Well, Maybe Not These Apples...
And even though they are loaded with brown sugar and butter, the indulgence is oh-so-worth-it! They certainly made last night's Oscars a lot more tolerable for two of my closest friends. Over-the-top dresses, acceptance speeches and baked apples never tasted so good! Here is the recipe, if you would like to try them at home!
Ingredients
4 large gala apples
1/4 cup unsalted butter
1/2 cup orange juice
1/2 cup raisins
1.2 cup walnuts
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 tbsp ground ginger
1/2 tbsp cinnamon
1 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp ground cloves
Directions
1. Preheat oven to 375˚. In small bowl, combine brown sugar, walnuts, raisins, butter, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg and cloves.
2. Slice ½ inch off top of each apple. With small end of melon baller or small spoon, scoop out inner core and seeds from inside of each apple up to bottom. Arrange apples, cavity side up, in 9 x 9-inch glass or ceramic baking dish. Fill each cavity with 2 tablespoons brown sugar-walnut mixture. Sprinkle remaining brown sugar-walnut mixture on top of apples. Pour juice around apples.
3. Bake apples 30 to 40 minutes or until desired tenderness, rotating baking dish halfway through baking. Spoon juices remaining in dish over apples and serve warm.
A few months back, a co-worker of mine convinced me to join my company's Spartan Race team. He didn't talk it up much: he mentioned it's a long-ish run with a few fun obstacles. You know, no big deal. Something someone who runs as much as me should complete more than easily (read, you don't really need to train for it). Ha ha ha.