Baked Apples with Walnuts and Cream

CBN.com This is one of my very favorite childhood deserts -- simply wonderful. It is best to use a crisp, sweet-tart variety of apple, such as the Cox Pippin, McIntosh, Winesap, or Jonathan (Granny Smith are generally too tart.) Combined with fresh cream, the cinnamon-apple syrup imbues the flavor of warm caramel.

BAKED APPLES:

8 medium sweet-tart apples
1 cup chopped walnuts
1 cup packed dark brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon allspice
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter
2/3 cup apple cider, room temperature
1 quart heavy cream

Preheat oven to 350° F.

MAKE THE BAKED APPLES:

FIRST, wash, dry, and core the apples.

SECOND, combine the chopped walnuts, brown sugar, allspice, and cinnamon in a small bowl. Fill the center of each apple with an equal amount of this mixture and place it into a deep baking pan. The pan should be large enough to ensure that the apples do not touch one another.

THIRD, dot the top of each apple with 1 tablespoon of butter, pour the apple cider into the pan, and sprinkle any remaining filling over the top of the apples. Bake them for 45 to 50 minutes. The apples are done when the skin is just beginning to split around the top and they are easily pierced with a fork.

FOURTH, remove the apples from the oven and baste them with the natural syrup. Just before serving, use a large spoon to transfer each apple to a wide serving bowl. Pour some of the remaining syrup from the bottom of the pan and 1/2 cup heavy cream over each apple. Serve immediately.

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Excerpted from A Return to Sunday Dinner © 2003 by Russell Cronkhite. Used by permission of Multnomah Publishers, Inc.