Christmas baked apples with brandy

What a year this has been, I have never worked as hard. I ran out of time and sort of ran out of Christmas so despite good intentions, this is the closest I got to doing any seasonal recipes.

As summer explodes in Cape Town, so does my food styling work, and summer and Christmas generally mean a very busy time for me.

I have taken on a project cooking for a client over the holiday’s so I’m not sure how many posts I will be doing on my blog over the next few weeks. I do hope that wherever you are, whatever you do, and however you celebrate, you will have a restful and peaceful year-end holiday. Or even a short break.

If I don’t see you before the end of the year, I hope to see you in 2013, where I have some amazing things planned.

This recipe makes a fabulous addition to your Christmas dessert table and goes particularly well with Christmas pudding.

Brandy sodden fruit, cinnamon and cloves all conjure up the elements that make it so festive. Your house will smell lovely, and these are so easy to prepare.

Taking the core out the apple would have been so much easier if I had an apple corer gadget. Instead I gauged out a wide hole around the stem and then sliced down in a square shape to remove it. I tried to avoid cutting all the way through to the bottom.

I like to bake Golden Delicious or Pink Lady apples

Recipe | this makes enough to stuff 8 apples

1 1/2 cups seedless raisins (I used a mixture)
3 cloves
8 apples (or however many you will need)
3 T brown sugar
1 t cinnamon
zest of half an orange
3 T brandy

Pre heat the oven to 180 C. Cover the raisins and cloves with boiling water and set aside to soak for 15 minutes. Core the apples, trying not to cut all the way through (3/4 of the way down). Mix all the ingredients with the soaked apples and stuff each one as much as you can. Scatter over any leftover fruit and sauce around the apples. Cover with tin foil and bake for an hour.

Serve warm with loads of vanilla ice cream.

I look forward to connecting with you again

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12 Comments

This is a delicious-looking Christmasy dish. It sounds like you are very busy but it also sounds like you are doing wonderfully creative work which is such a joy. I won’t talk about my day job.

Sam, I love the rustic look of all the frames and that backdrop you used .. LOVE IT!
A cooking projects sounds so much. I will miss your posts in my email, but then we all need a break and we all deserve one. Wish you a merriest christmas and a wonderful 2013!

Thanks for this recipe! I am sure it will go down excellent as my mum used to make us baked apples with cinnamon and I absolutely loved it!
I’m gong to try this at Xmas.

Thanks Suzanne, I am lucky to be able to work around my passions, but sometimes money is scarce.

Thanks Kankana and the happiest of holiday wishes to you 🙂
sam

Hi Lynne, baked apples are a joy. I have a similar recipe where I bake them in loads of white wine (also sort of steam in foil in the oven). I then remove the foil half way and the sauce develops a lovely syrupy consistency. Also lovely with toasted almond flakes over the top.

Miam! I made something similar for our Christmas eve dinner, as a side to our apricot cornish hens. In a nutshell the apples were stuffed with Brie cheese, walnuts, thick cubes of bacon and leeks… it was divine!