September makes me think about apples … apple picking, Carmel apples, bobbing for apples …. The other day I was chatting with my Mom and we were talking about Rim’s Edge Orchard, which is an apple orchard near my parents home in Wisconsin, the same home I grew up in. I have such fond memories of my mom getting our apples at the apple orchard when I was a kid. She’d keep apples in the basement in a huge basket and it always smelled so good. (My Mom makes a great apple crisp as well. I hope she makes one for me when I come home this fall.)

My mom was telling me that she had gone to Rim’s Edge Orchard to pick up apples last week. She also posted on her Facebook page a copy of their latest newsletter. The great thing about their newsletter is that they include a recipe! I actually signed up to receive The Rims Edge Orchard newsletter myself. Thank you, Mom! I’m so glad you turned me on to it. If any of you are interested in receiving their newsletter, please visit http://www.rimsedgeorchard.com.

I opened the newspaper to the Food Section this past Wednesday, this is my favorite section of the paper … I read it each and every week. I do enjoy perusing the paper, but definitely don’t miss Wednesdays. In Wednesday’s Food section, there was a recipe for baked apples. I had been planning on making baked apples for a while, as I bought all the ingredients last week. I did not want to look at the recipe because I saw that the recipe called for coconut oil and I knew I would not be interested in that.

Gala apples were the apple I chose to make my baked apples. After I cut the core out of my apples, I poured a half tablespoon of bourbon into each apple. This got me to thinking “Why don’t I soak each and every apple I eat in a little bourbon …. ” Doesn’t sound half bad, does it?

Next, in a bowl, I mixed together dark brown sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, kosher salt, dried berry mix and chopped walnuts.

(This is the Dried Berry Medley I used. It is from Trader Joe’s and it is really good!)

I then topped each apple with a quarter tablespoon of butter. Any extra brown sugar mix that fell off the apple, I left in the bottom of the dish. I knew it would mix well with the boiling water that I added to the bottom of the pan and make a nice glaze for the apples when they were done.

These apples may even make an appearance at Dinner Club in a couple weeks. Dennis and I are hosting September 30th and were just starting to talk about our menu today. These apples would be great with vanilla ice cream for dessert!

Ingredients

• 4 apples

• 2 tablespoons boubon (1/2 tablespoon per apple)

• 1/4 cup dark brown sugar

• 1-1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

• 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

• 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt

• 1/3 cup chopped walnuts

• 1/3 cup Dried Berry Medley (or any dried fruit you like, such as cranberries, currants)

• 1 tablespoon butter

• 3/4 cup boiling water

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
2. Cut core out of apple using a paring knife. Cut out the core, removing the seeds and leaving a half inch of apple on the bottom.
3. Drizzle bourbon in each apple.
4. Mix brown sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, salt, berries and walnuts together in a bowl.
5. Place apples in a small rectangular or square baking dish.
6. Stuff each apple with one quarter of the brown sugar mixture.
7. Boil 3/4 cup of water in microwave, or on stove and pour into bottom of pan.
8. Baste apples with water and pan drippings.

Enjoy!

Until next time, Kris