Simple Baked Apples Recipe

Baked apples are a simple apple dessert consisting of cored, fresh apples filled with brown sugar, butter, and sometimes dried fruit and nuts. The apples bake in water, apple juice, or wine, which steams the apples and keeps them moist. You can top the baked apples with a scoop of ice cream, whipped cream, or caramel sauce.

Apples are native to temperate zones of both the Northern and Southern hemispheres and have been eaten by Europeans for thousands of years, particularly in Germany. Baked apples may be as old as the first wood-burning ovens. The sweet dessert was popularized by Jane Austen’s 1815 novel Emma. Historically, baked apples were served as both a side dish with supper and a dessert, and recipes appear in some of the earliest American cookbooks.

You can make baked apples with almost any kind of apple. While there are no designated “baking apples,” it's essential to choose a variety that will maintain its shape when baked. Here are some of the characteristics of seven popular types for baking:

1. 1. Honeycrisp: Honeycrisp apples are sweet and just a little tart. They hold their shape well when cooked and won't get mushy.
2. 2. Granny Smith: Granny Smith apples are notoriously tart. If you prefer your baked apples slightly sour, this is the type of apple for you.
3. 3. Fuji apples: Fuji apples are crisp and sweet, perfect for eating fresh and baking.
4. 4. Pink Lady: Pink Lady apples are sweet and slightly tart, excellent for fresh eating and baking.
5. 5. Jonagold: Jonagold apples are very sweet, ideal for fresh eating, and make for sweet baked apples.
6. 6. Red delicious: Red delicious apples have beautiful dark red skin that makes for a beautiful presentation.
7. 7. Braeburn: Braeburn apples are firm-textured apples, ideal for baking.

There are many different recipes for baked apples, including for slow cookers and the stovetop, but there are three basic steps to the process:

1. 1. Core: Using a paring knife, apple corer, or melon baller, remove the core of the apples, and leave a little flesh at the bottom of the apple. (If you core through the entire apple, the filling may seep out.)
2. 2. Fill: You can fill your apples with anything sweet—brown sugar, maple syrup, jam, dried fruit, rolled oats, and nuts.
3. 3. Bake: Bake the apples in liquid. Arrange the filled apples in a pie dish or another baking dish and add a sweet liquid, such as water mixed with sugar, apple juice, or white wine. Covering the apples with foil will help them steam more quickly while leaving the dish uncovered allows you to baste the apples with the sweet liquid throughout cooking.