Wash and cook the sweet potatoes in a saucepan with water to cover until they are tender. Peel them and pass them through a ricer or mash them with a potato masher.
Add orange zest and juice, sugar, butter, nutmeg, milk, salt and pepper. Combine well and reserve.
Preheat the oven to 325ºF.
With the tines of a fork, make diagonal indentations in the apples. Fill them with the sweet potatoes, and put them in a baking pan.
In a small bowl mix simple syrup and lemon juice. Pour over the apples, and bake for 45 minutes, basting with the cooking juices every 15 minutes or so.
**To make simple syrup: in a small saucepan combine ½ cup sugar and ½ cup water. Bring to a boil, stirring to dissolve the sugar, and continue boiling for 5 minutes. Turn off the heat. Cool the syrup. You may keep this in the fridge.
Recipe by PERU DELIGHTS at https://perudelights.com/christmas-baked-apples-with-mashed-sweet-potatoes/