Very Healthy Near Instant Baked Apple With Creamy Nonfat Yogurt

Ethan UK's Note:

My healthy take on a classic favourite - except when I want it I don't want to wait and I don't want any excessive sugar or fat. There are hundreds of variations on this for some reason or other - I think it must be one of our favourite comfort foods, second to chocolate of course! This one takes almost no time at all and is almost entirely fat free and with no sugar except the fructose of the apple itself - well ok maybe a bit of maltose in the yoghurt too!

• Total Time: 4 mins
• Prep Time: 2 mins
• Cook Time: 2 mins

Ingredients:

Servings: 2

• 1 large apple
• 2 dashes cinnamon
• 2 dashes ground cloves
• 2 teaspoons nonfat yogurt
• 2 teaspoons 'greek-style' nonfat yogurt (aka 'strained & stirred')
• 2 teaspoons granulated artificial sweetener

Directions:

1. Wash and dry a large apple - any variety.
2. Cut in half.
3. Remove core and stalk section from each half.
4. Place in a microwaveable bowl.
5. Sprinkle apples liberally with cinnamon.
6. Sprinkle apples with ground cloves - cloves are very strong-flavoured so be careful not to go too heavy!
7. Spoon half a teaspoon or so of nonfat natural (plain) yogurt onto each half, mixing it across the surface of each half so the top area is well covered in the spicy yoghurt.
8. Cook in microwave on full power until apple is nicely soft for about 2 minutes (microwaves vary - maybe more or less depending on your machine).
9. Sprinkle half a large half-teaspoon of granulated sweetener over the baked apples.
10. Place a generous teaspoonful of nonfat Greek-Style (strained & stirred) natural (plain) yogurt onto each half.
11. Sprinkle a generous half teaspoonful of granulated sweetener directly onto each blob of Greek-style yogurt and mix it into it a bit with the back of the spoon.
12. SERVE.
13. NOTES:.
14. I make my own batches of natural non-fat yoghurt (here in the UK, natural yoghurt = USA plain yogurt). Sometimes I strain and stir part of a batch so I have a choice between normal thickness yoghurt and what we in the UK call "Greek-style" which is strained and stirred extra-thick, for different uses. I suggest two types here because the runnier sort smoothes over things more easily when appropriate. If you only keep one type then use whatever you have - it will be just fine :).
15. Here's a handy tip for fresh ground clove -- I keep two sets of grinders/mills in use. In one mill I grind my peppercorns, another one I use for Fenugreek (mehti), in another I grind all-spice and lastly I grind whole cloves in the remaining one. I'm sure there are other spices that would work just as well in spare/extra mills but that does me for now! (I don't use salt, ever. I slum it and use Lo-Salt in small quantities if I absolutely must!).

Reviews

[Perfect Pixie]

This was pretty good, although I think that you should take the skin of the apple as it was pretty chewy. My first "baked apple" and i really like it. Tnhanks for posting. Miss Pixie x x x :)

[SugaredAlmond]

This was really tasty, but like ladypit I had the same problem with the yogurt separating into a watery substance at the bottom of the bowl. However after leaving it for a couple of minutes and giving it a good stir about, it did thicken up a bit. I made this as listed, apart from using just one teaspoon of sugar, rather than two teaspoons of sweetener.

[ladypit]

Pretty tasty treat! I used a macintosh apple (green, nice and crisp, a little sour) and only regular fat free plain yogurt. Mine is pretty thick though, so it worked fine. The only problem I had was that there was a sort of watery substance all on the bottom of my bowl after microwaving. It tasted good but looked awful! I will try this again and see what I can do to modify my presentation! Thanks for such a healthy one!