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.

Blueberry and Lemon Friands

 

MUNCH RATING: 5/5

I found this recipe on the BBC Good Food website about a year ago and printed it off, but I’ve only just got around to making them as I just happened to have all the ingredients in the house. It’s a shame I never tried the recipe earlier as they are absolutely delicious. The cake is extremely light and moist and the fresh tang of lemon zest and the blueberries gives them a ‘Summer’s here!’ taste.

 

CHANGES TO THE RECIPE:

I used 3 large egg whites instead of medium because we only use large eggs. They had been frozen and I defrosted them overnight in the fridge, then I left them at room temperature for about an hour before using.

 

Instead of using non-stick friand or muffin tins, I used my new silicone cake cases that Steve’s Mum bought me from Wilkinsons. They worked really well as they held their shape when I put the cake mixture in and so I just put them on a baking tray to make it easier to get them in/out of the oven. Once baked, the cakes were easy to pop out of the silicone cases, but I did think that they retained the steam as the cakes were cooling and this made the bottoms of the cake slightly soggy.

 

The silicone cases are the size of fairy cakes cases, so I managed to make 7 cakes instead of 6. I have tried making these in paper fairy cases and I managed to make 12, but they were very thin/shallow and not as good as when I used the silicone cases.

 

TASTE TEST:

Well these went down a complete storm! Steve’s Dad doesn’t like almonds, so I warned him before he tried them that they were made of mainly ground almonds, but he tried them anyway and he said they were probably the best cakes I’ve made!

 

I will definitely make these again, but they will be considered a once-in-a-while treat as I think they’re expensive to make because they’re made of ground almonds and blueberries aren’t cheap either. Plus they’re just over 300 calories each!

 

• 100g unsalted butter, melted and cooled
• 125g icing sugar, plus extra for dusting
• 25g plain flour
• 85g ground almonds
• 3 medium/large egg whites
• 1 unwaxed lemon, grated rind only
• 85g blueberries

 

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to fan 180C/conventional 200C/gas 6. Generously butter six non-stick friand or muffin tins. Melt the butter and set aside to cool (nuke in the microwave for 35-40 seconds).
2. Sift the icing sugar and flour into a bowl, add the almonds and stir together.
3. Whisk the egg whites in another bowl until they form a light, floppy foam. Make a well in the centre of the dry ingredients, tip in the egg whites and lemon rind, then lightly stir in the butter to form a soft batter.
4. Divide the batter among the tins (using a jug was the easiest way). Sprinkle a handful of blueberries over each cake and bake for 15-20 minutes (mine took 20 minutes) until just firm to the touch and golden brown.
5. Cool in the tins for 5 minutes, then turn out and cool on a wire rack. To serve, dust lightly with icing sugar.

Banana and Walnut Loaf

 

MUNCH RATING: 5/5

 

I’m not a fan of Gregg Wallace, but when I saw his recipe in the May issue of BBC Good Food magazine for Banana and Walnut Loaf I just had to try it as it looked so nice.

 

CHANGES TO THE RECIPE:

I used my silicone loaf tin (as there was no need to grease or line it) instead of a lined greased loaf tin.

 

I used 100g instead of 140g of caster sugar as I wanted to cut some calories and I thought it would be sweet enough with the 4 very ripe bananas.

 

I added some freshly grated nutmeg and ground cinnamon to the recipe as I like those spices in banana cake as I think they compliment the banana flavour. I was quite conservative in my measures and I couldn’t really taste the spices, so I would add maybe 1 tsp instead of ½ tsp of cinnamon, and ½ fresh nutmeg instead of ¼ of a whole seed.

 

Due to a slight ‘error’ in the recipe, I omitted the milk. It was listed in the ingredients, but it wasn’t specifically mentioned in the directions, so I missed adding it to the mixture. However, the cake batter looked perfectly alright when I poured it into the tin, so it was a good consistency without the milk.

 

I also changed the method very slightly so that more ingredients are added together and therefore less mixing is involved, resulting in a better textured cake. I’ve also added my own tips to the method. The original recipe should be posted on the BBC Good Food website next month and I will link to it then.

 

TASTE TEST:

Well I have to say this was the lightest, fluffiest banana cake I’ve ever tasted! I’m not sure how much difference the milk would have made, but I won’t even bother adding it next time because the cake was perfect as it is.

 

Steve and I ate it whilst it was still warm from the oven and it was delicious! Gregg Wallace suggested serving it with vanilla ice cream and warm chocolate sauce, which sounds like a great dessert.

 

• Makes: 1 loaf that cuts into 8 slices
• Oven temperature: Gas mark 4/350°F/180°C
• Oven shelf: middle
• You will need: a 2lb loaf tin, greased and lined with baking paper or a silicone loaf tin

 

Ingredients:

• 100g softened butter
• 100g caster sugar
• 1 large egg, beaten
• 225 plain flour, sieved
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• ¼ – ½ of freshly grated nutmeg seed
• ½ – 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 4 very ripe bananas, mashed
• 50g walnuts, chopped (original recipe said 85g)
• 50ml milk (optional)

 

Directions:

1. Heat the oven to Gas mark 4/350°F/180°C.
2. In a large bowl mix together the butter, sugar and egg with an electric handheld mixer until light and fluffy.
3. Using a spatula gently fold in the flour and baking powder until they are half mixed in, then add the bananas, walnuts and milk (if using) and carry on gently folding in until all the ingredients are combined – do not overmix or the cake will be tough and heavy.
4. Pour the mixture into your prepared tin and then bang the tin on your counter to get rid of any air bubbles.
5. Bake for 1 hour or until a skewer comes out clean.
6. Allow the cake to cool on a wire rack before removing from the loaf tin.
7. The loaf can now be wrapped tightly in cling film and frozen for up to 1 month. Defrost and warm through before serving.

 

 

Tips For Perfect Cakes Use butter and eggs that are at room temperature to prevent your mixture curdling. If this happens, add a tablespoon of flour with the eggs and then continue. After you’ve added the flour don’t overmix as this will stretch the gluten and result in a tough cake. After you’ve filled your tin with the cake mixture, tap it on the counter to remove any air bubbles.

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.

Mixed Berry Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

MUNCH RATING: 5/5

I had some leftover sour cream from making Beef Stroganoff, so I found a cake recipe in my BBC Good Food 101 Cake Bakes book that had sour cream as one of the ingredients. The original recipe was Blueberry Soured Cream Cake, but I didn’t have any blueberries, so I used a pack of frozen Black Forest Fruits from Tesco. The pack contains 4 different fruits, but I only used the blackberries and blackcurrants and not the cherries and red grapes because I didn’t think they would work very well in the cake.

For the frosting I used a recipe by Leila Lindholm from her basic cupcake recipe. The frosting was yellow because of the butter and I didn’t like the way it looked. I didn’t want to add food colouring to change the colour. Then I remembered I’d left the unused cherries and grapes in the fridge and they’d defrosted and left a lovely pool of juice. So I added about a Tablespoon of the juice to the frosting and it turned it a lovely pink colour and added a great fruity flavour to it as well. The recipe for the frosting makes quite a lot, I only used about half of it and have kept the rest in the fridge. I guess I will just have to make some cupcakes to use it up!

I’m really pleased how the cake turned out as I’d never made it before and the frosting was a bit of a gamble (the last time I made a cream cheese frosting was for Rachel Allen’s Carrot Cake and it wasn’t all that well received!).

Unfortunately the fruit did sink to the bottom of the cake, even though I’d tossed it in some flour before mixing it in. I think it’s because the fruit was frozen and also because the cake batter is quite a runny consistency, so it didn’t have the body to suspend the fruit. It still tasted delicious though, as the cake is really moist from the sour cream. The fruit is lovely as it is slightly tangy and is offset by the sweet frosting.

It was lovely to come back from a walk down the park with Steve and eat this cake with a nice cup of tea!

• Serves: 10
• You will need: a 9 inch (22cm) round cake tin
• Oven temperature: Gas mark 4/350°F/180°C

Ingredients:

• 175g soft butter
• 175g soft brown sugar
• 3 large eggs
• 225g self-raising flour, sifted
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 4 Tablespoons soured cream
• Blackberries and Blackcurrants taken from a frozen 350g pack of Tesco Black Forest Fruits

Cream Cheese Frosting Ingredients:

• 60g butter, softened
• 100g cream cheese (I used Tesco Value)
• 300g icing sugar, sifted
• 1 teaspoon vanilla sugar
• 2 teaspoons lemon juice
• approx. 1 Tablespoon of juice from leftover defrosted fruits

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to Gas mark 4/350°F/180°C and butter and line the base of your round cake tin with non-stick baking paper or reusable Magic Non-Stick Liner.
2. Put the butter, sugar, eggs, flour, baking powder and vanilla extract into a food processor and whizz for 2-3 minutes until lighter in colour and well combined. Fold in the soured cream and the blackberries and blackcurrants.
3. Tip the mixture into the tin and spread it level. Bake for 50-55 minutes until it is risen, feels firm to the touch and springs back when lightly pressed.
4. Cool for 10 minutes, then take out of the tin and leave to finish cooling on a wire rack.
5. To make the frosting: in a large bowl beat the butter, cream cheese, icing sugar, vanilla sugar and lemon juice until smooth and creamy. Add the fruit juice and mix in well. Spread over the top of the cooled cake (don't be impatient as the frosting will melt if the cake is too warm).

COOK’S NOTES:

• Can be frozen un-iced.
• The cake will keep in the fridge for a couple of days. Bring it to room temperature for about an hour before serving.

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!

Apricot & almond Upside-Down pudding

MUNCH RATING: 2/5

Steve’s Mum bought a load of apricots from the market in Dorking and I knew that they wouldn’t get eaten unless they were put into a cake! So I found this recipe to use up all of the apricots and even though we weren’t too keen on the fruit as they were a bit sour, we loved the cake part! So next time I’ll use a different fruit as the sponge was lovely and light and was lovely with custard!

• Oven temperature: Gas mark 4/350°F/180°C
• Oven shelf: upper-middle
• You will need: 8 or 9 inch shallow loose bottomed tin, lightly greased

Ingredients:

• 2 Tablespoon clear honey
• 450g (1lb) apricots, peeled, halved and pitted*
• 110g (4oz) butter, softened (I used Stork)
• 125g (4½ oz) caster sugar
• 3 large eggs
• 110g (4oz) self raising flour
• 100g (3½ oz) ground almonds

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to Gas mark 4/350°F/180°C.
2. Spread the honey over the base of the tin.
3. Arrange the apricot halves over the base of the tin cut side down.
4. Put the butter and sugar into a food processor and whizz together until light and fluffy.
5. Add the eggs with a tablespoon of flour and whizz to combine, then add the rest of the flour and the ground almonds.
6. Spoon the mixture into the cake tin and spread it out to cover the fruit.
7. Bake in the oven for 40-45 minutes until golden brown and a skewer inserted comes out clean.
8. Leave to cool in the tin for about 10 minutes, then run a knife around the edge to loosen the edges. Place a large plate on top of the tin, invert quickly and lift the tin away.

* The recipe didn’t specify the apricots should be peeled, but I just thought it would be nicer without the skins! I just treated them like tomatoes, by cutting a cross on the bottom of the fruit and pouring boiling water over them, then plunging them into cold water. The skins came off really easily.

Fruity Snack Bars

MUNCH RATING: 3/5

Now that Steve has started a new job I thought I’d make him some snack bars to munch on for when he gets peckish. They’re a healthier snack than chocolate as they’ve got porridge oats, fresh apple and dried apricots in them – it’s the only way I can get him to eat fruit! For some reason they tasted of coconut, which is weird but nice, even though I don’t like coconut!

You could use lots of different dried fruit or maybe add some nuts. I’m going to try spreading a layer of jam in the middle next time!

• Makes: 10 bars
• Oven temperature: Gas mark 4/350°F/180°C
• You will need: 8x8 inch square tin, lined with greaseproof paper 

Ingredients:

• 150g (1 ¼ cups) self raising flour
• 100g (½ cup) caster sugar
• 180g (2 cups) porridge oats
• 1 eating apple, cut into very small pieces
• 75g (½ cup) dried apricots, cut into small pieces
• ½ teaspoon cinnamon (optional)
• 150g butter
• 1 Tablespoon golden syrup 

Directions:

1. Sieve the flour into a large mixing bowl.
2. Add the sugar, oats, apple, apricots and cinnamon into the bowl and mix.
3. Melt the butter in a saucepan over low heat. Once melted, add the golden syrup and mix well. Remove from the heat.
4. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ones and give it a good stir.
5. Pour the mixture into the tin and press it down really well to make sure it binds (it’s easiest to use your hands).
6. Bake in the upper part of the oven at Gas mark 4/350°F/180°C for approx 20 - 25 minutes (until golden brown).
7. When you remove them from the oven, immediately cut into bars.
8. Leave to cool on a wire rack before removing the bars from the tin.

COOK'S NOTES:
They keep really well if kept in an airtight box.

Blueberry Pear Crumble Topped Tart

MUNCH RATING: 5/5

This is a hybrid of three different recipes as I didn’t have enough ground almonds to make the original recipe I wanted to make. So I had to be creative and I’m pleased to say it was a great success!

I made the sweet pastry from scratch using Rachel Allen’s recipe (click here for a link) and for my first time making pastry I’m really pleased that it came out lovely and crisp. It was really easy to make in the food processor.

• Oven temperature: Gas mark 5/375°F/190°C
• Oven shelf: middle
• You will need: an 8-inch tart tin

Ingredients:
FOR THE PASTRY

• You will need 1 portion of Rachel Allen’s sweet pastry, or roughly 250 g of shop bought sweet pastry, baked blind.

FOR THE FILLING

• 225 g (8 oz) blueberries, washed
• 50 g (1.75 oz) caster sugar
• 1 large ripe pear, cut into thin slices (I used Comice)

FOR THE CRUMBLE TOPPING

• 25 g (1 oz) ground almonds
• 50 g (1.75 oz) self-raising flour
• 25 g (1 oz) caster sugar
• 50 g (1.75 oz) butter
• 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon (optional)

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to Gas mark 5/375°F/190°C.
2. Mix the blueberries with the sugar and set to one side.
3. Place all the crumble ingredients into a food processor and whizz up until you have a soft crumble.
4. Spread the blueberries out onto the cooked pastry base, then arrange the slices of pear on top.
5. Sprinkle the crumble topping over the fruit.
6. Bake in the oven for 20-25 minutes, until the crumble is golden brown.

Blueberry Sponge Cake

MUNCH RATING: 4/5

Steve's mum bought a punnet of blueberries and they were going bad so I cooked this cake to use them up. The blueberries make this sponge lovely and moist and surely this counts as 1 portion of your 5-a-day fruit & veg!

This is so quick and easy to make, especially if you use a food processor to mix.

This is lovely served when it's still slightly warm with a nice cup of tea!

• Makes: One 8-inch cake
• Oven temperature: Gas mark 4/350°F/180°C
• Oven shelf: Middle shelf
• You will need: an 8-inch x 1½ inches deep, non-stick loose bottomed sandwich tin, greased (or silicone pan works well as no need to grease)

Ingredients:

• 1 stick (110g/4oz) soft butter
• 1/2 cup (110g/4oz) caster sugar
• 1¼ cups (150g/50z) self-raising flour
• 2 large eggs, lightly beaten
• 2 tablespoons milk
• 1½ cups (225g/8oz) fresh or frozen blueberries

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to Gas mark 4/350°F/180°C.
2. Cream the butter and sugar together in a mixing bowl until pale in colour, then gradually mix in the eggs, adding a tablespoon of flour to stop the mixture splitting. Then add the rest of the flour followed by the milk.
   * Alternatively put all the ingredients into a food processor and blitz until smooth. Spread the mixture into the tin.
3. Gently fold in the blueberries until evenly distributed.
4. Bake in the centre of the oven for 30-45 minutes, until golden brown all over (Use the shorter time if using fresh fruit and longer time if using frozen).
5. Leave the cake to cool in the tin, then turn out and dredge with icing sugar.

Banana and Chocolate Muffins

MUNCH RATING: 2/5

I had two reasons for making these muffins:
1) I had two bananas that were quickly going past their prime but I didn't want to throw away.
2) Steve wanted something yummy to eat when he got his mid-morning cakey-pangs at work.

I had a recipe on the back of a bag of flour for banana bread, but I'm not a lover of it as I find it too banana-ry (funny that!) but I like chocolate and muffins are easy to make, so Banana and Chocolate Muffins had to be made! They're not very healthy but as Steve would say "It's got fruit in it so it's OK!"

I have to admit I wasn't that confident about making these as my 3 attempts at baking in SF haven't been that successful. But these were a great success as I've now got the hang of the electric oven, the cup measuring system and using the silicone pans Steve bought me.

• Makes: 12 muffins
• Oven shelf position: middle
• Oven temperature: 350F/180C/Gas mark 4
• Baking time: 20 - 25 minutes
• You will need: muffin pan and cases if appropriate

Ingredients:

• 1¾ cups (245g/9oz) all-purpose flour
• ¼ cup (30g/1oz) cocoa powder
• 1 cup (200g/7oz) granulated white sugar
• 1 teaspoons baking powder
• ¼ teaspoon baking soda
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• ½ cup (85g/30z) chocolate chips
• 2 large eggs, lightly beaten
• 1 stick (113g/4oz) unsalted butter, melted and cooled
• 2 large ripe bananas, mashed (approximately 225g/8oz/about 1 cup)
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
  Optional: ½ cup (55g/2oz) toasted walnuts or pecans, coarsely chopped

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350F/180C/Gas mark 4 and place oven rack to middle position.
2. If using a normal muffin tin prepare it by greasing/placing paper cases inside.
3. In a large bowl whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.
4. In a medium-sized bowl combine the mashed bananas, eggs, melted butter, and vanilla.
5. With a rubber spatula or wooden spoon, lightly fold the wet ingredients (banana mixture) into the dry ingredients until just combined and batter is thick and chunky.
6. Fold in the chocolate chips (and nuts if using them).
7. Spoon heaped tablespoons of the mixture into your muffin pan until they are pretty full so you get a nice muffin top shape (the only type you'll want!).
8. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean. Mine only took 20 minutes as I used a silicone pan.
9. Place on a wire rack to cool and then remove from the pan.

TIPS:
You can freeze your baked muffins by allowing them to completely cool, then wrapping them in foil and then popping them in freezer bags. To reheat, just take out of the freezer, unwrap and put them back in your muffin pan and pop into a 350F/180C oven until heated through.
You can also freeze the raw muffin batter by spooning into your muffin pan and then putting the whole thing in the freezer until the batter is solid. You then put these discs into freezer bags. To cook, just put the discs into your muffin pan and cook for about 5 minutes longer than usual.

STRANGE, BUT TRUE:

As my muffin pan is only for 6 muffins I had to cook 2 batches. I was a bit worried that the second batch wouldn't rise as much as the first, because I always thought you had to bake things ASAP so that the baking agents (powder and soda) didn't lose their potency. However, as you can see from these pictures, the muffin from the second batch on the right rose even higher than the first!

Blueberry cupcakes with orange sugar drizzle

MUNCH RATING: 3 OUT OF 5

I had some blueberries to use up (not from our plant unfortunately) so I found this cupcake recipe. The texture of the cakes are between a fairy cake and a muffin, but the drizzle makes them very moist. The recipe for the drizzle says to use caster sugar, but the drizzle didn't go crunchy, so after some Internet research I'm going to try granulated sugar next time. I will definitely make these again and try them with raspberries which is what the original recipe used.

• Makes: 12 cupcakes
• Oven shelf position: middle
• Oven temperature: Gas mark 4/350°F/180°C
• Baking time: 30-35 minutes (Original recipe said 20-25 mins)
• You will need: 12-hole muffin tin (or normal cake tin is fine) with paper muffin cases

Cupcakes – Ingredients:

• 200g Self-raising flour
• 2 tsp Baking powder
• 200g Unsalted butter, softened
• 4 large Eggs
• 200g Caster sugar
• 3 tbsp Milk
• 50g Ground almonds
• Zest of 1medium Orange
• 150g punnet Blueberries/Raspberries, washed then lightly crushed

Sugar drizzle – Ingredients:

• Juice of 1 medium Orange
• 4 tbsp Caster or Granulated sugar

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven and line muffin tin with paper muffin cases.
2. Tip the first 8 ingredients into a large bowl and beat with electric whisk until smooth.
3. Fold the crushed fruit through the batter.
4. Divide the batter between the cases - there is a lot of mixture so they will be almost full to the top.
5. Gently tap the tray on your work surface to even out the mixture and knock out any excess air which could cause the cakes to sink.
6. Bake for 30-35 mins or until golden and just firm.
7. To make the Sugar drizzle: mix together the orange juice and sugar until well blended.
8. Remove the cupcakes from the oven and allow to cool a little but the cakes should still be hot when you drizzle each with the orange and sugar mix.

Blueberry (& Raspberry) Crunch Cake

I have halved the quantities in this recipe by Sue Lawrence, as her original quantities makes a huge cake and since this is quite a rich and filling cake, a small piece is quite sufficient!

The polenta gives the cake a lovely crunchy topping and quite a unique flavour.

I have only ever tried this recipe with fresh berries but I'm sure frozen ones would work just as well. The combination of blueberries and raspberries is excellent, but when I recently made this I didn't have any raspberries because they were too expensive, so I substituted them for 1 gala apple cut into small dice and it gave a good result.
This is great served with the blueberry syrup (see pancakes).

• Oven shelf position: upper-middle
• Oven temperature: pre-heat oven to 350 degrees F/180 degrees C/Gas mark 4
• Baking time: 50 minutes to 1 hour
  
• You will also need a 20cm/8in springform cake tin, lightly buttered

Ingredients
100g Polenta - plus 1 teaspoon
250g Self raising flour, sifted
160g Golden caster sugar
Grated zest 1 unwaxed lemon (optional)
160g Cold unsalted butter, diced
1 Large free-range egg, lightly beaten
1 tablespoon lemon juice (optional)
125g Blueberries
125g Raspberries
12g Demerara sugar

1. Preheat the oven to 180C/Gas 4
2. Place the 100g of polenta, the flour and sugar in a large food processor and process for a few seconds. Add the lemon zest and butter and process again until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs (alternatively rub the butter into the dry ingredients by hand as if making a crumble mixture)
3. Add the beaten egg and lemon juice then process using the pulse button, or mix, very briefly, until just combined.
   
4. Tip about two-thirds of the mixture into the prepared tin, pressing down all over.
5. Sprinkle the teaspoon of polenta over the base, then scatter over the blueberries and raspberries (or whatever fruit you're using)
6. Sprinkle the demerara sugar over the top, then crumble the remaining cake mixture over to cover. Press down very lightly, then bake in the preheated oven for 50 minutes to 1 hour.
7. Cool on a wire rack, then remove from the tin.
   

Buttermilk Pancakes with Blueberry Syrup

My friend Lindsey told me about these Buttermilk Pancakes by Martha Stewart and they are really light and fluffy and very easy to make. I've halved her recipe as it makes 9 huge pancakes!
I suggested she serve them with the Blueberry Syrup by Nigella Lawson and she said it was really good so I decided to try it out myself and they are an excellent combination!

BUTTERMILK PANCAKES:

The key to fluffy pancakes is not to overmix the batter; it should not be beaten smooth.

Makes 4-5 6-inch pancakes

Ingredients:
1 cup (125g/4.oz) all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1.5 tablespoons sugar
1 large egg, lightly beaten
1.5 cups (350ml/12 fl.oz) buttermilk (look in the cream section in the supermarket or make your own - see below)
2 tablespoons unsalted melted butter, plus 1/2 teaspoon for griddle/frying pan

Directions:

1. Whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and sugar in a medium bowl.
   
2. In a separate bowl combine the eggs, buttermilk, and the 2 tablespoons of butter.
3. Add the wet ingredients to the dry and stir gently to combine. Do not overmix, the batter should have small to medium lumps.
   
4. Let the mixture rest for about 10 minutes, this will result in lighter, fluffier pancakes (use this time to make the Blueberry syrup!)
   
5. Heat your griddle or frying pan to medium-low and test by sprinkling a few drops of water on it. If water bounces and spatters off griddle, it is hot enough. Using a pastry brush/piece of kitchen towel, brush remaining 1/2 teaspoon of butter onto griddle. Wipe off excess.
6. Using a 4-ounce ladle (about 1/2 cup) pour in pancake batter, in pools 2 inches away from one other. When pancakes have bubbles on top and are slightly dry around edges, about 2.5 minutes, flip over. Cook until golden on bottom, about 1 minute.
7. Repeat with remaining batter and serve warm.

BLUEBERRY SYRUP:

Put 1 cup (about 150g/5oz) washed Blueberries and 125ml (about 8 Tbsp) Maple Syrup in a small saucepan and simmer for about 5 mins until blueberries have softened and you have a nice syrupy consistency.

No Maple Syrup?! Don't worry, you can still make this delicious syrup by simmering 1 cup water and 1/2 cup white sugar in a small pan for a couple of minutes until you have got a slight syrup. Then add your cup of Blueberries and simmer gently as above.

TIPS AND TRICKS:
No Buttermilk?! Then you can make your own with normal milk and lemon juice. Just mix 1 cup milk with 1 tablespoon lemon juice and let sit for 10 minutes. The resulting mixture won't be as thick as buttermilk so you will only need 1 cup.

No Lemon?! Then use 1 cup normal milk (preferably whole/full fat), omit the baking soda (as there is no acid for it to react to) and increase the amount of baking powder to 1.5 teaspoons.

Alternatively, make my Cheat's American Pancakes which are equally delicious!