I had purchased rather a lot of apples that needed using up and so I thought to make us an apple crumble.  I say us, but really I mean Todd. 

 I hardly ever eat dessert, although I do always taste it.  Quality control, you know how it goes.

This turned out fabulously tasty!  It is also a part of my  commitment to sharing more recipes for smaller families this year.   

If you are not a smaller family, you could certainly double the ingredients for this one, or I do have a full sized crumble recipe here.

 

You will need an 8-inch oven-proof skillet to bake this in, but failing that you can also bake it in a small casserole or loaf tin.  (That's pouring cream on top.)

 

Todd loves custard or cream on his fruit desserts. Really  he loves it on any dessert.

He is a lucky creature in that he seems to be able to eat these things without any problem, whereas  I just have to look at them and I put on ten pounds.

 

That's life and as the old saying goes, Life isn't fair!

Okay, so I do a bit more than look. Sigh ...

 

A simple crumble topping is made using oats, flour, chopped walnuts, brown and white sugars and butter . . . .

 

The fruit filling is a mix of cinnamon sugar coated apple slices sauteed briefly in butter  just until they are tender.  

You top them with the oat mixture and then briefly bake in a hot oven until crisp and golden brown.

 

It is delicious served warm and spooned into bowls along with lashings of cream or custard, or vanilla ice cream, which would be my personal choice.

It’s the Canadian in me. I can’t help it.

 

Tender sweet, buttery Cinnamon apples  . . .  crisp crumbly oat-nutty topping  . . .

 

This really is very good.

 

VERY very good . . .  but don't take my word for it.  Bake it for yourself and see.

  

If you wanted to you could switch out the walnuts for almonds and add some frozen or fresh raspberries to the apples, in which case it would  be a Skillet Apple & Raspberry Almond Crumble.  Delicious either way.

 

Oh but the weather is so dismal and windy and grey here today, this was a real mood lifter for Todd. I hate British winters  . . .  there is nothing redeemable about them.  Sigh  . . . .

 

One of my favourite salads has always been broccoli salad.  It is a salad that I tend to only eat at pot lucks and such because to make a full recipe here at home just has never been practical.

 

I am really excited to be sharing this recipe with you today. Prepare to have your socks knocked off!  Swedish Pepparkakor Cookie Butter Croissants.  WOWSA!

  

Its an idea I have had rolling around in this brain of mine for a few weeks now.  Buttery croissants filled with a spicy Swedish Pepparkakor Cookie Butter, rolled in butter and cookie crumb cinnamon sugar,  baked until golden brown, and then drizzled with a simple drizzle icing and dusted with a few more cookie crumbs.

 

In case you are not familiar with Swedish Pepparkakor Cookies, they usually come in a tin like this. I believe you can buy them in Ikea year round, but I picked up mine in Costco prior to Christmas. If I am not mistaken they sell the there pretty much year round as well. 

 

We love them. They are thin and crisp and spicy. I could easily eat a whole handful and in all truth it takes all of my willpower not to just sit down and gorge myself on them.  We had some leftover from Christmas (only because I had them stored out of reach) and I had in mind to make a cookie butter with them. I had seen a recipe on Serious Eats for Lotus cookie butter, and I decided that it would also work well for these.  I was right.

 

I also had a quantity of stale all butter croissants that needed using.  To be truthful, you want stale croissants for these.  They hold up better to the filling and crisp up just perfectly in the oven!

 

I cut the recipe in half, just so you know  . . .

 

I filled the stale croissants with some of the cookie butter, then brushed the with melted butter, generously of course and why not. In for a penny in for a pound.

  

I then sprinkled the with a cinnamon sugar cookie crumb mixture prior to baking them in the oven until the cookie butter had melted into the flaky insides of the croissants and they were crisp and golden on the outsides.   I then drizzled a sweet icing drizzle over top and sprinkled on a few more crumbs.

 

The crumbs were really easy to make in my mini blender.  You want them to be quite fine.  They get mixed with some water and golden syrup until the cookies melt and  become smooth.  You let it cool then and then blitz it together with some coconut oil until smooth.

 

You don't want the coconut oil to be rock hard, but you don't want it to be liquid either.

  

Just look at the inside of these tasty babies.  Oh so scrumptiously moreish!

 

Crisp on the outsides  . . .  flaky on the insides  . . .  sweetly filled . . .

 

I think I created a very tasty monster . . .

 

Todd scarfed down two of these all on his own.  I meant only to have a bit of one . . .  but  . . .

 

You know how it goes.  I kept going back for little nibbles . . .  they were so good  . . . and before I could say Jack Robin one of them had disappeared. 

  

There is only one left now and I am going to try to entice Todd with it this evening so that the temptation is well out of my way. 

 

I apologise about the mishmash of photographs here today.  I was so excited about this recipe and I had taken some beautiful photos.  I thought I had uploaded them, I had computer problems.  I deleted them from the camera because I always do that right after I upload them.  When I went to edit them, they were not there.  And of course I had deleted them.  GRRRRR!!!  I then took a few more while I still had the light of the leftover ones . . .  but I decided to try to see if I could find the other ones somewhere on the computer.  I finally found them in my Google Drive, but it took me forever  to download them one at a time, hence the hash-up. In any case, I hope you will want to try these. You won't be sorry! You hips might be annoyed with you however.

 

 Baked Apples one of the comfort foods we like to enjoy in the Winter months.  Apples are plentiful and at their best. We don't mind having the oven on, and they are delicious and very easy to do.

 

I had recently gotten some fabulous Organic Dried Cranberries and Ceylon Cinnamon Sticks from Buy Wholefoods Online and I felt they would be perfect for using in this simple and easy dessert. If you are not familiar with Buy Whole Foods Online you really need to look them up. I buy all of my dried fruit from them every year for my Christmas Cakes, and other bits and bobs throughout the year. Buy Whole Foods Online is an international health food supplier, based in Minster, Ramsgate, North East Kent. They deliver top quality natural and organic wholefoods, and related healthy living products, directly to homes and businesses across the UK and Europe. I have always been very happy with both their products and their service.

 

Baked apples make for a lovely breakfast treat or a dessert for after your dinner. I think they are very homey and comforting. You can bake just about any apple, but today I chose to use Pink Ladies as that is what I had in the refrigerator.  You will need to core them.

 

I have an apple corer, but today I also wanted to keep the bottoms intact, so I just used it to punch a whole down into the apple almost through to the bottom and then I used a metal 1/4 tsp measure to scoop out the core and enough surrounding apple to give me a one inch cavity down most of the length of the apple.

 

You need plenty of room to hold a cinnamon stick and that buttery cranberry, oat and maple filling! There's a bit of freshly grated nutmeg in there as well. I like to buy my nutmegs whole.  They last forever and freshly grated nutmeg is far superior to the already grated stuff you can buy.  At Buy Wholefoods you can buy anywhere from 125g up to 1 kg.   (It would take you a long time to use the larger amount.)

 

I always cut a really shallow line into the apple all the way around it horizontally.  This helps to prevent the apple from bursting when it is baking.  You will see it when you first take the apple out of the oven, but once the apple settles it disappears pretty much.

  

 You could of  use ground cinnamon but I really like the way that a whole cinnamon stick uses in these.  You don't eat it of course, but it does impart a nice cinnamon flavour to the whole apple and when you are done you can use add it to a saucepan along with some orange peel, whole cloves, star anise and water to make a natural air freshener.  When we had the wood stove I always had a container filled with this simmering on the back of the stove all winter through.  It made the house smell gorgeous and put some moisture into the air at the same time.  Wood fires can be so drying.

 

Isn't that pretty!  You stuff around the cinnamon stick with the oat, maple and cranberry stuffing. It helps to hold the cinnamon stick in place and adds even more lovely flavours to the apples.

 

They bake in a small baking dish along with some boiling water and a bit of Maple Syrup.  This forms a bit of a sauce when all is said and done, which is lovely spooned over the finished apples.

  

Depending on the apples you use it will take anywhere from between 40 minutes to an hour for them to bake to a nice softness  . . . I like them to be just soft enough to easily push the tip of a sharp knife into them.

 

These were done just right in about 45 minutes.  Take them out after about 40 and check them. If you think they are still hard, cover them up and pop them back in for a little bit longer.  Nobody enjoys a hard baked apple.

 

I have given quantities today for only two, but you can of course double or triple the amounts if you want more.

  

These were just perfect with some double cream poured into the bowl with them, but custard or vanilla ice cream would also be nice. In all truth they are also very tasty just on their own.

  

I bet I probably bake apples at least once a week in the Winter months. Todd just loves them and as far as dessert goes, they are not all that unhealthy.  Low in sugar and fat, and high in fibre too! 

 

I got a few other things from Buy Whole Foods.  Organic Barley Flour, (which I am going to make some bread with),Pickling Spice (I am thinking pickled carrots here or red onions.  It is also great with red cabbage), Turmeric Powder (Fabulous to give you brilliant colour in a curry and  also has a great many other health benefits) and Brewers Yeast, which is another great nutritional supplement.  Try it mixed into your hot drinks or smoothies.  It is a great source of chromium which can help control your blood sugar levels. You can also add it to baked goods. 

I really would like to recommend you checking out Buy Wholefoods Online!  They are a wonderful and affordable source for nuts, seeds, fruits, health supplements, herbs, spices, personal care and alternative therapies, speciality foods, Japanese foods, dried vegetables, coconut and a whole lot more!  Their prices are very reasonable and their delivery service impeccable. They have been my go-to for a lot of things over these last few years because I can trust them, and I think you will too!