Compote is not complicated.

This morning I invited a great friend over for some breakfast. After a tough workout and a cold run back to the house I knew that we should have something warm and replenishing. I have really grown sick of maple syrup that is not actually maple syrup and is full of high fructose corn syrup. In an effort to not sweeten my cakes with these sugars solutions masquerading as syrup I opt for fruit or yogurt. I had decided to make a compote to go with the flap jacks this morning. Part of my motivation for making the compote was the cherries in my fridge that needed to be eaten and the pear on the top of my microwave that was not ripening. A little heat can do wonders to hard fruit!!



Of course the first thing in making any compote is to cut up the fruits that you are going to use. In this case I pitted the cherries and simply rough chopped the apples and pear. In a large saute pan I heated up one tablespoon of butter until it was golden brown. I added the fruit and cooked on medium high for about ten minutes stirring occasionally. Once the fruits had started to brown I sprinkled on a little bit of brown sugar and allowed the juice and sugar to caramelize a bit on the fruit. I then turned the heat down to low and added some salt, cinnamon and nutmeg. The salt and nutmeg were about an 1/8 of a tsp each.



This little fruit concoction was a great addition to the cakes and allowed for minimal use of that store bought syrup. I did not add yogurt this morning but you sure could have. Next time you have some fruit laying around that is about to go bad make yourself a little compote. It goes great on about anything, french toast, crepes, ice cream, toast, a spoon!!