Apple Bites Recipe

Everywhere I turn these days there’s another pumpkin spice recipe of some sort. Now, don’t get me wrong. I am a big fan of all things fall and fall foods, and that includes pumpkin. Well, it includes pumpkin except for pumpkin pie. I just cannot do pumpkin pie. It’s a texture thing. Anyway, I digress. The thing about all of these pumpkin spice recipes is that apples begin to take a backseat. I think it’s time to put apples back in the limelight and celebrate fall with a delicious Apple Bites Recipe. Oh and if you’re a big pumpkin spice fan, you’ll probably like these too. They have pumpkin spice in them and there’s even a pumpkin option!

How to Make Apple Bites:

The ingredients for these are pretty simple and straightforward. The main components are Pillsbury Crescent Rolls and Apples. Get your family dressed in their cutest fall sweaters, load them into the car, and spend the afternoon apple picking. Or, just go to the store and buy some apples. The first way is a little more fun (and quintessentially fall, am I right?) but the second way is faster and more efficient. Your choice.

We ended up getting the Pillsbury Crescent Rolls “Grands” (the bigger size) because they didn’t have any of the regular ones. You can use either but just be aware that this can be a bit of a messy treat (depending on what you choose to put inside). The regular sized bites are more of a portable on-the-go kind of treat whereas if you make the “Grands”, you’re going to probably need a plate and a knife and fork.

I based this idea off of a recipe I saw here for Apple Pie Bites. But I wanted to make a few changes. My first thought was salted caramel because, well to be honest, I’m pretty much all about the salted caramel whenever I can! Then I remembered how much my daughter loved to have apple slices dipped in peanut butter as an after school snack and thought maybe I should try that instead. In the end, with input from my daughter and her husband, we came up with four different varieties! Another change that we made is to chop the apples rather than going with an apple wedge. We wanted the apple flavour in every single bite and that was a better way of accomplishing that.

Option 1: A mixture of brown sugar and apple pie spice*, apples and dried cranberries that were tossed in honey  (This was my daughter’s favourite – she said, “This is like a taking a bite of autumn!”). I think I’ll try adding just a tiny dusting of the spice over the outside of this one and add pecans or walnuts to the apple/cranberry mixture next time.

Option 2: Apples, pumpkin, and honey graham cracker crumbs. (I’ll be honest. None of us really cared for this option. For starters, it was too much pumpkin. I also think a drizzle of honey or maple syrup and some apple pie spice sprinkled over the pumpkin might have perked it up a bit.) I would sprinkle a dusting of spice over the outside of this one too next time.

Option 3: A mixture of brown sugar and apple pie spice*, apples, caramel sauce drizzled over the apples, and Himalayan salt sprinkled on the outside of the dough. (This was my favourite.)

Option 4: Peanut butter, apples, maple syrup. (This was my son-in-law’s favourite).

*We mixed 3/4 cup of brown sugar with a teaspoon of apple pie spice and had more than enough for these. You can adjust this mixture according to your preferences. Did you know that pumpkin pie spice and apple pie spice are pretty much the same thing? Did you also know that there are different variations of each according to whose recipe or if premade, what company’s product it is? In any case, this is how I make my pumpkin spice/ apple pie spice. (Yes I make my own. I prefer my quantities and ingredients.)

You can customize the flavours with any ingredients you want. In fact, I think it would be a ton of fun to put out a variety of items and let your family build their own apple bites to their own liking!

What would you put in YOUR apple bites? (No, seriously. Please tell me in the comments below. I’d love some more ideas.)