Eating and preserving apples

Laxton Fortune apple tree, 2020

Both our small apple trees are laden this year, unlike last year when we got none from either.  I've been picking four or five from Laxton Fortune every few days for two weeks now, and yesterday I sent the son out with a big basket with an injunction to fill it, preferrably with all the remaining apples.  He filled it all right, but didn't get all of them.

They make for excellent eating fresh:  juicy and a good balance between tart and sweet, and very thin skin.  I thinned them (and the other tree, Sparta) earlier this summer trying to reduce the fruit clusters down to one or two only, but it's obvious that I missed some--several are too small to bother with. 

Besides eating fresh, which I have been doing with vigor, I am now in the position of having a large basket of apples to preserve.  What to make?  I'm not making cider this year, the usual contender.  Apple butter, applesauce, dried apples?  I better decide soon!

The other tree, Sparta, is just about ready for picking now;  we've eaten a few and will no doubt soon be emptying the tree.  While Laxton Fortune is supposed to be a good cooker as well as eater, Sparta is really more of an eater (aka dessert apple).  Maybe I'll dry some when faced with a big basket of these.  Wish me luck!