Recipe: The Humble Baked Apple

I am going to skip photos of the finished product on this one - as photos of baked apples are, well, wrinkly and bland looking.

But, the taste. The TASTE is where it is AT!

My mom used to make these and the smell that filled up the house was everything you would want from an apple pie - but without all of that pie crust madness.

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Pick out three large apples that are meant for cooking. Here's a good list.

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.

Start a simple syrup in a saucepan. Put 1/3 cup of sugar in 1/2 cup of water. Bring to a boil, stir and set aside. You can add a little cinnamon here, if you like.

Core the apples and peel the top thirds of each. Place in a shallow baking dish and pour the simple syrup over them. Cover with foil and place in the oven. Check every-so-often and 'baste' them with the syrup by spooning it over them.

Bake for 30-40 minutes. You'll want the apples to be easily pricked with a fork, but not mushy. In a greedy rush the other evening, I didn't let them bake enough. Don't do this. They suck if they are too firm.

Serve with cream or vanilla ice cream - or (I haven't tried this yet - and don't know what is taking me so long - as it is a no-brainer) with a very small drizzling of caramel or Stonewall Kitchen's Dulce de Leche.