Crunchy Peanut Butter Apples

My History with Peanut Butter Apples

A childhood snack, now, this simple combination is a go-to for me, anytime. Cheap enough and with some fiber, various flavor profiles, textures, and nuance from apple to apple that I haven't gotten sick of them yet. I have favorites and foods I get "in to" for a while. I picked back up with this one sometime around semester finals a couple months ago. With it's quick prep time and light fill it's convenient. In a pinch, the school pantry at MiraCosta might include an apple variety. Yes, they have had peanut butter as well.

I favor YELLOW DELICIOUS. Alternatively I've seen them called "Opal" apples. There's a similar snack, the "ants on a log" with celery and the addition of raisins. Celery is great — but not uncooked — in my opinion. Let's not imagine chewing at length — watery wires mixing with peanut butter — and say we didn't.

required items:

• apple(s) of your choice
• type of peanut butter or spread
• paring knife, apple cutter, or apple corer/knife combo.
• utensil for spread
• cutting board
• plate

Recipe

1. Buy apple and whatever other necessary items are missing. Alternatively, you could grow a tree. Do not expect apples the first year, but you shoudn't have to wait more than six. Get ready!
2. I usually just run water over the apple and polish it dry in a towel or paper towel. If you have a lot of thick skinned produce, (orange, apple, zuchini, etc) you can use a receptacle of water with a bit of vinegar (not enough to taste in the water) and it will give them that squeak of clean. Thin skinned need less of a soak or they will soak in the sourness. About two to ten minutes max to soak.
3. Get your cutting board and ascertain a flat surface of the fruit to prevent injury.
4. There's many ways to do this. You could even use a mandolin with a wide slice option. For a while I cut rings, slicing top to bottom similar to how a loaf of bread would be. Cute, however, the star-formation pocket with seeds obliges you into an undesireable situation, within the balancing of keeping your fingers clean and needing to rotate per bite to avoid getting a splinter of core between ya chompas. Thusly:
   • knife: I cut in fourths. Cut a crescent of core out of the middles of each quarter piece. Depending on the size of the apple, I typically get 3 or 4 thinner slices per quarter. This is the most common method I use out of convenience and ease.
   • Apple slicer: I hate these because: They waste a lot of fruit around the core, the slices are too wide for my liking. The effort it takes to push the thing thru the apple doesn't save me any time and squishes a lot more juice out at once. Pass.
   • Apple corer: These are even worse than the slicers. The correct pressure needed for success likely cooresponds directly to how much is needed to push a blunt piece of metal through your fingers. Nope.

Runner's Up

1. bananas in Cool Whip®
2. sunnyside egg on a brown butter pancake
3. almost any fruit
4. pizza
5. soda
6. ribeye
7. water