If you’re looking for a way to use up some apples – or just love baking with apples in general, this easy recipe for baked apples developed by Chris Nuttal-Smith hits the spot. Most baked apple recipes call for pecans, but in this recipe, the complex tangy and sharp flavours add the crunch.
The other addition is chopped crystallized ginger and membrillo (quince) jam. No quince jam? Substitute apricot or plum jam.
Gingery Baked Apples With Walnuts
These baked apples are a buttery, walnuty, and tartly sweet, stuffed with ginger and fruit jam, then roasted to near collapsing.
Ingredients
- ⅓ cup walnuts coarsely chopped
- ¼ cup golden raisins
- 2 tbsp brown sugar
- 1 tbsp membrillo or plum or apricot jam
- 1 ½ by ½-inch piece crystallized ginger
- 4 firm medium apples (preferably Fuji or Gala)
- ½ lemon
- 3 tbs salted butter cut into 4 pieces
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
- In a small bowl, combine the walnuts, raisins and brown sugar.
- Slice and then coarsely chop the membrillo and ginger and add to the bowl. (If you’re using jam, simply dollop it in.) Stir well to combine, being sure to un-clump any sticking bits.
- Wash the apples, then use a melon baller or a sturdy measuring teaspoon to excavate the cores from the stems down, making sure not to break through the apples’ bottoms.
- Squeeze the juice from the lemon half into the apples’ holes, then rub the lemon’s cut side on any exposed apple flesh.
- Stuff the apples with the filling (it may not all fit), then press a butter piece into the top of each hole, like a cap. Using a sharp knife, score each apple’s skin around its waist.
- Bake for 50 minutes, or until apples are tender.
Notes
This is also an excellent recipe to take camping. If you plan to roast the apples in foil, cut a double layer of heavy-duty foil that measures 20 inches long. Arrange the fruit snugly on the foil. Gather together the long edges of the foil, folding them over each other two to three times to form a tight seal. Seal both ends of each packet in the same way—you want to avoid any leaking. If you’ll be using a Dutch oven, wrap each apple in foil or plastic to prevent the filling from falling out. Refrigerate.
