Apples: Baked Apples with Caramel Sauce

By blum099

Ingredients

• FOR THE BAKED APPLES:
• 1 ⁄4 cup sugar
• 1 ⁄4 cup maple syrup
• 4 tbsp. unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 2 tbsp. ground cinnamon
• 1 ⁄4 tsp. kosher salt
• 6 firm Fuji apples, stemmed and cored
• Ice cream, for serving
• FOR THE CARAMEL SAUCE:
• 1 1⁄2 cups sugar
• 1 ⁄3 cup heavy cream ( Vegan Cranberry Whipped Cream
• 1 ⁄2 cup raisins
• 2 tbsp. dark rum
• Vegan Cranberry Whipped Cream
• 1/2 cup (4 ounces) Homemade Cranberry Sauce
• 2 cans (28 ounces) Full Fat Coconut Milk
• 1 droppers full of Vanilla Stevia Drops or your favorite natural sweetener to taste
• Cranberry Sauce

Preparation

Step 1

1. Make the baked apples: Heat oven to 325°. Combine sugar, syrup, butter, cinnamon, and salt in a bowl; set aside. Cut 1⁄4" from bottom of apples so that they sit flat; transfer apples to a 9" x 13" baking pan. Fill hollow cores with reserved sugar–syrup mixture. Cover apples with foil; bake until tender, about 50 minutes.


2. Meanwhile, make the caramel sauce: Heat sugar and 1⁄2 cup water in a 2-qt. saucepan over medium-high heat. Cook, without stirring, until amber colored and a candy thermometer inserted into syrup reads 330˚, about 20 minutes. Remove pan from heat; let cool slightly. Add cream (caramel will bubble up slightly). Stir in raisins and rum; set aside. Serve apples with caramel sauce and ice cream.


Vegan Whipped Cream
Puree your homemade cranberry sauce until smooth. Chill coconut milk in your refrigerator overnight undisturbed. Remove from the fridge and gently turn the can upside down, but be sure not to shake it. Open the can and pour off all of the clear coconut water (you can save this for shakes and drinks.) Put the thick cream in your mixer bowl, whip a bit until it starts to firm up. Add the cranberry sauce & sweetener, continue to whip until you have soft fluffy peaks. Chill until ready to serve.
If your coconut cream is all ready very thick you can put all the ingredients in the mixing bowl at one time.
Notes
Coconut milk tends to vary from one brand to another. Some thicken to a dense cream quickly, others take more whipping to get peaks. Experiment with different brands to get the texture you prefer. I love them all!