Blackberry & Apple Loaf

MUNCH RATING: 5/5

I've made this cake before but I didn't write a post, however it turned out so well again this time that I thought it deserved a mention. I really like this cake because it's so easy to make - you don't need to cream the butter and sugar together, just rub them together with the flour like when making a crumble. It's also lovely and moist but it has a crunchy topping for a great texture contrast.

Also this time I used blackberries that Steve and I picked from our local hedgerows, so that made it a bit more special. I'd frozen the berries and it worked just as well as the first time I'd made the cake. To freeze berries is incredibly easy - just wash the fruit and drain really well. Then I cover large baking trays with cling film to stop the berries from sticking to the trays and then just pop them in the freezer for about an hour or until they're hard and then pop them into freezer bags. The berries can be used straight from the freezer in this cake.

CHANGES TO THE RECIPE:
The recipe is from BBC Good Food, but I tweaked it slightly by using soft brown sugar instead of muscovado and using 75g less sugar as I always reduce sugar in cake recipes. The apple gives it enough sweetness and makes the cake lovely and moist.

I also used a silicone loaf pan which is slightly wider so my cake wasn't as deep, so it cooked more quickly.

you can find the original recipe here

• Oven temperature: Gas mark 4/350°F/180°C
• Oven shelf: middle
• You will need: a 1.7 litre loaf tin 

• 250g self-raising flour
• 175g butter (I used Stork, at room temperature)
• 100g soft brown sugar
• ½ tsp cinnamon
• 2 rounded tbsp demerara sugar
• 1 small Gala apple, (not cored or peeled)
• 2 large eggs, beaten
• 1 orange, finely grated zest
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 225g blackberries (fresh or frozen)

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to Gas mark 4/350°F/180°C. Butter and line the bottom of a 1.7 litre loaf tin (no need to do this if using silicone). In a large bowl, rub the flour, butter and brown sugar together with your fingers to make fine crumbs. Measure out 5 level tbsp of this mixture into a small bowl for the topping, and mix into it the cinnamon and demerara sugar. Set aside.
2. Coarsely grate the apple down to the core and mix in with the eggs and the zest. Stir the baking powder into the rubbed-in mixture in the large bowl, then quickly and lightly stir in the egg mixture until it drops lightly from the spoon. Don't overmix.
3. Gently fold in three quarters of the berries with a metal spoon, trying not to break them up. Spoon into the tin and level. Scatter the rest of the berries on top. Sprinkle over the topping and bake for 50 minutes and then cover loosely with foil and bake for a further 30 minutes. When done the cake will feel firm, but test with a skewer.
4. Leave in the tin for 30 minutes before turning out, then cool on a wire rack. Peel off the paper before cutting. Will keep wrapped in foil or in a tin for up to 2 days.

Danish Pastries

 

MUNCH RATING: 4/5

 

I really wanted to challenge myself, so I decided to make the Danish Pastries recipe from the October 2009 issue of BBC Good Food magazine. I’ve made Flaky pastry before, which is quite similar in its method of laying the butter over the dough and creating layers by folding and rolling three times.

 

I have to say that this Danish Pastry dough was a lot more difficult to work with and my arms were killing me after all the rolling (but it’s good when you can make cooking your exercise workout). I found the dough to be very uncooperative in that it kept contracting and shrinking back when I tried to roll it. It also wouldn’t adhere to itself when I folded it, so this lack of cohesion gave me some problems with shaping the dough.

 

Here are the unbaked pastries: a raisin wheel, an apple pinwheel, an apple turnover triangle and an apple turnover square.

 

The apple turnover squares unfolded as they baked, which is a shame but they still turned out much better than I expected. I wasn’t that confident that the dough would produce all those lovely layers, so I was pleasantly surprised when I opened the oven door and saw that they had worked!

 

TASTE TEST:

The pastries were nice and crispy on the top and a little stodgy underneath, but I think that’s because I started cooking them at the top of the oven and then I moved them to a lower shelf because they were browning too much. I will cook them in the middle of the oven next time (I have frozen the rest - they were still just as good when defrosted and then baked).

 

Steve and I thought the pastries were a little bit salty, but his parents didn’t think so. I used Anchor salted butter, so next time I will leave out some of the salt in the dough (salt regulates the yeast's activity) or use unsalted butter.

 

So would I make these again? I will try making Danish Pastries again, but I won’t use this dough recipe again as it was too laborious with putting it in the fridge after every roll – I think this was unnecessary as the Flaky pastry recipe I’ve used before doesn’t require this. I think I will try this Rough Puff recipe next time as it is more simplified.

 

I decided to not copy out the recipe for the dough and fillings as you can find the recipe here and it would make this post extremely long!

 

MY OWN ADDITIONS:

I wasn’t keen on all the fillings that the Good Food recipe suggested, so I decided to make my own apple filling which worked really well.

 

Ingredients for the apple filling:

• 3 eating apples (I used Gala) peeled, cored and chopped into small pieces
• 25g butter
• 50g white sugar
• ½ teaspoon cinnamon

 

Directions for the apple filling:

1. Place half the apples into a saucepan with the butter and sugar and cook on a medium heat for 5 minutes. Then add the rest of the apple and cook for another 10-15 minutes until soft (adding the apples in 2 stage will allow some of the apple to be more pulpy and the rest will have more bite). Allow to cool before using.

 

COOK’S NOTES:

• I made the dough by hand instead of in the food processor.
• I used Egg Glaze Spray from Lakeland to glaze before baking. They are still just as good without an egg glaze.
• It was a cold day so they didn’t double in size after shaping them and leaving for 30 minutes. I did try putting them in the oven after it had been heating for 10 minutes and then turning it off, but this just made the butter start to melt, so NOT a good idea! So I just baked them straight after my little experiment and they turned out OK.
• I iced them after letting them cool for about 5 minutes.

Rachel Allen’s Irish Apple Cake

 

MUNCH RATING: 5/5

 

I’ve had this recipe on my blog for a long time (since August 2008) and according to my stat-counter, it is one of the most searched for recipes. I hadn’t made it for ages, so I thought it was about time I made it again and also updated the photo, because the old one was truly terrible and made the cake look really unappetising! To be honest, these photos aren’t that much better and don’t really do the cake justice!

 

This cake is really very good. It’s super crunchy on the outside, with a soft light sponge centre. Perfect with a cup of tea or equally delicious as a pudding drowned in custard.

 

 

I have made this both by hand and in the food processor. It is a sticky dough type cake, rather than a sponge batter, so I really recommend using a food processor, otherwise it’s a bit messy!

 

CHANGES TO THE RECIPE:

I make a few small changes to Rachel’s recipe. First of all, I only use 1 eating apple instead of 2 Bramley cooking apples. This is because I’m not a big fan of Bramley’s and also because we always have eating apples in the house that are past their best and this is a great way to use them up. Secondly, I use 1 Tablespoon of Demerara sugar on the top, instead of caster sugar, as I think it gives a crunchier topping.

 

• Prep time: 20 minutes
• Cook time: 40-50 minutes
• You will need: 20cm/8inch springform/loose-bottom cake tin, lightly greased and lined
• Oven temperature: Gas mark 4/350°F/180°C
• Oven shelf position: middle

 

Ingredients:

• 225g (8oz) plain flour
• ½ teaspoon baking powder
• 100g (3.5oz) cold butter, cubed
• 100g (3.5oz) caster sugar, plus 2 tablespoons
• 1 large egg, beaten
• 100ml (3.5 fl oz) milk
• 2 medium Bramley cooking apples (or 1 eating apple)
• 1 rounded teaspoon ground cinnamon

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven and put a baking tray in the oven to heat.
2. In a bowl, mix the flour with the baking powder, then rub in the butter with your fingers until the texture resembles breadcrumbs (alternatively whizz up in a food processor).
3. Mix in 100g of the sugar, the egg and enough of the milk to form a soft dough - you may not need it all.
4. Spread one half of the dough into the cake tin - it's quite sticky so this part is a bit messy!
5. Peel, core and chop up the apple into 2cm squared pieces and place on the dough in the tin.
6. Sprinkle with 1 tablespoon of sugar and the cinnamon.
7. Gently spread the other half of the dough on top of the apples to cover them completely.
8. Sprinkle over the remaining 1 tablespoon of sugar. Bake on the baking tray for 40-50 minutes (mine only took 40 minutes in a Gas oven) until golden and crunchy on the outside.

 

COOK’S NOTES:

• Even if the recipe doesn’t say to do so, I always sift my flour and baking powder to introduce air for a lighter sponge.
• When greasing and lining your tin, make sure the disc of greaseproof is well stuck to the bottom, as it will make it much easier when you come to spread out half of the dough on the base. I am quite mean when I spread the first half of the dough, so that I know that I will have enough to cover all of the apple with the other half. I find the best utensil for this is a small plastic spatula.

French Apple Tarts

MUNCH RATING: 4/5

These tarts look really pretty and elegant and are tasty to boot! The filling is frangipane, but it doesn’t taste too strongly of almonds which is what puts me off things like Bakewell Tart.

These taste great on their own, but would be even better with some custard or home-made ice cream.

• Makes: 12 tarts
• Oven temperature: Gas mark 5/375°F/190°C
• You will need: a 12 cup shallow bun tray

Ingredients for the pastry:

• 185g (6.5oz) plain flour
• 15g (½oz) sugar
• 90g (3.5oz) butter, cut roughly into pieces
• 1 egg yolk
• pinch of salt
• 1-3 Tablespoons of water

Ingredients for the filling:

• 90g (3.5oz) butter, softened
• 90g (3.5oz) sugar
• 1 egg yolk
• 1 beaten egg
• 2 level Tablespoons flour
• 90g (3.5oz) ground almonds
• 2 small dessert/eating apples
• hot apricot jam to glaze

Directions for the pastry:

1. Sift the flour onto a board and make a well in the centre.
2. Put the sugar, butter and egg yolk in the well and gently mix in with the flour with your fingertips until it resembles breadcrumbs.
3. Add about 1 Tablespoon of the water and bring the dough together gradually - don't try and force it together, just add a little more water. Knead very lightly until you have a smooth dough.
4. Roll the dough out on a lightly floured board until it is about 3mm thick.
5. Using a cutter that is a little bigger than the holes in your bun tray, cut out 12 discs of pastry. Line your bun tray, prick the bases with a fork and chill for about 30 minutes.
6. Bake at Gas mark 5/375°F/190°C for about 15 minutes until light golden brown and the cases can be removed from the tin (but don’t remove them as you need to cook the filling!).

Directions for the filling:

1. Cream the butter with the sugar until light and fluffy, add the egg yolk and beat well.
2. Gradually add the beaten egg, beating well after each addition. Mix in the flour and ground almonds.
3. Put roughly a heaped teaspoon of the filling into each pastry case, but don’t overfill them.
4. Peel the apples, cut them into quarters and remove the core. Cut them into very thin slices but keep them together. Press the apple slices down on the board to fan them out, but still keep them together. Carefully place a few slices of apple onto each tart and press down into the filling.
5. Bake for 15 minutes or until the apples are tender and the almond mixture has set.
6. Remove from the oven and cool on a wire rack.
7. Brush the tops with hot apricot glaze.

COOK’S NOTES:

• Making individual tarts, you will have some pastry and filling leftover.
• If you wanted to make one large tart: you would need to blind bake the pastry using baking beans for about 20 minutes. After adding the filling and apples, bake the tart at Gas mark 5/375°F/190°C for 15 minutes, then reduce the temperature to Gas mark 4/350°F/180°C and bake for a further 15-20 minutes.
• Choosing a cutter: my bun tins were 7cm in diameter, so I used a cutter that was 7.8cm in diameter, which was a perfect fit.
• Preparing in advance: you can make the pastry and the filling the night before and store covered in the fridge. Follow the pastry directions up to Step 5 but cover with cling film to stop it drying out. It is actually better for the pastry to be cooked from chilled (prevents it from shrinking), so you can pop the whole tray straight in the oven when you’re ready to cook.

Apple and Blackberry Crumble

MUNCH RATING: 5/5

The crumble topping is more like the topping you have on an Apple Crisp, which is an American dessert. I used apples because we always have some apples sitting untouched in the fruit bowl and this is a perfect way to use up the ones that are starting to go a bit soft. I always prefer to use eating apples to cooking apples, as I think they’re naturally sweeter (and not so sharp so you don’t have to add so much sugar) and they keep their shape more, so you have something to bite into, rather than a spoonful of mush.

I went out into the garden and picked some blackberries that were overgrowing from next door’s garden. They’re bang in season now, so go out and look in a nearby hedgerow and you’ll probably spot some ripe for picking!

• Makes: 4 individual crumbles
• Oven temperature: Gas mark 4/350°F/180°C
• Cooking time: 20 minutes (or 30 mins if doing 1 large dish)

Ingredients for the filling:

• 2 eating apples (I used Gala), peeled, cored and cut into bite size pieces
• big handful of blackberries (as many as you can pick!)
• 1-2 Tablespoons sugar (depends how sweet you like it)
• 2 teaspoons lemon juice (this is optional but if you’re making these in advance then I’d use it to stop the apples going brown)

Ingredients for the topping:

• 50g rolled oats
• 100g ground almonds
• 150g melted unsalted butter
• 50g plain flour
• 100g soft brown sugar

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to Gas mark 4/350°F/180°C.
2. Put the apples and blackberries in a small bowl and mix well with the sugar and lemon juice, if using.
3. Mix together all the topping ingredients together.
4. Distribute the fruit between 4 ramekins and then sprinkle over the topping, but don’t press it down too firmly.
5. Bake for 20 minutes until golden brown.

I bought this set of 4 ramekins from Amazon for £6.99. They are 3.5 inches in diameter and 2 inches deep, so the perfect size. They are blowtorch, dishwasher, microwave and oven safe. I plan to make crème brûlées in them next!

Granola Bars

MUNCH RATING: 3/5
 
This is the latest experiment for the perfect snack bar for Steve to take to work to stave off the munchies!
I’ve called them Granola Bars because they contain the ingredients that I bought to make granola and even though they taste a lot like flapjacks, the fruit makes them soft and chewy, whilst the cornflakes make them nice and crunchy.
These are by far my favourite, but this recipe has quite a lot of butter, sugar and golden syrup which doesn’t make them very healthy, so I’m going to try and cut down on the sugar next time as there’s a lot of sweetness in the fruit.

• Makes: 16-18
• Oven temperature: Gas mark 4/350°F/180°C
• Cooking time: 20-25 minutes
• You will need: 12 x 7inch tin (or two 8 inch square tins), lined with greaseproof paper as it makes removal from the tin easier. 

Ingredients:

• 175g/6oz butter
• 175g/6oz light brown sugar
• 5 Tablespoons golden syrup
• 1 eating apple, peeled and chopped into small pieces
• 75g/3oz dried apricots, chopped into small pieces
• 75g/3oz dried pineapple, chopped into small pieces
• 300g/11oz porridge oats
• 50g/2oz cornflakes, slightly crushed 

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to Gas mark 4/350°F/180°C.
2. In a large saucepan gently melt the butter, sugar and golden syrup over a low heat, stirring until the sugar has dissolved.
3. Remove from the heat and stir in all the fruit, porridge oats and cornflakes, until well combined.
4. Tip into your tin/tins and gently press down with the back of a spoon to bind the mixture.
5. Bake for 20-25 minutes near the top of the oven until golden brown and firm.
6. Allow to cool for 10 minutes, then cut into bars.
7. Leave to cool completely before lifting them out of the tin.