Translation:  apples in the oven.

Pommes au Four avec crème fraîche

Pommes au Four avec crème fraîche

This week’s French Fridays with Dorie recipe choice is Pommes au Four, baked apples filled with fruits and nuts. My first thought? Who can’t bake an apple? In Iowa, when I was a kid, we picked apples at the local orchard, hauled them home and helped Mom turn them into sauce, pie, crisp, cake, salad and, yes, baked.

But readers, this is an apple like no other. In Dorie’s words, “Baked apples are less a recipe than a construction: you core some apples, stuff their hollows with dried fruits, nuts, honey and butter, and then slide them into the oven. Which fruits and nuts? It’s up to you. Cinnamon or no cinnamon? Again, your choice. Hot? Warm? Chilled. with heavy cream? No one will tell you definitely.” 

I made this recipe last week-end  just before leaving for California. I enjoyed it hot, warm and chilled, with crème fraîche. I even diced up the leftovers to use as a topping for my oatmeal. If you follow the recipe carefully, Pommes au Four are simple to bake and delicious to eat.

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 I baked my apples in Aspen but am writing this post in Cambria, my winter home for the next three-and-a-half months. Yesterday I moved into our family’s rental house and, admittedly am enjoying the roominess. Although I’ve made peace with my 940-square foot Colorado condo, this house is nice, quiet and, sorta like this week’s baked apples, a real treat.

My biggest treat, however, will be seeing my nearby family more often. In their last e-mails to me, Emma, my blond, 12-year-old granddaughter, announced that the tips of her hair are now dyed pink! Her sister, Clara, who is 10, wrote that she is negotiating with the neighbors to rent hen space in their chicken coop. To my mind, my daughter, Melissa, who is their mother, has either lost her mind or loosened her grip. I need to check in on Family Place to find out. (If it’s the latter, Ms. Clara and I are going to go purchase one great big noisy hen.)

On my first day in Cambria I spotted a herd of the normally elusive zebras, a remaining bloodline from William Randolph Hearst's zoo, grazing in the pastures along Highway 1 near his castle at San Simeon. A good omen, for sure.

On my first day in Cambria I spotted a herd of the normally elusive zebras, a remaining bloodline from William Randolph Hearst’s zoo, grazing in the pastures along Highway 1 near his castle at San Simeon. A good omen, for sure. Note the dry meadow. This area needs moisture. Please, Mother Nature.

If you’re interested in seeing how other Doristas peeled their apples this week? Go, here.