0 Apples and Plums

Apples

The local apple season typically begins with the floral and crisp Gravenstein apples showing up at the farmers' market around mid-August. Four weeks later the Gravensteins are all gone, but that's when the season really kicks into high gear. Every Saturday at the Ferry Building farmers' market during apple season, I can find no less than 25 different varieties of just harvested apples. Most are heirloom varieties. Every characteristic you would want in an apple can be found: tart, sweet, floral, spicy, herbaceous, winy, tropical, good for baking, cooking and eating out of hand.

Last weekend I picked up all kinds: Spitzenburg, Bramley Seedling, Cinnamon Spice, Connell red, Mutsu, Hawaiian, Winesap, Kino's Orange Red, Idared. I wish I could've brought home more, but my husband and I can only eat so many apples in a week.



My original intention was to make some applesauce with my bounty, but the apples were all too fresh and delicious to not grab and eat. So I didn't have any left to make my applesauce, but that didn't stop me from making this applesauce quick bread. Whether you use store bought applesauce (like I did this time) or make your own batch of homemade goodness (like I had originally intended), this quick bread, like the name implies, is so simple and easy to make.

Plums

It's a little strange to be writing about plums and apples in the same post since plums are typically a late summer fruit and apples are definitely an autumnal treat. I am quite sad that the summer stone fruit season is over, but I am very happy that autumn and the apple season is here.

When I was at the farmers' market a couple weeks ago, I found some tiny blue damson plums. Damson plums are normally used for making jam but I decided to use them in a "tart/cookie". For my "crust" I used the sugar cookie dough that I had leftover from the last Daring Bakers' challenge since the sugar cookie dough that we used was pretty much a pate sablee (sweet tart dough).

I cut my rolled cookie dough into 3-inch rounds and fanned out slices of the damson plums. I sprinkled them with some turbinado sugar and then baked them at 350 until the edges were lightly golden brown. It was a lovely way to use up the rest of the cookie dough and to celebrate the last of the summer plums.



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