As an Amazon Associate, KitchenWithMommy.com earns from qualifying purchases.
Baked apples are one of the easiest puddings there is: core the apples, stuff them, and let the oven do the rest. The house smells of cinnamon for an hour afterwards.
Which apples
It depends how you want them. Eating apples such as Braeburn, Jazz or Pink Lady hold their shape and turn soft and jammy inside. Bramley cooking apples collapse into a fluffy, tart purée, lovely but hard to serve neatly. For the whole baked apple in the photograph, use eating apples.
Leave the bottom in
Core the apples from the top but stop short of the base, so the filling stays inside. A melon baller or a small teaspoon gives you more control than a corer. Then widen the hole a little to make room for the filling.
Score the skin
Run a sharp knife around the middle of each apple, just through the skin. As the flesh softens and expands, the skin splits along that line instead of bursting open at random.
A little liquid in the dish
A splash of water or apple juice in the bottom of the dish stops the sugar that runs out from burning, and it turns into a simple sauce to spoon over the top.
For toddlers
Leave out the nuts: the NHS and the American Academy of Pediatrics both advise against whole or large pieces of nuts for young children (AAP). Once baked and cooled, scoop the soft flesh out of the skin and mash it with a little yoghurt. It is a naturally sweet pudding that needs no extra sugar for small children, so you can leave that out of their portion too.
