Cashew apricot slice

I  can never resist the book shelves in the charity shops. Cook books hold a special place in my heart, especially of the vintage variety. Last year I was lucky to get a copy of The Big Book of Beautiful Biscuits (The Australian Women's Weekly, 1982 edition) for a princely sum of 20p. I have bookmarked quite a few recipes from the book, as they look so tasty.

One of the bookmarked recipes which I had an eye on for a long time is an apricot nut slice which uses peanuts and a mix of flours. I have adapted the recipe, changing the nuts, and adding ground nuts to the base to make it even nuttier. The base of this traybake is similar to shortbread. It's short and crumbly, and not too sweet. The topping is a mix of chopped and ground cashews, with cocoa, coconut and apricot jam. Basically, it's a recipe for fans of nuts.

Cashew apricot slice
Ingredients:
50g cashews, ground
130g plain flour
1tbsp caster sugar
1 egg yolk
90g butter
for the topping:
55g apricot jam
1 egg white
60g caster sugar
30g coconut
1tbso cocoa, sifted
150g cashews (1/3 chopped, 2/3 blitzed)

Blitz the cashews and add to the mixing bowl with the flour. Add sugar, egg yolk and chopped cold butter. Make crumbs, using hands, then combine together to form a rather stiff dough.
Take a brownie tin and line with the foil or parchment paper, spray with the oil. Press the dough evenly in the tin, and bake at 180C for 10 minutes.

In a mixing bowl mix together the apricot jam with caster sugar, dissicated coconut, sift in the cocoa powder. Chop 1/3 of the cashews roughly and blitz the remaining nuts. Add to the jam mix.
Remove the tin from the oven, and spread the jam mix on top of the biscuit base evenly.
Place the tin back in the oven for another 20 minutes.

Allow to cool in the tin before cutting into slices.

It's a tasty traybake, which goes well with tea or coffee.

In this recipe I used Whole Cashew Nuts from Whole Foods Online. They have a wide selection of nuts, whole and chopped, in different sizes, from 125g bag to 22kg.
Cashews make a great all round snack, they are high in protein and healthy fats which could assist in controlling cholesterol levels. They also contain a host of vitamins and minerals, essential for daily boidly function.
Whole nuts from Whole Foods Online are raw, unsalted and unroasted. They have a crunchy exterior and a creamy texture.

They are such a versatile ingredient, great in baking or in ethic recipes, from curry to stir fry, from ramen to nachos, and many more.

What is your favourite recipe with cashew nuts?

Disclosure: I received a bag of cashews for using them as an ingredient in a recipe post.

Apple bundt cake

September is a great time to enjoy the harvest. We have five apple trees in the garden. Two of them are "having a break" this year, bearing no fruit, but last year we had so many apples, I was running out of trays and cardboard boxes to keep them over winter. This year the crop is more manageable, which is good.
One of the younger trees is a Golden Delicious apple. My Mum and I bought it in the garden centre about 4 years ago. This year it produced around a dozen of beautiful apples. I've already eaten one, and it was crispy and sweet.
Two old apple trees have been in the garden for many years. I don't know who or when has planted them, these people are probably long gone, but I'm sure they would rejoice, if they knew how fruitful these apple trees are.

They are a late variety, best picked at the end of September or early October. At first, they are pretty sharp and sour, reminding me of Granny Smith's but after keeping in the summerhouse for a month or two, they mellow in taste, turn yellow and become rather sweet.

Yesterday morning I ventured in the garden and picked a few windfalls from the grass.
After watching the first episode of GBBO last Tuesday, I fancied baking a fruit cake (they had some tasty-looking fruit cakes as their first task to complete).

My sons are not very keen on "proper" fruitcakes, which are packed with dried fruit, so my cake is a bit of a compromise, a hybrid of a fruitcake with a Russian apple cake Sharlotka.

It's a pretty easy cake, and wouldn't have scored many points at the GBBO challenge, as it's not decorated, but I rarely decorate the cakes, preferring just to add a bit of icing sugar or plain lemon icing. That doesn't mean I don't appreciate the beautifully decorated cakes, like, for example, an exquisite Wedgwood Cake, baked by Anca at CookStyle. Her creation is a true showstopper.

Apple bundt cake
Ingredients:
2 medium apples (about 370g in weight together)
200g caster sugar (or less, if apples are sweet)
60g dried apricots, chopped
1tsp ground cinnamon
1/2tsp ground cloves
vanilla (I used freshly grated)
1tsp baking powder
3 medium eggs
300g self-raising flour
185g butter, melted

In a medium sized mixing bowl grate one apple (peeled before), and mix with sugar. Peel and finely chop another apple and add to the mix together with chopped apricots (softer variety; if they are too dried, then soak them in a bit of warm water in advance).
Add all the spices and baking powder. I used a vanilla grater, but 1tsp of vanilla paste or essence is fine as well.
Beat in the eggs, one at a time. Sift in the flour, and mix well.
Finally melt the butter, let it cool a bit, and add to the cake batter, mixing carefully.

Brush the bundt cake tin with melted butter or use a cooking oil spray. Scoop the cake batter in the tin, and place the tin in the oven preheated to 180C.
Bake for 40+ minutes. Check the readiness with a wooden toothpick. If your tin is of a different variety, it might take longer.

Also adjust the amount of sugar, depending on the apples you use. The sour/tart apples need more sugar, the dessert/sweet apples will require less sugar.

Leave the cake to cool in the tin for about 5-10 minutes, then turn onto a wire rack. Dust the cake with the icing sugar.

Serve warm or cold, with tea or coffee. For an indulgent treat, add a scoop of vanilla ice cream, or caramel sauce.

If you're looking for more baking recipes with the apples, try any of the following:
Apple Sharlotka

Belgian Apple Tart

Apple and Raisin Cake

Apple Semolina Cake

If it's the fruitcakes you're more interested in, may I tempt you with:

Boiled Fruit and walnut cake

Boiled Fruitcake

Fruitcake for Mma Ramotswe

Mincemeat filling for mince pies

There is absolutely no escape from Christmas now, the shops are laden with gifts and Christmas decorations. Actually some shops had started even earlier than that, well before Halloween. I know some of my super organised friends boasted on Facebook that they've done all their Christmas shopping already weeks ago.
Well, I'm not that organised. I managed to squirrel just one Lego set for Eddie and a Ninja turtles PJs for him. And bought a tin of Roses, which I obviously didn't hide very well, as my older one found it, and started "working" on it already. Since he opened it, I said So be it, let's have some chocs.

I love foodie presents, and if you plan to make your own mincemeat for mince pies, now it's a good time to make a batch, either for yourself or as gifts. If you make the mincemeat in advance, you will give it a good
time to mature.

Mincemeat filling (recipe courtesy of Tate & Lyle)
Ingredients:
225g raisins
225g sultanas
50g ready to eat dried apricots, chopped
100g glace cherries, halved
100ml brandy or rum
1 medium eating apple
1/2tsp ground cinnamon
1/2tsp ground nutmeg
180g Tate & Lyle Darkk soft brown sugar
2tbsp lemon juice
2tbsp water
50g butter

1. To make the mincemeat, put the raisins, sultanas, currants, apricots, glace cherries and brandy in a large mixing bowl. Stir well, then cover and leave in a cool place for 4-6 hours, stirring occasionally, or leave to stand overnight.

2. When the fruit is soaked, peel, core and chop the apple, then blanch it in boiling water for 2-3 minutes. Drain well. Add to the fruit mixture with the cinnamon and nutmeg and stir well.

3. Add the Tate & Lyle Dark Soft Brown Sugar to the fruit mixture. Warm the lemon juice, water and butter in a saucepan until the butter has melted. Add to the fruit and stir well, then pack the mincemeat into sterilized jars. Seal and label. Keep in a cool place for up to 3 months.

In this recipe I used Tate & Lyle Soft Brown Sugar.
For the full range of sugar products, visit Tate & Lyle.

If you fancy baking mince pies, Tate & Lyle have a recipe for this Christmas classic (just click on the link).
I think I'll bake a batch this coming weekend, when my husband will be back from his travel.

Disclosure: I received a selection of Tate & Lyle products to try festive recipes. All opinions are mine.

Ginger apricot loaf

Ginger bakes are among my top favourites. I love ginger cookies and ginger cakes. If you rummage in my kitchen you'll find some fresh ginger, ground ginger, crystallised ginger, stem ginger in syrup as well as ginger in chocolate. I recently received a jar of Chunky Ginger Preserve from Duerr's, and was curious to test how it compares to the other gingery goodies. When you are baking, ground ginger gives a more robust, stronger flavour, while stem ginger in syrup would make your bakes milder in taste. A combination of the two might be just right for a well-balanced flavour: not too strong and not too mild.
And so I baked a ginger apricot loaf for an afternoon tea.

Ginger apricot loaf
Ingredients:
2 eggs
100g molasses sugar
zest of 1 orange
pinch of salt
4 tbsp Duerr's Chunky Ginger preserve
1/3tsp ground cloves
1tsp ground ginger
230g self-raising flour
1 tsp baking powder
120g butter, melted
2tbsp milk
2tbsp golden syrup
80g dried apricots
icing sugar and orange juice for icing

Beat the eggs with the sugar. If you don't have molasses sugar, use a dark sugar like demerara or muscovado. Add some finely grated orange zest (I used a blood orange), a pinch of salt, ginger preserves, cloves, ginger, flour, baking powder as well as melted butter, milk and golden syrup.
Chop the dried apricots into small pieces and add to the cake mixture.
The cake batter is quite thick. Spoon it into a well-oiled 900g loaf tin. Bake for 45+ minutes, check with a wooden skewer if it's ready.
Take the tin out and let it cool for about 10 minutes before removing the loaf from the tin.
Mix 4tbsp of icing sugar with enough of orange juice to make a runny icing and drizzle over the cake.
Serve warm.
It was an experimental cake, but it happened to be delicious, moist and crumbly.

I used Duerr's Chunky Ginger preserve in my recipe. It is a lovely amber-coloured preserve with the most marvellous aroma. It is finely chopped sweet ginger, which will work as a treat on a toast or served with a hot crumpet.

Disclosure: I received a jar of preserves for the purposes of testing and reviewing. All opinions are mine.

As I used some of the molasses sugar which I bought back in summer for baking molasses cookies, and the box has been sitting in my kitchen cupboard since then, I am adding this post to #KitchenClearout linky run by Cheryl at Madhouse Family Reviews.

Apricot, blueberry and Wensleydale cheese salad for Pilgrim's Choice Blogger Challenge

Good news for all cheese lovers: Pilgrim's Choice has launched a new range of small size cheeses in jolly packaging. The Pick N Mix selection comes in a perfect size for sampling new varieties - 80g is enough to get an idea and test the cheese, yet not too big in case a particular variety might be not exactly to your taste.
As a foodie blogger, I love when brands approach me and ask to test their new products and even come up with creative ideas, hoping to inspire and encourage my blog readers to try something new.

For the latest blogger challenge I received six varieties of Pilgrim's Choice Pick N Mix: Vintage Cheddar, Smokey Cheddar, Wensleydale & Cranberry, Indian Spice, Firecracker and Apple & Wensleydale. As you can see, these cheeses have a colourful packaging and come in a rainbow of flavours as well.

As we're suffering from enjoying the heat wave these days, I am not very keen to slave at the stove, so salads are the order of the day.

Apricot, blueberry and Wensleydale cheese salad
Ingredients:
3-4 ripe apricots, sliced
a handful of rocket salad
a handful of blueberries
80g Wensleydale & Apple cheese, cubed
a handful of walnuts
pumpkin, sunflower seeds & pine nuts
for the derssing, mix:
2tbsp olive oil
1tbsp balsamic vinegar
1 tbsp runny honey
1tsbp soy sauce
Assemble the salad by placing the rocket leaves at the base, then adding randomly some sliced apricots, cubed cheese, blueberries and walnuts. Sprinkle some seeds on top. Mix the dressing and drizzle all over the salad.
Wensleydale & Apple cheese was a perfect choice for this salad. It has a lovely tangy flavour, and a crumbly texture with small pieces of apples in it. A tasty cheese on its own, it is a great ingredient for salads.

Another quick lunch idea is Chicken wraps. To make this simple dish, grill the fillets of chicken, cut into thin strips (which were marinated in a tomato sauce with herbs for about an hour). Add a generous dollop of guacamole, chicken strips, rocket leaves and grated cheese in wraps. Make the pockets, then slice in half.
If you don't have any guacamole, use the salsa and soured cream instead, or even any spicy mayo.
For this simple dish I used a small pack of Vintage Cheddar. It is a delicious cheese, great on a cheeseboard with a slice of a fresh fig or a pear and some walnuts. And it is lovely with chicken too.

I haven't tried all the varieties in Pick N Mix yet. We loved the Smokey Cheddar and Wensleydale with cranberries, just as part of a bigger platter of cheeses and hams with salad.

Which Pligrim's Choice cheese do you fancy to try?

And just look at Cod and Cauliflower cheese bake created by Alison from Dragons and Fairy Dust which she has done for the Pilgrim's Choice Blogger Challenge.

Teapigs iced tea

Whenever we go to Italy in summer, we inevitably drink gallons of iced tea. My mother-in-law makes her own very zingy lemon tea, so tangy and sharp, it is a great refresher. We also buy iced tea in bottles, mostly in peach and lemon flavours. When Teapigs asked the bloggers to come up with a few ideas for serving iced tea, the first variety I made was inspired by our Italian holidays.

1. Darjeeling Earl Grey iced tea with lemon and apricots

Ingredients (makes about 4 glasses)
2 bags of Teapigs Darjeeling Earl Grey
2 slices of lemon
freshly grated zest of 1/2 lemon
juice of 1/2 lemon
3 apricots (fresh)
2tsp sugar
water
Boil the water, add the teabags, sliced apricots and lemon, sugar, lemon juice and zest, bring to boil and leave on low for a couple of minutes. Let it cool.
Serve in glasses with ice cubes and lemon.

You get the classic flavours of Earl Grey (bergamot-citrussy and floral) with the fruity tones of apricots and the lemon adds a necessary zing.

2. Fruity Everyday Brew (English Breakfast)

Ingredients:
2-3 bags of Teapigs Everyday Brew (English Breakfast)
slices of lemon
about 7 dried apricots
4 dried figs
a handful of dried cranberries and raspberries
a handful of dried pineapple
Lemon zest (in strips)
about 5 glasses of water
This drink has been inspired by the Russian compote drinks made with lots of dried fruit and berries, sweet and flavourful. First bring the water to boil and add all the fruit/berries, cook for about 15 minutes on low, add the teabags at the end. Drink cold.
My kids loved it. The colour is intense ruby red.

3. Darjeeling Earl Grey with Rooibos ice cubes

Ingredients:
Teapigs Darjeeling Earl Grey teabags (1 per person)
1 bag Teapigs Rooibos
water
lemon
Make a cup of Rooibos tea, once cold, pour in the ice cube tray and place it in the freezer. You will get flavoured pink ice cubes. Make tea as usual using Darjeeling Earl Grey, once cold, serve in glasses with the Rooibos tea ice cubes and a slice of lemon. When the ice melts, your Earl Grey will get infused with the Rooibos flavour.
Very refreshing.


I have opted for refreshing drinks that all the family could drink, but of course, if you fancy a drop of alcohol in your iced tea, go for it.

Fit Chicken Saltimbocca and a virtuous Dauphinoise

I remember reading that by the beginning of February most of the new year's resolutions are broken. Mea culpa. Chocolate is my downfall. But at the same time I have been good, drinking lots of herbal infusions and trying to cut down the amount of calories.
We all have family favourites that we cook regularly, and comfort foods are often laden with calories. Don't despair, there is a way to cut down the calories but keep the flavours.
Here is one of our family favourites with a healthy twist.

Chicken Saltimbocca

4 chicken thighs (skin removed)
4 prosciutto slices
8 fresh sage leaves
Filippo Berio olive oil spray

I would typically fry the chicken saltimbocca. For the healthy twist I decided not to fry it but roast in the oven. Filippo Berio olive oil spray is perfect for roasting and grilling, you use a pump to spray just a little bit at a time, and you can apply the oil accurately.

I am rather partial to Filippo Berio, it is a classic olive oil brand that moves with the times. My Italian mother-in-law uses it, and so I feel I'm probably as good a cook as Mamma (or almost as good, as you can never really compete with Mammas, can you?).

Wrap the chicken thighs in prosciutto with a couple of fresh sage leaves under the prosciutto. You might want to secure the chicken pieces with the wooden mini-skewers. Place the chicken in a roasting tray, sprayed with a bit of olive oil, and put the tray in the oven preheated to 180C. Roast for about 30 minutes.
Serve with the potatoes Dauphinoise and olives.

Potatoes Dauphinoise

3-4 medium potatoes
1 garlic clove, crushed
1 tub of Weight Watchers thick cream
2 tsp light mayonnaise
1 tsp of Dijon mustard
salt

Creamy and garlicky potatoes are everyone's favourite. They are a perfect side dish to any roast meat.
Thinly slice the potatoes. Season them, place them into the gratin dish. Rather than using the double cream, go for the Weight Watchers thick cream mixed with 2 tsp light mayo and a tsp of Dijon mustard and a crushed garlic. Pour the cream over the potatoes.
Place the dish in the oven preheated to 180C and bake for an hour, the potatoes have to be totally cooked through.

And now some sweet treat with a healthy twist.

Baked apricots

4 apricots, halved
1 tsp Flora Cuisine (blended vegetable oil for healthy heart)
1 tbsp of chocolate & chilli flavoured sugar
to serve with the Greek style fat free yogurt from Chobani, rather than ice cream

We all love baked/roasted fruit, especially when served with the cream or ice cream. But to make it a healthier option this time we opted for a Greek style peach yogurt from Chobani, which is fat free.

Rather than use a blob of butter, this time I squeezed about a tsp of Flora Cuisine in a little ceramic tray with the halved apricots, then they were sprinkled with the sugar.
I have a packet of Chocolate & chilli flavoured sugar that was an impulse buy in the after-Christmas sale at Waitrose, and as I didn't quite know what to expect, I used it quite sparingly on the apricots. I shouldn't have worried, it was a nice touch.

Marzipan apple tart

Late autumnal apples are so wonderfully full of flavour. I picked a couple of boxes to store them, but also kept some apples on the trees for the birds and for us. When Eddie and I go out in the garden to clear the lawn from the fallen leaves, I pick an apple or two and we munch happily the crispy sweet apples. They are great for any kind of baking too.

One of our family favourites is a simple open marzipan apple tart. I believe the original recipe was printed in one of the calendars, but I have long lost it, and have been baking this tart with different varieties of apples, marzipan and nuts.

about 300g shortcrust pastry (prepare your own or use a Jus-Rol shortcrust sheet)
200 g golden marzipan
2 tsp ground almonds
2 tbsp apricot conserve (I like the TipTree apricot conserve)
4 medium apples, sliced thinly
icing sugar
Kelly's of Cornwall ice cream to serve with (Clotted Cream & Golden syrup is perfect for this tart)


Serves 6
1. Heat oven to 180C.
2. Roll the pastry on a baking tray. Place in the oven for about 8 minutes.
3. Take the tray out and spread the apricot conserve over the pastry.
4. If you are using the roll-on marzipan, then simply cover the pastry with the marzipan sheet. If you have a block of marzipan, cut thin slices and place over the pastry. Sprinkle the ground almonds over the marzipan.
5. Slice the apples very thinly and place over the marzipan. Bake for about 20 mins at 180C until the apples are soft and the pastry is golden. Sprinkle with the icing sugar.

6. Serve with a generous helping of Kelly's of Cornwall ice cream.

Buonissima Banana cake with chopped apricots

This banana cake is so easy to bake and so tasty that it deserves to be called Buonissima.

2-3 ripe bananas
250g granulated sugar
2 medium eggs
200g self-raising flour
1/2 tsp cinnamon
2 heaped tsbp ground almonds (optional)
2 tbsp rose petal syrup/preserve (optional)
50g melted butter
80g chopped apricots
icing sugar to sprinkle on top

The overripe mushy-smushy bananas are the best for this recipe. You know the feeling, the semi-forgotten bananas in the fruit bowl, looking truly neglected and nobody wants to eat them. Well, these are perfect for any kind of the banana cake.
This cake usually disappears very fast. It is a "gone in 60 seconds" variety which appeals both to kids and adults with a sweet tooth.
Mash the bananas in a deep bowl with sugar, using a fork. You can use a hand blender as well, if you prefer. Add the eggs, cinnamon, almonds, flour, rose petal preserve and melted butter, and mix well. Add chopped apricots and mix.

Preheat the oven to 180C. Pour the cake mix in the spring form and place in the oven. Bake for about an hour. Check if it is ready with a wooden skewer. Serve warm or cold, dusted with the icing sugar. We actually enjoy it when it is just out of the oven, but it is good the next day as well. It doesn't last longer than the next day, so don't know how long it keeps.