Back to basics. Baked apples and stewed fruit.
Summer or winter, baked fruit in cobblers, crumbles, cakes, pies... stewed fruit... are all so beautiful! Being winter here, and having left over apples still hanging around, I decided to bake some.
These can be made in the oven or slow cooker... I use the slow cooker.
They are so good and can be served warm with cream, ice cream, custard... however you like or cold with yoghurt for breakfast.
After the apple harvest I worked though so many but all these months later just a few remain in the fridge. Lately some have been cooked to go with roast pork which is away delicious.
To make them I core the apples, place them in the slow cooker and fill the middle of each with brown sugar and sultanas. You can use any sugar, any dried fruit you like... my Dad liked to drizzle Golden Syrup over the top. I have about an inch of water and add extra sultanas and sometimes some Sago. When we were little we called Sago "little hailstones" and loved it!
As you can see my apples are not the same size or the same variety. The TYPE of apples to use is the ones you have laying around!
Let your apples cook on low for most of the day (or in the oven for about an hour) and then taste the juice that has formed. It will be pink and lovely. At this stage you decide if it is sweet enough and adjust.
The slow cooker is wonderful to cook any fruit. Quinces become ruby pink, pears, apricots .... whatever... all make beautiful deserts and stewed fruit freezes so well. When the girls were little I would blend this until smooth and freeze in moulds to make summer ice blocks.
My main message is that if you have tired fruit then make it into something delicious.
By coincidence today was pruning day for the big apple tree. It is bare but it is covered in new buds! I do not know how many we harvested last summer but it was amazing. The freezer is full of Apple Puree for when Lily begins solids. Hundreds of them have fed my family and friends.
There are people that let fruit fall to the ground and rot. I am not one of them! This is the most simple recipe but full of goodness! xxx
Annabel, Baked Apples is one of our favorite snacks in Fall and Winter. Apples are just to expensive here in Summer. I add a pat of butter to the top of the apples and at times add some walnuts to them. One of our favorite apple treats is apple crisp.
ReplyDeleteWe use in season fruit the most and try to stretch it and use it up in a stretched way. Strawberry Shortcake is drop biscuits (a softer version of scones). I have extra cut strawberries so I am making a strawberry lemonade bread. The leftover juice from the sliced strawberries I added to a pitcher of water to flavor it.
We had purchased blueberries for pancakes and with the leftovers I made a lemon blueberry bread.
Using seasonal fruit to their max is so prudent.
I love seeing all of your cooking and baking. You make the most of all you have.
These look delicious. I am going to try these today. John will love them. I have a bin full of organic apples that need used.
ReplyDeleteThank you for the recipe.
With love,
Glenda
That looks so delish. I’ve made them a very long time ago but think I’ll be making them again. I good way to get fruit in and satisfying the sweet tooth. I’ve done that with pears also and with pears I’ve sliced placed in oven and when the are soft I pour a tiny bit of chocolate on them. A great dessert and it looks a little elegant. Thank you Annabel for reminding me of these simple desserts that are so delicious.
ReplyDeletePhyllis from Oregon.
Thankyou Annabel, they look so yummy. I will try this in my slow cooker. Love Clare
ReplyDeleteDo you run a knife gently around each apple before cooking?
ReplyDeleteNo I never have... I want the apple to hold together...xx
DeleteI have always loved a baked apple and one of our favourite treats as a kid was when mom made apple fritters - thick apple slices dipped in batter and then pan fried in butter with a bit of sugar!
ReplyDeleteI have some apples in the fridge that are getting a bit wrinkled so I am going to slice them up, fry them and serve them with some ham slices that I've taken out of the freezer!