Baked Nut-Coated Apples with Vanilla Custard

I made this for Christmas lunch and even though it came out good and got my first “gut Nachtisch” from my German FIL, I struggled to get the second step of dissolving butter, sugar and cinnamon together. I tried yesterday night for 8 people and the sugar just won’t dissolve in butter. It eventually burnt down so I tried again today. The melted liquid looked totally different than what is pictured in the steps (thanks for the step-by-step pictures, I often use them to compare if the results are similar) and it was totallllly different. The one in picture looks “liquidy” while mine looked almost like toffee which eventually cooled down to a rock solid sugar block. Cleaning was horrible but because I already had the nuts prepared I tried again today. Results were still totally different but I managed to coat the apple in the gooey sugar and butter anyway.
Here is what I did:
Measured all ingredients for melting in a le creuset pot and then at medium low, started melting the mixture. The sugar was still granular so I turned the heat to medium high while stirring continuously. In 5-01 minutes when the sugar was eventually dissolved the mixture was quite thick and sticky but I coated the apples out of sheer annoyance that the recipe wasn’t working and proceeded as per instructions anyway. It came out quite good, I wonder how much better it would have tasted if the recipe would have worked for me properly.

PUL Team - Dec. 25, 2024, 9:01 p.m.

Thank you so much for your detailed feedback, Pree! We're sorry to hear the sugar mixture didn’t turn out as expected and caused so much trouble. It sounds like the heat might have been a bit high, causing the sugar to caramelize rather than dissolve smoothly. Melting the butter first on low heat, then gradually adding the sugar and cinnamon, and stirring gently until it dissolves could help. We'll revisit the instructions to make sure they’re clearer 😊

I have only used 1/4 of the sugar and still it worked perfectly! Every family member loved it!!

So much easier to make than I thought. It's a show-stopper dessert that left all my friends liking their plates. The custard sauce came out a bit too sweet, maybe the final sweetness depends on the custard powder.

PUL Team - Dec. 9, 2023, 6:41 a.m.

Thanks a bunch for taking the time to leave the review, Martunia! 😊

Easy and delicious 🤗 Perfect for the holidays.

We finally made these apples& they were so easy to make and tasted even better than expected! Thank you so much 😊🍎✨