Apple picking and apple baking

This time of year is arguably one of my very favorite seasons: the fall colors, the quintessential "fall" activities, and the move toward warmth and coziness, bundling up, and retreating to warm homes after time outside. Since I love knitting, and knitwear is certainly more wearable this time of year, that plays into my fondness for this season as well.

A few weeks back, we visited a local apple orchard. It's been a farm since the 1830's, and a U-pick location for a long time, but we had never visited it. We went on a Saturday, so it was relatively busy, but it didn't feel crowded or hectic. After paying for our half peck, we took a tractor-pulled trailer to a few areas of the orchard. Honey crisp and pixie crunch and golden delicious – all a little bit different, and all piled in our boxes.

We commented on how much bigger Cooper is this year, compared to last year's orchard visit. The way he's able to articulate big ideas and opinions! And the way he still loved holding and eating his own apple.

At the farm store, we picked up apple and cinnamon sugar and maple donuts (as you do), and browsed the mums and pumpkins. What a fun morning it was.

That afternoon, I prepped a sourdough pie crust and then let it ferment overnight. The next day, I rolled it out and made my first ever lattice-topped apple pie (so fun)! Cooper helped me, of course. That little boy loves baking.

There's something so special about seasonal baking, like this. Only once, throughout the year can you pick in-season apples, bring them home, and bake with them. And every year, it's worth the wait. We made a simmer pot with the scraps and enjoyed hot pie.

For a second round of apple baking, I made a batch of apple crisp, and then, since we still had more apples, a second batch of apple pie ( both times, I used this recipe for the apple pie filling). Between the baking and the snacking, that's it for our U-pick apples! Until next year.