Cabin Fever Apple Delight
When someone tells you they will spend a week in an isolated cabin where you have to carry all your own food in a backpack across a frozen lake on skis, you may think that would imply deprivation. But not if you add in some creativity, resourcefulness and the strict Norwegian rule of not letting anything go to waste. A week of meals cooked over a little gas stove included thai curry, italian minestrone, chorizo and potato soup, ham and peas pasta and a colourful ‘leftovers’ salad. Not to mention a week of breakfasts fit for champions, the morning table was consistently overloaded with cheeses, salamis, fruits, muesli and even rice pudding. The only item lacking from our elaborate menus was a succulent sweet to wrap up our evening dinners.
Thus began our extensive search through the kitchen cabinets that were filled with our week’s supply of food and leftover spices from previous stays. Efficient food planning in a remote winter cabin also means finding ways to use up the rotting fruits which we forgot to put outside in the cold. A moment later a bunch of apples and some cinnamon discovered at the back of the cupboard found their destiny in some warm simmering caramel. What better way to use up ageing fruits than to coat them with thick caramel and by consequence fill the wooden cabin with wafts of cinnamon and butter? The fragrance emerging from the hot apples can only bring back memories of childhood happiness and warm bellies.
“Most folks don’t have but a few days to a week’s worth of food in their houses at any given time. When they run out, they’ll have to forage. Only the fools will forage in town. The smart ones will look on the outskirts.”
Edward M. Wolfe
What else could we include to make this a truly “local” dessert?
We did not exactly go foraging in nature when we came up with this instant sweet tooth satisfier, but we did find a way to incorporate the massive amounts of snow abundant on the roof and our surrounding “garden” into our week’s diet.
When I was growing up, it was popular to say that Eskimos had many different ways for referring to snow. Supposedly the truth is that Eskimo-Aleut languages have about the same number as distinct root words for snow as we have in English, but the structure of these languages allows for more variety in the construction of description of snow. Studies of the Sami language of Norway, Sweden and Finland have also found the use of around 180 snow and ice-related words.
So on a cold starry night in a secluded cabin in south western Norway we ended up adding another word to our snow-related vocabulary – Dessert!
Being surrounded by all this glistening fresh snow all week, left me craving one of my favourite summer desserts – Granita. A traditional mid-afternoon snack for italian children consisting of shaved ice and fruit syrup. The refreshing sweet ice is a welcome treat in hot sticky months. How to turn this into an appropriate winter flavour? With our duty-free bottle of Baileys of course. Freshly scooped snow drenched in Baileys is delicious enough on its own, but why not combine it with the warm apples for a ‘gourmet’ dessert worthy of treating our tired companions after a day of cross-country skiing and rooftop snow shovelling?
Armed with our caramel apples, freshly made granita and a box of UHT crème fraîche meant for a previous night’s pasta sauce, the ingredient gathering for our first cabin fever dessert was complete.
If you ever find yourself in a similar situation, out of fresh ingredients and scouring kitchen cabinets for something to whip up on a cosy winter night, am sure tinned peaches, pineapples or apricots (make sure to rinse off the sugary canned syrup first) could also replace the apples nicely in this recipe.
CARAMEL APPLES WITH BAILEYS GRANITA \ˌkɛrəməl æpəlz & beliz granita\
Serves 4 to 6 people (depending on how hungry you are after a day of winter sports)
For the Caramel Apples
6 of your favourite medium sized apples (we used Red Delicious Apples)
5 tbsp granulated sugar
3 tbsp water
a knob of butter
half a lime
1 tsp cinnamon
Peel and core your apples and slice into segments. Put aside the prepared apples while you start your caramel sauce. It does not matter if they start to brown a little as you will mix them into the caramel sauce, but if you are concerned you can add a squeeze of lime to keep them from browning too much.
Heat up a non-stick pan big enough to fit all your apples into. When the pan is hot pour in the sugar, when it starts to clump a little together add the water and stir until all the sugar is dissolved. Keep a close eye on the mixture, it will brown quite quickly. When it is a medium amber colour, similar to maple syrup, add the knob of butter and stir. It will foam up slightly before turning into a nice thick liquid caramel. Add in the apples quickly and stir gently to coat all of them evenly in the sauce.
This is when you can add the cinnamon and lime juice to taste. We did not have any other spices in the cabin, but I imagine some vanilla would work well here.
To Assemble
250 ml fresh double cream or crème fraîche if you want a more tangy flavour
a bottle of Baileys Irish Cream liqueur (can substitute with other cream liqueurs such as Kahlua or Amarula)
a bowl of fresh snow (make sure it is clean and white) or shaved ice
If you can resist the temptation to eat all the apples right there, you can wait for them to cool down slightly and then assemble your dessert.
Take a bowl or glass and drop a generous spoon of caramel apples at the base. Scoop some fresh snow/shaved ice on top and pour Baileys onto the snow until it is a nice cafe latte colour. Top with fresh cream and dig in!
