The name of this recipe is Compote de Pommes Two Ways. Basically, Dorie gives us a very basic recipe for apple sauce (way 1), and then tells us that we can just leave it on the stove for another hour or so and see what happens (way 2). I’ll be honest, as I was cutting up my apples and putting them on to cook, I still had no idea which way I was going to do.
So I cooked the apples until the were done the first way and tried them with a bit of yogurt. Yep, it was apple sauce. Tasty, but hardly anything to write home about. Ok, let’s try the second way.
An hour later, my apples were thicker, but still pretty much the same color. For some reason I had expected them to get a bit darker. Dorie suggests adding vanilla and salted butter. I may have made a snide comment about “only in France do they add butter to apple sauce.” But that was before I tasted how delicious it was. I tell ya, those French know a thing or two about food.
But it was still a lot of apple sauce. I mean, I eat a lot of yogurt, pretty much every morning in fact, but how much apple sauce do I really need. So I decided to use half of it to make a cake. Not just any cake. But Dorie’s Double Apple Bundt Cake from her Baking book. What can I say, it was an appley kind of weekend.
In the end, the one that stuck with me was the second apple sauce. I had it pretty much every morning this week for breakfast with yogurt. And it was really delicious. Worth being glued to the stove for 1 and a half hours? Ouch, hard to say. But maybe.
one expat's life 
Oh no! Now I regret not making #2! Your bundt cake looks enticing! Will be using the balance for a cake later tonight!
Mmmmmm….I’m a wee bit envious that you made cake!!! Perfect!
I would like a piece of that cake please. Stat 🙂 Seriously, bonus point for you finding a Dorie recipe that uses apple sauce and knocking this out. I had thought that the extra time was going to add a lot of color also, and I plan to try that again myself- am curious. Now that I know you preferred the longer time (sort of) it is added incentive. And you had me chuckling about your butter addition comments.
I have to agree with Tricia, I would love a slice of that cake to go with my morning coffee,
looks fantastic. I would like to try this recipe again and cook it down, it sounds wonderful.
Have a great weekend.
I liked the second way for using in baked goods but the first quicker way to eat on its own!
Your cake looks way impressive! I like this recipe, and have made it a number of times. Happy that you liked your thickened sauce – yummy this time of year with some yogurt.
Love the bundt cake. The applesauce was good. I didn’t put in the butter. I’ll do it the next time.
Now I want to try Dorie’s double apple bundt cake!
I made the first one and I thought it was really delicious with that hint of vanilla…after reading your post I have to give the second one a try. I am convinced the French put butter in everything! Love that cake…I’ll also take a piece to enjoy with my tea! Have a great weekend, Rose!
I need to look up that cake, but as soon as my husband got home from Iceland he gobbled up the rest of the applesauce. I was skeptical about the butter and vanilla… but those French they do know food.
Yes, I never thought about adding butter to applesauce, especially since applesauce is otherwise rather virtuous. How was that cake? Looks great!
Good idea to use some for the cake. It was a good cake. I made the turnovers with mine. Not too sweet and very tasty.
I like how you repurposed the applesauce! I made mine yesterday and will use it for cinnamon-like rolls. I held back on the vanilla but that butter… oh my! Like you, I thought my sauce would be darker, and I added it halfway through the second cooking process, in thinking it would help the caramelizing process.
Rose your cake looks like the winner! Was it not all you wished for? I loved the applesauce. We had it for desert with whipped cream and then for breakfast with yogurt and walnuts and loved it both ways. The butter and vanilla added some vah vah voom! Thank you for your kind condolence in the loss of my friend.
Looking delicious – I really like that you made an apple bundt cake as well as the apple compote – although I was a day late posting, we really enjoyed the apple compote as well!
Have a fabulous Sunday (although now, of course, we have tones of rain)!
I didn’t make way #2, but I would have expected the apples to get darker too. Your cake sur looks good!
I haven’t posted yet but I went straight to the #2 – cooking my apples a long time. I thought the applesauce was delicious. But, like you, I don’t want to hang around the stove for 1 or 2 hours. I think I’ll drag out my crockpot and figure out how to make that work. Should be easy. BTW, my sauce did get darker.
Apple cake is a worthy end use of the sauce – making me hungry!
I am so in love with the photo of the bundt cake with the fruit. I only made a half batch of sauce, but now I wish I’d made a full batch just to make this cake.
I want to make some more applesauce, just to make that cake. It looks perfect. I think this applesauce is worth the time, if you’re having one of those stick-around-the-house afternoons.
You’re the first person that I’ve seen make the second version. The fact that you liked it with yogurt intrigues me. I eat a lot of yogurt. I might make it next time I’m in the kitchen for an extended period.