Cinnamon & Walnut Baked Apples

At home / Recipes

A warm apple, a spoonful of cinnamon-scented filling and a little buttery juice in the baking dish: this is an easy dessert to bring to the table after dinner. Walnuts add crunch and dried cranberries bring a tart contrast to the sweet fruit.

Serves: 4   Prep: about 15 minutes   Bake: 35–45 minutes   Rest: 5 minutes

Ingredients

• 4 medium baking apples, such as Honeycrisp or Braeburn
• ¼ cup chopped walnuts
• ¼ cup dried cranberries
• 2 tablespoons packed brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• ¼ teaspoon vanilla extract
• Pinch of salt
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
• ½ cup hot water
• Plain yogurt or vanilla ice cream, optional, for serving

Method

1. Heat the oven to 375°F. Choose a small baking dish that holds the apples upright with a little room between them.
2. Wash the apples. Remove each core from the top with an apple corer or small spoon, leaving about ½ inch of flesh at the bottom so the filling stays inside. Widen the opening enough to hold the filling. An adult should handle any sharp tools.
3. Mix the walnuts, cranberries, brown sugar, cinnamon, vanilla and salt with 1 tablespoon of the softened butter.
4. Stand the apples in the dish. Divide the filling among them without packing it tightly. Divide the remaining tablespoon of butter into four pieces and place a piece on each apple.
5. Carefully pour the hot water into the dish around the apples. Cover the dish loosely with foil and bake for 20 minutes.
6. Remove the foil and bake for another 15–25 minutes, until a small knife slides easily into the flesh. The exact time depends on the variety and size of your apples; check early and continue in short intervals if needed.
7. Let the apples rest for 5 minutes. Spoon a little of the pan juice over each one and serve warm, with yogurt or ice cream if you like. The filling will be hot.

A small detail that helps

Keep the base of each apple intact and use similarly sized fruit so they cook at a similar pace. If an apple leans, trim a very thin slice from its underside without cutting through into the filling cavity.

Make it your own

Use raisins instead of cranberries or chopped pecans instead of walnuts. For a version without nuts, leave them out and add another 2 tablespoons of dried fruit; check ingredient labels for your household’s needs. The base recipe contains tree nuts and dairy.

Original OYT recipe instructions. Approximate times; this recipe has not been kitchen-tested by OYT. The photograph is illustrative stock imagery and does not show this exact recipe.

Photo: Tim Douglas / Pexels, used under the Pexels license.

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