There’s something about this time of year that makes me gravitate to apples, cinammon, brown sugar, and pecans. There are some classic desserts using those ingredients including one of my favorites, Dutch Apple Pie. I will definitely have to share that recipe with you soon.
I recently was skimming through apple dessert recipes and came across this one for Baked Apples. It comes from a dear friend and neighbor, Pegi Taylor, who hosts a weekly cooking segment at the local CBS affiliate where I once worked. It’s called, Our Kitchen, and the recipes are not only amazing but most can be whipped up pretty quickly in your own kitchen.
I’ve known Pegi for at least 20 years. Her daughter, Meredith, has been best friends with my son, Robert, since first grade. The Taylors are really more like family than friends. In years past, my husband and I have hosted an open house during the week of Christmas. I’m not sure how that will look this year, but if we do a very scaled back version for safety’s sake, the Taylors will be here and Pegi always brings some amazing hors d’oeuvres to add to the table. (Pegi if you are reading this, that’s probably not even a subtle hint. Lol!)
Pegi is an incredible cook, but then so is her mother. Between the recipes from the two of them, Pegi could host the Our Kitchen segment indefinitely. Pegi is quick to admit that she rarely measures ingredients. She uses amounts that look “right” to her. How many of you have someone in your family who follows that “recipe” for cooking? I’m thinking of my mother about now. Before I left the nest, I tried to write down her ingredients for my favorite dishes. It was quite a challenge because she wrote down very few recipes. Probably because she had been making them for years.
Pegi also says she often comes up with an idea for a dish, finds two or three different recipes, and then pulls from each of them for her own spin. If I had a dime for everytime I’ve done that, I could retire! It sorta sounds like your playing Russian Roulette in the kitchen but I can count the failures on two or three fingers, so experimenting is good, right?
I thought it would be fun for you to watch the segment for making these easy, delicious baked apples. It would be a great dessert for the holidays, maybe to have with all those yummy leftovers. As a bonus, the aromas coming from your kitchen will be heavenly!
Our Kitchen: Baked Apple (wrbl.com)
Ingredients:
- Your favorite baking apples, Honey Crisp, Gala, or Granny Smith
- 2 Tbls. Maple syrup or honey
- 2 Tbls. of butter softened
- 1/4 cup chopped pecans or walnuts
- 1/4 cup dried cranberries or craisins
- 2 Tbls. brown sugar
- 1 tsp. cinammon
- lemon juice
Core apples. Coat outside of apples with lemon juice.
Mix all other ingredients together in a bowl. Put mixture in to cored apple. Place in baking dish with a little water and a splash of lemon juice. Bake at 350 for 30 minutes.
Now that you have the Our Kitchen link, you may want to peruse some of the other fabulous recipes from Pegi’s kitchen.
What’s your favorite apple recipe? Please share it with all of us. Tis the baking season.
Happy eating!
*Many thanks to Pegi Taylor, WRBL, and Nexstar broadcasting.
