Recently my mother-in-law visited my husband and I from the North Carolina Mountains. She came with quite a surprise—over fifty two apples fresh from the farmer’s market.

I felt so fortunate, as if a fall festival with the freshest apple stands had come to my living room.

She told us to share with family and friends, which we promptly did. And then there were 24 apples remaining.

We made a wonderful apple pie, apple cobbler, and apple slices with caramel dip. And then there were 10 apples remaining.

I loved the apples, but the thought of peeling another apple was rather unappealing. It was at that moment that I remembered an old favorite recipe (part of it at least) with baked apples that left the peel on. I knew had the main ingredient—apples. Ten, to be exact.

I also remembered there was cinnamon involved, but I couldn’t remember the rest. So I opened up my pantry, found raisons and brown sugar. I opened up my fridge and found some butter. The result became Stove Stop Apples with cinnamon, raisons, brown sugar, and a little dab of butter.

I am not sure if this is the exact recipe I had growing up, but it was so delicious that I can’t wait to share it with my nieces!

Stove Top Apples Recipe

Ingredients:

- Four to Six of your favorite apples, washed, but not peeled

- 4 teaspoons Cinnamon

- 3 tablespoons of brown sugar (more or less depending on how large your apples are)

- 4 Boxes of Raisons

- Butter (optional)

Steps:

1. Core each apple (you can use a small knife if you don’t have a corer)

2. Fill a sauce pan with a cup of water (enough to cover apples about halfway)

3. Fill each apple with a combination of raisons, brown sugar, and cinnamon, in whatever order you’d like. Use as much or as little of these ingredients as you want. A little cinnamon goes a long way!

4. Simmer the apples in the water for 10-12 minutes or until they become nice and soft.

5. This recipe is perfect for kids to help out with.

Additional Tips for this Recipe:

This is perfect way to get fruit in your child’s diet without them realizing it—you can go easy on or eliminate the butter if you prefer. It’s great to serve as a dessert or an after school snack.

The core “hole” can be just enough to add a little cinnamon, sugar, etc. However, you can make it as small or large as you like. If you’d like to add more raisons, make the hole larger, and stuff them in!

If you have leftover raisons, make a ‘presentation’ by placing the cooked apple on a plate surrounded by a circle of raisons.

For a fun rainy day cooking activity, let your kids become the chef as they decide which ingredients to put in the apples before cooking. If you are worried that might end in disaster, have five or six choices for them to choose from. For example, try adding a scoop of their favorite jelly, blueberries, raspberries, etc.

I know it sounds like funny combinations, but from my experience, funny equals “really cool” when it comes to recipes for kids.

This recipe works great alone as well—forget all the ingredients expect the apples, core them, and simmer away!

Enjoy your Stove Top Apples! I can’t wait to see what other delicious surprises my mother-in-law brings on her next visit.