Apples, Apples and More Apples

Tis the season.....

My dear husband brought home a brown grocery bag full of various types of apples. A guy at work, who felt he owed him something for some wheel weights my husband gave him months back, has apple trees in his yard. He told Mike, "Make sure you wash them before eating them. I sprayed pesticides to keep the bugs off."

They are beautiful apples. Red ones, green ones, red-green ones. I have no idea what actual kind they are, because I'm not an apple expert, but they are pretty. So pretty, in fact, that I put a bunch of them in a basket on the dining room table. After I washed them, of course.

Last night I made baked apples for dessert. Brown sugar, butter and cinnamon. The family thought they were the best thing since sliced bread. "Where did you learn to make these?" they asked. As if making baked apples is a skill learned only by the world's most accomplished chefs.

I have to figure out what to do with all these apples before they go bad. I have a recipe for an awesome crunchy caramel apple pie that I will dig out of the recesses of the cabinet where my cookbooks collect dust are kept. My sister-in-law sent me a nice recipe for some apple bread, which I intend to make this weekend. Beyond that, I am at a loss as to what to do with all these apples.

Any ideas?