This is one of those deceptively easy recipes – that took forever to figure out. Wanting to duplicate my mother’s hour-long oven baked apple down to every detail slowed the process down about a year.

I started with putting apples in ramekins, covering with reduced wine and steaming them – too much work and not there flavor-wise. I tried stuffing them, halving them vertically, halving them horizontally, only removing the top or bottom -nope, nope, nope. I was ready to give up when my husband who won’t eat a fresh apple to save his life but adores baked apples implored me to persevere.

Out of frustration and lack of time (my kids have an extra day of activities and I started an group dance class – it’s like line dancing but to Enrique Iglesias) I just cored and tossed the apples in the cooker with wine and sugar – whatever.

I gave up trying to keep the apples perfectly intact and making look them exactly as my mother had.

Baked apples are imperfect, and that’s OK. Some will hold their shape, some won’t, but they will all be tender, creamy and delicious.

Sometimes the only thing that keeps you from completing a task – is demanding a perfect outcome before getting started.

Playing with the recipe

I’ve tried this with several apple varieties – they all work. Some (the reds) have a tougher skin than others, and you can just break that up with your spoon and scoop the apple pulp out when eating. Seriously, just use what you’ve got and what you can get. This recipe isn’t picky.

Don’t have raisins? use any dried fruit. Got pumpkin pie spice? Use that instead of cinnamon. Want to add even more zing? Sprinkle a pinch of ginger powder. Don’t have red wine? Use white.

Don’t want to add sugar? Use your favorite sweetener (but add 1/2 cup of water to compensate for the lost “liquid” created by the sugar). Don’t want to add wine? Replace the wine and sugar with sweetened apple juice.

This is one of those “foundation recipes” that can’t go wrong – except for one thing. Do NOT rush to release pressure. Do the full natural release or you’ll end-up with a runny applesauce.

Experience.

Pressure Cooker Accessories Pr. Cook Time Pr. Level Open 3 L or larger none 10 min. High(2) Natural