PECAN STREUSEL–TOPPED
BAKED APPLES
PREP TIME
10 minutes
ACTIVE TIME
35 minutes
TOTAL TIME
1 hour 30 minutes
MODERATE
My daughter, Harper, doesn’t love apples, but she can’t resist these! You can prestuff them, then cook them before school for a great (and relatively healthy) breakfast. The bigger the apple, the better—that means more room for filling!
6 medium Honeycrisp apples (about 3 pounds)
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
¼ teaspoon ground ginger
½ teaspoon kosher salt
½ cup lightly packed light brown sugar
1 cup unsweetened vanilla almond milk
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons old-fashioned rolled oats
4 tablespoons (½ stick) unsalted butter
⅓ cup chopped pecans
1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
¾ cup apple cider
1. Preheat the oven to 375°F.
2. Cut ½ inch off the top of each apple. Use a small spoon to scoop out the flesh of the apples, leaving ¼ inch on all sides and the bottom so you have an empty apple “cup.” Put the scooped apple flesh in a medium bowl and set aside. Place the apple cups in a 7 by 11-inch baking dish.
3. Turn the apple flesh out onto a cutting board and remove and discard the seeds and cores. Finely chop enough of the scooped apple flesh to equal 1 cup (save any remaining apple flesh for another use) and return it to the bowl. Stir in ¼ teaspoon of the cinnamon, the ginger, ¼ teaspoon of the salt, 2 tablespoons of the brown sugar, the almond milk, and ¾ cup of the oats. Fill the apples almost to the top with the filling.
4. In a small skillet, melt 2 tablespoons of the butter over medium heat and cook the melted butter until it starts to bubble and foam, swirling the butter in the pan occasionally, about 2 minutes. Cook, stirring continuously, until the foam subsides and brown flecks start to appear, about 1 minute more. Pour the browned butter into a medium bowl (set the pan aside for later) and stir in the pecans, flour, and the remaining oats, brown sugar, cinnamon, and salt. Divide the streusel topping evenly over the apples.
5. Cut the remaining 2 tablespoons butter into small cubes and scatter them around the apples in the baking dish, then pour in the apple cider. Bake, uncovered, basting the apples (but not the streusel) with the cider sauce and rotating the baking dish every 15 minutes, until the apples are completely tender and the streusel is golden brown, about 45 minutes. If the streusel browns before the apples are tender, cover the dish loosely with a piece of aluminum foil.
6. Remove the apples from the oven and transfer to a large serving platter.
7. Pour the juices from the baking dish into the reserved skillet and bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Reduce the heat to maintain a simmer and cook until the mixture has reduced slightly and is the consistency of thin gravy, about 5 minutes. Drizzle the sauce over the apples and serve.
Choose apples with flat bottoms so they stand well when filled. Honeycrisp and Fuji apples work well here, too.
