CookEat Recipe
Whole Apples with Redcurrant Jelly
Whole poached apples filled with redcurrant jelly and served cold in a kirsch-scented syrup.
Method
Steps
Step 1
Gather the ingredients: About 675 g small firm reinette or other fine cooking apples, roughly 5–6 apples, weighed whole; Juice of 1/2 lemon for the holding water; 120 g caster sugar for poaching; 500 ml water for poaching; 30 ml kirsch, divided into two 15 ml tablespoons; About 200 g fresh redcurrants to obtain 100 g strained juice; 80 g caster sugar for the redcurrant jelly, adjusted to 80% of the actual juice weight; Cold water for holding the peeled apples, discarded.
Step 2
First make the small quantity of redcurrant jelly. Wash and strip the redcurrants from their stalks, crush them and squeeze through a clean food-safe cloth. Weigh 100 g juice, using more fruit if needed; for another yield, use 80 g sugar for every 100 g juice. Do not ferment the juice. Heat the measured juice with its sugar until dissolved, then boil briskly for about 5–10 minutes, checking early and frequently until a drop on a chilled plate sets and wrinkles when pushed. Cool in a clean covered container, refrigerate promptly and use within 3 days. This is fresh refrigerator jelly, not a shelf-storage canning method.
Step 3
Prepare a bowl of cold water with the half-lemon juice. Core the apples without splitting them, peel them and put them into the lemon water as each is prepared. Drain and arrange them close together in a saucepan in a single layer.
Step 4
In a separate pan, dissolve the 120 g poaching sugar in the 500 ml water with the first 15 ml kirsch. Pour this syrup over the apples and bring to a gentle simmer. Cook for about 15–25 minutes, adjusting for variety and size and turning carefully if needed, until tender but still whole. Lift out with a slotted spoon, drain and place in a serving bowl to cool.
Step 5
Simmer the remaining poaching liquid uncovered until syrupy, checking frequently. Pass through a damp clean food-safe cloth, cool, then stir in the second 15 ml kirsch. Once the apples are cold, fill and slightly mound the core cavities with the redcurrant jelly, about 10–15 g per apple. Pour the syrup around the apples, leaving the red jelly visible against their pale flesh.
Step 6
Refrigerate the prepared dessert at 4°C or colder within 2 hours and serve cold. Use within 2–3 days. Refrigerate any unused jelly separately; the whole small jelly batch need not be used in the apples.
Step 7
Prepared clear rosolio may replace the kirsch in the same total 30 ml quantity, split equally between the poaching syrup and cooled finishing syrup. If redcurrant jelly is unavailable, use about 60–90 g prepared fruit preserve to fill the apple cavities instead, omitting the redcurrants and their 80 g jelly sugar. The poaching ingredients and method remain unchanged.
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