May I introduce you to Apple Doodle? Thank you. We had this a lot during my childhood and I never tired of it. It’s a sponge sweetened with golden syrup and punctuated with the sharpness of Bramley apple;  served, of course, with lashings of Bird’s custard. The golden syrup adds a surprisingly significant extra layer of flavour to it – takes it from the standard baked sponge pudding to one with a real character.

First, cream your butter and sugar, then add 2 tbsp golden syrup and beat that in too.

Add 1 tbsp of your measured flour and two beaten eggs

Then fold in the remaining flour, apples and some lemon juice.

Looks a bit like culinary cement.

Into the bottom of your dish, put two tbsps golden syrup and spread it out a bit. Lick the spoon.

Spoon the thick mixture on top of the syrup and level the top off.

Bake for around 45 mins, until golden and smelling gorgeous.

Serve with a drowningly large portion of Birds’ Custard! Enjoy.

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Golden Syrup Apple Doodle

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2 large eggs, (weighed in their shells, weight noted), lightly beaten
same weight in self-raising flour
same weight in unsalted butter
same weight in caster sugar
2 medium cooking apples, peeled and chopped
1 dessertspoon lemon juice
4 heaped tbsp golden syrup

Preheat oven to GM4/180C/350F, also lightly grease an ovenproof dish

Put 2 tbsp golden syrup in the bottom of your dish.

Cream the butter and sugar, then beat in the remaining 2 tbsp golden syrup.
Add 1 tbsp of your flour and the beaten eggs.
Fold in the remaining flour, the chopped apples and lemon juice.

Put into dish and level the top.
Bake for around 45 mins, until golden and smelling gorgeous.

Serve with custard. Lots of it.

Never mind ‘Cream until fluffy’; maybe I should re-name my blog, ‘Crumble on everything’.

More Crumble. (Yay!)

I have a new, exciting love-affair with marzipan. I still don’t adore it in its usual, raw, out of the wrapper state and I shall probably continue to peel it – with the fondant icing – from my slice of Christmas cake, but cooked? Well, hello sailor.

So I had some cooking apples from Mum and Dad’s tree and was reaching for the frozen raspberries from our garden (how very ‘The Good Life’), when it hit me. Of course! Marzipan! Why didn’t I do this before? (Because I didn’t like it before, is the answer.) Exit stage right raspberries, and a spotlight for Marzipan! *the crowd goes wild*

I had another thought too. I don’t much like cherries, but if you do, try that! Marzipan and cherry sounds like a nice combination. Let me know, hey?

Preheat the oven to GM6/200C/400F  and grate around 160g Marzipan. Feel free to use more – I used that amount because that was all I had left. It could take up to 200g if you want more marzipan singing.

Then start on the crumble. Same blueprint as always – 140g unsalted butter rubbed into 200g plain flour.

Then stir in 80g light brown sugar

Into a buttered, ovenproof dish, put your peeled, chopped apples, 2-3 tbsp brown sugar and a handful of the 160g Marzipan that you have already grated

Stir the remaining Marzipan into the crumble

and spoon it over the apples. Worth noting that it wants to catch in the heat, so don’t go out of your way to expose it – hidden within the crumble is fine.

Bake for 30 mins, then reduce the heat to GM4/180C/350F and continue to bake for 15-25 mins. Check the fruit is soft, remove from the oven and let it sit and catch its breath before serving.

No photo of it served, I’m afraid. Too busy eating it.

Honesty is the best policy.

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Apple and Marzipan Crumble

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3 fill-your-hand-sized Cooking apples (Bramley), peeled and chopped

200g plain flour
140g unsalted butter
80g light brown sugar (plus some to sweeten the apples)
160g Marzipan, grated

Place the chopped apple in a buttered ovenproof dish. Sprinkle with 3 tablespoons light brown sugar and a handful of the grated marzipan.

Rub the butter into the flour and stir in the sugar.
Stir in the remaining Marzipan.

Scatter evenly over the apples.

GM6/400F/200C 30 mins, then reduce heat to GM4/350F/180C for a further 15-25 mins.

Serve with custard, ice cream, whatever floats your boat!

AKA how to use up the reduced items from the bakery that you bought and stashed in your freezer.

You have Ian to thank for this. He was supposed to go fishing, but the forecast was very, very wrong so when he arrived at the beach he decided against being drowned for the sake of a potential Dover Sole. I’m still undecided on that one because Dover Sole is extremely nice and arguably worth some level of sacrifice, but most importantly gives us the delicious opportunity to say ‘ahhhhhhhhhh … sole’  to each other quite a lot.
So you think that because he came home dejected and damp, I prepared him a bread and butter pudding? No.

He wasn’t alone on his return.
He had 2 boxes of frozen squid with him. Useless things; wouldn’t know one end of a hoover from the other, but they needed a home, well, a freezer for the night.
I rifled through the freezer, (good GRIEF we have a lot of berries, and some pork ribs that I have no memory of purchasing, ever) and found a little niche for them.
Only problem was, that spot had been inhabited by some croissants…oh dear… what to do…

So, I asked them, but they just said ‘meh’ and scowled at me – about as much use as the squid. Inflamed by this, I found 2 hot cross buns that had resided with us since Easter and left them all out to defrost.

Thanks Ian!

It doesn’t get much more Brit dish than this warm, spiced, silken, custard pudding.

Preheat oven to GM4/350F/180C
Butter an ovenproof dish – mine is about 9″ round and 4″ deep. If you like it more crispy than moist, use a longer, shallower dish.
Obviously, you can use any bread, pastry or patisserie item. Traditionally, stale bread was used.

—
Take 2 hot cross (or fruited) buns and 4 small croissants.

Slice the buns into 3 horizontally and the croissants in half.
Butter each slice.

Start to arrange the slices. Lay the first 3 slices of bun on the bottom of the dish and scatter with some raisins (I used around ¾ cup in total). Sprinkle with about ½ tbsp sugar.

On top of that, arrange 4 halves of croissant. Scatter with some raisins and another ½ tbsp sugar.

Another layer of 3 bun slices, raisins and sugar.

Finally, the last 4 halves of croissant, raisins and 1 tbsp sugar. You can cut these down a bit if you like a craggier, therefore more crispy, topping.

Whisk 3 eggs well with a fork in a large jug.

Slowly add 700ml or 24 fl oz milk, whisking to incorporate.

Pour this eggy milk mixture through a sieve on to the bread layers.

Sprinkle ¼ tsp mixed spice, 1 ½ tbsp sugar and a fine, even covering of nutmeg over the top.
Allow to stand for around 10 mins to allow it all to soak in.

Bake for 45-60 mins. Check after 45 mins, obviously. It should be just set, puffy and golden.

Let it catch its breath for 10 mins or so, then serve. Cold leftovers are pretty fabulous too.

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Hot Cross Croissant and Butter Pudding
or ‘how to use up leftover bakery items from your freezer’

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2 hot cross (or fruited) buns
4 small croissants
butter
4-5 tbsp sugar
3/4 cup raisins (optional, but if you don’t use them, I would increase the sugar)
3 eggs
700ml or 24fl oz milk
¼ tsp mixed spice
scrape of nutmeg

Preheat oven to GM4/350F/180C
Butter an ovenproof dish – mine is about 9″ round and 4″ deep. If you like it more crispy than moist, use a longer, shallower dish.
Obviously, you can use any bread, pastry or patisserie item. Traditionally, stale bread was used.

Slice the hot cross buns horizontally into 3 slices.
Slice the croissants in half horizontally.
Butter each slice.

Start to arrange the slices. Lay the first 3 slices of bun on the bottom of the dish and scatter with some of the raisins. Sprinkle with about ½ tbsp sugar.
On top of that, arrange 4 halves of croissant. Scatter with some raisins and another ½ tbsp sugar.
Another layer of 3 bun slices, raisins and sugar.
Finally, the last 4 halves of croissant, raisins and 1 tbsp sugar.

Whisk the eggs well with a fork in a large jug. Slowly add the milk, whisking to incorporate.
Pour the eggy milk through a sieve over the pastry layers.
Sprinkle the mixed spice, 1 ½ tbsp sugar and a covering of nutmeg over the top.
Allow to stand for around 10 mins to allow it all to soak in.

Bake for 45 – 60 mins until set, puffy and browned.

Let it catch its breath for 10 mins or so, then serve. Cold leftovers are pretty fabulous too.

Tangy, zesty, sweet, voluptuous lemon curd. Friend to families across the ages. Too poetic? Maybe, but it’s so easy to make and doesn’t so much knock the shop-bought stuff out of a cocked hat, so much as push it over and laugh at it. It stores for a good 3 weeks in the fridge, so it makes sense to make it. I bought really good shop stuff for my lemon and sultana buns, but one reminding taste of the home made stuff and I’m reassured that it is no substitute for the real thing. Spread on a slice of brioche, it is unbeatable.

In a small saucepan, and on a very low heat, put 2 oz unsalted butter.

Once it has melted, add 4oz sugar

and the zest and juice of 2 plump and large, or in my case, 4 small and miserable lemons.

Put 2 eggs and 1 extra egg yolk in a bowl and beat them well.

Add the eggs to the saucepan and stir in thoroughly. Taste it to make sure it’s sweet enough. I ended up adding nearly another ounce of sugar, but my lemons were particularly mean and spiteful.

Stir over the lowest of low heats and don’t let the mixture bubble at all during this process, or you will end up with scrambled eggs. If you get a scary moment – like a white piece of egg – whip the pan off the heat and beat it like a maniac. Try not to cry though – that would be a step too far.
It’s ready when the mixture coats a spoon; that is, dip the spoon in to the curd

and draw a line, with your finger, down the back of it and the clean line remains,then you’re there.

Pour into a bowl, cool and put in the fridge. It will thicken as it cools.
Keep it in a jar or sealed container in the fridge for about 3 weeks – if you can keep it that long.

Spread it on bread,

or add to whipped cream, use as a filling for a cake – the list goes on.

One word of advice though – don’t just cover it with clingfilm. I have done that in the past and every time I go to the fridge there’s a hole where a 4 yr-old’s finger has been inserted and licked. I am confident that the finger will not have been sanitised before or after this quick taster and more to the point, there’s no way of knowing how many times that finger went from mouth to lemon curd. *shudder*

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Lemon Curd

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2oz unsalted butter
4-5oz sugar (add 4oz, then check sweetness as it cooks)
zest and juice of 2 large, or 3-4 small, miserable lemons
2 eggs and 1 egg yolk, beaten

In a small saucepan, and on a very low heat, melt the butter.
Add the sugar, zest and juice.

Add the eggs and stir in thoroughly. Taste it to make sure it’s sweet enough.

Stir over the lowest of low heats and don’t let the mixture bubble at all during this process, or you will end up with scrambled eggs. If you get a scary moment – like a white piece of egg – whip the pan off the heat and beat it like a maniac. Try not to cry though – that would be a step too far.
It’s ready when the mixture coats a spoon; that is, when you dip the spoon in to the curd and draw a line, with your finger, down the back of it and the clean line remains,then you’re there.

Pour into a bowl, cool and put in the fridge. It will thicken as it cools.
Keep it in a jar or sealed container in the fridge for about 3 weeks – if you can keep it that long.

Spread on bread, add to whipped cream, use as a filling for a cake – the list goes on.

Morning, steeping fruit and sugar! Sleep well? My, haven’t you grown? You’re looking a bit swollen, love.

Best make you into a tea loaf then.

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Preheat oven to GM3/160C/325F and line a 2lb loaf tin with baking parchment.

Add 1 tbsp oil

and beat an egg really well, then pour that in

and stir it well

then add 2 cups of self-raising flour and mix that in thoroughly too.

Spoon the mixture into your lined 2lb tin

Put into the oven and bake.

Mine took 1hr 15mins, but I always, always check it at the 1 hr mark. Check to see if it’s done using a wooden toothpick; clean is good.

Mmmmm.

*sniff* MMMMmmm

Cool in the tin. When fully cooled, keep in the paper and wrap in clingfilm. It really does need to sit until tomorrow – you’ll do it no favours by cutting it now – let it get squidgy.

Tomorrow, you can start cutting slices off. Spread with a little butter if you like. It freezes well, so bear that in mind too!

Now this IS a traditional British recipe – the cold tea loaf; a good keeper, moist, fruity, delicious and very low fat. What’s not to like?

This is in 2 parts simply because before you fling together the ingredients, you first have to soak your dried fruit in cold tea.

Make 1 cup (250 ml) of strong tea – I use 2 teabags. Let it stew and then remove the teabags and allow to cool.

Meanwhile, measure a lightly packed cup of light brown sugar. I use Waitrose’s own light brown sugar because it is much darker and more treacle-y than other brands. If you can’t get it, consider using ¾ light brown and ¼ dark brown sugar. Add that to the bowl and quickly stir together.

Measure 1 lb of dried fruit. This can be raisins or sultanas or a mixture of both. I like to use about 7 oz of raisins, 7 oz of sultanas and 2 oz dates. Cut the dates up so they are nearer the size of the raisins and sultanas. Put into a medium bowl.

Once the tea is cold, pour it over the fruit and sugar and stir briefly again

Cover with clingfilm and leave out overnight.

Night night.

By the way, to make the loaf tomorrow, we need 2 cups self-raising flour, 1 egg and 1 tbsp oil. And a 2lb loaf tin to cook it in.

The rest tomorrow!

Here’s part two

Ian’s Mum is overloaded with windfall pears, so we helpfully brought a bag of them home with us. I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do with them so poached them and had a think whilst they rested in the fridge. I also had 4 peaches that were looking at me with attitude.

What to do.

I had loads of recipes for what is in essence a sponge/pound cake hybrid with fruit chucked in, but they all had one thing in common – best served warm. Now anything is better warm; chocolate, bread, your dinner, your body….

… but if a cake is BEST warm, that indicates to me that as far as cakes go, it isn’t going to be a great recipe. Not only that, it also means that tomorrow, that cake is going to be soggy and that’s just unpleasant.

So I thought, well better do a dessert then. Couldn’t be bothered with pastry, had discarded the cakey-pudding concept, so that left me with crumble.

We like crumble. The best part about crumble is the crumble, but pears and peaches are pretty marvellous too.

If you’re not feeling a peach vibe, check out my Pear and raspberry Crumble…

So I had my dodgy peaches

My poached pears

Butter an oven proof dish and chuck in the fruit, then add a couple of tblsp of maple syrup

and a couple tblsp light brown sugar, then stir it all around

Then to the crumble.

Rub 140g unsalted butter into 200g plain (all purpose) flour, then stir in 100g light brown sugar.

Using a spoon, sprinkle this over the fruit

don’t press it in, just sprinkle until you get a good, evenish, thick covering

keep going; we like our crumble substantial – it’s much deeper than a ‘crisp’. I love it when bits seep down the side.

In a preheated oven GM6/200C/400F for about 35 mins. If your fruit is underripe, be prepared to wait nearer an hour. No two apples cook the same way. Or pears or peaches.

Serve hottish-warm with custard, cream or ice cream.

You can chill it and re-heat the next day, but be sure to cover the top with foil for its second blast in the oven. Likewise, you could freeze it, then defrost and re-heat. A nice way to keep Summer flavours for the long Winter months.

Have a look too at my recipe for Pear and Raspberry Crumble.

Fruit variations:
traditional cooking Brambley apple, with a hint of clove and/or cinnamon
pears
add blackberries, blueberries or raspberries to any of the main fruits
peaches alone
plums
damsons (if they’re not horridly bitter, or if that doesn’t bother you)
Remember to increase the sugar over the fruit. The fruit I used was poached and the peaches very ripe. For something like apples or raw pears, I would use  1/4 cup light brown sugar over the fruit before adding the crumble.

Pear and Peach Crumble

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3 peaches, peeled, stoned and sliced
4 large pears, peeled, cored and chunked
2 tblsp maple syrup
2 tbsp light brown sugar (increase as necessary)

(or any variation of fruit and quantity of,for that matter)

200g (1 and 3/4 cups) plain flour
140g (5 oz, 1 and 1/4 sticks) unsalted butter
100g (1/2 cup, firmly packed) light brown sugar

Preheat oven to GM6/200C/400F

Prepare your fruit and tumble it into a well buttered ovenproof dish. Add the maple syrup and sugar; stir to mix.
(it’s worth noting here that my pears were already poached and sweetened and the peaches were perfectly ripe and sweet; had they not been, I would have used more like 1/4 cup of light brown sugar over them)

In a large bowl, rub the butter into the flour until crumbly, then stir in the sugar.
Using a spoon, scatter the crumble topping over the fruit – don’t press it down – evenly.

Put dish into oven and bake for around 35 mins. If your fruit is on the hard side, this could take around 50 – 60 mins.
Feel free to increase the crumble quantity – just keep the proportions the same. Unlike a crisp, the crumble topping is deeper, so you want a blanket of it.

Serve hottish-warm with custard, cream or ice cream. You can chill it and re-heat the next day, but be sure to cover the top with foil for its second blast in the oven. Likewise, you could freeze it, then defrost and re-heat. A nice way to keep Summer flavours for the long Winter months.

Fruit variations:
traditional cooking Brambley apple, with a hint of clove and/or cinnamon
pears
add blackberries, blueberries or raspberries to any of the main fruits
peaches alone
plums
damsons (if they’re not horridly bitter, or if that doesn’t bother you)
Remember to increase the sugar over the fruit.

When life throws you milk, make rice pudding.

Browsing through the supermarket, I happened upon a single bottle of milk.
Rah-rah, you think. But it wasn’t just a bottle of milk… oh no, it was Gold Top; that is the creamiest milk you can get your hands on. A blend of milk from Jersey and Guernsey cows, it is little more than cream dressed up in a milk dress.

And it was reduced (it’s posing with its friend, the pudding rice).

I don’t buy it as a rule, because with the amount of coffee we drink, we would surely be propelled to alarming proportions if we went through that stuff the way we go through semi-skimmed, but one lonely bottle. I couldn’t bear to contemplate its fate if someone else bought it.
It was worth more than a gluttonous sloshing over some cornflakes.
So I had a chat with it, give it a name and brought it home.
The boy on the checkout started talking about philosophy and the economy, so all in all, quite a weird shopping experience.

So I got out my beloved ovenproof le Creuset and gave it a good buttering.

Into that I flung 3.5oz pudding rice and 3.5 tblsp caster sugar.

Then the milk. Glug, glug, glugged that over.
Then to the nutmeg. I love nutmeg and I love its little grater with the storage bit in the top for the nutmeg.

It was my Grandad’s. I’m thinking either nutmegs have increased dramatically in size since this was created, or they found out after the first lot came off the presses that there was no nutmeg in the world that would fit in there until half its face had been shaved off, but they thought ‘bugger it’ and churned them out anyway.
Tsk.
So I gave that a good rasping over the top, just to try and get it into its little holder on top.

Still tutting, I put it into the oven (GM3/160C/325F) for an hour. Then I went upstairs and doused the bathroom in limelite and Ian came upstairs to ask me a) why the kitchen was so hot and b) why the timer was beeping.
So I patiently explained that it was hot because the top oven was on and that I was cooking a rice pudding.
Alex then asked what ‘that delicious smell was?’ and its a miracle I actually got past this Spanish inquisition to stir the rice pudding. No-one expects the Spanish Inquisition.
I stirred it, then reduced the heat to GM2/150C/300F and put it in for another hour.
Look. Bronzed and billowing,

but underneath, creamy, glistening and unctuous.

About as traditional a British pudding as you get. Treat yourself. The milk is worth it.

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Rice Pudding

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1 litre gold top milk (or whole milk)
3.5 oz pudding rice
3.5 tblsp caster sugar
nutmeg, to scrape over the pudding

Preheat the oven to GM3/160C/325F
Butter an ovenproof dish (mine measures 10″x7″ and is 2″ deep)
Put the pudding rice and sugar into it and pour the milk over. Lightly stir to combine a little.
Scrape a nutmeg over the top to give a good covering.

Put into the oven for 1 hr. Stir.
Reduce the heat to GM2/150C/300F and cook for another hour.

Remove from oven, allow to cool a little before serving. Can also be enjoyed cold.

For a smaller amount (why?), the quantities are:
1 pint (20 fl oz) milk
2oz pudding rice
2 tblsp sugar

NB. The UK pint = 20 fl oz
The US pint = 16 floz