Baked Apples With Dates

Why have I not developed a habit of baking apples? They are so quick to do and everyone loves them. This apple season I am determined to test a few variations on this theme and add some new apple recipes to my repertoire.

This particular recipe is inspired by Maria Meridith at Family Fresh Cooking. I love both walnuts and dates, so this recipe caught my eye. Naturally I changed the original recipe a bit based on what I had or didn’t have in the kitchen, and based on how many dates and walnuts I figured I could stuff into an apple.

A prime consideration in baking an apple is to be certain that the apple variety you have is actually a good cooking apple. Check your local varieties for this information. I baked three apples: two Fuji and one Gala. Both bake well. The flavors are rich and the apple flesh stays firm when fully cooked. Even though I have been a Fuji lover for years, I had to admit that the Gala had a finer texture for this dish. (Read my tip on figuring out whether an apple is a cooking apple.)

These baked apples have no added sugar, making them a possible choice for breakfast. I enjoyed a cold baked apple with cold cream on a HOT fall morning and decided that a baked apple for breakfast now and then is a little bit of Heaven.

Baked Apple Ingredients

• 4 baking apples, washed and cored
• Juice from half a lemon
• 3 tablespoons soften butter
• 2 tablespoons spelt flour (or whole wheat)
• 1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• a pinch of sea salt
• 1/2 cup chopped walnuts, toasted
• 1/2 cup chopped dates

Baked Apple Steps

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
2. Rub the insides of the cored apples with lemon juice and place the apples into a baking dish. If you are baking a number of apples, you may want to bake them in muffin pans.
3. In a small mixing bowl mash the butter, flour, cinnamon, and salt together.
4. Add the walnuts and dates and mix thoroughly.
5. Press this mixture into the cored apples. Of course, the more you press, the more you can get into the apple. Get carried away as I did and you will be mixing up some more filling to finish the project.
6. Bake for about 45 minutes until the apples are soft and beginning to split. if you cover the top of the baking dish lightly with foil, the filling will be less likely to get charred on the top.
7. Allow the apples to cool for a half hour or so before serving. They are really hot. Your mouth will be watering, but do not dig in immediately.

Serve the baked apples with a drizzle of heavy cream or a dollop of sweetened lebneh or Greek yogurt. Maple syrup as a sweetener would be a perfect complement to the apple flavor. These baked apples are divine served warm or cold. Make several extras to have in the refrigerator. What a wonderful snack to have when you come from working in the garden!