An Apple a Day by Karen Berman and Melissa Petitto

As we all know, an apple a day keeps the doctor away — and now we have no excuses! This book will have us looking at apples in a whole new way as we work our way through recipes for apple hand pies, crunchy apple-filled salads, apples roasted with chicken, and applicious drinks and cocktails. Get out your paring knives and your vegetable peelers: it’s about to get apple-y up in here.

• Who wrote it: Karen Berman and Melissa Petitto

• Who published it: Race Point Publishing

• Number of recipes: 365

• Recipes for right now: Banana Apple Swirl Loaf, Chicken and Apple Caesar Salad Wrap, Chicken Apple Sausages with Apples and Cider, Grilled Cheese and Apple Sandwiches with Cilantro Pesto, Apple and Blueberry Turnovers, Jack Rose Cocktail, Figgy Apple-Brie Quiches, Little Apple and Caramel Cheesecakes

• Other highlights: I have to hand it to Karen Berman and Melissa Petitto: it is no small feat to think of 365 recipes all focused on a single ingredient. Not only have they come up with all these recipes, but the recipes are universally appealing. Every turn of the page has a different and interesting — and sometimes surprising — way to make an apple part of a daily meal.

I find myself drawn to the more unusual apple recipes, like adding chopped apples to turkey burgers and sandwiching thin slices of apple in hot s’mores. I also appreciate the recipes that incorporate dried apples, apple cider, apple sauce and other apple “derivatives” into the recipe. This gets me thinking out of the box when it comes to this fruit.

The one thing that I feel this book is missing is a simple guide to the most common apple varieties, their peak seasons, and the best way to use each one in our cooking. A reference like this would come in very handy as we get used to cooking with apples and for those times when the store is out of the particular apple called for in a recipe.

• Who would enjoy this book? Apple lovers, big and small! This would be a great book for parents — lots of kid-friendly ideas in here.

Find the book at your local library, independent bookstore, or Amazon: An Apple a Day by Karen Berman and Melissa Petitto

Apartment Therapy Media makes every effort to test and review products fairly and transparently. The views expressed in this review are the personal views of the reviewer and this particular product review was not sponsored or paid for in any way by the manufacturer or an agent working on their behalf. However, the manufacturer did give us the product for testing and review purposes.

(Images: Emma Christensen)