Bratapfel (German Baked Apples)

Method

1. 1Put the 40 g of raisins in a small bowl, pour over the 2 tbsp of dark rum, cover with a plate and leave at room temperature for 2 hours. They are ready when they look plump and glossy and have soaked up most of the rum. Soft raisins stay juicy in the oven instead of drying out.
2. 2Heat the oven to 180 °C (conventional, top and bottom heat; 160 °C fan), with the rack in the middle. Grease a baking dish of about 20 × 30 cm with 5 g of the butter. Roughly chop the 40 g of almonds and toast them in a small dry frying pan over medium heat for 3 to 4 minutes, stirring, until they are golden and smell toasted. Tip them onto a plate straight away, because in the hot pan they keep browning. Toasting brings out their flavour.
3. 3Pinch off a piece of the 80 g of marzipan the size of a hazelnut and set it aside for step 4. Coarsely grate or crumble the rest into a mixing bowl. Use the plain block of marzipan sold for baking (Marzipanrohmasse in Germany). Add the toasted almonds, the raisins with any rum left in their bowl, 15 g of brown sugar and ½ tsp of cinnamon. Work it together with your fingers into a crumbly mixture that holds together when you squeeze it. If you cook for someone with coeliac disease, check the label of the marzipan.
4. 4Wash and dry the 4 apples, each about 200 g and 8 cm across. Good varieties are Boskoop, Cox Orange, Elstar or Jonagold, or Braeburn, Granny Smith or Fuji where those are easier to find. Cut a lid about 1.5 cm thick off the stem end of each apple and keep it. Cut a thin slice off the bottom so the apple stands up, without reaching the core. Push an apple corer down from the top and stop about 1 cm above the bottom, then widen the hole with a teaspoon to about 3 cm across. Keep the bottom closed, or the filling runs out in the oven. If you do pierce it, plug the hole with the piece of marzipan you set aside. Brush all the cut surfaces and the inside of each hole with the 1 tbsp of lemon juice so they don't turn brown, and stand the apples in the dish about 3 cm apart.
5. 5Spoon the filling into the apples with a teaspoon and push it down with the handle of a wooden spoon so there are no air pockets. Pile the rest of the filling on top in a small mound, then press any raisins that show on the surface down into it, because raisins on top burn and taste bitter. Dot the remaining 25 g of butter over the tops, then pour the 150 ml of apple juice into the dish around the apples, so it forms a thin layer on the bottom.
6. 6Bake for 25 minutes. Then put the lids on, spoon a little juice from the dish over the apples and bake for another 10 minutes, 35 minutes in all. They are done when a wooden skewer slides into the flesh with no resistance and the skin has wrinkled and started to split in places, while the apple still holds its shape. Very large Boskoop apples can take up to 45 minutes, so test them every 5 minutes after the first 35. If the filling darkens too quickly, cover the dish loosely with foil.
7. 7Let the apples stand in the dish for 5 minutes, as the filling is very hot straight from the oven. Lift each one onto a deep plate and spoon the juices from the dish over it. Serve warm. Put any leftovers in the fridge within 2 hours.