Baked Harvest Apples

 
    Autumn is my very favorite time of the year and I love finding recipes that perfectly fit the season.  I discovered this one years ago on Allrecipes.com which has been my go-to source for great recipes since 1998.  The teacher who taught advanced catering in the high school I first worked at shared this site with me and I have found it to be an amazing resource.  I love my online recipe box as well as the user reviews.  I have shared many, many recipes with friends and family from Allrecipes for years now.

  The original recipe calls for 2 large baking apples.  When I can get them for a fairly good price (or sometimes I just splurge!), I use HoneyCrisp apples.  They are perfect in this dish!  If they aren't in season or I don't want to spend quite so much on them, I use Galas which are also delicious.  Really, you could probably just use your own favorite and they would turn out fine.  I am just partial to very crisp apples.

    I begin by turning the apples over and cutting off a little of the bottom so that they will stand up more easily in my baking dish.

  After I slice the bottoms off, I turn the apples over and cut around the top of the core just enough to pull out the stem and to give myself a space to work with.  I then take a melon baller (or you can just use a spoon) and hollow out almost the entire middle of the apple.  I always leave a very tiny bit of the core in bottom so that the delicious sauce and juices don't leak out.

  After placing the apples in the baking dish, I begin making my filling.  Chop your walnuts up very finely and mix them with the raisins and the orange peel.  

   Stuff the apples using a small spoon and then make the sauce on the stovetop.  Pour the sauce over the filling and down into the apples.  Do this very slowly so that the filling doesn't just rise to the top and pour out.  

  The last time I made these I cut and peeled an extra apple to place around the two filled apples in the baking dish since my two girls don't love the chopped nuts.  I then just poured some of the sauce over the apples before baking.

  Pop these in the oven and your kitchen will smell better than and fall candle you can buy!  These will definitely impress any guests you have over for dinner.

The original recipe for Spiced Baked Apples from Allrecipes.com (with a few minor tweeks):

Baked Harvest Apples

2 large baking apples (I prefer HoneyCrisp or Gala)

2 T. very finely chopped walnuts

3 T. raisins

1 t. grated orange peel

1/4 C. packed brown sugar (either light or dark works fine in this recipe)

1/4 C. water

1 T. butter

1/2 t. cinnamon (I LOVE Pampered Chef's Cinnamon Plus in this recipe)

1/4 t. nutmeg

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Begin by coring the apples and placing them in a buttered or sprayed baking dish.  Be careful not to cut off the very bottom of the core so that the juices will remain in the apples while baking.

Mix together the walnuts, raisins, and orange peel.  Fill apples with mixture.

In a small saucepan, combine the brown sugar, water, butter, and spices.  Heat over medium-high heat until the mixture begins to thicken and bubble, about 5 minutes.  Slowly pour the sauce over the nut/raisin filling being careful not to go too quickly so that the filling does not overflow.  Pour any extra down the sides of the apple and then into the bottom of the baking dish.

Baked uncovered at 350 degrees for 30 - 35 minutes or until the apples feel tender when poked with a fork.  Remove them from the oven and let them stand for about 10 minutes before serving.  I like to serve mine in bowls so that all the sauce stays in the bowl.