FAVORITE FALL FRUIT DESSERTS
As we move further into fall, we seem to lose our craving for fresh fruit, especially as snacks and desserts. It’s as if we consider that, along with the other trappings of Summer, to be over. But that’s just not so! There’s as much variety, and perhaps more diversity, in the fruit crops of autumn as there is in those of Spring or Summer.
Apples, grapes, pears and cranberries are all fall fruits. Maybe because they’re available all year, grapes and apples, except for their presentation candied on sticks, seem to have lost a bit of seasonal identity. Fresh pears, once very popular, have become considered more of a gourmet item, possibly because their juice has found such wide commercial use. Fresh cranberries visibility has also shrunk from a couple of months to a few weeks in November, again possibly because their juice is in demand. (TIP: Grab a few extra bags while they’re in market and throw them in the freezer. They keep beautifully for months, just in their bags and make great winter desserts)
Juice is a uniquely distinguishing feature of fall fruits from that of other seasons. Each of these fruits produces enough juice to support manufacture of widely distributed commercial beverages. Grapes and apples go further, providing not only apple jack, cider, juices and wine, but also vinegars. Cranberry juice is popular as a tasty, healthy drink and as a ‘mixer’ but the surprise is pear juice. It is the base of most of the fruit drinks on the market, especially the ‘juice boxes’ sold in packs.
So why do we seem so hesitant to showcase the fall fruits in other than their traditionally accepted ways? Apples show up in pie, or like cranberries in sauce; grapes and pears are thought of as ‘snacks’ or salad ingredients. But they can be so much more, contributing to all courses of meals. The embedded links below will take you to posts with lots of suggested recipes for different dishes using fall fruits. This post will start you on the way by giving you a sampling of recipes for my favorite fall fruit desserts, more are in the linked posts. Remember, these desserts are also wonderful holiday options for those who don’t like pumpkin.
RECIPES
GRAPES Oct. 29, 2020 Nov. 7, 2019
Red Grape Clafoutis: Serves 4-From Frenchmomcooking.com
1 lb. red seedless grapes (the darker, the better)
2 eggs
2 egg yolks
5 Tbs. sugar
4 Tbs butter
5 Tbs. flour
1 cup milk
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 pinch salt
Preheat oven to 350 deg. Pluck grapes and wash them. Melt the butter in a 1 ½ qt. baking dish in the oven. Whisk or beat the eggs in a large bowl, mix in the salt and sugar, add vanilla and flour and mix until well incorporated. Add the melted butter to the bowl. Use a paper towel to spread the residual butter, greasing the dish. Gradually stir in the milk to the egg mix, lastly stir in the grapes. Pour the batter into the dish and bake for 45 min. Let the clafoutis cool a bit and eat while warm, or chill. Either way optionally garnish with powdered sugar.
Grapes in Sweet Sour Cream: Serves 4
2 lb. seedless grapes –red makes a better presentation
1 cup sour cream
¼ cup sugar- or to taste
¼ tsp. cinnamon-or to taste
Remove grapes from stems, wash and dry well. Stir the cream, sugar and cinnamon together and taste to adjust seasonings. Gently stir in the grapes and chill well. Serve in compotes. Can be transported separately and mixed before serving. Cream can be mixed a day or two in advance. Garnish with more cinnamon sprinkled lightly over.
PEARS Dec. 3, 2020, Nov.16, 2017
Pear-Ginger Upside-Down Cake: Serves 8-10
6 pear halves preferably fresh from 3 Anjou pears. (1) 16to17oz can of pear halves can be
used, see below **
2 Tbs. butter
½ cup brown sugar
¼ cup maple syrup – -pancake can be used
½ cup chopped pecans Or 6 tablespoons craisins
1 box gingerbread mix
If using canned pears, skip this paragraph. Peel, halve and core the pears. Place cut side
up in a microwave safe dish, with enough water to cover half way up the sides and ¼ cup
sugar. Cook on high, @ 3 to 4 min., depending on the oven wattage, or until just fork
tender. Allow to cool in the liquid.
Preheat the oven as per cake box directions, and grease a spring form pan well. Melt the butter, mix in the sugar and syrup, blending well, and pour into the bottom of the cake pan. Drain the pears, reserving the juice, and arrange them, cut side down, attractively in the bottom of the pan, on top of the sugar mixture. Sprinkle the nuts, or craisins, in the spaces between the pears.
Mix the cake according to directions, substituting the pear juice for equal amount of
required liquid. Pour the batter on top of the pears. Bake according to directions, plus five
minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Leave the cake to
cool in the pan for at least 20 min. allowing the bottom to set. Invert pan on a plate to
remove the cake.
*Fitting the pan bottom with a round of greased parchment paper helps the cake to
flip out easily. Once it’s plated, simply peel off the paper
** Fresh pears are better for this cake, because, once cooked, pears are very fragile.
Canned ones, having been boiled until soft, are harder to handle, and might not
support the weight of the batter, or additional cooking as well as fresh.
Pears Poached in Red Wine: Serves 6
6 pears-ripe but still firm-peeled but uncored-stems on-bottoms trimmed slightly to stand upright
1 Tbs. cornstarch
1 bottle red wine
½ cup sugar
6 whole cloves
1 cinnamon stick
Zest of a small lemon
Zest of a small orange
Dissolve the cornstarch in 2 Tbs . of wine. Heat the rest of the wine with the spices, zests and sugar, stirring until the sugar dissolves. Add the pears and poach gently 25-30 min. until tender, turning occasionally. With a slotted spoon remove the pears to a deep serving dish. Strain the wine and return to the pot, adding the cornstarch mix. Simmer and stirring until sauce thickens, pour it over the pears and leave to soak until cold. Serve room temp or chilled.
APPLES Oct. 1, 2020, Sept. 27, 2018 Nov. 2, 2017 Oct. 26,2017
Easy Apple Strudel: Serves 6-8-FromRecipes 1-2-3 by Rozanne Gold
2 ½ cups compote
5 Tbs. unsalted butter-melted
7 sheets phyllo dough
lay sheets of phyllo on a flat surface and coat each lightly with butter using a pastry brush, restacking them as you do. Spoon apple compote parallel to one of the short sides of the phyllo leaving a 3 inch margin. Roll up tightly like a jelly roll. Place, seam side down on a baking sheet. Brush top with remaining butter and bake in a 375 deg. oven for 25min. Cool and serve in slices. Best within 3 hrs. of baking, do NOT refrigerate, not even leftovers.
*Apple Compote: Yield 3 cups—It’s useful in desserts as an ingredient, but can be served as alone as a fruit course, as an accompaniment to meat or as a dessert with whipped or ice cream. A few tablespoons can be stirred into hot or cold cereal.
It’s useful in desserts as an ingredient, but can be served as alone as a fruit course, as an accompaniment to meat or as a dessert with whipped or ice cream. A few tablespoons can be stirred into hot or cold cereal.
6 large cooking apples –Golden (NOT Red) Delicious, Granny Smith, Rome etc.
1 cup water
¼ cup sugar
1 Tbs. lemon juice
¼ cup raisins—optional
¼ tsp. cinnamon—optional
¼ cup chopped toasted walnuts-for optional garnish
Peel, core and dice apples in ½ inch chunks. Bring sugar and water to a boil; add apples, raisins and juice. Cook until fruit is tender but not mushy. Taste if more sugar
French Apple Pie: Serves 6-8
3-4 lb. cooking apples-peeled, cored in ¼ inch slices
¼ cup melted butter
¼ cup sugar
½ tsp. ground cinnamon
Successively layer the apple slices so they lay flat, in the pie shell; a circular pattern looks best for presentation. Sprinkle each layer with some sugar and cinnamon. When the crust is filled, pour the melted butter over all, and then garnish with sugar and cinnamon. Bake in a preheated 450 deg. oven 10 min, then at 350 deg. for 30-40 min. until apples are tender and crust is crisp. Best done serving day, but can be done the day before. Store at room temperature.
* My Crust Recipe for single crust pie
1 cup flour
1/3 cup shortening- Crisco
3 Tbs. + if needed ICE water
In a deep bowl, cut shortening into flour with 2 knives until pea sized crumbs form. Add the water a Tbs. at a time mixing until dough holds together. Form into a ball cover and chill 30 min. Roll on a floured surface until slightly larger than the pan. Line the pan with the dough, cutting off or tucking excess under and crimping edges. Crust can be frozen, chilled or baked ahead according to pie directions.
CRANBERRIES Dec. 17, 2020 Nov.29, 2018 Dec. 7, 2017 Nov. 30, 2017
My Cranberry Orange Walnut Ice Cream: Serves 6-Very quick and easy to make.
2 cups cranberries
¾ cup sugar
1 orange –quartered, seeds removed
½ cup chopped, toasted walnuts
1 pint vanilla ice cream- softened
Coarsely chop berries and orange, with rind. Stir in sugar and blend fruit mix, making sure the orange rind is pulverized, add walnuts and stir into softened ice cream. Pour into a mold and freeze until firm. Unmold and serve garnished with cranberries and walnuts. Or spoon ice cream into a freezer container; a couple of hours before serving fill a decorative freezer-proof bowl with individual scoops of ice cream and spoon them into dessert dishes at table
*This ice cream recipe is packed with fruit. I love it this way but some people, especially children, may prefer it if the quantity of vanilla ice cream is doubled in proportion to the fruit.
NOTE: Keeps as long as commercial ice cream in the freezer.
Cranberry Cream Cheese Pie: Serves 6-8-From The Journal Cookbook
(1) 9 inch pie shell-almost baked
20 oz. cream cheese
1 cup sugar
1 ½ Tbs. flour
¼ tsp. EACH orange and lemon zest
Pinch Salt
3 eggs, +1 egg white
2 Tbs. cream
½ tsp. vanilla
TOPPING
1 can whole cranberry sauce
2 Tbs. sugar
1 ½ Tbs. cornstarch
1 tsp. EACH lemon juice and zest
Whip the cheese fluffy; add the next 4 ingredients and beat to mix well. Add the eggs and white separately, beating well after each; add the cream and vanilla and mix until well blended. Pour in the pie shell and bake in a preheated 450 deg. oven 7 min. Reduce heat to200 deg. and bake 15 min. Cool.
Combine first 3 topping ingredients in a saucepan and stir over low heat until clear; blend in juice and zest. Cool and spread over cheese filling. Chill until serving.
