Apples can be called the most accessible fruit of our latitudes. They will be found in the markets and stores at any time of the year, and their price is not subject to significant seasonal jumps.
There are many dishes that are prepared from these fruits, but baked apples deserve special attention. This simple cooking method turns them into a delicious and healthy dessert.
Any heat treatment destroys the beneficial substances contained in vegetables and fruits, but in apples even after baking, a lot of iron, pectin, antioxidants and other useful trace elements remain.
Therefore, they are so useful for nursing mothers with gastritis and pancreatitis, as well as for disorders of the gastrointestinal tract (diarrhea or constipation).
Baked apples are prepared with a variety of fillings: sugar, honey, cottage cheese, pumpkin, dried fruits, nuts, jam, sour cream and even meat. In the filling will go all that will be at hand. Cinnamon is often added to the filling in order to otten the tasty and delicious apple flavor.
How to choose and how long to bake apples in the oven
Although baked apples are not a difficult dish, there are also nuances in their preparation that can confuse or confuse the novice chef. Among such moments one can mention the questions of which fruits to choose, how long and at what temperature to bake them.
First you need to decide on varieties. For baking suitable varieties: Antonovka, Ranet, Semerenko, McIntosh, Granny Smith. If it was not possible to find them, then you need to choose fruits with a thick skin and a high iron content, which quickly darken when incised.
It is necessary to take fruits with sweet pulp for baking, since fruits even with a slight sourness after heat treatment will become even more acidic.
As for the size, then for roasting it is necessary to select the fruits of large or medium size. Small ones are not taken, because it is inconvenient to take the core out of them without cutting them through. And, of course, they should be approximately the same among themselves.
When choosing a temperature for baking, you need to remember that under the influence of high temperature, the fruit can simply break. If the temperature is low, they may not be baked or dried in the oven, and not baked. For this method of cooking, such as baking, the optimum temperature is 180-190 degrees.
The duration of cooking depends on the size of the fruit and the selected temperature, but usually it takes 30-40 minutes to make it well baked but juicy.
How to bake apples in the oven with sugar
Among the fillings, ordinary sugar is the most popular. It can always be found in any kitchen, and with its help it is easy to adjust the taste of the finished dish. For example, if the apples are slightly sour, then the sugar in the filling will make them sweeter.
For the preparation of such a dessert will need only two products - apples and sugar.
One large or medium apple will need approximately one teaspoon of sugar. The number of fruits can be taken by the number of consumers.
To prepare this dessert, it will take from 10 to 15 minutes to prepare the fruit and preheat the oven, then another half an hour for roasting.
The calorie content of the finished dish will depend on the variety selected and the size of the fruit. One apple with sugar contains an average of 60 to 85 kilocalories.
Algorithm cooking:
- Wash the apples. This stage should be given special attention. Fruits from the market or store need to be washed very thoroughly under a stream of hot running water. It is better to use a soft brush for washing. It will help remove not only dirt, but also wax, which is often rubbed on apples to make them more attractive;
- Pure fruits need to be prepared for stuffing. This can be done in several ways. The first is to cut off a part of the apple on the growth side of the cutting in the form of a lid and a teaspoon to choose seeds to make a box with a lid. The second way: do not cut off the cap, but simply cut out the recess and select the seeds. For very large fruits, the third method is suitable, when apples are cut in half, each carpet has a teaspoonful of seeds. To put the fruit cut in this way you need to peel down so as not to drain the juice;
- Inside each prepared fruit (or its halves), put a teaspoon of sugar, put them on a baking sheet or baking dish and send to the oven. At the bottom of the form, you can put washed cut sprigs of fruit trees (apples, cherries, plums). This will give an extra flavor to the dessert. With the same purpose, you can mix the sugar for the filling with a pinch of cinnamon. Ready to serve fruit, sprinkled with powdered sugar.
Baked apples with honey in the oven: a simple recipe
If you are not allergic to bee products, you can make a delicious dessert that combines not only the vitamins contained in apples, but also useful macro- and microelements, which are abundant in honey.
Ingredients are taken from the calculation of one large apple per person, and it will need 1 teaspoon of honey and 1 whole walnut kernel.
It takes no more time than a recipe with sugar, about 40-45 minutes.
Honey and walnuts increase the calorie content of the dessert by approximately 55 kcal. Thus, the fruit baked according to this recipe contains about 138 kilocalories.
Baking sequence:
- Fruit wash and prepare, as for the previous recipe;
- Put a whole walnut kernel in the well for the filling and pour a teaspoon of liquid honey;
- Bake until cooked in preheated oven. Instead of a walnut inside with honey, you can put any dried fruits: prunes, dried apricots, raisins.
Baked apples with cottage cheese
To make apples baked with cottage cheese, for 6 large fruits, you will need the following ingredients:
- 1 egg yolk;
- 150 grams of cottage cheese of any fat content;
- 10 grams of vanilla sugar (1 sachet);
- 2-3 tablespoons of sugar;
- 1 handful of raisins.
Since the filling will have to mix several ingredients, this dessert will take a little longer, but in the end it will take no more than 50-60 minutes.
Caloric content of one baked apple with cottage cheese stuffing will be about 141.3 kcal.
Cooking:
- Wash fruit and cut a groove for the filling;
- Curd mash through a sieve, boil for 10 minutes in boiling water;
- Mix cottage cheese, egg yolk, plain and vanilla sugar, raisins. Stuff the apples and stuff them in the oven until ready.
Apples in puff pastry, baked in the oven
Another interpretation of this dessert is apples baked in puff pastry with filling. For the realization of this dessert, you can take both ready-made puff pastry and cooked personally.
For this recipe you will need:
- 6 large apples;
- 1 pack (500 grams) of the finished puff pastry;
- 50 grams of a mixture of crushed dried fruits (dried apricots, raisins, prunes);
- 2 tablespoons butter;
- 2-3 tablespoons of brown or regular sugar;
- 6 pieces of cloves;
- 1 chicken egg;
- Cinnamon to taste.
Since this version uses ready-made dough, that cooking time will take no more than 1 hour.
The calorie content of one apple in dough is 183 kilocalories.
Working process:
- Defrost dough and divide into 6 identical squares;
- Wash the fruits and cut a recess in them for the filling;
- Mix dried fruits, butter. If the apples are sour, add sugar to the filling. Stuff the fruit;
- Mix sugar and cinnamon, roll stuffed fruits in this mixture;
- Roll out each square of dough so that you can wrap an apple in it. Each prepared fruit should be put in the center of a square of dough and zaschipnut edges according to the principle of manti, smeared with a beaten egg;
- From the remnants of the dough, you can cut the leaves for decoration. On top, instead of the stem, insert 1 clove each. Bake until cooked.
Pumpkin with apples baked in the oven
Pumpkin - the queen of autumn. Most often it is eaten baked. Since its taste goes well with apple, then why not bake it with them.
For this delicacies will need:
- 300 grams of pumpkin pulp;
- 400 grams of apples;
- 2-3 tablespoons of sugar;
- 50 grams of walnuts.
The time spent on cooking is about 40 minutes.
Calorie dessert: 99.9 kcal / 100 grams.
Stages of work:
- Pulp pumpkin without peel cut into medium cubes;
- Remove the skin from apples, remove the core and also cut into the same cubes;
- Mix pumpkin, apples and sugar, put in a baking dish, cover it with foil on top;
- Bake until cooked (it is determined by the softness of the pumpkin). Arrange in bowls and sprinkle with chopped walnuts.
Useful tips
For baking apples use forms with high sides so that the fruit in them in the process of cooking does not bend, and the filling does not follow. If there was no such form at hand, then you can build your mini mold from food foil for each fruit.
To prevent apples from sticking to the tray or baking dish, you can pour a little water on the bottom or lay a foil (baking paper).
To prevent sugar or honey from escaping from the apple while baking, they can be sprinkled with a pinch of semolina on top.
When cutting a notch in the fruit for the filling, you need to be very careful not to cut it through. Ideally, the bottom should be a wall thickness of at least 2 centimeters.
Since baked apples lose their flavor after cooling, they are served hot. In this regard, this dessert is prepared at the rate of 1-2 fruits per person.
Another simple recipe for baked apples is in the next video.
