Autumnal apple recipes
With the nights drawing in and autumn approaching Samantha Wells shares some favourite seasonal recipes.
When I think of autumn and food in Scotland thoughts of stews, slow-cooked dinners and easy one pan dishes quickly come to mind. This is also the peak time for apples.
Whether donated or grown locally we are beginning to see an abundance here in the Lang Spoon Community Kitchen. Apples are incredibly versatile and crumbles, squidgy apple sponge cake, cinnamon rich pies, a hug-in-a-bowl baked apple, grated over porridge, we are often found grating, peeling or chopping. Delicious!
Grating apples into a turkey burger adds a subtle sweetness. Sliced thinly and baked slowly in an oven turns them into a delectable mid-afternoon slump snack. So, if you are lucky to have an abundance of apples growing in your garden here’s a couple of recipes you may not have tried.
The apple butter is a superb addition to your larder, dark caramel-y, sweet and, despite the name, contains no butter. It’s also a lovely gift. A long cook is ideally made in a slow-cooker for smell alone, ease and obviously cost purposes. It can also be done in a tray in the oven or pressure cooker, or directly in a saucepan.
This bread is great and delicious with the apple butter or added to a cheeseboard or dunked into soup! Swap out the pecans for nuts of your choice – walnuts are great.
Roasted Apple and Pecan Bread with Apple Butter
Ingredients
250g strong white bread flour
250g strong wholemeal flour
1 tsp dried yeast
1 tsp salt
1 tsp sugar
1 tbsp butter or oil
300-450ml room temperature water
150g pecans
3-4 apples, peeled and cored and diced
Good teaspoon cinnamon
2 tbsp sugar of your choice
Method
Preheat oven to 180C/Gas 4.
In a large bowl add the flours, salt, sugar and yeast and butter (or oil). With a butter knife mix and gently add in half the water. With clean hands mix into a soft dough adding in a little water at a time until you have a pliable dough. Remove from the bowl and knead for 5-7 minutes or until the dough is smooth (try and be sparing if you need to add more flour). Place back into the bowl and cover with a clean towel in a warm place and wait for the dough to double in size (approx. 1-2 hours).
Whilst you are waiting add the apples into a roasting dish and sprinkle over the cinnamon and sugar and roast for 10-12mins or until just tender. Leave to cool.
Once the dough has doubled in size, knock it back and add in the apples. Shape into an oval shape and leave for another hour. Increase the oven to its highest setting and place into the oven on middle shelf and turn the oven down to 190C/Gas 5. Bake for 45-50mins or until golden brown and when upturned and tapped it will sound hollow.
Apple Butter
The apple butter is a superb addition to your larder, dark caramel-y, sweet and despite being a ‘butter’ contains no butter. It’s also a lovely gift. A long cook is ideally made in a slow cooker for smell alone, ease and obviously cost purposes but can also be done in a tray in the oven or pressure cooker or directly in saucepan.
Ingredients
3kg apples peeled, cored and sliced
200g granulated sugar
200g light brown sugar, lightly packed
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
1tsp ground cardamon (optional)
A good grind of black pepper (optional)
Method
Add all the ingredients to a slow cooker and leave to cook for 6-8 hours on low. Once incredibly soft, blend with a stick blender and spoon into sterile containers.
This can be chilled for two weeks and can also be frozen.
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