Best Baked Apples

Name: Best Baked Apples
Yield: Serves 6
Ingredients: 7 large (about 6 ounces; 170 grams each), Granny Smith apples; 6 tablespoons, unsalted butter, softened; 1/4 cup packed, brown sugar; 1/3 cup, dried cranberries, coarsely chopped; 1/3 cup, coarsely chopped pecans, toasted; 3 tablespoons, old-fashioned rolled oats; 1 teaspoon, finely grated zest from 1 orange; 1/2 teaspoon, ground cinnamon; pinch, table salt; 1/3 cup, maple syrup; 1/3 cup plus 2 tablespoons, apple cider

Desserts or Baked Goods
Fruit
Fruit Desserts

Appears in Cook's Illustrated January/February 2010, America's Test Kitchen TV

Switching from a baking dish to a skillet was just one step toward ridding this famously frumpy dish of wan flavor and mushy texture.

SERVES 6

TIME 1¼ hours

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