Norwegian Apple Cake

Had 9 cooking apples from my brother so this is the first apple item. I substituted ground almonds for the toasted ones and added an extra egg. Picture from original recipe as my cake is going into the deep freeze.

1 Egg
2 Tbs Milk

1/2 Cup (100g) Castor sugar

1 Tsp Pure vanilla extract

1 Tsp Baking powder
1 Tsp Ground cinnamon

1/3 Tsp Allspice

1 Cup All-purpose flour

50g Chopped almonds toasted

3 Medium-sized tart apples

1. Preheat the oven to 180° C (350° F), line a 18cm (7-inch) spring form cake pan with baking paper and then butter it.

2. Peel, core, and dice the apples.

3. Stir all the ingredients together (the mixture will be similar to that of muffins).

4. Spread into the pan.

5. Bake for 50-60 minutes, or until browned and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

6. After 1 minutes, run delicately a knife along the side of cake to loosen, then remove from the side of spring form pan.
7. Place a cooling rack upside down over the cake. Turn rack and cake over. Remove the bottom as well as the baking paper of the spring form pan. Place back on the rack.
8. Cool completely before serving.

Cuban Sliders

These were a real success but I did not add the minced onion:)

·         12 pack of snack rolls

·         1 package of 12 slices ham lunch meat

·         1 package of 6 slices of swiss cheese halved

·         Horseradish sauce

·         dill pickles

Dijon Spread

·         1 tablespoon minced onion

·         2oz of melted butter

·         1 tbsp brown sugar

·         1 tablespoons dijon mustard

·         2 tsp poppy seeds (optional)

INSTRUCTIONS

1.      Preheat oven to 325 degrees Gas 5

2.      Grease 9x13 baking pan

3.      Cut the rolls in half removing the top and placing the bottom of the rolls in the baking pan and spreading with horseradish sauce. Layer the meat, cheese, and pickles. Place the top of the rolls on top.

Dijon Spread

1.      Whisk together the butter and the dijon mustard. Add in the minced onion and stir. With a spoon pour the dijon spread over the top of the rolls and re-frigerate for a couple of hours.

2.      Cover the sliders with foil and bake for 15 minutes.

3.      Remove the foil and continue to bake for an additional 10 minutes or until the rolls are a toasted brown.

4.       Cut the sliders and remove from the baking pan. Enjoy!

Jaffa Slice

A combination of 2 recipes - Slimming World Orange Cake and The Giant Jaffa

For the Cake
2 eggs, separated
25g/1oz golden caster sugar
75g/2 1/2oz self-raising flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tbsp finely grated orange zest
juice of 1 oranges
Apricot Jam
40g Dark Chocolate
3 tsp greek yogurt
Orange Jelly

1. Preheat the oven to 190°C/Gas 5. Line a loaf cake tin with non-stick baking parchment.

2. Place the egg yolks, caster sugar, sweetener, self-raising flour, baking powder and orange zest and juice in a bowl and whisk until thick and pale.

3. In a separate bowl, whisk the egg whites until softly peaked then fold them into the egg yolk mixture. Spoon this mixture into the prepared cake tin and cook in the oven for 25-30 minutes or until the cake is risen and firm to the touch. Leave to cool.

4. Cover the loaf tin with cling filn

5. Make up the jelly with 1/2 pint liquid and leave to cool in the loaf tin

6. Cut the cake in half; spread thinly with apricot jam and place the jelly in the middle

7. Melt the chocolate and mix with the yogurt; spread on the orange slice

Moussaka with Courgette & Mushrooms

Instead of aubergine the moussaka has mushrooms and courgette - very tasty; this amount serves 2.

200 g Lean Beef Mince
100 g button mushrooms sliced
1/2 courgette sliced or chopped
1/2 tin chopped tomatoes (I used some of my frozen ones)
2 tbsp tomato ketchup
2 tsp worcester sauce
pinch of garlic granules
1/4 pint stock (I used a Beef oxo )
1 large potato
1/2 Egg
3 tbsp zero fat Greek yogurt
50 g grated cheese (I used cheddar & mozzarella)

1. Thinly slice the potato and boil in salted water for 10 minutes
2. Season the mince with salt, pepper and garlic and fry till brown
3. Add the tomatoes, ketchup, worcester sauce and stock and cook for 5 minutes
4. Add the mushrooms and courgette and cook for 5 minutes
5. If sauce is too thin thicken with gravy granules
6. Place meat in oven proof dish and top with drained potatoes
7. Mix beaten egg, yogurt, cheese and place on top of potato
8. Cook in oven Gas 5 Fan 160 for 25-30 minutes till top nice and brown

Recipe adapted from WeightLossResources (WLR)

Pickled Onions

You know Christmas is coming as soon as you do these. In the shops around 20th October as we always did pickling in half-term week:)

3 lb Onions (Topped, tailed & skinned)

2 pints water to 2 tbsp Salt

1.   Leave to soak overnight > 18-24 hours

2.   Rinse and place in sterilised jars with handful of pickling spice and malt vinegar

Cream Scones

Only 3 ingredients and smell good :)

• 1 1/2 cups of self raising flour
• 1/2 cup of thickened cream
• 1/2 cup of lemonade (like Sprite)

1. Preheat oven to 200 °C (400 °F).
2. Place flour in a large mixing bowl.
3. Add cream and lemonade and mix to combine.
4. Turn the mixture out onto a well-floured board and knead with extra flour until smooth (mixture is very sticky initially).
5. Use your hand to flatten the scone dough out to about 2 -3 cm (1 inch) thick and then cut into rounds with floured scone cutter (Makes around 10)
6. Place scones onto a lined baking tray so that they are just touching and then bake for 15 to 20 minutes.
7. Scones are cooked when they are golden brown

Cheats Rum Babas

Based on John Torodes easy rum baba - was very moorish :) I tried to cut down on the sugar in the rum syrup and just used 50g dark brown and some arrowroot to thicken.

For the rum syrup:

·         150 g sugar

·         150 ml dark rum

Chantilly cream:

·         200 ml double cream

·         1 tsp vanilla essence

·         2 tbsp caster sugar

6 PLAIN doughnuts

1. For the rum syrup: Put the sugar and 750ml water in a pan over heat, stirring regularly. Once the sugar has dissolved, add the rum. 

2. For the chantilly cream: In a bowl, mix the cream with the caster sugar and the vanilla. Whisk together until the consistency reaches soft peaks. 

3. For the doughnuts: Drop the doughnuts into the hot syrup and using tongs, turn them so that they absorb the liquid. Place the doughnuts on a plate. Drizzle the rum syrup over the top (you can thicken with arrowroot if preferred) and use two spoons to form the cream into 2-3 dollops to place on top. Decorate with fruit and serve.