Bourbon Apple Pear Sauce

I’m Just Here for the Food, p. 239

2 Granny Smith Apples, peeled, cored, and diced

4 Taylor Gold pears (or your favorite variety), peeled, cored, and diced

1 ½ tablespoons honey

2 tablespoons butter

½ teaspoon cinnamon

1 piece star anise

½ ounce bourbon

Freshly squeezed lemon juice to taste (optional)

Couldn't find star anise at Ken's but a splash of this did the job fine.

This is what that much bourbon looks like.

Combine all the ingredients except the bourbon and lemon juice in a microwave-safe container, loosely cover (to allow steam to escape), and cook in the microwave oven on high power for 10 minutes. Allow the dish to rest in the oven for 10 minutes more.

Remove the star anise. With a sieve, drain the liquid from the fruit into a small bowl, and set aside. Return the fruit to the container and use a potato masher to mash to your desired consistency.

The potato masher super didn't work for me, so I whipped out the immersion blender.

Add the reserved liquid and the bourbon to a small sauce pan and cook over medium heat until the liquid is reduced to a near-syrup consistency. Fold the sauce into the fruit. If the sauce is too sweet, add a little lemon juice to taste.

This sauce can be served hot or chilled, over ice cream, or pound cake, or anything you like.

This went well with vanilla HaloTop.

My Rating: 4/5 "Nuanced flavor here. The more of it I ate the more I appreciated everything that was going on. Although it was good over ice cream, honestly I preferred eating it by itself a la regular applesauce."