This recipe was inspired by Patrick and Gina Neely called “The Neelys” on their Food Network show “Down Home with the Neelys.” Baked apples are simply downhome – I deem the dish simply delicious. Avoid the apples that turn into mush: McIntosh, Mutsu or Cortland. I choose big apples: Honeycrisp is the best, Royal Gala, Idared or Fuji. I scoop out the core of each apple with an apple corer, paring knife and a melon baller – I use all three. I prefer to use jam in the filling – I sometimes add chocolate chips. I sometimes substitute the filling mixture with mincemeat.
¼ cup cranberries, raisins, dried cherries or mincemeat
¼ cup jam or brown sugar
¼ cup chopped pecans or walnuts
¼ tsp ground cinnamon
6 big Honeycrisp apples, rinsed
1 cup apple juice, white wine or cider
Maple syrup for drizzling
Preheat the oven to 375F.
In bowl, mix together the filling mixture – cranberries (or other dried fruit), jam, nuts and cinnamon.
Core apples to hollow out the middle. Do not go all the way through. Fill each apple core with the filling mixture.
Place the filled apples right side up in an ovenproof dish. Pour apple juice around them. Drizzle a little maple syrup on top of the apples. Bake for 40 minutes covered; bake for about 20 minutes uncovered until they are tender inside.
Serve with vanilla yogurt or ice cream – I serve them with both.
Makes 6 servings.