Caramel Apple Crumble Tart

Hello again everyone, this recipe turned out amazing, it's taken to an extent from this Jane's patteisere recipe (Jane's Pattiserie), with my own caramel sauce and crumble topping mixed in! My family gave this recipe a very rare 10/10 and even if do say so myself, it's bloody lovely and perfect for autumn! It is a bit longer of a recipe mind so be prepared to have some time to spare but believe me it's so worth it at the end!

Happy Baking

Carly! 

Ingredients 

Caramel Sauce 

200g of granulated sugar.

90g of butter.

120mls of double cream.

Pastry Base

– 175g Plain Flour, plus extra for dusting

– 100g Cold Butter, diced, plus extra for greasing

– 1tbsp Icing Sugar

– 1 Egg Yolk

Pie Filling

– 4 Medium Cooking Apples (Bramley)

– 100g Caster Sugar

– 1/2tsp Cinnamon

Crumble Topping 

100g butter

150g caster sugar

75g granulated sugar.

50g rolled oats.

Nuts to taste.

Method 

1. I began by making my caramel sauce and setting aside in a jug for later. To make the caramel sauce; Pour the granulated sugar into a pan and heat it on a medium heat. The sugar should crystallise and melt, so stir the sugar continuously while it melts making sure it doesn't burn. Then add the butter making sure to be careful as it'll spit and stir for three minutes or so until its totally melted in. Add the cream and stir in slowly until all mixed together, leave to cool.

2. Next make the pastry (taken from the Jane's patisserie recipe) 

To make the Pastry – Sift the flour, icing sugar, and add the diced butter, egg yolk, and 1tbsp of cold water into a food processor. Blitz quickly on the pulse setting until the mixture starts to bind, it shouldn’t take too long at all!

 Grease & flour a Tart/Pie/Flan tin – Roll the pastry mix out onto a lightly floured surface to the thickness of 1-2 £1 coin(s). Press the pastry into the tin and trim & neaten the edges. Fill any gaps of the pastry with any excess pastry so its all covered! Refrigerate for 1/2 an hour! Preheat the oven to 200C/180C Fan – Cover the pastry with baking parchment and fill with baking beans/rice and bake the pastry ‘Blind’ for 15 minutes – remove the parchment and the beans and bake for an extra 5 minutes or until the pastry is cooked through and turning golden! Leave to cool in the tin.

3. I would suggest completing this step while the pastry is in the over. To make the filling I followed Jane's suggestion of peeling, quartering and slicing the apples then laying them out on kitchen roll to dry out. Once the apples were dried I mixed them in a large bowl with the caster sugar and cinnamon. 

4. Next make the crumble topping, to do this rub together the butter, flour and sugar and mix in the oats and the nuts.

5. Fill the baked pastry case with the apples and pour over a 2/3 of the caramel. Sprinkle on the topping then add the rest of the caramel. Bake the pie for 40-45 minutes until the apples are soft and the pie is golden topped and bubbling!

6. Eat and enjoy suggested servings are with lashings oh cream and vanilla ice cream!

Enjoy!

Chocolate Honeycomb Caramel Cheesecake

Hello everyone its been a while but I'm back with a new recipe, this one is a super decadent cheesecake, Enjoy!!

Ingredients 

Caramel Sauce
200g of granulated sugar.
90g of butter.
120mls of double cream.

Cheesecake
1 packet of hobnob (or similar) biscuits.
400g of cream cheese.
100g of butter (melted).
3tblsp of granulated sugar.
100g of Icing sugar (or to taste).
2 Crunchies.
1 large bar of chocolate (200g).

Method

1. Start by making the caramel sauce, this is quite a runny sauce its still thick but lovely and gloopy! Pour the granulated sugar into a pan and heat it on a medium heat. The sugar should crystallise and melt, so stir the sugar continuously while it melts making sure it doesn't burn. Then add the butter making sure to be careful as it'll spit and stir for three minutes or so until its totally melted in. Add the cream and stir in slowly until all mixed together, leave to cool.
2. Next begin on the cheesecake, bash your biscuits into crumbs making sure there's no big biscuit chunks and that  you have a bowl of nice chunky crumbs!
3.  Add in the melted butter and sugar gradually  and mix well, make sure the mixture looks damp throughout but not greasy and soaked, feel free to add more or less depending on how it looks. Pat this mixture into the bottom of a cake tin and thats you! 
4.  Add to the two tubs of cream cheese in a bowl and add in the icing sugar gradually staring until it tastes sweet, you may not need all of it it's personal preference but its essential to use the icing sugar as it helps set the mixture.
5. Melt the chocolate and gradually add it into the mixture, again this is to taste.
6. Mix in around a third of a caramel mixture to the cheesecake mix.
7. Place the cheesecake mixture on top of the biscuit base, and crumble on top the crunchie bars and pour on another third of the caramel sauce.
8. Leave in the fridge for around three to four hours then serve, the remaining caramel can be used to serve depending on how much caramel you want! 

Happy baking Carly! xx

Banana and Walnut Loaf

Hi everyone, i've been trying to think of some more summery bakes and I thought tropical or summery fruits and ended up with bananas and with this loaf. I was really craving a banana bread and this one was just beautiful and it has taken a lot of self control not to eat the whole loaf!

The recipe I used was an american one, which I partially adapted, the following are the changes i made...

1. I felt the mixture was too dry with only one egg and used two!
2. I used the plain flour and raising agents like the recipe suggested however reading the comments on the recipe the author stated self raising flour isn't commonly available in the states, so I'm sure self raising flour would work just as well.
3. I used sunflower oil rather than vegetable oil.
4. The recipe says 325 F for an hour, I baked at 160 degrees celsius for 50 minutes and that was perfect.
5. I used a whole 205g of tub of cream cheese for the topping and added icing sugar according to taste.
6. I didn't need the milk or cream as I wanted a thick topping.

Happy Baking! 

Carly x

This amazing recipe has been copied from https://theviewfromgreatisland.com/better-than-starbucks-banana-walnut-bread/

Ingredients 

1 1/2 cups flour

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1 tsp cinnamon

1 cup sugar

1 extra large egg

1/2 cup vegetable oil 

2 tsp vanilla extract

1 cup roughly mashed banana

2/3 cups chopped walnuts, plus more for garnish

frosting

2 Tbsp cream cheese, at room temperature

1 heaping cup confectioner's sugar

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

milk or cream to thin

Instructions

set oven to 325F Spray and line a standard 9x5 loaf pan with parchment paper with long ends. This is so you can lift it out easily for slicing.

Whisk the flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, and sugar together in a large mixing bowl or a stand mixer. 

Beat in the egg, oil, and vanilla.

Fold in the banana and nuts, and make sure everything is well combined. Turn into the pan and even out the batter. Bake for about an hour, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out without wet batter clinging to it. (Moist crumbs are fine.) Let the bread cool for 15 minutes in the pan, then remove to a rack to cool completely before frosting.

Blend the cream cheese, sugar, and vanilla with enough milk or cream to make a spreadable frosting. Spread over the top of the cooled bread, Sprinkle with chopped walnuts.

Raspberry Ripple Cake

Hi everyone its been a while but I'm back with this delightful summer cake, which is a recipe of my own making! Its light and fruity and perfect for summer!

Ingredients 

225g butter

150g caster sugar

150g self raising flour

3 eggs 

tsp of vanilla essence 

juice of half a lemon

150g raspberries 

225g of icing sugar 

Splash of milk 

50g of white chocolate 

1tsp of baking powder

3 tbsp of raspberry jam

Method 

1.Pre heat the oven to 180 degrees c 

2. Pop around two thirds of the raspberries in a bowl and blend or mash them, then using a small sieve, squash the raspberries across the sieve, catching the juice underneath to use in the cake.

3. Cream 150g of the butter and sugar together in a separate bowl.

4. Gradually beat in the eggs.

5. Fold in the flour and baking powder.

6. Add in the vanilla, lemon juice and splash of milk.

Sandwiched and ready to ice!

7. Divide the mixture between two greased baking tins, for this cake I used a 19cm cake tin but if you want to make a bigger or deeper can you can just add the mixture. (For every 100 grams of sugar, butter and flour you need two eggs).

8. Make small wells in the mixture and spoon in the raspberry sauce before using a cocktail stick or something similar to twirl the sauce through the mixture. 

9. Bake in the oven till well risen and golden brown, the cake layers should be springy to touch and a stick should come out clean when put through the middle. Approx 20 minutes of baking.

10. To make the icing, mix the remaining butter and icing sugar together, with a splash of milk, though use your discretion with the icing sugar and add gradually and taste as you go. 

11. Melt the chocolate and add this gradually, again tasting as you go, making sure not to overpower the icing with the chocolate.

12. Once the cake layers are cool, spread the jam and some buttercream across the top of one layer and sandwich the two layers of the cake together.

13. I chose to ice my cake all over using a flat palette knife to get a smooth edge but this is totally optional, I then decorated the top with the remaining raspberries. 

 I hope you enjoy this recipe, this a lovely cake and has gone down a treat in my family!

Carly 

xxx

Millionaire's Shortbread

Hey everyone happy Sunday, here's a recipe that I've loved making this weekend and has gone down an absolute storm!

 I got the recipe from kitchen mason and copied and pasted it below, its great and super detailed but from my experience I'd make the following amendments...

1. Bake the shortbread for 20-25 minutes to make it firmer and crunchier.

2. Don't add the chocolate until the caramel has totally cooled as the caramel will begin to burn the chocolate.

3. I used double the chocolate as felt it hardly spread and I wanted a thick chocolate topped layer. 

This recipe is great and has lots of pictures on the original link and I couldn't recommend making it more!

Happy Baking! 

http://www.kitchenmason.com/2014/04/27/millionaires-shortbread/

Here is what you will need to make 12 pieces.

For The Biscuit Base

• 125g Unsalted Butter
• 50g Golden Caster Sugar
• 175g Plain Flour
• Pinch Salt

For the Caramel

• 200g Condensed Milk
• 125g Unsalted Butter
• 125g Golden Caster Sugar
• 2 tbsp Golden Syrup
• 1 tsp Vanilla Extract
• Pinch Salt

For the Topping

• 200g Good Quality Milk Chocolate

Equipment

• 18cm x 28cm Baking Tray
• Sugar Thermometer (Optional but very handy)

Millionaire’s Shortbread Recipe

Lightly grease & line the base of your baking tray – overhang two opposite sides. (This will help when it comes to getting it out the tray.)

Preheat your oven to 190°C/Fan 170°C.

To make the biscuit base – either in a stand mixer or a large bowl using an electric hand whisk, cream together the butter & sugar until light & fluffy.

Sift in the flour & add the salt. Mix until you get a crumbly dough.

Tip this straight out into the prepared tray, flatten out as evenly as you can then prick the base all over with a fork.

Pop into the oven to bake for about 15-20 mins until just turning golden on top.

Leave to one side to cool whilst you make the caramel.

The Caramel

Add all the ingredients into a large, heavy based saucepan and set over a medium heat.

Stir until the sugar has dissolved then bring to the boil, stirring often.

Once boiling, stir continuously and fairly vigorously. If it catches on the bottom, you will get horrible lumps of burnt caramel running through the mixture.

When it turns a light caramel colour & becomes thick, (or reaches 107°C on a sugar thermometer) remove from the heat and keep stirring briefly just to stop it from catching on the bottom. (The pan will still be very hot.) Pour the thick mixture over the biscuit base, spread evenly and set aside to cool.

Whilst the caramel is setting, we need to make the topping.

Chocolate Topping

Break the chocolate into pieces and chop roughly. Either in a microwave or in a glass bowl set over a pan of barely simmering water, melt gently & stir until smooth and shiny.

If you want to temper your chocolate melt 3 quarters of it in a glass bowl over barely simmering water then heat gently to 45°C. Have a larger bowl/sink of cold water ready.

Once it reaches 45°C, remove from the heat and add in the remaining quarter of chocolate. Place the bowl into the cold water and keep stirring until the chocolate has cooled to 30°C. Be careful not to get any water in the bowl as the chocolate will seize and become unusable.

Pour this over the caramel layer and smooth it out evenly using the back of a wooden spoon.

If you have tempered your chocolate, allow to set completely at room temperature. If you put it in the fridge it will loose that lovely shine you worked so hard to keep. Alternatively, if you are impatient, like me, put it into the fridge to set faster before removing from the tray and cutting into 12 slices.

Peanut Butter and Chocolate Biscuit Bars

Hi everyone I'm back with another recipe and this one is super sickly and amazing and a perfect treat for the weekend! It's also very very easy to make!

Ingredients

200 grams of Digestive Biscutis (Crumbs)

200g Icing Sugar 

250g of Peanut Butter (Smooth or Crunchy is fine, I used a mixture)

225g Butter, metled

300g Chocolate (I used milk)

Method 

1. Mix together the digestive crumbs, melted butter, peanut butter and icing sugar. (The icing sugar is to taste and you may need less than the stated amount, so add this gradually and keep tasting!)

2. Pat the mixture into a greased brownie or cake tin.

3. Melt the chocolate and pour over the top of the mixture and pop into the fridge.

4. Once the chocolate has set on top make sure to cut the squares, you don't want to leave it in the fridge too long because it will become too hard to cut and be difficult to get out of the tin. I'd suggest storing them in a cake tin or tupperware rather than the fridge.

Enjoy! 

This recipe was my adaption of the following recipe...

 from http://allrecipes.co.uk/recipe/18871/no-bake-chocolate-peanut-butter-squares.aspx

Terry's Chocolate Orange Brownies

Hello everyone, thought I'd share this delightful recipe with you, this one is one of my own adaptation, I can't remember where I got the original one I adapted from though, my apologies! I have to say this is one of the most delightful brownies I've ever made and went down a massive treat!

Ingredients 

100g plain flour 

50g of caster sugar

200g dark chocolate

4 eggs

350g caster sugar

200g butter 

2 terry's chocolate oranges.

Method 

1. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius and line a brownie tin (you could use a cake tin), with greaseproof paper. Lots of butter could work too, however greaseproof paper is better.

2. Melt the butter and chocolate together in a bowl.

3.Whip the eggs and the caster sugar in a bowl until the mixture doubles in size (it should be meringue consistency) and add to the chocolate and butter mixture.

3. Sift together the flour and cocoa powder and add them to the bowl. 

4. Chop up one and a half of the terry's chocolate orange and pop them into the mix.

5. Spread the mixture evenly across the brownie tin, then line the remaining orange slices across the top.

6. Pop in the oven for 30-35 minutes, you can keep them in longer depending on how gooey you want the centre.

7. I pop mine in the fridge after they've cooled to help set the fudgy bits.

Enjoy! 

White Chocolate & Raspberry Cheesecake

One of my new favourite recipes and an easy modification of my basic cheesecake recipe!

Ingredients 

1 Large bar of White Chocolate
Squirty Raspberry Jam.

2 tubs of full fat cream cheese

1 Packet of HobNobs 

1 cup of butter (melted)

1 and 1/2 cups of icing sugar 

3 teaspoons of sugar

 

Method 

1. Start by bashing your hobnobs into crumbs making sure there's no big biscuit chunks and that you have a bowl of nice crumbly biscuit!

2. Add in the melted butter and sugar gradually and mix well, make sure the mixture looks damp throughout but not greasy and soaked, feel free to add more or less depending on how it looks. Pat this mixture into the bottom of a cake tin.

3. Add to the two tubs of cream cheese in a bowl and add in the icing sugar gradually staring until it tastes sweet, you may not need all of it its personal preference but its essential to use the icing sugar as it helps set the mixture.

4. Melt the chocolate and add gradually again this is to personal preference and depends on how chocolatey you like it at this point, so don't feel you need to add it all. I added little bits of jam into the mix to layer the flavouring throughout.

5.Add this on top of the crumb mixture and pop in fridge to set for two hours.

6. Use more jam to decorate the top.


Enjoy Everyone!

Winter Crumble Tart

Apologies for my lack of posting recently and for my inappropriateness of this recipe due to the time of year! Never the less, a lovey recipe taken from the lovely Mary Berry, the only thing I changed in this was that I used a lot less flour than suggested as the pastry was getting super dry!

Enjoy Baking! 

Ingredients

For the pastry

225g/8oz plain flour, plus extra for dusting

125g/4½oz chilled butter, cut into cubes

30g/1oz caster sugar

1 large free-range egg, beaten

For the filling

4 large Bramley apples (about 1.2kg/2lb 10oz), peeled, cored and cut into small chunks

150g/5½oz caster sugar

275g/10oz fresh blackberries

For the crumble topping

175g/6oz plain flour

100g/3½oz butter, at room temperature, cut into cubes

50g/1¾oz rolled oats

100g/3½oz demerara sugar

50g/1¾oz hazelnuts, roasted and chopped

custard or double cream, to serve

Method

1 Preheat the oven to 200C/180C Fan/Gas 6.

2 For the pastry, pulse the flour and butter in a food processor until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs (or rub the ingredients together in a large mixing bowl using your fingertips). 

3 Add the sugar, egg and 1-2 tablespoons of cold water and mix again until the mixture comes together as a smooth dough. 

4 Turn out the dough onto a lightly floured work surface and roll it out into a circle that's about 3mm thick and large enough to line the tart tin. Press the pastry into the base and sides of the tin and make a small lip around the top with the excess pastry. Prick the base all over with a fork, then chill in the fridge for 15 minutes. 

5 Line the chilled pastry case with baking paper and baking beans, then bake in the oven for 12-15 minutes, or until the lip of the pastry is light golden-brown. Remove the baking beans and paper, then reduce the oven temperature to 160C/140C Fan/Gas 3 and bake for a further 8-10 minutes, or until the pastry case is crisp and golden-brown all over. Set the pastry case aside in its tin to cool, leaving the oven on. 

6 For the filling, place the apples, sugar and 2 tablespoons of water in a large, deep, lidded saucepan and cook over a medium heat, stirring gently, for 4-5 minutes. Cover the pan with the lid and bring the mixture to a gentle simmer. Simmer, without stirring, for 5-10 minutes, or until the apples have softened but still retain their shape. 

7 Stir the blackberries into the cooked apples and continue to simmer for a further 5-10 minutes, or until all of the fruit is just tender. Set aside to cool.

8 Meanwhile, for the crumble topping, put the flour and butter into a large mixing bowl and rub the ingredients together using your fingertips, until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs. Add the remaining crumble topping ingredients and rub them into the mixture until small clumps have formed. (Alternatively, pulse all of the crumble topping ingredients in a food processor - there is no need to wash this out after making the pastry.) Set the crumble topping aside.

9 Suspend a colander over a bowl and strain the cooked fruits, collecting the juices. Spoon the fruits into the cooked pastry case. (If there is too much fruit to fit into the pastry case, add the remaining fruit to the reserved fruit juice.) 

10 Sprinkle the crumble topping all over the fruit filling and bake the tart at 200C/180C Fan/Gas 4 for 20-25 minutes, or until the crumble is crisp and golden-brown. 

11 Meanwhile, boil the reserved fruit juice in a saucepan for 3-4 minutes, or until thickened to a syrup. 

12 Serve the tart warm, in slices, with the extra fruit juice spooned over it and either custard or cream on the side.

Taken from - http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/winter_crumble_tart_74434