Baked Apples with Dried Fruit

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Apple corer or small sharp paring knife
• •Snug baking dish (just large enough to hold the apples upright)
• •Small mixing bowl

Instructions

1. 1

   Heat the oven and score the apples

   Set the oven to 180C/160C fan. Run a sharp knife around the middle of each apple, scoring just through the skin and no deeper. This is the apple's escape valve. Without it, the skin splits messily as the fruit cooks. With it, you get a neat crinkled line around the middle and the rest stays intact.

   One shallow cut all the way around is all you need. Don't go at it like you're filleting a fish.
2. 2

   Core the apples

   Core each apple from the top, going most of the way down but not quite through the bottom. You want a deep hollow that will hold the filling without letting it leak out into the dish. An apple corer is easiest. A small sharp knife also works if you have patience and a steady hand.

3. 3

   Make the stuffing

   Tip the dried fruit into a small bowl. Add the brown sugar, the softened butter, the mixed spice and the orange zest. If you're using brandy or apple juice, pour that in too and let it sit for a minute while the fruit drinks it up. Mash it all together with a fork until it's a sticky, fragrant paste. Taste it. You want sweetness, warmth, and the lift of the citrus cutting through. Adjust if it needs more spice.

   Don't feel bound by the fruit list. This is a cupboard recipe. Dates, figs, prunes, dried cranberries, all of them work. Use what's there.
4. 4

   Fill and arrange

   Sit the apples in a snug baking dish. Not too big, or the juices will spread and burn on the bottom. Pack the stuffing into each hollow, pressing it down firmly and mounding whatever's left on top. If you're using flaked almonds, scatter them over the mounded tops now.

5. 5

   Add a splash of liquid and bake

   Pour a small splash of water or apple juice into the bottom of the dish, just enough to cover the base. This keeps the juices moving and stops them burning into something bitter. Slide the dish into the oven and bake for thirty to forty minutes. The apples are done when the flesh has gone soft and collapsing, the skin has split along the score line and crinkled back on itself, and the filling is bubbling and starting to catch at the edges, going dark and sticky. The kitchen will smell like autumn getting on with itself.

   Trust your nose. When the butter and brown sugar start smelling like toffee and the spice fills the kitchen, you're nearly there. Check with the tip of a knife. It should slide in without resistance.
6. 6

   Rest and serve

   Let the apples sit for five minutes before serving. They'll be molten inside and that filling is serious about burning the roof of your mouth if you rush. Serve in shallow bowls with the syrupy juices from the dish spooned over the top. A generous pour of cold double cream is the usual answer. Custard if you want comfort and nothing else will do.

Chef Tips

• •Bramleys are the right apple for this. They go properly fluffy when cooked and take on the flavour of everything you've put into them. Eating apples hold their shape and taste confused, like they didn't know this was coming. If you can't find Bramleys, a Braeburn or a Granny Smith will do at a push, though you'll get a firmer result and a little less of the collapse that makes the dish.
• •Don't feel bound by the dried fruit list. This is a cupboard recipe, made with whatever's to hand. Raisins, sultanas, currants, chopped dates, figs, dried cranberries, prunes. All of it works. A splash of brandy or rum soaked into the fruit for ten minutes first makes the whole thing better, but apple juice does the same job for anyone who doesn't want the alcohol.
• •If you've got leftovers, eat them cold the next morning with thick yoghurt. The fruit has mellowed, the juices have thickened, and the whole thing becomes a different dish that I like almost as much as the original. I've been known to bake four apples when I only need two, just so there's something good waiting on a Tuesday.

Advance Preparation

• •The stuffing can be mixed a day ahead and kept covered in the fridge. Bring it back to room temperature before filling the apples so the butter is soft enough to press into the hollows.
• •Best eaten warm from the oven, but leftovers keep in the fridge for two days and are very good cold with yoghurt or porridge the next morning.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 245g)