Comfort foods come in many packages. For some, it’s a cheesy hamburger and a bag of fries. For me, it’s warm cinnamon oatmeal baked into a juicy fall apple.

Do you still have some leftover apples that didn’t make it into your Thanksgiving pies? Don’t worry, I do too! Of course I couldn’t just let them go to waste. Therefore, the only thing I could do was to make one of my favorite comfort foods, Oatmeal Stuffed Baked Apples! 

These warm cinnamon laced apples are just what my body craves after the food menagerie known as Thanksgiving. After the third day of eating turkey leftovers and pie, my body is screaming for something that’s not so rich or sickeningly sweet. The humble baked apple is the perfect way to get back on the healthy eating train without sending it into shock. You have satiating fiber from the fresh apple and oats but at the same time a little sweetness to wean you off the copious amounts of sugar you just consumed those past few days. It gives my body what it craves while giving my brain a slight dopamine hit, just enough to not go for that sixth slice of pie. In my eyes, that’s definitely a win.

Oatmeal Stuffed Baked Apples 

2 Baking Apples cleaned and cored

¼ cup rolled oats

1 TBSP light brown sugar

1 tsp ground cinnamon

¼ tsp kosher salt

4 tsp salted butter

¼ cup apple cider

Preheat your oven to 350.

In a small bowl, mix the dry ingredients and put aside. 

Clean and core your apples with an apple corer.

With a paring knife, skin and level the top of the apple to make a smooth flat surface.   

In a small casserole dish, place your cleaned and cored apples. Stuff each apple with a teaspoon of butter and subsequently the dry mixture of oats and sugar.

Pack the dry ingredients tightly inside the cored apple until it is heaping out of the apples; you should have enough mixture for both apples. Press down on the tops of the apples to make sure the overflow is adhered to the apples.

Top each apple with the remaining butter and pour the apple cider in the bottom of the casserole dish.

Tent the apples with foil and bake for 35-40 minutes, occasionally spooning hot cider over the apples to cook the oats. The apples are done when they can easily be pierced with a knife without much resistance.

Serve warm with vanilla Greek yogurt or my favorite ice cream, specifically cinnamon ice cream. 

*Notes:

Some of my favorite baking apples that I use when making this recipe are McIntosh, Granny Smith, Honeycrisp and Cortland. Depending on the type of apple you make, you may have to adjust the baking time. It’s best to start checking the apple for doneness after 35 minutes. It will either take only 35 minutes or it could be longer than 45 minutes, the maximum baking time listed. 

The recipe works best if you leave the apples whole but in years past I have cored the apples by slicing them in half first. It’s a little less put together but no less delicious.