Crockpot Baked Stuffed Apples

I know, here it is the last day of November and I’m still trying to get my Thanksgiving recipes posted and shoot, this isn’t even my last one.  Busyness, continued sickness and tiredness…well I’m just behind and maybe one day I’ll catch up…maybe by next Thanksgiving??  I mentioned both over on my Moments with Maisie and on this blog that this year with all the food restrictions and sickness, I went really simple with our dinner and especially with dessert.  I mean think about it, what do you make with the following restrictions?  Maisie can’t have wheat, egg or dairy, my Mom can’t have dairy, my Dad limits sugar, Eammon really doesn’t care for desserts which are too chocolaty and I’ve been avoiding flour & sugar and also, though I enjoy crisps, crumbles & some tarts, I generally don’t care for pies, the making or the eating.  

Dessert really was a dilemma until I saw a recipe for Crock-Pot Baked Apples on the blog, Skinny Chef.  The recipe was perfect as it it was the right seasonal flavors and it pretty much met everyone’s dietary restrictions.  Even better, it was simple to prepare and once it was put in the slow cooker no one had to think about it until dessert was served.  Even though the original recipe met most of our dietary restrictions I still tweaked it a bit by changing out the trans-fat free margarine called for in the original recipe, instead using coconut oil and I also decided to add dried cranberries, crystallized ginger and some additional spices to make the dish more my own. 

I loved the simplicity of the dish and the flavor of the filling and the apples.  The only thing I would do differently next time is to use less fat and that’s only because I didn’t care for the mouth feel but on that, I was the only one who complained.  We enjoyed these apples both hot and cold as leftovers.  These apples provided all of the flavors of the holiday without all the heaviness, calories, fat and work of pies and by having these apples I think we all felt a bit less stuffed and possibly…even a bit healthier!

Crockpot Baked Stuffed Apples (adapted from here)

• 6 Honey Crisp, Gala or Macintosh apples, cored
• 1/4 cup Whey Low Gold or brown sugar
• 1/4 cup walnuts, chopped
• 1/4 cup pecans, chopped
• 1/4 cup dried cranberries  
• 2 TBS coconut oil (I would cut this to 1 TBS.) 
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1 1/2 tsp. finely minced crystallized ginger 
• 1/4 tsp ground cloves   
• 1 cup apple cider
• 2 TBS orange liquor (optional)

Using an apple corer and a serrated grapefruit spoon, core the apples, scooping out all the seeds and opening the cored hole a little wider at the top of the apple than the corer.  It’s okay if you go all the way through as the apples don’t move when they cook and if you carefully scoop them from underneath when serving, the filling stays in them without a problem. 

In a large bowl, mix the Whey Low Gold, walnuts, pecans, cranberries, coconut oil, cinnamon, ginger & ground clove.  Fill each apple with approximately 2 TBS. of the filling, packing it in, and place the filled apples in the crockpot. Pour in the apple cider and orange liquor.  Cover and cook for 2 1/2 to 3 hours on high heat until the apples are soft and begin to collapse.

Enjoy!