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 |
(per serving)
- Serves: 6
- Serving size: 1 apple
- Calories: 188.7
- TOTAL Fat: 0.3mg
- TOTAL Carbs: 41.9g
- Sugar Carbs: 34.7g
- Sodium: 2.3mg
- Fiber Carbs: 3.8g
- Protein: 0.6g
- Cholesterol: 0.0mg
- 6 FRESH apples (see notes), cored
- ¼ cup (30g) raisins
- 1 cup (250ml) red wine
- ½ cup (100g) raw demerara sugar
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon powder
- Add the apples to the base of the pressure cooker.
- Pour in wine, sprinkle raisins, sugar and cinnamon powder.
- Close and lock the lid of the pressure cooker.
- For electric pressure cookers: Cook for 10 minutes at high pressure.
For stove top pressure cookers: Turn the heat up to high and when the cooker indicates it has reached high pressure, lower to the heat to maintain it and begin counting 10 minutes pressure cooking time. - When time is up, open the pressure cooker with the Natural release method - move the cooker off the burner and wait for the pressure to come down on its own (about 10 minutes). For electric pressure cookers, disengage the “keep warm” mode or unplug the cooker and open when the pressure indicator has gone down (20 to 30 minutes).
- Scoop out of the pressure cooker and serve in a small bowl with lots of cooking liquid.
One way to help apples hold their shape when “baking” — by any method — is to cut through the skin (ONLY the skin) around the “equator” of the fruit. As the flesh swells during cooking, the top and bottom halves of the skin can separate without deforming the overall shape.
THanks for the tip, Stuart!
Ciao,
L
Tried your recipe. After the pot had come to pressure I realized I had placed the apples on the steam rack. I’ve watched so many videos lately I guess I got ahead of myself. I decided to let it ride and see what happened. I had used white grape juice instead of wine and no sugar. When I opened it up after letting it release pressure the apples had pretty much cooked to mush. I removed the steam rack dumping the apples into the pot. I grabbed a potato masher and voilà applesauce. Tastes great. I let it cool then put it in a mason jar now I have a great topping for my oatmeal in the morning. I plan on giving it another go without the steam rack. Wish me luck!
I made this tonight and oh my it is delicious! I didn’t have demarca sugar so I substituted brown sugar. I have put this recipe in my Paprika app with 5 stars.
You deserve a parade for this recipe!
We had no wine on hand so I substituted sparkling apple grape juice, cranberries for the raisins, and brown sugar for the Demerara… and it turned out awesome! My five year old loves it and asked me when we’ll be making it again… Yum!!
Excellent recipe. Everyone loved it. Used gourmet raisins, but followed recipe exactly. Thanks for your hard work developing the recipe and for sharing it!
which red wine do you suggest: cabernet, merlot, blend, etc?