Slow Cooker Baked Apples

Columbus Day weekend brings David and Karen and the children up from Montpelier. Teddy is eight, Anna five, James two and a half — the last at the age where everything is either fascinating or terrifying and there is no in-between. We drove out to Shelburne Orchards on Saturday and picked the Macouns. Teddy picked with focus and efficiency. Anna picked with enthusiasm and ate approximately one apple for every two she collected. James picked one apple, sat down in the grass, and examined it for twenty minutes, which may mean he is a philosopher.

Helen made cider doughnuts when we got home. She has done this every October for as long as I can remember — the recipe is her mother's, with nutmeg and cinnamon and a splash of real cider in the batter. The oil goes on the stove, the doughnuts drop in, and within four minutes the kitchen smells like autumn distilled into something edible. James ate half of one and fell asleep. Smart boy. He knows when perfection has been achieved.

I have been teaching myself not to comment on how fast the grandchildren are growing. It is an easy thing to say and it means nothing, and I learned in thirty-eight years of teaching that a sentence that means nothing is a sentence that should not exist. What I can say is that Teddy is starting to look watchful. He stands at the edge of things and observes before he participates, the way I did at his age, the way his father did at his age. I do not know if that is nature or Bergstrom conditioning. Probably both.

David helped me split wood in the afternoon after the children were asleep and Helen and Karen were at the kitchen table with wine and the low talk that means they are saying things that do not need to be shared with husbands. The woodpile exists at the intersection of arithmetic and anxiety: you need a certain number of cords to get through a Vermont winter, and if the number is wrong there is no correcting it in February. David is a good splitter. Better than I give him credit for.

They drove back to Montpelier Sunday afternoon. The house settled back into itself. Frost ate the last of the cider doughnut that James left on his plate. Nobody commented on this. Some things are better left unaddressed.

Helen’s cider doughnuts are hers and I would not attempt to replicate them — the recipe belongs to her mother and to October and to the particular alchemy of that kitchen. But the Macouns we hauled home from Shelburne were plentiful, and after the family drove back to Montpelier on Sunday I found myself wanting to do something quiet and unhurried with the last of them. Slow cooker baked apples ask very little of you: you core them, fill them, set them going, and let the afternoon do the rest — which felt exactly right for the kind of Sunday that follows a full and good weekend.

Prep Time: 15 minutes | Cook Time: 3 hours 30 minutes | Total Time: 3 hours 45 minutes | Servings: 6

Ingredients

6 medium baking apples (Macoun, Honeycrisp, or Rome Beauty work well)
1/3 cup packed light brown sugar
1/2 cup old-fashioned rolled oats
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/8 teaspoon ground allspice
Pinch of salt
1/2 cup fresh apple cider (or water)
Vanilla ice cream or whipped cream, for serving (optional)

Instructions

Core the apples. Using an apple corer or a small sharp knife, remove the core of each apple from the top, leaving the bottom 1/2 inch intact so the filling stays in place. Peel a thin strip around the top of each apple to prevent splitting.
Make the filling. In a small bowl, combine the brown sugar, oats, softened butter, cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice, and salt. Mix with a fork until the mixture is crumbly and well combined.
Fill the apples. Spoon the oat filling evenly into the cavity of each apple, pressing gently to pack it in. Mound any remaining filling on top.
Arrange in the slow cooker. Pour the apple cider into the bottom of a 6-quart slow cooker. Stand the filled apples upright in the cider. If they tip, nestle them against each other or the sides of the insert.
Cook low and slow. Cover and cook on LOW for 3 to 4 hours, until the apples are tender when pierced with a knife but still hold their shape. Cooking time will vary slightly depending on the size and variety of apple.
Serve warm. Carefully transfer the apples to serving bowls using a large spoon. Spoon some of the warm cider liquid from the bottom of the slow cooker over each apple. Serve as-is or topped with a scoop of vanilla ice cream or a dollop of whipped cream.

Nutrition (per serving)

Slow Cooker Baked Apples — The Macouns We Brought Home from Shelburne