Fall Flavors

As much as I don't want the summer to end, I look forward to fall every year. I have always loved the smells, tastes, and colors of fall. For me, the fall brings feelings of comfort and beloved traditions. Foliage, pumpkins, and football (even though I could really care less about the game) bring back such fond memories of my childhood: jumping in the leaves, carving pumpkins, wearing a boy's jersey to the high school football game. These memories have grown even more dear to me over the years as they remind me of such strong feelings of comfort, security, and love. Crisp fall mornings and the smell of pumpkin pie bring me back to that childhood innocence, when I didn't have a care or worry in the world.

One of my favorite autumn traditions is apple picking. I remember going to the apple orchard in my town, bundling up in sweaters even though it was probably still 60 degrees outside, and picking what seemed like hundreds of apples. After our return, my mom would always make apple pie. Even though my mom doesn't like to cook, this is one of my favorite things she makes (along with a mean tollhouse pie and banana cream torte). And yesterday I had the chance to take a step back into my childhood...

A couple weeks ago my friend invited me to go apple picking with some of her friends from work. As soon as I heard the words "apple picking" I had to accept. So I had been looking forward to this fall activity for a couple weeks now. Everyone woke up early so that we could meet at Grand Central at 10:30--but the day was well worth the loss of sleep. After a train ride to Croton Falls that seemed to take forever (it was actually about an hour and 15 minutes) and short cab ride from the station, we finally arrived at Outhouse Orchards. Our cab driver probably thought we were a bunch of ditzes as we oohed and awed at how adorable the orchard was. The sweet, pungent smell of apples hit me the second I stepped outside of the cab. Set in the lush, rolling hills of northern Westchester County, it stood as quite the contrast to New York City. As we waited for eveyrone else to arrive, we browsed through the cozy, country shop. But this was more than just a gift shop; they sold everything from corn on the cob, to fudge and pies, to pancake mix. Everything looked and smelled so good, I wanted to buy (and eat) it all.

Since it is still relatively early in the apple picking season, only the McIntosh apples were ready for picking. McIntosh aren't my favorite for snacking, but these were quite tasty. They were more tart than other McIntosh apples I've had in the past, which I liked. I also think the fun of picking an apple right off the tree would make any apple taste better. We quickly filled up our bushel so that we could return to the country store and indulge in other fall treats.

There were samples of pumpkin cheesecake, which I obviously loved. I also sampled pumpkin pie ice cream and wished I could have brought home a whole quart if not for the hour-long train ride. But the star of the sweets had to be the cider donuts. Surprisingly, I never had a cider donut until last fall when I went apple picking with my brother and sister; and I have been waiting for fall ever since just so I could eat another! If you have never tried a cider donut, get yourself to an orchard ASAP to try one. They are such perfect little pillows of cinnamon-y, doughy, fried goodness.

After a fun-filled day of fall activities and fall treats, the only logical thing to do was to make an apple dessert with all my newly picked apples! Now that I'm at my grandma's house and don't have all my cooking tools from home, I decided to make an apple crisp instead of an apple pie. I found a very simple recipe on Martha Stewart's website--the most difficult part was just peeling all of the apples--it only took about 25 minutes to assemble the ingredients. The best part of making an apple pie or apple crisp is always how amazing the entire house smells as it bakes. On this gray, dreary Sunday, there was nothing more comforting and warming than the smells of cinnamon and apples wafting through the house. But the one thing that is better than the smell of apple crisp is the taste! Just add some vanilla ice cream on top, and you've got the perfect recipe for stirring up some beloved autumn memories.

Martha Stewart's Apple Crisp Recipe