Apple Autumn - Easy as Apple Pie

Its a sure sign of fall/autumn - lots of apples in the store and lots of recipes to try. This juicy fruit is a  popular fruit, and one of the healthiest. "An apple a day keeps the doctor away" is an old saying, but one that reminds us of the healthy benefits included in this original fast food. Americans eat an average of about 20 pounds of apples a year, but our European friends do even better, about 46 pounds annually per person.
A couple of recipes I've tried and will file in the 'keeper' category are Caramel Apple Cinnamon Rolls and Skillet Apple Pie. The Cinnamon Roll recipe is an easy-to-work-with dough that I'll use for other rolls. This dough recipe includes eggs which help the dough rise. The fat in the yolk also helps tenderize the crumb and lighten the texture. The Skillet Apple Pie is absolutely the easiest pie I've ever made - and it uses my favorite crust recipe (pre-made, refrigerated)! I didn't use quite this many apples and it was still full.

 Easy Skillet Apple Pie
Ingredients:
2 pounds Granny Smith apples
2 pounds Braeburn apples
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup butter
1 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
1 (14.1-oz) package refrigerated pie crusts
1 egg white
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
Directions: Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Peel apples, and cut into 1/2-inch-thick wedges. Toss apples with cinnamon and 3/4 cup granulated sugar.
Melt butter in a 10-inch cast-iron skillet over medium heat; add brown sugar, and cook, stirring constantly, 1 - 2 minutes or until sugar is dissolved. Remove from heat, and place 1 piecrust in skillet over brown sugar mixture. Spoon apple mixture over piecrust, and top with remaining piecrust. Whisk egg white until foamy. Brush top of piecrust with egg white; sprinkle with 2 Tbsp. granulated sugar. Cut 4 or 5 slits in top for steam to escape.
Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour - 1 hour 10 minutes or until golden brown and bubbly, shielding with aluminum foil during last 10 minutes to prevent excessive browning, if necessary. Cool on a wire rack 30 minutes before serving.

Caramel Apple Cinnamon Rolls

Ingredients – rolls

4 ½ tsp (or 2 packages) active dry yeast

½ cup warm milk

3 eggs

2 teaspoons + ½ cup sugar, divided

1 ½ tsp. salt

3-4 cups all-purpose flour

½ cup unsalted butter, melted

Ingredients – filling

½ cup butter, melted

¾ cup brown sugar

½ cup sugar

1 Tbs ground cinnamon

1 ½ cup finely chopped apple (Granny Smith preferred)

1 Tbs. fresh lemon juice

Caramel sauce for drizzling (I used ice cream topping sauce)

Ingredients – icing (or your usual icing/glaze with a bit of caramel sauce added)

½ cup butter

1 cup brown sugar

½ tsp salt

⅓ cup heavy whipping cream

2 tsp. vanilla

1 ⅓ cups powdered sugar

Instructions:

For the rolls: Mix together 2 tsp. sugar, warm milk, and yeast in a mixer bowl. Let stand for five minutes. Beat eggs, sugar, and salt until well combined. Add egg mixture to yeast mixture and whisk to combine. Add 1 cup of flour and continue mixing until smooth. Pour in melted butter and mix well. Continue adding remaining flour ½ cup at a time until dough is stiff. Knead dough 20 times on a lightly floured surface. Move the dough to a greased bowl and cover with a towel or plastic wrap. Place in a warm area and let rise until doubled in size, approximately 1 hour.

Meanwhile, for the filling: combine sugar and cinnamon. Toss chopped apples with lemon juice and 1 Tbs of sugar/cinnamon mixture.

Once dough has risen, lightly flour a large cutting board. Punch down dough and roll out to approximately 12 x 16 inches. Spread with melted butter and sprinkle with sugar and cinnamon mixture. Next sprinkle on the apples. Drizzle apples with caramel sauce.

Starting on a long side, roll up dough into a cylinder and pinch the edge to close. Slice (I use a piece of string or dental floss wrapped around the dough roll and tightened) into rolls (12 – 18 rolls). Place in a buttered jellyroll pan and allow to rise for another hour. (At this time the rolls could be placed in the refrigerator to bake later).

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. (If you’ve refrigerated roll dough, let it come to room temperature before baking) Bake rolls for 20-25 minutes until golden brown in color.

Prepare caramel icing. Melt butter in a saucepan over low heat. Add brown sugar and salt and stir until combined. Continue cooking for another 4 minutes or until sugar is dissolved, stirring constantly. Add heavy whipping cream and stir to combine. Remove from heat and add vanilla. Whisk in powdered sugar until smooth.

Remove rolls from oven and pour on icing immediately. Let cool slightly and serve.