Apple and Cinnamon Flapjacks

T'was the night before Christmas when all through the house, everyone was a-buzz, disturbing the poor mouse.

It's been a hectic day. We have our traditional Christmas Eve get together with our neighbours tonight and the house has been in a state of preparation since 9AM! We've been cleaning, cooking and I've been baking and decorating like a fury and the house is now completely ready for Christmas. I made my traditional cinnamon shortbread, decorated my Christmas cake and was struck by the sudden urge to make something different. As I have previously mentioned I LOVE flapjacks, and I have previously posted a recipe for basic Oatmeal Flapjacks, which forms the basis of these beauties. 

These flapjacks are more moist than the original recipe and the apples give them a very tender texture, the cinnamon lending a slight spice and the raisins giving a burst of sweetness. They don't hold together as well as the other recipe but are perfect served warm with vanilla ice cream! Thanks to the daily spud for the pic :)

Apple and Cinnamon Flapjacks

Makes one 9" pan

• 175g butter,
• 225g light brown sugar
• 2tbsp golden syrup
• 350g rolled oats (jumbo oats)
• 2 cooking apples (I use Bramley)
• 200g raisins
• 2 tsps cinnamon

Preheat the oven to 150 C and grease a 9" square tin

Melt the butter with the sugar and syrup in a saucepan over a medium-low heat,

stirring to avoid sticking and burning until the butter has melted completely

Remove from the heat and stir in the oats, ensuring they are well coated in the mixture

Grate the apple into the saucepan and throw in the raisins, mixing well

Spoon the mixture into the prepared tin and press down with the back of a spoon

Bake for 40-45 minutes, until golden on the top

Cool completely then cut into squares with a knife and remove from the tin

As I said before these flapjacks are far more prone to fall apart than my original recipe but BOY are they yummy :) They're the perfect way to get away from heavier Christmas treats, and the crumbly bits will taste even BETTER for a light Christmas breakfast served with yoghurt :)

Wherever you are in the world, whether you're at home with your parents, or with people you love, meeting friends for Christmas drinks or spending the evening curled up by the fire reading or watching silly TV, I hope this Christmas is full of magic and wonderful moments for you all.


Merry Christmas from me and my exhausted cookie cutters :) x

Apple Pie and a Truly Remarkable Nana

I'm so sorry for the lack of updates, my laptop up and died and we moved into our new house (SO much nicer than the last place) so things have been SUPER hectic for the past month. Anyway, our landlord showed up at the door the other day with an armload of windfall apples. So before they all go off and in order to make the best out of this bounty there shall be numerous apple-y recipes on the way.

The one dessert I will always remember is my nana's apple pie. When I was a child and she would visit for dinner or we would go to her house for Sunday lunch there would always be her apple pie. Light, crisp pastry, delicately spiced apple filling...mmm...

She was a wonder in the kitchen, able to make something delicious out of nothing. There was never very much money for day to day expenses when my mum was a child but she'll be first to say that her mum made do and they were never left wanting. My nana cooked all the meals, made clothes, mended clothes, kept the house of 5 in good order, never taking a day off, never asking for special recognition and she did all this despite severe arthritis in both hands and feet.

She used to say that the only way we'd ever get rid of her would be to take her out and shoot her. She was still saying it up to the age of 90 when unfortunately she had a stroke, which, although she survived, took her memory, her speech and her mobility on the left side.

I'll always have my wonderfully fond memories of days spend feeding pigeons and wandering the Moor Street Market in Dublin with a truly remakable, yet unassuming, nana.

Apple Pie
Makes one 9" pie

• 330g plain flour
• 150g butter/lard cold and cubed
• 2 tbsp caster sugar
• 6-7 tbsp cold water

• 1kg cooking apples
• 3 tbsp lemon juice
• 1 handful golden raisins (optional)
• 2 tsps cinnamon
• 2 tsps whole cloves
• zest of 1 orange
• 50g white sugar
• 75g golden sugar

Soak the raisins in a little water just so that they plump up and become super juicy

Sift the flour into a bowl and add the butter

Cut the butter into the flour using two round bladed knives, then rub the mixture together using your fingertips until it resembles fine breadcrumbs

Add the 2 tbsps of sugar and the water and mix with a fork (the mixture should still seem quite crumbly at this stage)

Using your hands, form the mixture into a ball in the bowl. If it doesn't quite come together add a little more water then re form into a ball.

Wrap in cling film and chill in the fridge for 30 mins

While the dough is chilling we'll make the filling (rhyme points)

Peel and core the apples and thinly slice them lengthways

Put them into a bowl and add the lemon juice, tossing to coat, preventing browning

Drain then raisins and add these, the sugar, orange zest and cinnamon and toss to distribute evenly

Preheat the oven to 200 C and grease a 9" pie dish

Take the pastry out of the fridge and flour your surface. 

Roll 2/3 of the pastry until it's around 3-5mm thick and lay it over the dish, pressing it gently into the corners

Trim off any excess hanging over the edge of the pie dish and add to the remaining pastry ball.

Add half of the filling and scatter 1/2 the cloves over the top then repeat with the remaining filling and cloves

Roll out the rest of your pastry until it's approx 3 mm thick and lay it over the filling, sealing the edges of the pastry with your fingers and trimming any excess again.

Cut slits in the top of the pie to allow steam to escape during cooking

Bake at 200 C for 20 mins, then turn the oven down to 180 C and bake for another 30-35 mins

Serve warm from the oven with custard, cream or ice cream :) Many thanks to Edd, the boy who bakes, and Kat over at Sweet Kat's Kitchen for the pictures!

Apple and Raspberry Crumble

With the weather being positively Autumnal recently I've been dipping into my winter recipes for dessert and baking ideas when I feel the baking itch and the housemates fancy something sweet. I love winter recipes, they're always so warming and comforting and really make the kitchen and the whole house smell inviting and homely. 

Crumbles and crisps are wonderful because they are so versatile, you can have so many fruit and spice combinations, keep it simple and nostalgic or mix and match for new and interesting fillings. One of my favourites is plain rhubarb because it's very nostalgic, beautifully simple and really yummy! I must confess, plain apple crumble, even when it's spiced and well flavoured has always seemed a little bland to me and for that reason I always add berries to augment the taste. 

I came up with this recipe for my Mum's birthday this year, recently rediscovered it and made it to celebrate the end of repeats for my housemates (...basically an excuse to bake something :P). If you fancy it as just an apple crumble just replace the raspberries with an extra cooking apple!

Apple and Raspberry Crumble

Crumble

• 565g flour
• 2tsps baking powder
• 260g butter (chilled)
• 350g caster sugar
• 55g golden caster sugar

Filling

• 9 apples (I tend to use 7 cooking and 3 eating apples but whatevs)
• 300g raspberries
• 1 orange, zest
• 3 tsps cinnamon

Preheat oven to 180 C and grease a medium ceramic oven dish

Peel core and slice apples (not too thin) and lay them in the base of a medium sized lasagna dish or other ceramic oven dish (There should be a pretty damn tall layer of apple :P )

Scatter over the golden sugar, 55g of the white sugar, the cinnamon and the orange zest 

Mix the flour and baking powder in a bowl and cut the butter into thumbnail sized cubes.

Using your fingertips rub the butter into the flour mixture until the mixture looks like fine breadcrumbs

Mix in the rest of the sugar and pour over the fruit layer, pressing gently but not packing it in

Bake for 45-50 mins and serve with custard, cream or ice cream (whipped cream is my definite favourite)

Apple and Cinnamon Muffins

I took a break from studying to go and watch a game of Twilight Imperium which, for those who don't know, is a very nerdy space wars game involving the taking over of planets, making peace accords and having space battles :D :D :D! I normally do play but I had waaaaaay too many readings to do for college :(

I decided I'd make something for the game and Ethan requested these muffins. Unfortunately, I've just moved apartments and while the new place is bigger, quieter and much better for studying the oven has NO markings whatsoever!!! So I made the batter and hightailed it over to a friends apartment only to find the same situation! It was a nightmare but I decided to go for it. They were a little overdone but I'm blaming the fact that the oven was probably a tad too high, they should turn out much better for you :)

Apple & Cinnamon Muffins

Makes 12

• 240g plain flour
• 2tsp baking powder
• 60g butter (melted)
• 110g white sugar
• 2 medium apples (I used Jonagold)
• 11/2tsp cinnamon
• 2 eggs
• 110mls milk

Preheat oven to 200 C and grease/line a muffin pan

Combine flour, sugar, baking powder and cinnamon in a large bowl

In a separate bowl mix eggs, milk, and melted butter well

Gradually add the wet ingredients to the dry mixing just enough to combine

Peel and grate the apples and fold gently into the batter mixture

Add 1.5 tbsp of batter to each hole in the muffin tray, dividing any remaining batter evenly between them

Bake for 20-25 mins

Cool in the tin for 5 mins then cool completely on a wire rack

Enjoy :D x

Valentines Day Muffins (with lemon-cinnamon cream cheese glaze)

Ok, so I'm not a huge fan of the whole Valentine's Day thing. I mean, this was to be the first year I ever celebrated it with anyone but from previous years I had decided it was a really fake holiday; the sentiment is lovely and I totally agree with the idea but it's way to commercialised and just seems like a money spinner to be honest. Luckily for me, Ethan feels pretty much the same so we decided to go simple and have home-cooked food and curl up with a movie. 


I spent the day baking, making truffles (recipe to follow at some stage) and being the campus Valentines Day Fairy (I basically went and handed out my home made truffles, except the ones I was saving for himself of course). was presented with a really lovely meal of maple and mustard glazed salmon with various trimmings, which was really yummy (I shall be stealing the idea for my own recipe collection!) and then we basically spent the evening chatting and totally forgot to watch any sort of movie until we realised it was 11:45 and way too late to start watching anything :P (We're really good time-keepers, I swear).


In keeping with the whole Valentines is too commercial I decided I'd give Ethan something home made. He had mentioned wanting to try apple and raspberry muffins when we first started going out (almost a year ago :D), so I decided I'd give them a bang (I also wanted to try out my new measuring spoons and red polka dot muffin cases). I used an Apple Muffin recipe from a book I picked up called 1001 Cupcakes, Cookies and Other Tempting Treats and tweaked it a bit (as I always do). A problem I've found with some apple muffins I've tried is that they don't taste apple-y enough (yes, it IS a word! :P). But apparently, althought the raspberries were the stronger flavour, the 
apple still came through :D! 
The whole time these muffins were baking my 
whole kitchen was perfumed with the summery, 
heady scent of raspberries! It was wonderful :D!


I just decided to make up the glaze last minute because about a month ago I have made an orange version for my Mum to go on the Carrot cake cup-cakes I baked for her. She hates the frosting but likes the sweetness so I figured a glaze would provide enough sweetness without being too overpowering. For these muffins, I knew ornage wouldn't work so I thought lemon might be a good substitute and as it turns out I made the right call...phew! :D




Apple and Raspberry Muffins


(Makes 15)

• 280g plain flour
• 1tbsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 100-115g light brown sugar (depends on the sweetness of your apples)
• 2 dessert apples (I used Pink Ladies)
• 2 eggs
• 200mls milk
• 100g butter (melted and cooled)
• 130g raspberries (fresh or frozen)

Preheat the oven to 200 C/400 F

Line a muffin tray with paper cases

Sieve together flour, baking powder and cinnamon into a bowl and stir in the sugar

Peel and grate the apples and add to the flour mixture

Beat the eggs lightly in another bowl and beat in the milk and butter

Pour the liquid ingredients into the dry ingredients and mix gently until just combined, don't overmix or the muffins won't rise properly

Fold in raspberries gently, being careful not to crush them

Spoon the mixture into the paper cases, 1 1/2-2tbsp in each

Bake for 25-30 mins, until well risen, golden brown and firm to the touch. When inverted and tapped they should make a hollow sound!

Cool in the tin for 5 mins then cool completely on a wire rack

Notes:

The raspberries make these muffins super moist so they may take longer than 30 mins; mine took pretty much exactly that amount of time. Just keep a watchful eye on them!

Because I used sweet dessert apples I only used 100g of sugar but if you're using a tart apple such as Granny Smith I recommend using the full amount.

Lemon-Cinnamon Cream Cheese Glaze

• 2 tbsp cream cheese
• 3 tbsp lemon juice
• 7-10 heaped tbsp icing sugar
• 1/4 tsp cinnamon

Combine all ingredients and add more cheese/lemon juice/ sugar until your glaze reaches a consistency where it will drip slowly off the back of a metal spoon.

These muffins were a big hit (with and without the glaze), and I'll definitely be making them again :D I hope all of you had a fantastic day, full of love and affection :)

Kate xxx