Tired of applesauce, apple pie, baked apples, apple crisp, apple dumplings, apple salad and baked apples,
but still looking for a way to enjoy the fall harvest? Try this Raw Apple Cake recipe, offered by
Michelle Crook of Bowling Green.
“It’s my grandma’s recipe — my mom’s mom — I’m not 100% sure where she got it from. But I know the
original recipe was in my grandma’s handwriting and was used so much that my mom rewrote it,” Crook
said. “I just remember my grandma making this ever since I was little. It was always a really great cake
— super moist — and it doesn’t have a whole lot of ingredients.”
The cake was one of her grandfather’s favorites.
“They had a Golden Delicious apple tree in the backyard and she was always trying to find new ways to use
the apples. Instead of making a ton of applesauce or pie, she came upon this recipe,” Crook said.
Crook sometimes uses other apples, include Red Delicious, Granny Smith and a blend of apples, but prefers
the Golden Delicious.
“I think the sweetness and the moisture content in the apple probably keeps the cake as moist as it is,
and adds that extra sweetness to it,” she said. “I think those are good baking apples.”
The recipe calls for sour milk, but buttermilk can be substituted, Crook said. Or milk can be soured with
vinegar.
The Golden Delicious taste takes her back to her childhood, growing up in northern Utah.
She and her husband, Nathan, moved here 15 years ago so he could attend a Ph.D. program at Bowling Green
State University. He is the author of “A Culinary History of the Great Black Swamp: Buckeye Candy,
Bratwurst, & Apple Butter” and a past cook’s corner feature.
His research focus is cooking and community.
As a couple, they enjoy picking restaurants. They also have a beautiful, updated kitchen in their Bowling
Green home in the “bird streets” neighborhood.
“We appreciate good food and baked goods,” she said.
Partly due to Nathan’s studies and partly because of their shared interest in creative cuisine, they’ve
traveled all over Ohio, taking in festivals and food.
“The most memorable is the Bucyrus Bratwurst Festival because it is so large for such a small community,”
Crook said. “The Milan Melon Festival … the town square is packed and they have a parade that goes on
for two hours. Toft’s was making special ice cream for them and it was a really great festival.”
Nathan is an associate professor at Ohio State University’s Agricultural Technical Institute campus in
Wooster.
Crook has a bachelor’s degree in communications from Weber State University in Ogden, Utah. She’s a
practice manager for three medical offices in the areas.
“I make sure the practices are running. I keep the doctors’ schedules. I currently schedule surgeries for
a urology office,” she said. “I just make sure every part works.”
She’s always looking for new recipes and cooking experiences, which led her to the Page to Table Book
Club, which meets the second Monday of the month at 6:30 p.m. at the Wood County District Public
Library’s Carter House.
“Each month they will pick a different cookbook for us to read, pick a recipe or two out of it, and we
get together, make a dish that we picked out and come and share,” Crook said. “We talk about the recipes
and if we used them how they produced them, or if we made alterations, and how well we liked the
cookbook.”
One of her favorite recipes from the club was in a cookbook by actress Gwyneth Paltrow. The crepe had an
apricot-marmalade filling and was topped with powdered sugar.
Baking is Crook’s specialty.
“In our family, I would say I’m probably the baker and Nathan’s the cook. I like doing either or, but
baking is something I like to do. I used to bake and decorate cakes before we moved out here, but it’s
super time consuming,” Crook said.
Her specialty is a pumpkin-chocolate chip cookie.
“They’re good. I’ve been able to balance out my normal chocolate-chip cookie recipe with incorporating
pumpkin and spices into it. They turn out pretty good.”
The Crook family, which includes daughters Jessica and Emily, who are both in college, have made Bowling
Green home.
“It’s a close-knit community. I appreciate the university being here and the opportunities it presents,
but it doesn’t feel like an overwhelmingly college town,” Crook said. “I like the sense of getting to
know people.”
