Fall harvest means plums, apples and pears are freshly picked and available in abundance everywhere we shop. I thought of baking an apple pie today, but that's so passe. And then I stretched my mind back many years ago trying to recall baking something quite different with apples. It was a time when our children were young, more than 40 years ago. We'd been somewhere, to a pioneer village, I think, and there were apple fritters someone was making for sale, and we thought they were pretty good. 

So later, when we got home I theorized the ingredients and made apple fritters. We really liked them, but I didn't make them very often, and now it's been decades and I couldn't really remember the details until now. Earlier in the day, I thought if I Googled 'apple dumplings' it would be interesting to see what came up. I didn't think 'apple dumplings' would actually make an appearance in fact, but they did, a myriad of recipes for them.

I decided I'd give them a try. I looked at a Mennonite recipe, and at others as well, and went ahead putting together apple dumplings. At least my version of them. The pastry required would be far different than anything I use for a pie. A scant 1-1/2 cups of flour, a dash each of salt and sugar, a tsp. of baking powder, a half-cup of chilled/cubed butter, and to moisten it, very cold milk. I don't, in fact, measure anything, just go by eye-and-feel.

The pastry turned out a little sticky, so I kneaded a little more flour into it, then cut it into four pieces, kneaded and flattered it into a round, then rolled it out into a thinner round I figured would be generous enough to encapsulate a good-sized apple within. And the apples, I used four Royal Gala, cored them, filled each with a tsp. of brown sugar, then shoved raisins into each. Each apple was planted on one of the rolled-out circles and the sides drawn up and over, then pinched together.

The next step was the syrup; butterscotch. Comprised of brown sugar, water; cup of each in a little saucepan over moderate heat. Once the sugar melted I added a 1/4 cup of butter to melt, added a tsp. of cinnamon and another of vanilla flavouring after I shut off the heat. I drizzled the syrup over each apple, and placed the baking pan into my little convection oven, pre-heated to 350-F, and baking took about 40 min. Smells divine. Looks tempting.

When I was finished pottering about the kitchen in dinner preparations, and made a cheesy bread dough, I changed into outdoor clothing and Jackie and Jillie went on a mission with me to alert Irving, down in the basement in his workshop working on his stained glass, that we were ready to head out to the ravine? Was he? Almost.

Another hard frost hit us last night. But today there wasn't a cloud in the sky, and the sun reigned supreme, with no wind to diminish its warmth. The temperature had risen to 6C, and it was comfortable enough as we booted our way through trails thick with fallen leaves. The forest floor may be plush with an astounding depth of foliage, colourful where the newly-fallen leaves have deposited themselves, but it takes some time to become accustomed to seeing deciduous trees bare once again. 

Foliage that fell days earlier has already begun breaking down, the crispness underfoot well macerated and the colours fast fading. For some reason we can't quite fathom, Friday seems the day of the week that brings area residents in the community out to the forest. On our street, of the many people who occupy the houses, vanishingly few ever venture into the ravine. Including those home-owners whose backyards actually back onto the forest.

It's a puzzle.