Toffee Apple Waffle Pudding

Well, this one had me at hello.

The recipe popped up in an email from Tesco containing a variety of ideas for autumn and Halloween but I only had eyes for this one. It was destiny.

There's not really much else I can say except for goodness sake make this as soon as feasibly possible. You can find the recipe here.

It all came together pretty easily but I would add the following:

* Don't worry if you don't have a dish that can be used on the hob and in the oven. I just cooked the apples in a large frying pan and then transferred them to an ovenproof dish.

* The caramel sauce didn't bubble up when I added the cream like the recipe said it should. I just turned up the heat and let the sauce bubble for a bit to reduce it and it turned out fine.

* I halved the recipe but found I didn't have enough of the egg/milk/cream mixture so ended up using almost the amount specified for 8 portions. If I ever make it for 8 I'll have extra cream to hand just in case.

Enjoy!

Apple Amber

Does anyone else feel like they're done with summer? As soon as we got back from our holiday and hit back-to-school mode my thoughts turned to Autumn and beyond and I've spent much of the last week or two looking at winter clothes, planning a trip in December and even, I confess, thinking about Christmas. The arrival of a big pile of logs for the fire and the increasingly dark evenings aren't helping either.

I'm thinking more and more about autumn food aswell. After taking an unexplained sabbatical last year our two apple trees are now producing a bumper crop. I love cooking with apples (although peeling  and coring them is one of my least favourite kitchen tasks) and I'm looking forward to plenty of apple cakes, crumbles and pies.

This recipe is one I've been meaning to make for years but never quite got around to, partly because the recipe includes a few tablespoons of cake crumbs and I rarely have these to hand. This time, however, an unsuccessful batch of cupcakes that got consigned to the freezer provided the missing ingredient and I had everything I needed.

The recipe is very simple, but delicious, and fills the kitchen with that lovely apple/cinnamon smell that will have you thinking about scuffing through autumn leaves and turning the clocks back before you can say "Bonfire Night".

Apple Amber
(adapted from The Dairy Book of Home Cookery)

450g/1 lb cooking apples, peeled, cored and sliced
1 tbsp water (I found I needed a couple more tablespoons to stop the apple getting too dry)
25g/1 oz butter
50g/2 oz caster sugar
3 tbsp stale cake crumbs (plain cake is best)
1 tsp ground cinnamon
2 egg yolks

For the meringue topping
2 egg whites
100g/4oz caster sugar

1) Put the apples, water and butter into a saucepan and cook until soft and pulpy, then beat until smooth.

2) Add the sugar, cake crumbs, cinnamon and egg yolks and beat well. Transfer to a 900ml/1 1/2 pint ovenproof dish.

3) To make the meringue, beat the egg whites in a large bowl until stiff and peaky. Add half the caster sugar and beat until the meringue is shiny and stands in firm peaks. Add the remaining caster sugar and beat until the meringue is very stiff and silky-looking and the texture is fairly close. Cover the apple mixture with the meringue.

4) Bake at 150c/300f/gas mark 2 for 30 minutes or until the meringue is light gold.  Serve with fresh double cream.

Serves 4

We Should Cocoa - Chocolate & Caramelised Apple Cake

It's been a while since I entered the We Should Cocoa monthly challenge, where bloggers make and share recipes that include chocolate and another ingredient suggested the challenge host for that month.  I was determined to join in again this month but when I saw the theme I wasn't convinced I was going find a recipe to fit the bill.

This time the challenge is being hosted by Chele from the Chocolate Teapot blog and her chosen theme is apples, which is not something you automatically think to pair with chocolate.  Pears, yes, but apples? After a bit of searching I found a few apple recipes you could add chocolate to but what I really wanted was the reverse - a chocolate recipe you could add apples to.  In the end I settled on the idea for a really good chocolate apple cake and at about the same time it also occurred to me that I had the perfect cake tin for the job.  Well, "tin" isn't quite the correct word as this is one of those flexible rubber cake moulds that I bought on a whim several years ago.  I have used it a grand total of zero times since I decided I just had to have it and in the intervening years it's mostly been gathering dust in my cupboard and occasionally falling out on to my head.

As you can see, though, it's the perfect shape for this recipe and I loved the way the cake looked when it was turned out.

The cake recipe is more brownie-based than a standard sponge as it contains melted chocolate and cocoa powder which gives it a good chocolatey flavour and a wonderful, slightly gooey texture in the middle.  The apple complemented the chocolate perfectly and all-in-all it was very well received by my most discerning critics (ie my family).  I definitely be making this one again.

Chocolate & Caramelised Apple Cake

2 bramley apples, peeled, cored and cut into approx 24 slices
1oz/25g butter
1oz/25g sugar

For the cake
4oz/115g butter
1 1/4 oz/40g dark chocolate, broken up
3/4 oz/20g cocoa powder
2 eggs, separated
4oz/115g caster sugar
3oz/75g plain flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
2 tablespoons milk

1) Preheat the oven to 180c/350f/gas 4.  Grease and line a 20cm cake tin.

2) Melt the 1oz of butter in a frying pan over a medium to high heat until it starts to bubble then add the apple slices and fry for a few minutes on each side until golden.  Increase the heat and sprinkle over the sugar and 1 tablespoon of water.  When the sauce begins to turn golden, stir the apples in the pan until they are coated in the caramel.

3) Melt the remaining butter in a small saucepan over a low heat, then add the cocoa and chocolate and stir until melted.  Remove from the heat.

4) Whisk the egg yolks until they are foamy then beat in the sugar.  Add the chocolate mixture, slowly at first, then sift in the flour and baking powder and mix well.  Add the milk and mix until smooth.

5) Whisk the egg whites in a separate, clean, dry bowl until stiff then carefully fold into the cake mix, being careful not to knock the air out.

6) Line the bottom of the cake tin with the sliced apples (you may not need all the slices) and any remaining caramel, then carefully pour the cake mix over the top and smooth the surface.  Bake in the oven for 30-35 minutes.  At the end of this time the middle of the cake will still be unnervingly undercooked but try not to worry, this will set into a gooey fudginess in due course.  Leave the cake to cool completely in the tin before carefully turning out.

Cuts into 8-10 slices.

Pudding Club Part 1 - French Apple Tart

It's no secret that I'm a fan of puddings so when I was struggling to find inspiration for a main course for an upcoming dinner party it won't be much of a surprise to hear that I quickly abandoned the idea of a sensible, nutritionally balanced meal in exchange for something much more fun - Pudding Club! It's a theme I've come across in restaurants from time to time and the idea is simple - a light starter is followed by a selection of puddings for everyone to sample.

After much deliberating I finally settled on my four puddings (plus a plate of fruit to add a bit of balance and virtue!) and over the next three posts I'm going to share the details of each one with you. Not surprisingly there was a fair bit of debate about which pudding was the best and I don't think any pudding was singled out as the outright winner so I'm going to write about them in ascending order of preference based on my personal opinion.

So, in fourth place (which of course is relative as I was pretty happy with the way they all turned out) is the French Apple Tart. This is a classic recipe that I have made in the past and is, in fact, one of the inspirations for this blog (after making one of thee about three years ago I thought it looked so pretty that I took a picture of it. Then I had the idea of taking pictures of all the nice things I cooked and, well, the rest is history). This time, however, although it tasted nice I felt there was a bit too much filling and not enough sliced apple on top. Also, the pastry didn't stay a crisp as I would have like. This is the recipe I used but next time I might try out a different one.

French Apple Tart

(original source unknown)

Pastry

80z/225g plain flour

pinch of salt

6oz/175g unsalted butter

1oz/25g icing sugar

chilled water

Filling

2lb 4oz/1 kg cooking apples (approx five)

1oz/25g unsalted butter

grated rind of 1 lemon

2 dessert spoons lemon juice

1 medium-sized egg yolk

3oz/75g caster sugar

3oz/75g ground almonds

2-3 red dessert apples such as Royal Gala, washed

1 tbsp caster sugar

8oz/225g apricot conserve

1) Preheat the oven to 190c/375f/gas mark 5. Sieve the flour and salt into a bowl. Add the butter and rub into the flour using the tips of your fingers until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs. Stir in the icing sugar then gradually stir in 15-30ml (1-2 tbsps) cold water to make a soft dough. Shape the pastry into a ball, wrap in cling film and chill in the fridge while you prepare the filling.

2) Peel the cooking apples, cut into quarters and remove the cores. Chop into small pieces then place in a pan with the butter, lemon rind and 1 dessert spoon of lemon juice and cook until the fruit is pureed. Take off the heat and stir in the egg yolk, caster sugar and ground almonds and set aside.

3) Place the pastry on a floured surface and roll out to a 30cm circle. Use a rolling pin to lift the pastry on to a 11 inch loose-bottomed, greased, flan tin. Gently press into the sides of the tin and prick the base using a fork. Line the base with greaseproof paper fill with baking beans, rice or similar and bake for 8-10 minutes. Remove the paper and beans and bake for a further 5-10 minutes.

4) Remove the flan case from the oven, fill with the apple puree and smooth flat. Cut the dessert apples into quarters, remove the cores and slice very thinly using a sharp knife. Arrange over the puree in circles and sprinkle with caster sugar. Bake in the oven for 25-30 minutes.

5) Melt the apricot conserve and remaining lemon juice. Sieve into a bowl and use to glaze the flan. Cool for 10 minutes then remove from the tin.

Somerset Apple Cake

Mmmm....it's been so long since I last made this cake I had forgotten how great it is. We have apples coming out of our ears at the moment thanks to the two lovely apple trees we have in the garden and this recipe is the perfect way to use a few up. What really makes this cake a bit special is the orange zest - every time I lift the lid on the cake stand I'm greeted with a wonderful waft of citrus and the orangey flavour complements the big chunks of apple so well.

Somerset Apple Cake

(adapted from The Complete Farmhouse Kitchen Cookbook produced in association with Yorkshire TV)

3oz/80g butter

6oz/175g caster sugar

Rind of 1 orange, grated

8oz/225g self-raising flour

1lb/450g Bramley Apples, peeled, cored and cubed

2 eggs, beaten

2 tbsp milk

Approx 1 tbsp granulated or demerara sugar

1) Grease and flour a 23cm/9inch cake tin. Preheat the oven to 180c/350f/gas mark 4

2) Cream the butter, sugar and orange zest until pale in colour. Mix 1 tablespoon of flour with the apples in a bowl.

3) Add the eggs and milk to the butter and sugar and beat in. Add the remaining flour and apples to the mixture and blend together well. Turn into the tin, sprinkle with the granulated/demerara sugar and bake in the oven for 40-50 minutes.

Spicy Prune & Apple Muffins

This recipe comes from another new addition to my recipe book family - Home Cooking by Rachel Allen. I know some people aren't keen her, particularly her television programmes, but I quite like her and have found all her books well presented and appealing. As always I made a bee-line for the cake recipes and chose this one to start with. This recipe appears in the breakfast section, which is fine by me - I'm always happy to have an excuse to have cake for breakfast. Having said that, these definitely fall into the "healthy cake" section thanks to the wholemeal flour, oats and large quantities of fruit.

I'll definitely be making these again. The wholemeal flour makes for a pretty dense cake, but the prunes and apples add enough sweetness and flavour to make the muffins taste good. They keep well too.

Don't be alarmed by the instruction to fill the cases to the top by the way - these muffins are not big risers.

Spicy Prune and Apple Muffins

(adapted from Home Cooking by Rachel Allen)

275g/10oz plain wholemeal flour

50g/2oz rolled oats

125g/4 1/2oz soft light brown sugar

1 tbsp baking powder

1 tsp bicarbonate of soda

2 tso ground mixed spice

175g/6oz pitted prunes, roughly chopped

1 eating or cooking apple, peeled, cored and finely diced

250ml/9 fl oz buttermilk

50g/20z butter, melted and cooled

2 eggs

1) Preheat the oven to 200c/400f/gas mark 6. Line a 12 hole muffin tin with paper cases.

2) Mix all of the dry ingredients together and stir in the prunes and apple

3) Mix the wet ingredients together and then add to the dry ingredients, taking care not to overmix (I found mixing in all of the dry ingredients a bit of a trial as there didn't seem to be quite enough liquid - in the end I added the rest of my 284ml pot of buttermilk which seemed to do the trick).

4) Divide the batter between the muffin cases, filling them almost to the top. Bake for 20 minutes until golden and firm to the touch.

Plum, Apple and Almond Crumble with Amaretto Cream

I love crumble of all types and in all weathers. They're pretty easy to assemble, even if you suddenly fancy one at the last minute, and the presence of the fruit makes them practically healthy too (just don't think about all the butter and sugar!).

This particular recipe is a cut above your average crumble, which is not too surprising at it comes from In the Mood for Entertaining by Jo Pratt. Instead of plain old apple, there's a few plums thrown into the mix and the crumble topping is tarted up with some oats and flaked almonds. All in all a very nice combination.

And then of course, there's the Amaretto cream. Oh, the Amaretto cream! I'll just say that it was lucky we had guests otherwise I would have eaten the whole lot myself, straight from the bowl. What was left of it also went very well with some fruit salad the next day.

Plum, Apple and Almond Crumble

(adapted from In the Mood for Entertaining by Jo Pratt)

For the filling

600g plums, stoned and cut into wedges

450g eating apples, peeled cored and cut into bite-sized chunks

25g soft brown sugar

grated zest of 1 orange

3 tablespoons apple juice

For the topping

125g softened unsalted butter

150g plain flour

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

a pinch of salt

75g flaked almonds, crushed lightly in your hands

40g rolled oats

100g soft brown sugar

1) Pre heat the oven to 200c/fan 180c/gas 6

2) Toss the plums, apples, sugar, orange zest and apple juice together. Tip into an ovenproof dish about 1.5 litres in capacity

3) Lightly rub together the butter, flour, cinnamon and salt, then stir in the almonds, oats and three quarters of the sugar. Keep it fairly chunky and crumbly

4) Scatter the topping over the fruit and then sprinkle with the reserved sugar. Place on a baking tray and bake for 40 to 50 minutes. If the topping is becoming to golden cover loosely with a piece of foil. Remove from the oven and leave to cool for 5 minutes.

The writer says that this serves four (albeit generously) but I can only assume that she was referring to four people who hadn't eaten for a week as we were left with close to half of it at the end of the evening. Not that I'm complaining mind - I do love cold crumble!

Amaretto Cream

275ml double cream

3 tablespoons amaretto

1) Whisk the cream until it is just starting to thicken

2) Stir in the Amaretto and continue to whisk until it forms soft peaks.

3) Serve in a bowl alongside the crumble. Seriously.....stop sticking your finger in it - it's not hygenic.

Snow and mince pies

Just last week I was reading the latest post by Molly of Battered Splattered. Molly lives in Alaska and I love her posts as her adventures in the Alaskan wilderness always seem light years away from my life in Suffolk. Her post contained some lovely shots of the local snowy scenery. How marvellous, I thought, snow at this time of year. How lovely that must be! Well someone must have been paying attention because all of a sudden my world was transformed by the sudden arrival of some seriously Arctic conditions! And this isn't the British snow we're used to - a few flurries which quickly dissolve into muddy slush - no this is the real thing. And a week later it's still here, well some of it anyway. Will we have a white Christmas?

Anyway, the Christmas madness has well and truly set in, but I wanted to squeeze in at least one Christmassy recipe before the big day. So here, for the record, are my favourite recipes for mincemeat and mince pies.

Mincemeat

900g/2lb bramley apples, peeled and chopped into small chunks

2 oranges

1 lemon

500g bag of luxury mixed dried fruit

175g/6oz dark muscovado sugar

1 tsp ground cinnamon

1/2 tsp ground mixed spice

1 tsp ground ginger

1/4 tsp freshly grated nutmeg

100/4oz butter

300ml/1/2 pint dry cider

5 tbsp rum or brandy

1) Zest and juice the oranges and lemon and add to a large pan.

2) Add all of the other ingredients. Slowly bring to the boil, reduce the heat and simmer, uncovered, for 1 hour, stirring occasionally.

When the mincemeat is cooked it will be thick and pulpy. It will keep for up to one month in sterilised jars or 6 months in the freezer.

What follows is my preferred recipe for mince pie pastry. I know it is more common to use a simpler fat and flour combination but this one results in a shorter, sweeter pastry which I find much more appealing.

225g/8oz plain flour

140g/5oz butter, cut into small pieces

grated zest of 1 orange

50g/2oz caster sugar

1 egg yolk

1) Put the flour, butter, orange zest and sugar into a food processor and whizz to form crumbs.

2) Add the egg yolk and a tablespoon of cold water and pulse to form a dough.

The recipe now advises that you chill the dough in the fridge for 30 minutes but I'm not convinced about this as it results in a very solid dough that needs a fair bit of work to warm it up again. I'll leave you decide which option to take.

Either way, the dough can be rolled out as desired and filled with your mincemeat. A standard sized pie will cook in 12-15 minutes at 200c/gas 6.