The perfect baked apples are an apple lover’s dream…and a chef’s pleasure to make whenever they are too lazy, like me, or don’t want to take the time to make an actual apple pie.
The perfect baked apple pie is a sweet, warm, and delicious apple….topped with delicious spices like cinnamon, fresh ginger, and nutmeg…and finally served with a generous portion of vanilla ice cream or homemade caramel sauce (see recipe below)…
The perfect baked apple a a simple, old-fashioned dessert that has all the deliciousness of the filling of an apple pie…yet takes a whopping five minutes to make.
Not only are baked apples definitely a treat to eat, but they also fill your home with a great aroma.
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Gather Your Ingredients
1/4C brown sugar
1tsp spices—such as cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg
2Tbsp butter
3/4C boiling water or apple cider
7 apples
2Tbsp lemon juice
Optional Ingredients…1/4C chopped walnuts or pecans, chopped raisin, dried cranberries
Choose the Right Apples
In order to make baked apples, guess what you must first have…
Apples…duh(?!)
But how do you decide which apples to choose?!
You want to make sure that you don’t choose an apple that will turn to mush so fast they explode out of their skins…but you also want to choose an apples that stays too firm.
Instead the apple that you choose to make your baked apples should be able to become nice and soft inside, but still maintain its shape.
Typically the best apples to choose are firm, crisp and tart apples—such as Gala apples, Fuji apples, and Granny Smith apples.
You’ll need one apple per person….which means that you can cook anywhere from one to one hundred…if you have a baking dish that will actually hold one hundred apples.
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Hollow Out Your Apples
Peel and core apples.
First use a paring knife or apple corer to carefully remove the core of the apple…and then to thinly slice the apple lengthwise.
Be sure not to slice all the way through the apple…if you do, you will have sliced apples…not an apple that you can actually stuff with sugar and spice and everything nice…instead leave about 1/2″ of the apple intact at the bottom.
Remove the core and seeds. You can do this with either the sharp edges of a 1/2tsp measuring spoon or a small melon baller.
Place apples in big enough dish that will hold all of your apples without the apples touching each other.