Baked Apples With Caramel Sauce - cooking recipe

Ingredients

7 teaspoons chopped walnuts
7 teaspoons raisins
4 granny smith apples
1 teaspoon freshly-grated lemon, zest of
1/4 cup butter, melted,plus
1 tablespoon butter, melted
6 tablespoons sugar
1 1/4 cups brandy
Sauce
1 tablespoon butter, cut into bits
2 tablespoons sugar, plus
2 teaspoons sugar
2 tablespoons firmly packed brown sugar, plus
2 teaspoons firmly packed brown sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup heavy cream
whipped cream, as an accompaniment

Preparation

Preheat oven to 330 degrees F.
In a bowl, combine walnuts, raisins, 1/4 cup melted butter and 4 tblsps sugar.
Peel and core the apples, leaving them whole.
Arrange them in a pie plate just large enough to hold them in one layer, and fill the cavity of each apple with 1/4 of the walnut-raisin mixture.
Sprinkle the zest over the apples with 1 tblsp melted butter and 2 tblsps of the sugar.
Pour brandy around apples.
Bake, basting occasionally, for 1 hour to 1 1/2 hours, or until apples are tender.
Keep warm, covered loosely.
For sauce: In a saucepan, combine butter, sugars, salt and cream and cook over low heat, stirring, until sugar is dissolved.
Increase heat to high, boil sauce for 2 minutes, and let cool to room temperature.
Divide sauce among 4 dessert plates and put apple in center.
Top with whipped cream.