Friday, January 10, 2014

FFwD - Baked Apples Filled with Fruit and Nuts

Baked Apples Filled with Fruit and Nuts

This recipe is as easy and good as it sounds. Dorie recommends using Rome Beauty or Cortland apples. I found Cortland in my local grocery which was exciting since so often its the usual Granny Smith, Red Delicious, Gala, Fuji and Honey Crisp in the winter, which I love. But there are thousands of varieties of apples yet so few readily available. When Gary and I went to NYC we were delighted at the Farmer's Market in Union Square. There were so many varieties of apples we'd never heard of and the farmers would give you a slice for tasting. We wanted to buy them all but had to content ourselves with what we could eat in a couple of days.

Also, it was April but the apples were so fresh and crunchy. I asked how that happened and one of the sellers explained to me how the apples are kept in cold storage and low oxygen levels. This article in Modern Farmer gives a good description of apple storage.

Back to Dorie. Her baked apples are very easy. Peel the apples half way down and score around the peel line to prevent bursting. Removing the core is a bit tricky since you don'tt want to cut through the bottom but a melon baller helps hollow out the apple. I used prunes, raisins and walnuts to fill the centers. my apples baked a little over an hour and I served them with vanilla ice cream. Delicious!

The French Friday with Dorie website is where you will find everyone's results as we cook our way through Dorie Greenspan's Around My French Table.


And here is our new grandbaby! A tiny bundle of joy. Her brother is as infatuated as the rest of us. Life is good Doristas!

18 comments:

  1. First of all, Guyla…She is gorgeous! Congratulations to you and your whole family! A true blessing!
    Your apples look perfectly yummy! I love baked apples, they have been a long time staple in our house. Easy and definitely a winner!

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  2. Aw, your granddaughter is a cutie pie!!! And lucky you finding the Cortlands...your apple looks perfect!

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  3. What a beautiful Grandbaby:) The Baked Apples were a hit at my house. Have a good weekend.

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    1. Your granddaughter is precious. Glad to hear that the melon baller helped. I love the Union Square Green Market. I got to go to restaurant around the corner from it with Trevor. All of their produce comes from the market. Glad you food some good apples for the dish… enjoy that little darling.

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  4. Who cares about apples, your new granddaughter is absolutely precious!
    There are some great markets down in NYC.

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  5. Guyla, your granddaughter is so beautiful. I think the hardest part of this was the coring, but I finally finished.
    Hubby has been enjoying these, thank goodness, because I am not to fond of dried fruits.

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  6. What a beautiful little girl. Ohhhhh, that face and those chubby cheeks and little hands. Is Gary's Mother still with you? Has she seen the baby? Two great-grandchildren, how lucky she is. And, the two of you, isn't this a joyous occasion - a healthy baby? Your little guy is so darling and you will have fun with this little girl also. In two different ways. I only know girls - my brother and I have 7 granddaughters between us. Most of us loved these delicious apples. Mine never got spoon tender but it still was delicious. Again, congratulations to your family at this special time. May those little cheeks always be rosy.

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  7. Thanks for sharing the picture of your beautiful granddaughter. Congratulations to you and your family! She's a lucky girl. I love your story about the Union Square market apples. We stayed in Union Square when I went to NYC last year. What a great spot to hang around. Loved the farmers market! I think I'm giving up on the bees. After losing them two years in a row, I'm frustrated. At least I still have some of last year's honey to enjoy.

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  8. Your granddaughter is beautiful. Congratulations to you and your family !
    Your baked apples look so good. Lucky that you found Cortland apples at your local grocery. I did not even look for them... just made do with the Red Delicious ones I had at hand.

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  9. Congratulations! Love the photo of your new grandbaby. I also love trying new varieties of apples. There's so much variation in apples, it's a shame we don't get access to more. This week's recipe was great and showcases the goodness of apples simply and beautifully.

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  10. YAY !!! I was hoping for a granddaughter photo but I wasn't going to nag :) She is just gorgeous. Gorgeous. Glad to hear that her brother is doing well too. One of my co workers will be helping out on sibling duty when grandbaby #3 arrives at the end of the month and they are genuinely concerned because they are expecting daughter #2 and their first daughter is already extremely jealous of her toddler brother. Let the games begin. Now the apples. Can you even believe I screwed up this recipe and used cider vinegar ? Guess this just speaks to what a good recipe it was and how good all that IFBC swag was because the apples were still pretty good :) Yours look lovely and I enjoyed the info you shared about apples. Will be useful as I accomplish a "do-over".

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  11. What a beauty! She's already a pro at posing for pictures.

    I felt the same way you did while walking around Pike Place in Seattle. Going through markets is definitely one of the best parts of traveling.

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  12. I just used red delicious. These were good, weren't they. Your grandbaby is adorable!

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  13. Congrats on the new addition to the family! Lovely apples.

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  14. 1) I want to go to the New York Farmers Market. 2) Congratulations on your perfect, precious new grandbaby!! :)

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  15. Congrats on the grandbaby! So adorable!

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  16. What a beautiful grandbaby! She is so precious.

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