Baked Apples

So, in all of my years cooking, baking etc, I'd never made baked apples prior to last night. The apples this fall have been so great and I've been enjoying them straight up. I wanted to try a baked apple for a couple of reasons:
1) I'd never tried them
2) My sweet tooth has been CRAZY lately and I wanted something for after dinner that was (almost) guilt free - the recipe is Primal/Paleo

The recipe is easy. The first step is the hardest, and that is to core the apple, to about 3/4 of the way down, not all the way through. I don't have a corer, so I used a pairing knife to cut out most of the core and then a spoon to scoop the rest out. That's all the hard labor!

A filling is made and then the cavity of the apple is filled with it, and baked. Couldn't be easier, and couldn't be more tasty.
The apples tasted like apple pie, without all the guilt of the pie - warm, cinnamony, soft and delicious.

Baked Apples
Makes 4

4 Apples, cored as described above - apples good for baking such as Rome, Cortland, Granny Smith all work well
1/8 -1/4 cup coconut sugar (also called palm sugar)

Apples w.cores filled, topped w.grassfed butter, ready for the oven

1-2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 cup dried cranberries
1/4 chopped pistachios (roasted, unsalted) or use the nut of your choice
1 TBS grass fed butter, cut into 4 pieces
3/4 cup boiling water

Technique
1. Pre-heat oven to 375 degrees; place cored apples in an 8x8 baking pan.
2. In a separate bowl mix coconut sugar through pistachios.
3. Fill each core of the apple with the coconut sugar mix.
4. Top each apple with a piece of the butter.
5. Pour boiling water in pan around apples.
6. Bake, uncovered, for 30-40 minutes until soft, but not breaking apart.

Apples, right after coming out of the oven, soft and bubbly w.that delicious filling!

Just like apple pie filling - so delicious!

Definitely try this at home. If you don't have coconut sugar, you could use brown sugar, or another alternative sweetener. You could use coconut oil instead of grass fed butter as well. Using pumpkin pie spice would also work well instead of cinnamon.  Enjoy!