French Fridays with Dorie: Spiced Poached Apples

Friday, September 14, 2012

What a difference a week makes!!! Last Friday I had summer on my plate with the colourful and delicious Eggplant Tartine. This week I seem to have Autumn. Apples and pears are definitely autumn fruit. And the weather, here in Zagreb, is definitely in tune with this lovely dessert.  For the past two days it's been raining non stop and the temperature is stuck around the 10 degree Celsius mark. Brrrr. It's chilly and windy out there. But inside it's warm and smells like...Christmas. I know it's way too early to think about Christmas but I could not help myself...cinnamon, vanilla, and orange, are surely scents of Christmas.
This dessert is really, really easy and quick to make. You can just make the syrup (water, honey, star anise, cinnamon, vanilla, orange and lemon zest) and use it in other recipes. It is light and incredibly aromatic. 
I chose to use apples and I did not use the sugar but just the honey. I spiked it a bit with two tablespoons of home-made Walnut liqueur. It was fantastic. The perfect dessert for a chilly autumn Friday afternoon. 
I just love the tiny vanilla seeds
To see how other bloggers liked Spiced Poached Apples or Pears check out French Fridays with Dorie website where every Friday we make recipes from Dorie Greenspan's book "Around My French Table"

13 comments:

  1. Very lovely autumnal fare, I agree. Did you actually make the "homemade walnut liquor" that you mentioned in your post?

    Glad you enjoyed this recipe so much - have a good weekend!

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  2. Walnut liqueur sounds like an excellent addition! Well done!

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  3. You are right what timing for this dessert we really did jump into Fall. I have never heard of Walnut liquor??? Where does it originate from?

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  4. The switch from Summer to Fall can seem a little abrupt, can't it? I think we're doing a great job of mirroring the passing of the seasons with our French Fridays picks (at least for the Northern Hemisphere). Walnut liqueur sounds like such a good addition to the poaching liquid.

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  5. Walnut liqueur sounds very intriguing! I think you have us all interested with that one.

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  6. Autumn is definitely here. Great looking apples!

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  7. burr is right. and no, its not too early to think about Christmas. :-) The walnut liqueur sounds interesting to me too since I'm sipping on some pear liquor mixed with the poaching liquid from this week's recipe.

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  8. Walnut liqueur? You have MY attention for sure! So warm here still but these made for a light and lovely dessert for those of us still braving 100 degree weather!

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  9. Ooooh--walnut liqueur. I didn't know such a thing existed! One more thing for me to keep my eyes peeled for. That sounds great, and like the perfect addition to this recipe.

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  10. Thank you all for your lovely comments! I think I got the message :) Next recipe I'm posting is going to be for my Walnut Liqueur :)Yayyyy

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  11. Walnut liqueur sounds heavenly. What a wonderful addition:) Thanks for sharing.

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  12. here here for walnut liqueur! can't wait to read about it!

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  13. Lovely photos and glad this recipe hit at the perfect time weather wise. We have been experiencing cool temps at night in Pennsylvania and it really does increase the desire to cook ! And to have some liquor......

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