I’ve cooked these and posted about them on facebook and EVERYONE comments, ‘my mum used to make these’ (which makes me think perhaps that the people I know are rather old because many grown ups that would be grandmother age). Anyway, being mum is part of what happens here quite a lot.
Bramleys uniquely fluff up on cooking and are a tiny bit tart. Baked apples are fluffy on the outside but denser on the inside, which just adds to the jeopardy fun of eating as they slide about the bowl in cream as you dive in. Maybe a spoon and fork to eat them with.
Super simple, but super seasonal. Best is to know a friend with a tree. That friend could be me, come along to the Orchard Day on October 14th 2023, by now, coming up to 6 years here, a tradition.
Ingredients (serves 6, one for breakfast each day through the week, an apple a day and all that…no, I mean to share with friends)
- 6 Bramleys
- 150g sultanas
- water/juice/flavourings to just cover and soak sultanas though works fine if you just miss out this phase, eg orange juice, apple juice, Earl Grey tea, calvados, amaretto, cognac (?some kind of humble/grand mismatch there)…
- 1 desert spoon (10ml) cinnamon
- orange zest (optional)
- 50g butter (I’m using Flora vegan butter at the moment) or vegan marg
Method
- heat the oven 180 degrees C or gas mark 4
- mix the drained sultanas and other ingredients, squishing in the butter to bind
- core the apples either use a corer or more riskily cut a square with knife going right through
- score them around the equator a couple of mm deep
- place in a baking tray and stuff with with the sultana-butter mix right to the top and maybe a bit more
- Put the tray in the oven and pour about 1cm water into the tray around the apples
- cook for about 30 minutes you can stick a knife in the side where the skin has come apart to see how far in the apple has fluffed up
- serve with cream Oatly single cream is ideal in my view. For full nostalgia add Golden Syrup – though that is wrong in a variety of ways we didn’t understand before…
