Can you believe that autumn is almost here? Up until last week, I couldn't believe it, since we were still having afternoons in the upper 80s here in North Carolina. But over the past few days, the temperature has dramatically "autumn-ized" and I love it. The weather is cool, the wind is crisp and the sky is gray - my favorite combination! I'm only hoping that we can keep this autumn weather for a bit longer - here in North Carolina, autumn often lasts for a whole 4 days before turning into hardcore winter.
To get myself into the mood for autumn, I've been having lots of chai tea and adding cinnamon to everything I can. There's just something about certain smells that totally remind me of autumn. For instance, baked apples are the essence of fall, right? I knew that in order to call on fall to come as quickly as possible, I'd have to share a recipe for delicious baked apples. So here it is.
 Before baking . . . |  . . . and after baking |
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Easy Baked Apples for Autumn
(makes 3 small servings)
Ingredients:
Directions:
(makes 3 small servings)
Ingredients:
- 2 large apples (such as honeycrisp, fuji or gala)
- 1/4 cup of maple syrup
- 1 tablespoon of brown sugar (+ more for sprinkling later)
- 1 teaspoon of cinnamon (+ more for sprinkling later)
- a small dash of nutmeg
Directions:
- Preheat the oven to 350˚F.
- Cut the apples into thin slices and place them in a large, oven-safe bowl with a cover.
- Heat up the maple syrup in a microwave for about 40 seconds. Then stir in the brown sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg.
- Pour the sugary solution over the apples in the bowl. Sprinkle a few more dashes of brown sugar and cinnamon on the top.
- Cover the bowl and bake the apples for 30 minutes. Once they're done, serve the apples while they're still warm.
