Got apples? If you’ve got apples, you’ve got the basic ingredient for dozens of delicious foods, from condiments to desserts. Apples are one of God’s best blessings to humanity because they’re a great combination of fiber, nutrients, and delicious! If you have apples, then you need a list of things you can do with apples!
One of my mom’s best dessert recipes, the kind you take to a church potluck, started with a yellow cake mix. All the other ingredients were commonplace and we always had them on hand, thus her affinity for this super easy, “Mom’s Apple Kuchen.”
Since then, I also discovered the magical combination of sliced apples and yellow cake mix! No-Brainer Apple Crisp. My kids learned to make this at an early age, and it’s a hit at potlucks, family dinners, and even camping. Bake it in a cast-iron Dutch oven over hot coals and you’ll really learn the meaning of “hot deliciousness”!
No-Brainer Apple Crisp
Equipment
- 9x13 baking dish
Ingredients
- 5-6 Granny Smith Apples
- 1 box Yellow Cake Mix
- 1/3 cup butter, melted
- 2 tbsp sugar
- 1 tbsp cinnamon
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Lightly grease a 9x13 baking dish.
- Peel, core, and thinly slice 5-6 Granny Smith apples and spread them evenly in the bottom of the baking dish.
- Pour box of yellow cake mix evenly over the top of the apples. Do not mix.
- Drizzle 1/3 cup melted butter over the top of the cake mix, and sprinkle with 2 tbsp sugar and 1 tbsp cinnamon. Do not mix.
- Bake at 350 for 30-40 minutes, until apples are tender but not mushy. Serve with vanilla ice cream.
Notes
For something quick and worthy of serving to family and friends, you really can’t beat this. Admittedly, it’s not much to look at, but if you serve it with a scoop of vanilla ice cream, no one will complain. I promise.
P.S. If you feel too lazy to peel, core, and slice those apples, take a look at these freeze-dried Granny Smith apple slices. All the work is done for you!
More things to do with apples
Here are 25 ways to put apples to work, along with a lot of great recipe links!
- Apple butter
- Pies
- Home-canned apple pie filling
- Fruit leather
- Apple sauce
- Apple jelly
- Fried apples
- Apple pancakes
- Dehydrated apple slices
- Apple chutney
- Baked apples
- Cheesecake
- Apple juice
- Apple pectin
- Plant apple trees
- Apple cider vinegar
- Apple crisp or Cobbler
- Apple turnovers
- Apple cider
- Apple strudel
- Plain apple slices, canned
- Caramel apple jam
- Apple cake
- Spiced apple bread
- Apple fritters
- Indian Relish
This classic Survival Mom blog post was updated on June 26, 2021.
Here are a few of our favorite apple recipes. http://busyhandsbusyminds.blogspot.com/2011/11/co…
Apple peel jelly- This uses the peels (and I always throw the cores in, too). It is fabulous, easy, and it uses all those peels and cores that you get when processing large batches of apples.
If you have a good recipe, post it!
This is the recipe I use. I use everything left over from my apple pie, cores and peels.
Place apple peels (I use cores, too), lightly packed, into a 4.5 qt pot with 5 cups water. There should be about 3-4 inches of peels in the pot. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and boil for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat, put the lid on the pot and allow to stand overnight.
Strain the liquid into a measuring cup, and make certain you have 5 cups. Return to the pot. Gradually dissolve 1 box of pectin into the liquid and bring to a full rolling boil, over high heat. Add 7 cups of sugar (all at once), stirring to dissolve. Return to boiling, and boil hard for 1 minute.
Remove from heat, skim foam, and pour into hot ½ pint jelly jars. Process ina hot water bath for 10 minutes.
You can reduce the amount of sugar, and also easily double and triple this recipe if you have a large enough pot.
A bit off topic here. I was checking out your lists and looking at food storage, and I wonder…can anything be done about the way we download files?? It's horrible…mediafire opens 3 or 4 windows, I have to click a link to download, after I clicked the link from your list, then a new window opens, click again…a new window, etc. I think I got a confirmation that the download completed, but then couldn't find where it downloaded my list to….grrr. Why not just a simple pdf? Or a link ot a web document? There must be an easier way. thanks.
Kat, I HATE Mediafire for just the reasons you mention. Earlier this week I was checking into GoDaddy\’s document hosting option and will try to make an improvement by the end of the year.
Behind our home is an abandoned apple orchard. More than 200 trees, many different varieties, many different harvest times. Very convenient maybe for some kinds of disaster. I harvest the apples nearest our property to help discourage bears from coming too close. Some apples go to our 3 horses. I will give you my grandmothers simple recipe for apple squares. I love it because it uses a lot of apples. I double the recipe and usually freeze squares and put the frozen squares in the kids lunch boxes. By lunch time, they are unfrozen. Best of all, this is super fast to prepare.
1 c flour
1/2 c sugar
Pinch of salt
1/2 c butter
Mix, sprinkle 1/2 in bottom of 9 x 9 bake pan. Cover with 4 chopped apples. Sprinkle with a dash of cinnamon and
sugar.
Sprinkle with rest of the above flour mix. Bake 400F for 1 hour or until rosy in color. Enjoy!
Nice!! You're a lucky lady!
mmmm .. we’re SO jealous Canadianmom! We’re heading over to Willcox (in SE Arizona) this weekend to get a few boxes of fresh picked mountain apples. 🙂 Thanks for all the tips and links Lisa..!
Thank you so much for sharing your recipe!!
This isn't really a recipe, but an easy snack. My kids love apple slices and peanut butter. I zap the peanut butter in the microwave for about 30 seconds. Just so its a little warm, its like a dip at that point. The I add different things to spice it up. My kids like honey, coconut, mini choco chips, jelly, etc. They like when I add a little bit of chili pepper and honey to the peanut butter. They will eat the chili pepper/honey pb on apples, carrots, celery, etc.
Many of us have purchased dehydrated apple chips. (Mine are from LDS.) A small bowl of those with peanut butter as a dip would make an excellent no cook and healthy snack….or mini meal if needed. Add a little honey, cinnamon, raisins, etc. to increase the nutritional value.
I hadn't thought about using dehydrated apple slices. We make those year and they never last long. Thanks!!
Love the peanut butter, honey…. idea. Thanks!
Dried apple slices keep really well just in a ziplock bag in our pantry. Plus you can keep alot more apples in a smaller amout of space when they're dried. We sprinkle cinnamon on ours – yum!
I thought I’d throw in a ‘working apple idea.’ After you peel the apples for one of your recipe, cover with water and and tea towel for several days/ weeks. Then you have apple vinegar for flavoring or cleaning.
Just saw the apple cider vinegar. Thought I read the list well!
Apple salsa – just sub in apples instead of tomatoes – deeelish and freezes great.
That’s delicious with cinnamon/sugar tortilla chips.
That’s a great idea.
Pingback: Survival Mom DIY: Make Pectin From Apple Peels | Prepper's Survival Homestead
Take Apple,Pick off Tree,Wash then Apply to Mouth.
Although no comments have been left here for awhile, just want to suggest frying up some apples with some onions – WOW. 🙂
i have kgs of apples right now really looking for some idea to use them