Apple Dumplings With Blackberry Sauce

This is a Tesco recipe I've had clipped since the mid-1990s. It's a real show-stopper. It's good dinner party food, as you do all the work ahead of time and can leave them to chill all day, then cook as you and your guests arrive. Serve with cream or ice cream.

• Ready In: 1 hr 30 mins
• Serves: 6

Ingredients

• 300  g blackberries
• 2 -3  tablespoons sugar
• 1 -2  teaspoon lemon juice
• 6  large apples, peeled (Braeburn are good)
• 1 (500 g)  packet  shortcrust pastry
• 75  g  white marzipan
• 2  tablespoons soft brown sugar
• 1  teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 2  tablespoons milk
• 1  egg yolk, beaten

Directions

1. For the blackberry sauce, gently heat blackberries in a small saucepan 5-10 minutes to loosen up the juices. Add sugar and lemon juice to taste. Set aside.
2. Core the apples, leaving a good-sized hole in each. Roll out the pastry and cut into circles at least 7.5 cm (3 inches) bigger than your apples (so that apples can easily be wrapped in pastry). Place 1 apple on each pastry circle.
3. Separate marzipan into 12 pieces and place 1 piece into each apple. Add 2-3 tsp sauce into each hole, then stop up each whole with remaining marzipan pieces. Mix sugar and cinnamon and sprinkle over the apples.
4. Beat milk and egg together. Gather up pastry to cover the apples, then seal at edges with the milk and egg. Trim off any excess pastry and place on a lightly greased baking tray. You can use any pastry trimmings to decorate the apples. Brush with egg and chill in fridge at least an hour.
5. Preaheat oven to 190 degrees C, 375 degrees F, gas mark 5. Cook apples in middle of oven 30-40 minutes or until apples are tender (test with a metal skewer).
6. Serve hot or warm with remaining blackberry sauce gently reheated along with whipped cream or ice cream.