Baked Apples (and the rain)

I know I'm supposed to be thinking strawberries and ramps and fiddleheads and asparagus.

But I never say no to a good baked apple. (Could I enter this in Food Porn Daily?)

Red Jacket Orchards offers a great variety of apples and will continue to do so throughout

the summer. I chose a couple of Romes and bought their

newest product, Apple Cider Molasses.

It's worth the $7.00. It can be used as a sweetener and as a glaze. Here, I use it as a glaze.

I recently went on an Amazonian cookbook expedition (binge), and this simple recipe for baked apples is adapted from one of my finds, David Tanis' jewel, A Platter of Figs and Other Recipes.

Fill your apples' cavities with the best quality spirits. It will make a difference. Quality matters.

And then drink some.

When's the last time you saw the sun?

My heirloom tomato seedlings arrived, ready for planting, from White Flower Farm - yesterday.

This year, I should have planted rice.

The easiest and fastest way to core an apple is NOT to cut it in half. Instead, cut it on either side, and then on the other two smaller leftover sides, leaving a square core. Here's a picture:

Baked Apples

(asterisks indicate products that can be purchased at the Kennedy Plaza Farmer's Market, open every Wednesday on Kennedy Plaza in Long Beach, New York.)

Adapted from A Platter of Figs

and Other Recipes by David Tanis

Use Rome apples for baking. Red Jacket Orchards’ Apple Cider Molasses* is a new and versatile product that can be used as both a sweetener and a glaze. Here, it is used as a glaze. Use good quality French Calvados or brandy. It makes a difference.

Preheat oven to 375º

Ingredients:

Rome apples*

Sugar

Calvados or Brandy

(alternatively, use fruit juice, such as apple cider)

Apple Cider Molasses*

Procedure:

Using the larger scoop end of a melon ball scooper, carefully scoop out the stem, reserving it and continue to carefully core each apple with the melon baller until just the core and seeds are removed, taking care to leave the bottom intact.

Fill the apples with sugar and then Calvados or brandy and replace the ‘lid’ on each apple.

With a teaspoon, lightly glaze tops of apples with Apple Cider Molasses.

Place apples in a ceramic dish and bake on the top shelf of the oven until apples burst.

Serve warm or at room temperature. These are delicious eaten ‘straight up’ or with a splash of room temperature, organic heavy cream.*