Baked Apples

OK... seems we are on an apple roll now... Tis the Season!
Here's a tried and true recipe that my family has been making as long as I can remember...
I started making it when I was a teenager and it's one of my all time favorite Fall Desserts!
They even started offering this s a special every Fall at a restaurant/bar I worked at (as a bartender) on LI when I was 18...
They continued to make it for years after I had left to go to College, right up to the time they finally closed in the mid-80's when the owner passed away...

Sorry about amounts, I've been making this for so long I have it memorized and use the "that's about enough" measuring method!

[color:"blue"]Baked Apples[/color]
6 Big Rome Apples (or any other big, tart baking apple)
1 pint whipping cream (whipped)
Brown sugar
chopped walnuts
unsalted butter
cinnamon
nutmeg
rum (or brandy) of your choice

Preheat oven to 350F.
1. Core each apple, leaving the last little bit on the bottom, so it makes a "cup" of sorts and place in a large pyrex "custard cup" or ramekin.
2. Mix the brown sugar, chopped walnuts, cinnamon & nutmeg.
3. fill each apple 3/4 of the way with the brown sugar mixture.
4. Place about 1 tsp. of butter on top of mixture.
5. fill each apple the rest of the way with the rum.
6. bake in oven til the interiors of apples are soft.
6. serve warm with (unsweetened) whipped cream on top.

Note: lately I have been making variations, like adding dried cranberries to the brown sugar mix

I'm too allergic to walnuts to bring them into my kitchen... do you think I could do this with a super-crunchy cereal like Kashi Go Lean Crunch or Grape Nuts (which, oddly, has no nuts) instead?

Dharma, just leave out the walnuts altogether...
actually that is my own addition to the original recipe...
raisins or currents or dried cranberries would also be a good substitution...
Remember, any recipe is just a stencil, you fill in the lines yourself... experiment with your own changes from there~!

I'm not a big fan of Kashi myself, BUT Grape Nuts sound wonderful!
I'd sprinkle them on top at the end, rather than cooking them into the mixture...

Final product should look something like this:

Crushed up pretzels are great on baked apples, leave the pieces big enough that they are still identifiable as pretzels. I didn't have nuts in the recipe just the apples, raisins, spices and muscato instead of rum/brandy. I put the pretzels on after baking them, not before. Now I want to try an apple crisp substituting crushed pretzels for part of the oats, or maybe even all....

Cool, looks like I'll be leaving out the nuts, adding some cranberries instead, & sprinkling pretzels over the top! thanks!

Don't think I've ever followed a recipe exactly, but since nuts have a distinctive texture AND flavor, they can be hard to substitute.

OH YEAH!!! Crushed Pretels!!! What a great idea!!! I think I may have to try that!!! <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Thumbsup.gif" alt="" /> <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Thumbsup.gif" alt="" /> <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Thumbsup.gif" alt="" />
and like I said... the nuts were my own addition... they were never in the old family recipe...
the salt from the pretzels would probably be an excellent addition!
That's really "thinking outside the box"!!!
Kool beans!