Baked Apple Recipe

Blessings, Darlings!

As a follow-up to yesterday's article on apple scab, here's one of my family's favorite apple recipes. It's even pretty healthy! As a rule, I find most baked goods recipes too sweet. My standing rule is to take any pie recipe from "The Joy of Cooking" and cut the sugar in half (and double any spices/extracts in it). I suppose more recent editions of that cookbook might be more to my taste but I'm working with a 1962 edition.

This recipe is NOT from "The Joy of Cooking". It's a modification of a Steven Raichlen recipe, found in his "Barbecue Bible". I use the toasted bread crumbs, because I bake my own bread, thus slice my own bread, thus have crumbs. Lots of crumbs. We slice the bread on a tray so we can catch (well, CONTAIN) the crumbs so we can use them in other dishes and, even more, so they don't get all the heck over the counter.

4 firm sweet apples (I'm a Gala apple junkie, myself)
4 tbs unsalted butter
1/4 cup packed dark brown sugar
1/4 cup graham cracker crumbs or toasted bread crumbs
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp freshly grated nutmeg
1 - 2 tsp vanilla extract

Heat oven - oh, I usually use a toaster oven for this, unless I'm already baking other things - to 350.


Mostly core the apples - that is, leave the bottom intact so the filling doesn't leak out when baking! Make the hole kind of large so all the filling fits.

Cream butter and sugar, then beat the rest of the ingredients. Spoon into the cavity in the apples. Put apples on foil-lined tray (slightly high sides are a plus, in case of leaks).

Put in oven. Bake 40 - 60 minutes, you may need to cover with aluminum foil if you are using a toaster oven, so check for over-browning regularly. Remove when done to your taste. Serve hot! Goes well with ice cream.

Catch you later!