Baked Apples Stuffed with California Prunes
Inspired by ZoëBakes, these Baked Apples are a cozy treat for cooler weather. Each is stuffed with California prunes, pecans, and fall spices before they’re baked to tender perfection, then drizzled with honey and seasoned with salt to serve.
History of Baked Apples
Baked apples have been enjoyed by Europeans for hundreds, if not thousands of years. They were first mentioned in a British cookbook in 1685 but it’s likely that recipes began to spring up a hundred years prior with the invention of the wood burning stove.
Baked Apples were a particularly popular dessert during the fall and winter months. Compared to most fresh fruits, apples have quite an impressive shelf life. If properly stored, fresh apples keep up to six months. Hundreds of years ago, enjoying fresh fruit in the dead of winter would have been quite a luxury!
Fun fact: Baked Apples are even mentioned in the Jane Austen novel, Emma.
What are baked apples stuffed with?
Our baked apples are stuffed with dried fruit, nuts, sugar and spices that are always in season. Here’s what we used:
Raisins
Pecans
Prunes
Ginger
Brown sugar
Butter
Cinnamon
Lemon
Butter
Honey
The inspiration for our recipe…
When we discovered this recipe for Paleo Baked Apples by ZoëBakes, we instantly knew we wanted to take her brilliant recipe and make it our own. We added lemon, honey, ginger, butter and flaky sea salt – which creates a richer, more intense take on Zoë’s Paleo-friendly recipe.
Baked Apples Stuffed with Prunes
Ingredients
- 4 large baking apples
- ½ cup California prunes chopped
- ¼ cup golden raisins
- ½ cup chopped pecans
- 1 TBSP grated ginger
- ½ tsp cinnamon
- 2 TBSP brown sugar
- 1 lemon zested and juiced
- 2 TBSP salted butter divided
- Honey to serve
- Flaky sea salt for garnish
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 325°F (160C).
- Core the apples, then scrape out and reserve about 4 tablespoons of flesh from each, careful to preserve their shape and avoid piercing through the skin. Score a line around the outside of each apple.
- Roughly chop the reserved flesh and add it to a mixing bowl along with the chopped prunes, raisins, pecans, ginger, cinnamon, brown sugar, and lemon zest. Add 1 tablespoon of the butter and half of the lemon juice and stir to combine. Use a small spoon to stuff ¼ of the mixture into each apple, then top them with the remaining butter.
- Set the apples in a small baking dish and pour in a splash of water. Bake 40-45 minutes, until tender, then remove from the oven and allow to cool slightly. Drizzle honey over each and garnish with flakey salt to serve!
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Notes
Nutrition
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Did you try this recipe? Maybe you’ve got a favorite recipe using California Prunes that you’d like to share with us? Snap a pic and share it on social using #caprunes.
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