious and not heavy, even with both layers, and the filling is a goopy, bubbly apple-cinnamon love fest.

This is the kind of dessert you can eat for days and not get tired of.

Double Crust Apple Cobbler based on a recipe from Mama Dip's Kitchen.
For the crust:
3 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons sugar
1 cup shortening
1/4 cup cold water

Put the flour, salt, and sugar in a bowl. Add the shortening and mix everything together well, using a fork or your fingertips, until crumbly. Add the water and mix to form a moist ball of dough. On a floured board, roll out half of the dough to make a crust that fits the bottom of a dish in which the cobbler is being made. Press the crust into the baking dish, prick it with a fork a few times, and bake in a 375F oven for 10 minutes. It should look done but not brown. Cool 10 to 12 minutes, then put the fruit mixture on top. Roll out the rest of the dough, place it on top of the fruit, and prick it with a fork a few times. If you like, brush the top crust with melted butter and sprinkle with sugar. Bake the cobbler for about 40 to 45 minutes, until the crust is well browned.

For the apple filling:
3 pounds Granny Smith apples
1 1/4 cups sugar
pinch salt
1 teaspoon nutmeg (I also added cinnamon)
1 tablespoon flour
3/4 stick butter or margarine
1/2 cup water

Peel, core, and slice the apples and place them in a 10 x 10-inch baking dish, over a bottom crust if you like. Mix the salt, sugar, nutmeg, and flour together and spread over the apples. Pour the water over the apples and dot with butter. Put a crust over the apple mixture and bake for 40 t0 45 minutes at 375F.



Mama Dip's Kitchen

The 100 Best Vegan Baking Recipes: Amazing Cookies, Cakes, Muffins, Pies, Brownies and Breads