Baked Apples With Raisins And Ginger For Full GAPS

These baked apples have raisins and a little ginger tucked under their own apple tops. Homemade butter melts into the filling as they bake, while fresh-pressed apple juice and honey collect in the dish for basting. Lift a cap and you have soft apple flesh, moist raisins, and warm juices to spoon over the top.

The apples stay whole, with the bottom left intact when you remove the core. A narrow ring of peel comes off around the top. Keep those little caps beside their apples as you work, then put them back on before baking.

With six children, homeschooling, and second-shift work, I appreciate knowing which preparations belong together. Here, the fresh-pressed apple juice and homemade butter are separate kitchen jobs. Have them ready before you start hollowing the fruit, and the rest of the recipe is coring, filling, and baking.

This batch makes six filled apples. Serve them warm in bowls, with some of the pan juices and an optional spoonful of homemade 24-hour sour cream. The ginger is a small addition to the whole batch, so measure it before dividing the filling.

Where This Fits On GAPS

These whole, skin-on apples with raisins, honey, butter, and fresh juice are a Full GAPS fruit dish after the ingredients have been introduced. Keep them with your fruit snacks or occasional desserts, and serve an amount that fits your own stage of eating.

Use plain raisins without added sugar, starch, sorbates, or sulphites. Choose natural honey and pure ground ginger. The juice is freshly pressed from apples, with no added water or sweetener. Our linked juice preparation makes a variable amount, so measure the cup needed here.

The fruit-and-fat preparation can fit More-Plant GAPS after introduction. Butter is part of this particular filling; the optional cultured cream is added at serving after that dairy food has been introduced. The apples contain no eggs or nuts.

The Stage 5 Intro apple preparation is peeled, stewed apple purée with fat. These whole apples, skins, raisins, and juice are a different preparation. For that earlier texture, use the stage’s peeled purée directions rather than changing this filled-apple recipe halfway through.

Ingredients

• 6 large baking apples
• 3 lemon wedges
• 1/3 cup plain raisins
• 1/8 teaspoon pure ground ginger
• 4 teaspoons natural honey, divided between the apples and pan juice
• 1 1/2 tablespoons homemade butter
• 1 cup fresh-pressed apple juice
• Homemade 24-hour sour cream, optional, sweetened with honey to taste at serving
• Pure ground cinnamon, optional, for dusting

Apples: Cortland, Honeycrisp, or Empire are options for this baked preparation. Choose similar-sized fruit so you can check the apples together. They need enough room to stand upright in the baking dish.

Raisins and ginger: The third cup of raisins and eighth teaspoon of ginger are for all six apples. Share them among the hollows. The raisins soften in the moist filling, while the ginger adds a small amount of warm spice.

Honey: Measure four teaspoons for the apples and cooking liquid. Half a teaspoon goes into each apple, using three teaspoons altogether. The remaining teaspoon goes into the cup of juice. Any honey used to sweeten the optional sour cream is an additional, unmeasured serving choice.

Butter and juice: Cut the tablespoon and a half of homemade butter into six pieces. Each apple gets one piece. The fresh juice goes around the apples in the dish, where you can reach it with a spoon for basting.

Lemon: Rub the cut apple surfaces with the wedges and squeeze a little juice into each hollow. The wedges and a few reserved peel pieces also go into the baking dish.

How To Make Baked Apples With Raisins And Ginger

1. Heat the oven to 375°F. Line an 8 × 11-inch oven-safe glass baking dish with parchment paper.
2. Cut a small cap from each apple and set it aside. Remove the core with a paring knife or apple corer, keeping the bottom intact. Remove the seeds and firm core from the hollow.
3. Trim away a ring of peel about 1/2 inch wide around each apple’s top and reserve the peel. Rub the exposed flesh with the lemon wedges, then squeeze a little lemon juice into the hollows.
4. Divide the raisins and ginger equally among the six apples, pressing the raisins down lightly as needed. Add 1/2 teaspoon of the measured honey to each hollow. Cut the butter into six pieces and put one piece on each filling.
5. Replace the apple caps. Stand the apples upright in the lined dish, adding the lemon wedges and a few reserved peel pieces around them. Stir the remaining 1 teaspoon honey into the fresh-pressed juice and add it around the apples.
6. Bake for about 50–70 minutes, basting occasionally with the pan liquid. Check early and continue until a knife or skewer slides into the apple flesh with little resistance. The apples may need less or more time, depending on size and firmness.
7. Let the apples cool for at least 15 minutes. Support each one from underneath with a broad serving spoon and lift it into a bowl with some of the pan juices.
8. Add a dusting of cinnamon and homemade 24-hour sour cream if desired. Sweeten the cream with a little additional honey to taste at serving.

An apple corer can help, but stop before it cuts through the base. A paring knife also works for removing the core in smaller pieces. You want a hollow for the raisins, with apple flesh underneath to hold the filling.

Keep the peel trimming narrow. Most of the skin stays on. The exposed ring and filled center give you useful places to look as the fruit softens, but test the apple flesh itself before deciding it is done.

As the apples bake, the butter melts and the raisins become moist. The pan liquid takes on apple juices and honey. Use that liquid for the occasional basting, and expect the smell of warm apple with a little ginger as you open the oven.

The finished flesh should yield to the knife rather than feel firm beneath the skin. Some apples wrinkle or split as they soften. A cap sitting slightly lower is not the same as a tenderness test; check the fruit before taking the dish out.

Allow 50–70 minutes for baking and at least 15 minutes for cooling, plus your coring and filling time. The card allows the longer 70-minute bake and 15-minute cooling period, or 85 minutes before preparation time. Start checking early.

Serving And Storage

Use bowls so the apple and its juices stay together. Lift each apple from underneath instead of pulling on its cap. Once the flesh is very soft, the skin may not hold the whole fruit together while you move it.

Spoon the warm juice around the apple and into its center. Add the cultured sour cream after the cooling period. It gives you a cool, creamy spoonful alongside the warm fruit, with the cinnamon dusted over the top if you like.

Refrigerate leftovers covered within two hours and use within three to four days, or freeze for longer storage. Keep the pan juices with the apples and the cultured topping separate. Individual portions make it easier to reheat only what you need.

Reheat the apples with their juices in a covered oven-safe dish until hot through. Add the sour cream afterward. Handle reheated apples with the same broad spoon, since their already-soft flesh can break apart when lifted.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I Use An Apple Corer?

Yes. Stop short of the bottom so the filling has a base. If your corer is designed to push straight through the fruit, use a paring knife to finish the hollow instead.

How Much Honey Goes Into The Juice?

One teaspoon for this batch. The other three teaspoons are shared among the apples, half a teaspoon each. Measure the four teaspoons first so you can keep the filling and basting liquid amounts straight.

Can I Use Apple Cider Vinegar?

No. This recipe needs fresh-pressed apple juice. Apple cider vinegar is a different ingredient and would change the flavor and cooking liquid. Make the linked plain juice first, then measure one cup.

What Changes When I Double The Recipe?

The 2× card gives 12 apples, six lemon wedges, 2/3 cup raisins, 1/4 teaspoon ginger, eight teaspoons honey, three tablespoons butter, and two cups juice. Use two suitable dishes and share the apples between them. Keep the temperature at 375°F and check tenderness rather than doubling the baking time.

Do I Have To Add Sour Cream?

No. The apples are complete with the filling and warm pan juices. The cultured cream and dusting of cinnamon are optional serving finishes. If using cream, add it after cooling the fruit.

Recommended Equipment

Use an 8 × 11-inch oven-safe glass baking dish with parchment paper, a paring knife or apple corer, measuring spoons and cup, and a spoon for basting. A knife or skewer checks the cooked flesh, and a broad serving spoon supports the apples.

You do not need another appliance to bake them. Prepare the linked butter, juice, and optional cultured cream separately with their own equipment and instructions before starting this recipe.

Related Recipes

For a simpler filling, try baked apples with homemade butter. Slow cooker baked apples with raisins use a different filling and a six-hour LOW method.

The plain apple juice, homemade butter, and Luvele 24-hour sour cream each have their own complete recipe to use when preparing the components.

More Sweet GAPS Snacks

My upcoming Sweet Snack Recipe Card Deck will be in the WFLI shop. Keep it alongside the individual recipes when you want more fruit and other sweet snack ideas for your GAPS kitchen.