Baked Apples With Bacon Streusel And Maple Cream Food

BAKED APPLES

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 375°F (191°C).
• Using a handheld or stand mixer with a paddle attachment, or simply using a fork or spoon, beat/mash the butter, sugar, cinnamon, and nutmeg together until combined. Stir in the oats, then the raisins/dried cranberries/nuts, if using. Set aside.
• This can be tricky, but I recommend using a sharp paring knife and a spoon. (Or an apple corer.) I find cookie scoops can easily break or crack the apples. Using a sharp paring knife, cut around the core, about halfway or 3/4 down into the apple. Use a spoon to carefully dig out the core. Takes a bit of patience and arm muscle. Once the core is out, use a spoon to dig out any more seeds.
• Place cored apples in an 8-inch or 9-inch baking pan, cake pan, or pie dish. Spoon filling into each apple, filling all the way to the top. Pour warm water into the pan around the apples. The water helps prevent the apples from drying out and burning.
• Bake for 40-45 minutes or until apples appear slightly soft. Bake longer for softer, mushier baked apples. The time depends on how firm your apples were and how soft you want them to be.
• Remove apples from the oven and, if desired, baste the outside of the apples with juices from the pan. This adds a little moisture to the skin, but it's completely optional.
• Serve warm with salted caramel, whipped cream, or ice cream. Cover and store leftovers in the refrigerator for up to 2 days.

CARAMELIZED MAPLE APPLE PIE WITH CANDIED BACON CRUMBLE

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Place bacon on a baking sheet and sprinkle 1 tablespoon brown sugar over the top.
• Bake in the preheated oven until crisp, 10 to 20 minutes.
• Line a 9-inch springform pan with pie crust pastry; refrigerate.
• Combine apples and lemon juice in a bowl and toss to coat.
• Melt 1/4 cup butter in a large skillet over medium-low heat; add maple syrup and 1/3 cup brown sugar. Bring to a boil, lower heat, and simmer until mixture is reduced by half, about 5 minutes. Carefully add apples and stir well to coat. Cook until apples just start to soften and get a bit of color on them, about 5 minutes. Return the apples to the bowl leaving behind the sweet syrup.
• Stir vinegar into sweet syrup; simmer until syrup is reduced and consistency of maple syrup, about 5 minutes. Carefully pour syrup over the apples. Cool for 10 minutes.
• Combine flour, 1/4 cup brown sugar, 1/4 cup unsalted butter, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt in a food processor; pulse until crumbly. Break bacon into pieces, add to food processor, and pulse until combined with the crumble.
• Tip apples into the pie crust in the springform pan. Fold dough over part of the apple filling to form an edge. Crimp the edges between your fingers. Top the apple filling with the crumble. Brush crust with cream and top with white sugar.
• Bake pie in the preheated oven until the juices bubble and the crust is deeply golden, about 1 hour. If the crust starts to brown too quickly turn the oven down to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).

APPLE BACON CREPES WITH MAPLE CREAM CHEESE FROSTING

Steps:

• For the frosting: Beat together the butter, cream cheese, confectioners' sugar and maple syrup in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment (or use a hand mixer) until smooth and creamy.
• For the apple-bacon filling: Cook the bacon in a medium skillet over medium heat until the fat renders out and the bacon becomes crispy. Scoop out the bacon and place on a paper-towel-lined plate. Add the apples to the bacon fat and cook over medium heat until the apples are tender, 10 to 15 minutes. Add the maple syrup and cinnamon and cook until sticky and caramelized, 1 to 2 minutes more. Remove from the heat and set aside.
• For the crepe batter: Whisk together the cake mix, milk, egg and egg white in a large bowl until smooth. Heat a 10-inch nonstick skillet and spray liberally with nonstick cooking spray. Ladle about 3 ounces of batter into the pan and cook over medium heat until the bottom starts to brown and the top of the crepe begins to bubble, 1 to 2 minutes. Work around the edge of the crepe with a rubber spatula to begin to release it from the pan. Gently flip the crepe over, spraying more nonstick spray as needed. Cook until golden brown and cooked through, 30 seconds to 1 minute longer. Remove the crepe and place on a serving dish. Repeat with the remaining batter.
• To assemble: Spread the filling generously over half of each crepe and top with a few tablespoons of bacon. Fold the tops of the crepe over and sprinkle with confectioners' sugar. Sprinkle additional bacon on top if desired.

APPLE-BACON COFFEE CAKE WITH BROWN BUTTER STREUSEL

Steps:

• Brown Butter Streusel: Cook butter in medium saucepan over medium heat until melted. Once melted, stir often until butter begins to brown and smell nutty, about 5 minutes. Remove from heat and add in pecans, sugar, cinnamon, and flour. Cool and reserve.
• Cake: Heat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a 9x13-inch baking pan.
• Whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, salt, and sugar in large bowl.
• Stir in melted butter, sour cream, milk, eggs, vanilla, and apples until smooth. Pour into prepared pan.
• Sprinkle bacon on top of batter, followed by streusel.
• Place pan in oven and bake for 30 to 45 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

BAKED APPLES AND BACON

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.
• Arrange the bacon on a sheet tray, sprinkle with some of the thyme and bake until crispy, about 12 to 15 minutes.
• Slice the apples horizontally to create 5 to 6 cross sections of the apple. On a separate sheet tray lined with a silpat or parchment paper lay the apples out in a single layer and drizzle with a little olive oil. Sprinkle a little sugar and thyme on each slice then bake in the oven until the apples begin to dehydrate and sugar has melted and caramelized, about 8 to 10 minutes
• To serve, lay the apple and bacon slices, alternating, in a long overlapping line on a serving platter. Or, break the bacon pieces in half and reassemble the apple slices back together, placing crispy bacon pieces in between each slice. Garnish with arugula and serve.

BAKED APPLES

Steps:

• Ask a grown-up to turn the oven on to 200C/180C fan/ gas 6. Sit each apple on the worktop and push the apple corer into the centre of each one (or ask a grown-up to do this for you).
• Mix the sultanas, muscovado sugar and cinnamon together in a bowl.
• Stand up the apples, side by side, in a baking dish. Using your fingers, push a little bit of the sultana mixture into each apple, using up all the mixture between them.
• Add a blob of butter to the top of each and sprinkle over the demerara sugar. Ask a grown-up to put the dish in the oven for 20 mins or until the apples are cooked through.