Dried fruit compote

Although this could be a daily dessert (maybe without cream and with yogurt instead), I love it on weekends when cooking fruit fills the house with a honey-like aroma. It is a perfectly simple and light dessert after a large meal, a usual occurrence in our home. The primary rule here is to use organic and clean fruit with no added sugar (except for the ginger), condensed milk and cream cheese, because it makes it taste very special. And yes, vanilla.

50 g naturally dried mango
50 g sour plums
50 g raisins — any kind you like
40 g pineapple pieces
20 g candied ginger
20 g pistachios
8 pecan halves
8 walnut halves
6 cardamom pods
1/4 grated tonka bean
pinch of sea salt
120 g cored apple, cut into 8 slices
water, just to cover the fruit (or you can use apple juice)

cream:
160 g cream cheese
4 tbsp sweetened condensed milk or crème fraîche
pinch of sea salt
1/3 Mexican vanilla pod, seeds


Place all the compote ingredients into a pan and pour water or juice over (whichever you prefer) to cover. Boil on medium heat for 20 minutes until the fruit is soft. 

In the meantime, mix cream cheese with the rest of the ingredients with a hand whisk just until a smooth cream, no longer.

When ready to serve, spoon out the fruit onto four separate plates. Turn the heat up to the highest and boil the juice for a few minutes until reduced to a nice sauce. Pour over the fruit, top with cream and serve. You can serve this warm or cold, but add the cream before serving.

Vanilla extract

Every little bit of vanilla that I have left over, I plunge into a bottle of vodka or rum, turning it into a vanilla extract. Even the ones that I use in vanilla sauce, I wash carefully, dry completely and add to the spirits. It is wise to make three bottles, as it takes a few months for the extract to age.