Apple Season: A Round Up of Amazing Apple Recipes

Apples are one of my favorite things to bake with, probably because it pairs really well with cinnamon and cinnamon is my favorite spice. 

As the apples on our apple tree started to ripen I was looking for ways to use up the abundance of apples it gave us this year. So, instead of just looking myself I was lazy and set up this linky so the apple recipes could come to me!   

There are as many varieties of apples as there is recipes to use them in and here are some amazing ones.... 

Apple & Custard Lasagne

Foodie Quine

Spiced Apple Challah - Shaped 3 Ways (vegan)

Blackberry & Apple Crumble Cake

family friends food

Polish Apple Pancakes

Little Sunny Kitchen 

Feast of Pink Lady Apples 

(apple and fennel salad, pork, apple, and chorizo stew, and wholesome apple pie)

It's not easy being greedy

Honey Apple Mini Bundt Cakes

Apple Crumble and Custard Mini Cakes

Tin and Thyme

Freda’s apple and fruit loaf (thanks Freda)

Easy Peasy Lemon Squeezy

How to Make Apple Butter 

Feeding Boys and a Firefighter 

Apple Crumble & Custard Cupcakes 

Only Crumbs Remain

Apple Butter Pumpkin Pie

Cakeyboi a

Here are a few of my favorite apple bakes I've made here on United Cakedom:

Apple Pie Cheesecake Bars

Apple & Oatmeal Cookies

Apploffi Pie

Caramel Apple Pie Scones

Apple Pie Ice Cream

Butterscotch Apple Pudding

I hope you enjoyed reading and discovering all these apple recipes as much as I did! Let us know if you tried one out for yourself by leaving a comment below and/or on the blogger's page! Perhaps I will do another link up next year! 

notes: not all the pictures are my own, the majority of them are taken from the linked blog, they are being used with the understanding that when linked up they would be used for this round-up

the hummingbird bakery: Life is Sweet {book review}

The Hummingbird Bakery has done it again! Life is Sweet is the fourth book published by the infamous bakery and it’s out today!

 The book itself is gorgeous in the familiar pink color and packed with stunning photographs! It caters to a large range of baking skill. It is noted if more experience is recommended or not. However, I don’t think that should ever put someone off trying, if that’s what you want. It’s how we learn!

Life is Sweet has 100 new recipes that showcase exactly what American baking is! Tarek Malouf noticed a lack of American Style baking in the UK and in 2004 he opened The Hummingbird Bakery. There are now five locations throughout London and now a total of 4 books packed with American style bakes.

This new one does not disappoint! It has cakes and of course cupcakes along with a variety of pies, cookies and candies, pancakes, ice cream, puddings and even bread and other savory bakes.

I can’t wait to try:

Upside Down Pear Cake

Pumpkin Chai Cupcakes

Toasted Marshmallow Cupcakes

Peanut Butter and Jelly Cake… oh wait already tried that one (up on the blog tomorrow)

German Chocolate Cake

Strawberry Chiffon Pie

Blueberry Cream Cheese Pie

Soft Molasses Cookies

Vanilla-filled Chocolate Cookies

Birthday Cake Cookies

Turtle Cookies

Coconut Dream Bars

Red Velvet Brownies

Blackberry Limeade Bars

Cinnamon Pancake Cake

Grasshopper Pie Ice Cream

Fresh Peach Ice Cream

Peanut Butter Ice Cream

Sweet Potato Biscuits

Graham Crackers

The graham crackers really appeal to me. It’s because S’more’s really cannot be made without graham crackers and S’more’s are really really good!! All the recipes I have found previously have graham flour, not to be mistaken with gram flour, and graham flour is hard to find over here.

Everything I have ever baked from The Hummingbird Bakery books has turned out perfect. I have given Cake Days as a gift many times over to those who were looking to start out baking. It was the book that taught me a lot about baking. As an American in England it also gave me familiar and nostalgic bakes that I grew up with using UK measurements and ingredients. Which I was grateful for! It was the book that gave me the confidence to start my blog and share my baking experience online.

I guess you could say I owe a lot to them! Life is Sweet will make a great addition to my baking book collection and I am sure it will get used as much as my other Hummingbird Bakery books have!! 

Love Your Freezer Part 1: Fruit {smoothies & muffins}

This post is the first in two posts where I will be sharing the love for my freezer. Starting with fruit! As a baker fruit is a pretty obvious thing to keep in my fridge, because frozen fruits make great crumbles, cobblers, and pies! 

Frozen fruit (and vegetables) are almost better then fresh. The fruit is frozen almost immediately after it’s picked and by doing that seals in the freshness. An added bonus with frozen fruit is that 9 times out of 10 there is no need to defrost before using them, so it's as simple as throwing them into whatever it is that is being baked and/or cooked!

The most obvious way to use frozen fruit is in smoothies! Smoothies are the best way to make the most out of any frozen fruit. Since the fruit is frozen ice isn't necessary to add ice, which just ends up watering it down. Sainsbury’s have a strawberry banana smoothie pack that make smoothie making a breeze. My two girls love it when I whip this up for them!

Strawberry Banana Smoothies:

½ pkg (eyeball it) of Sainsbury’s Strawberry Banana Smoothie frozen pack

300ml vanilla yogurt

300ml apple juice

Blend all the ingredients together. Adjust the yogurt or apple juice according to constancy.

Any frozen fruit makes a good smoothie, I found the trick is using juice to add flavor and texture. It helps keep the smoothie from being too thick. Apple juice pairs well with strawberries, but play around to find your favorite combination. Also if you juice your own fruit it is even better for you, no hidden sugars.

The one frozen fruit I constantly have to restock is blueberries. That is because they are the best fruit/berry to use in pancakes, smoothies, and muffins. This is my fail safe recipe for Blueberry Muffins; the only thing I did different this time was sprinkle some vanilla sugar on top. It gave these muffins a darker colored top, but it was worth it. 

Feel free to substitute with frozen raspberries, blackberries, cranberries or even cherries in place of the blueberries!

I am always looking for ways to make the best out of my freezer! What tips and tricks do you use? 

Please leave a comment below! 

For my go to Pancake recipe follow the link here 

(substitute the chocolate chips for blueberries)

&

For my favorite blueberry smoothie follow the link here

&

For Gluten & Dairy Free Blueberry Muffins follow the link here

notes: In association with Sainsbury’s for their Love Your Freezer campaign! Check out there Live Well for Less free magazine usually available at the end of the tills for more freezer ideas and tips. Watch out for Part 2: Vegetables and Herbs coming soon!! 

Pancakes at Midnight

9 years ago today I married my husband.

We had been dating for about 5 month's.

The shock of some of our family and friends cannot be expressed in words.

We were married by an old retired Justice of the Peace, he looked a bit like Yoda, on a very windy day on the side of a lake. 

Afterwards we went to lunch with the few people who were there and then we packed his bags to fly back to England the next day. 

With all excitement and then driving to the airport we didn't have dinner. Right next to our hotel was an IHOP and it was there, at midnight on our wedding day, we shared a stack of Chocolate Chip Pancakes. 

Chocolate Chip Pancakes: 

1 large egg

1 cup plain flour/all-purpose

3/4 cups milk

1 tbsp sugar

2 tbsp vegetable oil 

3 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 cup chocolate chips

Beat the egg with hand beater until fluffy, then add the remaining ingredients, minus the chocolate chips, until just combined and smooth. Grease with vegetable oil or spray with cooking spray before heating up the griddle or skillet over a medium heat (sprinkle a few drops of water, if bubbles jump around, heat is just right). Cook pancakes until bubbly on top, puffed and dry around the edges; turn and sprinkle on a small handful of chocolate chips and cook until the other side is golden brown. 

Top with whatever you like and enjoy! 

notes: recipe slightly adapted from Betty Crocker's Red Cookbook. IHOP: International House of Pancakes. 

Apple Cinnamon Puffy Oven Pancakes

It’s Pancake Day!!

Or Shrove Tuesday, the day that precedes Lent. 

Many Christian denominations celebrate Shrove Tuesday or Pancake Day as a way to use up the rich or fatty foods they don't eat over Lent. 

I don’t need an excuse to make pancakes. 

Nor do I need an excuse to eat them.

However I will use any excuse to do both!

Plus it’s just silly not to eat pancakes on a day dedicated to pancakes.

I mean you’ll hurt their feelings.

No one wants that on his or her conscience.

Apple Cinnamon Puffy Oven Pancakes take a little more time to cook, but no more effort then normal pancakes. 

They are good, definitely worth the extra time. 

I say that about anything apple and cinnamon though so I’m a bit biased. I cut them up like a pizza, that way I could pick it up with my hands, way easier to eat that way! 

Apple Cinnamon Puffy Oven Pancakes:

2 tbsp of butter

2 large eggs

½ cup plain flour

½ cup milk

¼ tsp salt

2 tbsp packed brown sugar

¼ tsp ground cinnamon

1 apple, peeled and sliced

Preheat the oven to 200C/400F. Place the butter in a 9 inch pie plate and place in the oven.

While you wait for it to melt, lightly beat the eggs before adding the flour, milk, and salt until just combined. Do not over mix.

Using oven mitts remove the pie plate tilt the pie plate until the bottom is covered with the butter, sprinkle the brown sugar and cinnamon evenly over the melted butter.

Then arrange the sliced apple over the top before pouring the batter over them.

Bake 25-35 minutes or until puffy and a deep golden brown.

Immediately loosen the edge, I used a butter knife, and turn it upside down onto a plate or cutting board.

Cut up and serve as is or with maple syrup!

Enjoy!

I hope you all have a happy Pancake Day!! 

What's your favorite type of pancake? Toppings? 

notes: These are basically Yorkshire Puds, but don’t tell anyone okay? The recipe comes from a Betty Crocker Cookbook. How I convert butter. 

Pancake Facts with AGA Living

Tomorrow is Pancake Day! Finally! It seems like it's come so late this year.
Here are some fun pancake day facts from AGA Living!!

They would love to see you're pancake creations, share them on Facebook or Twitter!! 

Hi my name is Lisa and I'm a Twitter-holic.

When I started my blog I used to blog about anything and everything I did that revolved around baking! I even have a blog post on crème brulee lip gloss… However since I started my twitter account I just tweet most of those things now. I mean why bother going to all the trouble and work a blog post takes when I can just tweet it?!?!

So as I was going through the pictures on my phone I thought I’d do a big round up of products and sweet stuff I've done over the 8 months or so. As a warning this is probably one of the longest posts I have ever done. Also a lot of these things will have been seen on Twitter already. I am a bit of a Twitter junkie! Find me @unitedcakedom! So let's get started with the more recent: 

Join the Realm! I'm a huge Game of Thrones fan! I have read the book and have yet to start the series I will wait and get a box set and watch it all at once. I made this on a facebook app Join the Realm

Browns Restaurant in Reading! Girls night out for a friends birthday! I had to try the Browns Brownie and a couple of the other ladies had Sticky Toffee Pudding. It was a good night out, service was good until they switched shifts and we had a new server, but overall a fun time! I do apologize for the pictures not being of the best quality!

The Loveliest Chocolate Shop in Paris by Jenny Colgan: I love her series of "sweet" books. Starting with Meet Me in the Cupcake Cafe up to this one!! Looking forward to Christmas as the sequel to Rosie's Sweet Shop of Dreams is out! 

Warings Bakery: As most of the locations are local to me it's amazing I haven't been in before! I tried this apple fritter and a Viennese finger sandwich thing. They were both very lovely! Didn't take a picture of the latter. Will definitely be visiting again! 

Pancake Day at Giraffe! Giraffe offered a half off pancakes on pancake day, so a friend and I took full advantage! I think it was only advertised to those who are signed up for the news letter as that's how I was informed. So sign up for some great offers! 

White Chocolate Millionaire Shortbread! This was made by a very nice lady at the toddler group I take baby baker to every week. She is always bringing in treats for all of us. These were cut so big, I could hardly eat it as the white chocolate took it to another level of sweetness! But so good! 

My first attempt at crepes... Not sure why I didn't post this as a regular blog post? So, here they are using the left over raspberries and raspberry cream from the peach melba cupcakes I had made. I think I just used a Nigella recipe? Don't quote me on that as I am slowly losing my memory! 

Haribo Rhubarb & Custard Splats! We found these at our local newsagents and they were good. I love pic n' mix candy/sweets so these didn't last long in a house full of sugar junkies! 

Bake! from Dunelm Mill : What can I say? I am a sucker for cute knick knacks! Hey it was only 1.99! 

Care Packages!! There is nothing in the world like getting a care package from friends who miss you!! 

Thank you Dena!! (October)

Thank you Scott & Katie!! (January)

Lotus Biscuit Spread! I finally got around to hunting this stuff down after seeing it appear on tons of other food blogs. I never got around to baking with it as originally planned. I had thought I would substitute it in some of my favorite peanut butter recipes, but the girls and I just ate it. Sometimes just with a spoon. Shhhhh don't tell Daddy!

The Oracle Christmas Spectacular! I was sent VIP wrist bands because I have done a few reviews for The Oracle in the past. I would link to them, but they are not currently up on the Oracle website. Here were my blog posts for those visits: Jamie's Italian & Patisserie Valerie. It was a fun night out and a great way to get into the Christmas spirit! Afterwards we went for a drink in Giraffe! 

Amarettini: amaretto disaronno, strawberry&pomegranate w/layer of cream  & biscuits on top

Christmas Lumpy Bumpy Cake! from Pausa Cafe in Dunelm Mill. I first discovered Lumpy Bumpy Cake from Boswell's Cafe in Newbury when I meet my friend there for lunch one day. Then a while back I discovered a strawberry version in Pausa and so when I was visiting close to Christmas this version was staring at me. It's more of a coffee like flavor, so good! I love coffee flavored stuff! 

Mochi from Yo! Sushi! My friend and I try to have sushi dates every other month or so as we love the stuff! I hadn't really looked at the desserts because the little Victoria sandwich cake things they serve aren't anything to shout about! Mochi is interesting. I think it's the texture that had me second guessing it. I probably won't order it again and spend my money on the delicious rolls and curries instead! 

And that is the end of that if you like this sort of general information about my baking life, please follow me on twitter. As the title suggests I am a Twitter-holic! 

Forever Nigella #23 Nostalgia American Pancakes!!

Forever Nigella #21 Christmas was the first FN I participated in and it was a lot of fun! It was great seeing what everyone else decided to make! The big bonus for me was the support and kind words in the comments! I didn't participate in January’s just for lack of time management! So, as I went into February with the FN theme, Nostalgia, firmly in the forefront of my mind. Every time I opened my Nigella books I asked myself “What Would Nigella Do?”

Okay not really, but I was struggling to find something that was nostalgic to me being an American Expat and all. Nothing immediately stood out for me - until today (Strove Tuesday). As I was making pancakes for my girls and a few of their friends, using the trustworthy American Pancake recipe from Domestic Goddess, it occurred to me that they would be perfect for this month’s FN!

Growing up, pancakes and eventually waffles after the waffle maker came to live with us, were usually brunch on most holiday mornings and lazy weekends. It’s funny how a food can bring back memories, faded and fuzzy memories, but memories all the same. So, for my Forever Nigella #23 Nostalgia I give you Nigella’s American Pancakes. 

The recipe is located in How to be a Domestic Goddess. Nigella's American Breakfast Pancakes can also be found on her site! Thank you to Botanical Baker (this month’s host) and Maison Cupcakes for bringing us Forever Nigella #23!

half with maple syrup and the other with Lotus biscuit spread

Oh and I love the fact that pancakes here in England are called “American Pancakes”. Never had to clarify before! ;0]