Apple Cake - The Ugly one

I've a lovely colleague R who keeps feeding me in the office, chocolate, cakes, crisps etc and she also sometimes gives me fresh curry leaves or green chillies when she goes for her bi-weekly shop at a Sri Lanka Supermarket. Recently, she gave a big bag of cooking apples plucked straight from her garden and so I went searching for an apple recipe! The first recipe I came across was one that was approved by Paul Hollywood, a baking 'superstar' in the UK so if it's good enough for him, it's good enough for me. ;)
This is a very easy and tasty recipe though a little ugly looking. :P  When eaten on the day of baking, it has a lovely crusty biscuity top, when left overnight, the top will soften but the cake itself becomes even more moist and delicious, as the flavours starts to amalgamate. The demerara sugar adds an additional texture to the already lovely cake!

Ingredients (Adapted from here)

225g self raising flour
1 tsp baking powder
110g soft brown sugar
Sprinkle of demerara sugar
2 eggs
130g light olive oil
400g cooking apple

Method
1) Put the flour, baking powder and sugar in a bowl.
2) Beat the eggs and stir this, along with olive oil, into the bowl.
3) Spread half in a greased cake tin, cover with apples, spinkle some sugar over the apples then cover with rest of mixture. Sprinkle more demerara sugar on top.
4) Bake at 150C for 1 hour or until nicely crusty.

Crispy Snacks - Healthy Fruit and Veg Crisps

I'm always on a lookout for healthy and hopefully still tasty version of snacks, cakes etc. Since I've started baking at home, I've replaced butter with light olive oil and the end product is still fab!! Snack-wise, i've yet to come to a point where i'll try to make my own crisps other than roasted chickpeas and kale so when Arthur from Crispy Snacks asked if I wanted to try their fruit/vegetable range of crisps that's free from additives, salt and sugar, I immediately said yes and was actually pretty excited about it since I've yet to see this brand in shops.  

According to the Crispy Snacks website, the wide range of fat and salt-free fruit and vegetable crisps are made by the innovative MIRVAC (worldwide innovative method of fruit and vegetable dehydation) technology. Using this method, the nutritional structure of the fruit and vegetables are not changed. They retain almost all of the nutritious values present in the fresh fruit and vegetables because water is evaporated from the product in a form of steam within a short time(2 hours, with temperature not exceeding 40 deg).


Having tried a selection of their products, I find that the above method truly retains the flavour and in fact intensifies the flavours of the fruit and vegetables. Good in most cases with the exception of one which I'll cover later. Crisps are also non-oily since they are not fried or baked so we can eat as much as possible with no worries at all!


Crispy snacks kindly provided me with 2 20g packs of each of the following.
Apple Chips

These crisps made from Idared apples were light and very crispy. I've always liked apple chips so it's not surprising that I loved these.


Apple Chips with cinnamon

Apples and cinnamon have always been a match made in heaven so this is definitely the perfect combo. The addition of cinnamon doesn't overpower the taste of the apples and it's a nice change from the usual plain apple chips.


Beetroot Chips with vinaigrette

These beetroot chips have been sliced thicker and feels somewhat heavier than the apple chips but the vinaigrette is cleverly added to offset the heaviness. Crunchy, sweet yet sour makes for a very appetising snack.

Carrot Chips with paprika

The carrot chips, like the beetroot ones are thicker and gives a very good crunch in the mouth. Lightly spiced with paprika, it brings out the sweetness and intensity of flavours in the humble carrot!

Tomato Chips with basil and oregano

I loved apple, beetroot and carrot chips but the tomato ones really needed some getting used to. It's amazing how they managed to extract all the moisture from the tomato and made it so crispy. However in my opinion, intensifying and concentrating the saltish flavour of the tomato in this way wasn't to my personal liking. I could only have a few pieces and it got a little sickening somehow. I have to stress that it's probably just me which had a problem with the flavour. I love tomatoes and sundried tomatoes and eat them all the time but I just don't really like it when prepared in this way. 

No harm done though since I'm happy Crispy snacks contacted me and I'll definitely be buying more of the healthy apple, beetroot, and carrot chips to keep at home to satisfy my snack related cravings! 

For those in London, Crispy snacks chips can be found at the following places.

• Partridges of Slone Square on Kings Road
• Portobello Wholefoods on Portobello Rd
• House of Mistry – Hampstead
• Heath Matters London – High Barnet
• Organic and Wholefood – Healan Centre in Crouch End

In addition to the above, they can also be bought directly from the Crispy Snacks website.

Apple Speculoo/Biscoff Muffins

Firstly, if you haven't ever had speculoo spread, please try to get yourself some as t's really so yummy! Belgian Speculoo is a kind of caramelised, spiced biscuit. The spread has the consistency of peanut butter but instead of using peanuts, these biscuits are used instead! How great does that sound?! Another one of those spread where eating out of the jar is the best way of enjoying it! haha 

There is however one mighty big problem of getting my hands on some. The biscuits are easily available here in the UK but the spread hasn't made their way here yet. I've no idea why but the closest place to get it would be from France, Belgium or Holland. It's also available as Biscoff spread or cookie butter in the US, so I'll definitely buy myself a whole load when I next visit these countries.

 

Anyway, because I had limited supply of this delicious spread, i only made 6 of these very gorgeous crispy on the top, moist on the insides muffins. The addition of the spread gave the top this almost biscuity and crumbly texture. So this is a muffin, biscuit, crumble all rolled into one and makes for a great breakfast treat in the morning!

Ingredients(Adapted from the girl who ate everything)

1 cup plain flour

1/2 cup light brown sugar

1/3 cup + 2 tablespoon light olive oil

1/2 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

100g speculoo spread

1egg

1 big apple or 2 small ones (diced)

Method

1) Preheat oven to 180deg C/350 deg F. Line a 6 hole muffin tin with paper cases.

2) Sieve flour, baking powder and bicarb of soda into a bowl

3) In another bowl, cream sugar, 1/3 cup of olive oil and egg. Add Speculoo spread and mix until smooth. 

4) Add dry ingredients and mix until combined. Add this point, add more olive oil if the mixture is too dry. Note: The batter will be pretty thick.

5) Add apples and stir through.

6) Spoon into paper cases and bake for around 20 mins until a skewer comes out clean.

Apple Tarte Tatin (Caramelised upside down apple tart)

What's not to like about an Apple Tarte Tatin? The richness of the butter, caramelised sugar, light and flaky puff pastry all comes together with some tart apples to make one smashing dessert!! This is one dessert where I won't replace butter with olive oil as it has to be rich and decadent so there's no way around that except to use butter. Of course for me, this is definitely one to enjoy only on special occasions.
Don't be intimidated by this dessert as it's pretty easy to recreate this french classic at home especially when store bought puff pastry is used. Try it out and I'm sure you'll agree with me. ;)


Note: Tarte Tatin has to be made with firm dessert apples as cooking apples will just become a puree during the cooking process.

Ingredients
Recipe from Gordon Ramsay 3 Star Chef

3 large crisp dessert apples (such as Pink Lady, Braeburn or Cox)
180g ready-made puff pastry
50g cold unsalted butter
50g caster sugar


Method
1) To prepare the apples, peel, core and quarter them, then lay out on a tray lined with kitchen paper. Leave to dry uncovered for 2-3 hours, or preferably chill overnight. Don't worry if they turn brown; they will be coated in caramel. ( I didn't leave them out to dry but it turned out fine too)
2) Have ready a 20cm shallow overproof pan. Roll out the pastry thinly on a lightly floured surface and cut out a 24cm round, using a similar sized plate as a guide. Lift onto a baking sheet and chill while you prepare the filling.
3) Cut the butter into thin slices and scatter over the bottom of a 20 cm ovenproof pan. Sprinkle over the sugar. Arrange the apple quarters, neatly around the pan with one in the middle. Place over a medium heat until the butter and sugar have melted and formed a light caramel. Carefully shake the pan from time to time to ensure that the apples are well coated with the caramel and are evenly browned. Leave to cool slightly. 
4) When ready to cook, preheat the oven to 200 deg celsius/ Gas 6. Drape the pastry over the apples and carefully tuck the edges down the sides of the pan. Place the pan in the hot oven and bake for 15 mins. Lower the oven setting to 180 deg celsius/ Gas 4 and bake for a further 15-20 mins until the pastry is golden brown and crisp. Leave to cool. 
5) Turn the tarte tatin onto a serving plate and serve with ice cream.

Apple Blog Hop: Apple and Gingerbread Pecan loaf cake

October is the month to show some #applelove, a month when bloggers from all around the world gather to share all our yummy apple recipes so here's mine! 

It comes a little late in the month but I haven't been able to find a nice apple recipe until now and guess where i saw this recipe??! In the delicious magazine I read when I was getting a haircut, of all places!! haha I reduced the amount of sugar and golden syrup, used olive oil instead of butter but it still came out really moist so I'm pretty happy about it.

Here's the original recipe taken from delicious magazine.
Ingredients
150g unsalted butter, plus extra to grease
150g soft dark brown sugar
150g golden syrup
200ml milk
250g plain flour
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground ginger
1.5 tsp baking powder
2 large free rage eggs, beaten
75g pecans, roughly chopped
3 pieces stem ginger, chopped
2 crisp eating apples, such as braeburn, peeled, cored and chopped into chunks (245g peeled and cored)


Method
1. Preheat oven to 180 deg C. Grease and line a 2 litre loaf tin. Melt butter, sugar and syrup in a small saucepan. Once melted, stir through the milk and set aside to cool.
2. Sift the flour with the dry spices and baking powder into the bowl. Make a well in the centre and pour in the cool syrup mixture. With a wooden spoon, slowly incorporate the flour mixture using a circular motion. Fold through the beaten eggs, pecans, stem ginger and apples.
3. Pour the mixture into the loaf tin and bake in the oven for 50 mins or until a skewer inserted in the centre comes away clean. Cool for 5 mins in the tin, then remove to a wire rack.

Lovely Apple Crumble!!

I simply adore desserts especially those that can be whipped up in a jiffy and apple crumble is one of them!! Hot, crispy, crunchy crumble on the top....gooey, sticky, sweet and sour apples beneath.cold ice cream on the side....Mmmmm, the perfect combination of ultimate yumminess! 


Ingredients:
Crumble mix recipe:
100gms butter - cut in cubes
100gms damerera sugar or caster 
120gms flour
pinch of salt

Apple Filling:
3 Bramley apples or any of your fave apples
Sugar 
Cinnamon


Directions:
Preheat oven to 180 deg.
For the Crumble mix, mix everything together with fingers until it resembles breadcrumbs .
For the filling, just slice the apples, mix it with sugar and cinnamon.
Place apple mixture in 4 ramekins and top them up with the crumble mix.
Bake for about 30 to 40mins until golden brown.
Serve with vanilla ice cream, custard or cream


ENJOY!!!!