Tag: Desert

Quick Apple Strudel just for two

Quick Apple Strudel 

Is it just me or does the winter season make you think of a warm pudding too?

At our house we have really tried hard to eliminate those dreadful carbs during the week day evening meals – no mashed potatoes or roast potatoes for us. Instead of spaghetti noodles I am diligently making courgette zoodles and proclaiming them to be just as nice. And for the most part with a very tasty sauce they really are pretty good.

Definitely no pudding for either of us either as we try very hard to be good and consider our diet. A nice cup of tea with no cookie is as good as it gets.

However after several carb-free dinners, and another cold wet winters day, avoiding the call of a hot pudding was too much to resist! Talk about comfort food cravings 🙂 I had left home in the dark to ensure I avoided the worst of the Auckland traffic whichususally grinds to a slow halt when the weather is bad (which it was..) By the time I got home in the evening it was, you guessed it, dark and still raining.

It was like an emergency moment in time; What ingredients were in the pantry that I could rustle up a hot and yummy pudding with? Ah! A tin of apples, dried fruit, a drawer of spices, dried fruit and some filo pastry – I knew these few things alone could create something that would not only taste divine but create an aroma that would make you forget your diet 🙂

Ingredients:

  • 3 sheets of filo pastry
  • 1/4 cup soft breadcrumbs
  • 1 x 415grams apple slices
  • 1/4 cup sultanas
  • 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
  • 1/4 teaspoon mixed spice
  • 1/2 tablespoon melted butter
  • 1/2 teaspoon icing sugar

Mix apple, sultanas, ground cloves, mixed spice together.

Lay pastry sheets under a damp tea-towel, sprinkling breadcrumbs between each sheet.

Spread apple mixture down centre of pastry to within 3 cm of the ends. Mix melted butter and icing sugar together and brush around edges of pastry. Roll one long end of pastry layer over filling and roll as far a sponge. Place on a baking tray.

Brush with remaining butter mixture. Slash the strudel top with a knife.

Bake for 15-20 minutes at 200 C or until pastry is lightly golden and cooked.

Serve warm with a dollop of something low-fat!

Using filo pastry should be considered a low-fat option when it comes to pastry. It is a great option to be fair and you don’t lose anything with the flavour with the crunchy texture more than making up for taking the healthier option. Filo, which means ‘leaf’ in Greek, tissue-thin sheets of dough that have very little fat. Because it does not have much fat, the sheets are usually brushed with melted butter or oil and then layered together. When it bakes up, the layers get airy, crisp and flaky.

Quick, easy and very scrummy – this is a dish that makes the traditional Apple Strudel acheiveable any week night for the family. The children will enjoy it, and they can indulge with a nice smooth custard sauce. You and me?  Well it’s a nice dollop of low fat Greek yoghurt 🙂

Happy strudelling xx

 

 

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Delicious Moist Apple & Walnut Cake

I have been caught out! The ‘chief tester’ has just worked out that I ‘bake to blog’….. he thought I baked for him! Oh dear 🙂

The truth is that with no teenage boys at home there is little need to keep the Tupperware full of homemade treats. When there is a school lunch box to fill up 5-days a week there was always a need for fresh Muffins, Banana Cake and Chocolate Chip cookies. The ‘chief tester’ and I sure don’t need the extra calories either 🙂

I do look out for occasions when I have the excuse to bake something yummy – you know the times? If you know for sure that you will have a visitor in advance of them ‘popping in’…..or it’s the ‘chief tester’s’ birthday!

This recipe for an Apple & Walnut Cake actually came from one of those forward notices of a visitor. The ‘chief tester’ had mentioned he was seeing his youngest daughter on Monday for a catch-up. To give you some background his youngest lives locally and is a mum to a little 15month old daughter. I naturally assumed the ladies would be popping over and thought I would have a nice home-made cake to offer up with that coffee – well something for the grown-ups anyway. A packet of Milk Arrowroots in the pantry, and apples in the fruit bowl would suffice the little lady!

This cake is super nice warm dusted with icing sugar however is also good the next day. The apples keep it moist and the spices make the aroma rather mouth-watering.

Ingredients:

  • 125g butter
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 1 egg
  • 2 tsp mixed spice
  • 1 tsp cinnamon
  • 2 medium apples, chopped (skin on)
  • 1 1/2 cups flour
  • 1/2tsp baking soda
  • 1/2 cup walnuts, chopped
  • 1/2 cup golden raisins

Melt the butter in a microwave bowl – add sugar, egg and spices and beat with a wooden spoon until evenly mixed

Chop the apples into small pieces the size of raisins; stir into the butter mix

Sift the flour and baking soda into the bowl – add in the walnuts and raisins, and fold together

Line a 20cm round tin with baking paper, then spoon the cake mix into the tin, spreading it out evenly.

Bake for 35-40 minutes at 180c if using a fan oven (190c for normal bake). Cake is cooked when the centre. Springs back when pressed and a skewer in the centre comes out clean.

Serve warm dusted with icing sugar.

But back to the story of the visitors and the reason for the baking….turns out the ‘chief tester’ headed out for that coffee and we had to eat the cake for desert that night…with a dollop of unsweetened yoghurt on the side!

Perhaps that was his plan after all? After all if the blogging comes before the baking he needs all the reasons he can come up for the baking to come first!!

Happy baking xx

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Queen of Puddings

Winter Dessert – the ‘Queen of Puddings’!

This is another delicious option for a winter dessert– what makes it a little different is the custard is inside the pudding rather than on top. Raspberry jam is always popular with the children and they will love the meringue topping 🙂

Queen of puddings.png
Winter dessert that is sure to impress & delight the family

Serves 4

Ingredients:
6 (1kg) granny smith apples, peeled, quartered, cored, roughly chopped
2 tbsp caster sugar, plus 1 cup, extra
1 cup thick custard
1 cup raspberry jam
4 egg whites

  1. Preheat oven to 180˚C.
  2. Place apples in a saucepan over medium-high heat with 2 tbsp sugar and ¹/₃ cup water. Stir until sugar has dissolved and mixture comes to the boil. Cover and simmer 
for 8 minutes or until apples are tender. Drain. Set aside to cool.
  3. Combine apples and custard in a bowl.
  4. Transfer to a 5-cup capacity shallow heatproof dish. Spoon jam over apple mixture and gently spread.
  5. Beat eggwhites in a bowl until soft peaks form. Slowly add extra sugar, 1 tbsp at a time, beating well after each addition until mixture is stiff, thick and glossy.
  6. Spoon meringue onto dessert. Bake for 10 minutes or until meringue is light golden.

For a change, I make this in individual baking dishes – it presents nicely for dinner guests!

Happy baking xx

 

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Apple Sponge for dessert…

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Hot Apple Sponge – just like mum made it 🙂

Edmonds
A NZ Classic Cookbook

There is nothing like a change in the weather to make me head for the Edmonds cookbook and an old favourite recipe to warm the family’s tummies.

The Edmonds Cook can be found in nearly all homes in NZ – a cook book filled with instructions on how to cook almost everything – and in our combined household we have 4! Yes, I know, who needs  four of these little gems? Along with the 5 pets, 7 sofas, and 3 refrigerators – we do!

For those of you with children of any age, this is a great way to get extra fruit eaten, and to fill those hollow teenage legs!

When I was a child, my mother would serve this with a splash of cold milk, and if we really fortunate silky custard. Either way it is an easy dessert for these cooler nights. Give it a go, the family will love it!

Ingredients:

  • 2 cups hot stewed fruit
  • 125 g butter
  • 1/2 tsp vanilla essence
  • 1/2 cup sugar
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 cup flour
  • 2 tsp baking powder
  • 2 tbsp milk
  1. Put butter, vanilla and sugar into a bowl and beat until pale and creamy.
  2. Beat in eggs one at a time, beating well. Next add flour and baking powder and beat well.
  3. The mixture should be smooth and thick. Add the milk and mix to combine (this changes to consistency to the same as a pancake mix).
  4. Pour the sponge mix over the hot fruit and bake for 35 minutes at 190c. The sponge is cooked when the top bounces back when lightly touched.
  5. Serve hot dusted with icing sugar.

(Stewing apples is really easy – peel, core and quarter 6 Granny Smith apples. Pop into a pot with a tablespoon of water and 2 tablespoons of sugar – cook for about 15 minutes – apples will be soft but not mushy)

Happy cooking & eating  xx

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banana & pistachio rolls…

Are you looking for something sweet but not too sweet? Quick and easy to make? And a different enough to impress dinner guests?

This desert recipe will have them coming back for more I promise – even those dieting guests who we cooks love to hate 🙂

 Ingredients to serve 4

  • 6 sheets of filo pastry
  • 50g melted butter
  • 1 teaspoon cinnamon
  • 2 teaspoons brown sugar
  • 1 cup finely chopped pistachios
  • 4 bananas  – straight ones are easier to work with!
  • honey to serve
  • Natural thick greek yogurt to serve
  1. Preheat your oven to 180°c.
  2. Lay one sheet of filo on the bench & brush with melted butter. Repeat with the another two(2) layers of filo pastry. Repeat with the other three (3) sheets of filo. Cut in half so you have 4 large squares each three (3) sheets thick.
  3. Brush the top layer of filo with melted butter, sprinkle with the cinnamon and brown sugar, and the sprinkle over the pistachios.
  4. Place each banana, widthways in the middle of each filo square. Do what you have to bend the banana to fit 🙂 Firmly roll the pastry around the banana, making sure no pistachios escape!
  5. Place the rolls on a lined baking tray (I always use baking paper) with the pastry seam underneath. Brush with melted butter and bake for about 20 minutes or until golden and crisp.
  6. Drizzle over honey and more pistachios. Serve rolls hot with a spoonful of yoghurt or if you are being indulgent and not watching the waistline a scoop of vanilla ice-cream.

File 8-03-16, 7 39 50 PM

If you have not used filo pastry before this is a good recipe to try it out on. Filo is a healthier option  – and it cooks up really crunchy and is just plain yum! 

Happy Baking xx

 

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