Apple Surprise

This is a bit of a departure for my normal fare. Last year for Christmas treats I came up with a dish that involved removing apple flesh but keeping the skin for a vessel. Since I got so many "wows" on this one I thought I'd post a recipe (or mas much of a recipe as I ever make). Note, this dish contains nuts and gluten. If you want to do the dish without either, see comments following recipe.

Apple Surprise (may change if I can think of a better name)
Serves 10
Prep and cook time: ~1 hour

Ingredients
5 individually selected apples (I like to find some with some character in the peel, striations of white and red. Also, a firmer flesh variety is best.)
1 stick of no-salt butter (that's right, I said butter. If you substitute for something else, don't blame me if it isn't right.)
1/2 c chopped nuts (pecans work great. For a more subtle nutty flavor, use almonds.)
1 c brown sugar
1 tsp cinnamon (I say 1 tsp. The truth is I've never measured. I shake till it smells right. If you need more than 1 tsp, let me know and I'll adjust.)
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 c rolled oats
1 c raisins or dried cherries or dried cranberries (I haveonly tried the raisin but I am dying to try the rest)

Begin heating a large frying pan on medium heat. Take the apples and slice off a very thin amount from opposite ends. This is to make it so the casing isn't rolling all over the place later on. Next, using a melon baller carefully remove the apple's meat. Discard the core, but keep all the rest. Don't worry about the apple turning brown. The scooped out parts will become much more brown when mixed with the brown sugar. If you selected an apple variety that is particularly white, you can preserve the color by brushing a little lemon juice inside the apple. The scooped out apple should look like this.

When you have scooped out the first apple (both halves), put the stick of butter in the frying pan to brown. You want the water in the butter to completely cook out. While the butter is browning, core out another apple. Now you can add the nuts to the butter. It is important that you add the nuts at this point to allow them to release their oils and thus their flavor. Don't worry that the mixture foams. That will go away. Stir the nuts occasionally to make sure they aren't burning and to get them all in the butter. When the nuts reach the stage in the picture, you can add the cinnamon, nutmeg and brown sugar. Press the brown sugar and stir around in the pan to make sure it absorbs all the butter. Now you can add the vanilla. This will begin the process of melting the brown sugar. Continue to core out apples while the sugar melts. Once you have all the apples cored, coarsely chop the balls and pieces.

Once the sugar has mostly melted, add in the apple pieces. Stir everything together to evenly coat the apple pieces with the sugar mixture. Now is also a good time to add the raisins/cherries. The apples will begin to release their juice. This is a good thing but I feel that it takes too long to reduce the liquid. About 3 minutes after adding the apples, add the rolled oats. (I like the contrast in texture the rolled oats brings to the party. If that isn't for you, drop the oats, but add some heavy cream to help thicken things up.)


Everything should be fairly thickened, the apples should be somewhat soft at this point and ready to place back into the apple bowls. Carefully scoop the mixture from the pan into the bowls. (Note to any one out there. This stuff is hot. It is sugar that is melted by heat. Use appropriate caution and don't go flinging this stuff around like it is ice cream.) Place the bowls onto a serving platter. You can garnish or leave alone. I recommend serving this while the filling is still warm. Garnish could include whipped cream with a mint leaf, vanilla ice cream, a candy cage, etc. You might even consider a pie crust top. Let you imagination run wild. So far, people have been quite impressed with the ungarnished variety.

A note on variations. There are gluten free oats on the market that can be substituted for normal rolled oats. If you don't have access to these or they are prohibitively expensive, simply leave out the oats and substitute heavy cream into the recipe. If someone has a nut allergy and you want to leave out the nuts, that is fine. They are there for flavor and texture.

Play around with it and let me know of any variations that work for you. Enjoy cooking!