strawberries in paris

Laurita’s Baked Apples with Spiced Cider

So this is actually Martha Stewart’s recipe, but Laurita, my tall little sister, made these all by herself for our enjoyment! She wanted to make some kind of goodie to go with the spiced cider I was making to take the haunted forest on Friday night. She took one look at the old apples sitting in the bowl in the kitchen and decided she would bake them. I instantly thought back to Martha Stewarts jail time and that she would bake apples as a nice treat in the microwave.

Well this recipe worked great! The flavors of the spices were so tasty and this was pretty healthy (if you “forget” about the butter…) After they were finished, Laura cut up some paper to make leaves for our photo shoot. Mom recently color-coded Laura’s massive amount of colored pencils and so we brought them out too! Oh Fall is here and it is so glorious! Check out the recipes below!

Ingredients:
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, softened
1/3 cup packed light-brown sugar
1/3 cup old-fashioned rolled oats
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon salt
4 medium Pink Lady apples, skin peeled in a spiral

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Stir together butter, brown sugar, oats, cinnamon, ginger, and salt in a small bowl. Set aside.
2. Scoop out the core of each apple with a melon baller, being careful not to go through the bottom; discard cores. Fill each apple with oat mixture, dividing evenly. Transfer apples to a 9-inch square non-reactive baking dish. Add 1 cup water to the dish to cover bottoms of apples by about 1/2 inch. Cover dish with aluminum foil. Bake until apples are soft but not mushy, 40 to 45 minutes. Serve warm.

Now for my cider recipe! Take 1 gallon apple cider, add 1 tbsp lemon juice. Place in large pot and bring to a simmer. Take some cheese cloth, place 4 cloves and 3 sticks of cinnamon (get in the mexican aisle, so much cheaper!) and tie it all up together and throw it in the pot. Take an orange and peel off half of the skin in strips and throw in the pot! Simmer for 30 minutes and serve! (I place it in an igloo drink cooler and it will stay warm for many hours!)