One of my childhood favorites was mom making these baked apples during the peak of apple season.

Today they are much easier since you can use store-bought pie crust instead of making it from scratch, however, if you have a great pie crust recipe, by all means, use it.

This dessert is delicious and served warm out of the oven or with a scoop of vanilla bean ice cream.

Baked apples with pastry dough recipe via @Whats Cookin Italian Style Cuisine.comPhoto byClaudia Lamascolo

Recipe for Baked Apples

• 4 medium-sized apples (such as Mcintosh or Rome, Cortland, Granny Smith or Honeycrisp)
• 1/2 cup dark brown sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/4 cup chopped nuts or toasted pumpkin seeds for nut allergies (such as walnuts or pecans)
• 2 tablespoons salted butter, softened
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 3 tablespoons of lemon zest with 1 teaspoon of zest
• Mix all the above in a bowl and set this aside.

Dough:

2 sheets of store-bought pie crust (or use frozen puff pastry)

Directions:

1. Using an apple corer clean out the middles of each apple leaving the bottoms intact.
2. Make the filling, and stuff the apples.
3. Wrap the apples with dough and completely wrap each apple.
4. Place on a parchment-lined baking sheet and prick each one with fork tines.
5. Bake at 375 degrees preheated oven for 40 to 45 minutes or until the apples are soft using a cake tester or wooden kabob to see if it goes through easily.
6. Serve warm with ice cream or whipped cream.

More Apple Recipes:

Apple Pie

Apple Brownies