Cinnamon Apple Loaf

I wasn't planning on baking anything today but I was browsing Pinterest this morning and changed my mind. There are so many yummy recipes that people pin on there. I really wanted to make these quinoa cookies but didn't have all the necessary ingredients... I've saved that to try out another day. Instead I found this Cinnamon Apple Loaf recipe and I had everything needed to make it. The recipe is fairly simple and was easy to whip up. I changed some minor things from the original recipe, such as doubling the cinnamon, different brown sugar, and used almond milk instead of normal milk. I layered the batter and apples as described in the original but wished I would have swirled the apples in the middle into the batter. The loaf also took a lot longer to cook then 30 minutes for me. I checked every 10 minutes to see if it was done but ended up having it in there for a whole hour. The loaf turned out great though! It is a nice vanilla cake like texture with the apple cinnamon mixture layer in the middle and then a nice crunch on top with the second layer of apple cinnamon mixture. It's not too sweet either which makes it nice for a little breakfast treat. I would make this again and maybe add some type of nut into the apple cinnamon mixture. Try out this yummy recipe soon! (Oh and excuse the photos... they are from my mobile.)

Recipe by AllRecipes.com

Ingredients:
1/3 cup brown or muscovado sugar
2 tsp ground cinnamon
2/3 cup caster sugar
1/2 cup butter, softened
2 large eggs

1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups plain flour
1 3/4 tsps baking powder
1/2 cup milk (I used almond)
1 apple, peeled and chopped

Steps:
Preheat oven to 350F/ 175C. Grease and flour a 9x5-inch loaf pan. Mix brown sugar and cinnamon together in a small bowl. Beat white sugar and butter together in a medium bowl using an electric mixer until smooth and creamy. Beat in eggs, 1 at a time, until incorporated; add vanilla extract. Combine flour and baking powder together in a small bowl then fold into creamed butter mixture. Mix milk into batter until smooth. Mix together the chopped apples and brown sugar mixture. Pour half the batter into the prepared loaf pan; add half the apples and brown sugar mixture. Lightly pat down into batter or swirl with a knife into the batter. Pour the remaining batter over apple layer; top with remaining apples and brown sugar mixture. Lightly pat this into batter. Bake in the preheated oven until a toothpick inserted in the centre of the loaf comes out clean, about 40 minutes and then check every 10 minutes until the toothpick comes out clean.

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Turkish Apple Tea Cupcakes

I've been wanting to make cupcakes for awhile now as it has been too long since I last made any. I decided to try out another Hummingbird Bakery recipe as it has always given me great results, love this book!

I saw this recipe, they called them Apple Blossom cupcakes, but I had Turkish Apple Tea powder in my cupboard, so called them that but pretty sure they are similar. The powder reminded of the Hot Apple Cider drinks I used to have as a kid in the States, so was quite happy to find something similar in the England. 

These cupcakes turned out wonderfully moist! I loved the strong apple flavor throughout the sponge and frosting, it tasted very refreshing and so yummy. This is a great recipe to enjoy on a warm spring day dreaming of summer!

Recipe by Hummingbird Bakery: Cake Days

Ingredients:
Cake:
4 tbsp Turkish Apple Tea powder
3 tbsp hot water
80g unsalted butter, softened
280g caster sugar
240g plain flour
1 tbsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt

200ml milk
2 large eggs

Frosting:
4 tbsp Turkish Apple Tea powder
50ml whole milk
500g icing sugar
160g unsalted butter, softened

.

Steps:
Preheat oven to 190C/375F and line a muffin tin with muffin cases. Place the apple tea powder in a small bowl and add the hot water, allow to dissolve completely. In a medium bowl, whisk together the butter, sugar, flour, baking powder and salt on a low speed until the ingredients resemble fine breadcrumbs. Place the milk and eggs in the bowl with the apple tea and whisk together by hand. Add 3/4 of the tea mixture to the dry mix and combine together, then increase the speed and add the remaining milk mixture. Continue to mix until smooth. Divide the batter between the cases, fill them to two-thirds full. Bake in the oven for 18-20 minutes. Leave to cool slightly before removing from the tin, then place them on a wire rack to cool completely. FROSTING: Dissolve the apple tea powder in the milk. Mix the icing sugar and butter until no lumps of butter remain and then gradually add the apple milk. Once this has all been added increase the speed and mix until light and fluffy. Top each cake with a generous spoonful of frosting and smooth with a palette knife or pipe frosting on and decorate.

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Muffin Monday: Apple Buttermilk Muffins with Coconut Crumble

Happy Muffin Monday!!! I was happy to join in on this week's Muffin Monday. These extremely easy to make muffins are wonderfully moist and very tasty! The only trouble I had was finding buttermilk. I have never needed it for a recipe before this and thought my local shop would have some... nope. Thanks to Google I found a substitute, try this if you're in the UK and can't find buttermilk.

Muffin Monday is an initiative by Baker Street. A culinary journey of sharing a wickedly delicious muffin recipe every week. Drop in a quick line to join her on her journey to make the world smile and beat glum Monday mornings week after week. 

Recipe

Courtesy of  BakerStreet

Ingredients:

For the Muffins: 

2 1/2 cups self raising flour

3/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar

1 teaspoon cinnamon

410g can pie apples

1 egg

2/3 cup buttermilk

1/2 cup vegetable oil

For the Coconut Crumble: 

1/4 cup plain flour 

1 1/2 teaspoons caster sugar

1/2 cup flaked coconut

20g butter

Steps:

1. Preheat oven to 400F / 200C

For the coconut crumble: 

1. Place all the ingredients in a small bowl and rub the butter using your fingertips till it is nice and crumbly. Set aside.

For the muffins: 

1. Grease or line a 12 hole muffin pan. 
2. In a large bowl, combine flour, sugar and cinnamon. Stir in the apple. Do not over mix. 
3. In a measuring jug or medium bowl, combine egg, buttermilk and oil. 
4. Pour the buttermilk mixture into the apple mixture and mix gently. 
5. Spoon the mixture equally into the prepared pan and top with coconut crumble. 
6. Bake in a preheated oven for 15-20 minutes.

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Apple BlogHop: Apple Oatmeal Cookies with Custard Glaze and Butterscotch Pieces

Now that you have seen Shane's post for this month's BlogHop, it's my turn to show some love for Apples. I have to admit that I am not a huge fan of apples in the raw form but like them most other ways! I had so many ideas for what I wanted to make but thought I would make these cookies as I haven't posted any cookies on my blog yet. Maybe I will do the other recipes later in month. I got the recipe for the Apple Oatmeal cookies from the Hummingbird Bakery: Cake Days book, and added in the decorating glaze. These cookies are lovely, soft, and moist, but my only complaint is that the apple flavour is not very strong. Other then that these cookies are great and we can't stop eating them! They go great with Shane's Hot Cider, or a cup of coffee.

Recipe

Courtesy of Hummingbird Bakery

Ingredients:

135g softened butter
80g caster sugar

80g soft light brown sugar
1 egg
1/2 tsp vanilla essence
190g plain flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
2 Apples
60g rolled oats

Steps:

1. Preheat the oven to 170C. Cream together softened butter, caster sugar and soft light brown sugar. Add egg and vanilla essence and mix thoroughly. Add plain flour in two batches, adding salt, ground cinnamon and bicarbonate of soda with the second batch. Mix until a dough forms.
2. Peel and finely grate apples (preferably Granny Smith) and squeeze all of the liquid out of them, discarding the liquid. Add rolled oats and 60g of the grated apples to the cookie dough and stir by hand. Break off pieces of the dough (size 2 Tablespoons), roll into a ball and place on a baking sheet lined with baking parchment (leave 3inches between each cookie as they will spread while baking).
3. Place into the oven and bake for 15-20 min or until the cookies are a light golden brown. Leave to cool and set for about 10 min before transferring them to a wire rack.

Custard Glaze Recipe 4 Tbs icing sugar 2 Tbs custard powder 2 Tbs milk

Mix all ingredients together until a smooth consistency is achieved. Decorate the cookies! I also sprinkled them with butterscotch pieces before the glaze hardened.

October is #applelove month!  

Please join in on the #applelove fun by linking up any apple recipe from the month of October 2011.  Don't forget to link back to this post, so that your readers know to come stop by the #applelove event. The twitter hashtag is #applelove.

Co-Hosted by: Baker Street, Bloc de Recetas, Bon a Croquer, Cafe Terra, Cake Duchess, Elephant Eats, Hobby and More, Knitstamatic, Mis Pensamientos, My Twisted Recipes, Simply Reem, Skip to Malou, Teaspoon of Spice, The Daily Palette, The Queen's Notebook, The Spicy Rd, Vegan Miam, Versatile Vegetarian Kitchen. 

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Apple BlogHop: Shane's Hot Apple Cider

It's BlogHop time again, this time Apples, and Shane wanted to help me. This simple hot apple cider is a great drink for this time of the year. For those cold autumn nights, add a splash of Brandy to your cup to warm you up even more. Enjoy!

Shane's Recipe Ingredients: 2.5L Apple Juice 2 Apples, roughly chopped 1/2 cup Brown Sugar 5 Cloves 1 tsp Nutmeg 1 tsp Cinnamon Cinnamon Sticks Star Anise Orange Zest, grated (optional)

Steps: 1. Put all ingredients into your slowe cooker, set on low for a few hours until nice and hot. 2. Serve your drinks with a cinnamon stick and star anise. 3. Refrigerate any left overs and reheat before serving.

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