Food Monday ~ Baked Apples

Baked Apples

Baked apples make a very easy dessert and can be cooked in the oven alongside the main course or in the microwave.  I often bake just one for myself and place the apple in a large ramekin dish.  This recipe gives direction for microwave cooking.

  • 4 large dessert apples
  • 30g butter, softened
  • 4 tablespoons raisins or sultanas
  • ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • 2 tablespoons chopped pecans or nuts of your choice
  • 60 ml Apple juice
  • 175 ml Maple or Golden syrup

Wash apples. Remove cores to ½ inch of the bottom of the apples. It helps if you have an apple corer or a paring knife to cut out first the stem area, and then the core. Use a spoon to dig out the seeds. Make the holes about ¾ inch to an inch wide.  Peel the apples one third of the way down.  Arrange in a microwavable dish peeled ends uppermost.

In a small bowl, combine the butter, cinnamon, raisins/sultanas, and nuts.  Stuff each apple hollow with this mixture.  In a jug combine the apple juice and maple or golden syrup and pour over and around the apples. Cook, covered on high for 7-9 minutes for four apples, until the apples are tender.  Reduce the time for two (4-6 minutes) or for one apple (2½ minutes).  Remove the apples to a serving dish and cook the remaining syrup on High for (3-5) (2-3) or (1½) minutes until the syrup has thickened slightly.  Spoon the syrup over the apples and serve warm with ice cream.

♦♦♦♦♦♦

If using conventional oven Bake 30 minutes, until tender, but not mushy. Remove from the oven and baste the apples several times with the pan juices.

16 thoughts on “Food Monday ~ Baked Apples

  1. Grannymar Post author

    Baino – I know it is an old one but light and with enough sweetness to end a meal. When I am lazy I fill the centre with sweet mincemeat (think mince pies)!

    Marie – Yes, indeed it is fool-proof and can be served with cream, ice-cream or custard!

    Reply
  2. Magpie11

    I prefer Cookers to dessert apples for bakes…the sharpness of a Bramley is wonderful…it eases off later in the season.
    We once had a young Green grocer who heard me moaning that there were not enough English grown apples around and he came up with a great range sourced locally. One was a “cooker” which he said was Anne Elizabeth (actually Annie Elizabeth) I cooked to a lovely fluff. Light and full of flavour and made the best baked apples I have ever eaten. Unfortunately he went out of business but iI take my cap off to him as he was willing to learn about things.

    Try adding some Calvados to the liquors and to the “stuffing” or better still, Somerset Cider Brandy…from my sister’s friends at Borough Hill///

    http://www.ciderbrandy.co.uk/

    Reply
  3. Nancy

    Grannymar,

    It’s not fair! I am in Florida and we don’t grow apples here.

    Would you have a recipe for baked lemons or oranges?

    Reply
  4. Magpie11

    Nancy…with the current cold weather try Sussex Pond Pudding…I understand that parts of Florida have had snow?

    or
    8 large oranges
    1/2cup sugar
    8 tspns. butter

    Wash oranges and grate off skins slightly.
    Cover with water and boil for 1/2-hour.
    Drain and cool.
    Cut off small size at the blossom end and remove core.
    Put tablespoonsful of sugar and 1 tspn, butter in the centre of each orange.
    Put in a buttered baking dish.
    Fill 2/3-full with water.
    Cover and bake at 350° F for 2 hours.

    I’d put the zest in the sugar mix and may be add some Cointreau!

    Or serve with cream whipped up with Cointreau or Grande Marnier!

    Baked oranges (serves 4 or 6 with ice cream)

    * 4-6 sweet, juicy oranges
    * Juice of 1 lemon
    * 2oz/55g soft brown sugar
    * 1oz/30g butter
    * A wine glass of sweet sherry

    Peel the oranges, removing all the pith, and slice thinly. Arrange the slices in a shallow ovenproof dish so they overlap. Sprinkle on the lemon juice. Dredge with the sugar, dot with the butter and pour over the sherry.

    Bake at 200C/400F/gas mark 6 for 15-20 minutes until the oranges are lightly browned.

    I was told about this by a South African Colleague but never found it before today:

    Ingredients
    Makes 5 servings

    * 2 eggs
    * ½ cup sugar
    * ¼ cup flour
    * 1 cup milk
    * ¾ cup freshly squeezed orange juice
    * 1 tbsp lemon juice
    * Grated zest of 1 orange
    * 2 tbsp melted butter or margarine

    Preparation (Some HTML is OK)

    1. Beat the yolk of the eggs and fold in the sugar (the original recipe calls for 1 cup sugar, but we prefer it reduced by half)
    2. Add the flour and the milk
    3. Add orange juice, lemon juice, orange zest and melted butter
    4. Beat the egg whites until stiff and fold into the mixture
    5. Pour into a greased ovenproof dish, standing in a pan of warm water, and bake for about 45 mins or until nicely browned, in a medium oven (350 deg F). (In our fan oven, we bake it for 30 mins at 180 deg C. We use a glass pyrex dish about 20cm across.)

    Note: the pudding forms a fine crust on top, and sits on a pool of sauce.

    You can increase the quantities by half to make a larger pudding. That just fits in the same dish we use.

    Reply
  5. Grannymar Post author

    Margaret – Cooking or baking apples always reminds me of my mother.

    Magpie – I like to ring the changes with the apples, and since so many of my readers come from outside the UK and unable to get Bramleys, I included the dessert apples this time. Anyway Monday recipe would be nothing without the suggestions for variations in the comments.

    Nancy – Never mind baked lemons and oranges…. just slice them and add them to the punch. 🙄 Scratch that, here comes Magpie to your rescue.

    Reply
  6. Mrs. Eat The Blog

    I grew up in a household of diabetics, so dessert was a rare and often sugarless thing. My mother would permit us baked apples though, baked in sugarless ginger ale. In the centre of the cored apples she placed three (and only three, because she was meticulous that way-just as she rationed out the raisins to have the exact “serving size”) cinnamon heart candies which melted and coloured the apples.

    Oh, I know-it sounds terrible, but strangely enough it satisfied the desire for a sweet.

    Reply
  7. Nancy

    Magpie,

    Thank you very much for the recipe for Sussex Pond Pudding.

    I’ve read the list of ingredients I will require and have everything on hand except oranges and lemons.

    Tell you what I will do. I’ll drink the Grande Marnier until I have enough nerve to climb my neighbor’s fence and pick an orange or two from his tree.

    I’ll let you know how the Pond Pudding comes out…..
    Thanks again!

    Reply
  8. Grannymar Post author

    Mrs E – I can see why desserts might be difficult in your family. I love the baked apples as I can leave out the butter and forget about the unmentionable things like cream and custard!

    Nancy – Wear your water wings when you jump over the fence in case you land in the pond pudding!

    Reply
  9. Grannymar Post author

    Patty – It is simple and satisfying.

    Nancy – ‘My Gene Pool had a Lifeguard!’ – I love it! 😆

    Reply

A penny for your thoughts...