Apple Season

Last weekend we had our 2nd Annual Apple Party. We had a good number of friends over to enjoy caramel apples and other apple treats. Our house was full to bursting with people and food -which is the way a house should be in this happy season.

 I made these little mason jar lanterns the day before and we hung them from the branches of our crepe myrtle out front to welcome our guests.

And I made this wreath while watching Call the Midwife. I did buy the pinecones, but the rest of it was just stuff I had lying around the house/back yard. I think it turned out nicely.

 We had a Caramel Apple bar with 8 different varieties of apples -some we had never heard of before. The Cortland was my favorite, it was crisp but airy. Very tasty. For toppings we had caramel, milk chocolate, white chocolate, pretzels, pecans, hazelnuts, candy corn, m&ms, gummy bears, bacon (a crowd favorite), coconut, and sprinkles.

 We also had a drink bar with sparkling cider, cold cider, hot cider and cider shakes.

A Cider Shake is a magical concoction. You blend vanilla ice cream with spiced cider and you are in heaven. Some friends in Utah introduced this to us and we've been hooked since.

Husband also made some giant ice spheres, and cider spheres for the drinks. They were a big hit. The sphere ice cube melts really slowly and they are a fun alternative to cubes. You can buy a silicon ice ball mold on Amazon.

We also had some apple brownies, reeses brownies and kettle corn for the munching. The kids did some bobbing for apples outside (so fun) and we had Fantastic Mr. Fox playing in the background. We had a really nice time. We hope to do this every year. 

This is how Vera prepped for the party.

We got most of the cleaning done that evening (much to Husbands disappointment) but we realized that we had several pints of apple cider and nearly 10 lbs of apples left over!

So I whipped up an apple cider donut dough before going to bed. They made the most delicious breakfast with a side of salty bacon and crispy hash browns. Apple Cider Donut Recipe HERE.
They are well worth the effort.

But we still had a bunch of apples left over so I spent the rainy monday morning making and canning apple sauce and apple butter. It was really fun, and the apple butter is really tasty. I think it needs more cinnamon though. Apple Butter Recipe HERE.

I think our apple party officially ushered in Autumn. It's been cool and rainy and actually cold enough for slippers this morning. Happy Autumn!