Bramley Apple Sausage Rolls with Apple & Pear Chutney

These sausage rolls are basically cheating when it comes to homemade baking. I mean I didn’t make the chutney or the puff pastry. Heck I could have even made my own sausage meat, but I didn’t.

I bought all three of these ingredients and I put them together to make a delicious and easy picnic snack! Which is the theme of this month’s Pastry Challenge, the very one I co-host with Jen from Jen’s Food.

Sausage rolls are like a blank canvas; they are just waiting for you to add flavor and pizzazz! They are also perfect for picnics because they can be eaten cold or at room temperature. 

As I said above these sausage rolls are like cheating, but when you eat them and they are better then any store bought sausage roll, that guilt will quickly fade.

Bramley Apple Sausage Rolls with Apple & Pear Chutney

½ Bramley Apple, chopped small

knob of butter

500g sausage meat

500g puff pastry

4-6 heaped tablespoons of Apple & Pear chutney

1 egg, beaten

Melt the butter with the chopped apple and heat until the apple is soft. Leave to cool while you roll out the pastry to approximately 32x20cm. Then cut in half-length wise so you have two long thin pastry strips. Spread 2-3 tablespoons of chutney on each one, leaving a border along the edges. Then mix the sausage meat with the cooled apples before dividing as evenly as possible into two portions. Make each one to look like a long sausage and place on top of apple chutney, then fold the pastry over the sausage meat and press down to seal. Use a fork if it’s not sticking. Cut the sausage rolls into whatever size suits you before glazing with the beaten egg. Be sure to cut a few slices in the top of each pastry. Then enjoy!

notes: made for The Pastry Challenge hosted by Jen at Jen’s Food and myself!

Re-Living the Magic of the Marshmallow Puff

Pinterest is my second favorite social media site. It has given my blog more views then any other site.

Magic Marshmallow Puffs were my first viral pin on Pinterest! It had 4 re-pins!

No joke - after that it spread like wild fire, becoming my most viewed post for months.

That was 2 years ago.

Recently I have been looking back at older posts to see how far I've come and the magic marshmallow puffs just stood out and I realized they had a lot of potential to be more! 

I remember the first time I found Jus-Rol's Croissants, I was so excited that I bought like 4 of them, it was just something I had missed from home. 

It was difficult to decide there is so many different things that could be added besides the classic cinnamon and sugar combo! 

Here is a list of my ideas: 

• a teaspoon of homemade butterscotch and marshmallow
• 1 Cadbury Mini Cream Egg and marshmallow 
• 1 Rolo or Munchie and marshmallow 
• a teaspoon of jam/marmalade and marshmallow 
• a teaspoon of Nutella or Lotus Spread and marshmallow 
• a square of chocolate, a golden graham, and marshmallow (S’more puff)
• a teaspoon of pie filling and marshmallow
• a teaspoon each of peanut butter and jam and marshmallow (PB&J sandwich puff)

I went with the Cadbury Mini Cream Egg and the homemade butterscotch and it did not disappoint. 

Magic Marshmallow Puffs (re-visited)

1 pkg of Jus Rol Croissants (6 croissants)

6 marshmallows 

3 Cadbury Mini Creme Eggs

3 tsp of homemade butterscotch

Lightly grease 6 cups of a muffin pan and preheat the oven to 190C/350F. 

Unroll the triangles, place a marshmallow and other filling (in this case a Mini Cream Egg and a teaspoon of butterscotch) in the middle of the triangle and fold the points up.
Place them seam side up in the prepared muffin pan. 

Bake for 10-12 minutes.

You could add a frosting if you'd like. I don't think these ones needed it, as they were sweet enough! They are really like magic as they are effortless and delicious!

Jus-Rol sells all sorts of different pre-made pastry that takes the stress out of being creative with flavors and experimenting!

notes: In association with Jus-Rol. See my contact/policy page for further information. In the USA these croissants are the same as Pillsbury's Crescent Rolls. Are you on Pinterest? Follow me and I’ll follow you back! 

Jus-Roll with the Turnovers

Puff pastry is more time consuming then other pastries. I’m all for making it yourself, but I’m also all about making life easier. I am a busy full time mom and especially more recently a full time blogger, I make short cuts when and where I can!

So, when I make my girls their favorite pasties, homemade pizzas, sausage rolls, or simple easy desserts like these turnovers, I buy puff pastry. I always have and until I have excessive amounts of free time, I probably always will.

The fruit and nuts in this recipe can be swapped around to suit your taste! My local store doesn't sell the all butter version of the puff pastry sheet, so I used butter as a glaze and ate these with some cream! Ice cream would be a good accompaniment too!

Peach and Pistachio Turnovers

1 Jus-Rol puff pastry sheet (use all butter if available)

flour to dust

4 tsp apricot jam

30g pistachios, chopped

2 fresh ripe peaches, stones removed and halved

1 egg beaten or melted butter

Preheat the oven to 200C. Unroll the pastry on a floured work surface and cut into four equal-sized squares. Spread one heaped tsp of jam diagonally along the center of each pastry. Sprinkle with the chopped pistachios and then place one peach half in the middle of each pastry square cut side down. Fold over two opposite corners of the pastry, so they overlap in the middle on top of the peach. Now brush them with the beaten egg or melted butter. Bake in the oven for 20 minutes, then transfer to the rack to cool. Serve with cream or ice cream!

notes: in association with Jus-Rol, please see my contact/policy page for more information. I used more of my Whynot pistachios! See my pistachio cupcakes to find out more! Recipe is from Jus-Rol 30 best loved recipes. Check out my facebook page for how I make my girls favorite pasties!! 

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. 

Vanilla Slice

While browsing in my local Oxfam book store I came across this little book called Cakes and Slices published by Murdoch Books. It's where I found the recipe for these Vanilla Slices. This recipe was 1-of-3 that featured passion fruit. Ever since I had that cheesecake at Giraffe I have wanted to use passion fruit in my baking and this is the second time I have! It's so good.

This didn't work out as I wanted, it was doomed from the start. First off I wasn't really in the mood to bake, but I bought all the ingredients and didn't want anything to go off. Then I realised I bought the wrong amount of whipping cream. I thought I had read 35mls, but it was 35floz! oops. So, I substituted with double cream and milk. It worked but it took way longer then the 2 minutes it says it should. I ended up burning it. The burnt taste wasn't completely inedible, just not what I wanted. I also blame my NOT heavy bottom sauce pan. Too bad I already used all my Lakelands gift vouchers!

Then I used ready-made puff-pastry as I don't have a lot of experience in pastry making and I wanted to save time. I don't think I baked it long enough. It was baked, but could have been more browned.

I went ahead with the icing, but it had a strong taste of icing sugar, the passion fruit wasn't enough to over power it. So, it was only okay. I might have to play with that icing a bit as I really like the idea of a passion fruit icing!

These slices were a bit better the following day after cooling in the fridge over night. The burnt taste wasn't as noticeable and it was very creamy and made me decide to try these again at a later date!

To compensate for the not so successful vanilla slice I used a tried and trusted back up! Betty Crocker Fudge Brownies! I wondered why I sometimes preferred these brownies to other homemade versions I have made/tried. It's the oil. It has to be. All the other recipes use butter. This one calls for 2 tbsps of vegetable oil. Either way they were good.

chilled and ready to eat

500g ready-made puff pastry

230g caster sugar

90g corn flour

60g custard powder

1 litre pouring cream

60g unsalted butter

2 tsp vanilla extract

3 egg yolks

Icing: 185g icing sugar, 60g passion fruit pulp, 15g unsalted butter

Preheat oven 210C. Lightly grease 2 baking sheets with oil. Line the base and sides of a shallow 23cm square cake tin with foil, leaving the foil to hang over the sides.

Divide the pastry in half, roll each piece to a 25cm square 3mm thick. Place on baking sheets and prick all over with a fork and bake for 8 minutes or until golden. Trim each pastry sheet to 23cm square. Put one sheet topside down in the cake tin.

Combine sugar, corn flour, and custard powder in a saucepan. Add the cream, stirring constantly over a medium heat for 2 minutes, or until it boils and thickens. Add the butter and vanilla and stir until smooth. Remove from heat and whisk in the egg yolks. Spread custard over the pastry in the tin. Then cover with the other pastry sheet, top side down. Cool.

To make the icing combine all ingredients and stir until smooth. Lift the slice out of the tin. Ice the top and leave to set before cutting with a serrated knife.

the passion fruit icing

the vanilla slice before chilling

finished product

from the book