September 22, 2013

Walnut-Stuffed Baked Apples

Walnut-Stuffed Baked Apples - an easy fall treat for a crowd, or for just a few! |foxeslovelemons.com

 

It’s a fact – toward the end of the summer, I start to long for fall and winter food. And toward the end of the winter, I start to long for spring and summer food. I’ve been longing for soups, stews, braises and anything involving apples and pumpkins for weeks now. I love you, summer, but I’m done.

Seeing as how it was in the 40′s one morning last week when I woke up, my fall menu planning is in full swing. Although, in true Michigan fashion, as I’m writing this (Friday), it’s 81 degrees. Sigh. This state. Always with the unpredictable temperature swings. I’ll consider today a slight blip on the path to full-on sweater and warm apple cider weather.
Nothing says “autumn” to me more than going to an apple orchard, eating warm donuts for lunch, and buying way, way more apples than I realistically need. Then spending the next month putting apples in everything I eat to prove to myself that buying all those apples was a great idea. Here’s one of my favorite simple desserts – these baked apples are easy to adapt for a crowd, or a simple weeknight sweet treat for two.

 

Walnut-Stuffed Baked Apples - an easy fall treat for a crowd, or for just a few! |foxeslovelemons.com

Walnut-Stuffed Baked Apples

Yield: 4 servings

Print Recipe

Ingredients:

  • 1/2 cup brown sugar
  • 1/2 cup walnuts
  • 1/4 cup golden raisins
  • 1/4 cup unsalted butter, cut into 1/4-inch pieces
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
  • 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
  • 1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
  • 4 large Gala apples
  • 1/2 cup fresh orange juice

Directions:

  1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. In small bowl, combine brown sugar, walnuts, raisins, butter, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg and cloves.
  2. Slice ½ inch off top of each apple. With small end of melon baller or small spoon, scoop out inner core and seeds from inside of each apple up to bottom (do not go all the way through apple). Arrange apples, cavity side up, in 9 x 9-inch glass or ceramic baking dish. Fill each cavity with 2 tablespoons brown sugar-walnut mixture. Sprinkle remaining brown sugar-walnut mixture on top of apples. Pour juice around apples.
  3. Bake apples 30 to 40 minutes or until desired tenderness, rotating baking dish halfway through baking. Spoon juices remaining in dish over apples and serve warm.
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