This dish gives you a spiced-up, exciting new way to eat your applesauce! Using clarified butter creates a rich, smooth, and decadent dish, perfect for use as a succulent side to the main course, or as an absolutely divine dessert. Enjoyed hot or cold, this sweet and spicy recipe is loaded with vitamin C, fiber, and a combination of cinnamon, ginger, cloves, and nutmeg—a foursome that never fails to please!
Serves 6–8
• 6 apples, peeled, cored, and sliced (Gala apples are recommended)
• 1 cup water
• 2 tablespoons lemon juice
• 2 tablespoons chopped unsweetened dried cherries
• 1⁄2 cup chopped dried apricots
• 2 teaspoons cinnamon
• 1⁄4 teaspoon ginger
• 1⁄4 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1⁄4 teaspoon nutmeg
• 2 tablespoons clarified butter
• 1 tablespoon fresh lemon zest, for garnish
1. Combine apples, water, and lemon juice in a large saucepan, bring to a boil, and then turn down the heat. Cover and simmer for 25 minutes or until apples are tender.
2. Stir in the cherries, apricots, cinnamon, ginger, cloves, and nutmeg, and cook 5 more minutes.
3. Add the clarified butter to the hot mixture and stir until melted. Garnish with lemon zest.
BAKING WITH APPLES
Gala apples have a mildly sweet flavor and are the best choice for salads, applesauce, and eating fresh. Sour and crisp Granny Smith are an all-purpose cooking apple, and one of the most popular tart apples. McIntosh are perfect for eating fresh, though their flavor tends to break down when heated. Cortland apples are excellent baking apples; their resilient hue makes them a popular choice for pies and crisps.
