Showing posts with label apples. Show all posts
Showing posts with label apples. Show all posts
Growing up it was a real treat if my mom bought a box of Pudding Cake mix. It was like magic.
Everything was beaten together, spread in a pan and like magic, it baked a cake with a lush thick sauce on the bottom.
It came in a few different flavours. We weren't picky. We'd eat them all. Dessert wasn't something we had very often when I was growing up.
We might have a scoop of ice cream after supper on Friday night, and maybe on Sundays we would have ice cream with some tinned fruit on top, or our favourite . . . strawberry jam spooned over.
Other than that we got cake on our birthday (and ice cream), dessert at Thanksgiving, Christmas and Easter and when we had company for dinner, which wasn't very often.
Occasionally though, mom would let us have the treat of something like a pudding cake on Saturday night.
She had been overweight as a child and so was very careful about what we ate.
Here in the UK another name for dessert is Pudding.
In fact all desserts are called pudding, not to be confused with pudding in North America, which is a thick custard type of dessert that is cooked on top of the stove.
I can remember being asked in a restaurant not too soon after I moved over here, after my husband and I had gotten married, did we want any pudding.
I thought to myself . . . hmm . . . I didn't see any on the menu, so I asked the waitress, did they have butterscotch, which is my favourite.
She looked at me like I was from another planet! My husband explained that pudding was what dessert was called over here and it came in the shape of cakes, pies, bakes and puddings!
Usually slathered with additional lashings of custard sauce or pouring cream, or . . . shudder . . . both!!!
And it didn't stop there. Even ice cream was called pudding.
Because Pudding was a course and not a dish. Does that make sense? I hope so.
Anyways, this is a Pudding that is actually a Pudding! haha
A tasty cake pudding that makes its own sauce and it blows those pudding cakes from my childhood right out of the water.
What you end up with is a lush maple flavoured sauce, topped with a maple and apple cake, filled with chunks of sweet/tart Granny Smith apples.
Make sure you don't leave the apple in too big a chunks or they won't cook all the way through.
You want it chopped coarsely, but medium to small coarse.
The sauce is a mix of maple syrup, brown sugar, butter and boiling water which gets poured on top of the cake in the baking tin.
Don't mix the cake or the syrup together no matter what. They are meant to be cake and liquid on top. Make sure your dish is deep enough or the sauce may boil over.
Like magic when it bakes it forms a fluffy cake on top and a lush sauce underneath.
Perfect spooned into bowls and served warm with some whipped cream or vanilla ice cream, or yes . . . hubbie's favourite, custard. Delicious!
Yield: 6
Caramel Apple Self-Saucing Pudding
A delicious apple filled pudding that sauces itself. Serve warm with whipped cream or ice cream on top!
ingredients:
For the cake:
- 175g self rising flour (1 1/4 cup)
- 50g soft light brown sugar (1/4 cup)
- 100g melted butter (scant half cup, 7 TBS)
- 1 large free range egg, lightly beaten
- 120ml milk (1/2 cup)
- 60ml maple syrup (1/4 cup)
- 1 granny smith apple, peeled and coarsely chopped
For the Topping:
- 240ml maple syrup (1 cup)
- 200g soft light brown sugar (1 cup, packed)
- 240ml boiling water (1 cup)
- 60g butter (1/4 cup)
- (cinnamon sugar garnish optional)
instructions:
How to cook Caramel Apple Self-Saucing Pudding
- Preheat the oven to 180*C/350*F/ gas mark 4. Butter a six cup deep baking dish. Set aside.
- Whisk together the flour and sugar for the cake part. Whisk together the melted butter, egg, milk and maple syrup. Stir the wet mixture into the dry mixture. Whisk together to combine. Stir in the apple and spread into the baking dish.
- Put all of the ingredients for the topping together in a saucepan. Bring just to the boil stirring to melt the sugar. Pour evenly over top of the batter in the baking dish. Do NOT stir to mix together. Bake in the preheated oven for 40 to 45 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the centre of the cake comes out clean. The liquid mixture will have sunk to the bottom creating a sauce.
- Dust with cinnamon sugar and serve warm, spooned into bowls and topped with whipped cream or ice cream if desired.
NOTES:
Make sure you cut the apple into smallish chunks or it may not cook through. You may find grating it works better.
This would make a fabulous dessert alternative for the holidays, rather than pumpkin pie, or Christmas pudding. Simple and very delicious!
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.
I normally like to bake my husband something special at the weekend. Usually it is a cake, but we already had some cake in. (I bought a lemon loaf at Costco on Thursday.)
I thought maybe some muffins or squares. Then I picked up this book and went looking through.
Its a cookbook I picked up at Marks & Spencer a while back. The recipes in it always turn out. So far not a dud in the bunch.
I did have rather a lot of dessert apples so when I spied the recipe for Upside-down Toffee Apple Brownies, I thought to myself *DING *DING * DING this is it!
My husband loves apple anything! Dessert apples are sweet eating apples, that you might eat out of hand.
Think Red Delicious, Pink Ladies, Gala, Fuji, Honey Crisp or Golden Delicious! All are great Dessert Apples. I had Pink Ladies.
The recipe starts out much as an upside down cake would, with you melting butter and brown sugar together. In this case light muscovado sugar.
Muscovado has a higher molasses count than regular brown sugar, but if you can't find muscovado use brown sugar. Or you could add 1 TBS of molasses to the mix.
The sugar and butter mixture gets poured over the bottom of the pan and then you lay sliced apples evenly over top.
The batter is a simple one. Again, butter and muscavado sugar are creamed together.
Some eggs get beaten in, and then a mixture of flour, baking powder and baking soda are stirred in, along with some ground mixed spice.
Don't worry, I have actually attached my recipe for making your own mixed spice right to my recipe this time!
Once that is all mixed together you fold in some grated eating apples and chopped toasted hazelnuts! That's it.
Spread that over the apples in the pan and bake!
The end result is an incredibly moist and chewy cake type of brownie. So tasty warm with a hot cuppa, or if you wanted to turn it into dessert a scoop of vanilla bean ice cream would also go very nicely.
Yield: 9
Upside-down Toffee Apple Brownies
prep time: cook time: total time:
All the flavours of a Toffee Apple in a brownie. Wonderful served warm with a hot cuppa or a scoop of vanilla ice cream.
ingredients:
For the Toffee Apple Topping:
- 85g light muscavado sugar (can use brown sugar) (1/3 cup packed)
- 55g butter (1/4 cup)
- 1 dessert apple, cored and thinly sliced
For the Brownie Base:
- 115g butter, plus extra for buttering pan (1/2 cup)
- 175g light muscavado sugar (can use light brown) (3/4 cup packed plus 1 1/2 TBS)
- 2 large free range eggs, beaten
- 210g plain flour (1 1/2 cup)
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
- 1 1/2 tsp ground mixed spice
- 2 eating apples, peeled and coarsely grated
- 85g chopped toasted hazelnuts (1/2 cup)
instructions:
How to cook Upside-down Toffee Apple Brownies
- Preheat the oven to 180*C/350*F/ gas mark 4. Butter a 9 inch square non-stick baking tin well. Set aside.
- Melt the butter and sugar for the topping together in a small saucepan. Pour into the prepared baking tin. Arrange the apple sliced decoratively over the bottom of the tin on top of the toffee sauce.
- Beat the butter and sugar for the brownie together until light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs a bit at a time to incorporate. Sift together the flour, soda, baking powder, and spice. Stir into the creamed mixture until combined. Stir in the apples and nuts. Spread over the apples in the baking tin. (I find that what works best is to apply 6 large dollops evenly spaced and then to spread the dollops out.)
- Bake in the preheated oven for 35 to 40 minutes, until firm and golden brown. Cool in the tin for 10 minutes prior to tipping out onto a square platter. Cut into squares to serve.
NOTES:
Make Your Own Mixed Spice:
You can easily make your own mixed spice: Combine 1 TBS ground cinnamon, 1 tsp each of ground coriander and nutmeg, 1/2 tsp of ground ginger, 1/4 tsp each of ground cloves and all spice. Mix well and store in an airtight container out of the light for up to 6 months.
You can easily make your own mixed spice: Combine 1 TBS ground cinnamon, 1 tsp each of ground coriander and nutmeg, 1/2 tsp of ground ginger, 1/4 tsp each of ground cloves and all spice. Mix well and store in an airtight container out of the light for up to 6 months.
Did you make this recipe?
Tag @marierayner5530 on instagram and hashtag it #EnglishKitchen
My husband was very happy with this bake. He scarfed down two of them right away. I don't know how he stays so thin. We are like Jack Sprat and his Wife! Never mind . . . we are who we are. I hope you will try these delicious apple brownies. I think you will be well pleased with them!
PS - After one session with the Chiropractor my back feels at least 50% better. I can't wait for my next few sessions. I bet I will soon be feeling better than I have in years! I highly recommend!
If you are a North American who grew up in the sixties and seventies you would have had to live under a rock not to know who the Brady Bunch were!
It was a very popular half hour sitcom on the television! It was about a two widowers with children (her 3 daughters, him 3 sons) who married and became the Brady Bunch!
One episode that really sticks out in my memories was the one where Bobby Brady was doing an impression of Humphrey Bogart whilst saying Pork Chops & Applesauce.
Entitled "The Personality Kid," I believe it is probably the one episode which sticks out in most people's memories.
When I think of Pork Chops and Applesauce, I always think of this particular show and I always think of my mom who was tickled pink with it and used to like to repeat the phrase in Humphrey Bogart's voice as well when we were having pork chops and apple chops for supper! I guess it became a bit of a family tradition!
With fresh Bramley Apples coming into the shops at the moment, there is no time like the present to make a couple of batches of delicious apple sauce! Bramley Apples are the UK's favourite cooking apple.
Large and green and stout with flattened ends, green in colour with a red flush, these apples are perfect for making apple sauce, pies, crumbles, etc. I don't think they are readily available anywhere else in the world, so you will have to make do with whatever your favourite cooking apple is!
Apple sauce is such an easy make and you can do up batches and freeze it in containers for use over the winter. You just can't beat a batch of fresh apple sauce to serve along with your pork chops.
This apple sauce is not as sweet as the applesauce you might want to eat for dessert. It is slightly tart and rich from the addition of some butter.
You just put peeled and sliced apples into a saucepan along with some sugar and butter and cook over low heat until they break down.
Bramley apples are actually quite fluffy when they break down which makes them perfect for this sauce.
I don't mash it when done, I just beat it up with a fork. Perfection!
Bramley Apple Sauce
Yield: 6
Perfect in every way. Slightly tart with just a hint of sweetness. The perfect condiment to go with pork.
ingredients:
- 3 Bramley apples, peeled cored and sliced (or the equivalent of another cooking apple)
- 50g caster sugar (1/4 cup)
- 50g butter (3 1/2 TBS)
- 1 tsp lemon juice
instructions:
How to cook Bramley Apple Sauce
- Tip all of the ingredients into a pan. Cover with a lid. Cook over low heat for about 15 minutes, or until the apples are very soft and have broken down. Beat with a fork. Serve immediately or tip into a bowl, cover and chill until needed.
The chops themselves are also very easy to make. It is an old, old recipe that I copied out of one of my mother's recipe books many years ago.
It was a little paper back book containing recipes for cooking meats. I can still see the cover in my head, but the name escapes me. I must be getting old!
These chops always turn out tender and delicious. It is a very simple way to cook them and is really more of a technique than a recipe.
Bone in loin pork chops are dusted with some herbs and seasonings. I like to slash the fatty edge with some kitchen scissors.
This simple trick prevents them from curling up when they are cooking.
I then lay them on a buttered baking sheet and sprinkle some bread crumbs over top and dot with butter.
The original author used to pour water or stock around them in the baking dish, but I have always used apple juice.
It imparts a slight apple flavour to the sweet succulence of pork that is quite delicious!
You could use pineapple instead if you wanted to. The acid from the fruit juice helps to tenderise the meat.
That's my story anyways and I'm sticking to it. Sometimes I flip them over and repeat the treatment on the other side halfway through the cooking. Sometimes I don't.
They always come out delicious no matter what. Pork Chops and Applesauce! Why not cook some today!
Yield: variable
Oven Baked Breaded Pork Chops
This is more of a method than a recipe. It is the way I have been doing my breaded pork chops for years and years. They always end up tender and moist. The crumbs on the bottom don't alway stick, but they do meld into the juices to make a lucious sauce and the crumbs on the top always stay put. All in all they are truly delicious.
ingredients:
- 1 bone in pork chop per person
- salt, pepper, dried sage and onion granules
- 2 TBS of fine dry bread crumbs per chop
- butter to dot
- apple juice
instructions:
How to cook Oven Baked Breaded Pork Chops
- Preheat the oven to 200*C/400*F/ gas mark 6. Cut the fatty edge of the chop (s) with some kitchen scissors at 1/3 inch intervals and place it/them onto a baking sheet with a raised edge, which you have lined with foil and buttered. the size of baking sheet depeds on how many chops you are cooking. Obviously if you are only cooking one or two you will want a smaller baking tray.
- Dust the top surface of each chop with some salt, pepper, sage (rubbed between your fingertips) and onion granules to taste. Then sprinkle a tablespoon of bread crumbs evenly over top of each one. Dot with butter. Pour apple juice into the baking tray evenly around the chops, trying not to disturb the crumbs on top.
- Place the tray into the oven and bake for 15 to 20 minutes, checking to make sure the apple juice does not boil dry in the pan. Once the crumbs have begun to brown on top, remove the pan from the oven.
- Carefully turn each chop over without disturbing the crumb topping and repeat the process for seasoning and crumbing on the underside. If you need more juice in the pan, once again pour it around the chops.
- Return the pan to the oven and cook for another 15 to 20 minutes, until nicely browned on top and the juices have thickened into a bit of a sauce. Check every 5 to 6 minutes or so to make sure the pan is not going dry and top up with more juice if need be. Serve hot with some of the pan juices spooned over top. Fabulous!
My husband loves pork chops. He was in heaven. I served these with the apple sauce, baked potatoes, green beans, carrots and cauliflower cheese. Yes, he is a bit spoiled, but why not! He's always most appreciative!
I love living where I do in Chester. When we lived down in Kent, I really missed Chester.
It is in a beautiful location, right on the border to Wales, with quick and easy access to the Coast, the Welsh Mountains, the North along with the Lake District, Lancashire, and the Yorkshire Dales.
Once you get into that area we are also only an hour or so from Scotland. Chester itself is a magnificent city filled with lots of things to see and do.
The area we lived in down in Kent was a prime fruit growing area and we were surrounded by orchards. They were filled with apples and pears.
I do confess that at this time of year I miss having access to drops for use in pies and such. My Husband loves apple pies and desserts. I don't make them for him often enough I don't think. Most men are quite fond of apple desserts I think!
My father always loved it when my mother would bake an apple pie for him. He liked apple turnovers also!
The recipe I am sharing with you today comes from this Pillsbury Cook booklet that I got in Canada, back in 1991. In Canada they used to have (not sure if they still do) an area by the Til's in the grocery stores where they kept some magazines and such.
These served as a further temptation for you while you were waiting for your turn. I always found these far more tempting than the candy, chips or chocolate bars!
I have quite a few of these cook booklets in my collection, probably about 30 or so. I have my favourites and you can tell which ones those are because the covers are loose and the pages splattered.
This particular one is one of my favourites. I look forward to taking it out every Autumn and cooking from it's pages, even if I do have to adapt some of the recipes to what I have available here in the UK! This hasn’t always been easy, I confess!
I have learned to adapt through the years. It was a bit hard doing so at first because I wasn’t all that knowledgeable about British ingredients!
I learned as I went along, however and I think I could adapt most things now, quite reasonably.
This recipe I am sharing is for a quick and easy Apple Pie Fold-over tart. It uses a sheet uses a sheet of ready roll pie pastry, or what they call short crust pastry here. In North America, just use ordinary pastry.
You could also make your own pastry if you wanted to. I have a great recipe for that here.
You will need to scroll down the page a bit to near the bottom. It is a butter/lard pastry and is excellent! It is my pastry recipe of choice!
Lovely and flaky. It does make two crusts, but that's not a problem as you can easily freeze one half of the pastry to use another time.
Just shape it into a disk, wrap it up tightly, and freeze. Ready to remove from the freezer and thaw overnight sometime when you are in need of a single crust.
This simple tart boasts a delicious and easy to make apple filling. In the autumn/winter months I always keep a bowl of apples in the house.
I like to keep a mix of eating and cooking apples. My favourites are Pink Ladies of Jazz for eating, and Granny Smiths for cooking.
For this recipe peeled and sliced apples are cooked with a bit of brown sugar and lemon juice just until the apple softens . . .
I used a mic of sweet eating and sour cooking.
Once the apples have cooked, the mixture is thickened with a mix of flour, sugar and salt. It thickens up lickety split.
It actually goes together very quickly.
You stir in a knob of butter and some vanilla and your filling is made. You just need to allow it to cool down before using it.
Lay out your pastry on a sheet of baking paper. I like to cut some fancy holds out of one half of the pastry.
Our ready roll pastry sheets are rectangular shaped here in the UK, I know they are round in North America.
Today I used one of my "Autumn" cookie cutters. I reckon it is probably a pumpkin shape, but it also works well as an apple shape.
You can save the cutouts to use as a decoration on top. They look quite pretty I think!
Spread your filling on the uncut side of the pastry, and fold the cut side over top, crimping the edges all around. Brush with some milk, apply the cutouts, sprinkle with some demerara sugar or sanding sugar and bake.
Easy peasy, lemon squeasy as they say!! Half an hour or so later your loved ones are enjoying it!
Yield: 4
Apple Pie Foldover
A simple and quick and delicious apple tart that your family will love.
ingredients:
- 3 medium tart apples, peeled, cored and thinly sliced
- 50g soft light brown sugar (1/4 cup)
- 1 TBS water
- 1 tsp lemon juice
- 1 TBS plain flour
- 1 TBS white sugar
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp mixed spice (apple pie spice)
- 1/2 tsp vanilla
- 1 TBS butter
- 1 single sheet of ready rolled short crust pastry
- 1 TBS milk
- demerara sugar for sprinkling
instructions:
How to cook Apple Pie Foldover
- Combine the apples, brown sugar, water and lemon juice in a saucepan. Cook over moderate heat until it starts to bubble, stirring occasionally. Cover and reduce the heat to low and cook for 6 to 8 minutes until the apples are tender, stirring occasionally. Mix together the flour, white sugar, salt and spice. Stir this into the apple mixture and cook until the mixture thickens, stirring constantly. Remove from the heat. Stir in the vanilla and butter. Let stand and cool for 15 to 20 minutes. Take the crust out of the packet and leave it to sit while the filling cools.
- Preheat the oven to 190*C/375*F/ gas mark 5. Unwrap and unroll the pastry, pressing out any fold lines. (I do this on a sheet of baking parchment.) Spread the filling onto half of the pastry to within half an inch of the edges. (I like to cut out shapes from the other half.) Fold the other half of the pastry over top of the apple filled side. Press together and flute the edges. If you have cut out shapes apply the cut outs now. If you haven't cut some vents in the top of the pastry. Brush with milk and sprinkle with demerara sugar.
- Transfer the sheet of baking paper holding the pie onto a baking sheet. Bake in the preheated oven for 25 to 30 minutes until golden brown. Allow to cool somewhat or completely before serving.
Hubby was in Seventh Heaven when he was enjoying this. I liked that it only made a small tart, enough for four. Larger pies don't really get eaten up here.
I either have to give half of them away, or they get thrown. This was the perfect size! He had to enjoy it with some ice cream on top this time as I didn't feel like making custard. But then again, what is vanilla ice cream really but frozen custard!
Up Tomorrow: Pork Chops with Homemade Applesauce
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Social Icons