These German baked apples with homemade vanilla sauce are one of the easiest yet most delicious desserts you can make this Christmas. Bratäpfel, as we call them in Germany, are apples filled with cinnamon, nuts, raisins, and German marzipan. For those of you who do not like marzipan, I have a simple alternative - fruit jam. Let me treat you with this easy Bratapfel recipe.
By popular demand, this reader-favorite recipe made it into my debut cookbook, German Kitchen-Classic Dishes!
What is Bratapfel
Bratapfel is a traditional German dessert that is very often served as a Christmas Dessert. The name is composed of two German words. "Brat" comes from "Braten" which means "browned and cooked" and "Apfel" is the German name for, well as you guessed, Apple. You might also hear this dish referred to as "Bratäpfel" which is the plural of apple.
So they are browned and cooked apples that are baked in the oven until soft and juicy. German baked apples are usually cored and then filled with cinnamon, nuts (such as almonds, hazelnuts, or walnuts), raisins or currents, and marzipan or jam.
You'll Love These Baked Apples Because They're:
- a great easy dessert that is easy to prepare in advance
- it is easy to scale the recipe up for a larger or small family.
- simple to adjust to everybody's taste. You can omit ingredients for the individual cored apples, so you can also cater to allergies or special diets
- this is a light dessert that is perfect to serve after a larger meal.
What are the best apples to use for Baked Apples?
The best apples to use for Bratapfel are tart apples as they develop their flavor to their fullest when baked. I like to use Boskop, Elstar, Jonagold, Granny Smith, Braeburn, Honeycrisp, or Bramley apples. When selecting the apples in the grocery store, pick the ones that can sit upright, you do not want them rolling around in your oven.
I usually try to pick red baking apples. Mainly because baked red apples are more appealing to the eye.
How to make German Bratapfel?
Ingredients:
- large apples - use tart apples, that don't tumble when you place them upright and have a nice red color
- raisins or currants
- rum - optional. You can soak the raisins in it, for some extra flavouring but this step can be left out. You can also replace this with amaretto (affiliate link) or another liqueur of your choice
- chopped nuts such as almonds, walnuts, or hazelnuts. I used almonds in my recipe
- butter (unsalted)
- brown sugar - you can also use white sugar
- lemon juice - to bring out the tartness of the apples
- ground cinnamon (affiliate link)
- marzipan - for the most authentic taste try my German Marzipan Recipe
- For Bratapfel without marzipan fruit jam - I like to use a little sour jam such as cherry, apricot, or red currant jam. This is in place of the marzipan.
Bratapfel Recipe Steps
- The night before you can soak the rains or currents in rum if you like. This is an optional step.
- Place the nuts in a frying pan, and start to roast them on medium heat. You need to stir continuously to ensure they do not start to burn. Once you smell the roasted nuts and they start to brown, add in the butter and brown sugar.
- Stir until the sugar has dissolved, and the nuts have caramelized. Remove from the heat, and add in the raisins or currents and ground cinnamon (affiliate link).
- Add the marzipan to the warm nuts. You can knead it together to smooth paste. The heat will make the marzipan easier to work with. Alternatively, instead of the marzipan add 2 tablespoons of fruit jam and mix to a smooth paste.
- Preheat your oven to 180°C/ 356°F circulated heat, i.e. fan assisted. Grease the bottom of a baking dish with butter.
- Carefully slice off the top of the apple. Then using an apple corer or a sharp knife carve out the center of the apple. I like to make the hole of the apple centers a little bigger so there is more space for the filling.
- Place the apple bottoms into the dish. Start filling your marzipan or jam mixture into the apples with a spoon. To ensure that there is no air in the apple, you can stuff the apples with the handle of a wooden spoon. Put the top of the apple on top of the mixture. (This is optional but it looks nice)
- Bake the apples in the oven for about 45 minutes. Halfway through the cooking time, cover them with some aluminum foil so they do not burn.
How to serve German Baked Apples
In Germany, we most commonly serve these baked apples with Vanillesoße. This German vanilla sauce is similar to a light vanilla custard sauce. You can use my Vanillesosse recipe to make it from scratch or buy some ready-made custard. It also goes very well with a scoop of vanilla ice cream or some heavy cream.
Storage Instructions
I would recommend eating these apples straight after they are baked in the oven. This is how they taste best. However, in the unlikely event that you have leftovers, you can keep them in the fridge for up to a week. Taste great chopped up in your porridge with some yogurt for breakfast the next day.
More German Apple Desserts
More German Christmas Desserts
Recipe
Bratapfel - German Baked Apples with cinnamon and nuts
Equipment
- 1 ovenproof dish
- 1 apple corer optional
Ingredients
- 4 apples large and tart. Such as Boskop, Elstar, Jonagold, Granny Smith, Braeburn, Honeycrisp, and Bramley apples
- 4 tablespoon raisins or currants
- 2 tablespoon rum optional. You can leave it out if you like
- 2 oz (50 gr) chopped nuts 1.7 oz, such as almonds, hazelnuts or walnuts
- 2 tablespoon butter
- 1 tablespoon brown sugar
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon use more if you really like cinnamon
Choose one
- 2 oz (50 g) marzipan 1.7 oz, - for an authentic taste use my homemade marzipan recipe
- 3 tablespoon fruit jam use a slightly sour fruit jam such as apricot jam, cherry jam or red currant jam
For the Vanilla Sauce
- 2 cups (500 g) whole milk 17 fl oz
- 2 tablespoon cornflour / cornstarch 20 gr / 0.7 oz cornstarch
- 3 tablespoon sugar about 35 gr / 1.2 oz
- 1 pinch salt
- 1 vanilla pod
- 2 egg yolks
Instructions
- The night before you can soak the rains or currents in rum if you like. This is an optional step.4 tablespoon raisins, 2 tablespoon rum
- Place the nuts in a frying pan, and start to roast them on medium heat. You need to stir continuously to ensure they do not start to burn. Once you smell the roasted nuts and they start to brown, add in the butter and brown sugar.2 oz chopped nuts, 2 tablespoon butter, 1 tablespoon brown
- Stir until the sugar has dissolved and the nuts have caramelized. Remove the pan from the heat, and add in the raisins or currents, ground cinnamon (affiliate link), and lemon juice½ teaspoon ground cinnamon (affiliate link), 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- Add the marzipan to the warm nuts. You can knead it together to smooth paste. The heat will make the marzipan easier to work with. Alternatively, instead of the marzipan add the fruit jam and mix to a smooth paste.2 oz marzipan, 3 tablespoon fruit jam
- Preheat your oven to 180°C/ 356°F circulated heat. Grease the bottom of a baking dish with butter.
- Carefully slice off the top of the apple. Then using an apple corer or a sharp knife carve out the center of the apple. I like to make the hole of the apple centers a little bigger so there is more space for the filling.4 apples
- Place the apple bottoms on into the dish. Start filling your marzipan or jam mixture into the apples with a spoon. To ensure that there is no air in the apple, you can stuff the mixture in with the handle of a wooden spoon. Put the top of the apple on top of the mixture. (This is optional but it looks nice)
- Bake the apples in the oven for about 45 minutes. Halfway through the cooking time, cover them with some aluminum foil so they do not burn.
For the Vanilla Sauce
- In a small bowl, combine the cornstarch with 4 tablespoons of the milk. Mix until you achieve a smooth paste without any lumps.2 tablespoon cornflour / cornstarch, 2 cups whole milk
- Place the remaining milk, salt and sugar into a saucepan.3 tablespoon sugar, 1 pinch salt
- Slice the vanilla pod open lengthways and scrape out the vanilla bean (affiliate link) pulp. Add both to the milk mixture. Alternatively, mix in the vanilla extract (affiliate link) or vanilla sugar.1 vanilla pod
- Bring the milk mixture to a boil. Now remove the vanilla bean (affiliate link) from the milk. (Don't discard, you can use it to make vanilla sugar).
- While stirring continuously pour in the starch-milk mixture. Leave to boil for a minute and then remove from the heat.
- In a separate bowl, combine 6 tablespoons of the hot milk mixture with the egg yolk and mix until combined. (this is to prevent the egg yolk from starting to cook before it is absorbed by the sauce). Now pour into the rest of the sauce and stir well.2 egg yolks
Nutrition
Love this authentic German recipe?
This is one of 65 traditional dishes featured in my cookbook, German Kitchen-Classic Dishes - all tested, perfected, and handpicked by readers like you!
Leave a Reply