Moroccan Baked Apples with Dates and Walnuts
Moroccan cooks stew fruit with warm spice all the time, in tagines and on their own, and this baked apple borrows that idea for a dessert with no added sugar. The apples soften around a filling of dates, walnuts, and raisins, sweetened entirely by the dried fruit and scented with ras el hanout, cinnamon, and orange. A splash of orange juice in the dish steams them tender and cooks down into a syrup for spooning over. There is no butter and no oil; the small amount of walnut is the only fat, and it is there for texture. Serve them warm or cold.
Ingredients
- 4 wholes Apples, cored
- 4 wholes Medjool dates, pitted and chopped
- 1/4 cup Walnuts, chopped
- 2 tbsp Raisins
- 1/2 tsp Ras el hanout
- 1/2 tsp cassia cinnamon, ground
- 1 whole Oranges, zested and juiced
Method
- Heat the oven to 375 F (190 C). Core each apple from the top, leaving the bottom intact so it holds the filling, and run a knife shallowly around the middle of each. That scored line gives the skin somewhere to split as the apple swells, so it softens evenly instead of bursting.
- Mix the dates, walnuts, raisins, ras el hanout, cinnamon, and orange zest into a rough paste. The chopped dates are the binder and the sweetener at once, so no sugar is needed, and the ras el hanout is what pulls the dish toward Morocco, its warmth of cinnamon, ginger, and rosebud sitting right at home with baked fruit.
- Pack the filling into the cored apples and stand them in a small baking dish. Pour the orange juice and 0.25 cup (60 ml) water around them. That shallow pool of juice steams up around the apples and keeps them from drying, then reduces into a syrup you can spoon over at the end.
- Bake, basting once or twice with the juices, until the apples are completely tender and the filling is bubbling, 35 to 40 minutes. Baste so the exposed tops glaze rather than dry out, and test with a knife tip: it should slide in with no resistance.
- Let them settle for 10 minutes, then serve warm with the pan syrup spooned over. They are as good cold the next day, which makes them worth baking ahead.
Nutrition
Estimated per serving: 220 calories, 3 g protein, 6 g fiber, 5 mg sodium. Computed from USDA FoodData Central reference values for the main ingredients. This is an approximation, not a laboratory measurement. How these are computed.
Cost per serving is estimated from US national-average retail prices for cheap staple forms, using BLS dried-bean prices and USDA produce prices. Prices vary by store and season, so treat it as a guide, not a receipt. How this is computed.
