Best Baked Apples Recipe (2024)

FAQs

What makes the best baking apples? ›

For the best pies, crisps, and other baked treats, apples need to be firm enough to hold their own during the cooking process. We call these apples “baking apples” and to namedrop, they include Braeburn, Cortland, Honey Gold, Jonathan, Fuji, Gala, Granny Smith, Haralson, and Newtown Pippin.

Bake for 45 minutes (covered). Then carefully remove foil and bake for an additional 10-15 minutes or until the apples are very fork tender (especially in the center of the dish) and slightly caramelized (see photo). Enjoy as is or with Coconut Whipped Cream or Vanilla Bean Coconut Ice Cream!

The biggest advantage to precooking the apple filling is making a more sturdy pie. Have you ever baked, or even eaten, an apple pie that has a big gap between the fruit and the upper crust? I certainly have. And worst-case scenario, the gap was so deep that the upper crust collapsed into the pie.

Honeycrisp. One of the sweetest apples around, this Midwestern favorite is good for anything—including baking. It boasts a distinctive juicy crispness and is firm enough that it won't cook down much. It complements just about any other apple variety to make a stellar pie.

There are a few apples that don't make the cut. While great for snacking, Gala, Fuji and Red Delicious are the most common apples that won't hold up in the oven and will give you a watery-mushy pie, tart or cake.

To use this method to prevent apples from turning brown, create a water bath for your apple slices with a ratio of 1 tablespoon of lemon juice to 1 cup of water. Soak the apple slices for 3 to 5 minutes, then drain and rinse them. This simple step should keep your apples from browning for several hours.

Obviously you don't want apples with an al dente bite, but did you know it's possible to overcook them? "Apples lose their flavor rapidly when cooked too long," says Martinez.

Perhaps the most common method to keep apples from browning is to rub them with lemon juice, a source of ascorbic acid (or vitamin C). “Commercially, apple slices are treated with ascorbic acid [to prevent browning],” Watkins says.

Apples can be cooked down into sauce, apple butter, or fruit preserves. They can be baked in an oven and served with custard, and made into pies or apple crumble. In the UK roast pork is commonly served with cold apple sauce made from boiled and mashed apples. A baked apple is baked in an oven until it has become soft.

Should I peel apples for baking? ›

peel your apples. While the debate on whether or not to peel your apples seems never-ending, it really comes down to a matter of personal choice. Unpeeled apples will add a bit of color and texture to your pie, but they may prevent the apples from melding together when baked.

Crust dust is a 1:1 mixture of flour and granulated sugar. When baking a pie, especially a fruit pie, a couple of teaspoons of crust dust sprinkled into the bottom of the crust will help prevent the crust from becoming saturated with juicy filling as it bakes.

Pink Ladies and Granny Smiths are our go-to baking apples, but you can choose any kind you like as long as it has a firm texture and a good bit of acidity.

Heat and sunburn are also issues with Honeycrisp. Fruit grows on the larger size, especially in early years. “Honeycrisp has thin skin, which is easily punctured. This can lead to more storage rots going into retail,” says DeEll.

A cooking apple or culinary apple is an apple that is used primarily for cooking, as opposed to a dessert apple, which is eaten raw. Cooking apples are generally larger, and can be tarter than dessert varieties. Some varieties have a firm flesh that does not break down much when cooked.

Classically bred and grown in Washington State, the Cosmic Crisp^® apple is a cross of the Enterprise and Honeycrisp varieties. The large, juicy and red apple has a perfectly balanced flavor and firm texture, making it ideal for snacking, cooking, baking, and entertaining.

Green apples, like Granny Smith apples, have a much denser texture. That makes them better able to withstand high heat. So green apples are preferred when apples are used for baking.

Why Are Pink Lady^® Apples Good for Baking? Pink Lady^® apples make such great baked apples because of the natural sweetness you get in every apple. The juicy fizz you get from Pink Lady^® apples is intensified when baked, giving you delicious results every time.