Apple butter, cherry, vanilla whip, ginger crumb
Ingredients:
Serves 6.
Cherry compote:
500g fresh or frozen cherries, pitted, whole
2 tbsp sugar
4 cloves
2 star anise
1 tsp ground cinnamon
Maple Apple Butter:
1 kilogram pink lady apples, or similar, peeled and cored
1/4 cup maple syrup
Ginger Crumb:
6 ginger cookies, such as gingerbread or ginger biscuits, something that will crumble
Vanilla Bean Whip:
1 vanilla bean pod, beans scraped from inside
300g heavy cream or thickened cream - for whipping
Garnishes:
Cinnamon for dusting
Freeze dried cherries, crushed
Method:
Peel, core and slice apples. In a large pan with a lid, add apples and 1/4 cup of water over medium-low heat and cook with the lid on, stewing the apples and stirring every now and then until they cook down completely. After about 3 hours, the apples should become an apple puree and you may need to add a splash of water every now and then to keep it from drying out as it cooks down. Once they become an apple sauce, blend until very, very smooth and add back into the pan. Bring to a gentle simmer and cook down, stirring constantly until it reduces to a thick spreadable “butter”. The texture should be thick enough to hold it’s shape. Add to a jar and keep in the fridge. This can be done days in advance.
To make the cherry compote, add cherries to a large pan over medium-high heat and blister with a splash of water until they start oozing their own juices and getting saucey in the pan. Add sugar, cloves, star anise and cinnamon and continue to cook until the sugar dissolves and the cherries are blistered and broken down, about 10-12 minutes. Let cool and remove cloves and star anise. Add to a jar and keep in the fridge.
To make the vanilla bean whip, scrape vanilla beans from a pod and add to a cold mixing bowl with thickened cream. Whip, whip, whip until stiff-ish peaks form. It helps if the whisk, bowl and cream are super cold! Also helps to use a stand mixer, but not necessary. I hand whisked and it took about 5 minutes. This will last in the fridge for a few days, covered.
In a blender or food processor, blend cookies until a sandy texture is formed. Set aside.
To assemble, add 1/2 tsp of apple butter to the base of the plate. It will act as a base for the cookie crumb to stick to. Add 1-2 tbsp of cookie crumb to the center of the apple butter, leaving a well in the center. Add 1 tbsp cherry compote, then 1 tbsp apple butter, followed by vanilla bean whip. Dust cinnamon over top, then crushed freeze dried cherries. Enjoy straight away!
