Stuffed Baked Apples with caramel sauce might be a childhood comfort food. Baked apples are easy to make and should be on your list of naturally gluten free desserts for fall and winter. The caramel sauce is an added touch but it's so worth it!
Once you've made these apples a few times you don't really need a recipe and they don't even need to be stuffed. Yet if you're having a casual dinner and want to enjoy the aroma of cinnamon and apples baking, this is the perfect dessert!
Best Apples for Baking and How To Stuff Them
The best baking apples should be firm. Choose Honeycrisp, Braeburn, Arlet, Rome or Empire. There are so many varieties available in the fall it can be fun to try something new.
All apples will bake but Macintosh apples will almost be applesauce in thirty minutes while other varieties are more likely to split open. Be adventurous and try a few different ones to find what you like best.
There are three ways to serve baked apples. Cut the top off, core the apple then put the top back in place. Another way to do it is simply core the apples without cutting the tops.
For a smaller portion cut whole apples in half. Core them, heap a generous amount of topping over the entire cut surface and bake.
Filling Ideas For Baked Apples
The cored out space in the center of the apple is small but that tiny bit of filling bakes an ordinary apple into a heavenly dessert.
The combination of butter, cinnamon and sugar melts into a thin sauce that pairs perfectly with the texture of a baked apple. Anything else you add is extra.
Beyond cinnamon, sugar and butter here are some ingredients to consider.
- Cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves or pumpkin pie spice
- Chopped walnuts or pecans
- Raisins or dried cranberries
- Gluten free whole oats
- Homemade Granola
- The crunchy streusel topping you typically see on muffins. I sometimes have leftover streusel in the freezer and this is a great place to use it up.
What To Serve with Baked Apples
A baked apple can be the simplest of desserts that even a child can make. Yet an apple can be dressed up to be a special fall dessert. Some favourite additions are:
- Thick cream or whipped cream
- Ice cream
- Caramel sauce
This recipe for Easy Caramel Sauce is the best way I know to use up leftover whipping cream before it goes bad. The sauce is also a perfect complement to baked apples. It will last for weeks in the fridge but really, that's not going to happen.
Kitchen Tools
An apple corer is one of those infrequently used tools but this is the one recipe when you want to have one. Be careful not to poke all the way through the bottom of the apple.
I also used my grapefruit knife with it's serrated edges and a bit of a curve to help remove the core.
I’d love to hear in the comments below how your Baked Apples turned out and how you served them.
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Baked Apples with Caramel Sauce
Ingredients
- 4 firm apples , choose from Honeycrisp, Braeburn, Arlet, Rome or Empire
FILLING
- ¼ cup brown sugar
- ¼ cup chopped pecans
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 4 teaspoon butter
BAKING
- ½ cup boiling water
SERVING – caramel sauce and ice cream or whipped cream
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375°F.
- Slice the top off of each apple and set aside.
- Using an apple corer or grapefruit knife carefully remove the core leaving the bottom of the apple intact.
FILLING
- Combine brown sugar, pecans and cinnamon in a small bowl.
- Spoon filling into apples and top each one with 1 teaspoon of butter.
- Sprinkle any remaining filling over the apples.
- Put apple tops back on.
- Pour boiling water into the bottom of the dish.
- Bake in preheated oven for 30-45 minutes depending on the variety of apple.
SERVING
- Serve with caramel sauce and ice cream or whipped cream.
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