Apple Day

Caramelised apples

2 dessert apples or

1 large cooking apple

50g butter or dairy-free spread

2 heaped tbsp soft

Brown sugar

Cake Batter

250g butter or

Dairy-free spread

250g caster sugar

4 large eggs

2tbsp milk

225 gluten-free self-raising flour

1 tsp xanthan gum (omit if the flour blend you are using contains this)

1¹/₂ tsp gluten-free baking powder

1 tsp ground cinnamon

30g ground almonds

Heat oven to 190⁰ (fan oven 170⁰, gas mark 4/5)

Grease a 20cm (8”) cake tin – one without a removable base – and line the base with baking parchment

Caramelised apples

Peel, core, and slice the apples thinly.

Melt the butter or dairy-free spread and the sugar over a low heat. Once melted, let the mixture bubble for a few minutes, until it turns syrupy, Add the apple slices to the pan, and poach gently in the sugar syrup until soft. Don’t overdo this as it’s very easy to burn the apples! CR

Take the heat off the pan and leave to cool

Cake batter

Cream the butter, or dairy-free spread and sugar together until light and fluffy.

Add the eggs one at a a time, beating well between each egg. The mixture may separate slightly with the last egg, but don’t worry and keep on beating, Add the milk.

Sieve the flour, xantham gum (if needed), baking powder, cinnamon and ground almonds together and fold into the mixture.

Put the apples and syrup into the bottom of the cake tin and pour the cake batter on top.

Bake in the oven for 45-50 mins. Test with a sharp knife which should come out clean. If it comes out sticky bake for a further 5-10 minutes, and re-test.

Remove from oven and leave to cool in the tin for 10 minutes before turning out.

Serve warm or cold, on its own, or with cream, ice-cream, yoghourt, or non-dairy equivalents

Store in an air-tight tin.

Submitted by

Chris Ring

(thanks to Belper Library!)

The pastry

This amount is more than sufficient for the pie size described below.

8oz (250g) Self-raising flour

8oz (250g) Plain flour

4oz (125g) Butter

4oz (125g) Vegetable fat (E.g. Trex, Cookeen)

2-3 dessertspoons of cold water

The pie

4 medium or 3 large cooking apples (e.g. Bramley’s)

3 tablespoons caster sugar

2 dessertspoons cold water

The pastry

Take the plain flour and self-raising flour and place into a large bowl. Cut the butter and vegetable fat into ½” cubes and add to the bowl. Then using your fingertips rub the fats and flour together until most of the lumps of fat have gone and the mixture looks like breadcrumbs. Slowly add water, dessert spoon at a time, each time thoroughly mixing the pastry with a wide knife. Enough water has been added if no pastry sticks to the sides of the bowl, and if you scrunch the pastry together into a ball with your hands, the ball doesn’t crumble to bits if you drop it into the bowl from 3” height. Too much water and the ball will stick to your hands.

Take the ball of pastry and seal it in a plastic bag in the fridge for 30 minutes before using it.

The pie

Take a dish approx. 10”/25cm wide and 1.5”/4cm deep and grease with butter. Roll out just over half of the pastry made above to about 1/4“/6mm thick and line the bottom and sides of the dish with it. Do not trim the sides at this point. Peel, core & slice the apples and place them evenly in the pastry case, sprinkling in 1 tablespoon of caster sugar after each third of the total number of slices is added. Finally sprinkle the water over the top of the apples. Roll out the remainder of the pastry also to about 1/4“/6mm thick and place this on top of the apples. Trim the sides of the pie with a knife then crimp the top and bottom pastry edges together with a fork. Make a small steam hole in the pastry at the top of the pie and then, optionally, use the remaining pastry decorate around the steam hole with shapes (diamonds, leaves etc.) applying the shapes by dampening one side with a little water then placing the damp side onto the pastry where the decoration is to be placed.

Place the pie in the oven and cook for 30-40 minutes until golden brown. Turn the pie round in the oven 180⁰ after 15-20 minutes.

Submitted by

David Moreton

4 Pork steaks

6 Rashers unsmoked back bacon

1 Large onion

1 Large cooking apple (e.g. Bramley)

2 Dessertspoons of sugar

3oz/75g Butter

6 Dried juniper berries

1 Can dry cider

2 Large potatoes

Prewarm the oven to 160⁰C. Fry the pork steaks in a pan in 1oz butter over a medium heat, turning occasionally, until brown. Drain excess fat/water off if necessary.

While the pork is cooking, peel and core the apple and cut into ¼ “ cubes and place into the bottom of a casserole dish. Peel and do the same with the onion. Crush the juniper seeds with a weight and add these, along with the cider and sugar.

Grill the bacon until lightly brown on both sides and add this to the casserole dish followed by the pork when it is done. Peel the potatoes and slice approx. ½ “ thick and form a layer on the top of the casserole dish, pushing them in under the lip (if the dish has a lip) at the sides.

You may need peel and slice more potato in order to have a complete layer.

Take the lid of the casserole dish and trace round it on some greaseproof paper with a pencil. Cut out the greaseproof stencil of the lid, and smear on 2oz butter as evenly as you can. Place the buttered greaseproof stencil butter side down on the potatoes, ticking it in round the side of the dish if needs be. Add the lid and bake in the oven for 90 mins.

Submitted by

David Moreton

The pastry

4oz (100g) chilled butter, cubed

8oz (200g) plain white flour

1oz (25g) sifted icing sugar

1 extra large egg (beaten)

The filling

2 eggs

2 large cooking apples (Bramley’s)

2 dessert apples (e.g. Cox’s, Egremont Russets)

4oz (100g) caster sugar

1 large unwaxed lemon

2oz (50g) butter

1oz (25g) Demerara sugar

The pastry

Rub the butter into the flour and sugar using your fingertips. Once the mixture resembles breadcrumbs and there’s no visible lumps of butter, add the beaten egg and bring together the pastry with a wooden spoon. (You’ll see why you need a large egg – the pastry won’t hold together otherwise.) Scrunch up the pastry in your hands into a ball and put it in a sealed plastic bag in the fridge. The pastry is difficult to roll without falling apart unless you leave it in the fridge for 30 mins.

Take the pastry out of the fridge, leave it at room temperature for 30 mins, then roll out to about ¼” (6mm) thick. Grease a 10” diameter 1” deep pie dish with butter, and then line the dish with the pastry. Trim the sides and crimp the edges with a fork. Lightly prick the base of the pastry with a fork and put the dish into the fridge for 30 mins. Preheat the oven to 200°C/400°F/Gas mark 6.

The filling

Grate the yellow rind off the lemon using a fine grater into a bowl, followed by the juice of the lemon. Add the eggs and caster sugar then beat together ‘till well mixed. Gently melt the butter then add this too, and beat in. Peel and core the cooking apples, cut into quarters, and coarsely grate into the bowl.

Stir the mixture together with a wooden spoon. Take the pie dish out of the fridge and ladle the apple mixture into the pastry case. Smooth the mixture out with the back of a spoon. Peel and core the eating apples, cut into quarters, then slice thinly and arrange on the top of the tart in rings.

Sprinkle them evenly with the Demerara sugar then bake in the oven for 40 – 50 minutes or until the centre is firm (though not solid.)

Serve hot or cold, with ice cream, double cream, or custard.

Submitted by

David Moreton