Candy Apple Bar

When I was a little girl one of my favorite autumnal treats was a candy apple.  Not those lurid red specimens that would pull your teeth right out of your head, but the chocolate covered apples, dipped in hundreds and thousands. Yum!  Nowadays I'm not so fussed by apples, as my gran would say 'the juice isn't worth the squeeze'.  I'd never pick up an apple and just bite straight in, but hand me a bowl of ready sliced fruit and I'll happily munch away till the cows come home.  

If, like me, you can't be bothered with a full apple but still fancy a nice nostalgic treat, then this candy apple bar is for you.  It's also the perfect way to sneek an extra portion of fruit into fussy kids, we'll just ignore all the chocolate and caramel for now, shall we!

Simply chop up a few apples, skewer them on a stick and away you go.  If you're planning on taking your candy apple bar on the road, picnic time ahoy, simply dip your sliced apples in ginger beer.  The citric acid slows the browning process thus keeping your apples pretty for longer.

The fun thing about this is it's fully customisable.  I used a mixture of chocolate sauce and caramel sauce for dipping but melted white chocolate would work beautifully too.  For the topping station I used mini chocolate beans, mini marshmallows, chopped hazelnuts, crushed oreos, crushed digestives and toffee chunks.  The combinations are endless, coconut would be a wonderful addition and popping candy would go down an absolute storm with the little ones.

Such a fun little idea, if you give it a try please do tag me on Instagram at Katie_Petlamb. I'd love to see your creations.

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Apple Pie Flapjacks

Flapjacks are good for you, right? It's the cake with which we can kinda kid ourselves that we're taking the healthy option, "Oh, I'm watching my weight at the moment. I'll just have a flapjack". I'm in that camp, we'll just ignore the sugar, butter and copious amounts of golden syrup. Oats are our saviour. 

If it were up to me, I'd have thrown some nice plump raisins into the mix. Unfortunately I'm forbidden from adding any kind of dried fruit to my home baked treats by my raisin-hating other half.  He's a work in progress, ten years into our relationship and I finally got him to eat a dried apricot.  I'll take the little wins where I can.  If you have more freedom with your ingredients, throw em in and tell me about it! 

Apple Pie Flapjacks

Makes 12 generous bars

Ingredients:

600g unsalted butter

350g light brown sugar

200g golden syrup

1tsp vanilla extract

700g rolled oats

3 large apples, grated

1tbsp cinnamon 

Method:

Preheat your oven to 160C, grease and line a 20x30 baking tray or use a disposable aluminum tray (I love these).

In a large, heavy bottomed pan melt the butter, sugar and syrup together.  Once melted and combined pour in your oats, grated apples and cinnamon.  Mix until combined and all the oats are coated with delicious buttery goodness.  Spread the flapjack mix in the prepared pan and bake for 20 minutes, until golden brown with a slight jiggle.

Allow to cool in tin before cutting and enjoying.  These keep perfectly for around a week in a cute biscuit tin.

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Apple & Blackberry Crumble

Tis the season for a crumble, fa lalalala la la lala.  Honestly, comfort food season is my absolute favorite.  The second I feel a chill in the air, boom I'm in the kitchen grating a mountain of cheese and stewing fruit.  For someone who lives to eat, there really is no better time of year. 

A few weeks ago I decided to take advantage of the tumbling blackberry bushes which align my walk to work and stock up on free berries.  I filled a bag, washed my little beauties of bugs and dirt before freezing them for future use.  They probably lasted around two days in the freezer before the urge to crumble them up took over.  I grabbed a few apples from the fruit bowl and away I went.

You can't really go wrong with a crumble, so simple yet so delicious. Especially when served with a creamy vanilla custard.  So, don your slippers, prepare a blanket covered space on the couch and get your crumble on.  Autumn won't know what hit it.

Apple & Blackberry Crumble

serves 4

Ingredients:

50g unsalted butter

50g light brown sugar

3 large eating apples, peeled and chopped into bite sized pieces

200g blackberries

1/2tsp cinnamon

For the crumble:

150g rolled oats

100g plain flour

1tsp cinnamon

100g butter, chilled and cut into small cubes

75g light brown sugar

Method:

Heat the oven to 170C and prepare a large ovenproof dish.

In a medium saucepan melt the butter and sugar together. Add the apples and cook for 10 minutes until the apples become tender.  Add the blackberries and cinnamon and cook for another 5 minutes.  Transfer to the ovenproof dish, ensuring the mixture covers the bottom.

While the apples are cooking, make your crumble.  Put the flour, cinnamon and oats in a large mixing bowl and mix together.  Add the cubed butter and lightly rub together, add the sugar and rub together again until combined.  Sprinkle over the apple and blackberry mixture and bake for 20 minutes until the crumble is golden and the filling is bubbling.  Serve with vanilla custard.

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