Caramelised Maple Apples With Maple Syrup Yoghurt
These luscious apples are really rather divine and healthy to boot. They have a lovely spicy flavour and retain just a nice little bit of crunch when they’re cooked.
The recipe serves 2-3 people – if you want to serve more it’s probably best to make up two separate batches, as it can be quite hard to find a frying pan large enough to fit double the quantity of apples in a single layer.
2-3 serves.
- 4 large sweet apples (pink ladies, fuji and galas all work well), peeled, cored and cut into 1.5cm
- thick wedges
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg (freshly ground, if possible)
- 15g unsalted butter
- 1 teaspoon light olive oil
- 1/2 cup (125ml) clear apple juice
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract or 1 vanilla bean, split
- 2 tablespoons pure maple syrup, or more according to taste
- 2-3 tablespoons natural sultanas
Maple syrup yoghurt
- 1 cup (280g) good quality Greek-style plain yoghurt
- 1 tablespoon pure maple syrup, or more to taste
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- Extra maple syrup, toasted pine nuts, optional, for serving
Toss the apple wedges in a bowl with the cinnamon and nutmeg.
Warm the butter and oil in a large non-stick frying pan over medium heat. Tumble in the apples and spread them out in a single layer. Cook them for 2 minutes, turning them carefully once or twice.
Pour in the apple juice then add the vanilla, or split vanilla bean. Cover the pan, then reduce the heat to medium/low and leave the apples to cook for about 10 minutes, shaking the pan occasionally, until they’re just tender but not collapsing. (Keep an eye on them towards the end of the cooking time as they can suddenly become quite dark). When the apples are ready, use a slotted spoon to carefully scoop them out of the pan and into a serving bowl.
Now add the maple syrup and sultanas to the pan. Increase the heat a little and let the liquid bubble until it is slightly thickened and syrupy – I sometimes add a little more maple syrup depending on how much liquid was left from the apples. Scrape this lovely syrupy mixture over the apples then leave them to cool a little.
Meanwhile, make the maple syrup yoghurt by simply stirring together the yoghurt, maple syrup and vanilla.
To serve the apples, scoop them into glasses or small bowls. You can offer the yoghurt separately, or dollop a spoonful on each serving and drizzle a smidgen of maple syrup over the top. (I sometimes stir a small handful of toasted pine nuts into the apples just before serving them, as their nuttiness and crunch are a lovely contrast to the lush sweetness of the apples.).