Spiced Apple and Plum Cabbage - Bakemas Day 13

Mince Crumble Baked Apples - Bakemas Day 7

Apple & Lentil Stuffing Balls - Bakemas Day 20

I’ll take a plate of these for Christmas dinner please and thank you!

Apple & Cranberry Quinoa Salad - Bakemas Day 12

Sometimes in the middle of copious amounts of mince pies and truffles you just need a big ole’ bowl of salad...just sometimes!

Toffee Apple Crumble Pies - Bakemas Day 10

You know what every Sunday needs? Apple pie, lots of apple pie!

Forest Fruit & Ginger Pimms - Bakemas Day 9

I’m kind of surprised I’m back here again, second Saturday in a row and I have another drink recipe.

Apple, Red Quinoa, Walnut & Feta Salad - Bakemas Day 5

Just because it’s December doesn’t mean you can go crazy, actually it kind of does but the one thing I’ve been craving recently is quinoa, well, that and chocolate but that’s a given.

Apple Cider Pancakes with Sautéed Apples and Toffee Apple Cider Syrup

Today I have apples on apples on apples and maybe just MAYBE it’s slightly the wrong season for this, but I don’t care! Hey, maybe I’m just really prepared for autumn, 4-5 months overly prepared, okay let’s be honest I’m more likely to be half a year late than half a year early but still. Yeah, it’s four and a half months till October, crazy, but I’ll shut up about that now.

Can we focus on this being apple cider rather than anything else because to me, cider is a summer thing. Okay, it’s an all year round kind of thing but summer is definitely a time I crave cider. Ice cold cider on a hot summer’s day is sort of something I’ve grown up with from summers in France drinking 0.2% alcoholic cider as a kid and then bringing bottles of it home on the ferry to being a teenager drinking cider with friends in the sun and having barbeques in the middle of fields.

Brandy Cream & Apple Pavlova with Cinnamon Candied Nuts

Anyone up for leftover bakemas food?

This idea was originally for bakemas but I didn’t have time to make it and I didn’t actually have any days left for an extra recipe. I guess brandy cream doesn’t scream January food but hear me out a second; meringue is pretty much fat free, this brandy cream is 50% yogurt and there’s apples; did I tick all the healthy January boxes?
Okay, so pavlovas seem like party food to me, party or BBQ food. I know they pretty much make a massive mess but isn’t that part of the fun? They’re delicious and I realise its January but I’ve added some festive cheer to this one, specifically in the form of brandy cream but shh! People eat brandy cream at other times of the year, right? I also had some candied nuts left over and couldn’t resist adding them. Aside from the fact you might feel a little like you’re in the wrong month when you eat this it is a pretty light dessert so don’t feel too bad about it.

Mulled Apple - Bakemas Day 20

This is the first time I've made this alone; Sophie decided to desert me and move half way round the world for a year so it's nearly Christmas and I'm sipping mulled apple alone!

Normally around this time of year we'd be drinking a lot of hot chocolate with whipped cream and cinnamon specifically for the new season of once upon a time, but last year she came over raving about mulled cider so we set out making a non alcoholic version with apple juice and it quickly replaced the hot chocolate as the pre-Christmas OUAT marathon beverage.

We spent quite a while perfecting this and definitely had that moment of "it's missing something" and tried adding pretty much everything but we eventually got there. Every ingredient is important but I would say the secret is fresh ginger and the right flavoured herbal tea which is spiced apple.

This is great for the kids, it's a little healthier than mulled cider and you don't have to worry about drinking too much.

Apple Bacon Cheese Burger with Sautéed Onions & Apple Sauce

Is it the wrong season for burgers, because if it is my cravings have no clue what time of year it is. I’ve been calling this an autumn burger, to begin with I hadn’t really named it, I know it turned out to be a very innovative name, but when I had named it, apple bacon cheese burger just seemed too long to say in passing and there’s apple sauce, do I need any more of a reason? I’ve been talking about making this since last month and being the expert procrastinator even through my excitement of making it I didn’t get round to it for a good three weeks. The entire time I was making this I felt like I was running around like a headless chicken, I’ll just say now it’s not hard or messy or challenging it’s actually a pretty simple recipe, so don’t let this put you off. I’d had a long day, the kitchen was a massive tip, I was balancing things on chairs and stacks of magazines there were things everywhere. Partly because when I started my day the kitchen wasn’t all that tidy to begin with and I got a bit too busy to the point where I stopped tidying up in-between finishing one thing and starting another. I was trying to get dinner made by a certain time so I was running around and ended up with a beetroot red face by the time it was done and shot and I finally got round to eating this. I’m surprised something didn’t end up on the floor but it was definitely worth the headless chicken running. If I didn’t put you off too much happy non-headless chicken burger making!

Apple, Yogurt & Sweet Breadcrumb Layered Dessert

Can we take a second to appreciate those layers, I feel like a child that went to the isle of wight or somewhere and came back with one of those multicoloured sand layer thingies, can you still make those? I made way too many breadcrumbs when I was making the salmon macaroni cheese, enter this glorious dessert. I’ve been meaning to make this for a while so this is kind of the perfect opportunity. Growing up we weren’t really a dessert after dinner kind of family unless it was a special occasion and on apple day, I’m not even entirely sure when that is or how my mum always knew when it was, this is what we had for dessert. It’s ridiculously simple, healthy and so easy to make but do not underestimate it, I haven’t eaten this in years but now I’ve rediscovered it I could eat this every day.

Fluffy Oatmeal/Porridge with Sautéed Cinnamon Apples

If you don't like porridge you will like it like this!
Breakfast is definitely a meal I love, muesli, crunchy cereal, pancakes, coffee, pastries; can you tell I’m not a savoury breakfast lover? The breakfast options are endless I just don’t always like to eat breakfast for breakfast. Porridge was one of those gloopy foods I was never really interested in until a couple of years ago when I tried everything to make porridge enjoyable, apart from this. I got this idea from cookie + kate a while ago who I think got it from someone’s cook book. Anyway this porridge is amazing, this is nothing like the gooey sloppy porridge you remember, it’s not gloopy or starchy it’s fluffy and full of toasty flavour.

Apple Butter with Vanilla Pancakes

After we plucked our apple tree we had an abundance of apples all lined up in bags in the garage. Although it's not near as bad as when we had two apple trees I figured I needed to do something with them, we couldn't just freeze them all, our freezers would be overflowing with fruit and they're already full of boxes of blackberries.

I'll be honest Apple butter is kind of just fancy apple sauce although it is definitely worth the few extra hours you have to leave the hob on. This recipe is just perfect autumn breakfast....or lunch, maybe dinner? or a snack. Maybe just eat it for all meals, there's carbohydrates, protein and fruit you're all set.

I got a little carried away with this recipe, the pancakes were actually sort of an afterthought, in the days leading up to making this they were always a shall I shan't I, and I'm glad I shalled! These pancakes are the perfect mixture between crepe and pancake, although I didn't purposefully make them this way is was a pleasant and welcome oops, maybe I'll make them like this more often they just seem lighter this way.

Toasted Wensleydale, Grilled Vegetable & Plum and Apple Chutney Sandwich

Okay, I couldn't wait any longer, I had to open one of these bad boys, it's not quite as enjoyable as opening an airtight jar with the satisfying pop, although the chutney is better. Three weeks I think it's been, I just had to and we already managed finished a jar, I think that took two days; that's a new record. The chutney tasted perfectly fine to me, I guess it just goes to show you don't have to wait a month although if you're sensitive to vinegar I guess it's better to be safe and wait it out, I'm a little bias and actually quite like vinegary chutney, but it wasn't noticeable at all.

I met a friend in the morning for coffee and after walking the 3 miles home I sat in the kitchen kind of wanting a nap, I've been so tired recently, and decided to make this sandwich, I usually just stick to wensleydale and chutney but figured I'd crank up the nutrition a little, even thought it's a toasted sandwich I kept the cheese solid, which is completely preference I much prefer my wensleydale fresh from the fridge as I think the texture goes better with the chutney.

I ended up making these sandwiches again the next day with a friend, we watched a weird Kristen Wiig film with chutney dripping out our sandwiches.

Apple Cinnamon Doughnut Muffins

Autumn is upon us, well, sort of, it's still relatively warm here and we keep getting threatened with heat waves which is very un-autumny and I am not impressed. I like layers and coats and arm warmers and England's having none of that.

Have you ever had one of those day where you just struggled to photograph something? I suppose that only applies if you take photos of things but I'm sure you've felt the same about something else; this was one of those days. It had been a long day in the kitchen and I was tired and uninspired, the food was so worth it in the end though. Doughnut muffins are one of my favourite things to make...and eat, they're just so moist and delicious, they're so much easier and quicker to make than doughnuts and the coating of cinnamon sugar really doesn't hurt.

Spicy Plum and Apple Chutney

Apple season is upon us and boy do I have a treat for you! My mum made this chutney a few years ago because we had apples coming out of our ears, sadly one of our apple trees died this summer, moment of silence please. I know that sounds odd, it was a combination of a great wind storm, it being covered in ivy, being planted next to a brick wall, although we think the brick wall was built after the tree was planted and the roots only having room to grow on one side of the wall. These apples were so addictive, I don't know what type they were and we mostly used them for cooking but apple crumble tasted 10 times better with those apples, I even ate a whole crumble in one sitting because they were so delicious.

I'm not sure where this recipe came from so I can't give credit, it probably came out of some old cook book or magazine. I used the apples off our other less appetising tree, no offense to the tree or the apples they just don't do it for me as much and sadly the plums were bought, but they were British. I did see some plum trees on the side of the road but we didn't have time to get out and pick them. When my mum made this I'm not sure if she doubled or tripled the recipe but it felt like we had jars of chutney everywhere, not that I'm complaining. It's good for BBQ's especially with sausages but one of my favourite ways to eat this is wensleydale and chutney sandwiches, I'm already mentally drooling about the idea of this sandwich and I still have to wait a few weeks till I can eat it.

Blue Cheese, Roasted tomato and Coleslaw Burgers with Sweet Potato Chips

I will just apologise now for the raw meat picture, I made these while a friend was over and she was adamant that I take a picture of the burgers before we cooked them and now I really like the picture so I can't not put it in. I've become a little bit of a loaded burger fanatic recently, I was one of those children that liked food very plain, we didn't really eat out much and the only place I had ever seen burgers with lots of stuff in was at a fast food restaurant and I never eat fast food burgers. I don't actually know if that was because they didn't really do jam packed burgers here back then or I just never saw them, so I was quite slow on the bulky burger bandwagon. I have always been a lover of fat sandwiches, there's a weird story of how that came about but I won't delve into that now, and when I say fat I'm not being over dramatic, they're usually borderline too big for your mouth and now I'm pretty much the same with burgers.

The trick to this burger is not to cut the blue cheese too thick because you don't want to over power the other flavours, don't skimp on the tomatoes and heavy on the coleslaw.

Coleslaw three ways; Apple, Mustard and Spicy Sultana

When you don't know what to write about, I guess we can call that bloggers blog, which in my case is a rather frequent problem, you have to find inspiration from somewhere. Eventually I will get better at finding that inspiration but today I resorted too "mum....hypothetically...if you were to write about coleslaw....".

I always feel like anecdotes are the best thing to write about on here but believe you me sometimes there is no entertainment, mishap or amusing situation that comes from making something, and this coleslaw was one of those things. So mentioning in passing to anecdotes and coleslaw my mum told me about the great coleslaw debacle of 199?; okay don't get your hopes this tale is neither thrilling, humorous or plagued with drama and it's almost 83% speculation and only 17% fact.

I assume I was quite young because I have no recollection of this happening, we were living in our old house, it was new years eve; cue the memories of brisk cold walks home at 1 am where you can see your breath as it exist your mouth and the dull sound of thumping music coming from peoples houses. I imagine the tale of events went as follows; someone, more likely multiple someone's, were walking along the street with coleslaw and obviously decided my dads car would ultimately be the perfect place to put this coleslaw, whether they proceeded to eat it off the car after dumping it there I'm not sure, maybe it was bad coleslaw. The more likely tale of events being drunken people with a possible distaste for coleslaw finding it hilarious to throw around. According to my sources coleslaw does not do wonders for your paint, I guess the moral of the story is that you should probably stand a least a foot away from your vehicle while consuming this and if you do manage to fling it the way of your car maybe try and clean it up straight away.