apples poached in caramel, apple cider, white wine, ginger and cinnamon
I'm not the type who needs to cook fruit or dress it up before it can be eaten, because I love fruits fresh and on their own. That said, this was a nice surprise. I ate one hot and just-cooked and one cold after a stint in the fridge and the hot one won by a mile. If Singapore ever had a winter I'd want to have these with a mug of spiced tea. Warm, soft, sweet apple infused with smoky caramel and lovely spices - I think they would go ridiculously well with vanilla ice cream. Are you salivating yet?
Recipe from Look I made That!.
3 cups sugar
1 cup water
1 1/2 cups apple cider
3/4 cup water
6 TBSP sugar
2 TBSP sliced peeled ginger
1 cinnamon stick
2 star anise
4 medium apples, peeled and cored
1 1/2 cup apple cider
1 1/2 cup white wine
1/4 cup sugar
3 TBSP lemon juice
1 vanilla bean, split and scraped
- Put 3 cups sugar and 1 cup water in large pot. Heat on low, stirring until the sugar is melted. Turn heat up to medium and let boil, undisturbed.
- Meanwhile put 1 1/2 cups apple cider, 3/4 cup water, sugar, ginger, cinnamon stick, star anise in a small pot and bring to boil. Set aside.
- Once the boiling sugar turns amber, slowly add in the hot cider mixture. Cover and let steep for 20 minutes. Strain out spices.
- Add the 1 1/2 cup apple cider, white wine, 1/4 cup sugar, lemon juice and vanilla bean to the caramel. Add the apples to the poaching liquid. Place a sheet of parchment on top and weigh down with a plate. Heat on medium low, bringing to just under a boil. Poach until fork tender.
I left out the vanilla and the star anise, and only used 2 apples. I found that a smaller pot was better as the poaching liquid was then able to cover the apples 3/4 of the way [they will float in a lot of liquid, so you still have to turn them over]. You must be very very careful with the caramel - boiling sugar can be happily colourless for the longest time and then change to amber in a split second so you have to watch the pot. Once part of the sugar starts changing colour, watch it like a hawk and don't let it get too dark, or else you'll have to start all over again. Also be very careful when pouring in the apple cider into the caramel because it will spit and bubble very ferociously.
I think more cinnamon would be even better - if I ever make this again I'll put in two sticks. I used moscato, because that was the white wine that I had on hand. Moscato is already sweet, so I think on hindsight I shouldn't have put in any more sugar after that because the apples came out really very sweet. The apples need to poach for about less than 10 minutes each side. I left the skins on as I like a bit of texture, and as you can see, they split. I kind of like the effect that made.
Till next time :)