Wormy Baked Apples
Submitted by justus9167
Wormy baked apples: cinnamon-brown sugar baked apples stuffed with raisins and walnuts, served with gummy worms wriggling out the top. A Halloween dessert that’s actually good to eat.
YIELD
6 servingsPREP
10 minCOOK
35 minREADY
1 hrsHalloween desserts that skew more candy than cooking are easy to come by. Something that’s actually fun to serve AND genuinely good to eat is rarer. These baked apples pull it off: golden delicious apples stuffed with raisins and walnuts, simmered in a cinnamon-nutmeg brown sugar syrup until tender, then given a grotesque Halloween twist with a gummy worm poking out the stem hole.
The apple itself does most of the work. Coring from the blossom end and leaving the stem intact keeps the filling locked in through the bake. Basting every 10 minutes or so with the bubbling syrup glazes the skin so it cracks just slightly around the middle, a sign they’re done.
Cream at the table is a must. Pour it cold over the warm apples and the syrup clouds into a quick caramel sauce on the plate.
Kitchen Tips
- Use golden delicious or another firm baking apple. Soft eating apples like red delicious collapse into mush in the oven.
- Leave enough apple around the core to hold the filling. Over-core too aggressively and the sides split before the apple softens.
- Baste every 10 minutes during the bake. Skipping this and the tops dry out while the bottoms swim.
- Let rest at least 10 minutes after baking. The syrup needs time to thicken around the apples.
- Tuck the gummy worm in AFTER the apples cool. Heat melts the gelatin into a sticky puddle.
Variations
- Swap the raisins for dried cranberries or chopped dates for a different sweet-tart filling.
- Add a splash of bourbon or dark rum to the syrup for a grown-up version.
- Top each cooled apple with a scoop of vanilla ice cream instead of pouring cream.
Ingredients
Directions
Core apples from blossom ends, leaving stem ends intact.
Mix raisins and walnuts and stuff into cavities of cored apples.
Set apples, stems up in a 7×12-inch pan.
In a 1 to 2 quart pan, mix brown sugar, water, butter, cinnamon, and nutmeg; stir over high heat until mixture boils.
Pour hot syrup around apples.
Bake, uncovered, in 350℉ (180℃). oven, basting occasionally with syrup, until apples are tender when pierced and skin begins to crack, 30 to 35 minutes.
Remove apples from oven; cool in pan at least 10 minutes or let cool to room temperature.
Set each apple in a small bowl and spoon syrup around fruit.
In the top of each apple, cut a hole large enough for one of the candy worms and tuck one end into each apple, leaving most of the worm dangling.
Offer cream to pour over apples.
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