Baked Apples with Nut Cream

Ingredients
4 baking apples
1/3 cup raisins
1 cup apple juice

Nut cream:
½ cup raw, unsalted cashews
3 tablespoons pure maple syrup
2 teaspoons vanilla
Water

Directions
Preheat oven to 400°F.  Wash apples and remove cores without cutting through the bottoms of the apples.  Slit the skin around the middle of each apple to prevent bursting while they bake.  Place apples in baking dish.  Stuff each apple with raisins, sprinkle with cinnamon and fill with apple juice.  Pour remaining juice in the bottom of the baking dish.  Bake 30 minutes.

To prepare nut cream, first grind nuts in a blender until pulverized.  With the machine running, add the maple syrup, vanilla, and a tablespoon of water.  Add more water a little at a time until you have the consistency you desire.  Top baked apples with nut cream to serve.

Yield:  4 apples; 1 cup nut cream

Recipe by:  Annemarie Colbin, Book of Whole Meals, Ballantine Books, 1985.