Apple, Sultana and Cinnamon Scones

Throughout this whole month I’ve been planning to make scones for Tea Time Treats but haven’t been able to decide what type to make.  My favourite scones have always been cheese scones, but I wanted to make fruit scones for a change.   As I haven’t made fruit scones before I didn’t go for an unusual combination, just good old apple, sultana and cinnamon.   Of course, they had to have cinnamon in.   I love cinnamon in cakes and desserts and it is wonderful with both apple and sultanas.    Not only that, as these are baking you get a lovely cinnamon smell in the kitchen.   The end result is a very moist scone due to the apple, which you can’t really taste but it definitely affects the texture.  They are best served warm with a little melted butter or, my favourite way to eat them, with a little raspberry jam and a dollop of natural yoghurt.    Even my husband enjoyed them and he doesn’t usually like things with sultanas.   Should I admit I was slightly disappointed there wasn’t a little pile of extracted sultanas left on the side of his plate for me to eat? He couldn’t help himself from asking if I could make them with chocolate chips in next time though!

I am sending this to Tea Time Treats hosted by Karen at  Lavender and Lovage and Kate at What Kate Baked.

I am also linking to Sweets for a Saturday.

Ingredients – makes 8

250g self-raising flour

25g sugar

1 tsp cinnamon

1 apple

50g sultanas (or raisins)

130ml milk

How to Make Apple, Sultana and Cinnamon Scones

1. Sift the flour and cinnamon into a mixing bowl.   Add the sultanas and sugar.

2. Peel the apple and core it.   Grate it and add it to the flour as well.  Mix all the ingredients together.

3. Begin adding the milk.  You may need a little more or less than I used.   Add about two thirds and mix it in with a knife.  Then keep adding a little more until you get a soft but not too sticky dough.  If it gets too sticky add a little extra flour.

4. Kneed the dough gently on a floured work surface for a couple of minutes.

5. Flatten the dough so it is about 2cm thick and circular.   Slice into 8 portions.   Place on a baking tray lined with baking parchment and bake in the oven for about 12-15 minutes at 200C.

6. Let the scones cool on a wire rack.

 

Coconut and Apple Rice Pudding

I hadn’t eaten rice pudding for a long long time, probably not since I was a child when my mum used to sometimes make it.    It wasn’t really a favourite pudding and I can’t quite remember how she used to do it – another sign it wasn’t one of my favourites.     Anyway, however it was made, I’m certain it didn’t contain any spices, and spices are what I believe can make such a big difference  to this type of pudding.   When deciding how to make it, I was wavering between two ideas – this one, and cardamom, dried fruit and pistachio.    Maybe that’s one for another day!   In the end this one won out as I had some apples in and also some leftover coconut milk, not quite as much as I wanted though, which was where the dessicated coconut idea originally came in.   I also had difficulty getting pudding rice.   It appears that no-one in the UK makes rice pudding from scratch any more as the supermarkets seem to sell a whole array of different types of rice as well as tins of rice pudding, but no actual rice to make the rice pudding with.  After looking at the rice in my cupboards I decided risotto rice would be more creamy and so more suitable than basmati rice.  Now, I know I’m giving the impression that this was just thrown together out of leftovers, but even so, it was pretty good.     The risotto rice, apple and dessicated coconut meant it had some nice texture to it, but it was still a little creamy.    I’ll definitely keep a look out for pudding rice though, and when I find some,  I’ll continue my experiments with rice pudding.

I am submitting this to Sugar High Fridays, which was started by Jennifer, The Domestic Goddess.   This month it is hosted by Rose of Magpie’s Recipes and the theme is rice.

Ingredients – Serves 2

1 tbsp risotto rice

50ml coconut milk

1 tbsp dessicated coconut

1 apple

1 tbsp sugar

1/2 tsp cinnamon

20g butter

How to make Coconut and Apple Rice Pudding

1. Pour a little boiling water onto the dessicated coconut and leave to soak.  Peel and core the apple and dice into small cubes.

2. Melt the butter in  a small saucepan.   Add the apple.   Cook for a couple of minutes then add the rice.   Stir till the rice is translucent then add the sugar and cinnamon, followed by the coconut milk and water containing the dessicated coconut.

3.  Simmer very gently, stirring every so often until the rice is soft and the pudding creamy.

 

Cinnamon Swirls

One of my favourite sweet treats is cinnamon rolls.   I love cinnamon and sugar.  To me it is far better than chocolate.   Absolute heaven.   So when I was paired with No Reason Needed for this month’s Taste and Create, I was immediately grabbed by this recipe.  Of course I looked through the site at other recipes, thinking I should really make something savoury, but I kept going back to this recipe.   In the end I decided that I should follow my cravings and I’m glad I did.   These rolls are very sweet but absolutely delicious, especially when still warm with a little vanilla ice-cream.  The only thing I would change slightly if I made them again is reduce the amount of filling as there seemed to be a little too much and a lot of it ran out onto the baking tray as they were baking.   But it’s so good, you will be tempted to eat it with the spoon before even spreading onto the dough and if a lot of it does end up on the baking tray later you can always peel it off and eat it like caramel.   If you think this’ll be the case then don’t change a thing.

Ingredients

340g, plus 150 g plain flour

7g  sachet of yeast

1/2 tsp salt

55g caster sugar

180ml milk

55g margarine

1 egg

Filling

175g soft brown sugar

110g margarine

1 tbsp cinnamon

How to make Cinnamon Swirls

1. In a bowl put 340g flour, the yeast, salt and caster sugar.

2. Put the margarine and milk in a bowl and heat gently in the microwave.  When the margarine has melted, but without letting it get too hot, add to the bowl with the flour. Mix

3. Add the rest of the flour (140g) and the egg and mix again.  The dough should form a ball.

4. Flour the work surface and knead for about 10 minutes.  Keep adding extra flour to stop it sticking.

5. Put the dough in a bowl, cover with a tea towel and leave for about 1/2 hour.

6. Make the filling by mixing all the filling ingredients with a wooden spoon.

7. Line a baking tray with baking parchment.   Press the dough down so it makes a rectangle and covers the baking tray.   Spread it with the cinnamon mixture.

8. Roll the dough up like a swiss roll then slice into about 10 pieces.   Place back on the baking parchment with the cut side facing upwards.    Leave to rise for about 20 minutes then put in the oven for another 20 minutes at about 190c.

 

Stuffed Vine Leaves

Our October 2010 hostess, Lori of Lori’s Lipsmacking Goodness, has challenged The Daring Cooks to stuff grape leaves.   Lori chose a recipe from Aromas of  Aleppo and a recipe from The New Book of Middle Eastern Food.

This is my first Daring Cooks recipe challenge and also the first time I have attempted to cook vine leaves.   To begin with, I have to admit that although I have had really tasty homemade vine leaves (cooked by a friend),  I’d be unlikely to order them in a restaurant as I’m not such a big fan of them.   Despite this, I was really excited by the challenge as it gave me the opportunity to cook something that I would probably never have decided to cook otherwise.   I decided to prepare the vine leaves with the meat filling from Aromas of Aleppo.  I was able to buy vine leaves easily in the supermarket but couldn’t find short grain rice, except pudding or risotto rice and I wasn’t sure about using either of those.   I looked on the internet and many recipes seem to use long-grain rice so I decided that the normal basmati rice I use would be ok.   I also don’t have any white pepper so decided to use black pepper instead.  Apart from that I followed the recipe as stated.  As it’s my first time with vine leaves, there’s always time for more experimenting later.

Ingredients

Vine leaves, preserved in brine

455g minced beef

65g long grain rice

1 tsp all spice

1 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp black pepper

1 onion, chopped

Small handful pine nuts

Additional Ingredients

6 apricots

1 tbsp tamarind paste

Juice of 1 lemon

Natural Greek yoghurt, to serve (optional)

How to make Stuffed Vine Leaves

1. Pour hot water onto the rice and leave for half an hour.   Pour boiling water on the vine leaves and leave for 20 minutes.  Then change and rinse the leaves in fresh water.

2. As the rice and vine leaves are soaking, mix all the other ingredients in a large mixing bowl.

3. Take a vine leaf and put it on a plate with the veins facing upwards.  Put about 2 tsp of the filling in the middle of each leaf.   Roll the leaf round then tuck the ends in underneath.  Put the rolled up leaves in the bottom of a saucepan.

4. Put the apricots in gaps between the vine leaves.  Dissolve the tamarind into boiling water and pour over the leaves.  Place a plate on the leaves to weigh them down.

5.  Put in the oven for an hour at approx 180 degrees.  When the vine leaves are ready, squeeze the lemon over them and serve with natural Greek yoghurt.

So what did I think?  Have I become a vine leaf lover?  They were nice, as far as vine leaves go.  I enjoyed them.  I felt pleased with myself for completing the challenge, but even so, I don’t think I’m going to be making stuffed vine leaves on a regular basis.  But,  if I do make them again, I will happily follow the same recipe.

 

Baked Figs with Brazil nuts

Recently I have picked up the fruit-baking bug – mainly apples and figs.   I’ve been happy to try any way of baking them that doesn’t take much longer to prepare than washing them.   I also have to say that cinnamon seems to go really well with any baked fruit and I have got a bit of an addition to it at the moment.  I’ve used various dried fruits, nuts and sweetners but I almost always end up with a sprinkling of cinnamon too.

 

Ingredients - serves 2

4 figs

2 tbsp chopped brazil nuts

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1 1/2 tsp sugar

How to make Baked Figs

1. Mix the cinnamon and sugar together.

2. Cut a cross in the top of each fig.  Pull apart a little.  Put in a baking dish.

3. Sprinkle the sugar and cinnamon mix into the middle of each fig.  Then top with chopped brazil nuts.

4. Pour a little water into the bottom of the dish so it is about 1/2 cm deep.

5. Bake in the oven for about 20 minutes.  Serve with natural yoghurt or vanilla ice-cream with the juice from the dish spooned over the top.

 

Bangladeshi Beef Stew

This stew started out as a curry but turned into a stew.   I love curry but have never made it in the slow cooker before.  I generally think that making the paste and cooking it all properly and slowly makes a great curry and I don’t want to mess with it.    However, I think beef done in the slow cooker comes out really well, tender and just falling apart.   I therefore decided I would experiment, not with one of my usual chicken curries, but with a beef one.   I thought if I followed a recipe I had done before but ‘properly’ I might be disappointed.  The recipe was adapted from this site.   When I took it out of the slow cooker it was a little watery so I had to put it on the hob to thicken using cornflour.   If you find there isn’t too much water then you could omit this step.    But, the important question, was it good and would I make it again this way?   Well, I enjoyed it, but not as a curry,  I have therefore decided to call it a stew, although it has the flavours of a curry.  Next time I make it I will say I’m making a Bangladeshi beef stew and then I will be getting what I expect and will not be even the slightest bit disappointed.

Ingredients – serves 2

1 onion, finely diced

1 clove of garlic, crushed

1 potato, cut into 12 pieces

1 green pepper, sliced (I’d run out so used a yellow pepper)

3 green chilli pepper, finely sliced

knob of fresh ginger, finely diced

3 cardamom pods, crushed a little

3 cloves

1/2 cinnamon stick

1/2 tsp coriander

1/2 tsp cumin

200ml water

400g stewing steak

1bsp cornflour

How to make Bangladeshi Beef Stew

1. Put all the ingredients in the slow cooker.  Cover with water.  Stir so everything is well combined.  Cook for 8 hours.

2. When ready, there may be a little too much liquid.   Remove the dish from the slow cooker and place on the hob.    Mix the cornflour with a little of the liquid then put the mixture back into the dish.   Cook for another 5 minutes on the hob until the sauce thickens.

3. Serve with rice.

 

Baked Apples

As apples are in season and so delicious and at this time of year,  I decided to try baked apples.   I have to be honest, apples are one of the fruits that I actually prefer when  cooked rather than raw.  And any cooked fruit with cinnamon is just heavenly as far as I’m concerned.  Not only are these deliciously sweet and tasty, they are also healthy.     I can see that it won’t be the last time I make them this year.   I will also experiment with other dried fruit, spices and even nuts.

I am also entering this recipe into the SOS Kitchen challenge which in September,  is to cook a recipe using apples.  The event is hosted by Ricki of Diet, Dessert and Dogs and Kim of Affairs of Living. The recipes must be vegan and use only whole food ingredients.

Ingredients - serves 2

2 apples

1 tsp brown sugar or natural sweetner

1/2 tsp cinnamon

Small handful of sultanas

4 tbsp fruit juice (I used orange)

How to make Baked Apples

1. Core the apples and score a line around the middle.  This is so that the apples don’t burst in the oven.

2. Mix the sultanas, cinnamon and sugar (or natural sweetner).  Press into the middle of the apples.

3. Put the apples in an ovenproof dish.   Spoon the fruit juice over the centre of the apples.    Put a little water in the bottom of the dish.   This will go syrupy as the apples are baking and can be spooned over the top.

4. Bake for 40-50 minutes till the apples are soft.

 

Stewed Rhubarb with Cinnamon

I hadn’t eaten rhubarb for ages until a weekend away when it was on the buffet table at breakfast.  I helped myself to almost the whole dish topped with natural yoghurt.  Delicious.  So, this weekend when I was visiting my parents and I discovered the overgrown rhubarb patch I was delighted to take some home with me.   As a child I took it for granted and ate it all the time in homemade pies and jellies but now it seems more of a special treat and something I can get excited about.    I don’t usually measure anything anyway but with this recipe I have absolutely no idea of the quantities.     I’ll try to remember as best I can.

Approx 16 sticks of rhubarb, chopped into 2 cm chunks

3 tablespoons of sugar

1 cinnamon stick

Put all the ingredients in a saucepan with a dash of water.    Cook over a low heat for about 15 minutes.

Serve by itself, with natural yoghurt or any other way you enjoy eating rhubarb.