Christmas time is almost here and every year around this time I basically turn myself into a five year old – as opposed to the rest of the year when I’m usually a 3-year old hahaha Just kidding… But seriously, Christmas is a very special time for me because it’s not only magical, but it’s also a great reminder for us to be kinder, more empathic, more understanding and more loving.
Melanie Thornton – Wonderful Dream (Holidays Are Coming)
The Holidays are also a time to remember traditions and to carve our own. While I have a few traditions that I made my own throughout the years – like watching Home Alone every year for example – I also honor a few traditions from my culture and my family that always make my heart glow.
The first one is making baked apples, which is a very easy but delicious desert. My parents usually made this for us throughout the entire season, but especially on the 6th of December, when St. Nicholas is being celebrated.
For those of you who don’t know, St. Nicholas also brings presents, especially for children, but they’re not as substantial as Santa’s, usually being focused around sweets and smaller items. Think stocking stuffers type of gifts. It’s a great tradition because it’s kinda like a warm-up for Christmas if you think about it haha
The second one is cooking stuffed sauerkraut cabbage rolls, which is a pretty extensive recipe – it takes around 4 hours from start to finish, but ohh-so-worth-it! But that’s a story for another day…
And now for the recipe! You’ll need 2 or 4 (or as many as you want to make) fresh apples. I like Golden Delicious the most, but you can use whatever type you’d like. Also crushed pecans/walnuts, raisins, cinnamon, brown sugar, rum and vanilla essence, grated orange peel.
Wash the apples well and carve out the top, where the stem is. Also take out the core with a knife and make a hole large enough to put the stuffing in.
In a bowl combine the crushed nuts (tip: if you can’t find crushed walnuts, buy halves and put them in a bag and crush them with a rolling pin – as illustrated in Figure 1.0 ) with sugar, raisins, cinnamon, rum & vanilla essence and orange peel. For a grown-up version, you can add red wine or bourbon.
Fill the apples with this medley. Put the stem part on top if you want. Arrange in a baking pan (preferably a terracota pot if you have any laying around) and bake them at 380F for about 20 minutes until they look golden brown and the peel starts to get wrinkly.
Figure 1.0
[This post contains video, click to play]
Baked Apples
Ingredients:
- 2 or 4 apples
- raisins
- cinnamon
- rum essence
- vanilla essence
- brown sugar
- grated/minced orange peel
- crushed nuts
Recipe:
- wash and core apples, while saving the top stem part
- combine sugar, raisins and the rest of the ingredients in a bowl
- add red wine or bourbon if you want an adult version
- fill apples with stuffing
- preheat oven to 380 degrees Fahrenheit
- bake for ~20 minutes
- enjoy while warm!
I was considering adding a 10 hour loop of WHAM! – “Last Christmas” to this post, but… then I realized that maaaaaaybe I’ll score some last minute karma points with Santa if I try to refrain from being naughty and not annoy you (that much).
So instead I put together a little gallery of beautiful images of my favorite cities around the world dressed for Christmas. Hope you enjoy the cheer!
Thank you for reading! Please share the joy
