The Best Baked Apples

Baked apples: an apple dessert with no pie crust and no peeling. It must be simple, right? Wrong! Come learn from my many baked apple failures how to make a perfect, foolproof baked apple recipe–well, not “fool” proof, exactly…but I was talking on the phone while baking them, so it couldn’t have been that hard!

The first dish I made, I followed the guidelines from Joy of Cooking and used these bad boys…

These gigantic Fuji apples held up for an hour in a 300 degree oven. The apples were pleasantly al dente, but I wished the inside mixture were a little crispier. I baked these apples in water, which works but, in retrospect, isn’t my first choice of cooking liquid.

Next, I followed the directions from Zoe Nathan’s Huckleberry cookbook. I used small Granny Smith apples, cranked the oven to 375 Fahrenheit, and cut the apples in half instead of simply coring them. I also used apple juice instead of water (highly recommended). Sadly, I didn’t read the critical part which stated to check the apples frequently and ended up with total applesauce at the end of an hour! But, hey, all was not lost. I just popped it back in the oven for 45 minutes and made apple butter.

For my final–successful–baked apple attempt, I adjusted the oven temperature down to 350 Fahrenheit and checked the apples as they were baking. I even borrowed a few ingredient ideas for the topping from David Lebovitz’s recipe for Baked Apples with Ginger, like lemon zest, fresh ginger, and toasted nuts.

After thirteen apples and three attempts, voila! Perfect baked apples.

Here’s what worked:

Which apples?

I used Granny Smith apples, which have a great tartness after baking but become way more tender when baked. For her Apple Tart Tartin Deb Perelman suggests Pink Lady, Gala, or Fuji, but if you don’t mind deflated apples and checking the oven like a crazy person, Granny Smiths are ok, too. When in doubt ask your apple vendor.

Half the apples for a crispier topping

Okay, okay, this recipe is perhaps more of a hybrid apple crisp. And even I am wondering why I bothered to make baked apples when apple crisp was calling my name. Here’s why: less cutting, I get to eat the skins, and less sugar insanity.

But the drawback of baked apples, for me, was losing that crunchy, golden browned crust of a crisp. But if you just cut the apples in half, you can have the best of both worlds.

Cooking liquid

I preferred apple juice over water. It sweetens the apples slightly. Also, if you get distracted and forget to check on the apples, you can turn the mixture into apple butter if you use apple juice.

Topping

One of the tenets of my cooking is, if you can use whole ingredients and flavor in place of basic, less nutritionally dense ingredients, you’re winning. Your food will be healthier and more flavorful. This topping is my own invention, adapted as a hybrid of David Lebovitz’s filling and Huckleberry Cafe’s topping.

Also, vegans rejoice, because I tried two versions of this topping: one with butter and one with coconut oil. The coconut oil topping won in terms of taste! I also cut the oats to add toasted nuts and cut the flour to add almond flour. Only have whole almonds? Make almond flour with this easy recipe.

Here are the topping ingredients I used:

• oats
• flour
• almond flour
• toasted pecans and/or walnuts
• coconut oil
• honey / brown sugar / maple syrup
• lemon zest
• ginger (minced or paste)
• cinnamon
• salt

Let’s get creative…

• Not a fan of lemon zest? Leave it out!
• Don’t have nuts? More oats are okay.
• No fresh ginger? No worries.
• White wine as roasting liquid instead of water or juice? Why not.

Just remember: check your apples frequently while baking. 🙂

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