Playful yummy bakes for modern home bakers
Biscoff caramel ice cream. This is great all year round but with the salted caramel and warming spices running through it, mixing with the cosiness of the biscoff spread, this is actually pretty amazing in the autumn and winter, as the seasons are changing. I …
Chocolate pancakes; two magic words for the best start to your day. I’m not saying this is an everyday kinda breakfast, but as a treat these are gorgeous. Rich and chocolatey and topped with berries, whipped cream, all the major food groups. I’ve also had …
Apple pie; oh so comforting and brings up oh so many nostalgic memories of Sunday lunches and lazy evenings. Apple and cinnamon is such a classic, cosy combo and so evocative of chilly autumn and winter days. Mini apple pies have all the same comfort plus the happy benefit of being perfectly individually sized, no sharing needed. So delicious; fab served with cream, ice cream or my favourite lashings of hot custard; whatever you want. Such a delicious treat plus these little guys freeze really well, so you can bake up a batch and stash some away for when your need is great.
225g plain flour
100g unsalted butter
Pinch salt
1 tbsp caster sugar
Approx 100g stewed apples (or you can use apple sauce if you don’t have any, or in a rush)
Few tbsp milk for brushing on the pies
3 tbsp caster sugar and 1 tsp cinnamon for dusting on top of the pies before baking
Makes 10 mini individual pies
Add the plain flour and salt to a mixing bowl.
Cut the fridge cold butter into small cubes and then begin to rub the butter into the flour. The butter should be very cold for this as you don’t want the butter to melt into the flour here, just to form a consistency similar to small bread crumbs.
Once the butter and flour are combined, add the sugar. This isn’t a lot but will just sweeten the mix a little.
Add in 3-4 tbsp of ice cold water to the pastry until it begins to come together.
Then lightly flour a board and gently bring the pastry together into a ball. Flatten slightly. Cover and leave in the fridge to let the butter firm up again for at least 30 mins.
You can either use ready apple sauce for the filling or ready made stewed apples. I make mine by cutting up Bramley apples into small pieces and then adding orange/lemon zest, cinnamon, ginger and cloves to a pan with a few pieces of butter and sugar to taste. Then cook until the apples are soft. This takes about 10 minutes. If you are making the apples on the day you make the pies, be sure that the mix is cold before you add it to the pastry. Otherwise the filling will cause the pastry to melt before it bakes, which isn’t what you want.
Preheat the oven to 180 C. Add a baking tray to heat up at the same time. This will help the bases of your pies cook really well when you place your tray on top of this later.
Flour your board and begin to roll out the pastry until it is roughly 1 cm thick. Move the pastry a few times and add extra flour if needed to help ensure that it doesn’t stick.
Once the pastry is rolled, use the apple cutter (or a circle one if you don’t have one) and cut out an equal amount for the tops and bottoms of the pie. I rolled the pastry a few times and got 20 apple shaped pieces from this amount of dough.
Lay half the pastry pieces onto a tray. Fill each piece with approx 1 tbsp of apples, trying not to over fill, otherwise the filling might spill out when you’re baking.
Once they are filled, take some water and dab all around the edges to help seal the pastry lids to the bottom.
Place the apple lids onto the pies and press down gently. Then use a fork to crimp the pies and seal them shut. Add milk or a beaten egg to the tops of the pies to help them brown up nicely. Then using a knife make a few cuts into the pastry to help any steam escape when baking.
Combine the sugar and cinnamon together and then sprinkle some on top of each pie.
Bake for about 25 minutes, until the tops have browned and the bottoms are cooked.
Leave to cool on a cooling rack or serve immediately with cream, ice cream or custard. Whatever you fancy.
These mini apple pies will keep a few days in an airtight container or you can freeze the pies for a few months.
Looking for other tasty ways to bake with apples? Try our Apple pie muffins or for some cosy comfort try our Pumpkin spiced pancakes with orange maple syrup and toasted pecans or our Get up and go granola – homemade breakfast ideas, so tasty.
Chocolate peanut butter bites. Goodness, do I love these. I know you should play favourites but I’ve got to say, I make these no-bake snacks more often than anything else and they are such a winner with my husband, he absolutely loves them. Salty, sweet …
A delicious, no fuss recipe that does quite literally what it says on the tin. Raspberry jam and shortbread; a combo of sweet perfection (if you ask me). Raspberry shortbread crumble bars; sweet and tart jam (with extra fresh raspberries for added zing) with comforting …
Apple pie muffins. I don’t know about you but baking (and eating) really come into their own in the Autumn! The days get darker and heavier, everywhere changes colour and you just know instinctively that the best thing to do is to snuggle down and eat something cosy and warming. These apple pie muffins do exactly that; filled with sweet apples and spices these are a simple bake that is just amazing for breakfast or a teatime treat.
250g self rising flour
¼ tsp salt
½ tsp bicarb
1 tsp baking powder
150g stewed apples (or apple sauce)
1 apple (I like granny smiths for this)
Zest and juice of 1 lemon
Zest of 1 orange
50g caster sugar
60g light brown sugar
75g melted unsalted butter
2 large eggs
125ml milk
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1tsp ground ginger
¼ tsp ground cloves
2 tsp vanilla extract
Makes 10 muffins
Demerara sugar to drizzle on the top before baking (optional)
First make the buttermilk. Measure out the milk and then add 1 tbsp of lemon juice to it and leave for 10-15 mins.
Cut the apple into thin slices and then into quarters, so you have pretty diamond shapes. I left out 2-3 pieces to add to the tops of the muffins before baking. Then finely chop the rest. Put the apples in a bowl and coat in the remaining lemon juice to stop them from going brown.
Zest the lemon and orange and leave to one side.
Sift the dry ingredients together. (The flour, salt, bicarb, baking powder and spices)
In a separate bowl, add the melted butter, sugars, vanilla, eggs, buttermilk and mix to combine. Add in the lemon and orange zest and the stewed apples and apple pieces.
Gently fold in the flour and spice mixture until just combined.
As soon as the mix comes together, don’t worry about lumps, then you can leave in the fridge for about 30 mins, or cook straight away.
Preheat the oven to 190 C.
Using an ice cream scoop or spoon, divide the muffin batter into muffin cases, about ¾ full.
Add the apple slices to the tops of each muffin along with a sprinkle of demerara sugar.
Cook for 18-20 mins until lightly golden. The tops of the muffins should spring back when cooked and if you insert a cake tester, it should come out clean.
Once cooked, leave to cool on a baking rack.
Muffins are best eaten on the day they’re made, but as these are packed with apples, it helps keep them nice and moist, so they will keep in an airtight tin for 3-4 days.
Looking for other cosy recipes? Try our Pumpkin spiced pancakes with orange maple syrup and toasted pecans. or our Jam doughnut muffins – both absolutely gorgeous and super simple to put together.
Raspberry ripple lemon mousse. If you’re anything like me, when you stumble on a dessert that is oh so delicious, simple and fast to put together and is a serious crowd pleaser, I can’t help but smile. Love, easy no bake recipes and this is …
Breakfast is undoubtedly my favourite time of day and smoothies for breakfast are super speedy and give you an instant hit of that all important 5 a day burst of vibrant colour, all things to start the day off right. This strawberry sunrise smoothie is …
Hands up if cookies are your all time favourite treat! They’re absolutely one of mine. Oh my goodness, I just love how simple they are to make, fast to prepare, even faster to eat but nothing comes close to how deliciously comforting they are. These double chocolate oreo cookies are exactly what you want when you need an afternoon pick me up. Rich and dark, studded with all that creamy white chocolate and oreo pieces. Biscuits baked into cookies, I mean that’s teatime to the extreme. Give them a go, seriously a crowd pleaser of a cookie. I mean oreos are great and all but baked into a chocolate cookie and it becomes a whole new ball game.
130g plain flour
50g cocoa powder
225g white chocolate chunks
125g oreo cookies
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tbsp coffee powder
½ tsp ground cinnamon
1 egg
75g caster sugar
50g soft light brown sugar
½ tsp salt
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
125g soft unsalted butter
Sift the flour, cocoa powder, salt, bicarb, coffee powder and cinnamon together. Leave to one side.
Beat the softened butter with the caster sugar and light brown sugar until combined and light and fluffy. You can do this by hand, or use an electric mixer.
Add the egg and vanilla extract and stir to combine.
Add in the flour mixture and mix until just combined. You don’t want to over mix here, just gently stir to mix through.
Add in the chocolate chunks and oreo pieces – leaving back some to add to the tops of the cookies before baking.
Leave to chill in the fridge for an hour or so.
Preheat the oven to 170C.
Scoop out balls of the cookie dough. You can either use an ice cream scoop and place on a lined baking tray or roll into balls and instead.
You can choose the size of cookie you want – this will make 24 small cookies or 10-12 large cookies.
Leave some room on the baking tray for the cookies to spread when cooking. You should be able to fit on about 6 cookies per tray.
Before baking, add a few oreo pieces to the tops of each cookie.
If you’re making small cookies, they will take about 8-9 mins to cook and if they are bigger, about 14 mins.
A few minutes before they are cooked, remove the tray from the oven and add a few white chocolate chunks on top of each cookie and return to the oven. I do this here because the white chocolate can catch a bit in the oven if you add it right at the beginning before baking.
Remove from the oven and leave to cool on the baking tray for a few minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely. They will crisp up as they cool. If you want a crispier cookie, then cook for a little longer, but these timings will give you a cookie that is a little soft in the middle.
These will keep for a few days in an airtight container. They also freeze really well, so you can either make the mix and freeze in balls and leave for you to bake off whenever you fancy or bake and freeze and they will keep in the freezer for about a month.
Looking for some more cookie ideas? Try my Mince pie cookies, fab for the holidays or Iced party biscuits, so bright and colourful!
Blackberry scones a go go! Friends if you’re anything like me and literally spy out bramble bushes ready to strike the minute the brambles ripen in the summer then this recipe is for you. I mean free food, need I say more, but we need …