Holly September 20, 2014

Eight apple cake + Crumbs cookbook giveaway

I have long been a fan of the Crumbs blog written by sisters Claire and Lucy. They’re as funny as I’d like to be. And also rather glam in their cosmopolitan, London way. I think we could be friends if we lived nearer to each other. In fact I suspect we’d be very good at drinking wine and too many crisps in local pubs. But alas, I live over 100 miles away so I have to admire from afar. I was VERY excited to hear the girls had a cookbook deal. Long overdue. I love my copy. It’s full of easy recipes my kids want to eat, it makes me laugh, smile and nod in agreement at their tales of parenting. And it’s very easy on the eye; the design is spot on. Think Jamie Oliver typography with a dash of River Cottage illustrations. It’s ace and you can buy it here.

I was recently given a LOT of apples and the sisters came to the rescue with this very easy to make and even easier to eat cake using a whopping 8 apples. I enjoyed it cold with a cuppa but loved it most served warm with scalding custard and a little drizzle of caramel.

Commercial break: My book, Recipes from a Normal Mum, is out now… on Amazon, at Waterstones, at Sainsbury’s, Morrisons, Waitrose, The Book Depository and many smaller outlets.

One year ago: Hazelnut cupcakes with Nutella buttercream and Red root reblochon bake and Simple banana cake

Two years ago: Cherry tomato frittata and Lemon brioche or Death by chocolate cake

Three years ago: Tiramisu profiteroles and Drunken cherry brandy mincemeat or Macarons

Four years ago: Easy cheesy pasta and Almond coated chicken and Mince pies for mince pie haters

Eight apple cake

8 eating apples – peeled, cored and chopped (you need about 450g of apples)
Juice from one lemon
½ tspn ground cinnamon
200g plain flour
1 ½ tspn baking powder
200g caster sugar
3 eggs
6 level tablespoons of melted butter
1-2 tbsp milk, as needed
one tablespoon of demerara sugar for topping

Heat oven to 180C; grease and line a 20cm square cake tin. Toss the apples in the lemon juice and ground cinnamon the minute they’re chopped. Combine the rest of the dry ingredients in a bowl. Add the eggs and butter and beat to make a stiff batter. Add milk if it seems a bit dry. Fold the apples (and any remaining lemon juice) into the batter. Pour into the cake tin, smooth down and sprinkle with demerara sugar. Bake for 45 to 50 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean.

I have 3 x £16.99 (RRP) Crumbs books to giveaway to 3 lucky people. There are lots of ways to enter – see the Rafflecopter form below. The first way is just to leave a comment on this post. Easy peasy. Closing date 21st November 2014. How to enter:

Complete the Rafflecopter form below to confirm your entries made via blog comments, Twitter, Facebook etc.
This giveaway will close on 21st November 2014.
Please read the rules below.
Winners are announced on the Rafflecopter form after the prize has been claimed by the winner.
First timers: Please watch how Rafflecopter works (video)! It is 46 seconds long. It explains everything.
If no form is showing, hit refresh and it should appear.
Complete the form – or your beloved entries will not go into the draw. And that would be such a waste of time.
Mandatory entries need to be completed first – so leave a blog comment before you try and complete any of the other methods of entry.
Want more chances to win? Come back daily after tweeting about the giveaway and fill the form in again.
If you are viewing this by email you will need to click through to enter.

Rules and things:

Open to anyone over the age of 18, UK only. Sorry to anyone younger or further afield.
There are 3 x £16.99 (RRP) Crumbs books to giveaway to 3 people. There’s no cash alternative to the prize and the prize is not transferable. No part or parts of the prize may be substituted for other benefits, items or additions.
Instructions form part of the terms and conditions. Entries using any software or automated process to make bulk entries will obviously be disqualified. The winner will be picked at random using software and then contacted by email. If you win and then don’t respond to this email within 7 days then another winner will be picked so check your emails and your spam! The goodies will be delivered to the winner as soon as possible after you have sent me your delivery address.
I am running this giveaway on behalf of CICO books who will be responsible for sending the prize to you by post should you win. Their decision is final and binding and no correspondence will be entered into.
This is where I get all stern – please don’t say you have liked the post and followed me on Twitter and Tweeted away like a Tweety thing if you haven’t as guess what? If you win I will check you did do the things you said you did. It’s only fair after all. And I do like fairness.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

THE CRUMBS FAMILY COOKBOOK by CLAIRE & LUCY MCDONALD, published by CICO Books (£16.99)

Photos © STUART WEST

Holly December 1, 2013

Chocolate chip panettone

Breads, Cakes and Bakes, Christmas 2 Replies

I want to tell you this is easy to make; that you should have a go. But honesty prevents me from this lie. It’s a pain in the backside to make. You really DO need a stand mixer, I’m not just saying it for my health. AND you need patience, bucket loads. AND you need to be a forward planner. Start making this 3 – 4 days before you want to eat it. Is it worth it? Yes-ish. You can buy panettone too, some in beautiful tins that make me yearn to live in Italy. But they’re expensive, these tin filled panettones. Homemade is cheap as cake, but my, you need to be a patient little bean.

One year ago: Mini Yorkshire pudding canapes and Christmas pudding fizz and Brandy butter icing and Rudolf morsels

Two years ago: Lime meringue pie with chocolate pastry and Christmas scones and Ginger cake with Christmas cottage and Hot chocolate on a stick

Three years ago: Moonuts and Cheese biscuits and Parsnip soup and Inauthentic chicken tagine

Chocolate chip panettone

Makes 1

Ingredients:

500g strong white flour
2 x 7g packs of easy bake yeast
1 tsp salt
100g castor sugar
2 large eggs plus 5 egg yolks beaten
60mls milk
250g soft unsalted butter
200g chocolate chips
1 egg white, for glazing (saved from earlier)

Day 1: Warm your mixer bowl by sitting in very hot water for a few minutes. Dry it. Mix the flour, yeast, salt and sugar together in your stand mixer with the dough hook. Heat the milk to luke warm – your finger should be comfortable when dipped in it. On the lowest speed, pour your milk and 2 large eggs plus the 5 egg yolks into the floury mixture until combined. Then with the mixer still on the lowest speed add the butter 1 tbsp at a time and leave to mix for 5 – 6 minutes until well combined and the dough begins to look elastic. Remove the bowl from the mixer and cover with a clean shower cap or clingfilm. Leave at room temperature for 12 – 24 hours until it has doubled or even tripled in size – it must be at least double though. (YES! 12 – 24 hours, what a terrific pain! Just leave it out and try not to obsess over it, don’t prod it, uncover the clingfilm etc – just leave it alone! It’s an enriched dough which means it takes an age to prove. It’s just the way it is. And please don’t put it somewhere warm to ‘help’ it – the butter will melt in a swimming pool at the bottom of your dough and you’ll likely end up in tears.)

Day 2: Knock the dough back by popping the bowl back into the machine and removing the clingfilm. Let the dough have a couple of turns of the dough hook, add any choc chips or fruit of whatever else you fancy putting in it and turn until well combined – maybe 2 minutes. Grease a 20cm loose bottomed cake tin with butter, line twice (butter the first layer of paper to help the second one stick) with greaseproof/non stick baking paper, ensuring the paper is double the height of the tin – you are essentially extending the tin’s height rather than buying a panettone tin. Then line the outside of the tin with a double wrap of greaseproof paper, tying with string. Shape the panettone dough with your hands into a ball and press into the tin. Cover loosely with clingfilm and leave at room temperature for another 12 – 24 hours until at least doubled, if not tripled in size.

Day 3: Bake! If you haven’t thrown the whole thing out in irritation then preheat the oven to 200C/gas mark 6, brush the panettone with egg white and bake for 15 minutes then turn the oven down to 180C/gas mark 4 and bake for another 35 minutes until a skewer comes out of the centre of the panettone clean. If you notice the panettone is browning too much then make a foil hate for the top to protect it from the heat.

Remove from the tin and leave to cool on a wire rack. Phew! What a palaver. I might just pop to Sainsbury’s…

Holly December 1, 2013

Cranberry & raspberry traybake

Cakes and Bakes, Christmas, Pastry Comments Off

I discovered Superjam recently – it’s a jam with no added sugar that still tastes delicious. I have weaned my sons off regular jam and onto the good stuff now and their teeth are thanking me.

I met the chap who owns the Superjam company in the kitchen at QVC. His name is Fraser and he’s really rather young. And inspiring. I have a theory that if the government paid people like Fraser to go into schools and talk about how they did what they did, many more kids would be inspired to do something with their lives than by listening to a talk from a careers teacher. Fraser started his jam making business up at 14. I wish I had his gumption at almost 34. Here’s a lovely festive traybake using his delicious jam. And no, he didn’t pay me to say nice things about him.

One year ago: Mini Yorkshire pudding canapes and Christmas pudding fizz and Brandy butter icing and Rudolf morsels

Two years ago: Lime meringue pie with chocolate pastry and Christmas scones and Ginger cake with Christmas cottage and Hot chocolate on a stick

Three years ago: Moonuts and Cheese biscuits and Parsnip soup and Inauthentic chicken tagine

Cranberry & raspberry traybake

Makes enough for 16 – 30 balls

Ingredients:

For the pastry:

250g plain flour
50g icing sugar
125g cold butter cut into cubes
1 large egg

For the frangipane topping:

150g soft butter
150g caster sugar
150g ground almonds
3 eggs + 1 egg yolk
2 jars of cranberry and raspberry superjam
100g flaked almonds

First make the pastry. Use the flat beater of a stand mixer on the lowest speed to combine the sugar and flour, then add the butter until you have breadcrumbs, then add the egg to bind. alternatively whizz the flour and icing sugar in a food processor (this is my method of sieving) then add the cubes of cold butter and pulse until you have a fine breadcrumb appearance. I always open up the top of the food processor and have a dig about with a knife to make sure there are no lumps of fat hiding near the blade. Then tip the lot into a large bowl and the egg. No need to whisk the egg first.

Take a normal table knife and use to stir the pastry mix until it forms large blobby crumbs. Then use your hand to pull the mixture together. Don’t add water or milk or anything. As long as you’ve used a large egg there’s enough liquid to pull the pastry together. Don’t overwork the pastry – by this I mean don’t madly knead the pastry – just pull it together with your hands until you have a yellow mass, all the same colour and with no bits of flour etc hanging about.) Put the pastry into a plastic bag, wrap tightly and then put in the fridge for a minimum of 30 minutes – but I often leave it overnight.

Roll the pastry out onto a floured work surface then line a 32cm x 22cm x 1cm baking tray with a rectangle of baking paper on the base. Push the pastry into the edges of the tin and into the sides then trim the edges with a sharp knife. Refrigerate for 15 minutes and preheat the oven to 180C/gas mark 4.

Take the soft butter and sugar and cream together using a handheld electric mixer/a wooden spoon/a freestanding mixer until lighter in colour than when you started and fluffy. Then take your eggs (and extra yolk) and whisk with a fork – then dribble into the creamed mixture a teaspoon at a time and beat after each addition. I use a freestanding mixer to make my frangipane as it’s so so much easier. Once all the egg has been incorporated then turn the mixer off and add the ground almonds. Then mix the lot with a metal spoon. You don’t need to be gentle but don’t beat the hell out of it either.

Spread a layer of the jam on the bottom of the pastry – about 5mm thick. Then spoon the frangipane over the top being sure to cover the jam and reach the sides of the tart. Sprinkle with flaked almonds and bake for 40ish minutes. You’re looking for a golden brown top and pastry that’s neither yellow looking nor dark brown. Watch it like a hawk for the last ten minutes. Remove from the oven and cool on a wire rack.

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Eight apple cake + Crumbs cookbook giveaway

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Cranberry & raspberry traybake

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