Crockpot Cinnamon Baked Apples
Whole apples stuffed with brown sugar, oats, pecans and cinnamon, slow-cooked in cider until tender. Like apple pie without the crust.
- Crockpot
- Slow cooker
- No meat
- Dessert
- 200 min total
- Serves 6
Ingredients
Ingredients for servings
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Original recipe serves 6. Ingredient amounts adjust automatically. Cooking times and pan size may need adjusting separately.
- 6 apples, firm baking apples like Honeycrisp, Granny Smith or Braeburn
- 1/3 cup brown sugar, packed
- 1/3 cup old-fashioned oats
- 1/3 cup pecans, chopped
- 3 tbsp butter, softened
- 1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
- 1 pinch kosher salt
- 2/3 cup apple cider, or apple juice
- vanilla ice cream, to serve, or whipped cream
Gear
- Slow cooker, 6 quart
- Apple corer or paring knife
- Small bowl and fork
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Steps
Step 1: Core the apples with an apple corer or a small knife, leaving the bottom half-inch intact so the filling stays in. Make the hole about 1 inch wide. Peel a thin strip of skin from around the top of each apple.
Step 2: Mix the brown sugar, oats, pecans, butter, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt with a fork until crumbly.
Step 3: Pack the filling into each apple, mounding any extra on top.
Step 4: Pour the cider into the slow cooker and stand the apples up in it.
Step 5: Cover and cook on Low 3 to 3.5 hours, until a knife slides easily into the apples but they still hold their shape.
Step 6: Serve warm with ice cream, and spoon the cider sauce from the bottom of the pot over the top.
Swaps
- Nuts: Walnuts, or skip nuts and add raisins or dried cranberries.
- Oats: Crushed graham crackers or granola.
- Cider: Water with a squeeze of lemon if that’s all you’ve got.
Tips
- Peeling a ring of skin around the top keeps the apples from splitting as they soften.
- Leave a little apple at the bottom of the core so the filling doesn’t fall out.
- Leftovers are great chopped up over oatmeal in the morning.
The story
HAM Cooking. Let’s fire it up.
This is for the person who loves apple pie but has no interest in rolling out a pie crust. That’s most of us.
The trick is picking the right apple. Apples are mostly water, held together by a natural glue called pectin. Some varieties have sturdy cell walls that keep their shape when cooked. Others fall apart into mush. Firm baking apples like Honeycrisp, Granny Smith or Braeburn stay in one piece while the inside goes soft and tender. Softer eating apples turn into applesauce, which is delicious, just not what we’re making here.
Peeling a strip around the top is a little trick that matters. As the apple heats, steam builds inside and the skin wants to split. Giving it a little release valve keeps it looking nice.
The cider at the bottom slowly turns into a light, cinnamon-spiced syrup as the butter and sugar from the filling drip down. Spoon that over everything.
Warm apple, cold ice cream, and nobody had to touch a rolling pin.
HAM out.
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