Fall is here and it's the bessssst time of the year! Fall is without a doubt my favorite season for many, many reasons - but I think the most notable one is because I get to create/indulge in tasty, festive treats! Today I made something I like to call 'baked cinnamon-apple poppers' - even though they're a little too large to physically 'pop' into your mouth, they're ohhhh so tasty and you'll surely wish you could devour them in just one bite!
Ingredients:
- 6 large, red apples (fully ripened)
- 3 individual packs of Quaker instant oats
- Marzetti Old Fashioned Caramel Dip (drizzle)
- 3 tablespoons of olive oil
- 1/2 cup of brown sugar
- Cinnamon (to taste)
- Nutmeg (to taste)
Directions:
First things first, preheat your oven to 400 degrees. Next, begin preparing the filling. Chop and peel two apples, then cut them into bite-sized pieces. Add them into a small pan, along with the olive oil, oats, brown sugar, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Sauté the mixture on medium heat for about five minutes (or until the apples have became soft).
Next, cut off the head of the apple, about 1 cm. from the top. After this step is complete, begin to carve out the 'guts' of the apple - I first used a small knife to carve out a shallow chunk of the flesh around the circumference of the apple, then spooned out the rest.
Next, add a few spoonfuls of the filling to each apple and place them on a baking sheet with aluminum foil. Bake for 5-10 minutes, depending on how crispy you prefer them to be (I believe I took mine out right around 7 minutes).
Now for the best part - THE CARAMELLLLL! Take a plastic baggie and cut a small hole in one of the corners. Place a couple spoonfuls of caramel dip inside of the bag and shape/squeeze it down to the bottom until all of it has reached the corner where the hole is. Next, drizzle caramel on top of each apple and your creation is complete. Time to DIG IN!
Enjoy! :)