A Delightful Granny Smith Apple Pizza Dessert

I grew up in the upper Midwest where the fall season ushered in cooler temperatures resulting in the canvasing of hills with colorful leaves on trees, and the associated harvest time; a welcome time of year in this the area.

During the Autumn harvest months of September and October, we would visit an apple farm to pick apples and make all sorts of wonderful home-made desserts afterwards. Walking in the orchard with an enormous straw basket, kids in tow, and hunting for the perfect tree blessed with branches over abundant with round, crisp apples was a mecca for our family.

Now living in South Florida, we do not get to experience the beauty of the Fall season changes through leaves, but we do have the enjoyment of apples. If one cannot take advantage of the u-pick farms, the farmer's markets do have a good variety of fresh, farm grown apples to choose from in making a fall dessert recipe.

Recently, my husband, the cook in the family, was watching a Martha Stewart show featuring an apple pizza during the cooking section of the program. He is always looking for new recipes to try and this one caught his fancy. He loves apples and the recipe called for simple ingredients, which he had in the home at the time. He improvised and substituted on the recipe, but the credit for this delicious apple creation goes to John Barrielli, baker and author of "SoNo Baking Company Cookbook". To make a long story short, I was pleasantly surprised with the results and cannot say enough about how scrumptious this is as a dessert.

Granny Smith apples originated in Australia in 1868. They are named after Maria Ann Smith, who propagated these delicious apples (the cultivar) from a chance seedling. The fruit has a hard, light green, thick skin and a crisp, juicy white flesh.

Today, these apples are grown in Australia, Europe, South America and the United States. They grow best in warmer climates where the sunshine is abundant. Eastwood, New South Wales, a suburb of Sydney, Australia holds an annual Granny Smith Festival in the fall, usually in October, to celebrate the provision of prosperity for the land owners.

They go from being yellow to turning completely green, which is similar to the color of spring grass. They are eaten raw and used in pie and dessert recipes. Eaten raw, with skin, this apple benefits the human body by providing healthy carbohydrates, antioxidants, fiber, protein, minerals and energy. (source: Wikipedia.org)

In general, apples help to lower cholesterol, control weight and regulate blood sugar. They contain much needed vitamins such as A and C, as well as small amounts of iron (held within the skin). Some people like to peel their apple before eating, but eating it with the skin on provides the most nutritional value to the body. As they say, an apple a day keeps the doctor away!