I’m not much of a dessert person…never have been. Nor am I a fan of hot fruit. I’ve always preferred a good nosh fest on freshly-baked, crusty Italian bread or salty, crispy French Fries over carrot cakes, two-bite brownies and ice cream. But occasionally, I do get a craving for something sweet. And when I’m entertaining, I like to offer my guests a simple, but elegant desset – homemade of course. So, when my parents decided to come for an impromptu loca-vore feast last week to enjoy the latest Farmers’ Market produce box, I decided to pull out the very first cookbook my mother gave me (Betty Crockers New Cookbook: Everything You Need to Know To Cook!) and picked a recipe that went with what was in our fridge. The choice…Baked Apples. Baked Apples you say? How 70’s! I know -I thought so as well. But done properly with fresh Ontario apples and maple syrup and some decadent vanilla gelato from our local gelateria…it’s now a new fall favourite. Please enjoy!
Baked “Daily Apples”
Ingredients
4 crisp Ontario apples (cortland or empire work well)
4 teaspoons farm fresh butter
4 teaspoons brown sugar or maple syrup
pinch of cinnamon & nutmeg
Preparation
Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees F. Core apples and peel a strip around the centre. Place in a shallow baking dish filled with 1/2 inch of water. Fill empty apple core with 1 teaspoon each butter and sugar. Add pinch of cinnamon and nutmeg. Bake in oven for 30-40 minutes and serve warm with gelato or maple cheddar cheese.
An apple a day...