I am constantly surprised how simple caramels are to make and coupled with apples, baked, this becomes something that’s so much richer than the sum of its parts. It’s all the best bits of an apple tarte tatin, within the effort of the pastry.
Preheat your oven to 175 degrees Celcius. Peel and slice your apples lengthways and set to one side.
In an oven-proof pan, heat sugar over a medium heat until it starts to melt. Once it’s melted for a minute or so, remove from the heat and stir in the butter, moving constantly until it’s all incorporated. This is your layer of salted caramel (or regular caramel if you used unsalted butter).
Add your apples to the caramel. You can arrange these nicely, particularly if you have lots of apples you need to fit in the pan. Alternatively, just throw them in and bake for up to an hour or until the apples are soft enough not to resist a blunt knife.
Serve with your brandy cream or yoghurt.