Honey Lavender Oven-Baked Apples, the AIP Way

10 minutes of prep, then 35 hands-off minutes in the oven while you make the rest of dinner, and you have warm baked apples scented with honey and lavender. A simple dessert made entirely of real, allowed ingredients is a genuine pleasure, not an afterthought.

Baked apples are mostly fruit, which means fiber and a range of polyphenols, plant compounds that research links to supporting a calmer inflammatory tone and a healthier gut environment, though that is support, not a cure, and the amounts here are modest. The honey is used lightly, half a teaspoon per half, so the sweetness stays gentle and the fruit does most of the work.

There is something tender about a dessert that fills the kitchen with the smell of warm apple and lavender while you are doing something else. It is hands-off on purpose. Set it baking, sit down to your meal, and let the house carry the scent. When it comes out soft and glossy with its own juices, take a moment with it before the first bite.

Ingredients

For each apple half (5 apples, halved and cored, skin on; red varieties preferred but any work):

• 1/2 tbsp coconut oil
• 1/2 tsp honey
• A sprinkle of cinnamon
• A small pinch of culinary lavender

Across the full batch this comes to about 5 tbsp coconut oil and 5 tsp honey.

Swaps made: none beyond the source's own AIP adaptation. Honey and culinary lavender are both AIP-compliant. The source notes the recipe works fine without the lavender if you prefer, and that maple syrup is a reader-reported 1:1 swap for the honey.

Method

• Heat the oven to 400F. Set the cored apple halves cut-side up in a baking dish.
• Top each half with the coconut oil, honey, a sprinkle of cinnamon, and a small pinch of culinary lavender.
• Bake for about 35 minutes, until the apples are tender, basting once or twice with the juices that gather in the dish. Serve warm.

Air fryer variation

Set the topped apple halves cut-side up in the air fryer basket and cook at 350F until tender, roughly 12 to 18 minutes depending on the apple size, checking partway through so they do not scorch. Baste with the pan juices if you can. These times are untested for this appliance and vary by model.

*Adapted from a-squirrel-in-the-kitchen*