Baked

The night before I realized that I was short on buttermilk; I forgot to go to the store on my way home.

In the morning, I decided to prep before going to the store. Good thing because I realized:
1. the buttermilk I froze and then defrosted was gross - don't do that!
2. I didn't have enough anyway
3. I ran out of sugar for the filling portions
4. just get extra butter... you never know!

Running to the store put me about 30 mins past my scheduled start time (9am). I figured it didn't matter 'cause I could stay up as late as I needed to get them all done.

Once I started baking, the plan executed very well.


5 batches of dry ingredients ready to go.


5 bags of lemon juiced apples ready to go.


kitchen ready to go.


Batch 1 filling out of the oven.


Topping ready, next batch of apples.


Baking topping.


Batch 2 ready to go.


Batch 1 done!

In assembling the filling for batch 3, I figured it would probably have been a good idea to taste 1 and make sure everything was ok. I paused, ate a jar...
they taste GREAT!
In part, how can you go wrong with apples and cinnamon?! and two, this is an amazing topping recipe!

I ate the one on the left.

The only other baking mis-hap is that I borrowed a 4th cookie sheet.
One of those actual cookie sheets: link.
This sheet sucks for carrying jars! It is flimsy and bends when you have it loaded up with EMPTY jars, let alone trying to get it in and out of the oven loaded. It has no handle edges so I kept burning myself through the gloves. And the worst part?! because it is so thin (I'm guessing), the filling actually caramelized during the double bake. Luckily, I used the tray in the 2nd batch, which means I only had to use it twice.
In the second use, I took the filled and topped jars out in 10 mins instead of 15. No more burnt filling.

At one point I lost track of where I was, and had to look in the oven to figure out what my next step would be.


Jars cooling.


The Bride wanted ribbons. This may have been the most tedious part of the day.


Lids on, ready for ribbons.

I waited until each jar was completely cool before I put the lids on. Ideally, I would have waited until the next day, but I had to work and couldn't find time between that and the wedding to lid and bow all the jars. So, I got it done the same day, and stored them in the cool garage overnight (there are no cars in our garage).
The only thing about this - which I didn't like - is that the crispness of the crust went away. This also happens when you make scones and store them in a ziplock overnight... the moisture trapped with them makes them "soft".
Oh well.
In retrospect, we should have put on the label a note that says "enjoy as soon as possible" or "homemade - please keep refrigerated".
I haven't heard any stories of apple cobbler poisoning in the Metro area, so maybe I am ok.

The wedding was beautiful! The bride was grateful, the groom said they were delicious!
I hope people appreciated the personal touch of a home-made favor.


.......................

The apples we picked were all different sizes (and varieties, of course) so I could use an apple count for determining the quantity I needed to peel and prep. So I figured I would use weight. I weighed a typical granny smith - 8oz. I multiplied that by the number of apples I'd need per 24 jar batch, and that's how many we peeled.

Well - this was WAY too much! by a batch and a half.
Given that I was updating Facebook all day, I hoped that I would have some takers for an extra batch at swim that night. So one more in the oven!