Rich, Delicious Baked Apple Recipe

We are approaching the late part of summer when the apple harvest is due. At this time of year apples are plentiful and inexpensive so it is a great time to prepare this fabulously tasty and simple dessert. The preparation time for this recipe is only about twenty minutes. Baking time is about thirty minutes and although baked apples can be eaten hot or cold, I prefer them steaming hot fresh out of the oven. Here is how I made mine:

Ingredients

• Good quality apples suitable for baking (I used Granny Smiths)
• 2 cups chopped dried fruit (currants, sultanas, raisins, apple, apricot, prunes, pears - mix and match your own choice of dried fruits)
• 1 tablespoon each of candied orange and lemon peel
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• 2 tablespoons Lyles Black Treacle
• Sugar to taste
  
• 1/2 teaspoon allspice
• 1/2 teaspoon dried ginger

Preparation

• Remove the cores from the apples, then remove a little extra flesh from the top of the hole in each apple to create a conical cavity
• Bring 1 cup of water almost to the boil and stir in 2 tablespoons of Lyles Black Treacle until dissolved
• Bring to the boil then add all the dried fruit and lemon juice and boil gently for a few minutes
  
• Add the allspice, ginger and sugar, then stir thoroughly
  
• Simmer until the mixture becomes a little thick and sticky; stir frequently
• Spoon the mixture into the cavities of the apples, then pierce the skins around the centre of each apple
• Place the stuffed apples into an ovenproof dish and add a half inch of water to the dish
• Bake the stuffed apples at 400F or until the flesh can be seen to bubble and the skins shrivel

John's Notes
The mincemeat used to fill the apples is from a recipe for mince pies published on this blog last November. It is a very rich and spicy mincemeat that gives these baked apples their irresistible flavour. Some of the mincemeat dissolves in the water in the pan during baking. The resulting juice in the baking dish makes an excellent sauce to drizzle over the apples before serving.

If you neglect to pierce the apple skins before baking (as I did) the skins will burst. Frankly, although this mars their appearance it isn't a tragedy because the apples will not stay intact for very long at all after they appear on the dinner table. Enjoy.


Printable PDF version of this recipe