Two for Tuesday: Fall Apple Favorites

Fall is the time for apples. Even Amelia Pond thinks so....

Today's recipes are all about apples.

The first recipe is a fast and easy dip to make to serve with wedges of crisp fall apples...

Peanut Butter Apple Dip

Ingredients:

•  8 oz cream cheese (softened)
• 1 cup creamy peanut butter
• 1 cup firmly packed brown sugar
• 1/4 cup milk

Directions:

1.  Use a blender mix cream cheese and peanut butter. Add brown sugar and milk and mix.
2. Serve!

See, you can't get much simpler than that. Oh, and refrigerate your leftovers. If you have any. Makes a great party treat.

The next recipe is more time consuming, but well worth it. It comes, with a few variations, from an old Better Homes paperback cookbook. I've used this particular recipe so much that the cookbook practically falls open to this page.

Crumble Nut Apple Pie

Ingredients: 

•  1 cup sugar, divided
• 2 Tbs flour
• 6-7 cups thinly sliced, peeled Granny Smith apples 
• cinnamon (you need 1/4 tsp for the filling and 1/2 tsp for the topping)
•  pastry for single crust pie (you can use a refrigerated crust that you roll out or make your own)
• 1/2 cup flour
• 1/4 cup butter
• 1/4 cup finely chopped pecans (or bump it up to 1/2 cup if you love pecans)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375.
2. Combine 1/2 cup of the sugar with the 2 Tbs of flour and 1/4 tsp of cinnamon. Sprinkle apple slices with the sugar/flour and stir.
3. Roll out pie crust. Place into 9 inch pie dish. Crimp edges.
4. Combine remaining 1/2 cup of sugar with 1/2 cup of flour and 1/2 tsp cinnamon. Cut in butter until crumbly. Stir in chopped pecans.
5. Spoon apple mixture into prepared pie crust. Top with crumble mixture.
6. Cover edges of crust with strips of foil and bake at 375 for 30 minutes. Remove foil and bake another 30 minutes.
7. Let the pie cool for an hour, but serve it while its still a little warm. It's delicious topped with vanilla ice cream and caramel sauce.

Happy Fall Y'All!