Baked Apples with Cinnamon Nuts and Raisins

I don't often do desserts because it's hard to avoid all the sugar. When I do make desserts though, I try to make sure the sweetness comes naturally from fruits. This is a very very easy pudding, and one that satisfies both your sweet tooth and conscience!

Baked Apples with Cinnamon Nuts and Raisins

serves 2

Ingredients

2 Bramley apples (both a good eating and cooking apple and will end up sweet, light and fluffy inside)

a handful of chopped almonds, walnuts and pumpkin seeds (soaked and dried please! use any you fancy. pecans would be nice.)

1 tsp of raisins (if you want to jazz it up a bit, soak your raisins in rum or brandy for a couple of hours before)

1-2 tsp of brown sugar (I used raw cane sugar Rapadura)

a generous pinch of cinnamon

few dabs of butter

To serve

Plain Greek yogurt (or some raw cream or homemade custard)

Method

1. Pre-heat the oven to 200 degrees celsius.

2. Remove the core of the apples. I did it by cutting a square around the core of the apples, but stabbing my knife in at an angle, but if you have a fancy apple corer use that!

3. Mix the nuts, raisins, sugar and cinnamon together, before stuffing the mixture into the apple holes, and adding a happy dab of butter over.

4. Place the stuffed apples into an ovenproof dish, and pour some water around the apples so they don't dry out.

5. Bake for about 45 min until the apples are soft and oozing, but not collapsing. Serve with a dollop of yogurt and the apple juices spooned over.

6. Dig your spoon into it and have all the warm sweet apple juices flow out, mixed with that buttery toffee-ishness, and the crunch of the toasted caramelised nuts, and then on top of that, you have your creamy tangy yogurt. And then on top of all that, you have the reassuring knowledge that it's not loaded with the things that make a dessert sinful (: