New England Fall Desert

I love fall in New England.  The sights, sounds and smells of the season are amazing.  Fall is also a season when some of the best classic New England foods and flavors are traditionally made.  Personally, I like to cook with apples in the fall.  Nothing tastes like fall to me as freshly picked apples.  Below is one of my favorite desserts to make in the fall. 

Part 1 of the dessert is to bake several apples:

• core 3 large apples
• cut apples in half 
• in a separate bowl combine the following ingredients for the topping mixture:
• 3 tablespoons of melted butter
• 1.5 tablespoon of cinnamon
• 4 tablespoons of rolled oats
• 3 tablespoons of sugar 
• 1 tsp nutmeg

Preheat the oven to 375.  Place the apple halves on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.  Press the topping mixture onto the apples.  Place the apples in the oven for 30 minutes.

Part 2 of dessert - Vanilla ice cream!
Once the apples are finished don't waste any time in putting some delicious ice cream on top of the baked apples.  I would have posted pictures of this.....but we ate them too quickly!

Part 3 of dessert (optional), homemade apple butter:
This is a really easy way to make amazing homemade apple butter that can be a delicious topping for ice cream, bread, crackers, or even chicken!

First.... core and quarter about 5 pounds of apples. Place the quarters of the apples in a large stock pot with 5-6 cups of water.  Bring the mixture to a boil, and allow to boil until the apples and water are the consistency of apple sauce.  Next drain the apple mixture through a mesh strainer into the slow cooker.  Add 1.5 cups of honey, and 1/2 cup of agave nectar.  To this, add 2 tablespoons of cinnamon and 1 tablespoon of nutmeg.  Cook on low heat for 8 hours.  This will make your house smell amazing, and is truly a sinfully good topping on anything.

Enjoy!
-Sara