Finding comfort in baked apples

Baked apples are simple, delicious, and the definition of comfort food. This recipe uses no sugar except for that found naturally in the fruit, but it’s still lovely and sweet. For the stuffing, I’ve used the nuts and fruit I had in my pantry – feel free to use whatever you have in yours. Walnuts, cashews, and any dried fruit will work beautifully. You can even swap out the tahini for any kind of nut butter.

Tahini, almonds, goji berries, sultanas, dates, macadamia nuts and apples.

The best apples in terms of flavour and your health will be the ones you can get from a local orchard, preferably an organic one, at the regional farmers market. These apples will often be unusual varieties that you’ll never see in a supermarket, will be freshly picked so they won’t have been in cold storage for the last year, and won’t have been treated with the pesticides that see apples listed in the dirty dozen of fruit and veg for high pesticide exposure. Steer clear of bruising but other blemishes are fine and won’t affect the flavour – and if a bird’s pecked your apple you know it was the best fruit on the tree! 

 

Baked apples

Makes 4-6 servings

Cinnamon, nutmeg, and vanilla. This grinder contains
vanilla bean pieces and is very quick and easy to use.

In a small food processor, roughly chop four tablespoons of almonds, two tablespoons of macadamia nuts, and a couple of tablespoons each of dates, sultanas and goji berries. Stir through two tablespoons of tahini, a quarter teaspoon of cinnamon, a pinch of nutmeg, and an eighth of a teaspoon of vanilla bean or its extract. This stuffing quantity will easily fill at least four apples.

You need to remove the core from your apples while otherwise keeping the apple intact. The easiest way to do this is with a purpose-made apple corer, but four long cuts with a sharp knife in a square shape around the core will also do the trick – just watch your fingers.

Put the cored apples on a baking tray and fill them with your fruit and nut stuffing – push it in to get as much in as possible – then dab a small dollop of coconut oil at the top. Add the leftover stuffing to the baking tray. Bake for 30 minutes at 180 degrees Celsius/160 degrees fan forced. Serve the apples straightaway, with a good sprinkling of the leftover stuffing and a dollop of custard or coconut cream.