Fire up the smoker for the perfect fall dessert. These smoked apples are topped with maple, bourbon, craisins, and pecan oat streusel. All you need to decide is whether to top them with vanilla ice cream and a butterscotch drizzle or caramel.
The Perfect Fall Dessert
Bold words I get it especially when everyone loses their mind over everything pumpkin spice desserts. I love them too but honestly if I’m asked to choose between the two, I’m reaching for something with apples.
And this dessert… I’m reaching for 2 plates as it’s THAT amazing! And with my being on the Yoder Smokers Team, I just had to fire my YS640 with the Pizza Oven Accessory and create this recipe!
Check Out The Video!
While Instagram is great for those 5-10 second teaser videos, I prefer to do longer videos. This is only about 1.5 minutes. If you’d like longer ones, let me know in the comments!
Grab Your Ingredients
This really doesn’t require a lot of ingredients. Heck almost all of them are in the streusel crumb. And I know you’re going to ask, yes the bourbon is completely optional!
- Apples
- Streusel Ingredients – all purpose flour, oats, cinnamon, sugar, maple syrup, craisins, pecans, optional bourbon, and butter
- Water – room temp and boiling
Rehydrate The Craisins
This is an important step. If you put them dried, they have the potential to harden when you smoke them.
- Place the craisins in a heat safe bowl and pour over the boiling water. Cover with plastic wrap tightly and allow to set for 10-15 minutes to rehydrate them. After they are plumped, strain the liquid and discard.
Streusel Post
I have a full post on how to make streusel here. It’s so simple and if you have extra, just place it in an air tight container and pop it in the fridge for a couple of weeks.
Core The Apples
- Using an apple core tool, core the apples then cut in half. Using a mini cookie scoop , scoop out the center of each half to make a well indent. Brush each cut side of the apple with lemon juice. Place each apple, cut side up, in a cast iron pan or heat-safe baking pan.
Stuff The Apples & Bake
- Evenly divide the streusel mixture on top of each apple, pressing it down into the well and on top of the apple. Pour the 1 cup of room temp water into the bottom of the pan and cover the pan tightly with foil.
- Place the pan into the preheated oven and bake for 40 minutes. Turn the pan around about half way through baking. Carefully pull the hot pan out of the oven, remove the foil and, if need be, add more water to the dish. Put the pan back in the oven and bake 10-20 minutes or until the streusel is golden brown and the apples are tender.
The Most Intoxicating Apple Smell
As I pulled the final pan out of the smoker the smell was absolutely amazing! My whole neighborhood smelled like warm, baked cinnamon apples.
The Perfect Fall Dessert
As I brought this in the house, it immediately made my home smell like fall. My husband came out of the office, sniffing the air, saying “Honey, what smells so good? It’s all apple and cinnamony!” And then he saw the pan…
His first reaction wasn’t a smile but rather a frown as he knows that the camera “eats first” which meant he had to wait. Honestly though these things were so piping hot that it’s best that you wait even 10-15 minutes.
Don’t Have A Smoker? No Problem!
I have you covered if you don’t have one but I will say, if you’re looking to invest in absolute INCREDIBLE quality when it comes to a smoker/grill I highly recommend my YS640! I can smoke, grill, bake, make pizzas, sear steaks and so forth in it! It’s amazing for breads and desserts as well!
Grill – Gas or Charcoal
- Set up grill for Indirect Cooking. Not sure what that is? Check out this post!
- Everything else is the same as below. The biggest thing is to make sure it doesn’t go above 375F. It’s okay if you even baked it at 350F though it will take a bit longer.
Home Oven
- Preheat the oven to 375F. Follow the rest of the recipe as-written making sure that the foil is snug on the pan.
- I would suggest even uncovering it at the 25 minute mark and finishing baking it around 20-25 minutes uncovered. You know your oven best. The biggest tip is to ensure that the apples are tender but not mushy and the streusel is baked through and golden brown.
Recipe Substitutions
I so love this part: don’t you?
- Flour – yes you can use gluten free flour
- Nuts – you can omit or use almonds or walnuts if desired
- Bourbon – just omit
- Apples – for this recipe you want something that is known as a “baking apple” such as Gala, Fuji, Honey Gold, Jonathan, Cortland, Pink Lady, Honey Crisp
Streusel Crumb Smoked Apples with Maple Pecans and Bourbon
Fire up the smoker for the perfect fall dessert. These smoked apples are topped with maple, bourbon, craisins, and pecan oat streusel. All you need to decide is whether to top them with vanilla ice cream and a butterscotch drizzle or caramel.
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Cook Time: 1 hour
- Total Time: 1.5 hours
- Category: baked apples, boozy desserts, cast iron cooking, fall desserts, oven, smoker, stuffed apples
- Method: grill, oven, smoker
- Cuisine: baked apples, boozy desserts, cast iron cooking, fall desserts, oven, smoker, stuffed apples
Ingredients
- 3 large Gala apples
- 1 teaspoon lemon juice
- 1/2 cup of flour
- 1/4 plus 2 Tablespoons chopped, toasted pecans
- 2/3 cups old fashioned oats
- 1/2 cup light brown sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
- 2 Tablespoons maple syrup
- 1–2 Tablespoons of bourbon
- 6 Tablespoons unsalted butter, VERY SOFT
- 1/4 cup dried craisins
- 1/2 cup of boiling water
- 1 cup room temperature water
Instructions
Rehydrate the craisins
- Place the craisins in a heat safe bowl and pour over the boiling water. Cover with plastic wrap tightly and allow to set for 10-15 minutes to rehydrate them. After they are plumped, strain the liquid and discard.
Preheat the smoker/grill/oven
- Set up your Yoder Smokers YS640 with the pizza oven accessory and set the temperature to 375. Allow to heat up while you prep the rest of the dish.
Make the streusel
- In a large bowl add all of the flour, pecans, oats, brown sugar, cinnamon, maple syrup, bourbon, and rehydrated craisins. Add in the very soft butter and with either clean hands or a fork, press the butter into the oat mixture until it forms clumps and coated crumbs.
Prep the apples
- Using an apple core tool, core the apples then cut in half. Using a mini cookie scoop , scoop out the center of each half to make a well indent. Brush each cut side of the apple with lemon juice. Place each apple, cut side up, in a 10″ cast iron skillet or heat-safe baking pan.
- Evenly divide the streusel mixture on top of each apple, pressing it down into the well and on top of the apple. Pour the 1 cup of room temp water into the bottom of the pan and cover the pan tightly with foil.
Bake
- Place the pan into the preheated oven and bake for 40 minutes. Turn the pan around about half way through baking. Carefully pull the hot pan out of the oven, remove the foil and, if need be, add more water to the dish. Put the pan back in the oven and bake 10-20 minutes or until the streusel is golden brown and the apples are tender.
- Remove from the oven, plate, top with vanilla ice cream and butterscotch sauce.
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