Granny Smiths in a Blanket
I Spice
- Course: Dessert
Summary:
If you like apple dumplings, then you'll love this quick and easy recipe for pastry-wrapped baked apples. Accented with a handful of Red Hots cinnamon-flavored candies, these Granny Smiths are divine with a generous dollop of vanilla ice cream.
6 servings
Ingredients:
- 1 1/2 cups sugar, plus more for sprinkling
- 1 1/2 cups water, plus more as needed
- 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon, plus more for sprinkling
- 1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
- 20 Red Hots candies, plus more for garnish
- 1 tablespoon unsalted butter, plus 1 tablespoon for sprinkling
- 2 (9-inch) unbaked refrigerated pie crusts, preferably the roll-out kind
- 6 medium Granny Smith apples, peeled and cored
Directions:
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Lightly grease a 13-by-9-inch baking dish with nonstick cooking oil spray.
Combine the sugar, water, cinnamon, nutmeg and Red Hots in a medium saucepan over medium-high heat. Bring to a boil, then immediately remove from the heat and add the tablespoon of butter. Mix well until all the candies are dissolved and the butter has melted. Keep warm.
Cut each pie crust into 3 wedges. Use 1 wedge to wrap each apple all the way around, leaving the cored part of the apple exposed on top. Arrange the apples in the prepared baking dish.
Sprinkle a little sugar and cinnamon on each apple, then use the remaining tablespoon of butter into the cored center of each apple. Pour the hot cinnamon-candy syrup evenly over the apples. Bake for about 50 minutes, basting with the hot syrup every 15 minutes or so. If the syrup begins to get too thick, add water as needed to thin it.
Serve the apples warm; sprinkle a few Red Hots on top of each portion or scattered on the individual plates, for garnish.
Recipe Source:
Adapted from "White Trash Gatherings: From-Scratch Cooking for Down-Home Entertaining," by Kendra Bailey Morris (Ten Speed Press, 2006).
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