Healthy Baked Apples

Apples often outshine pumpkin for me at this time of year. I eat at least one every day while they’re in season, starting my morning with an apple and nut butter, and include them in virtually every baked good.

I think apples are sometimes taken for granted as they’re so widely available year round, but they are a seasonal fruit. Best from late August up to December depending on the variety and your region, some types store very well and you might be able to get local apples right up into spring and early summer.

Baked apples are an autumn staple in Germany, and I grew up with my mom making them for us every September. Apple season comes a bit later here than in the Canadian prairies, so I’ll be going strong with this recipe right up until Christmas.

These ones are stuffed with a simple granola and dark chocolate, which lets the apples bring in most of the sweetness. Topped off with a drizzle of maple syrup, they make an excellent fall dessert and an even better breakfast.

Ingredient Notes and Substitutions

• Granola: although I’ve linked to my olive oil granola in the recipe, this hazelnut granola would be just as good, or a grain free granola. If you have a favourite store bought granola, then use that. It’s a flexible recipe.
• Dark chocolate: this can be squares from eating chocolate, baking chocolate, or chocolate chips, whatever you have on hand.
• Maple syrup: you can use any sweetener you like, or omit altogether.

Best Baking Apples

I like Elstar or Boskoop, but any firm and slightly tart apple variety will do well. Choose one that you love, because this recipe is 90% apple – a mealy type that you don’t want to eat raw won’t be any better baked.

Honestly, after three years over here, I don’t remember the Canadian varieties I liked best as well as I should. The apples grown at my parent’s farm are obviously perfect, as the ones you grow up with always are. 

Macintosh and red delicious are no good – common knowledge, I think? – and granny smith is too sour. Pink lady, honeycrisp, or jonagold would be good.

Recipe Notes

If you don’t have any granola on hand and are experiencing a sudden craving for stuffed apples, here’s a quick fix. Mix about a half cup of rolled oats with a tablespoon each of coconut sugar, coconut oil, and dairy-free milk, add a sprinkle of cinnamon, and use that.

You can add extra nuts or seeds to make it a bit more interesting – and maybe morning appropriate – but it’s an easy solution, and a delicious one. 

Expert Tips

• Use a corer: you may have an apple corer, which makes this recipe even easier! If not, just carefully cut the centres out of each apple, making plenty of space for the stuffing. You want about 4cm (1.5 in.) in diameter for each core.
• Don’t peel the apples: they can’t be peeled for this recipe, so make sure you’re choosing one that doesn’t have a thick, tough skin (one more reason to exclude granny smith).

More Great Apple Recipes

Apple Hazelnut Cake
Gluten-Free Apple Crisp
Healthy Apple Crumble Bars
Oatmeal Thumbprint Cookies

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This post was originally published in October 2019. It’s been updated with improvements to the text and some tweaks to the recipe as of October 2020.