Roasted Orange Cordial & Baked Apples
Cordials typically employ in their manufacture citrus peels and citrus and/or other fruit juices. (It's the juice that differentiates them from a syrup). I've never seen anyone use roasting / heating in this way for a cordial -- the innovation was inspired by wanting to capture the roasted clove-studded-orange flavor typical of Christmastide.
INGREDIENTS
4 navel oranges
2 apples
~1 Tablespoon butter or coconut oil
4 teaspoons brown sugar
~ 3 dozen cloves, divided
2 cups white or pure cane sugar
4 cinnamon sticks
1 2-inch nob ginger
Yield: 2 cups cordial; 8 baked apple quarters
Preheat oven to 350°. Make 6 small incisions on four oranges. Stick cloves in each incision. Place in a glass or ceramic baking dish.
Slice apples in half. Using a small spoon, remove the core, creating a semi-spherical space. Fill with ¾ teaspoon butter (or coconut oil) then press in 1 teaspoon brown sugar. Add to baking dish with the oranges. Bake for 30 minutes.
Remove baking dish from oven. Set apples and oranges aside and allow to cool. Once cool enough, slice the roasted oranges in half and juice them; you should have about 1 cup juice. Set juice aside. Remove all the flesh from the oranges and discard; it will come out easily after the roasting process.
Put the roasted orange peel halves (and the cloves that have still hung on) in a saucepan and add 2 cups sugar (white or pure cane) and 1 cup water. Add 4 cinnamon sticks, 2-inch nob of ginger, coarsely chopped, and 12 cloves. Heat on medium, stirring and pushing peels into the liquid until sugar dissolves. Take off heat, cover and let sit for 20 minutes to let spice flavors meld. Allow to cool completely, then stir in the juice from the roasted oranges. Pour cordial into an airtight container and store in the fridge until ready to use.
Place apples in an airtight container and use within a week or so.