The Testosterone Blueprint
Back to recipes

Baked Apples with Oats, Walnuts and Greek Yogurt

Whole apples baked until soft, stuffed with a crunchy oat, walnut and cinnamon filling and served with Greek yogurt. Score a line around the middle of each apple first so it does not burst in the oven.

Snack

55

Serves 4

Four golden baked apples stuffed with an oat and walnut filling in a small baking dish, with a bowl of Greek yogurt

Ingredients

  • 4 medium eating apples (sweet apples, not cooking apples), such as Braeburn or Pink Lady (about 180g/6oz each before coring)
  • 40g/1½oz/scant ½ cup rolled oats (use oats labelled gluten-free if needed)
  • 30g/1oz/¼ cup walnuts, finely chopped
  • 1 tsp ground cinnamon
  • 1 tbsp (about 20g) maple syrup
  • 10g/2 tsp butter, softened, plus a little for the dish
  • A pinch of salt
  • 60ml/¼ cup water
  • 300g/10½oz/1¼ cups 0% fat Greek yogurt, to serve

Method

  1. Heat the oven to 180C (160C fan, 350F). Lightly butter a small baking dish that holds the apples snugly, about 20cm/8in square.
  2. Core the apples with an apple corer or small knife, leaving a hole about 2cm/¾in wide but not cutting right through the base. With a sharp knife, score a shallow line through the skin around the middle of each apple.
  3. In a bowl, mix the oats, walnuts, cinnamon, maple syrup, butter and salt with your fingertips until it clumps together.
  4. Stand the apples in the dish and press the filling into each hole, piling any extra on top. Pour the water into the dish around the apples.
  5. Bake for 40 to 45 minutes, until a knife slides easily into the apples and the tops are golden. If the filling browns too fast, cover loosely with foil.
  6. Leave to cool for a few minutes, then serve warm with the Greek yogurt and a spoonful of the juices from the dish.
  7. Leftover baked apples keep in a covered container in the fridge for up to 2 days. Eat them cold or reheat until piping hot. They do not freeze well.

Why it works

A serving, one apple with 75g of yogurt, has about 252 calories, 11g of protein and 6g of fibre. Most of the protein comes from the Greek yogurt, which turns a simple baked fruit into a more filling snack or dessert.

Keep the skin on. Much of an apple's fibre is in and just under the skin, and baking it whole keeps all of it. With the oats and walnuts in the filling, the fibre here is higher than in most desserts.

Sugar. The natural sugar in the apples does most of the sweetening, so the recipe needs only a tablespoon of maple syrup for four, under 4g of added sugar a serving. The UK advises no more than 30g of free sugars a day, and US guidelines say less than 10% of daily calories.

Why it is tagged for menopause. It is a warm, satisfying dessert that brings protein, fibre and some calcium from the yogurt, rather than refined flour and sugar. It is not tagged for blood sugar, because a serving is still about 31g of carbohydrate, most of it natural sugar from the apple.

Firm apples such as Braeburn, Pink Lady or Honeycrisp hold their shape best; very soft varieties can collapse. For an apple breakfast, see the baked oats with apple and cinnamon, and for more on apples and cinnamon, see our food guides.