Showing posts with label Desserts. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Desserts. Show all posts
As you know we love feeding the Missionaries. The last few months has seen a slow down in that area due to problems with our dishwasher and my health, but thankfully both of those issues seem to have been sorted, with a new dishwasher (courtesy of our appliance insurance) and some changes in my medication and diet! Win/win! So happily I signed up to have each set of Missionaries over for tea this month. The other night we had the first set and this was the dessert I made for them!
Stuffed Baked Apples. Such an easy dish to make and oh-so-delicious! Almost like an apple crumble but much, much easier.
The recipe is set up for four servings, but I did six (easy when you know the math) because I always like to have extra's just in case.
You can use any good eating apple. I used Jazz apples, which had a lovely flavour. (They are like a sweet delicious apple.) They did take a bit longer than some other varieties might take, so do bear that in mind when you are baking apples. Not all varieties are equal, some take longer to bake than others. You just have to keep testing them. When done a sharp knife will slip in easily.
You begin by hollowing out/coring the apples. I use my melon baller, but you can use whatever you have to hand. The thing to remember is, you don't want to core them all the way to the bottom. You will need to keep the bottom end intact so that the filling doesn't leak out from there.
The filling is very simple . . . old fashioned large flake oats, brown sugar, chopped pecans and raisins, some butterscotch or white chocolate chips . . .
Warm baking spices . . . ground cinnamon, cloves (just a pinch because cloves can be very overpowering) and freshly grated nutmeg. Oh, I do love the smell of freshly grated nutmeg, don't you? I always use my fine micro-plane /grater-zester to do this job. I wouldn't be without it.
You could also add some aromatics such as grated orange or lemon zest. This mixture gets stuffed down into the apples . . . and then you top each with a tiny bit of butter, add some hot water in the baking dish around them, cover and bake.
Covered for the first half hour or so, and uncovered for the last. The end result is a very delicious, simple, homey dessert that will have the whole family oohing and aahing. Todd really loves these. You can serve them with pouring cream as I have here, custard (very good) or vanilla bean ice cream (My favourite!). They are lovely served warm. You can bake them earlier in the day and then just pop them back into the oven to re-heat while you are eating your main course. These are real family pleasers!
2 TBS chopped raisins
2 TBS chopped pecans
2 TBS vanilla chips (or butterscotch)
1/2 tsp cinnamon
pinch salt
4 tsp butter
To serve:
Vanilla ice cream, custard or pouring cream
Preheat the oven to 190*C/375*F/ gas mark 5. Have ready a baking dish large enough to hold your apples in a single layer.
Wash and dry your apples. Working from the stem end down, core the apples making about 1/2 inch space, leaving bottom intact. A melon baller works great for this.
Mix together the sugar, oats, raisins, pecans, chops, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves and salt. Pack one quarter of this mixture down into the hollow of each apple, packing it in firmly. Arrange in the baking dish in a single layer, cut side up. Dot the top of each with 1 tsp butter. Pour the hot water into the dish around the apples. Cover loosely with aluminium foil. Bake for 20 minutes. Uncover and bake for an additional 20 to 30 minutes, until the apples are soft and the filling has nicely cooked.
Serve warm with ice cream, custard or pouring cream.
Note - depending on the variety of apples it may take a bit longer. When done, the tip of a sharp knife should easily penetrate near the base of the apples.
Simple desserts like this really are the best. These went down a real treat with everyone! Bonne Weekend!
I love cakes which are made with sour cream and yogurt. Adding sour cream or yogurt add moisture and makes for a lovely tender crumb.
This is especially welcome when you are baking a cake to which fresh fruit is going to be added. Fresh fruit can tend to sink to the bottoms of your cakes, but this never seems to happen when I use a batter with sour cream or yogurt added.
My guess is that the fruit can get kind of heavy once it starts to cook and some of its moisture starts to seep out, and by adding the sour cream or yogurt to the cake you create a batter which can stand up well to that occurrence.
That's my theory anyways!
I know that when you are using dried things in cake, like raisins, chocolate or nuts, tossing them with a bit of flour from the recipe helps to prevent them from sinking.
I don't know if that would work with fruit. It could get claggy.which might make it sink more. Any thoughts on this?
In any case this is a beautiful cake, with a lovely moist crumb. Its light in texture and filled with pockets of sweet tart raspberries.
This is really nice as its not an overly sweet cake. It works well.
It makes a great cake to enjoy for breakfast or brunch, or for with your afternoon cuppa. I love cakes that are perfect for any time!
Mind you, I am the type of person who can eat cake any time!
This Raspberry Yogurt Cake also makes a nice light dessert, especially if you choose to serve it warm with a nice scoop of vanilla ice cream on top.
That is the Canuck in me. Wanting ice cream and cake. In the UK they would probably prefer a dollop of clotted cream and I won't argue with that incredibly delicious option!
You could also use blueberries or blackberries if you wanted to, or even a mixture. I have often been tempted to use diced peaches.
I think peached would go very well, especially if you used a mix of raspberries and peaches. Then it would be like a Peach Melba Yogurt Cake.
You just scatter the fruit over top of the batter after you spread it in the pan, and they sink down into place as the cake bakes.
They mostly end up in the middle and leave little pockets/dimples over the surface of the cake, which I think adds to its attractiveness.
It is not a cake that needs icing. Its perfecly delicious without it, however I do like to dust it with a bit of icing sugar to dress it up a bit, but that is completely optional.
It also helps to accentuate those delicious raspberry dimples a little bit more. Very Pretty.
In any case if you are looking for a simple, easy and delicious cake to bake this weekend, then this baby is the one you are looking for!
*Raspberry Yogurt Cake*
Makes 1 9-inch cake
Preheat the oven to 190*C/375*F/ gas mark 5. Butter a 9 inch round baking tin and line the bottom with paper.
Sift together the flour, baking powder, soda and salt. Set aside.
Bake for 30 to 35 minutes until risen and golden brown and the top springs back when lightly touched. Place on a wire rack to cool for about half an hour to 40 minutes. Lift out of the pan to a plate and dust with icing sugar before serving cut into wedges.
Oh boy, looking at these pictures this morning is tempting me to want to cut myself a piece and enjoy it with my morning cuppa, and I think I might do just that! Cake for breakfast. Its a very good thing.
This content (written and photography) is the sole property of The English Kitchen. Any reposting or misuse is not permitted. If you are reading this elsewhere, please know that it is stolen content and you may report it to me at: mariealicejoan at aol dot com Thanks so much for visiting. Do come again!
I have always found the chemistry of cooking fascinating. The process of combining together a few (or sometimes many) ingredients, which on their own are not all that remarkable, or even very tasty oftimes, into something that is so incredibly delicious, so wow that you can scarce leave it alone.
To me is like an mesmerizing magic that astonishes me at times. I find myself wondering about the brain of someone who was intelligent enough to be able to take that leap of faith in the first place. Take this pie for instance . . .
Other than the pastry shell you bake it in, it uses only four ingredients. Plain flour. (ever try to eat plain flour? YUCK!) Soft light brown sugar. (Fab on rice crispies or in your tea, but wouldn't eat it by the spoonful)
Butter. (Lovely on toast and baked potatoes and bread, etc. but again, you wouldn't sit down and eat a pound of butter on it's own.) Double cream, or heavy cream to you North Americans . . . (Something else which is good on or in things, but I couldn't just eat it alone.)
Four. Simple. Singularly ordinary. Ingredients. Put them together in just the right way however, and bing, bam, boom! MAGIC!! Beautiful. Magnificent. Amazingly tasty . . . magic!
I am betting you have just about everything for this pie in your kitchen right now. (I recommend my recipe for the crust here. It makes two crusts, but you can tightly wrap and freeze one disk for another time.)
Brown Sugar Cream Pie. Something magical that happens when you combine those four simple ingredients together.
Totally hedonistic and totally delicious. Totally N-A-U-G-H-T-Y, but in a totally scrumptious way.
Rich, smooth, sweet, and unctuously delicious. Not something you would want to eat every day, but something which you will totally not be able to resist digging your fork into, again . . . and again . . . when you do cave in and decide to bake it.
This pie is the type of dessert that you would not hesitate to serve to a guest . . . or some
hungry missionaries who are not bothered about calories . . . because,
well . . . they walk them all off during the day anyways, and . . .
What your
guests don't know don't hurt!! They say what the eye don't see . . . the heart don't
grieve!
It's blatantly scrumdiddlyumptiously glorious and so seriously very easy to put together, that literally all you
have to do is to whisk these few simple ingredients together and pour them
into an unbaked pie shell.
Really. Its as simple as that. I promise . . .
The hardest part is waiting for it to cool down and set enough to eat. A couple hours in the refrigerator does the trick.
You will want to serve it in thin quivering delectable slices, along with . . . yes . . . a dollop of softly whipped cream on top to garnish it.
In for a penny, in for a pound . . .
*Brown Sugar Cream Pie*
Makes one 9 inch pie
Makes one 9 inch pie
Creamy and delicious and not for the faint of heart!
one 9-inch unbaked pie crust
47g plain flour (1/3 cup)
125g butter, melted (1/2 cup)
200g soft light brown sugar (1 cup, packed)
1 pint (480ml) of double cream (2 cups)
Preheat the oven to 190*C/375*F/ gas mark 5. Whisk together the melted butter, brown sugar, flour and cream until well blended. Pour into the crust. Bake in the heated oven for 50 to 55 minutes.
The
centre should be still jiggly, but not liquid. Allow to cool completely
before cutting into wedges to serve, with or without a dollop of
whipped cream on top!
True, its not is something that you want to eat too often, as the calorie and fat
count must be so well off the Richter Scale of what's good for you that
you don't really wanna know.
This truly is a once in a blue moon treat, but once in a blue moon . . . its a beautiful way to indulge your naughtier side.
This content (written and photography) is the sole property of The English Kitchen. Any reposting or misuse is not permitted. If you are reading this elsewhere, please know that it is stolen content and you may report it to me at: theenglishkitchen@mail.com
Thanks so much for visiting. Do come again!
I love almonds. I also love macamia, cashews and pistachios, oh and pecans and walnuts. Ohh, and honey roasted peanuts! Well . . . I guess I just love all nuts, but almonds are at the top of the list!
I saw a recipe for Almond Horns on Pinterest and had to check it out. They looked fabulously tasty and chock full of almonds. The recipe was on Kitchen Bowl.
They looked incredibly tasty and easy to make. Based on a German Cookie called Mandelhörnchen, Almond Horns are filled with almonds and naturally gluten free.
The dough for the cookies is composed of almond paste/marzipan, ground almonds (almond meal), almond essence, sugar and egg white.
Beaten together these make a somewhat sticky dough, that you roll into logs and then into even more almonds. Shaped into crescents, they are then baked until golden brown.
The end result is a moreish cookie, golden and crisp on the edges and yet deliciously chewy centred!
The dough was very sticky and difficult to shape. Upon researching I discovered several other recipes which required refrigerating it prior to shaping, so I highly recommend doing that.
Mine still turned out to be beautiful biscuits, if somewhat flatter than some of the ones I have seen. I also saw some which were dipped into chocolate.
I think I prefer them this way, but if you want to dip the ends of your horns into melted chocolate feel free! I can promise you that they are incredibly moreish either way!
*Almond Horns*
Makes 16
Preheat the oven to 190*C/375*F/ gas mark 5. Line a large baking tray with baking parchment. Set aside.
Crumble the almond paste into a bowl. Add the sugar, egg white, ground almonds and almond extract. Using a hand mixture beat until well combined. The mixture will be fairly sticky.
Spread the flaked almonds in a shallow
dish or plate. Drop 1 1/2 TBS of the dough into the dish of flaked
almonds and shape into a rough log rolling the mixture in the nuts.
Place onto the baking sheet. Repeat until the almond dough is all used
up, leaving a fair space for spreading in between the shapes. Try to
give them a curved shape.
Bake in the preheated oven for 13 to 15
minutes until light golden brown. Allow to cool on the baking sheet for
about 25 minutes. Dust with the Icing sugar.
So there you have it . . . crispy edged, chewy middled, chock full of nuts and not at all uncomfortable with a hot drink! Bon weekend!
I've had enough Christmas Cake. I can't really eat Christmas Cake anyways, except for a tiny bite now and then . . .
Today I wanted cake. I love almonds and so I decided to make my favourite Almond Cake.
This is a basic every day cake chock full of lovely almond flavours . . . moist, dense and buttery . . .
The batter is an almost equal mix of self raising flour and ground almonds (almond meal) along with the flavors of both vanilla and almond extracts.
More almond flavour, and a lovely crunch, comes from the sprinkling of coarsely chopped almonds which you sprinkle on top of the batter prior to baking . . .
The cake is so moist and delicious that no icing or frosting is needed, but a drizzle of dark chocolate really sets it off perfectly.
I drizzled it back and forth in one direction first and then did it again in the other direction.
I thought it looked really, really nice. Very tempting . . .
I use these cake tin liners, something like muffin or cupcake liners, except they are the size of a cake tin. They work wonderfully, without the trouble of having to measure and cut.
I have them in three sizes. 8-inch 9 inch and then loaf tin sized. They do leave lines on the sides of the cake, but for a cake like this, lines down the side don't really matter that much.
In fact I think they add to the attractiveness of it and actually provide lovely little crevices to grab any icing, or chocolate drizzle or whatever happens to float down the sides . . .
Mmmm . . . next to a Victoria Sponge, this is my absolute favourite cake. Truly.
*Almond Cake*
one 8-inch round cake
Preheat the oven to 150*C/300*F/ gas mark 2. Butter an 8 inch round deep cake tin and line with baking paper.
Cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat together the eggs and extracts. Gradually beat this into the butter/sugar mixture. Sift the flour into the bowl. Stir into the batter along with the ground almonds. Mix until smooth. Spoon into the prepared cake tin, smoothing the top. Scatter the chopped almonds on top.
Bake in the preheated oven for 45 minutes until golden, well risen and a toothpick inserted in the centre comes out clean. Cool in the tin for 10 minutes before lifting out onto a wire rack to finish cooling completely.
This cake would be perfectly happy on any tea table. I think you are going to love this one. I really do. Its delicious. Its simple. Its just a great, great all-rounder! Bon Appetit!
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