Apple and raisin muffins with streusel topping

As mentioned before I've been baking a LOT with apples these past few weeks. These muffins came about as I had 1 ripe banana and some apples to use up. I started with a banana and apple muffin and decided to add in raisins, nuts, spice and a streusel topping. The result was a wonderfully delicious and fragrant muffin which made for a perfect breakfast on the go.

I'm sending this to the No Waste Food Challenge guest hosted by Jen from Jen's Food this month on behalf of Elizabeth from Elizabeth' s Kitchen Diary.

 adding wet ingredients to the dry ingredients 

 adding pecans, raisins and apples

 add streusel topping before baking

 yum

 You can clearly see the chunks of apples and the raisins 

 Great breakfast with a nice cup of tea 

Makes 15 muffins 

For the streusel topping

25g flour

85 demerara sugar

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

50g cold butter

25g pecans, chopped 

For the muffins

100g brown sugar

50g caster sugar

220g plain flour

1 teaspoon bicarbonate of flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1 teaspoon mixed spice

60mls milk

1 ripe banana

80mls vegetable oil

2 large free range eggs

1 pot (165g) Muller light banana and custard yoghurt (or vanilla or apple flavour) 

2 apples, peeled, cored and roughly chopped

100g raisins

75g pecans, roughly chopped

• Preheat the oven to 180C. 
• Line 2 muffin trays with 15 muffin liners. 
• Make the streusel topping by mixing all the ingredients in a bowl by hand. Set aside.
• In a large bowl, mix the sugars, flour, bicarbonate, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg and mixed spice. 
• In a separate bowl, lightly beat the eggs and add in the mashed bananas, vegetable oil, milk ad yoghurt.
• Make a well in the dry ingredients and add the wet ingredients. Stir until just mixed. 
• Add in the apples, raisins and pecans and mix. 
• Divide the mixture evenly between the muffin cases. 
• Top with streusel topping and bake in the pre heated oven for 20-25 minutes or until golden brown and a skewer insertedinto the centre comes out clean. 
• Allow to cool in the tray for a few minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool completely. 

Mini Caramel Apple Cheesecakes with Streusel Topping

I can't believe it's December already! I probably say this every year but where has the year gone? This year seems to have flown by in a flash. I'm sure there's a lot of festive cooking and baking going on worldwide but I'm still in autumn mode with apples. I saw this on pinterest and thought what a great idea. I've been waiting for the perfect opportunity to bake these and made them to take to a dinner party. We were really full from all the food but still managed to enjoy one or two of these. It's a good idea baking them in muffin cases as it's a nice individual portion, looks cute and is easy to transport. I also took some to work as did J and both our work colleagues enjoyed them. It's a baked cheesecake filled with fresh apples, streusel topping and a generous drizzle of salted caramel sauce. These are great for the upcoming festive season as you can bake them in advance and they are sure to be a hit at any party. 

I'm sending this to Simply Eggcellent hosted by Dom from Belleau Kitchen as the theme this month is anything goes. This recipe contains 3 large free range eggs. 

It's also going to Recipe of the Week hosted by Emily from A Mummy Too.

 streusel topping 

 digestive biscuit base

 add cheesecake mixture 

 then chopped apples

 top with streusel topping 

 generous drizzle of caramel sauce before serving

  

Recipe adapted slightly from cookingclassy.com

Makes 18 mini cheesecakes

For the base
16 digestive biscuits
2.5 tablespoon caster sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
85g butter,melted

For the filling 
340g cream cheese
225g caster sugar
3 large free range eggs
3/4 cup creme fraiche
3 or 4 Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored and chopped into tiny pieces (if the chunks are too big, the apples won't cook fully)
3 tablespoons lemon juice

For the streusel topping
80g plain flour
40g oats
75g brown sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
57g butter

• First prepare the streusel topping by mixing all the ingredients together in a large bowl using your hands until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs. 
• Cover and chill in the fridge. 
• Preheat the oven to 165C. 
• Prepare the crust by blitzing the digestive biscuits in a food processor or bashing them with a rolling pin in a ziplock bag. 
• Add the melted butter, sugar and cinnamon and stir until mixed. 
• Line 2 muffin tins with 18 cupcake/muffin liners. 
• Divide the mixture evenly between 18 cases and press down gently.
• Bake in the pre heated oven for approximately 5 minutes then remove from the oven and allow to cool.
• Make the filling by beating the cream cheese with the sugar until smooth. 
• Add the eggs one at a time followed by the creme fraiche and mix well.
• Pour the filling (use a measuring jug with a pouring spout) on top of the baked cheesecake crust until about 2/3 full.
• Peel, core and finely chop the apples then toss in fresh lemon juice.
• Place a generous spoonful of apples on top of each cheesecake. 
• Top with the streusel topping. 
• Bake in the pre heated oven for approximately 30-35 minutes or until golden brown. 
• Allow to cool completely then chill in the fridge for a few hours or overnight. 
• Just before serving, pour a generous amount of caramel sauce on top of the cheesecake. I used ready made caramel sauce but you can also make your own. 

Salted Caramel Apple Hand Pies

I am really excited to share this recipe with you. I love autumn baking and have been baking non stop with apples. There's something so comforting about apples and cinnamon and it's even better when paired with pastry. I love a good apple pie and I have to confess that I occasionally crave a McDonald's apple pie! I saw these salted caramel apple pies on Kelly's blog and have been wanting to bake them for weeks. I finally got a chance and they were well worth the wait. I used a different recipe for the pastry which has a high proportion of butter to flour and it tasted amazing! It is the best pastry I've made as it's so buttery and flaky almost like a puff pastry. I loved the cinnamon, caramel apple filling but was not a fan of the sea salt which I will omit next time. The pies were not as difficult to make as I originally thought and I will definitely be baking these again. We had them warm from the oven with a scoop of vanilla ice cream and it was absolutely divine. It was equally good the next day cold for breakfast! I am now thinking of different fruit variations for these pies - apple and raisin, apple and berries, pear and ginger.... any other ideas? 

I'm sending this to a few blog challenges this month. 

The Pastry Challenge hosted by Lisa from United Cakedom and Jen from Jen's Food. The theme this month is pies and tarts. 

Perfecting Patisserie Challenge hosted by Lucy from Baking Queen 74.  

Recipe of the Week hosted by Emily from A Mummy Too. 

Bake of the Week hosted by Helen from Casa Costello.

Treat Petite hosted by Kat from The Baking Explorer and Stuart fromCakeyboi. The theme this month is Autumn.

Cook Blog Share hosted by Kirsty from Hijacked by Twins.

 I found some salted caramel sweets in France

 Make sure you chop the apples into little pieces so they cook properly

 I'm really proud of my pastry :) 

 

 Place 1 tablespoon of filling in the centre of a pastry circle

 add chopped caramels and sea salt flakes 

 Wet the edges of the pastry and place a pastry circle on top

 Press down gently and crimp with a fork 

 Brush with egg wash then cut some air vents and add a sprinkling of demerera sugar (I didn't have any granulated sugar) 

 You can see the soft, flaky pastry here - it resembles puff pastry!! 

Makes 12 mini pies

For the pastry
315g plain flour
1 tablespoon caster sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
285g butter, cubed and cold
6-10 tablespoons ice cold water

For the filling
3 Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored and chopped into little pieces
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
50g caster sugar
2 teaspoons plain flour
12 caramel sweets, roughly chopped
sea salt flakes

For the egg wash
1 egg
1 tablespoon water

Note: I used a food processor to make my pastry but you can of course make it by hand.

• Place the flour, sugar and salt in the food processor and mix briefly.
• Add in the chopped cold butter and pulse until it resembles bread crumbs.
• Add in a tablespoon of water at a time and continue mixing until a soft dough forms. I used 8 tablespoons of water. 
• Knead the dough gently and wrap in cling film.
• Chill in the fridge for at least 30 minutes but preferably a few hours. 
• Next make the filling by mixing the chopped apple, lemon juice, cinnamon, sugar and flour in a bowl. 
• Roughly chop the caramel sweets - I used 1 sweet per apple pie. 
• Remove the dough from the fridge. Tear off a small piece and place the rest back in the fridge - the dough is best when chilled so work with a small bit at a time.
• Roll out the dough on a floured surface.
• Cut out circles using a round cutter - you need 2 pieces per pie. 
• Place the circles on a baking tray lined with non stick baking paper or a silicone baking mat.
• Place 1 tablespoon of apple filling in the centre of each circle, keeping the edges free.
• Add the chopped caramels and a sprinkling of sea salt flakes (optional).
• Dip your finger into a bowl of water and lightly run your finger around the edge of each pastry circle.
• Add a circle of dough on top of the apple pie and press down the edges gently.
• Crimp the edges using a fork.
• Brush the pies with eggwash.
• Cut a few air vents in each pie and sprinkle with granulated or demerera sugar (optional). 
• Bake in a pre heated oven of 200C for about 15 minutes or until golden brown. 

Apple Rose Tarts

Yesterday we celebrated a month of marriage. It seems silly I know but I thought it would be nice to mark the occasion with something special. In my world that usually means cake or chocolate. However, I've been wanting to bake apple rose tarts for a while now particularly as my mum and aunt made it recently with huge success. It's normally very popular around Valentine's Day and Mother's Day so I decided to give it a go. It really is much easier than it looks. This makes for a very impressive dessert with a little effort. Plus roses traditionally symbolise love. J was well impressed as was I! 

There are lots of recipes and videos available online and this is my interpretation. A little clumsy but still pretty and delicious. You can get 6 tarts out of 1 sheet of puff pastry but I made mine extralarge and only made 4! Most of the recipes used jam but I decided to go with melted butter and cinnamon sugar. Apologies for the poor quality photos but it was very late at night! 

 ready rolled puff pastry, 2 red apples, butter, cinnamon sugar and egg wash

 Slice the apples thinly and arrange on a plate. Makes sure you keep the skin on. Microwave it gently for 1-2 minutes until the apples are soft and pliable. 

 Cut the puff pastry into 4 using a pizza cutter (cut into 6 strips for smaller, neater tarts) 

 Roll each sheet slightly to widen and flatten it. Spread some melted butter on top

 Add a generous sprinkling of cinnamon sugar

 Arrange apple slices, overlapping the ends on top of the puff pastry sheet 

 fold the bottom part over and add more melted butter and cinnamon sugar. Starting at one end, roll it up and the apple slices will look like rose petals

 How pretty does that look? I baked mine in a buttered ramekin dishes in a 220C oven for approximately 40 minutes. You can also use a muffin tin if you are making smaller roses.

 They turn out beautifully from the ramekin 

 serve with a dusting of icing sugar