• 1 cup raisins
• 3 tablespoons dark rum
• 6 large Rome Beauty apples
• rind of 1 lemon, grated
• juice of 1 lemon
• 6 tablespoons honey
• 12 almonds (with skins left on), chopped or slivered
• 6 tablespoons apricot preserves or red currant jelly

In a bowl, soak the raisins in the rum for 1 hour. Preheat the oven to 375°. Wash and core the apples, but don’t peel them. Cut off a thin strip at the base so the apples will remain upright. Put them in a baking dish and fill the center with the raisins and the rum and the grated lemon rind, lemon juice, and honey. Sprinkle with the almonds. You can prepare this much ahead of time and cover with plastic wrap or aluminum foil and set aside until ready to cook.

Pour ½ cup of warm water around the apples, cover with a sheet of aluminum foil and bake for 1 hour in a 375° oven. Remove the foil, pierce the skin of each apple two or three times with a sharp knife and bake for 10 to 15 minutes. Transfer the apples to a serving dish. Stir the preserves or jelly into the cooking-pan juices and pour over the apples. Serve warm or cold.