Apple Recipes for Autumn Equinox Celebrations

Apples are a common symbol associated with Mabon as this is the time to harvest them. An easy way to celebrate today is to create an apple themed dinner. I’ve put some simple recipe ideas for a Mabon celebration here.

The Main – Savoury Apple Thyme Tart

This recipe makes 2 small tarts, but you can adapt to make one larger one. I think this would be lovely served with a warm root veg salad.

Ingredients

• 1 roll shop bought or home made pastry dough – 1 roll is enough for two individual 6 inch tarts
• 1 tablespoon unsalted butter
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 small yellow onion sliced into thin rings
• ½ cup crème fraîche
• 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
• 1 cup shredded Gruyere cheese
• ½ tablespoon fresh thyme leaves chopped, plus more for garnish
• 1 apple cored and thinly sliced
• Salt and freshly ground pepper

Instructions

1. On a lightly floured surface, roll out the dough and press into two six-inch tart pans, trimming off excess. Refrigerate until firm, about 30 minutes.
2. Preheat oven to 375°. Line the dough with parchment paper and top with pie weights or dried beans. Bake for 20 minutes. Remove the parchment and weights. Continue baking until the crust is golden brown and crisp, about 10 minutes more.
3. Transfer tart pans to a wire rack and let cool slightly. Reduce the oven temperature to 350°.
4. Meanwhile, make the filling: Melt the butter with the olive oil in a pan over medium heat, and swirl the pan to combine. Add the onions and cook until lightly browned and starting to caramelise, about 8 minutes per side. Remove from heat.
5. In a bowl, stir together the crème fraîche and mustard and spread evenly over the crust. Sprinkle with half of the cheese and the thyme. Arrange the apple slices and onions on top. Sprinkle with the remaining cheese and season with salt and pepper.
6. Bake on the top oven shelf until the pastry is golden and the cheese is melted, about 15 minutes. Let cool for 10 minutes. Garnish with thyme, cut into slices and serve.

Apple Butter

I make vats of this every year as it’s a great way to use up apples when you’ve got a really big harvest which we have again this year at our community orchard. I usually make double the recipe as it takes 12 hours to cook down in total so it’s worth making up a lot in one go. I especially like this recipe because you don’t need to peel all the apples, I’m not a fan of peeling.

Apple butter is a great alternative to jam on crumpets or toast and tastes really good in porridge or Greek yoghurt too.

Ingredients

• 5.5 lbs / 2.5kg soft, sweet apples cored and chopped into small pieces, about ¼”
• 1 cup brown sugar firmly packed (200g)
• ¾ cup granulated sugar (150g)
• 1 Tablespoon ground cinnamon
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• ⅛ teaspoon ground cloves
• 1 vanilla bean (or 1 ½ tsp vanilla extract)

Method

Slice the apples into small pieces (ca 1/4″) and core them. You don’t need to peel them.

Place apples in a large heavy pan

In a medium-sized bowl stir together sugar, brown sugar, cinnamon, salt, and cloves until well-combined.

Pour sugar mixture over apple pieces and stir until well combined.  

Place lid on pan and cook on low heat for 10 hours.

After 10 hours, use a hand blender to puree the apples in the pan until smooth and no chunks.

Scrape the inside of the vanilla bean into your apple puree (or add vanilla extract).  

Turn the heat down to low and cook another 2 hours uncovered, stirring occasionally.

Store in the refrigerator in an airtight container, where it will keep about 2 weeks.