Dish | Stuffed Baked Apples + Autumn Pizzas

I am on a roll with all of this seasonal cooking lately! Ryan and I had a perfect day on Sunday: a trip to the hardware store, sandwiches at Hazel's Kitchen, redecorating our bathroom, and a final stop at the grocery store to pick up ingredients for a few Autumn inspired recipes I have been wanting to try.

BAKED APPLES STUFFED WITH NUTS, HONEY & GINGER

1/3 cup almonds, toasted, chopped
1/3 cup pecans, toasted, chopped
1/4 cup brown sugar, packed
2 tablespoons honey
1 1/4 teaspoons finely grated orange zest
1 1/4 teaspoons ginger zest
1/2 cup whipping cream
1 tablespoon chilled butter
4 large Fuji apples
1/4 cup apple juice
Vanilla Greek yogurt

1  |  Toast almonds and pecans over medium-high heat for 2-4 minutes; allow to cool before chopping. Combine nuts, brown sugar, honey, orange and ginger zest in small bowl. Mix in whipping cream. Let sit until sugar dissolves and filling thickens, stirring occasionally, about 30 minutes.

2  |  Preheat oven to 350°F. Using small sharp knife and starting at side of apple at center point, cut around each apple to make slit in skin to prevent bursting. Using small end of melon baller, scoop out core and all seeds to within 1/2 inch of bottom. Place apples upright in 8x8x2-inch glass baking dish. Spoon filling into hollow of each apple. Mound remaining filling on top of each apple. Pour apple juice around apples. I added a tablespoon of fresh orange juice too. Butter large sheet of foil. Loosely tent dish with foil, buttered side down.

3  |  Bake apples until barely tender, about 1 hour. Uncover and bake until apples are very tender and sauce is bubbling thickly, about 20 minutes longer. Transfer apples and sauce to bowls. Serve with yogurt.

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Some of you might remember a post I did about pizzas back in May (please refer to that post for directions). Pizza is a fun thing to make at home because it allows you to use whatever ingredients you want to experiment with. For this particular round of Autumn inspired pizzas, I went with a Caramelized Onion, Wild Mushroom & Rosemary Pizza with White Wine Sauce and Mozzarella + a Roasted Butternut Squash & Sage Pizza with Fontina. Sorry I'm not doing a full post about these guys, I just felt like sharing.