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Desserts: Honey Baked Apples w/ Cardamom Custard

Source of Recipe

The Crabtree & Evelyn Cookbook


List of Ingredients

-----CARDAMOM CUSTARD SAUCE-----
4 lg Egg yolks
3 tb Sugar
2 c Half and half
2 Cardamom pods,whole cracked-to expose seeds -OR- 1/2 ts -Ground Cardamom
1/2 ts Vanilla

-----HONEY BAKED APPLES-----
6 lg Apples,baking Golden Delicious, or Rome Beauty
1/4 c Currants
1/4 c Prunes dried, chopped,1/3ted
1/3 c Black walnuts chopped
2 1/2 tb Gingerroot, crystalized finely chopped
2 tb Apricot preserves
1 t Lemon zest freshly grated
1/2 ts Cardamom ground
1/3 c Honey
1/3 c Orange juice
1 tb Lemon juice fresh
1/4 ts Nutmeg, ground


Recipe

In a medium mixing bowl, beat egg yolks and sugar until pale yellow and thick. Heat half-and-half and cardamom pods in a medium-sized enamel or other non-reactive saucepan over low heat until small bubbles begin to form around the edges.

Remove from the heat and pour a small aomunt of hot mixture into egg yolk mixture, whisking constantly. Add remaining half-and-half mixture, whisking. Pour mixture back into the saucepan and cook over lowest possible heat, stirring constantly, until custard thickens and coats the back of a wooden spoon, about 10 minutes. Strain through a sieve into a bowl. Add vanilla and stir briefly to cool. Cover the surface with plastic wrap and refrigerate until cold.

Preheat the oven to 350F. Using a small knife, core apples, keeping them whole and slightly enlarging the hollow centre. Remove peel from around one core end and about halfway down each apple.

In a small bowl, combine currants, prunes, walnuts, gingerroot preserves, lemon zest and ground cardamom and stir until well blended. Stuff mixture into cored hollows of apples, packing it down firmly and mounding a small amount on top. Place apples in a well-buttered shallow baking dish just large enough to hold them.

In a small saucepan, combine butter, honey, orange juice, lemon juice, and nutmeg and heat, stirring, over low heat until butter is melted and mixture is smooth. Pour over the apples and bake apples in the center of oven, basting every 10 minutes with pan juices, for 40 to 50 minutes, or until apples are fork tender but not mushy. Remove from the oven and let cool slightly.

To serve, pour about 1/4 cup chilled cardamom custard sauce into the bottom of each of 6 dessert dishes or shallow bowls. Place an apple in the center of each dish and drizzle each with some of the pan juices. SERVES:6