FoCo Joe: Baked Apples
In case you live under a rock, fall is here. The streets are adorned with multicolored leaves, and Instagrams are radiating pure autumnal bliss. I kid you not, I have seen at least three captions riffing on the phrase “the apple of my eye.” Unfortunately, no amount of emoji creativity makes that pun original. But some basic treats, like baked apples, do deserve copious amounts of affection. Likes on my @focojoe Instagram will do…
How do you like them apples in FoCo? I am honestly wishy-washy. I find that the best apples out here are usually the red ones, but I am such a granny smith guy. Even on Rosh Hashanah, when apples and honey are delightedly consumed to honor the start of a sweet new year on the Jewish lunar calendar, I prefer the green ones. Despite this, most baked apples recipes call for a variation of a red apple, and I should be eating more red apples. This recipe is also a solid way to make the most out of softer apples. This dessert requires a moderate amount of labor, but the return of investment is disproportionately higher! Trust me.
Step 1: Grab a red apple and a plate and knife. Slice and peel apples. I find it is easier to peel individual slices of apple as compared to peeling the entire fruit before slicing. Most recipes I found in my two-second Google search recommend peeling the apples.
This is honestly the hardest part, and it really isn’t even that bad! For those of you nervous to work with a knife and a slippery apple slice, remember to always slice away from your body, and out of range of thumbs. These knives are unlikely to do serious damage to your fragile fingers, but FoCo should not be the place to form bad habits, right?
Step 2: Place apple slices in a bowl, and head over to the coffee and tea area. Add one or two spoonfuls of sugar. In my first iteration of this dessert, I added three. I enjoyed the final product a lot, though I later went back to my original recipe and found they had used three tablespoons’ worth of sugar for four apples, and I’m using only one.
Step 3: Add some Cinnamon Toast Crunch “crumbs” – the closest thing I could find to cinnamon, although I think sometimes there is actual cinnamon in FoCo. Mix the bowl contents together.
Step 4: Head over to the microwave on the light side. Place the bowl in the microwave and cook at high power for two minutes. You might not need that much time, depending on the size of your slices. When you start smelling burning sugar and cinnamon, you’ll know your creation is ready.
Step 5: The bowl will be hot when you take it out of the microwave. Give it a second, then head over to the ice cream area. I love caramel apples, so I added some caramel in mine. There was no vanilla (and the soft serve is still out of order!!!) so I added moose tracks.
My friends eagerly finished this dessert with me, and I even had get more ice cream because there wasn’t enough left for me. It was that good, and that easy!