Skillet Fried Apples -- The Food That Connects Every Version of Me

Week 379. Summer 2023. I am 40 years old and standing in my kitchen — the Bench house kitchen, the one that held cancer and divorce and cinnamon rolls — and the stove is on and something is cooking and the house smells like grilled food and garden herbs and this is my life. This is the life I built.

I went for a run this morning — the Saturday routine, the greenbelt, the river, the particular meditation of feet on a path and lungs filling and the body doing what it was told it couldn't do. The running group meets rain or shine.

Mason is 12 and reading everything he can find and examining the world under a microscope with the intensity of a tenured researcher.

Lily is 10 and riding horses with the fearlessness of someone who has never considered the possibility of falling.

I made tomato sandwich this week. The food continues. The food always continues. It is the thread that connects every week to every other week, every year to every other year, every version of me to every other version — the woman on the kitchen floor, the woman at the chemo recliner, the woman at the grill, the woman at the outdoor table under the string lights. All of them, connected by the food they made with their hands. All of them, me.

The tomato sandwich was lunch, but the evening needed something sweet — something that felt like the end of a good week rather than just the end of a long one. Skillet fried apples are the kind of thing I’ve been making almost without thinking, the kind of recipe that asks almost nothing of you and gives back warmth and sweetness and the smell of cinnamon in a kitchen that has seen a lot. Mason probably stole three bites before I even plated them, and Lily asked for seconds, and that felt exactly right for week 379.

Skillet Fried Apples

Prep Time: 10 minutes | Cook Time: 15 minutes | Total Time: 25 minutes | Servings: 4

Ingredients

• 4 medium apples (Honeycrisp or Granny Smith), peeled, cored, and sliced 1/4 inch thick
• 3 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 3 tablespoons brown sugar, packed
• 1 tablespoon granulated sugar
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
• Pinch of salt

Instructions

1. Prep the apples. Peel, core, and slice apples into 1/4-inch slices. Try to keep slices uniform so they cook evenly.
2. Melt the butter. Heat a large cast iron skillet or heavy skillet over medium heat. Add butter and let it melt completely, swirling to coat the pan.
3. Add sugar and spices. Stir in the brown sugar, granulated sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt. Cook for about 1 minute, stirring, until the mixture is bubbly and fragrant.
4. Add the apples. Add the sliced apples to the skillet and toss gently to coat in the butter and sugar mixture. Spread into a single layer as best you can.
5. Cook until tender. Cook over medium heat for 10—12 minutes, stirring every few minutes, until apples are tender and caramelized at the edges. Reduce heat slightly if the sugar begins to darken too fast.
6. Finish with vanilla. Remove from heat and stir in the vanilla extract. Serve warm, straight from the skillet.

Nutrition (per serving)

Calories: 185 | Protein: 0g | Fat: 9g | Carbs: 29g | Fiber: 3g | Sodium: 45mg