Michel Roux Jr’s Baked Apples With Fruit Mince

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Baked Apples PostA seasonal recipe that will make for a great Christmas Lunch dessert, try Michel Roux Jr’s baked apples with fruit mince and dazzle your guests. 

Serves 6

Cooking time: 40 mins

What You’ll Need:

For the fruit mince

  • 100g suet
  • 120 light brown muscovado sugar
  • 3 cooking apples peeled, cored and grated
  • 80g sultanas
  • 60g seedless raisins
  • 100g dried prunes, stoned and chopped
  • finely grated zest and juice of 1 orange
  • 100g walnuts, almond and pistachios chopped (total weight)
  • 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • ½ teaspoon mixed spice
  • 2 tablespoons brandy or dark rum

For the baked apples

  • 6 sweet dessert apples
  • 100g unsalted butter
  • icing sugar, sifted
  • juice of 1 lemon
  • 4 tbsp brandy or dark rum

For the muscovado ice cream

  • 750ml milk
  • 250ml cream
  • 12 egg yolks
  • 250g dark muscovado sugar

What to Do:

Muscovado Ice Cream:

  • Bring the milk and cream to the boil in a saucepan. Beat together the egg yolks and muscovado sugar until thick and creamy and pour the boiling milk onto the egg mixture, whisking constantly. Then pour the mixture back into the saucepan and stir with a wooden spatula over low heat until the custard thickens.
  • Allow to cool then pour into an ice cream machine and churn until frozen. If you don’t have a machine, pour the mixture into a plastic container, cover and place in the freezer. As soon as it starts to ice, whisk well and re-freeze. Repeat this process a couple of times until the ice cream is thick and smooth. The whole process will take 5 to 6 hours.

For the fruit mince:

  • Mix all the ingredients together in a large bowl. Add spices to taste, for example you may like more cinnamon or even a little ground ginger. Store in jars or an airtight container in the fridge for at least a week. It can, however, be kept for months.

For the Baked Apples:

  • Peel and core the apples and fill with the fruit mince, packing it tightly (there will be plenty, so pile it up to cover the top of the apples, and press down firmly).
  • Place the apples in a roasting tray with a knob of butter on each. Sprinkle liberally with icing sugar, and bake at 200C for 20 to 25 minutes, basting often with the cooking juices. Remove from the oven, leave to rest for 15 minutes and place the apples on warm plates.
  • Place the roasting tray on the stove-top over high heat and add the lemon juice and brandy or rum and boil, whisking constantly, to make the caramel sauce strain through a sieve when syrupy. Pour a little syrup around the apples.
  • Serve with the Muscovado ice cream.

Recipe from Cactus Kitchens

Explore all the traditional food and drink on offer in our Best Christmas Markets 2013 edit.

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