FRIED APPLES
Sweet warm cinnamon and nutmeg flavorful apples that are thick in their own juices and are a perfect side dish for your holiday (or any other) table.
Servings: 6 servings
Calories: 341kcal
Ingredients
- 2 Granny Smith Apple - about fist sized.
- 2 Sweet Apple - like fuji - about fist sized.
- 2 Tbs lemon juice
- 10 Tbs Unsalted Sweet Cream Butter
- 4 Tbs Dark Brown Sugar
- 4 Tbs White Granulated Sugar
- 4 Tbs Honey
- 1 Tsp Cinnamon plus a little more for garnish
- 1 Tsp Nutmeg freshly grated if possible
- Pinch of kosher salt
Instructions
- Peel the apples. Cut the apples into bite sized slices (remove the core). Coat with the lemon juice and set aside until the pan is ready.
- Melt the butter in a skillet over medium heat on the stovetop (I prefer cast iron for even cooking temp - but that is your choice)
- Add the apples to the pan of melted butter and cook over medium until it appears that most of the butter is taken up by the apples. You will see that the butter turns from a milky buttery yellow to a more clear and sticky fluid. If you puncture the apples with a fork, they will be mostly cooked through at this point.
- Add the sugars, honey, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt. Gently toss the apples to coat with the spices and sugars.
- The sugars will dissolve and turn into syrup and the apples will become soft. Gently insert a fork to know when the apples are done. Do not overcook. Remove the pan from the heat and allow to rest for 5 minutes before serving.
- Sprinkle with a little more cinnamon before serving.
Video
Notes
COOKING THE APPLES
- Make sure to cut the apples into even pieces so that they cook evenly.
- The step where you cook the apples in the butter will take longer than you think it should - about 5-7 minutes.
- Do not overcook the apples.
THE SPICES AND FLAVORINGS
- If you like more cinnamon or less. If you like more nutmeg or less - that is entirely up to you. You can always add more or take away more based on your preference.
- Some people prefer no honey - that too is up to you.
- The pinch of salt brings out the sweetness in the dish, so please leave that in. You won’t exactly taste the salt.
- If you use table salt instead of Kosher, just be careful to add only a tiny pinch.
THE APPLES
- This recipe make about 4-5 ½ cup servings (based on the size of your apples).
- Always use both a Granny Smith and another type of apple to give your dish more depth. If you prefer more sweetness in your apples, then you may want to use 3 sweet apples and 1 Granny Smith.
- With fist sized apples, then that is almost exactly what you will get.
- The tiny apples that people sometimes pick from their own trees will make less and then you might want to add more apples.
- Those GARGANTUAN apples that you sometimes find at the grocery (looks like the prize apple from the county fair) will cause you to increase your spices and sugars incrementally based on size.
- If you want to make more fried apples for a larger crowd, simply increase the recipe.
THE REAL SECRETS:
- Use the right apples - the balance of apple flavors makes a difference.
- Allow the butter to be absorbed by the apples - that is where that soft, delicate, buttery flavor comes from.
- Use both kinds of sugars to give a depth to the sweetness.
- Using honey gives another depth of flavor to the dish.
- Stop cooking the apples when they are done because overcooking apples makes them mushy and that isn’t the preferred result.
- Adding a pinch of salt balances the sweetness and enriches the flavor.
Nutrition
Serving: 1g | Calories: 341kcal | Carbohydrates: 45g | Protein: 1g | Fat: 20g | Saturated Fat: 12g | Cholesterol: 51mg | Sodium: 7mg | Potassium: 148mg | Fiber: 3g | Sugar: 40g | Vitamin A: 657IU | Vitamin C: 8mg | Calcium: 24mg | Iron: 1mg