Tendresse aux pommes

Stale bread (equivalent of 2 baguettes)
1 litre milk
1 cup raisins
8 eggs, beaten
8 T (tablespoons) sugar
4 T rum
4 apples, peeled and sliced
butter for greasing

1. Take all the bread and put in a large bowl.  Pour over enough milk just to cover.
Add the raisins and mix with your hands.  Leave in the fridge overnight.

2. The following day, the milk should have been soaked up by the bread.  Mix together the eggs, sugar and rum and pour over the bread preparation.  Add the sliced apples.  Add more sugar, rum or fruit to taste.  The mixture should be moist, like a cake dough.

3. Grease a cooking dish with butter and heat the oven to 180C.  Pour the mixture into the dish and bake for about 45 minutes, or until a knife inserted into the middle comes out clean.  Serve dusted with icing sugar.

(Times Magazine, January 22, 2011)

Apple Desserts

I have just read the most wonderful article in the Guardian Magazine this weekend on a bakery in Paris.  I can't wait to go one day.  (Sigh!)  It's called Du Pain et des Idées and is found at 34  Rue Yves Toudic. (http://www.dupainetdesidees.com)

The article included two recipes, one called 'Tendresse aux pommes', and the other, 'Tarte Fines aux pommes'.  The simplist first!

Tarte Fines aux pommes

1 package of puff pastry
Ground almonds
Apples
Butter
Sugar

Preheat the oven to 180C

1. Line a baking tray with greaseproof paper and unroll you puff pastry.
2. Sprinkle generously with ground almonds and scatter with sliced apples.
3. Add a few chunks of butter and 4 to 6 large spoons of sugar.

Bake for 30 to 40 minutes or until the apples start to look caramelsied.

Chocolate Lime Flourless Cake

I love this time of year because it gives me a reason to experiment with recipes I wouldn't normally try because there would be no one around to eat them other than me.  So, this year I made a Christmas cake using a packaged mix.  It had Delia Smith's name on it and followed her famous recipe!  It was great fun to try out and I can see the attractions of a mix, which has everything measured out for you and with the fruit pre-soaked in brandy.  I only tried the cake yesterday though I had made it in mid-November.  I have been adding a bit of sherry each Sunday.  I'm not keen on brandy and have always used sherry instead.  This cake was a bit of a mixture, with brandy soaked fruit and a regular top up of sherry but it did taste wonderful.

Today I decided to try a new recipe, a chocolate lime cake made without flour.  It was wonderful in its own way.  Light and rich with chocolate.

Ingredients:

150 grams (g) dark chocolate chopped
150 g of unsalted butter (though I used salted and it was fine)
6 eggs, medium
250 g caster sugar
100 g ground almonds
4 teaspoons (t) best quality cocoa powder
zest and juice of a lime
icing sugar, for dusting the cake


Oven temperature:  180 C
Pan: 23 cm spring form cake pan, cover the bottom with parchment paper and butter the sides

1. Melt the chocolate and butter together.  I used a pyrex bowl suspended over a saucepan of boiling water.

2. Beat the eggs and sugar together until they are pale yellow and frothy and have increased to 3 times the original volume.

3. Mix together the ground almonds and cocoa powder.  Fold into the egg mixture.

4. Next fold in the slightly cooled chocolate and butter, followed by the zest and juice of the lime.

5. Pour into the prepared cake tin for 40 to 45 minutes.

6. Check your cake after 35 minutes.  I tested mine with a tooth pick and it came out clean at this point.  It is possible my oven was too hot, though I did use an oven thermometer.

7.  I served it with cream with sugar and lime beaten in but I think that in future I would use plain cream or ice cream since the cake is very rich.

Salt dough Christmas decorations

Things You'll Need:

• 1 cup of water
• 1 cup of salt
• 2 cups of flour
• 1 tbsp vegetable oil

1. In a mixing bowl, combine all ingredients and knead well.

2 Once you have kneaded it, you will need to roll out the dough. To make this easier, it helps to either use wax paper under the dough when you roll, or to lightly coat the counter with flour before placing the dough on it. Roll out dough to a 1/4 inch thickness.

3. Use cookie cutters to cut out shapes. Use a toothpick to put a hole for a string in the top of the shape. 

4. Place shapes on a baking sheet and place in a preheated oven at 300F degrees. Bake for 45 minutes. Before removing from oven, ensure there are no soft spots, if so you can bake until they are gone. 

5. Once your decorations have cooled, they are ready to paint. Any acrylic craft paint will work. Once painted, you will want to seal them to keep out moisture by putting on at least one coat of clear varnish, polyurethane or even clear nail polish. 

Christmas Card

Christmas Card

Oatmeal Shortbread for Christmas

Ingredients

1 cup (8 oz) butter
3/4 C brown sugar
2 t (teaspoons) vanilla
2 cups all-purpose flour (plain flour)
1 cup rolled oats

1. Cream together butter and sugar; blend in vanilla.  Gradually work in flour and oats, using spoon or fingers.  Chill for about 20 minutes or until firm enough to roll.

2. Roll out on lightly floured surface, to about 1/4 inch thickness.  Cut into 2-inch rounds.  Place on ungreased baking sheets; prick with fork.

3. Bake in 325 F (160C) oven for 20 minutes or until lightly browned.  Makes about 48 cookies.

Cranberry mincemeat

Homemade Cranberry Mincemeat

500g dried fruit (heavy on currents and raisins with 75g of dried cranberries)
3 dessert apples, peeled, cores and finely chopped
Zest of 1 orange and 1 lemon
the juice of 1 small lemon
3/4 teaspoon each ground cloves, nutmeg, and cinnamon
150 g dark soft brown sugar
125 ml of Harvey's Bristol Cream sherry
300 g cranberries
1 tsp vanilla

1.Mix all the ingredients except the vanilla, together.
2.Simmer for 20 minutes until everything looks pulpy and has absorbed most of the liquid. You may need to mush up the cranberries with the back of your wooden spoon.
3. When it has cooled somewhat add the vanilla and stir.
4. Spoon into sterilized jars.