Salt-Baked Stuffed Apples

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Servings:
6

A potent balance of savory and sweet, a salt-baked apple stuffed with dried fruits, nuts, and spices and served on toast with pungent cheese makes a satisfying winter snack.

Ingredients

  • 1 lemon, halved

  • 6 small firm baking apples (about 1 ½ pounds), such as Empire or Cortland

  • cup (1 ounce) chopped walnuts

  • ¼ cup dried cranberries, roughly chopped

  • 2 tablespoons finely chopped crystallized ginger

  • ½ cup dried apricots, roughly chopped

  • 2 tablespoons sugar

  • 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

  • ½ teaspoon ground nutmeg

  • 1 pound coarse salt

Directions

  1. Heat oven to 450 degrees. Squeeze lemon juice into a medium bowl filled with cold water. Using a sharp knife, remove stem from each apple. Using a melon baller, remove cores and hollow out apples until walls are about 3/4 inch thick. Place apples in water.

  2. Place walnuts on a baking pan; toast until fragrant and golden, 5 to 7 minutes. Let the walnuts cool, and roughly chop.

  3. Place walnuts, cranberries, ginger, apricots, sugar, cinnamon, and nutmeg in a bowl.

  4. Drain apples; spoon walnut filling into each cavity, packing fairly tightly. Place apples in a baking dish just large enough to hold them all. Add salt, being careful not to get any salt in the filling; fill until the salt covers the apples up to where the filling begins. Cover with a sheet of aluminum foil.

  5. Bake until apples are tender and start to pull away from salt, 25 to 30 minutes. Let cool slightly. Remove apples from salt; serve.

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