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Mel and Joy cook

Tag Archives: apple

Mini fruit crumble

28 Friday Oct 2011

Posted by melandjoycook in Desserts

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Tags

apple, cinnaon, crumble, dessert, fruit, nectarine, oats, pear, sugar

 

 

The girls were coming over for tea and I was determined to make a fruit crumble. The problem was that I had one pear, one nectarine and one apple. Not enough of one fruit to fill a pie pan. I had made the crumble topping already so I got out my cupcake pan instead!

Here’s what you need:

Filling:

1 nectarine (Diced)
1 pear (Diced)
1 apple (Diced)

Crumble:

1 1/4 cups of packed brown sugar
2 cups of uncooked quick oats
2/3 cup of cold butter, cut into small pieces
1/8 teaspoon of cinnamon
2/3 cup of flour

Mix oats, brown sugar, and flour. Add butter and rub evenly in with fingertips until mixture is crumbly.
Press the crumble topping into each tin to make a base. To this, I added a tad more butter into each tin and then baked it for 10 min at 350 degrees.
You want this base to be nice and crispy.

Dice the fruit and dust with cinnamon.
Put a little of each into the cupcake pan.
I kept the fruit separated, but could’ve combined the fruit.
Then, I topped it with the crumble.
I baked it for 30 min at 350 degrees.
The topping didn’t look crisp enough so I put it in the broiler for a few minutes.

The apple got drizzled with melted caramel, the pear was topped with toasted chopped pecans and the nectarine got a dollop of whipped cream.
The ladies LOVED it and thought I spent a lot of time making individual crumbles, when it really took no time at all!
Enjoy!

Joy

Apple cake

11 Sunday Sep 2011

Posted by melandjoycook in Desserts

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Tags

apple, cake, dessert, vanilla

A big apology for the abscence of blogs these past few weeks but I was on holiday in France enjoying the sun. It does however mean that I have come back with loads of new recipes. However today I’m going to share the apple cake Alexis and I just made  – perfect for a rainy day in England – though the apples did come from my grandmother’s garden in France.

Sugar coated violets

What you will need:

4 apples
150g of sugar
120g melted butter
85 g flour
3 eggs
75 ml milk
1/2 tbl spoon of vanilla extract

Oven at 180C
Cooking time of 40 minutes

Start with heating your oven to 180C. Peel your apples, remove pips and cut into small chunks. In a pan add apples, vanilla extract and about a tbl spoon of the sugar – mix together and cover on a medium heat. Every minute or so stir the apples and add a bit of water if you find they are caramelising.  Turn the heat off when they go soft – should take about 5 minutes.

In two bowls seperate your eggs. Mix the ingredients everytime you add a new ingredient – to your yolks add sugar, then your melted butter, flour and milk. Now turn to your egg whites and whisk until you can virtually tip the bowl upside down without them falling on your head 🙂 Now incorporate your whites to the other mixture. You don’t what to break your whites as their fluffiness is what will make your cake nice and light. So what you need to do  is add the whites little by little to the mixture and fold the mixture over the whites. Once you have added all the egg whites add in the apples and then add to a non-stick or buttered cake tin.

Place in the oven for 40 minutes. Whilst the cake is cooking the apples will fall to the bottom of the mixture – so when you cake is ready turn it upside down on a dish and leave it that way as it will give a classy but rustic look to it. (I had it with a bit of cream but it’s just as great eaten on its own.)

For the frosted violets click http://wp.me/p1sdbX-1n

Mel

A French Picnic…

01 Friday Apr 2011

Posted by melandjoycook in Salads

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Tags

apple, champagne, cheese, cherries, dressing, food, france, lettuce, picnic, salad, walnut

 

Melanie is off to France for a long weekend…aahhhh!
Cherries

Home picked cherries

I miss France so much right now that if I were allowed to fly, I would tag along!
 

A sunny day in France

Mel’s trip makes me think of a picnic we had in France when we were there, in the countryside, last May.
We had a delicious spread of wine, salad, pates, cheese and cherries – that were picked from her grandmother’s tree. It seems when most people think of food in France desserts, baguettes and champagne come to mind. But I think of the lettuce. The leaves are large but they have a soft texture and taste sweet. Boston/Bibb lettuce is the only kind of lettuce I can find in Chicago that reminds me of the lettuce in France.

Whenever Mel and I make a meal together, I know that we will have a salad with her famous mustard vinaigrette. The French always eat a salad with their meal because it helps digestion. Before meeting Mel, I had never heard of this but eat the same way now. When I make salad dressing I like to measure it all out, but not Melanie. The salad below is what I make to take me back to that lovely picnic. It has a tangy cheese, a tart fruit, buttery walnuts and the famous pungent mustard vinaigrette!

What you need:
Butter/Bibb lettuce

1 green apple (cored and cut)
1/2 cup of toasted walnuts
3 ounces of Roquefort cheese

Vinaigrette
1 teaspoon sherry vinegar
2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
1/4 cup of olive oil
Sea Salt & Black Pepper

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