These baked apples are perfect for Fall… a healthy dessert that tastes absolutely delicious!
As siblings, my sister and I could not be a better match.
At least when it comes to our feelings about apples…
I adore apple pie filling.
(She hates it.)
She loves pie crust.
(It’s not my cup of tea.)
Growing up, whenever we’d go to Outback Steakhouse for dinner, my sister would always pass me the baked apples that came with her meal. And whenever we’d dine at a fancy restaurant with apple pie on the menu, I’d take the apple pie filling, and she’d eat the crust.
Now that we no longer live together, there isn’t anyone around to eat the crust to my apple pie. Therefore, these baked apples are done my way—extra apple pie filling and NO crust! (If you are on Team Crust with my sister, feel free to use my Healthy Pumpkin Pie Crust recipe, cut it into strips or shapes, and layer it over the apples right after you fill them.)
(Iphone photo above)
Baked Apples Recipe
Crustless Apple Pie Baked Apples
Ingredients
- 2 1/4 cups chopped apples (about 2 apples)
- 1/3 cup water
- 1/2 tsp cinnamon
- pinch salt
- 1 tbsp cornstarch or arrowroot
- scant 1/8 tsp uncut stevia OR 1/4 cup sugar of choice
- 2 tsp lemon juice
- 1/2 cup apple juice
- whole apples (filling makes enough to stuff 12 apples, but you can make fewer if you want leftover filling to eat plain or to top waffles or pancakes)
- granola or ice cream (such as my ice cream recipe), if desired
Instructions
(The filling can be made a day or two ahead of time if desired. Or, if you’d prefer quicker a baked apples recipe, feel free to use canned or jarred apple pie filling instead of my homemade filling.) For the filling: Place 1 cup of the chopped apples in a small pot with the water. Bring to a boil, then cook on low for 7 minutes. Meanwhile, blend all other ingredients except the whole apples in a blender until smooth. Add the blended mixture to the saucepan and bring back to a boil. Immediately turn to low heat and cook 30 minutes, stirring very occasionally. Let cool, then refrigerate uncovered or loosely covered. Wait at least 4 hours before proceeding with the recipe, as this filling thickens in the fridge.
For the baked apples: Preheat oven to 350 F, and grease a baking pan or line with parchment paper. Slice the tops off each whole apple, and scoop out the center by cutting around the core with a knife and then scooping out the core and a bit of the flesh with a spoon. (Eat the scooped out flesh, or save for a different recipe.) Place in the pan and bake 22 minutes, then remove from the oven and scoop about 3 tbsp (or as much as you can fit) filling into each baked apple. Return to the oven and bake another 14 minutes. Finally, broil 2-3 additional minutes.
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I have been wanting to try this concept for a long time! They look so yummy! It’s so funny because me and my sister were the same way, she liked pie crust and I loved the filling!
I’m totally with you on pie crust, but I do love the filling. These look incredible! Thanks for the recipe!
Those are adorable and delicious looking. My 2 favorite food adjectives. I’m a filling girl myself, unless there is a graham cracker crust involved!
Love this idea of stuffed apple:)
Love this! Just finished making the filling.. Going to chill in the fridge
Wow, you are fast! 🙂
And it was. Delicious! This is why I love your recipes..very creative and unique yet easy enough for someone like me to follow lol
This is so clever!! I love how you make it in the apple!
This looks so yummy! Question though…the apples look chunky in the photo but you say to blend everything until smooth. Still looks tasty and I’ll for sure be making this! 🙂
It looks like she leaves 1 cup of the apples in chunks. 🙂
HI eribis — Yes, I had the same question, and scrolled through the postings to see if anyone else caught this. But on Anna’s (above) reply, I re-read more carefully Katie CCK’s instructions, and sure enough, the filling is in two parts, one chunky and one blended, then recombined in the saucepan. Makes sense! Thank you, CCK!
This is speaking to me. It looks delicious.
I always HATED apple pie as a wee one, most likely because I was never into fruity desserts. If it wasn’t chocolate, I wasn’t biting (literally!).
I decided to give apple pie a go last year by trying an Apple Pie Larabar, and while I feel it needs to grow on me more, it ain’t half bad! Your filling looks so gooey and slimy (slimy is a GREAT thing in this case!) that I might have to try this. Mixed with some chopped almonds, I think I could enjoy this! Although, I do like pie crust. I love my carbs.
I’m going to make these for Thanksgiving dessert! My whole family LOVES apple pie (more than pumpkin pie!), so this is perfect! Thanks, Katie.
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