Baked apple fillings

Cooking Discussions Baking, Sweets
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I used to make a mix of butter, brown sugar, ground nuts, and sultanas every Autumn, which I’d freeze in a small container. When I wanted to bake apples, I’d use my corer to get out a cylinder of the stuffing, which slid easily into the cavity of the cored apple.

I hadn’t gotten around to this yet, when I bought farmstand Cortland apples a few days ago. On a whim, I’d bought a piece of maple walnut fudge from the display at the cash register. Later, when I thought about baking an apple, the only butter I had was frozen. Rather than waiting for it to thaw before making a filling, I thought of the fudge. It was a tasty, mess-free solution - just break off a piece and stuff it into the cored apple, then bake. Maple walnut may not be widely available, but (in New England, at any rate), penuche fudge is.

How do you fill your baked apples?

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That’s a creative solution…! I don’t bake a lot of apples since it seems silly to use my oven for just one (leftovers dont taste quite as good rewarmed)
I like to use a mix of quick cooking oats, (or granola if i have it) cinnamon, chopped walnuts or pecans, and a bit of brown sugar or honey, often with a little lemon juice over the apple and stuffing at the very end
So far this year i just want slices of honeycrisps with salted almond butter, seems a shame to bake those since they’re so fantastic as is

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FWIW, the microwave does a decent job for baked apples. Full power tends to burst them too much. Yesty I did a medium-sized honeycrisp for 7 minutes at 50% power. Scored the skin first. Tender but intact.

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Ummmm… you’re BRILLIANT!!! Never occurred to me to try it in the microwave!! Yeesh. Ok, what’s the best kind of apple to use? I’m headed to the farmers market tomorrow and will pick up a few to make this asap :grin:

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Whatever apple you like to bake is fine. I’d avoid Macintosh since they turn into applesauce no matter how you heat them. I usually bake Cortlands, Empires, Galas, or Braeburns, but if you can get heirlooms like Pippins or Spies, they are good bakers too.

It’s wise to err on the short side in terms of time and power levels. Let it cool down for 10 minutes, then check tenderness. You can always zap some more.

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Thanks! Honestly I’m never sure which the best ones are to bake… i’ll get a few different kinds and do some “research” in the coming week :yum:

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It got weird warm here for a while…! But now the chill is back and i am a total convert to the microwave dessert apple, thank you so much!! The empire and gala seem to be my favorites-and i convinced myself that if i don’t use too much sugar and i have the apple with plain greek yogurt it’s totally a healthy dinner :wink:

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My pleasure. And thank YOU for the mention of the Ritter dark chocolate marzipan bars on the Bar Chocolate thread. I found these at Ocean State Job Lot and like them.

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I was fixing baked apples for dinner and found this topic. I used Jonathans from the local orchard. I baked off five in a lined pie plate. This time, I mixed cinnamon, nutmeg, vanilla paste, brown sugar, grated fresh ginger and scotch in a small bowl and placed a tbsp in each cored apple. Bake at 350 until fork tender. We enjoy them room temp with a warmed maple glaze.

Finally bought a microwave and plan to test out your advice next time.

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I returned that microwave immediately, btw. I just don’t like them for any purpose.

On the baked apple front, this recipe is outstanding, easy, orchard picking worthy and boozy if that’s your jam.

Cider-Roasted Apples from Clare de Boer. She writes:

These sauce-soft apples, barely held in shape by their candied skin, are effortless and sexy. Rolled in butter and brown sugar, they become pudding-like in a pool of spiced caramel that makes itself in the pan as a pint of cider reduces with ginger, cinnamon, and star anise. A spoonful leaves behind a tingle.

You could use another kind of booze—whiskey, Armagnac, amaretto—or replace the spices with whatever you have in the cupboard—a vanilla pod, a clove—just be sure to cook the apples for the full 90 minutes and reduce the sauce on the stove a bit before eating it hot with vanilla ice cream.

Serves 6

6 Honeycrisp apples or other medium eating variety

6 tablespoons, 85 grams, unsalted butter at room temperature

¾ cup, 150 grams, light brown sugar

1 pint, 550 milliliters, cider (the alcoholic kind)

4 inch piece of fresh ginger, sliced

1 stick cinnamon

1 piece star anise

1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar

Heat the oven to 425 Fahrenheit, 220 Celsius. Gently score the apples around their equators with a knife to allow steam to escape (this prevents them from popping).

Place the apples in a 12-inch pan, smudge the soft butter all over each apple, then roll them in the brown sugar. Pour in the cider, and add the ginger, cinnamon and star anise.

Bake for 90 minutes, basting once or twice if you think of it. When you can poke a fork to the core of the apples and detect nothing but soft sauce within, remove the pan from the oven and place it over low heat on the stove. Add the apple cider vinegar to the pan and simmer until the sauce reduces to the consistency of maple syrup, about 10 minutes. Serve each apple in a bowl with a scoop of vanilla ice cream and pour the cider caramel over the top.

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