12 Fantastic Uses for Apples
If I were to ask you what your favorite apple was, what would it be? Maybe you prefer a Red Delicious or a Honeycrisp because of their notably sweet flavor? Or perhaps you really enjoy a Granny Smith or a Pink Lady for their tartness. Which by the way, makes them perfect choices for an apple pie. No matter which apple you prefer, rest assured that they’re perfect for you, but that’s not what this post is about. Make sure you check out these fantastic uses for apples. Plus, please tell me your favorite apple choice. My favorite apple is Honeycrisp, not the price, but the taste is the best!
Fantastic Uses for Apples
Alongside bananas, apples are the number one consumed fruit in the US today, but did you know that they also have several uses around your home besides eating? I’m serious when I tell you this! While they are especially good for you, they can also be used to eliminate odors, moisten cakes, and so much more. So please continue reading to learn more about apples and their many fantastic uses. In case you missed this post, Apples: Everything You Need To Know
1. Apple Cider
I simply love it when fall arrives, with its cooler temperatures, autumn’s colorful foliage, hayrides, pumpkin patches, and, you guessed it, apple cider. Most of us take the easy way out and just pick up a gallon of it at the grocery store, but making your own batch from scratch is just as delicious and may save you money. It also happens to be very easy to make apple cider as long as you have a food processor, cheesecloth, and a bunch of apples.
2. Apple Barbecue Sauce
You’ve probably never given any thought to the words apple and barbecue sauce combined together in such a way as this, but I can assure you, it’s better than you’d think. This apple barbecue sauce recipe will taste delicious over chicken, pork chops, steak, and other barbecue favorites. Once your family tries this lip-smacking sauce, they’ll be drooling every time you decide to make it in the future.
3. Caramel Apple Pie
Doesn’t a warm apple pie, topped off with a scoop or two of melting vanilla bean ice cream sound amazing to you? While your diet may not thank you for this one, your taste buds won’t regret it when you make the decision to indulge a bit. But don’t just settle for any ole apple pie recipe. Make sure you go with the Ultimate caramel apple pie recipe that comes straight from the Food Network Channel and was brought to you by Tyler Florence.
4. Keeps Cake Moist
Did you know that you could use half an apple to keep your delicious cakes fresh in your cake container? It’s true! Instead of using your refrigerator the next time to keep it moist, try using an apple instead. I promise you that you won’t be disappointed with the results.
5. Soften Brown Sugar
Have you ever had a recipe requiring brown sugar, but then you went to your pantry and discovered that your brown sugar would probably work better as a weapon since it was as hard as a rock? I have yet to try this kitchen miracle myself, but adding a slice or two of apples in with your rock-hard brown sugar is said to soften it considerably in just a couple of days.
6. Ripen Green Tomatoes
You’ll have to wait until next year to try out this fantastic use for apples, but apples can be used to ripen the green tomatoes from your garden. Simply place both an apple in a paper bag along with your green tomato. Amazingly, after only a few days, that tomato will be ripe enough to eat. You can also try this trick on bananas and some of your favorite fruits.
7. Apple Facemask
This may be one that you’ve never heard about, but you can also use your applesauce to create a skin-soothing facemask. Combine it with cucumber, oatmeal, honey, wheat germ, and mint leaves to refresh and hydrate your skin while removing any unwanted oils from your face. Note: this is a skin treatment approach, not a Covid-19 kind of mask we’re all talking about.
8. Apple Stamps
The next time you’re doing an art project with your kiddos, consider using half an apple that you can use as a paint stamp. Your smaller children will absolutely adore this project, and it looks neat too! My girls loved doing this when they were little.
9. Shrunken Heads
This is another art project that you can do with the kids, but it’s best to do this one when they’re a bit older. You certainly don’t want to freak out your little ones. Here’s more on making fun of creepy shrunken heads. This also gives them a rare opportunity to play with their food!
10. Helps to Remove Excessive Salt
Maybe it’s only happened to me, but have you ever made the mistake of adding too much salt to a casserole or a soup pot? To fix this dinner-time disaster, cut up a few slices of apple and add them to whatever concoction you’re brewing up. In just a few moments, they’ll suck up a bunch of that salt, and then you can make them disappear by tossing them out. No harm was done!
11. Apple Tealight Holders
You could also core out your apples and then use them to create a tealight holder. This may seem a bit odd, but there’s no arguing that it’s clever. Now, this is one of my favorite fantastic uses for apples. You cut out the top of the apple and tightly fit the tea light in the apple.
12. Apple Cinnamon Potpourri
Could your home use a freshening up a bit? Make your homemade potpourri by hiking in the woods to find some of your ingredients. Some of them include pinecones, flower petals, and nandina berries. You’ll also need to add to your jar cinnamon sticks, whole cloves, allspice berries, cinnamon oil, ground cinnamon, and apple slices. Here’s more on how to make apple cinnamon potpourri.
Swedish Apple Pie Recipe
- 8-10 apples, peeled, cored, and sliced (Granny Smith apples are my favorite)
- 1 tablespoon sugar
- 2 tablespoons cinnamon
- 3/4 cup butter, softened
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 cup flour (I use bread flour)
- 1 egg
- Cinnamon and sugar to sprinkle on crust before baking.
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Preheat the oven to (350°F) = (176°C) degrees. Wash, core, and slice the apples.
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Press the sliced apples into a greased 9-inch pie plate/pan.
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Sprinkle the sugar and cinnamon over the apples.
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Combine the ingredients with a dough blender and finish mixing with your hands.
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Scoop the crust with a spoon and evenly mound it on the apples.
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Sprinkle cinnamon and sugar on top of the crust before baking.
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Bake for 45-50 until golden brown on a cookie sheet, or the juices may drip on the bottom of your oven. Serve with ice cream on the side. Enjoy.
12 Fantastic Uses for Apples
Final Word
The old saying, “an apple a day keeps the doctor away,” was undoubtedly correct, but apples also have several other uses. Besides making delicious desserts, ciders, and other delicious recipes with apples, as you’ve discovered, they can also help moisten skin, ripen tomatoes, and bring a refreshing autumn fragrance to your home. What other fantastic uses for apples would you like to share with me? May God Bless this world, Linda.
Copyright Images: Apples Red and Green Deposit photos_200633132_s-2019
I love all these apple ideas. Can’t wait to try your apple pie recipe, looks amazing!
Hi Tiffany, thank you! It’s my no-fail apple recipe. Linda
I live down the street from the apple orchard. I am an apple fanatic. They make slushies out of apple cider (YUM).
I have a tip about brown sugar. I never have any. It is made out of sugar and molasses. Both of those I do have (keep a bottle of molasses in my fridge). I get the sugar, add a little bit of molasses and presto brown sugar that doesn’t need a hammer.
Hi Janet, oh my gosh, you live by an apple orchard??? I’m going to stop buying brown sugar for this very reason, the hammer. LOL! I would love an Apple Cider Slushie, yummy! Life is good when you have fresh apples! Linda
Can you tell me how to make a powdered cinnamon brown sugar? I can’t seem to buy it anywhere.
https://cookpad.com/in/recipes/5697219-homemade-cinnamon-powder-tuesday-tip
Sorry Chris, the phone rang when I was writing a reply, so I just put up a link. I would make my brown sugar, let it dry and try running it through a coffee grinder to make it powdered. Add ground cinnamon and you have the powdered brown sugar and cinnamon. Hope this helps.
I thank you so much for your help.
Good ideas, Linda. Had not heard of Swedish apple pie. Thank you for the many ideas!!
If have apples that are getting too ripe, but still good, make fresh applesauce: peel, core, dice, put in a bit of water, cover saucepan, cook on low until tender enough to mash.
Hi Janet, oh my gosh, making homemade applesauce is the best! I just made some in my slow cooker so I could work during the day. It was so good! I love your comment! Linda
Just an alternative applesauce method–I don’t bother with peeling or coring, just slice (removing any bad spots) and cook until tender. Then I run it through the food mill (so yes, the time I save not peeling/coring gets used with the food mill!) Depending on the apples, the sauce comes out a lovely pink because of the peels! (And my chickens love the scraps.)
I love to make pork chops and apples–core and slice the apples and layer in a casserole dish with cinnamon and a little brown sugar, then lay the seared pork chops on top and bake (I think it’s about a half hour?) Yum!
I’ve been lucky with several heritage apple trees here. Strawberry apples and snow apples (Fameuse) are my favorites! You don’t find them for sale–they don’t keep well.
While I am not a great baker, the Mayer Brothers Cider Mill mak a apple dough donut covered in powder cinnamon sugar that rate 10 stars from me and my grandsons. They freeze very good, which helps extend their limited season. We freeze ice cream sandwichs to enjoy into December and donuts into January.
Hi Chris, oh my gosh, the donuts!!! I love ice cream sandwiches! Life is so good! Linda
Apple butter, Apple sauce, fried apples, fried Apple pies, Apple pies, Apple jelly, dried apples, Apple juice. In the fall, I steam apples in juicer steamer. Make Apple butter out of pulp and jelly out of the juice. Very little wasted. Love apples.
Hi Linda, oh my gosh, your comment is the best! Oh, I used to have a juicer when we had fruit trees and grape vines. Look at all the things you make out of apples! I LOVE your comment! Linda
Love the tip about removing excess sauce. We make applesauce with fresh apples from our apple trees and my wife has used apple slices to keep her brown sugar soft for years. Didn’t know about using them to keep cakes fresh though so thank you. The cores, minus seeds, go to our chickens.
Hi Ray, you have chickens? I love hearing this! Now we need to serve ourselves a bowl of applesauce, right? Linda
My wife and I have kept a few hens for years. Late last winter a large tree limb broke and fell on our coop and killed our four hens–canned chicken anyone? So, in April we got 6 Delaware chicks that have matured into excellent egg producers (5-6 eggs every day even during the short daylight hours of winter). I’m trying to figure out how to allow them out of their run so they can forage, as well as how to grow more forage for them since we don’t have much in the way of grass–mostly dirt and rock. And I don’t want them in my garden beds while seedlings are coming up either.
Fresh eggs do taste better. Our hens lay large brown eggs with dark orange yolks. But Fresh eggs are difficult to boil–at least until they are two to three weeks old. We don’t wash off the “bloom” until we’re ready to use the eggs, so they will stay fresh without refrigeration for a few weeks at least.
For long term storage I coat them with food grade mineral oil and store them in egg cartons without refrigeration–just room temperature. I’m told they’ll last at least a year that way–though I’ve never used any that were more than 6 months old. My wife insists any eggs she’s going to eat go straight from the coop to the fridge, but I’m less picky.
I’m going to experiment with keeping some in hydrated lime solution for long term storage but the mineral oil works so well I haven’t tried the lime solution yet.
Oh, I forgot. If you steam the fresh eggs in a steamer basket with no water touching them for 20-22 minutes them either rinse them with cold water or plunge them into an ice bath to stop the cooking process the fresh eggs will peel without the white sticking to the shell.
Hi Ray have you tried cooking them in a pressure cooker? I don’t know if fresh eggs work in them but boy they peel so easily. Linda
Hi Ray, wow, I love hearing this! That’s sad about the 4 hens you lost, scary! I live in an HOA and no matter what anyone says, this crazy HOA does not allow them. That’s another story. Urghh. LOL! Stay safe, Linda
Linda, I’ve never tried a pressure cooker, though I’ve heard your can boil/steam fresh eggs successfully in a One Pot. How does it work in a pressure cooker?
Also, re chickens and an HOA. The board members probably fear roosters crowing so, it depends on how large your lots are and how private they are if you could get away with hens or not. It was technically illegal for us to have them in Las Vegas too, but our backyard was very private and our neighbors enjoyed our occasional extra fresh eggs. And if we’d been reported I’d claim them as pets. This one’s named Fryer. That one is Boiler. Oh, and there’s Baker…:-)
Hi Ray, oh my gosh, the name of the chickens!! LOL! Here’s a post on how to hard boil eggs in a pressure cooker: https://www.foodstoragemoms.com/make-hard-boiled-eggs/. Yes, my lot is too small for chickens and my HOA is nuts. Stay safe, Linda
Mmm, my favorite, by far, is the Granny Smith yet my daughter gravitates to the Fuji.
I made your Swedish Apple Pie and its now my husband’s favorite. Its alot easier to make than traditional apple pie!
Hi Robbie, it is so much easier than a regular pie! I love it!! I’m glad your husband likes it! Apples are so awesome and can be used in so many ways! Linda
I grew up surrounded by apple orchards. Love apples.
My favorite apples are Jonathans and Macintosh. Both are a challenge to find anymore. Both are tart apples. The one kind of apple I would only buy IF no other apples were available is the red delicious. Having grown up around apples, I learned that reds really need to hang on the tree longer to develop the sugar content. Most commercial orchadists pick them before this happens because once the sugar develops, they don’t keep well.
When I buy apples, you don’t want to be behind me. When I was getting ready to go to college, I worked in an apple packing shed – sorting and packing apples for storage and shipping! I know what to look for so I take a lot longer to pick out my apples than most people do.
My favorite apple dessert is a crisp. I’ve developed a recipe for a small crisp: Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Peel, core and coarsely chop a good sized apple and place in a small baking dish (mine is 6 inches in diameter). Top with a mixture of 1/4 cup flour, 1/4 cup brown sugar, 1/4 cup white sugar 2+ tablespoons cinnamon and 3 tablespoons melted butter. Bake for 30-35 minutes. This is NOT low calorie! You can also add more or less cinnamon to your taste. Serve with whipped cream ir vanilla ice cream-IF you need more calories
Hi Leanne, wow, I would love to be behind you because then I might learn how to buy the right apples! I have to agree with you on the red delicious. They are not my favorite but I will eat them. Now I need to make this apple crisp! YUMMY! Linda
Leanne, I always relate to your comments as they are so practical and useful to me cooking for one and sometimes for two. That depends on if Ralph, my husband, likes the kind of food we are talking about. I love apples and am in the process of making your apple crisp right now. I know it will be good just from the ingredients!!! Thanks.
Carol – I am happy to share what I have had to learn to “try” to eat healthy!! Of course, that apple crisp is NOT all that healthy, but I don’t make it as often as I used to!
I use that little pie plate ALL the time! It is perfect for 2-3 servings of whatever I make. Unfortunately, it is a handmade ceramic pie plate and no longer made by the potter.
One of my other favorite pies is a veggie pie – think Bisquick Impossibly pies!! I make a zucchini pie: preheat the oven to 350F; grease your 6-inch pie plate or similar sized baking dish. Chop a quarter onion pretty fine, mince one or 2 garlic cloves and slice a small zucchini fairly thin. Layer those in the baking dish, season with salt and pepper (and any other seasonings you think would work). Top the veggies with a good portion of grated cheese (I generally have cheddar or a mexican blend). In a blender, combine 1/4 cup of Bisquick (or homemade biscuit mix), one egg and a 1/2 cup of milk. Blend until all mixed. Pour over the veggie/cheese mixture. Bake for 30 minutes or until browned on top and a knife comes out clean. I also generally sprinkle additional cheese on top just before it is ready to come out of the oven. This goes well alone and reheats well. I also use it as a side dish to a small piece of meat sometimes.
As for the veggies, if you don’t like zucchini, I have also made this with a small can of french sliced green beans. But I like zucchini and generally make that. You can do so many things with a biscuit mix!! Search on-line https://www.bettycrocker.com/recipes/product-recipes/bisquick-recipes/bisquick-impossibly-easy-pie-recipes. You can also make desserts. What I did, though, was take the basic recipe for a full-sized pie that serves 6 and cut it down in half. My zucchini recipe is a take on the veggie pie! It is so customizable.
Hi Leanne, thank you for sharing your recipes, you know I love all of them! Linda
Hi Carol, Leanne has great recipes! I love that people share their recipe here. Linda
One more thing! When I was growing up, my mother froze sliced apples for pies later – think Thanksgiving and Christmas or if someone just happened to show up! She had something like 15 pie plates – she lined each with a “baggie” and filled the baggie with her sliced apples until the baggie was full enough for a pie. Then she froze the full, sealed baggie IN the pie plate – once frozen, she removed the frozen baggie of apples and stacked in the freezer. The process started over again!
The peels and cores did not go to waste either – these were frozen until Mom had enough to fill her roasting pan. She placed all these in the pan, then into a 200F oven with just enough water to keep it from burning. She slow cooked this until everything was just a soft mess! She then put the cooked peel/core through her food mill to make a sauce like product. She seasoned this with cinnamon, added sugar if needed (to taste I am sure) and continued to cook this down until it was apple butter consistency. Then she canned it for later use. Not much was wasted in our home!
Hi Leanne, oh my gosh, how fun that would be to have apples ready to make apple pies! I think these types of habits have taught many of us to be very frugal over the years. I love this comment! Now, I want to make an apple pie or slice some apples to freeze or both. Linda
In addition to my sauce comments above…
Don’t forget apple jelly! I like to make it with a little cinnamon added. And after you’ve let the juice drain from the jelly bag, the pulp that’s left should be run through the food mill and then made into apple butter. (Remember the book “Jonni Wondernose” and how they put apple butter on the burns one of the animals got in the fire? Always wondered if that really did work…)
Also–if you have cores and peels left from another project–it’s possible to make a pectin base for other jellies, if you didn’t have access to commercial pectin–the cores especially are high in pectin. It’s a while since I’ve tried it, so I’d have to look it up.
And don’t forget those little crabapples that don’t seem big enough to bother with–the little “ornamental” ones included. They can be included in both sauce and jelly (adds color and flavor, and they are higher in pectin). I also have an old recipe for pickling them whole–they come out spicy, and you just pop them in your mouth and spit out the seeds.
Hi Rhonda, boy does your comment bring back great memories! My mother pickled crabapples!! Awesome tips!! Linda
Linda your Swedish Apple Pie recipe is my new favorite apple pie recipe! I love there isn’t a crust to roll out – which my family doesn’t like anyway. They did love the topping on this pie that seemed to flow together to make a delicious top crust while baking. I always partially precook my apples with a little water in the microwave for 5-7 minutes (drain water after) as it’s hard to get the apples to cook in a pie without burning the crust. This also makes them condense down so you don’t end up with large air pockets under the crust.
hI Kay, thank you for the 5 stars, my sweet friend! Great idea on the precook the apples. I need to go get some apples, my friend is giving them away nearby from her tree. I’m like you one crust is plenty and this looks like you worked all day to make it! LOL! Linda
I like to make Apple Dumplings. My Apple tree has unfortunately died but I use to pick a bunch of apples and made dumplings. I would make them ahead of time and put in a
freezer bag and put in the freezer. So anytime I wanted a Dumpling I would take out one or 2 and bake it. In the middle of winter these things are so good. I think I need a new apple teree to replace my old one.
Hi June, thank you for the 5 stars, my sweet friend! I have never made apple dumplings, oh my gosh, you have the best recipes! Your zucchini cake recipe is still my favorite! Yes, you need a new apple tree! I don’t have any fruit trees where I live now. Probably never will, darn it. No room. See if someone can dig a hole for you to plant it. Linda