This recipe came about because I had purchased some green apples and promptly failed to utilize them. A week went by and I realized I still had them and if I didn't do something, they'd go bad. I do loathe wasting perfectly useful produce. After a very brief search online, I came up with this recipe. I applied a few minor yet crucial adjustments, made the cake and fed it to anybody who was willing. Apparently, that meant everybody I know.
Ingredients:
- 4 green apples, cut into 1 inch pieces
- 2 large eggs
- 3/4 cup vegetable oil of choice
- 1 cup sugar (even less if using sweeter apples)
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 2 cups flour
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp salt
You will need: a large bowl, 9x13 pan, hand mixer, cooking spray
Preheat oven to 350F.
In a bowl, mix eggs and the oil until smooth and fluffy. Gradually add sugar, vanilla, salt, baking soda, cinnamon, and flour. Fold in the apples. Coat your pan with cooking spray and evenly lay out the cake batter. Bake for 50 minutes. Once cooled, cut into pieces and serve with coffee. Or serve warm with a side of vanilla ice cream.
Warning: This cake will vanish immediately if not supervised.
Enjoy!
The traditional Polish apple cake was one of the first cakes I have ever learned how to make. My grandma was downright ecstatic when I displayed interest in learning how to cook and bake. That being said, this is a relatively labor intensive cake. It will take you a couple of hours to put together, that's for sure.
Ingredients:
- 4 eggs (whites and yolks separated)
- 4 sticks of unsalted butter, room temperature
- 2.5 cups of sugar (3.5 cups if you like super sweet things)
- approx. 1lbs of flour
- 3 teaspoons of baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon of salt
- 2 tablespoons of sour cream (if necessary)
- 6 large Granny Smith apples
- 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
You will need a 9x13 baking pan, a variety of mixing bowls, a pot, and cooking spray.
Preparing the dough: Combine all the flour, 2 tsp of baking powder, salt, and a cup of sugar in a large bowl. Add the butter and 4 egg yolks, and knead the dough with your hands until it becomes uniform (I'm sure this could be done in a mixer, but I do not possess one). If the dough comes out too dry, add some sour cream until the dough no longer crumbles. Wrap it in plastic wrap and freeze it for an hour.
Preparing the apple layer: Peel the apples and grate them; you can either do it by hand or run the apples through a juicer and put everything back together. The choice is yours. Put the grated apples into a pot, add a cup of sugar, and simmer until the apples have completely softened. Optionally, you can add a tbsp of cinnamon to apples. Set aside and let it cool completely.
Preparing the whipped layer: Put 4 egg whites into a sturdy bowl and whip them into foam with hand mixer until you have soft peaks. Add 1 tsp of baking powder, 1 tbsp of flour and 1/2 cup of sugar while stirring carefully with a spoon.
Preheat the oven to 350F.
Assembling the cake: Grate 3/4 of the frozen dough onto the baking pan and stick the rest back into the freezer. Bake that for about 25 minutes, or until the top is just barely baked (it will start showing golden edges). Take out the pan. Pour the apple layer onto the cake layer and smooth out. Pour out the whipped layer onto the apples and also smooth out evenly. Grab the remaining frozen dough and grate it on top of the whipped egg whites. Try to cover as evenly as possible, even if the grated dough will try to splatter everywhere. Put the pan back in the oven and bake for another 20 minutes. Let it cool before serving.
Enjoy!
In October a friend from work brought in these amazing caramel candies she had made herself. I was extremely impressed and delighted at the flavor, so I decided I would replicate it. At first I used apples that were given to me by that friend, but they were meant for direct consumption and I found them to be a little too sweet for my caramel. Then I purchased some Granny Smith apples, juiced them, and ramped up my caramel game. Beware, this recipe is a little time-consuming.
Ingredients:
- 4 cups of apple cider (or fresh juice from approx. 5 Granny Smith apples)
- 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon of salt
- 1 stick of butter
- 1 cup of sugar
- 1/2 cup of light brown sugar
- 1/3 cup of heavy cream
You will need a 8x8in pan and parchment paper.
Note: Line the pan with parchment paper while the juice is reducing. Once you add sugar and butter you will have minutes to be ready to pour.You don't want to be stuck with a pot-full of hardened caramel.
- Boil the juice in a medium pot on medium-high until it reduces to a thick syrup (molasses-like). It should take about 30 minutes to do so. Turn down the heat to simmer.
- Add sugar, butter & cream, then simmer until the temperature reaches 165F (If you don't have a candy thermometer, I suggest pouring some cold water into a bowl and occasionally drop a little of caramel in there. If it turns solid(ish), the caramel is ready).
- Pour the caramel into the pan and set it aside for approx. 2 hours. I suggest setting a timer.
- Cut into pieces and store in the fridge so it doesn't melt. As an extra step, I wrap mine in cut up pieces of parchment paper. It looks fancy!
Enjoy!
Racuchy are essentially Polish pancakes. They are extremely straight-forward and will most definitely delight for an autumn breakfast. I suggest a complement of nice glass of milk and maybe some powdered sugar to top the pancakes.
Ingredients:
- 2 large apples; peeled, cored and sliced into relatively small pieces
- 2 eggs
- 2 cups of flour
- 16oz of milk
- 2 tablespoons of sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon of baking soda
- 1 tablespoon of cinnamon (optional)
- frying oil of your choice.
- In a large bowl mix all of the ingredients and make sure the batter is uniform. Flour pockets are unpleasant when eating pancakes.
- Add apples and stir.
- Heat up the frying pan and fry up all the batter. You can make the pancakes any size you want, though they're best if they're almost palm-sized.
