As much as possible on weelicious, I enjoy coming up with recipes that are super easy, fun and fast. With each one I try and put myself in the shoes of parents that have never entered a kitchen before having kids. I think these Apple Butter Turnovers fit the easy, fun and fast criteria. They are really simple to make, especially if you’ve made pie crust before. But if you haven’t, that’s OK. Just buy a box of ready-made pie crust and no one will know the difference. You can make things even easier and buy a jar of apple butter, but I have to say that making your own is incredibly satisfying and requires nothing more than cooking a few apples until they’re chunky and tender.

When I was a kid, I had a major thing for McDonald’s apple pies. They were crispy, sweet and I loved getting to hold the little pie in my hand (I’m starting to worry that between yesterday’s Crispy Onion Rings recipe and today’s post, you guys are going to think I was raised in fast food joints!). These days, I avoid fast food, but when these came out of the oven and I took the first bite, I was elated that I would be able to let Kenya experience the great taste of one of my favorite childhood food memories, without exposing him to a whole host of ingredients I don’t want him eating.

Well, he loved them. No doubt these will be a huge hit with your kids too, and then you can consider them your own version of “fast” food.

Apple Butter Turnovers (Makes 8-10 Small Turnovers)

8 Tbsp Butter, chilled and cubed
8 Tbsp Vegetable Shortening or Lard, chilled and cubed
2 1/2 Cups All Purpose Flour
1 Tsp Salt
5-6 Tbsp Ice Water
1 Tbsp Honey
1 Tbsp Water
Apple Butter

*If you’re using pre-made pie crust, skip ahead to step #5.

1. Place the first 3 ingredients in a food processor and pulse until it resembles coarse cornmeal.
2. Sprinkle 1 tbsp of the water in the food processor and pulse a few times until the dough starts to come together.
3. Place the dough on a piece of parchment or plastic wrap and gather the dough into a ball and flatten into a disk.
4. Refrigerate the pie crust dough for 30 minutes or until chilled.
5. Roll out the dough 1/4 inch thick.
6. Using cookie cutters, cut out turnovers into desired shapes (If you are making 8 turnovers, you need 16 cut-outs, one for the top and one for the bottom).
7. Place one cut-out on a parchment or silpat lined baking sheet, top with 2 tsp of apple butter (depending on the size of your shape) leaving a 1/4 inch border around the cut-out.
8. Combine the honey and water together in a separate bowl.
9. Brush the 1/4 inch border with the honey water, place matching pastry shape on top of the apple butter and using the tines of a fork, gently press down to seal the dough.
10. Brush the remaining honey water on top of each turnover.
11. Using the tip of a knife, cut several slits through the dough (to allow ventilation).
12. Bake at 400 degrees for 20 minutes.
13. Cool and serve.

*After step 11, freeze on a baking sheet for 30 minutes then place par-frozen turnovers in ziploc bags and freeze up to 4 months. When ready, follow steps 12-13 adding an additional 1-2 minutes cooking time.

A few months ago, we got in the car and drove just outside of Palm Springs, CA to Los Rios Rancho’s beautiful u-pick farm to go apple picking. Not only does Los Rios have rows and rows of apple trees that seem to go on for miles, but they also have live music, pony rides, a petting zoo, roast corn, BBQ and more. We had a blast and we picked bags filled with several varieties of apples to take back home.

Whenever we go apple picking, I always set out with an adventurous spirit thinking I’m going to get home and crank out batches apple pies, turnovers, bread ,etc….and then I get home. I’m so exhausted from a long day of running around after Kenya that I just want to rest on the couch. Still, what to do with all those apples? Apple butter!

For all of you that are like me, this recipe for is so easy and healthy that you can make it even if you have no energy. I went to the farmer’s market the next day to ask several farmers what the difference between apple sauce and apple butter — I got many different answers. I came to the realization that it’s made simply from half sweet apples and half tart apples. Luckily, we picked tons of Golden Delicious (sweet) and Wine Sap (tart) apples, packed with vitamin C and fiber, a perfect mix for this recipe. Adding just a bit of agave nectar for sweetness and a pinch of cinnamon for zip, this apple butter recipe is perfect spread on toast, sandwiches or even used as a dip for turkey as Kenya demonstrated for us at dinner the next night.

Apple Butter (makes 1 1/2 – 2 cups)

2 Apples (1 tart such as granny smith or wine sap, 1 sweet such as golden delicious or Fuji)
1/2 Tsp Cinnamon
1 Tbsp Agave Nectar
1 Tbsp Apple Juice, Cider or Water

1. Place all the ingredients in a sauce pan over low heat.
2. Cook for 15 minutes, covered or until apples are soft and tender.
3. Smash apples with a potato masher or back of a spoon. You want to apple butter to be slightly chunky.
4. Cool and serve.

Whenever I’m working on recipes for weelicious, my husband relishes his job of being one of our most skilled taste testers. He and Kenya, side by side, will give me their “oohs and aahhs” when I’ve nailed it and the occasional thumbs down (how dare they?!) when I don’t meet their high standards.
When I set off to create this recipe, I knew the challenge was going to be whether I could keep it moist and healthy. On the first try, with a slightly different recipe and cooking time, I thought the crust was a bit to dry. My husband disagreed and declared them a masterpiece. On the second try, with a few tweaks, I came up with this version, which is so yummy and perfect for kids school lunch boxes.
The other day, Kenya sat on his daddy’s lap with the new batch and rejoiced as they dug into square after square of this treat. I have to say, this goes down as one of our family’s favorite recipes because it’s healthy and packed with fiber and other nutrients, as well as being sweet but not in a loaded with sugar and the junk you’ll find in a store-bought equivalent.
I guarantee I will be coaxed into making these once a week during apple season (it could be a long winter for mommy)!

Fruit & Nut Bars (Makes 18 Bars)

2 Cups Whole Oats
1 Cup Flour
2 Tbsp Wheat Germ
1/2 Tsp Baking Soda
10 Tbsp Butter
1/3 Nuts, chopped (I used almonds)
1/4 Cup Honey
2 Cups Apple Butter or 10-12 Oz Jar No Sugar Preserves

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Place all the ingredients except the apple butter or preserves in a food processor.
3. Pulse until the ingredients are combined and oats and nuts are in small pieces.
4. Press all but 1 cup of the mixture into the bottom of a greased 11 x 7 inch pan.
5. Cover the oat mixture with apple butter or preserves.
6. Crumble the remaining 1 cup of oat mixture over the apple butter or preserves.
7. Bake for 30- 35 minutes.
8. Cool, cut and serve.

When I was 6 months pregnant with Kenya, my husband and I went to Paris for some work as well as some much needed R and R. I had actually lived in Paris for years when I was younger so I was excited to walk all over the city showing him my favorite neighborhoods and old haunts. There’s nothing like being pregnant in the most romantic city in the world and walking by patisseries and bistros all day. It’s an automatic excuse to eat a lot. As a result, we didn’t take one form of public transportation the entire trip, since I didn’t want to miss a single culinary delight and we needed to walk our multiple meals off!

One of my favorite treats are crepes. These heavenly, light, little pancakes are the perfect base for all types of fillings like mashed bananas, almond butter, fruit preserves and, dare I suggest, Nutella (very common in France).

I made these for Kenya and myself for breakfast and he loved them. I covered them with apple butter and rolled them into little cigar-shaped cylinders which he held and ate at his leisure. When the rest of the batch was cool, I just wrapped them up and put them in the fridge so we could still eat them for a few days.

Crepes (Makes 14 Crepes)

2 Eggs
1 Cup Flour
3/4 Milk
1/2 Cup Water
1/2 Tsp Vanilla
2 Tbsp Butter, melted
Butter for sauteing

1. Place all the ingredients in a blender and puree.
2. Refrigerate for 1 hour or overnight (this helps the bubbles to settle and the crepes not to tear).
3. Grease a saute pan or crepe pan with butter. Pour in 2 tbsp of batter and swirl to cover the pan.
4. Cook for 1 minutes, flip and continue to cook another 30 seconds or until just starting to become golden.
5. Remove to a plate and continue to make remaining crepes.
6. Spread with apple butter, almond butter, mashed bananas, fruit preserves or any other favorite filling.
7. Roll into a cigar shape.
8. Serve.

*After step 5, allow to cool, place crepes on a sheet tray, layer a piece of parchment paper between each crepe, place in ziploc bag, label and freeze up to 4 months. When ready, defrost in fridge for 24 hours and heat in a dry pan for 30 seconds on each side and follow steps 5-8.

This is a perfect first food for a little one. I’ve been making it for Kenya since he started eating solids, but for some reason I forgot to put my recipe on weelicious. Applesauce is THE baby food standard. Inexpensive, healthy, sweet and complementary to so many other fruits and 
vegetables, apples should be one of the stars in your babies diet.

Full of vitamin C and fiber, you can make sauce from almost any kind of apple you can find, although Fuji’s and Gala apples are especially sweet and 
delicious.

I add a touch of cinnamon just to give it a little zip, but you could easily leave it out. Why spend more money buying jarred when you can make this in minutes?!


Apple Sauce (6 Baby Servings)

2 Apples, peeled and chopped into large chunks
1/8 Tsp Cinnamon

1. Place apples in a steamer pot over boiling water.
2. Cook for 2-3 minutes or until fork tender.
3. Place apples and cinnamon in a food processor and puree until smooth.
4. Cool and serve.

We used these to make this recipe:

Cuisinart DLC-2 Mini Prep Plus Food Processor