It’s apple time here in Upstate NY – as it is in most parts of the country I would imagine. There are a lot of orchards in NY, and in fact it’s the second largest apple producing state in the country. That’s a bit of shock to some people who think NY consists of crowded, crime-ridden city streets, rather than the reality of acres of tree covered rolling hills.
Lots of those trees have apples on them and we are happy to take full advantage of that. Ourselves, we just have a small hill with a few apple trees of our own planted, but so far they are not mature enough to begin bearing, so we have to take advantage of the abundant supply from local orchards and road side stands.
Big bags of apples keep following me home. These are currently finding their way into concoctions being stored away for winter, like apple sauce and jam, and some sweetly delicious baked things, but today’s recipe is a super simple and easy recipe – Poached Apples with Caramel & Greek Yogurt.
A the end of so many beautiful fall days, dinner calls for a sweet, seasonal ending, but when I’ve already been in the kitchen all day, I don’t want to fool with anything complicated – I want simple, and delicious and maybe a little elegant.
This uses one of my favorite other recipes – Vanilla Bean Salted Caramel Sauce, which only seems difficult until you actually make it, and then you realize that making caramel sauce is nothing to get stressed about. And if worse comes to worse, there is always the store bought stuff, right?
So, let’s get this going, shall we?
- One recipe of Vanilla Bean Salted Caramel Sauce
- ½ cup Greek yogurt
- 1 tablespoon dark brown sugar
- a pinch of ground cinnamon
- a small splash of pure vanilla extract
- 1 cup of fresh apple cider
- ⅓ cup dry white wine
- pinch of salt
- another tablespoon dark brown sugar
- 2 tablespoons soft butter
- ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 3 large, firm apples, peeled, cored and cut into eights.
- At serving time, make sure the caramel sauce is at room temperature.
- Combine the Greek yogurt, 1 tablespoon of dark brown sugar, cinnamon and vanilla. Set aside.
- Using a wide saute pan, bring the apple cider and wine to a simmer, and cook until reduced to about ½ cup of liquid.
- Add the salt, 1 tablespoon dark brown sugar, butter and cinnamon, and stir until the butter is melted.
- Add in the apple slices and arrange in a single layer, spooning over some of liquid in the pan.
- Simmer gently. stirring every couple minutes, until the apples are easily pierced with the tip of a sharp knife, but still offer a little resistance in the center.
- Remove from heat.
- Can be held at room temperature for a couple hours, or can be served warm from the pan.
- In each dessert glass or dish, arrange some of the apple slices, spooning over a bit of the syrup from cooking. Top with a dollop of the Greek yogurt, and finish with a generous spoonful of the caramel sauce.
- Leftovers should be stored in the refirgerator.
I like desserts that can be prepared a little ahead, and then kept at room temp for a few hours, until I am ready to serve them – this just gets better after the apples sit in their own syrupy juices for awhile. My chief taste tester also reports that the apples and caramel are good on ice cream and the apples and yogurt are good on hot cereal for breakfast. What can I say – the man really knows how to taste test!
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