Fall Baking: Baked Apples

Sometimes a weekend full of nothing is just what the doctor ordered.  This was one of those weekends.  See that photo to the left?  That's what it looked like in Chicago for the last two days so it was prime staying in and laying low weather.

We did make it out for a dinner and movie on Friday night-- Mangia Roma and Argo, respectively.  Check out Argo-- a nailbiter, but really well done.  Aside from that I did get around to some cleaning, finished MWF Seeking BFF and started Loving Frank, and had a nice little Sunday brunch date at the bar down the street with my hubby.

Since we stayed in I had time to do a lot of cooking this weekend too, so I have a handful of recipes to share with you.  The one I am sharing now is an easy dessert that I put together on Saturday night.  Alex stocked up on tons of Honeycrisp apples at the farmers market last weekend so I figured we should put them to use before they go bad.  I remember my mom making her own version of these when we were kids, but it's been forever since I have had them.  This is a great fall dessert-- it's low maintenance to put together, relatively healthy, and can be easily multiplied if you are serving a crowd. 

Baked Apples

Ingredients:

2 Large apples *I'd recommend Honeycrisp or Macintosh for baking
2 Tbs. Butter, melted
2 Tbs. Brown sugar
1 1/2 Tbs. Old fashioned oats
1 Tbs. Pecans, chopped**
1 Tbs. Chopped dried dates
1/2 tsp. Cinnamon
Vanilla ice cream or frozen yogurt, for serving


Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Use a melon baller to scoop out the core of each apple, making sure to leave the bottom of the apple intact.

In a small bowl stir together butter and next 5 ingredients until combined.  Using a small soon, stuff the mixture inside of each apple.  Place the apples in a small baking dish filled about 1 inch high with water (or with apple cider if you have it) and bake for 45 minutes until the apples are soft.

Serve warm with ice cream.

**Alex is allergic to some nuts and generally , just not a huge fan of most tree nuts.  For his apple, I subbed in 1/2 Tbs. each additional oats and dates for the chopped pecans.