Brown Sugar Maple Baked Apples - cooking recipe

Ingredients

8 large golden delicious apples
1/2 cup packed dark brown sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
6 tablespoons pure maple syrup
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
1 cup water
vanilla ice cream (optional) or chilled whipped cream (optional)

Preparation

Peel skin off top quarter of each apple. Using melon baller, scoop out core, leaving bottom intact.
Stand apples in 13x9x2-inch baking pan. Mix sugar and spices in bowl. Reserve 2 tablespoons mixture.
Fill apple cavities with remaining sugar mixture. Spoon 1/2 tablespoon maple syrup into each cavity.
Scatter 3 tablespoons butter pieces over apples. (Can be made 4 hours ahead. Cover; chill.)
Preheat oven to 350\u00b0F.
Pour water into pan with apples, then add reserved 2 T. sugar mixture, 2 T. maple syrup, and 1 T. butter.
Bake until apples are tender when pierced with skewer, about 1 hour. Transfer apples to 8 bowls.
Place baking pan atop 2 burners; boil over medium-high heat until syrupy, about 2 minutes.
Spoon sauce over apples. Serve with vanilla ice cream or whipped cream, if desired.