Apple and Cherry Pie

Who wants a bit of my pie? Fruity, sweet and delicious and the pie is good too. A lovely end to any meal. Serve with ice cream and/or cream.

Makes 1 pie (serves roughly 6-8 people)

500g Shortcrust Pastry
Flour for dusting
3 Braeburn Apples, peeled and cut into thin, medium wedges
200g Morello Cherries (I used frozen, so defrost before)
100g Caster Sugar, extra for sprinkling
3 tbsp Cornflour
Lemon Juice
1 tsp Cinnamon
½ tsp Nutmeg
2-3 tbsp Milk

1. Preheat oven to 180c/160c fan assisted oven.

2. Cut the pastry into two pieces. Roll one of the pieces so it covers a standard pyrex plate. Lay the rolled piece over the plate and cut the excess.

3. In a mixing bowl, mix the apples, cherries, caster sugar, lemon juice, cornflour and spices. Give it a good stir. Pour onto the pastry on the pyrex plate.

4.Roll out the other piece of pastry to cover the fruit. Trim the excess. Make a couple of slits in the top. Go around the edge with the a teaspoon to seal it.

5. Use a pastry brush and dip in the milk and brush the top on the top of the pie. Sprinkle with a bit of caster sugar.

6. Put the pie in the oven for 30 - 40 minutes. The crust should be a golden brown colour.

Blueberry Pie (V)

Pastry week on the Great British Bake Off. So lets make a pie. This is one I have wanted to try and bake for a while. Hope you enjoy it


Makes 1 Pie

500g Shortcrust Pastry (Or Make your Own)
450g Blueberries (Frozen or Fresh)
Lemon Juice
Stick of Cinnamon
25g Cornflour
125g Caster Sugar
1 Egg
1- 3 tsp Granulated Sugar

1. Preheat the oven to 200c/180c Fan Assisted. Split the dough. Use 2/3 of the dough and roll to cover a flan tin (25cm). Save the other third.

2. In a small/medium, pour enough lemon juice to cover the bottom of the pan. Then tip in the blueberries, cinnamon stick and caster sugar and stir. Heat over a low heat for ten minutes. There should be fluid. Add the cornflour and give another mix. Keep on heat for 5 minutes. The blueberry mixture should harden. Make sure you occasionally stir so the mixture doesn't burn. Take off heat and allow to cool.

3. While cooling make the strips for the top of the pastry. Roll out the dough so it could just cover the length of the tin. Then cut 6 strips of 3cm width.

4. Pour blueberry mixture into the covered tin. Then layer over the pastry strips. Egg wash and sprinkle granulated sugar over the pastry.

5. Put in the oven for 18-20 minutes. The pastry should be golden brown. Leave to cool for a minute before taking out of the tin. Serve with thick cream.

Sweet Shortcrust Pastry

Yes you can buy it from the supermarket. If you want to go the extra mile for pastry then give it a go by making it from scratch. Ideal for sweet pies.

Makes 500g of Shortcrust Pastry

125g Butter, cubed at room temperature
2 Eggs
90g Caster Sugar
240g Plain Flour

1. Cream the butter and sugar together. Then add the eggs, it should resemble scrambled eggs. Then add the flour. Mix together until it forms a ball. If too moist add more flour.

2. Knead the dough for a couple of minutes. And wrap in cling film and put in the fridge for 20 minutes. Store in fridge until its needed or store in freezer for later use (don't keep in freezer longer than a month as dough can get freezer burn).

Millionaire Shortbread (V)

So caramel week last week and only managed to get this recipe up because I have been busy but you will be getting 3 recipes in a week, you lucky, lucky people. 

I have loved Millionaire Shortbread and would sometimes get those tubs with 20 bites of them. Thought during caramel week, why not give it a go.

Makes:24-28 Bites

Shortbread

225g Plain Flour

125g Butter

75g Caster Sugar

Caramel

150g Butter, cubed

100g Golden Syrup

1 Can of 379g condensed milk

Chocolate

200g Dark Chocolate

100g Milk Chocolate

50g White Chocolate

1. The Shortbread - Preheat the oven to 150c/140c fan assisted. Cover a 20cm square cake tin with greaseproof paper. Mix the plain flour and butter together. Either use a food processor or by hand. Should look like crumbs. Then add the sugar. Combine. Place in the cake tin and press down. I used my second cake tin's removable bottom to press down so it was more compact. Bake the shortbread for 30 minutes or until light golden brown colour. Leave to cool in the cake tin. 

2. The Caramel - Melt the butter in the pan and mix in the golden syrup and heat through on a medium heat. Then add the condensed and stir (don't stop stirring throughout). When combined. Increase the heat and bring to the boil. It should thicken up. Leave to boil for about 5 minutes. To see if it will set, get a bowl of cold water and take a bit of mixture in the pan and drop in bowl. If it hardens up then its finished. Take off heat and allow to cool slightly then pour on top of the shortbread. Leave to cool. 

3. The Chocolate - Set up two Bain Maries (This is a pan of boiling water with a bowl on top). Place the milk and dark chocolate in one bowl. Then in another bowl melt the white chocolate. Melt both chocolates until they are runny. Take off heat and pour the dark/milk chocolate mixture first. Make sure the caramel has solidified first. Then add drops of the white chocolate. Take a toothpick and swirl the white chocolate back and forth across the pan. To make a swirl effect. Leave to cool completely.








4. The Finale - Push the Millionaire Shortbread out using the removable bottom. Them remove the greaseproof paper. You should get defined layers and begin to cut into pieces. Use a sharp knife to minimise breakage. Enjoy!

Sticky Toffee Pudding (V)

You should know this one. As soon as you mention the name it makes your mouth water. Follow this simple recipe and enjoy something sticky, sweet and incredibly naughty.

Serves 6- 8

250g Dates, chopped

250ml Boiling Water

200g Self Raising Flour, plus extra for greasing

1tsp Bicarbonate of Soda

2 Large Eggs

100ml Whole Milk

125g Unsalted Butter, cubed at room temperature, plus extra for greasing

150g Dark Brown Sugar

2 tbsp Black Treacle

1tsp Vanilla Bean Paste/Essence/Extract

Toffee Sauce

50g Unsalted Butter

175g Light Brown Sugar

1 tbsp Black Treacle

250ml Double Cream

1. Preheat the oven to 180c/160c fan assisted. Grease a 2lb Loaf tin with the butter and flour so the sticky toffee pudding comes out easier. Soak the dates in the boiling water for 30 minutes so the fruit plumps up.

2. In the meantime, in a mixing bowl mix the flour and bicarb of soda. Make a well in the centre and add the eggs and milk, mix until combined.

3. In another bowl cream the butter and sugar together. Then add the treacle and combine. Add the treacle mixture to the flour mixture and mix until fully combined. 

4. Drain the dates and add the vanilla and mash them up. Add these to the pudding mixture. It should give a light brown colour. Tip into loaf tin and bake in the oven for 45-50 minutes. Should be cooked through. 

4. While the pudding is baking in the oven, make the toffee sauce. In a small pan. Melt the butter over a medium heat. Then once melted, add the sugar and black treacle and stir. Gradually add the cream while stirring. Allow it to bubble away for a couple of minutes and take off the heat. 

Tips:

- Make in advance and warm the sauce in the pan over a medium heat for a couple of minutes and the pudding in the oven for 5 minutes to warm through.

- OR cheat by taking a slice and drizzling the toffee sauce and putting in microwave for about 30 seconds.

Toffee Sauce

Dark Chocolate, Orange and Ginger Biscuits

As the seasons change so does my baking. These are three different flavours but work well together. Give them a go and share them with your friends

Makes 36-40 Biscuits

150g Unsalted Butter, cut into cubes

175g Golden Caster Sugar

Juice and Zest of 1 Large Orange

2 tsp Ground Ginger

2 level tsp of Baking Powder

350g Plain flour shifted

100g Dark Chocolate Chips

1. Preheat the oven to 180c/160c fan assisted. Line baking trays with greaseproof paper. 

2. Cream the butter and sugar together until combined. Then add the juice and zest of an orange and ginger and mix. 

3. Add the flour and baking powder and mix. Before all the flour is combined and add the dark chocolate and mix till combined. If too wet add more flour. 

4. Form into a ball and wrap in cling film. Then put in the fridge for up to an hour. 

5. Take out of the fridge and roll on a floured surface with a rolling pin. The mixture should have a thickness of just under 0.5 cm (similar to a £1 coin). Another way to tell you have the correct thickness is you can feel the bumps of the chocolate chips when you roll the dough. I used a 6 cm circular cutter and place on the tray with space between each biscuit. Then put in the oven for 20 minutes or until golden brown. Leave to cool for 10 minutes on the tray. Then move to a wire rack until cooled fully and put in an airtight container. Enjoy with a cup of tea.