It may be chilly where you are but in the southern portion of the United States the mercury is still climbing. This means that not every home cook is looking to fire up the oven and whip up warm Pumpkin Apple Pie right now.
Of course, not all autumn-inspired recipes need to feature piping hot ingredients. The following fresh fruit dishes prove that. The first recipe features a popular fall fruit—apples and pairs it with another flavor used frequently this time of year—cinnamon. The spicy Cinnamon Apples can be enjoyed alone or used to top cold vanilla ice cream.
The second recipe is my daughter’s personal favorite. She’s just 4 years old but she has made this dish so many times she can practically prepare it herself. That’s how easy it is. The Fresh Fruit Pizza is a terrific dessert to make with your kids… and the best part about the dish (besides its simplicity) is that you can use any type of seasonal fresh fruit that you desire.
CINNAMON APPLES
Ingredients:
6 crisp fall apples
3 cups sugar
4 cups water
12 ounces cinnamon red hot candies
Directions:
Peel, core and slice the apples thin.
In a medium saucepan over low to medium heat, combine sugar, water, and cinnamon red hot candies. Bring mixture to a boil to dissolve candies.
Add apples to mixture and simmer for 20-30 minutes, turning apples occasionally.
Serve apples in individual dessert cups or over ice cream or on pancakes.
Makes 4 servings.
FRESH FRUIT PIZZA
Ingredients:
1 package (18 oz.) refrigerated sugar cookie dough
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 egg
1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese
1/2 cup sour cream
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3-5 varieties of your favorite seasonal fruits, sliced thin (Consider: apples, grapes, kiwi, oranges, strawberries, blackberries, blueberries, peaches, or bananas.)
Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Open cookie dough package. Flatten out the dough on a 12 or 14 inch flat pizza pan and keep working the dough until it is spread out to the outer edges of the pizza pan.
Bake cookie dough crust until lightly browned, about 10-12 minutes. Allow to cool before topping.
In a medium bowl, combine the sugar, egg, cream cheese, sour cream and vanilla. Beat until smooth.
Spread the cream cheese mixture evenly on the cooled cookie crust.
Decorate pizza with fruit. Refrigerate pizza until you are ready to serve.
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