Baked apples

Having brought back a load of apples from my vacation in Georgia last week, I've been practically gorging myself on the delicious fruit. Thursday night I made an apple crumble that turned out so well that Carleton (the boys were over for supper) went back for thirds and finished the pan off. Tonight I baked a Mutsu for Gail and a Limbertwig for myself (I love, love, love the tartness of that apple), coring with a paring knife (I must get a proper corer sometime) and filling the cavity with light brown sugar, a pat of Kerrygold Irish butter, and a dash of cinnamon & nutmeg, then into a 400F oven until tender. After plating, I spooned the pan juices over and finished with a splash of Amaretto.

Thinking about a proper apple pie for the weekend. How nice it is to have good apples to eat that haven't been dipped in wax, placed in cold storage and shipped halfway 'round the globe!

My mother used to make a baked apple dish that was wickedly close to toffee. I have no idea of the proportions, but it went something like:

Peel and dice enough tart-flavoured cooking apples to form a layer over the bottom of a shallow casserole dish. Keep the apple pieces fairly chunky.
Sprinkle over it a generous handful of shelled walnuts (can be chopped or broken into LARGE pieces or used whole), and a generous amount of soft brown sugar.
Bake until the apple is soft, and the sugar has melted down and toasted the whole thing together into a gently toffee-ish agglomeration.
Eat it with vanilla ice cream or thick whipped cream.