In the quaint and historic town of Augusta, Missouri, there’s a wonderful family owned establishment called Centennial Farms. Not only do I buy my honey from them year round, my family also loves to visit them each fall to pick apples and to buy our Halloween pumpkins.

Last weekend, my daughter and I decided to venture out for an apple picking excursion and came home with a wonderful assortment of Fuji, Golden Delicious, Johnathan, Ruby Jon and Winesap apples. Plenty of opportunities for me to create some new recipes!

Here’s the first masterpiece from my kitchen, a spiced apple and rum compote. The slow cooked apples developed a beautiful flavor along with the deep, caramel richness from the brown sugar and vanilla. And they had just the right amount of spice from the cinnamon and nutmeg to round out the finishing touch of the dark, smoky rum. Absolute perfection!

Who needs an apple pie when you can have a bowl of this with a scoop of ice cream?

Ingredients:

6 apples, peeled, cored and chopped
1 cup dark brown sugar
1 cup water
1/2 cup dark rum
1 vanilla bean split and scraped
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon salt

Directions:

1) Combine the water, sugar, vanilla bean, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt in a large saucepan.

2) Bring the mixture to a boil and stir gently until the sugar dissolves.

3) Reduce the heat to medium-low and add the apples, stirring occasionally until they are very tender, and the mixture begins to thicken, about 25-30 minutes.

4) Stir in the rum, and cook for an additional 5-10 minutes.

5) Remove the pan from the heat and discard the vanilla bean pods.

6) Allow the compote to cool before serving, which will thicken as it cools.