Hot, spiced apples done in this way are a real treat forme.  Quick to prepare and easy to apportion, they taste just wonderful with some pouring cream or good custard –even with vanilla or cinnamon icecream. Just the thing to use up all those bits of dried fruit and mixed spice left over from making the Christmas cake!

4 good sized cooking apples

2 handfuls sultanas

Half a teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon mixed spice

60g butter, melted

4 tbsp soft light brown sugar

1) Wash and core the apples. Score the skin once around the apples’ waists to stop them from exploding in the oven.

2) Mix together the other ingredients.  Sit the apples in an oven dish which holds them comfortably.  Using a narrow teaspoon, stuff the mixture into the core cavities of the apples, piling any excess on top so that it doesn’t fall into the dish.  Drizzle any juices over the apples. 

3) Cover the dish with foil and bake in the oven at 180 centigrade, 160 fan for 35 minutes, then take off the foil and baste the apples with any juices in the dish.  Return to the oven and finish off for another 10 to 15 minutes, by which time the fruit will be wonderfully fluffy and very, very hot!

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