Baked rubble apples with butterscotch sauce

Place all the rubble ingredients in a food processor and pulse until the mixture starts to form clumps. Alternatively, you can do this by hand but the oats will be bulkier.

For the baked apples, preheat the oven to 160C. Use a melon baller to scoop out the centre of the apple, leaving enough of a shell to keep its shape. Discard any of the core and dice the remaining apple, toss with the sultanas, brandy, mixed spice and maple syrup. Spoon the mixture back into the apple shells and press firmly as it will shrink while it cooks. Pour in enough water to cover the base of a baking dish. Place the apples in the dish and cover with foil. Bake for 15 minutes; remove the apples from the oven. Turn the oven up to 180C. Cover each apple with a couple of heaped tablespoons of the rubble and press down slightly. Return to the oven and bake a further 15 to 20 minutes.

For the sauce, place all ingredients in a small saucepan and bring to the boil, simmer for a few minutes, cool slightly before serving and drizzle over the top.

Serves 6

Rubble

3/4 cup flour

1/2 cup oats

1/3 cup caster sugar

100g butter, chilled, diced

Baked apples

6 apples

1/4 cup sultanas

2 tbsp brandy or sherry

1 tsp mixed spice

2 tbsp maple syrup

Butterscotch sauce

2 cups brown sugar, loosely packed

1 cup cream

1 tbsp butter

1 tsp vanilla