Baked Apples with Crème Fraiche

For a recipe that's good to the core, give these baked apples a try. If you can't get your hands on the Crème Fraiche, use sour cream in its place. It's every bit as good.

Ingredients
3 tbsp. apple cider vinegar
1 cup apple juice
3 tbsp. unsalted butter, cut into pieces
1/2 cup sugar
8 Gala apples
3 tbsp. brandy
1/2 cup crème fraiche
Vanilla Ice Cream

Methods/steps
1.Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2.Combine vinegar, juice, butter and sugar in a 13 x 9-inch glass-baking dish. Cut off top 3/4 inch of apples to make lids.
3.Scoop out cores with a melon-ball cutter and replace lids. Put apples in baking dish and cover with foil.
4.Bake in middle of oven until very tender but still intact,
5.1 to 1-1/4 hours.
6.Transfer apples to plates and boil pan juices with brandy in a saucepan until reduced to about 1 cup. Fill apples with crème fraiche and serve with sauce, or top baked apple with vanilla ice cream, and spoon sauce over ice cream.