I grew up in the Pacific Northwest where it seemed like just about everyone had apple trees in their backyard. We had so many apples that we had to find different ways to use them up. This dish was always our go-to since it’s an easy way to transform an apple into something fun and particularly tasty with a scoop of ice cream on the side. The fan-like slicing technique known as Hasselback famously creates lots of surface area perfect for trapping sweet cinnamon sugar that caramelizes deliciously during baking. You can easily double this recipe to serve 4; just use a medium baking dish and adjust the cooking time as needed.
| Level: | Easy |
| Total: | 45 min |
| Active: | 20 min |
| Yield: | 2 servings |
Ingredients
- 1 large apple (any variety), peeled, cored and halved lengthwise
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
- 2 tablespoons sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- Vanilla ice cream, for serving
Instructions
- Place a rack in the center of the oven and preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Line a small baking dish with parchment paper.
- Place an apple half rounded-side up on a cutting board. Starting at the outermost edge, slice down most of the way (but not all the way) through each half at 1/8-inch intervals, creating fan-like slices all the way across the apple. You can place wooden chopsticks on each side of the apple to act as guardrails to make sure your knife doesn’t cut all the way through.
- Arrange the sliced apple halves flat side-down in the prepared baking dish. Use a pastry brush to baste the bottoms, tops and between the slices of the apples with the melted butter. In a small bowl, combine the sugar and cinnamon and sprinkle all over the apples and into the slits. Bake on the center rack until the apples are tender and lightly browned, 20 to 25 minutes. Serve warm with vanilla ice cream.
Nutrition Facts
| Serving Size | 1 of 2 servings |
| Calories | 278 |
| Total Fat | 15 g |
| Saturated Fat | 10 g |
| Carbohydrates | 36 g |
| Dietary Fiber | 3 g |
| Sugar | 31 g |
| Protein | 2 g |
| Cholesterol | 45 mg |
| Sodium | 29 mg |