Welcome to our blog series on cooking with wine in which we continue our culinary adventure with a recipe for our Baked Apples. This dessert looks fancy but it’s really easy to prepare.
Before we begin, there’s one thing that we find really handy and that’s to know a few things up front. First, how long will it take to prep, cook, set aside, refrigerate, etc. before it’s ready to eat? Second, how many people will it serve? Lastly, the grocery list.
Nice to know details
As a general rule, allow for:
- 15 minutes preparation
- 65 minutes cooking
Grocery List
- Dried cranberries (1/4 cup)
- Fresh or frozen blueberries (1/4 cup)
- Chopped walnuts (1/4 cup)
- Butter (2 tablespoons)
- Honeycrisp apples (4)
- Red wine, preferably Malbec or Merlot (1 cup)
- Black currant juice (1/2 cup)
- Demerara sugar (1/2 cup)
Prepare the filling
- Place 1/4 cup of dried cranberries in a small bowl
- Add 1/4 cup of fresh or frozen blueberries
- Roughly chop walnuts to make 1/4 cup and add to the bowl
- Add butter and mix well with a spoon
Get the apples ready
- Cut the top off each apple (about 1/2 to 3/4 inch) and set aside
- Core each apple, making enough space for the filling but leaving a little apple at the base
- Stuff the filling into each apple
- Place the apple tops back on each apple
Bake the apples
- Preheat the oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit
- Place 1 cup of wine, 1/2 cup of black currant juice and 1/2 cup of Demerara sugar in a baking dish
- Stir the wine, juice and sugar
- Place apples standing up in the baking dish
- Bake for 60 minutes and baste occasionally with the sauce
- Remove from oven once apples are toothpick test tender
Serving
- Use 2 tablespoons to move apples onto serving dishes
- Pour the sauce from the baking dish into a small pot
- Bring to boil and continue cooking to reduce until slightly thickened, about 5 minutes
- Pour some sauce over each apple and serve immediately
Pairing
We recommend serving this delicious dessert with the remaining wine. It’s always best to serve the same wine used during cooking. This always helps to enhance both the flavours in the dish and also the wine.
Tips
- It’s best to use a dry red wine
- You can use dried blueberries instead of fresh or frozen
- If you’d prefer a soft filling, you can puree the mixture before stuffing the apples
- When you’re reducing the sauce, watch it very closely so it doesn’t turn to hard candy
- Don’t worry if the apples look wrinkly – that’s what happens when they bake
- You may want to reserve the apple tops for another use (or eat them)
- Without the apple tops, you can add a dollop of mascarpone cheese or yogurt and a sprig of fresh mint
We hope you enjoy this Cooking With Wine – Baked Apples.
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