Julia Child’s Pommes Normande En Belle Vue (Applesauce Caramel Mold)

UPDATE: Hi! In honor of the HBO series Julia… aren’t you just loving it so much? Me too. In fact, I’ve already gulped down the whole first season. Anyhow, I’ll be remaking some of Julia’s recipes (including this one) soon. When I first posted these, I was new to cooking from scratch (clearly). I didn’t even know how to braise yet. So, please find me on TikTok & YouTube to see my videos of Julia’s recipes and subscribe here for new posts so you don’t miss a thing. Bon appetit!

It sounds like a swollen eyeball when I try to pronounce Julia Child’s Pommes Normande En Belle Vue. I think it might be simple enough to make though, so I am diving into Julia Child’s Mastering the Art of French Cooking yet again. This time I am attempting dessert. Julia says that it is easier than Apple Charlotte so I feel confident. What’s Apple Charlotte?

Meryl Streep as Julia Child in Julie & Julia by Sony Pictures

Step 1:

4 lbs. crisp cooking or eating apples

A heavy-bottomed enamel pan about 10 inches in diameter

Peel and core the apples – This is going to be a long journey!

Slice them roughly into 1/8-inch pieces. You should have about 10 cups. – One down, about 19 apples to go.

Place them in pan; cover and cook over very low heat for about 20 minutes, stirring occasionally, until tender. I do love a glass lid. Must be linked to the picture book thing.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees – But if your attempt at making swollen eyeballs goes anything like mine, you will not have to worry about preheating your oven for at least another 1/2 an hour.

Step 2:

1/4 tsp. cinnamon

The grated peel of 1 lemon – Don’t go down into the white.

1/2 cup granulated sugar

What’s a poor little, bald lemon to do?

Add the cinnamon and sugar. – Smells great!

Now to add this to the apples and raise the heat so the apples boil for 5 minutes or until apples are a thick puree which hold its shape with a spoon You should have about 4 cups of applesauce. – Wait. I am an all-American girl with no servants. This cookbook was supposed to be created just for me and I am so lost. The applesauce that I know has no apple pieces in it. Doesn’t puree mean no chewing necessary? After reading the instructions five more times, I forge forward with apple chunks and hope for the best.

I do love cutting along the butter measurement marks on the wrapper!

Step 3:

1/4 cup rum, cognac, or excellent apple brandy – To the liquor store for some rum.

4 Tb. butter – Julia is the original Paula Deen.

4 eggs

1 egg white

Remove apples from heat and stir in rum, then butter.

One by one, beat in the eggs – Great, now I have Michael Jackson’s song, “Beat It”  in my head. I have been listening to his music too much lately.

Then the egg white. –  Can anyone explain this one leftover egg yolk to me? Now I have one egg yolk and one bald lemon in my fridge.

Step 4:

A 6-cup fireproof, cylindrical mold lined with caramel – Oh boy, a field trip to page 584! Fireproof? Should I be concerned?

Caramel

2/3 cup granulated sugar or crushed sugar lumps

1/2 cup water

A small, heavy saucepan (with cover)

Boil without stirring until syrup is thick and turns light nutty brown (keep peeking).

Remove from heat before the desired color is reached because the syrup will continue to darken.

No brainer.

Yeah! A boil! time to look at the next step in the recipe.

What’s that smell?? Yum, the guests are gonna love the smell of burnt caramel!

Second try… I can do this.

Sweet success! Okay, what’s the next step?

What the…?

Lookin’ good right about now.

Okay, think, Deanna, if cold makes it crystallize, then surely heat will make it syrupy again!

Haha!

Or not. I was never a great babysitter either.

Third try… just one pan left, a frying pan. I sure hope this works.

I’m sure that you have moved on to the next foodie blog by now but here it is.

My caramel syrup… a little underdone but I’m not taking any chances.

Let’s see, where were we?

Back to step 4:

Swoosh the caramel around in the pan… those are my words, in case you couldn’t tell that wasn’t Julia talkin’.

Turn apple mixture into the caramel-lined mold. – Looks like mac & cheese, doesn’t it? I should have just made mac & cheese.

Cover with saucepan or kettle. pour boiling water around the outside of the mold to come up to the level of the apple mixture. Place on the lower third of the preheated oven.

Regulate oven heat to maintain water almost at the simmer. the dessert is done in 1 to 1 1/2 hours, when it begins to shrink from the sides of the mold and the top, all except for a small area in the very center is set.

Blah, blah, blah.

Still tempting… I chose this recipe because it looked easy!

Step 5:

I did it!

To serve warm, remove the mold from the saucepan and allow the dessert to cool for 20 minutes. Then reverse it onto the serving dish.

Step 6:

I’ll bet you’re thinking that I finally broke down and had some rum. Not so much. I don’t even think it is necessary to drink it because I’m pretty sure that I’ll be drunk by the time I finish a piece of this dessert.

4 Tb. rum

Simmer the rum in the mold to dissolve any remaining caramel. and strain over the dessert.

2 cups lightly whipped cream flavored with powdered sugar and rum

Why not? The rumors have already started anyhow.

Surround Julia Child’s Pommes Normande En Belle Vue with the whipped cream or sauce… – or rum.

Can I be honest with you? No, I mean really honest. Julia Child’s fancy Pommes Normande En Belle Vue is just apple crisp with rum instead of crisp. I don’t know about you but if I am going to go to all this trouble, I would like to have some crisp with my apple puree.

Tomorrow’s breakfast?  One egg yolk and cereal with rum instead of milk and some fresh lemon juice.

Mastering the Art of French Cooking