2/20/2011 1 Comment Deep PleasureHello to all the lovely "Mademoiselle (ou Monsieur) Cochons" out there,
I apologize that it's taken me quite awhile to venture myself back to this website...Things have been a bit hectic in school and such, and it's definitely made me miss writing to you. :) But anyhow, I shall dive myself into writing about one thing I had promised to write about in my previous blog... Baked apples. I may have only mentioned it in the last blog, but baked apples are so timelessly delicious that it would almost be a crime to not write about it in more succulent detail! So here it goes... Personally, I would start baking an apple when certain situations come up... ...Like if I've come home from school after a long day (which actually seems to happen every day lately, which means I'll need to buy gigantic hoards of apples in the next grocery shopping trip...) and I want nothing more or less than to bite into the warm juiciness of an apple decorated by symphonies of walnuts and sweet raisins... ...Or when it's late into the night, and the birds have gone to sleep to reserve their lively chirping for the next morning, and the world has sunk deeply into the clear night skies and beyond...And that makes me want to get lost into the pleasure of a fruit.. ...Or really, when I just feel like eating a baked apple. :) Most recipes that I looked into, before making my first baked apple, said to throw in pecans..But since I don't have pecans at home, I just use walnuts that are tasty as well. The recipe is very easy--you basically take the core out of a large-sized apple while your oven is heating to the 375 deg F temperature, after which you fill the hole with chopped walnuts/pecans, raisins, as you sprinkle the little world of sweetness with cinnamon and nutmeg. Then you finish it off with a slice of butter on top (I usually put on a thin slice because I'm a super health freak..Except for the days when I've had a hard day and would like to have some extra indulgence..); and then you let your apple sit comfortably in the warm baking oven for 35-45 min, depending on whether you would like your finished product a little tough and crunchy, or cloud-like soft and meltingly juicy (I personally like the second option, which means 45 min). And this part is too good not to mention--As the apple is baking, and probably sometime after the 20 minute mark, you start to smell what seems like a gigantic apple pie that has all of a sudden popped into your home (that might seem like a scary image to some I guess; and if it frightens you, just concentrate on how lovely your house smells now! ;) ). You find yourself entirely consumed by the smell that reminds you of home, Thanksgivings and holidays, or maybe just last weekend. It's the warm, inviting atmosphere that makes you never want to leave your home the next morning, because as soon as you wake up that morning, you'll only want to fantasize about how amazing that smell was. And the baked apple scene almost reaches the point of becoming a major distraction from whatever work you may be doing while waiting for the alarm to go off--because it makes you want to rush to the oven and eat the apple even before it's actually ready! I've never actually done that, but I've always had the urge... And when the apple is finally taken out after an eternity, you will find that is was worth waiting every one of the 35-45 minutes. As you cut your first slice out of the apple, a rush of hot steam will suddenly escape, and you will once again be taken over. And as you eat the delicate, overflowing mounds of juiciness, as you top that off with the gleaming, golden-brown walnuts and the hard-candy-like raisins covered by the rich veil of melted butter, the night sky that is hovering peacefully outside your window will take you even deeper into pleasure..The pleasure of being comforted, of being fed, of having a lovely thought linger with you as you later go to sleep. The cinnamon and nutmeg, well, they'll just add even more flavor to your night. :) Enjoy your day, and if you please, eat a baked apple! ~~MC
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