Once upon a time there was a girl who liked to eat.
This girl loves potatoes, especially Hasselback potatoes. One day last fall, she got an idea to make Hasselback baked apples.
She had a feeling this would be the Greatest Dessert She’d Ever Made.
So she grabbed a couple apples, sharpened her knives, and got to work tediously slicing the apples, row by row.
Her husband looked on, skeptical.
You’ll see, she said. And then you’ll be sorry when I don’t give you any.
I’m sure I will.
After a few four letter words and near finger removals, she dusted herself off and stuffed the apples with sugar and cinnamon.
This was not fun, not fun at all.
She carefully placed the apples in the oven and waited ever so patiently for the timer to beep.
Beep!! BEEP! BEEP!!!!
Your apples are dead.
Beep indeed.
Not one to be easily defeated, she tested a couple different kinds of apples. The apples were very hit and miss, but most importantly, they did no justice to these wonderful apples at the peak of their lives. Especially this one that she stuffed with phyllo dough. Her vision was Hasselback apple pie, but the outcome was a half cooked apple stuffed with soggy plastic sheets.
It’s best we pretend this never happened.
It’s torture that I can’t have any of those; I just love apple pie, her husband smirked.
Grrrr.
Thankfully, this girl has rid herself of any desire to make Hasselback Apples in the future. She can now be found enjoying raw apples straight from the fridge.
Also, Hasselback potatoes straight from the oven.
Hasselback Potatoes
Yield
1 potato
Prep time
Cook time
Total time
An easy, (mostly) fuss-free Hasselback potato.
Ingredients
- Russet (baking) potatoes or Yukon Gold (or whichever type you desire)
- Garlic cloves, thinly sliced into rounds (1 clove per potato)
- High heat safe cooking oil, for drizzling
- Herbamare or fine grain sea salt
- Freshly ground black pepper
Directions
- Preheat oven to 425°F.
- Wash potatoes and pat dry.
- Thinly slice the potatoes, but don’t slice all the way through. I leave about 1-2cm or so at the bottoms un-cut.
- Grab your thinly sliced garlic and stuff each slice with a small piece of garlic. I used 1 clove per potato. Stuffing with garlic helps expand the potato allowing the oil to drizzle right in.
- Drizzle all over with oil. Sprinkle generously with Herbamare (or fine grain sea salt) and freshly ground black pepper.
- Bake at 425°F for 50-70 minutes until tender, depending on the size of your potato. My Russets took about 70 minutes. When I use Yukon Gold, they only take about 50 minutes. Keep an eye on them, time will vary.
- Serve with any desired topping you wish – pesto, salsa, vegan sour cream, hummus, ketchup, or simply enjoy with a pat of non-dairy butter.
Nutrition Information
(click to expand)
Ah the apples looked promising, I didn’t want to see them transformed into potatoes… I’m sure you’ll arrange that. Your post made me think and I baked one to confirm my hypothesis, One is you didn’t use the ideal type of apple for baking, another is it can only go softer, so there must be some kind of support… Well, I’ve obtained a “lampion apple” and I’ve just posted it. Mine was delicious. I think the Hasselback cut could work on a tartlet base or in a paper case. Thanks for the idea, You always find original dishes. .
Hasselback apples sound like such a good idea! That’s too bad they didn’t work out. I’m sure there must be a way to do it though…
thank you for showing your misses as well as your hits. Very brave of you and very heartening for the rest of us. Love your blog! :)
LOVE the Hasselback apples!!! They both look good, but I’d take the apple! Yummy!!
Awww hahaha it was a great sounding idea, even though it didn’t work. Shucks! I hate when I have high hopes and great vision for a dish or dessert and it backfires so badly. Like when I made portobello mushroom burgers as the focus in a whole complete meal, and then the pyrex I had them in shattered as I was taking them out of the oven! Such a bummer.
Those potatoes look amazing, though. I’ve never had hasselback potatoes. My husband is an avid potato chip fanatic so I’m quite sure he’d adore them!
Haha… I so enjoyed your report of the hassleback apples! Thanks for sharing that story, honestly!
Should you just stick the potatoes right in the oven on a cookie sheet or wrap in aluminum foil?
Good question – I just popped them onto a baking sheet, nothing else.
Hi Angela – I’ve read your blog for ages, but never commented before. Today I had to, though. I was looking at this post on my phone, half-asleep this AM, and I thought “Hasselback” was the same as “Hasselhoff” – as in David Hasselhoff, star of the series Bay Watch back in the day. I was reading and reading, looking at apples and potatoes, waiting to see how the actor related to the recipe – like perhaps you named it that because you once shared the recipe at a meal with him or something. DUH! I felt so silly when I woke up about twenty minutes later and realized the error. What a space cadet I can be. Anyhow, thought you might chuckle about it too. That aside, the potatoes DO look awesome. I may try this sometime when I have company to impress… you know, maybe David Hasselhoff…. :)
hah!!! Well, you aren’t the only one who thinks of him :)
Big points for trying though! Worst part is, I’m sure all those recipes still tasted delicious, they just didn’t have the visual appeal (I don’t know about you, but that’s one of my favorite things about hasselback potatoes).
I’ve always used a wooden spoon to not cut all the way through the potatoes.
Ahahahaha! I love that you’re so candid about flop recipes. LOL. Really, though, the hasselback apples look yummy to me too. I have photographed many a flop recipe but just haven’t thought of a good way to showcase the pictures on my blog. You made this one shine. LOVE it.
I will take one of both please. Thanks! Looks great Ang. :)
The un-baked apples look amazing! I bet they would have even tasted great just like that. I wonder if wrapping them individually in foil would help so that they don’t fall apart?
i thought those apples looked really delicious, and i thought, what if you try putting toothpicks or shishkebob (that is the most amazing word) sticks into the apples to hold them together while they cook? i havent tried it myself yet, bu thought i would share a possible solution:)
Looks yummy! A great way to slice potatoe’s like this is to lay a wooden spoon on either side of the potatoe. And then slice all the way down to the wooden spoons. The spoons prevent you from accidentally slicing all the way through. I love these! Great website!
oooh, I’m going to try a hybrid version of your apple/potato idea and do sweet potatoes with coconut oil, cin and sugar…yuuum!!
I wonder i the apples would work if you wrapped them in foil before baking try baking the philo dough first.
Maybe if you wrapped the apples in foil (with a hole on the top for steam and one on the bottom for juices) and baked them at a really low temperature?
This really made me giggle, I love hasselback potatoes but I like that you went to the effort of trying to do the apples so I don’t have to!!
Had to leave a comment because I love that you tried the apples even if it was a big bust. I’m so glad you shared!
Hello from Germany Angela,
honestly, being a pro consulter for healthy living and fitness, including nutrition, everyday-life-proof workout programs and so on, I read a ton of stuff, very informative, very boring, at best nice to look at.
BUT!
I never.
Ever.
Have.
Laughed out so hard reading a blog about food, especially about a failed Hasselback Apples recipe XD
Hilarious, still wiping the laughing tears off, I think you have set my right tone of fun. Maybe this expression doesn’ t exist, but I hope you get the point^^
The best thing is eventhough I teach and cook vegan as part of Traditional and Modern Asian Fitness Cuisine and Health Philosophy I am a omnivore.
“… and if there is no meat left, I eat the vegans, then!” …just kidding ;o)
Congratulations for your successes in your quest trying to be the best possible you.
Congratulations to Eric, lucky man, made a really good choice of spouse!
Keep up the good work, Angela, I will read more of your stuff and would definitely subscribe to your newsletter.. if I could find where..?!
Best wishes,
Leo
Oh, forgot to mention.
If you’ re still eager to master these kinds of apple recipes you can look for Asian and German recipes. Maybe you cannot fully understand the descriptions but you’ re experienced enough, you’ ll get the point. In Japan and China there are numerous dessert recipes for half-cut apples, here in Germany, where I’ m living right now, they have a so-called “(half-) sunken apple pie”. These apples often bloom up, too.
And if all else apple fail XD you still can drop me a line, I have developed several recipes, too ;o)
Very Nice Idea