Dear Chattanoogans, your social media posts bidding the summer farewell are stressing me out. Fall does not begin until Sept. 22. Please just let me relish these last 26 days.
But I do get that for many, summer unofficially ends when students return to school. And I’d be lying if I said I hadn’t found comfort in those first cool evening breezes.
The end of summer always feels like such a reflective time. As I write this letter I am remembering the late Augusts of my childhood, when my father would turn our kitchen into a brown sugar-scented apple dumpling factory. Every day, I would come home from school to find the countertops covered in cooling racks.
My dad’s baked apple dumplings certainly helped sweeten my transition between seasons, and perhaps it will do the same for you. Here is my dad’s recipe.
BAKED APPLE DUMPLINGS