flipBaked Apples with Cream, Cuverville Dessert
Baked Apples with Cream, Cuverville Dessert
Why this dish? Cuverville is in the Pays de Caux, land of apple trees. Preserving and preparing apples from the orchard was the routine of a Norman household like Madeleine's. The Sunday apple dessert closed Gide's frugal meals in the countryside.
Orchard apples baked until melting, perfumed with cinnamon and coated with fresh Norman cream. The simple, tangy sweetness that soberly ended the meals at Cuverville.
The orchard at Cuverville gave us more apples than we could eat; we kept them in the fruit store on racks, and when winter came we baked them in the oven until they collapsed into jam. A little cream on top, and there was all our Sunday luxury. Madeleine insisted on it. It was modest, and yet, in the Norman cold, it stood for tenderness.
- •Orchard apples (reinettes) — several (base)
- •Butter — a knob per apple (softness)
- •Sugar — to taste (sweetness)
- •Cinnamon — a pinch (flavor)
- •Raw cream — one bowl (serving)
Baked Apples with Cream, Cuverville Dessert
Orchard apples baked until melting, perfumed with cinnamon and coated with fresh Norman cream. The simple, tangy sweetness that soberly ended the meals at Cuverville.
Why this dish? Cuverville is in the Pays de Caux, land of apple trees. Preserving and preparing apples from the orchard was the routine of a Norman household like Madeleine's. The Sunday apple dessert closed Gide's frugal meals in the countryside.
The orchard at Cuverville gave us more apples than we could eat; we kept them in the fruit store on racks, and when winter came we baked them in the oven until they collapsed into jam. A little cream on top, and there was all our Sunday luxury. Madeleine insisted on it. It was modest, and yet, in the Norman cold, it stood for tenderness.
Ingredients (period version)
- Orchard apples (reinettes) — several (base)
- Butter — a knob per apple (softness)
- Sugar — to taste (sweetness)
- Cinnamon — a pinch (flavor)
- Raw cream — one bowl (serving)
Ingredients
- Reinette or Boskoop apples — 4 (base)
- Butter — 40 g (softness)
- Sugar (or honey) — 4 tsp (sweetness)
- Cinnamon — 1 pinch (flavor)
- Thick crème fraîche — 15 cl (serving)
Method
- Core the apples without piercing them entirely; arrange in a dish.
- Fill each cavity with butter, sugar and a little cinnamon.
- Pour a little water into the dish and bake at 180°C for 35-40 min, until the flesh is tender.
- Serve warm, drizzled with their juice and topped with a spoonful of crème fraîche.
How it was made : In the Pays de Caux, apples were kept all winter in the fruit store and prepared as compotes, bourdelots (apples in pastry) and baked apples. Raw cream, ubiquitous, accompanied almost all Norman desserts.
The contemporary twist : Insert a salted butter caramel into the heart of each apple and finish with a crumble topping for crunch.
André Gide · Charactorium
