Category Archives: apples
baked apples filled with fruits and nuts {ffwd}
We’ve been on dessert overload at home. There was the Chocolate Chip Cake I made for New Year’s Eve, which lasted through the weekend. Then, there was an apple crisp to help combat the frigid temperatures early in the week. We now have a Meyer Lemon Tart in the refrigerator to celebrate Howard’s birthday.
Because I didn’t plan ahead, there wasn’t really room in the lineup for this week’s recipe for French Fridays with Dorie: baked apples filled with fruits and nuts. On top of that, baked apples isn’t something Howard eats. Fortunately, it was easy enough to make a one apple version just for me.
After the indulgences of past six weeks or so of the holiday season, a baked apple is a relatively virtuous dessert. I think the recipe’s name in French sounds much more special: pommes au four (apples in the oven). And, it was so simple to make.
You core the apple (melon baller works best, thanks, Diane). Then you peel the top half and score the boundary between peeled and not peeled so it doesn’t explode. The filling can be any combination of your favorite dried fruits and nuts bound together with some honey and a dash of warm spice. I used apricots, prune, golden raisins and cherries for fruit, walnuts and pistachios for nuts, and ginger for spice.
I even used a spoonful of my own honey from the 2012 harvest.
To stuff, a dab of butter goes in the core followed by as much filling as will fit, then another dab of butter on top. The apple bakes in a small amount of apple cider, some more butter, and the apple peelings. This liquid is used to baste the apple while it’s baking.
I ended up eating my lone apple cold for breakfast (see wide array of desserts above) topped with warmed juices. I can’t remember ever making or eating baked apples before, though the taste reminded me of so many apple desserts I’ve had. I liked it, but I’m not sure I’d bother making it just for myself again. So, this might be a one-hit wonder.
I don’t have much else to say today. I hope you are staying warm where you and that the weather is treating you gently. Happy Friday!
You can find the recipe on-line here. As always, the recipe is also in the most-used recipe on my shelf, Dorie Greenspan’s book Around My French Table. To see the combinations my Dorista friends used, check out their links here..
compote de pommes two ways{ffwd}
I love applesauce in all of its forms. Smooth, chunky, unsweetened, sweet, spiced, plain. I don’t think I’ve ever met an applesauce I didn’t enjoy. That means I was excited about this week’s recipe for French Fridays with Dorie, Compote de Pommes Two Ways, which is the French way of saying applesauce with two options for the final products, thin or ultra-thick.
I consider myself to be a frugal cook. I don’t mean I’m a cheap cook. I have no problem buying the best quality ingredients or indulging in an unusual ingredient. I just mean I like to make the most of my ingredients. This often means I try to do “nose-to-tail” cooking with whatever I can, including fruits and vegetables. I loved that this recipe started with chopped-up whole apples, skin, cores, seeds, and all. In fact, when I make an apple-intensive dessert like apple crisp, I often make applesauce from the skins and cores alone. It’s amazing how much applesauce the scraps yield.
Last weekend, I made a couple of apple pies for a fundraising event for the new Community Farm I’m involved with. I dutifully saved the peels and cores for applesauce. I also ended up with a few cups of extra sliced apples that had already been tossed with sugar and spices.
When I was ready to make my Compote de Pommes, it occurred to me that rather than weighing out whole apples from the drawer, I should see how much apple parts were leftover from the pie making project. Lo and behold, I had about the two pounds the compote started with. So, that’s what I used as my base.
The apple cooks with a little brown sugar and a small amount of water until the apple is mashably tender. Then everything takes a trip through the food mill. For way #1, you can season this “first press” and call it a day.
I was more intrigued by way #2 where the applesauce cooks down further to because thick and spreadable. You can do this stovetop, but I chose the oven option, placing the pot in a low oven and stirring it every 10 minutes until it reached the desired consistency. After about 50 minutes, it was bedtime, so I decided it was thick enough. If I’d had the time and patience that evening, it could have cooked for even longer.
Finally, the compote de pommes can be sweetened to taste (mine didn’t need it), a generous spoonful of vanilla extract, and a small chunk of butter. I’ve never had applesauce flavored with vanilla, but it was a happy discovery!
Dorie gave various suggestions for serving the compote de pommes. I found it delicious slightly warm, just eaten straight from a bowl. I also remembered making a French Apple Tart earlier this year when I was participating in Tuesdays with Dorie. This is a simple construction of a pastry shell topped with thick applesauce and sliced apples brushed with butter and sprinkled with sugar. I had some extra pastry dough in the fridge from the pie making, enough to make a 9-inch tart shell, so that’s what I did. I enjoyed it as much this time as when I made it originally.
In my book (Howard wouldn’t try it), I’m declaring Compote de Pommes a winner this week! To see what the other Doristas thought, follow their links here. I can’t find the recipe online and we don’t post recipes that aren’t already out there, but We don’t post the recipes, but you can find it in Dorie Greenspan’s book Around My French Table.
A Plateful of Happiness 