Tuesday 30 October 2012

An apple a day keeps the doctor away...

My favourite fruit is definitely apple, but I am quite fussy when it comes to finding the right type. They must be really firm and crisp, and I won't touch red delicious! I just don't like them! I hate it when you bite into an apple and it has that awful powdery texture and taste - absolutely disgusting! I went through a phase of really disliking any form of cooked apple, which thankfully I am now over and so in this post I bring you toffee apple muffins. 

Whoever realised that toffee and apple are a brilliant combination needs a pat on the back! Not to mention the added bonus of cinnamon, which always reminds me of christmas whatever the time of year! These muffins are a really nice change from simply chocolate or blueberry, and have a lovely rich flavour, and a gooey centre thanks to the toffee. Make and enjoy hot or cold!


The Ingredients
Butter, caster sugar, eggs, milk, baking powder, salt, plain flour, ground cinnamon, apples, and toffee.

Line a 12-hole bun pan with muffin cases.
Melt the butter (just in the microwave) and add to it the caster sugar.
Then mix in the flour, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon.
The next thing to do is to peel, core, and chop the apples into small chunks, and stir into the other ingredients.
The toffee needs to be broken into smaller pieces - I used individual wrapped toffees, which I broke up with a toffee hammer (a very useful tool to have in your kitchen drawer).
Once broken up, the toffee should be kept on one side.
Put a tablespoon of the mixture into each of the muffin cases.
Scatter a few pieces of toffee on top and then cover with the remaining mixture.
Bake in the oven until the muffins are well risen and beautiful golden brown.
And there you have your muffins! The apple will have softened and the toffee melted in the middle - beautiful.

They make a lovely dessert if they are warmed through and served with custard and some extra toffee sauce.

Kate
xxx

Monday 29 October 2012

Your morning coffee and cake all in one

Who doesn't love coffee? Well, me, actually! I know, know, the hilarity of the fact that I am opening a coffee shop and I can't stand to drink the stuff! Anyway, many people do like coffee, and while I don't like drinking it, I do like the smell of it and I can quite happily eat coffee cake (well, it is cake after all!), and so I thought I would make some miniature coffee cakes. I've said before that I love things in miniature, but there is just something special about having an entire cake all to yourself rather than simply a slice! Plus they are all the same size so no one can complain about someone having an bigger bit than them! My brother is so annoying for doing that! The recipe is really simple, just a standard victoria sponge with coffee added, and then downsized for your individual pleasure! Enjoy!


The Ingredients
Butter, caster sugar, eggs, self-raising flour, and coffee

Cream the butter and sugar until pale and fluffy.
Add the eggs and beat in well.
Then add the flour, but don't over mix.
Finally, make up some instant coffee, as strong or as weak as you like, and stir that in.
Once again, I am showing my love for Lakeland, by using their miniature sandwich tin. I am a serious fan of it! If you don't have one you could probably make them in a standard bun tin. Spoon the mixture into the prepared tin (I have fallen in love with cake release spray!), until about two-thirds full, and bake in the oven (180) for about 20-25 minutes.
When done, the cakes should have risen nicely and be a lovely golden brown colour. 
Remove from the tin and leave to cool. They need to be completely cold before they can be turned into sandwiches.
For the buttercream, beat together butter and icing sugar, and then add more instant coffee. I make the buttercream much stronger than the cake itself, so you have a light cake with a rich creamy filling!
Cut the cakes in half and spread one half with buttercream and then sandwich them back together.
I then finished the tops off with more buttercream and added a pair of chocolate coffee beans.
And there you have it!
Beautifully light and fluffy, and, like most of the things I make, incredibly moreish! Not a particularly good thing! But, lovely all the same!

Will be writing again soon so keep an eye out!

Kate
xxx

Friday 19 October 2012

Bored of apple crumble...?

I've said it before and I'll say it agin, I love a good pudding! Now that we are very much into winter (although we have been there most of summer anyway), and the days are getting colder and shorter and the nights darker, a pudding becomes a necessity in my opinion! In some cases, if not most, the traditional puds are the best, the crumbles and the treacle tarts, the syrup sponges and the hot chocolate fudge cakes. A good pudding with custard is one of the perks of this horrifically cold weather, along with snuggly jumpers and faux fur scarves! 

But what happens when you get fed up of the same old puddings? What about when the stodge and the custard has just got a bit too much? Well, if you're anything like me (which I don't think anyone is because I am rather oddly unique!) you go looking for something new to try. This post is just that, a new pudding, or if you rather, a dessert. It uses apples, a good winter standby, and brioche, which makes it much lighter than many traditional hot desserts, and comes with a not-too-sweet caramel sauce. It is quick to make and really doesn't take much effort, but produces a beautiful warming finish to any meal at the end of a long, cold day.


The Ingredients
Dessert apples (such as braeburns or similar - I used Jazz apples simply because that is what we always have in), slices of brioche, brown sugar, butter, cinnamon, pecans, and apple juice.

You need a slice of brioche and an apple per person. Start by chopping the apples into wedges and removing the core, but do not peel them.
In a frying pan, on a medium heat, melt the butter.
To the butter add the brown sugar and cinnamon, and stir in.
When it has become a slightly thicker consistency, add the apple wedges to the pan, and gently move them round to coat them in the caramel sauce.
Leave on the heat and stir occasionally, but keep an eye on them. The sauce thickens considerably and starts to bubble, but don't let it burn.
While the apples are cooking, chop or break up the pecan nuts into smaller pieces ready to add to the apple and caramel at the end.
Also toast your brioche so it is nicely done on each side. Make sure you don't burn it - burnt brioche will completely overwhelm the rest of the flavours in the dessert!
As I previously stated, you need apple juice for this recipe, but you can also add some form of alcohol if you wish. I chose amaretto because it is by far my favourite alcoholic drink, but rum would work well also. Using alcohol is completely optional, if you don't want to just replace the 2 tbsp of alcohol with extra apple juice.
Add the apple juice and alcohol, if using it, and stir through, and then add the pecans, and stir again. Leave on the heat for a further minute or two, make sure the apples wedges are nicely coated, and then serve.
Spoon the caramel apple mixture onto the toasted brioche in equal amounts, and enjoy!
The apples retain a slight crispness on the outside but then melt in your mouth when you bite into them, while the caramel sauce isn't overly sweet because of the addition of the apple juice (and the alcohol). The pecans provide a crunch, and the brioche soaks up the sauce and complements the apple perfectly. 

So if an apple crumble doesn't make your mouth water, why not try using apples for something a bit different! Trust me, its worth trying something new, after all, the old favourites will still be there when you want something a bit more traditional again.

Bye for now!

Kate
xxx

mmm...xocolata!

This post is a little bit different to the others I've written, but I thought it would be quite fun to change it up a little bit! Take a break from a baking post!

I was away in Barcelona for a few days last week and so I thought I would report back on my trip. Now I've never been a massive fan of Spanish food, mainly because my only residing memory of said food was from a trip to Lanzarote when I was about 10 or 12, which, needless to say wasn't particularly good! Other memories of that holiday include very smelly camels, a pretty bad apartment block, trekking down streets in the boiling hot sun trying to find the best price on a game boy and Pokemon game, and my brother burning the soles of his feet at a water park! A memorable holiday all round! My point is, that I wasn't particularly excited to go to Spain! However, going back at the age of 22 with much more refined taste buds (and a much more open mind!) I have to admit I was a serious fan of the food, which ranged from traditional tapas to burgers to Syrian (my personal favourite!). I intended to take photos of all the lovely food I but that didn't happen! It all looked far too good I suppose and I ate it before I had a chance to remember to take a photo! 

You might therefore be wondering what this post is about! 

Well, while in Barcelona, my mother and I went to the Museu de la Xocolata - I can't lie, I love chocolate, always have, most likely always will! Bit of a problem I suppose but one I can live with! Now I am sorry to the people of Barcelona, but their museum isn't a patch on Cadbury World, but, what I did love were all the sculptures that had been made out of chocolate! Now these I took plenty of pictures of, and I want to share them with you in this post! I apologise in advance for the quality of some of the pictures but the sculptures were all behind glass so some reflection couldn't be avoided!

Our tickets were bars of chocolate! Love it!
White chocolate Gorilla - picture taken just for my brother really who has always had a thing about monkeys...
One of many Asterix and Obelix sculptures.
Tom and Jerry - avid Barcelona supporters don't you know!


Another Asterix and Obelix sculpture - I just liked the hair and the small dog!

Bull fighters - obviously, we were in Spain!

Gaudi's famous Lizard statue recreated in chocolate.

Love Tintin!
Spongebob and Patrick
Quite possibly my favourite one, the house from 'Up'.
Some more Tintin
Bambi; no other explanation needed!
Giant Mini Mouse
The Barcelona Skyline - also one of my favourites.
A copy of a streetlamp from La Ramla, the main street in Barcelona - I just loved the delicacy and intricacy of it.
Smurf!
The Sagrada Familia - almost as impressive as the real thing!
Chicken Little
George and the Dragon
Love the detail of the slain dragon - especially the tongue sticking out!
And finally, a chocolate bear that looks really rather realistic!

So there you go, a selection of photographs of the awesome chocolate sculptures from Barcelona's chocolate museum. If you're ever in Barcelona go and take a look for yourself because there are many more than this (some of my photos were just too awful to use!) and they are well worth seeing in the flesh because they really are very impressive. The people that made them all have genuine skills!

Hope you've enjoyed this post and haven't minded a break from the norm! My next posts will be back to recipes as alas there is still no more news on the business :( keeping my fingers crossed that something will happen soon!

Bye for now!

Kate
xxx