Baked apples are a cozy and comforting dessert perfect for chilly fall and winter days and special occasions, such as winter holidays and Thanksgiving.
If you are looking for a delicious, easy, and healthy dessert, you’ve found it! You can put together our baked apple recipe with minimal effort and just 6 pantry staples.We keep the apples whole rather than cut them into apple slices because they stay super moist this way. To infuse the apple with flavor, we scoop out the core and stuff it with a mixture of raisins, maple syrup, cinnamon, and chopped walnuts.
Ingredients
Instructions
Serving suggestions
Variations
Baked pears
Storage
More apple recipes
You can serve the apples like this straight out of the oven, as they are already plenty delicious. You can have them for dessert, a snack, or even breakfast on top of your oatmeal pancakes or muesli. However, to make this baked apple recipe even more unique, you can cook the apple juice released from baking with sugar to turn it into a quick homemade caramelized apple syrup. Serve the apples with a scoop of vanilla ice cream and drizzle with the caramelized sauce. You’ll see what a delicious surprise. If you are looking for the best apples for baking, then we recommend Rome Beauty, Golden Delicious, Honeycrisp, Pink Lady, and Gala apples. If you prefer less sweet and more tart flavors, try Granny Smith, Winesap, and Cortland. Other varieties that you can use are Braeburn, Melrose, and Jonagold.
Butter
You can use regular butter or dairy-free butter. They are both excellent for this baked apple recipe. Some recipes call for coconut oil, but that doesn’t really taste good to us in this recipe, so we don’t recommend it.
Raisins
Raisins add natural sweetness to this recipe. If you want to make this recipe without any other sweetener, add a little more raisins inside the apples. You can substitute cranberries, dried figs (chopped), dried apricots (chopped), and dates (chopped) for raisins.
Maple syrup
We like to add a drizzle of maple syrup, although that’s not necessary. The raisins add some sweetness that is enough for a lot of people. You can substitute maple syrup with honey, agave syrup, or any sugar, such as white, brown sugar, light-brown sugar, or coconut sugar.
Nuts
Walnuts or pecans are best for this recipe. First, chop or crush them, then add them to the cored apple with the other ingredients.
Cinnamon
Cinnamon is our favorite spice for baked apples. However, if you want to make this recipe even more Christmassy, then you can also add clove, nutmeg, and ginger.
Water
Add some hot water to the baking dish before baking the apples. The water will help the apples cook and turn into a delicious apple sauce. Cut off the stem and the seeds with a paring knife, then scoop out the core with a teaspoon. We like to use a measuring teaspoon to do that. If you have it, you can also use an apple corer; however, don’t core the apple through the other side as we are going to stuff it. Transfer the apples onto a baking dish, then mix raisins, cinnamon, and chopped walnuts into a small bowl. Fill the apples with the mix, then drizzle with maple syrup. Add a piece of butter on top, then sprinkle with more cinnamon. Finally, add the hot water to the baking tray. Bake the apples for 50 minutes to one hour, depending on the size of the apples. They should turn out brown and tender throughout. Before serving them, baste them with their juice using a spoon and drizzle the liquid in the baking dish into each apple a few times. Serve the apples with some cooking juice and optionally with a few scoops of vanilla ice cream or dairy-free ice cream. You can also turn the cooking juices of the apples into caramelized apple juice. To do so, transfer the liquid left over in the baking pan into a small saucepan. Add a couple of tablespoons of brown sugar and let simmer on low heat for a few minutes until the sugar melts and the juice turns into a syrup (caramelization). Drizzle the syrup on top of the apples (or of the ice cream) with a spoon. Check out our baked pears recipe. They are topped with an oat, sugar, and nuts crumble that turns sweet and crispy as it bakes. Their texture and flavor remind us of apple crisps. They are a beautiful alternative to regular baked apples, although they require a little more work. Check out our Hasselback baked apples.
Make ahead
This is a great recipe to make ahead and have throughout the week as a healthy sweet treat or to serve with your oatmeal pancakes or muesli for breakfast. To make it healthier, reduce the amount of syrup and avoid the ice cream.
More holiday desserts
When autumn, winter, and the holiday season is upon us, we look to these favorite desserts for a sweet and cozy treat:
Easy egg-free pancakes: a perfect brunch recipe for the holidays and special occasionsEasy and soft cinnamon rolls with an airy brioche doughCarrot cake: soft and sweet with a delicious vanilla toppingVegan donuts: fried or baked, glazed or dipped, this is your base recipe for egg-free donuts!
Vegan Pancakes
Vegan Cinnamon Rolls
Vegan Carrot Cake
Vegan Donuts
Red cabbage slaw with apples and candied walnutsCarrot raisin salad with apple and pineapplesEasy apple cake with only 7 ingredientsBircher muesli with grated green applesOatmeal pancakes with apple-raisin compote Mini apple tarts with homemade pastry doughEgg-free apple fritters: best when served with our 5-ingredient custardHasselback apples with oats, almonds, and fragrant cinnamon sugar
Red Cabbage Slaw
Carrot Raisin Salad
Vegan Apple Cake
Bircher Muesli
Oatmeal Pancakes
Mini apple tarts – Crostatine di mele
Vegan Apple Fritters
Hasselback baked apples with cinnamon
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