Baked apples are a simple dessert made from oven-baked apples with a delicious filling. These fillings are what make the recipe so unique for every family. When I was researching for this article, I didn't find any history about it. But it has been made for centuries.
Most likely in wintertime, the smell of baked apples warms our hearts. Many recall the sweet smell of grandmother's kitchen, childhood, rattling coldness, and tiled stove.
But I found out that this fruity treat is an old home remedy for hoarseness. Slowly eat three Bratäpfel with real honey (just add two tablespoons to every Bratapfel in our Traditional recipe - you don't need to have any dessert after that 🙂 ).
In doing so, enzymes are released, which do well for your vocal cords. The farmer's recipe, by the way, works much better than the well-known warm honey milk. The mist rather.
One disadvantage is the warm enjoyment: during heating, about half of the vitamin C is lost. On the other hand, there is only one means: Give yourself a second round!
When it comes to choosing an apple for this dish, you want to have a semi-tart apple variety like Honeycrisp or Granny Smith. The filling will provide the sweetness. If you are interested in which other apple variety you could use, have a look at a great guide from the LATimes. I recommend the article even when it does not feature my favorite apple, Fuji.
Since there are so many recipes out there, we will highlight optional ingredients; just put in what you love and create you own family tradition. The very best is to serve the Bratapfel with a Vanilla sauce. Throughout the story, you will find click2view (c2v) links to the product in our store if we carry them; that makes it easy for you to find the right item.
Traditional Bratapfel Recipe
2 apples (for two, so 1 apple/person)
2 tbsp sweet (=not salted) butter
2 tbsp sweet (=not salted) butter for greasing the baking dish
1/2 cup chopped nuts (walnuts, hazelnuts, or your favorite nut)
1/4 cup light brown sugar
(optional) 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon; adjust it to how you like it
(optional) 2 tbsp honey
(optional) 2 tbsp dark or yellow raisins
Preparation:
Preheat oven to 400°. You should bake the apples in ramekins or any oven-proof dish.
Grease the dish with butter so that the apples won’t stick.
Mix your ingredients until well combined.
Now comes the part where you will get better with time and training. The first time, well,l in my case it doesn't look that appealing. So if you host guests, try the recipe and train before! Wash the apples.
When coring the apples, don’t go all through to the bottom! Start at the stem side and core ¾ of the way down, leaving the bottom of the apple intact. This will ensure that the filling won't run out of the bottom and keeps the apple and filling moist. Scoop out enough apple pulp with a corer or a spoon so that you have an opening in which you will place the filling.
Now, after Thanksgiving, you might be trained with stuffing - so fill the apples now and make sure some of the filling is showing on top of the apple. Another way I have seen, as shown in the pictures. Cut off just cut the apples head of about 1.5inch and fill the apple and bake the head together, and put it back on top. Also, here make sure that the filling is always showing up!
Bake for 30 minutes at 400°. Baking time can be adjusted according to preference. If you would like the apple to be more firm, reduce the baking time. If you would like a softer apple, increase baking time. In Germany, it is a soft apple that we like, but with enough firmness to cut right through it. So it is not mushy.
More varieties:
- If you like the optional raisins and like a bit of booze, then soak them in rum a night before preparation.
- add 1/4 cup Ovomaltine Crunchy Cream to it, or any other Nougat/chocolate/hazelnutspread you like. Ovomaltine gives some malty crunch-texture to the dessert.
- add 5 Tbl marzipan with or without chocolate; we recommend the Niederegger Weissbrot (c2v) without chocolate, but hey, it is your recipe so you can use it with chocolate as well. Please cut the marzipan into small pieces and mix it into the filling. Make sure it is distributed through the mix.
Enjoy preparing, and it is fun to do this with your kids as well. (Well, not the rum raisin variation of course).
*The almost too good to be true pictures (who makes me want to go down and look in the oven if the Bratapfel are ready) have been provided by romi@pixabay. I will say: to have your apple look like this, you and I have to train a lot - but we have a goal, right? - Danke Rita!