serves
8
prep
20 minutes
cook
50 minutes
difficulty
Easy
serves
8
people
preparation
20
minutes
cooking
50
minutes
difficulty
Easy
level
"As soon as I read about these stuffed baked apples in nonna Nita's recipe book, I loved the sound of them – mele col segreto ('apples with a secret'). As Nita is no longer with us, I will have to guess which ingredient is the secret one that the title refers to. It could be the prune, which you wouldn't expect to be stuffed in the centre of an apple, but my bets are on the crushed, slightly bitter amaretti, which are hiding under the prune in the heart of the baked apple.
You can easily halve the recipe for four people, but these baked apples make great leftovers that can be enjoyed the next day. A scoop of vanilla ice cream is optional and quite lovely on a winter's evening if you serve them warm. I prefer them at room temperature. As nonna Nita writes at the end of her recipe, 'sono squisite' ('they are delicious')."
Ingredients
- 8 red medium-sized apples, such as sundowner, royal gala or MiApple
- 40 g amaretti biscuits (12–14 biscuits, depending on size)
- 2 tbsp apricot jam
- 8 small prunes, pitted
- 140 ml dry white wine
- 60 g (¼ cup) raw sugar
Cooling time: 10 minutes
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 160°C fan-forced. Peel part of the skin from the apples in a spiral pattern, leaving some skin intact. Carefully core the apples.
- Crush the amaretti to a coarse crumb and mix with the jam. Place a heaped teaspoon of the mixture into each of the cored apples, then fill the remaining space with a prune. Depending on the size of your apples and how much of the centre you remove with the corer, you may need more or less filling mixture.
- Place the apples upright in a baking dish in which they will fit easily. Pour the wine into the dish and scatter the sugar over the apples.
- Bake for 50–60 minutes, until the apples are cooked through. You can check by squeezing them between your fingers, or with a thin skewer, which should insert quite easily. Allow them to cool in the oven, with the oven turned off, for about 10 minutes.
- The sugary syrup in the dish will be quite thick. If you want to reheat it to serve with the apples, scrape it into a saucepan when it is still warm and gently heat.
- You can serve the apples warm, with some of the syrup poured on, but they are lovelier at room temperature. Serve with vanilla ice cream, thick cream, or just on their own.
Istria: Recipes and stories from the hidden heart of Italy, Slovenia and Croatia by Paola Bacchia, published by Smith Street Books (RRP $55.00). Photography by Paola Bacchia.
Cook's Notes
Oven temperatures are for conventional; if using fan-forced (convection), reduce the temperature by 20˚C. | We use Australian tablespoons and cups: 1 teaspoon equals 5 ml; 1 tablespoon equals 20 ml; 1 cup equals 250 ml. | All herbs are fresh (unless specified) and cups are lightly packed. | All vegetables are medium size and peeled, unless specified. | All eggs are 55-60 g, unless specified.
"As soon as I read about these stuffed baked apples in nonna Nita's recipe book, I loved the sound of them – mele col segreto ('apples with a secret'). As Nita is no longer with us, I will have to guess which ingredient is the secret one that the title refers to. It could be the prune, which you wouldn't expect to be stuffed in the centre of an apple, but my bets are on the crushed, slightly bitter amaretti, which are hiding under the prune in the heart of the baked apple.
You can easily halve the recipe for four people, but these baked apples make great leftovers that can be enjoyed the next day. A scoop of vanilla ice cream is optional and quite lovely on a winter's evening if you serve them warm. I prefer them at room temperature. As nonna Nita writes at the end of her recipe, 'sono squisite' ('they are delicious')."
