By Laura Frankel

Cakes, pies and other treats often feel too heavy after a big meal. My solution: Baked apples. They’re picture perfect and healthy. Place them on a gorgeous platter, spoon some sorbet around them, and feel good about serving your family and friends something natural and delectable.

Quick Tip: Apples can be baked 4 hours ahead of time and kept loosely covered at room temperature.

Tool Needed: A food processor

Ingredients:

1/2 cup chopped pitted dates
1/2 cup chopped dried apricots
1 tablespoon pomegranate molasses
3 tablespoons honey
3/4 cup sweet white wine, like a Riesling
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
Pinch of ground cloves
1/8 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
6 large firm apples, cored, preferably Pink Lady or Rome Beauty

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 300 degrees.
2. Pulse the dates and apricots in a food processor 10- to 12 times, until the fruits are chopped and clumping together. You don’t want them to form a smooth paste. Transfer the fruit to a bowl and stir in the pomegranate molasses, 1/4 cup of the wine, and cinnamon, cloves and nutmeg.
3. Stuff the mixture into the cored apples. You should have enough stuffing to generously stuff the apples and have some of the stuffing “pop” out of the top of the apples (I love this part, as it gets crispy on top).
4. Place the apples in a baking dish, and pour the remaining 1/2 cup wine around the apples. Bake the apples until they are soft and fairly wrinkly, 30 to 45 minutes. Occasionally, spoon some of the wine and juices onto the apples so they do not dry out.
5. Serve the apples warm or at room temperature with some of the cooking juices spooned around the apples.