INSIDE JOB | This easy apple dessert plays equally well with ice cream or crème fraîche. Ryan Liebe for The Wall Street Journal, Food Styling by Jamie Kimm, Prop Styling by Rebecca Donnelly

THERE ARE FEW aromas more comforting than that of apple pie. Some say it's the butter, some the cinnamon, some the apples themselves, but I'm convinced it's the memory of past pies and their many poignant associations. It's hard to resist making a dessert so evocative, but it's not exactly something you're going to whip up last-minute every time the longing strikes. It's the pie crust that holds us back: Few of us keep lard on hand in the fridge and a slab of marble ready and chilled for rolling out perfect dough. And anyway, didn't our rolling pins get enough of a workout over the holidays? Now's the time for crustless pie.

Trust me when I say that if you top vanilla ice cream with warm apples that have been sautéed in butter, spiced and lightly caramelized, no one is going to complain. This is as easy and old-school a dessert as bananas Foster and, thanks to a generous dousing with Calvados or Apple Jack, equally boozy.

The recipe at right is quite forgiving and allows for all manner of fooling around. Choose a single variety of apple or toss in a mix. Add nothing more than butter and sugar, or play with a little spice. When I'm craving pure, undiluted nostalgia, I stick to cinnamon and perhaps the tiniest pinch of clove. When I find myself dreaming of tarte Tatin, I turn to star anise to give the apples warmth and depth. Calvados provides sophistication. Raisins, texture. Ginger, heat. Demerara sugar, crunch.

Vanilla ice cream is, of course, the right match for warm apples, but a spoonful of crème fraîche renders these modest slices more than adequately indulgent. Then again, simply smelling the apples cooking may make eating almost a superfluous pleasure. Do take the opportunity to pause and savor the cozy sense of wellbeing wafting up from the pan along with that aroma—dessert as therapy. If "an apple a day keeps the doctor away," then surely apple pie, even crustless, will keep the shrink at bay.

Apples Foster

Total Time: 10 minutes Serves: 4

¼ cup butter

½ cup Demerara sugar, plus more to taste, depending on the tartness of the apples

1 star anise or ½ teaspoon cinnamon

4 crisp apples, peeled and sliced

¼ cup Calvados or Apple Jack

Vanilla ice cream or crème fraîche, for serving

1. In a large skillet over medium-high heat, melt butter and cook until it foams. Once foaming subsides, stir in sugar and spice and cook 1 minute to allow flavors to meld.

2. Lay apples into pan in a single layer and cook until fruit begins to caramelize, about 5 minutes.

3. Pour Calvados into pan. Use a long match or candle lighter to ignite alcohol. Boil until flames subside, 1 minute. Remove from heat and serve with ice cream or crème fraîche.