Fall Fun Series: Apple Theme

It's apple day, yay! I actually have a bit of a love/hate relationship with apple scents. I love many of them, from warm spiced cider scents to fresh, juicy apple blends. However I've found some apple scents to be artificial and noxious. For example, I dislike BBW's Winter Candy apple a lot. It is very fake and plastic-y to me. So while I generally embrace apple scents in home fragrance and bath & body, I sometimes get struck by a dud.

So here is a post all about the apple products that I have actually tried and loved.

These are a few of my favorite apple scented waxes that are new this fall. The Scented Squirrel's Mulled Cider is a warm, robust apple cider scent with just the right amount of mulling spices. It's probably my current favorite cider scent. Candy Panda Golden Apple is an incredible sweet apple tea scent. I just love it and am melting it today to be on theme. BHG Apple Brandy Cider is another spot on cider blend with just a hint of warm, sugary, boozy indulgence. Scentsationals Pumpkin Apple Muffins is a fabulous realistic pumpkin bakery scent with fresh apple and and a drizzle of caramel. I highly recommend all these blends; if you love apple scents you need these in your life for fall! 

I'm sure I also have other great apple blends in my stash, but I haven't unearthed them yet. One that comes to mind is a returning fall favorite, BHG Farm Apple Pumpkin. I'm pretty sure I still have a clamshell left from last year and it's a really great scent! Have you tried any of these scents? What are your favorite apple home fragrances?

I don't really have any apple body care scents; I tried a candy apple/carnival type body mist blend once and it smelled terrible on me and I ended up giving it away. I don't generally reach for apple notes in body care, with the exception of DKNY Be Delicious, which I like a lot.

I do like apple flavors a lot though, especially caramel apple. I adore this Celestial Seasonings Caramel Apple Tea! I'm down to my last couple bags, so I'm hoping I can find it at Walmart again this fall. Another favorite caramel apple product is Burt's Bees Caramel Apple lip balm. I get the feeling many people have heard of it, but if you haven't, do yourself a favor and buy a tube. If you ever want to slather brown sugar caramel apple deliciousness on your face and kick your lips for a few hours, this is the balm for you. It's actually quite smooth and moisturizing as well. If I ever finish this tube, I'd definitely repurchase it. Do you have any favorite apple products?

I also decided that I wanted to attempt an apple-centric craft for this post, but I had absolutely no idea what I would make. Pinterest to the rescue! It only took  a few strokes of them keys before I was captivated by photos of gorgeous tablescapes using real apples as candle holders, so I decided that was something I'd love to try.

(Photo Credit: littlegreennotebook.blogspot.com)

I got my initial apple carving ideas from a few different sources, but I ended up implementing a lot of my own ideas, so I will write a little tutorial of what worked best for me. You can view the original tutorials here and here.

Supplies:

-apples in your choice of color. Make sure they're not lopsided on the bottom and stand up well on their own.

-a carving tool. This melon baller worked extremely well and was only $1.97 at Walmart 

-tea light candles or votives

-lemon juice to keep your carved apples fresh

-a sharpie to trace around your apple

-a paper towel because you'll probably make a mess 

Step 1: set your paper down on the counter and place apple on it. Remove the stem.

Step 2: set your candle on top of the apple and trace a circle around it. This will help your apple not look like it was hacked at by Freddy Kruger.

 

Step 3: place your melon baller in the center of the circle and carve out the insides of the apple using a smooth twisting motion, like scooping ice cream. This is the part I was worried about, but it was surprisingly easy to carve out the apple. I didn't have to use much elbow grease at all. Note: make sure you don't carve a hole in the bottom or sides of your apple or your wax will leak out. If you use a votive like I did, you will have to carve nearly to the bottom of the apple.

Step 4: squirt a tiny bit of lemon juice on the apple innards; this will help it not turn a nasty brown within an hour.

Step 5: place your candle inside the apple, making sure there is a little space around the candle for the melting wax to pool. Light the candle and et voila! A cool apple candle holder. 

This would look great as a decoration for any seasonal occasion! Plus it only took about 5 minutes per apple. I'm probably unreasonably proud of this, lol.

Does this seem like a craft you would try? Have you completed any other seasonal crafts recently?

Last but not least, it wouldn't be apple day without a delicious apple dessert recipe! I've been in kind of a food slump recently and haven't been trying many new recipes, so I figured this was the perfect opportunity to break out of it. I wanted to make something that was fun and different but still easy to execute. So when I came across this recipe (yes, on Pinterest) I knew it was just the thing. What could be yummier than baked cheesecake stuffed apples?? Plus they're so easy to make but look super fancy. 

I followed the guidelines of this recipe here but did tweak it a bit, so I'll share what worked for me.

Equipment:

-baking sheet lines with tin foil 

-mixing bowl

-electric mixer or whisk

-melon baller or other carving tool

-rubber spatula 

Ingredients:

• 6 apples (I used gala apples)
• 8 ounces cream cheese, softened
• ¼ cup sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 egg
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• optional (but not really): graham cracker crumbs, caramel sauce, pecans

Directions:

1. Chop the tops of the apples off and scoop out the insides. Discard the core and seeds.
   
2. In a medium bowl cream together cream cheese and sugar until smooth. Mix in vanilla, egg, and cinnamon until smooth. 
   
3. Here's where my recipe differed from the original; I wanted graham cracker inside my apple as well as on top, so I crumbled up 3 mini graham cracker pie crusts and then I lined the bottom of the apples with them. I had too much filling and not enough apples so I also made two regular mini cheesecakes and then saved the last one of the six pack of mini crusts to crumble atop the apples. It worked out perfectly!
   
4. Fill each of the apples ⅔ full with the cheesecake mixture.
   
5. Place filled apples on a baking sheet (make sure they aren't touching) and bake at 350 for 20-25 minutes until cheesecake filling is set. Transfer to a plate and place in the fridge until completely cooled.
6. Serve apples at room temperature or chilled. If desired, top with caramel sauce, graham cracker crumbs, and pecans.
   
   Bon Appetite!
   
   
   
   So what did you think of my favorite Apple products, craft and recipe? Would you buy or make any of these? What are your favorite apple things?