Mature quickly, little apple tree! Roasted Apples with Berries stirs the imaginations.

A big ole gap like a snaggled-toothed smile existed along the front row of our garden. The lineup went like this: pear tree, peach tree, peach tree, blank spot. Some time ago a peach tree had died there and had not been replaced. Elsewhere in back yard we also have a plum. We’ve never tried apples, but all the other fruit trees now are mature and producing well. What fun to have our own apples! Hubby decided to give it a try, so over the weekend he filled the gap with one. Time will tell.

To stir our imaginations about what delights might await if we could walk to our garden and bring in our own apples like we soon (ideally) will our peaches, I hatched up a batch of Baked Apples with Berries. This capitalized on the bounty of berries that fills the produce aisles of grocery stores right now. Hubby’s strawberry allergy prevents from indulging in that wonderful fruit, but he can indulge with all the rest. (How can a strawberry seed irritate his digestive system but a blackberry seed doesn’t faze him? Go figure, but we just go with the flow.)

This dish combines raspberries, blackberries, and blueberries—everything that’s on his green-light list—and stuffs them down into a hollowed-out cavity in a Granny Smith apple; all that bakes for 45 minutes. After baking the wonderfully soft apple interior combine with the roasted berry mixture for some terrific flavor. Remaining berries are mixed with yogurt, honey, and cinnamon, poured over the top, and served warm, with extra berries sprinkled on top.

The recipe called for four servings; we had so much of the yogurt-berry topping left over after the apples were downed that Hubby enjoyed it for a great low-cal dessert last night (or, next time we could have baked six apples instead of four and used the entire topping amount in six).

Now that the snaggled-toothed gap in the garden has been filled, bring on the apples!

Baked Apples with Berries

1 cup fresh blackberries

1 cup fresh raspberries

1 cup fresh blueberries

4 large Granny Smith apples, washed

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 cup fat-free, vanilla-flavored yogurt

2 teaspoons honey

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Starting at the stem, core apples about three-quarters of the way through the apple. Make the hole more than 1-inch wide. Spray baking dish with cooking spray; place hollowed-out apples in the dish. Combine berries; pack berries very firmly into the opening in each apple. Set extra berries aside. Bake apples until soft, about 45 minutes. Divide remaining berries in half. Crush half the berries; then mix them with yogurt, cinnamon, and honey. Serve apples warm with yogurt topping and extra berries sprinkled on top. Makes 4 servings.