At a recent advent’s market in Germany I was treated to some seriously good boscoop apples baked above an open fire. They were served with raisins either soaked in rum or apple-juice (the kid friendly version). I went for the rum and raisins option – hey – it was freezing outside and a girl needs to keep warm! Baking apples in the oven is an age-old recipe. Long forgotten but really worth the while since it is so easy and delicious. You can also make these plain and roast them for 30 minutes in the oven alongside a roast pork dish.

Here though is the advent version.

The Belle de Boscoop apple. An old chance cultivar  (1854) from Boscoop in the Netherlands- one of the best cooking apples if you can find them

Ingredients

6 belle de boscoop apples

100 gr. almonds

100 gr. hazelnuts

100 gr. walnuts

150 gr. sultanas or raisins

120 ml rum or port or apple juice

Method

Pre-heat the oven to 180 degrees centigrade. With a sharp kitchen knife chop the nuts into small pieces. Put them into a bowl together with the raisins or sultanas and add the liquid of your choice. Cut the core out of the apples leaving a central well in which to place the nuts and raisins. Cover a baking tray with some baking paper and put the cut apples on top. Fill the central well of the apples with the nuts and raisins. Cover the baking tray with some aluminium foil. After 20 minutes of baking check with a knife to see how well they are done. If hard still leave them in for a further five minutes – but not much longer. If left too long the skins splits and the flesh oozes out into a big gooey mess. Still tastes great – but can be harder to place on a plate or bowl.

An alternative recipe is to bake the apples with the core removed and fill the well with the rum (or apple juice), raisins and nuts raw. This is how I ate it on the advent’s market.

They taste delicious served with either some custard or cream.