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Acres of apples

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Times Staff Writer

THE wholesome scent of apples stirs our hearts.

Apples are the quintessential American fruit; they speak of a time of homemade pleasures created from the fruit of the backyard tree: cider, apple butter, pies, dumplings.

Until the mid-1940s, nearly all of Southern California’s apples actually came from a spot in our own collective backyard -- the foothill hamlet in eastern San Bernardino County known as Oak Glen. Oak Glen apples were even shipped around the world.

Today, apples from Washington and Oregon fill our supermarkets, but Oak Glen, near Yucaipa, has become a mecca for apple lovers because of the quality and amazing number of varieties of the fruit grown here -- most of which can’t be found at farmers markets. About a dozen ranches raise about 100 varieties, including modern favorites such as Cameo and Pink Lady, a growing number of exotics such as Winter Banana and Sekai Ichi, and Oak Glen oldies such as Rome Beauty, Stayman Winesap, a unique pie apple known as Glen Seedling and the dramatically dark-skinned Arkansas Black.

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Rare among specialty fruit-growing areas, Oak Glen never sells through farmers markets, where the few apples you see come from farther away, either the Central Coast or the Sierra foothills. Once in a while, Vons markets will feature some Oak Glen apples. But outside of that, you just have to go up to the Glen and buy directly from the growers.

There’s more to the place than apples. Most orchards also make cider. Because apple varieties ripen at different times, this means the apples being used change throughout the season, so the cider from any orchard has a subtly different flavor from week to week. There’s an art to blending the sweet and the tart, the mellow and the perfumed in a cider.

Nearly all Oak Glen cider is unpasteurized. If the bottle sits around for a couple of weeks, it will ferment, first becoming fizzy, then turning into hard cider. In the end, it will become apple cider vinegar -- with a far richer apple flavor than commercial cider vinegar. “A lot of people buy cider by the case just to let it turn into vinegar,” says Alison Law-Mathisen of Mom’s Country Orchard.

Many places sell apple butter, that nearly forgotten spread that’s like a concentrate of applesauce. Apple jelly, apple syrup, apple sauce, even apple salsa show up on the shelves. And because Oak Glen farmers also raise cherries and raspberries, other preserves are available too.

Oak Glen is 75 miles from downtown L.A., and if you want the feeling of being way out in the country, it’s loaded with that. In drought years (fortunately, this year set records for rainfall), when there aren’t many wild berries in the hills, bears have been known to come down and raid the apples. Bears!

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A polished product

THE first orchard you reach when you drive up from Yucaipa is Wood Acres. The apple shed is a tiny cinderblock room below Pat Wood’s antique shop, with just enough space for some crates of apples and an antique apple-polishing machine.

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Why a polisher? “Never wash an apple if you’re not going to eat it right away,” Jim Wood says. “The water gets into the blossom end and there’s no way to get it out, and it hastens rotting.”

Although the place is tiny, visitors can’t just rush in and out.

“Years ago,” says Pat Wood, “we established the policy that once you enter the shed, you can’t buy any apples without tasting all the varieties first.”

By that she means the apples that are ripe on a given day, not all 38 varieties the couple raise. They specialize in unusual apples, such as Cinnamon Spice (which actually does have cinnamon flavor at room temperature) and Calville Blanc d’Hiver (the classic French dessert apple). And they have developed their own variety, Paul’s Big Green. “It’s from a sapling that showed up under a Red Delicious,” says Jim Wood. It’s a green-skinned apple that tastes like a Delicious, but with crisper flesh.

Not far from Wood Acres, Parrish Pioneer Ranch is the oldest operation here, dating from the 1860s, when Enoch Parrish planted the first apples in the Glen. It’s a complex of shops that includes a restaurant, an artist’s studio and an antique shop. On weekends it has entertainment -- country music by Yodeling Merle and an Old West shootout by a stunt team (Sundays only).

You find the apples, probably about 10 varieties at a time, in a huge converted barn of a store. Among them might be a very good variety developed at Parrish: Vasquez, a Granny Smith-Rome Beauty cross, as crisp and juicy as Granny Smith but sweeter.

The only other business that stays open all year is Mom’s Country Orchard. During apple season, it sells apples for a couple of smaller orchards as well as its own, and you may see Virginia Winesap, Pearmain and Blacktwig along with more familiar varieties. At other times of year it handles local produce of various kinds, and in spring it even sells apple trees for planting.

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Owner Alison Law-Mathisen belongs to the Law family, which has been in Oak Glen for more than 70 years, and she has firm opinions about apples. “Red Delicious is the most overrated apple in the world,” she says, “and Golden Delicious is the most underrated.” A lot of cooks would back her up -- most L.A. French chefs make tarte Tatin with Golden Delicious, because it has the perfect texture when cooked, luscious but not mushy.

Her shop stocks an enormous variety of jams, butters and other preserves, mostly made from Oak Glen fruit. And cider, of course.

“Yes, we sell cider,” Law-Mathisen says, “but we don’t make it ourselves. We sell my little brother’s cider.”

That would be the cider from Law’s Cider Mill, a bit up the road. The mill Sandy Law runs there is just one of five Law businesses, all with the same street address. They include two gift shops and Law’s Coffee Shop.

“Our restaurant was the first one in Oak Glen,” says Sandy’s mother, Theresa Law, “and I made the first pies sold retail here in 1953. For baked apples, the best variety is Rome Beauty.

“For many years, Rome Beauty was the primary apple here; we grew more of that than anything else. But the public today wants variety.”

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So if you walk a few steps over to Law’s Apple shed, you should be able to find such seldom-seen apples as Yellow Bellflower, Hoover and Ozark Gold along with one of the Glen’s current favorites, Spartan, as sweet and juicy as its McIntosh ancestor but crisper.

On the other side of Oak Tree Village, a complex of gift shops, restaurants, pony rides and other entertainment, a sign directs you to Snow-Line Orchard. You actually have half a mile of slightly scary mountain road to traverse before you arrive at Snow-Line’s 1898 apple shed.

This is an expansive operation with over 6,000 trees and a large, attractive picnic ground. It has cherry and raspberry u-picks in season (though no apple u-pick), and it makes cherry- and raspberry-flavored ciders as well as straight apple cider.

Snow-Line raises 32 varieties of apples, and you may find as many as 20 of them available at any one time. Owner Mert Hudson’s favorite is Jonagold, because it’s a “good all-around apple” that’s delicious raw or cooked, but he doesn’t expect customers to take his word on flavor. On weekends, there’s a tasting bar, with an employee who uses on old-fashioned hand-cranked apple corer-peeler to keep up with the demand for slices.

“Right now we have Cameo,” says Hudson, naming a pretty yellow apple with red stripes. “It’s one of the newest varieties -- a real sweet apple that’s really crunchy too.”

A few years ago, the Wildlands Conservancy, an organization that preserves natural habitats, bought the old Los Rios Rancho and moved its headquarters there, so Los Rios boasts a nature trail in addition to farm-visit activities. These are the largest orchards in the Glen, planted in 23 varieties.

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To run the farm and shops, the Conservancy has hired members of the Riley family, which has come to dominate the eastern side of the Oak Glen loop during the last 25 years. The Rileys introduced the u-pick concept to Oak Glen, and Los Rios has a u-pick orchard across the street, managed by a different branch of the Riley clan.

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Pie dispute

IN addition to a shed selling apples, gifts, cider and preserves, Los Rios has its own bakery and sandwich shop. On the subject of pie apples, the Los Rios bakery strongly dissents from the opinion of the Law Coffee Shop on the other side of the Glen. “We use Granny Smith,” says Shelli Riley. “We don’t want a mushy apple in pie.”

A little farther down the road, Wilshire’s Apple Shed is the second-oldest operation in Oak Glen, dating from 1871 when Joe Wilshire reputedly bought the land for a saddle, a jug of whiskey and a chicken. “I’m a Wilshire on my mother’s side,” says Dan Moon. “I’m the fourth generation to run the shed, so we’ve been here awhile.” There are a lot of antique family photos on the walls to prove it.

The apples are sold on the front porch, shaded by immense live oak trees that give Oak Glen its name. It’s a delightful place to take a bite out of a crisp Stayman Winesap and savor its trademark combination of winy tang and hint of grape flavor.

From here, Oak Glen Road curves south and becomes South Oak Glen Road. This is the part of the Glen that locals call “the back of the hill.”

The newest business in the Glen is by far the smallest. Willowbrook Apple Farm has no shed, just a couple of bookshelves set up on the ground where the eager young owners, Rick and Cheryl Swanson, sell candied apples, preserves and spiced apple chips. On their 2 1/2 acres they have only one variety, Stayman Winesap, so they make the only single-variety cider in Oak Glen -- on an ancient hand press, where you can make cider yourself.

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They also offer a petting zoo, where Rick Swanson likes to show off his “trick chicken”: When you throw a grain of corn at it, the chicken will jump up, flapping its wings, and catch the grain in its beak.

It doesn’t seem that much of a trick. “Well,” says Swanson proudly, “it’s pretty good for a chicken. And you know, out here in the country, we take our entertainment where we can get it.”

From here on, it’s all Riley territory. In 1978, Dennis and Sharon Riley visited Oak Glen as tourists and ended up buying 12 acres of orchard. In ’79 they built a log cabin (an early indication of their historical reenactment tendencies), and in ’80 they started letting people pick their own apples at Riley’s Log Cabin Farm. Today, with three generations of the family in the neighborhood, wherever there are Rileys, there’s sure to be a u-pick.

And there are sure to be historical doings. The Riley family has turned this end of the Glen into something like an American history theme park that raises apples. At the original Riley’s Log Cabin, there are demonstrations of archery, rope-making and blacksmithing. One of Dennis Riley’s sons, Devon, has named his portion of the property Riley’s Frontier Events, referring to such things as hayrides and hoedowns.

Riley’s brother, Jim, majored in history at Stanford, and his own Riley’s Farm features Revolutionary War, Civil War and Gold Rush reenactments. Riley’s Farm also has apples for sale from another brother’s apple farm outside the Oak Glen loop.

Yes, there are evidently too many apple-farming Rileys for Oak Glen to hold. That’s good news for all of us for whom Granny Smith and Red Delicious don’t say all that apples can express.

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(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX)

Apple country address book

OAK GLEN’S apple season runs roughly through Thanksgiving, but some ranches and shops are open later and a few are open year-round. To get there, take Interstate 10 east to the Yucaipa Boulevard exit, about seven miles east of San Bernardino. Head east about five miles on Yucaipa Boulevard, then turn left onto Oak Glen Road. Orchards start appearing after five miles. Addresses listed are in Oak Glen.

Wood Acres. 38003 Potato Canyon Road, (909) 797-8500. Open 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Wednesday through Sunday through Jan. 1.

Parrish Pioneer Ranch. 38651 Oak Glen Road, (909) 797-1753. Open 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sept. 1 through Oct. 31; 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Nov. 1 to Aug. 31.

Mom’s Country Orchard. 38695 Oak Glen Road, (909) 797-4249. Open 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Thursday, 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. Friday and Saturday; closed Christmas Day.

Law’s Cider Mill; Law Apple Ranch. 38392 Oak Glen Road, (909) 797-6168. Open 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily through Thanksgiving.

Snow-Line Orchard. 39400 Oak Glen Road, (909) 797-3415. Open 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily through Dec. 1.

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Riley’s Los Rios Rancho. 39610 Oak Glen Road, (909) 797-1005. Store open 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily through Dec. 15, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Wednesday through Sunday, late December through August; u-pick open 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Friday through Sunday through Thanksgiving.

Wilshire’s Apple Shed. 11925 S. Oak Glen Road, (909) 797-8731. Open 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Wednesday through Sunday during October.

Willowbrook Apple Farm. 12099 S. Oak Glen Road, (909) 797-9484. Open 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday and Sunday through Nov. 15.

Riley’s Log Cabin Farm. 12201 S. Oak Glen Road, (909) 797-4061. Open 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Tuesday through Friday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday and Sunday through Nov. 15.

Riley’s Frontier Events. 12211 S. Oak Glen Road, (909) 790-2364. Open 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday and Sunday through mid-November.

Riley’s Farm. 12261 S. Oak Glen Road, (909) 797-7534. Open 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Saturday through Dec. 15.

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-- Charles Perry

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Bushels of reds, greens and golds

Visitors to Oak Glen should be able to find many of the following varieties of apples in coming weeks.

Arkansas Black. Prized for its dark red color; keeps a long time. Crisp, moderately juicy, sprightly subacid, best for eating. Very hard texture; let it sit for a week before eating. Late season.

Barkley Rome. Large, green with red stripes. A good semi-acid eating apple that keeps its shape for baking.

Blushing Gold. A cross between Jonathan and Golden Delicious, this all-purpose apple is yellow with pink blush, sweet-tart flavor and firm texture.

Braeburn. This eating apple from New Zealand shows dark scarlet blush over a yellow-green background. Semisweet, very juicy, keeps well. Late season.

Blacktwig. A juicy, aromatic winter variety with greenish flesh.

Calville Blanc d’Hiver. Classic French dessert apple, long prized in Europe for eating, cooking and juicing.

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Cameo. A relatively new introduction from Washington, this pretty all-around apple is pale yellow with red stripes. It’s crunchy with a sweet-tart flavor.

Empire. Red with creamy white flesh, this cross between McIntosh and Red Delicious is an eating apple from New York state. Early to midseason.

Gala. Yellow with orange-red stripes, yellowish flesh, fine texture -- firm, crisp and very sweet. Excellent applesauce and eating apple. Early season.

Glen Seedling. Developed in Oak Glen, this is a big green apple with a fiery blaze; a good cooking apple.

Granny Smith. This mid- to late-season apple is grass green with white or pink spots, crisp and juicy, tart (“sour-apple” flavor); gets sweeter in storage. For eating out of hand, cooking and cider.

Grimes Gold. An heirloom variety (1802) from West Virginia. Crisp and slightly tart, with excellent keeping quality. Early season.

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Honeycrisp. Lemon yellow, mottled with scarlet, this new midseason variety is extremely crisp and juicy with aromatic, coarse flesh; subacid flavor.

Jonagold. A Jonathan-Golden Delicious cross, this apple is yellow, highly blushed and striped. It’s crisp and juicy, coarse-textured; good for eating fresh as well as for cooking. Keeps extremely well.

Lura Red. Sometimes spelled Lara Red, it’s an all-around apple, good for blending in apple sauces and pies.

McIntosh. Introduced in 1811, it’s sweet and soft with juicy, white flesh and good flavor.

Mutsu. Also known as Crispin, this is a newish variety, yellow with orange blush. The flesh is coarse but crisp, juicy; excellent out of hand; also good for applesauce.

Northern Spy. Pale yellow with pink blush, this mid- to late-season all-around apple is very tender and crisp, quite juicy and aromatic. An heirloom variety from New York state.

Paul’s Big Green. Unique to Wood Acres -- found growing under a Red Delicious -- evidently a Delicious cross. It’s like a green version of Red Delicious, but with coarser, crisper flesh.

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Pink Lady. A very sweet late-season eating apple with smooth pink skin and white flesh.

Rome Beauty. A versatile midseason variety, excellent for baking and fairly good for eating -- crisp, firm, slightly aromatic. Discovered in Rome, Ohio, it’s a longtime mainstay of Oak Glen.

Roxbury Russet. Mottled green to yellowish-brown, this apple is a russet (non-shiny) variety. It’s juicy and spicy -- good for eating fresh or crushing for juice and cider.

Seek No Further. Deep yellow with carmine stripes and yellowish flesh, this is a good eating apple: crisp, tender, juicy, rich and peculiarly aromatic.

Sekai Ichi. A Red Delicious-Golden Delicious cross developed in Japan, this is a very large fruit (up to 2 pounds) -- crisp, juicy with a sweet, mild flavor.

Sierra Beauty. This yellow, red-blushed apple originated in Mendocino in the 1880s. Sweet-tart flavor, stores well. Midseason.

Spartan. A Pippin-McIntosh cross, this early- to midseason apple is solid mahogany red -- very firm, crisp and juicy. Fairly sweet, it softens but holds its shape when cooked.

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Spitzenberg. Bright red with yellowish flesh, it’s delicious eaten fresh: very aromatic, with perfect sweet-acid balance.

Stayman Winesap. (Also called Winesap.) Gets its name from its tangy, wine-like flavor. This is a late-season apple mostly used for cooking, pies and cider. Very firm, juicy and fragrant.

Vasquez. Crisp, tart, aromatic.

Virginia Winesap. Yellow, heavily striped with firm, juicy, yellowish flesh. First noted in 1817, it keeps well.

Winter Banana. Pale yellow with a pink blush, this apple really does have a slight aroma of banana. Originated in Indiana 130 years ago, it’s sometimes harvested in Oak Glen until April. An eating apple, too mild-flavored for cooking.

Charles Perry

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Apple creme brulee

Total time: 1 hour, 40 minutes plus chilling time

Servings: 6

Note: From chef Craig Strong at the Dining Room, Ritz Carlton Huntington Hotel & Spa, Pasadena, who says, “I like this recipe because you can eat the whole thing.” Prepare the custard while the apples are poaching.

Custard

1 1/2 cups heavy cream

2 tablespoons milk

1 vanilla bean, cut in half lengthwise, seeds scraped and reserved

6 tablespoons sugar

6 egg yolks

1. Bring the heavy cream, milk, vanilla bean and seeds just to a boil in a medium saucepan over low heat.

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2. In a bowl, whisk the sugar and eggs. Slowly whisk in some of the cream-milk mixture into the eggs, then pour in remaining cream and whisk until combined. Strain through a fine mesh strainer. Cool.

Apples and assembly

1 cup sugar

1 cinnamon stick

1star anise

2 vanilla beans cut in half lengthwise, seeds scraped and reserved

6 medium Gala apples

1 recipe custard

2 tablespoons superfine sugar

1. Heat the oven to 300 degrees. In a saucepan over medium heat, bring 4 cups water, the sugar, cinnamon, star anise and vanilla beans and seeds to a simmer. Cook 5 minutes.

2. Cut off the top third of each apple (making little “caps”) and set aside. Cut a thin slice off the bottom of each apple -- just enough so that there’s a flat surface and the apples are level. Using a melon baller, evenly hollow out each apple, leaving a half-inch wall around and going almost to the bottom without making any holes.

3. Place the apples (the tops and hollowed apples) in a 3-inch-deep baking pan. Put 1 tablespoon of the spice syrup into each apple and pour the remaining around the apples. Cover the pan with aluminum foil and bake until tender, 15 to 20 minutes.

4. Remove the foil. Remove the apple tops from the baking pan and reserve. Pour out the liquid inside each apple. Pour the custard into the apples, filling to the brim

5. Bake until the custard is set, 45 minutes to 1 hour. Remove the custard-filled apples from the poaching liquid and cool. Refrigerate until cold.

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6. To assemble, heat the broiler. Sprinkle 1 teaspoon superfine sugar on top of each apple. Place on a baking sheet and put under the broiler to caramelize the sugar, 1 to 2 minutes. Or use a butane torch. Watch carefully so as not to burn the sugar. Place each apple on a dessert plate and serve immediately with the apple top leaning on the apple.

Each serving: 414 calories; 4 grams protein; 42 grams carbohydrates; 3 grams fiber; 27 grams fat; 15 grams saturated fat; 287 mg. cholesterol; 34 mg. sodium.

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Caramelized-apple gateau basque

Total time: 2 hours, 10 minutes plus chilling time

Servings: 10 to 12

Note: From Koa Duncan, pastry chef at Water Grill. The cake may be served as shown, or with either marinated shaved apples or spiced apple granite (see accompanying recipe).

Dough

Zest from one orange

1 cup (2 sticks) butter, room temperature

1 cup plus 3 tablespoons sugar

2 eggs, room temperature

1 1/4 teaspoons salt

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

3 1/4 cups flour

1. In the bowl of an electric mixer with a paddle attachment, combine the orange zest, butter and sugar. Beat until smooth.

2. Add the eggs one at a time, beating after each addition.

3. Sift together the salt, baking powder and flour. Slowly add the flour mixture to the butter mixture, beating just until combined. Divide the dough in half and wrap separately. Chill for a few hours or overnight.

Caramel apple filling

3 1/2 pounds medium Granny Smith apples (about 8)

3 cups sugar

1 vanilla bean, cut in half lengthwise, seeds scraped

2 tablespoons ( 1/4 stick) butter

1. Peel and core the apples. Cut them into one-fourth- to one-half-inch cubes and set aside; you will need 8 cups.

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2. Heat a large heavy saucepan over high heat. Melt half a cup of sugar at a time, continuing until you have added and melted all the sugar. Cook until the sugar turns an amber color, about 10 to 12 minutes.

3. Reduce the heat to low. Add the vanilla bean and seeds and the butter. Stir carefully until combined.

4. Add the apples, stirring to combine them with the caramel. The caramel may harden; continue to cook and stir on low heat until the sugar melts, the apples are soft and caramel-colored and the apples have absorbed the caramel sauce. This will take about 30 minutes.

5. Pour the caramel-apple mixture into a rimmed baking pan and cool. It can be made several hours ahead.

Whipped creme fraiche

1 cup creme fraiche

2 tablespoons brown sugar

1/8 teaspoon lemon zest

Whip the creme fraiche, sugar and zest with the whip attachment of an electric mixer or whisk until thickened. Chill until ready to use.

Assembly

Dough

Caramel apple filling

1 egg yolk, beaten

Whipped creme fraiche

1. Heat the oven to 325 degrees. Place the oven rack in the middle of the oven. Butter a 9-inch springform cake pan and set aside.

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2. On a lightly floured work surface, roll out the first half of the pastry to a one-fourth-inch thick 12-inch round. Place the pastry into the pan, fitting it into the corners and up the sides.

3. Spoon the cooled apple mixture into the pastry in an even layer.

4. Roll out the remaining pastry to a one-fourth-inch thick (10-inch) round. Place it on top of the apple filling, pushing the air out the sides and pinching the top and bottom pastry edges together to seal. Save the remaining dough for another use.

5. Brush the top with the egg yolk. Score with the tines of a fork in a crisscross pattern to produce a plaid design.

6. Bake until the pastry is firm and a golden brown color, about 45 to 50 minutes. Serve warm with a dollop of whipped creme fraiche.

Each serving: 668 calories; 6 grams protein; 115 grams carbohydrates; 4 grams fiber; 23 grams fat; 14 grams saturated fat; 106 mg. cholesterol; 331 mg. sodium.

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Marinated shaved apples with spiced apple granite

Total time: 50 minutes plus 2 1/2 hours freezing time

Serves: 8

Note: From Koa Duncan. Flash-pasteurized apple juice can be found in the refrigerated section of most grocery stores.

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Simple syrup

2 cups sugar

2 cups water

Combine the sugar and water in a saucepan and bring to a boil. When the sugar has melted, remove from heat and cool (makes 2 cups).

Spiced apple granite

1/2 cup simple syrup

2 cups unfiltered or flash pasteurized apple juice

1/4 teaspoon fresh minced ginger

2 cinnamon sticks

1/2 vanilla bean, cut in half lengthwise and seeds scraped and reserved

1/4 teaspoon orange zest

1 whole clove

1. Place the simple syrup, apple juice, ginger, cinnamon, vanilla bean and seeds, orange zest and clove in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Bring to a boil.

2. Remove the mixture from the heat and let it steep for half an hour. Strain through a fine mesh strainer or chinois into a shallow baking dish.

3. Place the mixture in the freezer. Every half hour, use a fork to scrape the ice and then return the mixture to the freezer. Repeat until granite consistency is reached, about 2 1/2 hours. Wrap the dish in plastic and store in the freezer until ready to serve.

Marinated shaved apples

and assembly

1 1/2 cups simple syrup

1/2 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice

1 vanilla bean, cut in half lengthwise and seeds scraped and reserved

4 medium Granny Smith, Arkansas Black or other tart apples, peeled, cored, quartered and very thinly sliced on a mandolin

1. In a bowl, whisk together the simple syrup, lemon juice and vanilla bean and seeds to break up the vanilla bits.

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2. Add the apple slices to the syrup and toss very thoroughly. Let sit for a few minutes before serving.

3. For each serving, use a slotted spoon to remove one-half cup of apples from the syrup and place in a mound in a shallow bowl. Spoon a tablespoon of the syrup on top. Place one-third cup of the granite on top of the apples, arranging the granite so you can see the apple slices underneath.

Each serving: 156 calories; 0 protein; 41 grams carbohydrates;

1 gram fiber; 0 fat; 0 saturated fat; 0 cholesterol; 3 mg. sodium.

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