Sticky Plum Flapjacks

MUNCH RATING: 5/5

I have to say that I’m really enjoying all the fruits that are available at this time of year, especially ones that are free! I was at my Dad’s house on Sunday and his friend brought round a big bag of plums from her tree. I’m not sure what variety they were, but I quickly asked my Dad if I could take some home as I’d had this flapjack recipe from my BBC Good Food magazine in my folder for ages and I was just waiting to acquire some lovely plums to make it!

 

CHANGES TO THE RECIPE:

Luckily I’d checked on the BBC Good Food website before making the flapjacks, as a lot of the reviews said the recipe contained way too much butter. So I followed the reviewer’s advice and I only used 200g instead of 350g of butter.

I only had about 2 Tablespoons of golden syrup so I made up the 3rd Tablespoon with honey. I didn’t have any walnuts so omitted them.

I used less sugar – 200g instead of 300g.

 

TASTE TEST:

Extremely yummy! The plums are indeed sticky and jammy and there’s just enough sweetness from the sugar to offset any sourness.

200g of butter was definitely sufficient!

 

The recipe below is how I made it, you can find the original here.

 

• Oven temperature: Gas mark 6/400°F/200°C
• Oven shelf: middle
• You will need: square 8-inch tin, lined with non-stick baking paper

 

• 450g fresh plums, halved, stoned and roughly sliced
• ½ tsp mixed spice
• 200g light muscovado sugar
• 200g butter, plus extra for greasing
• 300g rolled porridge oats (not jumbo)
• 140g plain flour
• 2 Tablespoons golden syrup and 1 Tablespoon honey

 

Directions:

1. Heat oven to Gas mark 6/400°F/200°C. Tip the plums into a bowl. Toss with the spice, 50g of the sugar and a small pinch of salt, then set aside to macerate.
2. Gently melt the butter in a saucepan. In a large bowl, mix the oats, flour and remaining sugar together, making sure there are no lumps of sugar, then stir in the melted butter and golden syrup/honey until everything is combined into a loose flapjack mixture.
3. Grease a square baking tin about 8 x 8 inches. Press half the oaty mix over the base of the tin, then tip over the plums and spread to make an even layer. Press the remaining oats over the plums so they are completely covered right to the sides of the tin. Bake for 45-50 mins (45 minutes is fine) until dark golden and starting to crisp a little around the edges.
4. Leave to cool completely, then cut into 18 little bars. Will keep in an airtight container for 2 days or can be frozen for up to a month.

Cherry Pie

 

 

MUNCH RATING: 5/5

 

In July we went to Garsons Farm in Esher and we picked some lovely cherries. I pitted them and then put them in the freezer, intending to make a cherry pie. Since it’s bank holiday weekend and the weather has been a bit miserable, I thought it was the perfect time to make my pie.

 

I already knew I was going to use my favourite sweet pastry recipe - pâte brisée – but I made a double batch so I could freeze some to use for another pie. I made the pastry the day before and kept it tightly covered in the fridge. Then I took it out of the fridge about 30 minutes before I needed to use it, to allow it to soften up to make it easier to roll out.

 

But it took me a little longer to find a recipe I liked for the filling. Nearly all of the recipes I found said to just mix the cherries with sugar, some cornflour and other flavourings and place straight onto the prepared raw pie crust. But I didn’t like this idea as I thought it might be too watery and make the pastry soggy.

 

Then I found a recipe on The Food Network website and the method of cooking the cherries first with the sugar and cornflour until the mixture was nice and thick seemed ideal. I didn’t have enough cherries, so I adapted the recipe quantities by reducing the amount of sugar and cornflour.

 

My filled pie before baking – the filling is thick and delicious!

 

 

Since I had less cherries than the recipe stated, I used a slighter smaller 7-inch metal pie dish.

 

My pie took longer than 50 minutes to bake – more like 70 minutes – as the pastry underneath was still a little bit underdone. But after 50 minutes the top looked really lovely and golden brown, so to stop it burning I covered the pie with some foil.

 

TASTE TEST:

This was the first time I’d ever made a cherry pie and I was pretty impressed. The recipe for the filling was incredibly easy and it worked a treat. I will definitely use this method for other fruit pies, as I have a stash of blackberries and blackcurrants in the freezer.

 

Everyone liked the pie, although Steve said the cherry flavour could have been stronger – but he thinks this is because he’s used to a very synthetic cherry taste from shop-bought products. I personally thought it tasted quite strongly of cherries!

 

Sadly I’ve not got any more cherries in the freezer, but I will try using Hartley's Fruit Filling Black Cherry which comes in tins, as I’ve read it’s very good.

 

The recipe below is how I made my pie – you can find the original recipe on the The Food Network website.

 

 

• Oven temperature: Gas mark 5/375°F/190°C
• Oven shelf: middle
• You will need: round 7-inch tin

 

Sweet Pastry Ingredients (makes enough for 2 pies):

• 500g plain flour
• 30g sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 200g butter, chilled

 

Sweet Pastry Directions:

1. Sift the flour into a large bowl and make a well in the centre.
2. Put the sugar, butter and eggs in the well and gently rub into the flour with your fingertips until it resembles breadcrumbs, then press the dough together to form a ball of dough until it is smooth and pliable.
3. It’s a good idea to let you pastry rest before cooking. You can either roll the dough out on a lightly floured board until it is about 3mm thick and line your tins and then chill in the fridge for about 30 minutes, or stick the whole lot of dough in the fridge to use the next day.

 

Filling Ingredients:

• 3 cups frozen cherries
• ½ cup granulated sugar
• 3 Tablespoons cornflour
• ½ Tablespoon butter, to dot
• 1 Tablespoon granulated sugar, to sprinkle

 

Filling Directions:

1. Place cherries in medium saucepan and place over heat. Cover. After the cherries release considerable juice, which may take a few minutes, remove from the heat.
2. In a small bowl, mix the sugar and cornflour together. Pour this mixture into the hot cherries and mix well.
3. Return the mixture to the stove and cook over low heat until thickened, stirring frequently. Remove from the heat and let cool. If the filling is too thick, add a little water, too thin, add a little more cornflour.

 

Assembly Directions:

1. Preheat the oven Gas mark 5/375°F/190°C.
2. Use your favourite pie dough recipe. Prepare your crust. Divide in half. Roll out each piece large enough to fit into an 7-inch pan.
3. Pour cooled cherry mixture into the crust. Dot with butter. Moisten edge of bottom crust. Place top crust on and flute the edge of the pie. Make a slit in the middle of the crust for steam to escape. Sprinkle with sugar.
4. Bake for about 50-70 minutes. Remove from the oven and place on a rack to cool.

ukveggardeners.com

I follow a great blog called My Tiny Plot and the owner of that blog, Gillian Carson has set up a fantastic site called UK Veg Gardeners. It’s basically a place where people who love gardening can meet and interact with other gardeners to share information, their photos and anything else they like!

 

I’ve already found it incredibly useful, by being a member of the Chilli Lovers Group, as to why my chillies were developing black patches. I thought they were diseased or dying, when in fact this is a sign that they are turning from green to red! I posted a question and I got a reply from another member extremely quickly.

 

I’m just waiting for someone to help me with my squash and tomato problems!

 

I’ve only been a member for about a week, but it’s been brilliant so far and I recommend you to join!