Baked Apples with Oats and Walnuts
A dessert built almost entirely from the pantry. The only fresh thing in it is the apple. Ten minutes of actual work, and it fills the house with the smell of fall.
4 servings
Ingredients
- 4Â firm baking apples (Honeycrisp, Braeburn, Granny Smith, or Rome)
- 0.5 cups rolled oats
- 0.5 cups walnuts, roughly chopped
- 3 tablespoons honey or maple syrup
- 1 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- 2 tablespoons butter or coconut oil, softened
- 0.3 teaspoons fine sea salt
- 0.5 cups water, for the pan
Instructions
Heat the oven: Heat the oven to 375°F (190°C).
Core the apples: Core 4 firm baking apples (Honeycrisp, Braeburn, Granny Smith, or Rome) from the top, going about three quarters of the way down. Leave the bottom intact so the filling stays put. A paring knife and a spoon will do it. Widen the opening to about an inch across.
Mix the filling: Stir 0.5 cups rolled oats, 0.5 cups walnuts, roughly chopped, 3 tablespoons honey or maple syrup, 1 teaspoons ground cinnamon, 2 tablespoons butter or coconut oil, softened, and 0.3 teaspoons fine sea salt together in a bowl until everything is coated and clumping.
Fill them:Â Pack the filling into the apples, mounding whatever is left on top.
Into the dish: Stand them in a baking dish and pour 0.5 cups water, for the pan around them, not over them. The water keeps the bottoms from scorching and makes a little syrup in the pan.
Bake: Bake until a knife slides into the side of an apple with no resistance and the tops are golden. Baking time depends on how big your apples are, so start checking at 40 minutes 40:00.
Rest:Â Let them sit before serving. They are molten inside when they come out.
Notes
Pick a firm apple. Softer varieties like McIntosh collapse into sauce, which tastes fine but will not hold a shape.
Leave the skin on. It holds the apple together while it bakes, and most of the fiber and polyphenols live there.
Spoon the pan syrup over the top when you serve them.
Good warm with yogurt for breakfast the next morning. This is a dessert that does not mind being eaten at 7 a.m.
Dairy-free and vegan with coconut oil and maple syrup. No other changes needed.
Why it works: nearly everything here keeps for months. Oats, walnuts, honey, and cinnamon all live on a shelf, and apples hold longer than almost any other fruit. The walnuts bring plant omega-3s and the oats bring soluble fiber.
