Baked Apples Stuffed With Mascarpone and Cherries
By: Helen Pitlick
Published: Friday, December 10, 2010 - 1:02am

Ingredients




4 large baking apples
1/4 cup hot water
2 cups zinfandel
1/2 cup dried tart cherries
1/2 cup Mascarpone cheese
3 ounces Neufchatel cheese
1 1/2 teaspoons grated lemon rind
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 tablespoons sugar
spiced pecans

Preparation

1 Slice 1/2-inch piece off top of Each apple; reserve. Core apples using small melon baller; discard core. Peel upper one-fourth of each apple; place in shallow baking dish just large enough to hold apples. Replace apple tops and pour 1/4 cup hot water around apples. Bake at 350 F 45 minutes, basting occasionally, or until apples are tender but still hold their shape.  2 In saucepan, heat wine and cherries to simmer. Turn off heat; let stand 30 minutes to plump cherries. Strain cherries; reserve both cherries and wine separately.  3 In medium mixing bowl, mix cherries, mascarpone, Neufchatel, lemon rind and salt; set aside. In small saucepan, heat wine and sugar to a boil. Reduce heat; simmer until wine is reduced to 1 cup. Cool slightly; keep warm until serving time.  4 Remove apples from oven; let cool 15 minutes. Remove and set aside apple tops. Carefully fill cavity of each apple with one-fourth of cheese mixture, mounding it on the apple tops. Replace apple tops. Return to oven briefly to rewarm, if desired. 5 Transfer apples to serving plates, sprinkle with Spiced Pecans and pour sauce around and over them.

About


Pippen, Rome Beauty or Cortland apples work well in this recipe.

Comments:
Tracy Madden

Are we assuming this is red zinfandel, not white?