Apples are one of my favorite snack items! They’re crunchy, refreshing and portable! But with the bitter, Chicago winter I find myself wanting a snack that will fill me up and warm me up. So stave off hunger and the cold with oven roasted apples.
Ingredients:
· Apples: I used ten apples but you can do more or less. As for the type, any kind you like, there are a lot of different varieties out there so don’t be afraid to venture away from Red Delicious (not a personal favorite really). I recommend Pink Lady’s, Melrose, and Fuji’s.
· Cinnamon
· Ginger
· White Granulated Sugar
· Brown Sugar
Directions:
1. First you need to decide if you want to do sliced apples or whole apples. I did some of both.
Slices
For the sliced apples, just use an apple cutter or if you don’t have one, cut the apple off the core. There was actually enough fruit on the cores of mine that I roasted those too.
Whole
Take a knife and carefully cut out the core but not all the way to the bottom. Think of it as hollowing where the core was.
2. Spice Flavors
Spice with Cinnamon Sugar
In a bowl mix together the cinnamon and white sugar, enough for all of your apples. How much of each ingredient depends on your personally taste, more sugar for a sweeter flavor or more spice to give it some punch. You can just taste some to test it out.
Spice with Ginger Brown Sugar
Go through the same process as if you did cinnamon sugar. Some recipes call for butter in the whole apples but I left it out to be healthier. Feel free to add it in though, it will make it more like a dumpling/pie.
3. Spicing your apples.
Slices
Choose either spice flavor then take a handful of apple slices and toss them in the bowl with the sugar combination. Make sure your apples are evenly coated with a little or a lot of your spice. Then place your apples on a cookie sheet sprayed with Pam. Covering the cookie sheet with foil first will make cleaning up easier.
Whole
Take your chosen spice flavor and stuff it into the apple. I used the brown sugar for mine. Then place on a greased cookie sheet or in a pie pan. If you are doing both slices and whole apples they can share a cookie sheet.
4. Roast in the oven at 375 degrees for thirty to forty minutes or until apples are tender, not mushy. The sugars should be caramelizing now.
5. Remove from oven, cool and enjoy! Eat plain as healthy-ish snack or serve with vanilla ice cream for a decadent dessert.