Blackberry & Apple Crumble Serves 4- 6
Ingredients
Crumble Topping
225g Plain or wholewheat flour
75g Butter (room temperature)
75g - 110g Soft Brown Sugar (to taste)
Filling
600g Cooking Apples
300g Blackberries
25g Soft Brown Sugar
2 tablespoons of Water
Method
Pre-heat the oven to gas 4 or 180 centigrade.
Core, peel and slice the apples and place in a saucepan with the water and sugar. Cook gently until the apples are soft. Put the cooked apples into a caserole (1.75 litre) and prepare the crumble topping. Rinse the blackberries and mix gently with the cooked apples when ready.
Put the flour into a large mixing bowl and add the butter. Rub the flour and butter together until it looks crumbly and the butter has been evenly dispersed through the flour. Add the sugar and mix together to ensure that everything is combined.
Sprinkle the crumble topping evenly over the top the cooked apples and blackberries using a fork to even out the distribution but don't press it down.
Cook in the oven for 30 - 40 minutes until lightly golden brown.
Jam
Can be made with any fruit.
- 900g fruit (blackberries, plums, raspberries or strawberries), prepared weight
- 900g golden granulated sugar
- knob of butter
- Put the fruit into a preserving pan or large heavy-based saucepan. For blackberries, add 50ml of water and 1½ tbsp of lemon juice; for plums (halved and stoned), use 150ml of water; for strawberries, add 3 tbsp of lemon juice (no water); and for raspberries, add nothing. Bring to the boil.
- Lower the heat. For blackberries, simmer for 15 minutes; for plums, simmer for 30-40 minutes; for raspberries, simmer for 2 minutes; for strawberries, simmer for 5 minutes. The fruit should be soft.
- Tip in the sugar, stir over a very low heat until the sugar has completely dissolved. Raise the heat, bring to a full rolling boil, then rapidly boil blackberries for 10-12 minutes, plums for 10 minutes, raspberries for 5 minutes or strawberries for 20-25 minutes - don't stir though - until the setting point of 105C is reached.
- Remove from the heat, skim off any excess scum, then stir a knob of butter across the surface (this helps to dissolve any remaining scum). Leave for about 15 mins so the fruit can settle. Pour into sterilised jars, label and seal.
Apple Tart.
Heat oven to 180°
Pastry:
200g plain flour
75g unsalted butter
pinch of salt
2 1/2 tbsp cold water
Put the flour into a mixing bowl, cut the butter into small chunks, rub into the flour using your fingertips making a breadcrumb consistency. Add the cold water and mix, gather together all the mixture and make a firm dough, the sides of the bowl should be clean and the dough should not be sticky. Leave the pastry in a cool place for around 15 mins.
Take the dough out of the fridge (or wherever you have left it) sprinkle the surface with flour place dough in the middle and start rolling, roll untill around a cm thick and it is large enough for your dish. place into the dish and trim edges remembering that the dough will shrink when cooked.
Filling:
5 large apples, peeled and sliced
250g apple purée
Pour the purée until the pastry is half filled, place the pieces of apple on top of the puree going round in circles until completely covered. Place into oven for 15 mins or until the pastry is a golden brown.
Rice Krispie Cakes
Ingredients:
60g unsalted butter
3 Tbsp Golden Syrup
1x100g bar milk or dark choclate
90g Rice Krispies
Method:
Melt the chocolate in a bowl over a saucepan of simmering water.
Add the butter, cut into small pieces, stir untill melted.
Add the Syrup and stir.
Add in the Rice Krispies
Spoon into cake cases.
Rice Pudding
Ingredients
- 3/4 cup uncooked white rice
- 2 cups milk, divided
- 1/3 cup white sugar
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 egg, beaten
- 2/3 cup golden raisins
- 1 tablespoon butter
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- In a medium saucepan, bring 1 1/2 cups water to a boil. Add rice and stir. Reduce heat, cover and simmer for 20 minutes.
- In another saucepan, combine 1 1/2 cups cooked rice, 1 1/2 cups milk, sugar and salt. Cook over medium heat until thick and creamy, 15 to 20 minutes. Stir in remaining 1/2 cup milk, beaten egg and raisins. Cook 2 minutes more, stirring constantly. Remove from heat, and stir in butter and vanilla. Serve warm.
(if you have made too much rice the night before just follow from step 2, thats what I do!)
Rainbow birthday Cake mix
Ingredients
- 3 egg whites
- 1 (18.25 ounce) package white cake mix
- 1 1/3 cups water
- 2 tablespoons rapeseed oil
- red paste food coloring
- orange paste food coloring
- yellow paste food coloring
- green paste food coloring
- blue paste food coloring
- purple paste food coloring
Directions
- Preheat an oven to 175 degrees C. Grease and flour two 8-inch round cake pans.
- Beat the egg whites with an electric mixer until frothy, about 1 minute. Add the cake mix, water, and rapeseed oil; continue beating for 2 minutes on medium speed.
- Divide the cake batter into six separate bowls. Use a toothpick to scoop a dab of food coloring into one bowl of batter and stir; add more food coloring, if necessary, to reach the desired shade. Repeat with the remaining colors and bowls of batter.
- Scoop spoonfuls of batter into the prepared pans, alternating the colors. Use a toothpick to gently swirl the colors for a marbled effect.
- Bake in the preheated oven until a toothpick inserted into the cake comes clean, about 30-35 minutes. Cool in the pans for 10 minutes before removing to cool completely on a wire rack.
Shortbread
125g butter
50g Caster Sugar
175g Plain flour
1 Tablespoon milk
Rub the butter, sugar and flour together until they form a breadcrumb consistency. Add milk and knead for a minute or two to make a small ball. Cover and place in the fridge for 15 mins. Put onto a floured surface and roll out the dough (not too thin!!) Cut out biscuit shapes. Place on a tray and prick with a fork. Bake for 15 mins @ 180°c
