Stacy's Baked Apples

Man cannot live by bread alone………….but Annie can live by only eating apples. Seriously, this child will eat me out of house and apple. If I’m feeding her apples, I can’t do it fast enough. I ate a lot while I was pregnant, so I guess this is what I get. At least it’s not marshmallows or Snickers. Our house goes through a lot of apples – I usually buy in bulk at the produce market. So, I bake with them a lot. We love baked apples around here, and they are so easy to make! You’ll wonder why you’ve never done it after I show you. They make a great side dish for the Christmas table. And, they make your house smell divine.

To make these beauties we need apples of any sort, brown sugar, cinnamon, and butter. That’s it! Different apples cook up different ways. Some apples will cook down very fast while others will hold their shape. These are Virginia Stamen apples and they do very well for baking because they hold their shape. They’re also good for eating…..with peanut butter. Yum!

Go ahead and peel and slice your apples. You want them fairly thin so they’ll get soft in the oven, but you don’t want them to be like a sheet of paper. You need to be able to stick them with a fork and pick them up. At this point, I got out my mai tai and put Annie on my back. She was trying to get up on the counter and eat apples. I thought if I could wear her and she could see what I was doing, she’d be less interested in trying to eat dinner before it was cooked. I was right. Score for Mommy! After they’re sliced, put them down in a greased casserole dish.

Grab a small bowl and combine your brown sugar and cinnamon. Those two things are a match made in heaven. I now pronounce you Sugar and Cinnamon! You may make the butt expand.

Sprinkle the sugar mixture over the apples. Make sure you get it on there evenly. Some of it’s going to fall down through the cracks. That’s good! We want to share the sugar love to those apples underneath.

Microwave your butter and get it all melted. Now, pour it over the surface. You’re not going to be able to get it all coated, but that’s okay. It’s going to melt the sugar and fall through to the bottom…..and you’ll have an awesome apple buttery sauce thing going on under there.

Now, throw them into a 350 degree oven for about 40 minutes. You don’t need to cover them. You want them to get nice and brown. After 40 minutes you need to take them out to test them. Mine were almost done, but not quite. I put them back in for 15 minutes and they were perfect. If you still want yours a bit firm then they might be done. Depending on which apple you use, you will have to bake for a longer or shorter amount of time.

And here they are in all their cinnamony goodness! Annie went to town on these. They are quite delicious. You’ll need to serve them with a slotted spoon because of the liquid that will end up in the bottom. You can drain them if you like, but why waste all that yumminess? These are excellent served over pancakes, in which case the sauce would make a great accompaniment.*We now use Sucanat instead of brown sugar.

Stacy’s Baked Apples

8 apples, peeled and sliced
½ cup brown sugar (or Sucanat)
1 teaspoon cinnamon
3 tablespoons butter, melted

Place sliced apples in a greased casserole dish.
In a small bowl, combine the brown sugar and cinnamon. Sprinkle evenly over apples.
Pour melted butter over sugar topping.
Place in 350 degree oven and bake for 40 minutes. Check for firmness. Continue baking if needed.

This post is linked at Pennywise Platter on The Nourishing Gourmet.