Baked Apples
Whole apples are stuffed with a cinnamon-sugar oat mixture before being baked. These stuffed baked apples are an easy but impressive fall dessert!
As much as I enjoy a slice of apple pie a la mode or a generous helping of apple crisp, I don’t always want the flavor of fresh fall apples to compete with buttery crusts and crumble toppings.
When apples are in season, they’re delicious as is. That’s why I love baking them whole — yes, there’s a cinnamon-sugar oat mixture stuffed into the apples, but the pure apple flavor is still there.
These stuffed baked apples are a cinch to make and they’re the perfect dessert when you want to serve something impressive but are short on time.
Recipe Ingredients
One of the many reasons I love this baked apple recipe is that the ingredients list is short and simple. Here is what you will need:
- Apples: I prefer to use medium-sized apples that are about 5 and 1/2 ounces each, so there’s a good ratio of filling to apple. You can use larger apples for this recipe, but you will likely need to make more filling or only use about 4 large apples.
- Butter: I recommend baking with unsalted butter, because the amount of salt in salted butters can vary widely between brands.
- Oats: I like to use old-fashioned rolled oats in this recipe, but instant oats will work fine too!
- Brown sugar: Helps sweeten the filling and sauce, while also adding a slight caramel flavor. If you don’t have any brown sugar on hand, you can make your own.
- Cinnamon: I used 3/4 teaspoon in the oat filling and another teaspoon in the sauce. Feel free to add more or less, to taste.
How to Make Baked Apples
There’s no peeling required to make baked apples in the oven, and the prep work is minimal. Here’s an overview of how this recipe comes together:
- Preheat the oven to 350°F
- Prepare the apples: Remove the core of each apple, making sure the seeds are removed too. I like to use an apple corer for this step to make it easier.
- Place the apples into an 8 or 9-inch square baking dish
- Make the filling: In a large bowl, combine the softened butter, oats, cinnamon, and brown sugar. You can use an electric mixer, a rubber spatula, or your hands to do this.
- Fill the apples: Fill each cored apple with 1 to 1 ½ tablespoons of the oat mixture or until the entire center of the cored apple is stuffed.
- Make the sauce: In a medium saucepan, combine the water, brown sugar, cinnamon, and butter and bring to a boil over medium heat.
- Add sauce to the apples: Spoon a large spoonful of the liquid over each apple in the pan. Then, pour the remaining liquid mixture into the bottom of the pan.
- Bake the apples: Place the pan with the apples into the oven, on the center rack, and bake for 30 minutes. Remove the apples from the oven and baste the apples using the hot sugary liquid at the bottom of the pan. Return the apples to the oven and continue to bake until they burst slightly.
How Long to Bake Apples
You’ll need to bake the whole apples for 30 minutes, remove them from the oven to baste them in the sugary liquid, and then return them to the oven for another 10 to 25 minutes.
For medium-sized apples, I only bake them for another 10 minutes (40 minutes total). If your apples are larger or you prefer them softer, then I recommend baking them closer to 25 more minutes (55 minutes total).
What Are the Best Apples to Bake With?
I like to use Fuji or Honeycrisp apples for this recipe. Another type of baking apple like Pink Lady or even Granny Smith apples will work great too.
What to Serve With This Recipe
You can eat these stuffed baked apples as is, or you can top with one or more of the following:
- Vanilla ice cream
- Whipped cream
- Salted caramel sauce
- Chopped candied pecans
Baking Tips
- Once the apples are done, the liquid cooking sauce can be reduced down in a saucepan on the stove over medium heat for about 30 minutes. This step isn’t necessary, but it’s delicious spooned over the apples with a little bit of ice cream!
- There’s no need to peel the apples before baking them. The skin softens once baked and tastes delicious.
- I recommend eating the baked whole apples right away as the oat filling will soften with time.
More Easy Apple Dessert Recipes!
Video Tutorial
Baked Apples
Ingredients
For the Apples
- 6 apples (approx. 2 to 2.25 pounds total, or 5 to 6 ounces for each apple)
- 5 tablespoons unsalted butter softened (70 grams)
- ⅔ cup old-fashioned rolled oats (60 grams)
- ⅓ cup packed light or dark brown sugar (65 grams)
- ¾ teaspoon ground cinnamon
For the Sauce/Cooking Liquid
- 1 ½ cups water (360 ml)
- 1 ½ tablespoons light or dark brown sugar (22 grams)
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter (30 grams)
Instructions
- To prepare the apples: Preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C).
- Remove the core of the apples using an apple corer, making sure that all of the seeds are removed. Place apples into an 8 or 9-inch square pan and set aside.
- In a medium bowl, combine the softened butter, rolled oats, brown sugar, and cinnamon. Use an electric mixer, rubber spatula, or your hands to work the mixture together until fully combined.
- Fill each cored apple with 1 to 1 ½ tablespoons of the oat mixture or until the entire center of the cored apple is stuffed. Be sure to fill the apples with filling in the pan so that the oat mixture doesn’t leak out of the bottom of the apples.
- Once all apples are stuffed with the oat mixture, set aside while you prepare the sauce.
- To prepare the sauce: In a medium saucepan on the stove, over medium heat, combine the water, brown sugar, cinnamon and butter and bring to a boil.
- Once the mixture is boiling, remove it from the heat. Spoon a large spoonful of the liquid over each apple in the pan. Then, pour the remaining liquid mixture into the bottom of the pan.
- To bake the apples: Place the pan with the apples into the oven, on the center rack, and bake for 30 minutes to start.
- At the thirty-minute mark, remove the pan from the oven and baste the apples again using the hot sugary liquid at the bottom of the pan. Simply, use a tablespoon to scoop the liquid from the bottom of the pan back onto each apple.
- Return the pan to the oven and bake for an additional 10 to 25 minutes. The apples will slightly burst, but not completely. Baking time will vary depending on the size of your apples and how crisp or soft that you prefer them. For apples that are about 5 and 1/2 ounces each, I bake them for another 10 minutes. If your apples are larger or you prefer them softer, then I recommend baking them closer to 25 more minutes.
- Allow to cool 15 minutes before enjoying. Store in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 4 days.
Have you ever made these without the peel on? I have a real aversion to peelings on most things but apples are at the top. Think I will try this anyway as the worst it can be is I end up with cook chunks with yummy stuff.