John Torode's baked apples and custard recipe

These baked apples with homemade mincemeat and served with homemade custard are the perfect autumn pud.

Ingredients

• 120g suet
• 150g light brown muscovado sugar
• 200g grated Bramley apples
• 100g sultanas
• 60g raisins
• 100g prunes, chopped
• 40g each of walnuts and almonds, chopped
• 1tsp ground cinnamon
• 1tsp mixed spice
• 1 generous shot dark rum
• 1 generous shot brandy
• 10-12 Cox's apples
• 150g butter
• Icing sugar, for sifting

For the vanilla custard:

• 1 litre milk
• 8 egg yolks
• 120g vanilla sugar
• 40g cornflour
• 40g plain flour

Method

1. Heat the oven to 200°C/gas mark 6. In a mixing bowl combine the suet, sugar, grated Bramley apples, dried fruit, nuts, spices, rum and brandy. Stir well and set aside.
2. Don't peel the Cox's apples, but slice off a little of the top and the bottom
3. so that they sit flat in a roasting tray. Halfway down the sides of the apples, make an incision all away around the middle (so that the apples don?t explode as they cook). Remove the cores.
4. Stuff each apple with as much of the dried fruit mixture as you can get in - there will be plenty, so be generous and let some spill out over the top.
5. Put the stuffed apples in a large roasting tin and top each one with some of the butter, pushing it in with your finger so the butter is inside. Sift some icing sugar over the top and roast for 20 mins.
6. Meanwhile, make the custard. Heat the milk in a saucepan until it just comes up to the boil, then take the pan off the heat immediately.
7. In a large heatproof bowl, beat together the egg yolks, vanilla sugar, cornflour and plain flour. Pour the hot milk slowly over the egg mixture, beating well.
8. Return the custard to the saucepan and place over a low heat, stirring for a few minutes until the mixture thickens. Stir in the brandy. Remove from the heat and set aside in a warm place.
9. Take the baked apples from the oven. Carefully drain off the pan juices and serve them as a sauce with the baked apples and custard.