apple – Bakerholics Anonymous

This cheat’s apple pie uses pre-made pastry which allows you to spend more time decorating. I used pink lady apples because that’s what we had in the house, but it would work well with granny smith apples instead (but you may want to add in a little more sugar). Happy baking!

Ingredients (serves 8)
5 medium apples peeled, cored and chopped into cubes
½ cup water
¼ cup caster sugar
2 teaspoons lemon rind
3 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 egg, lightly beaten

Method

Grease a 25cm pie dish. Preheat oven to 180°C.

Peel, core and chop your apples. Place the apples and the water in a large saucepan and bring to the boil. Reduce the heat and simmer, covered, for about 6-7 minutes or until the apples soften. Drain all water. Stir in sugar, lemon rind and cinnamon.

Line pie dish with pastry (you may need to join 2 pieces together) and prick the bottom with a fork. Top with baking paper and pie weights or rice and bake for approximately 20-25 minutes or until lightly golden. Remove the pie weights and allow to cool.

Meanwhile, use the offcuts from the first 2 pieces of pastry to cut out leaves and flowers using cookie cutters.

Using the third piece of pastry, cut 6 thin strips, 2 thick strips and 6 very thin strips (to form 2 braids). Use the excess pastry to cut more leaves and flowers.

Spoon the apple mixture into the cooled pie base. Top with pastry strips and braids in a woven lattice design. Use the pastry leaves and flowers to decorate the edges. Gently brush the pastry with the beaten egg.

Bake for 25-35 minutes or until pastry is golden and crisp. Serve with cream or ice-cream. Enjoy!

Adapted from the Australian Women’s Weekly ‘Apple Pie’.

This may seem like an odd thing to post, but anyone who knows me knows that I’m a very devoted ‘dogmother’ to gorgeous toy cavoodle named Bailey:

Bailey turned one on Thursday and we hosted a ‘pawty’ for her at a local dog park (check our her invitations below!!).

To celebrate the occasion I made a batch of mini ‘pupcakes’ iced with Bailey’s beloved peanut butter. There are a huge number of dog-friendly cupcake recipes out there but this one appealed to me as it’s relatively healthy, refined sugar free & uses ingredients I had on hand.

1x the recipe made 4 large cupcakes & 24 mini cakes. The texture is very dense as the the binding agents are banana & apple sauce, but they certainly passed the puppy taste test! They also don’t brown much in the oven (even when they’re done) as there’s no refined sugar to ‘caramelise’, so insert a skewer to ensure they’re cooked.

Ingredients
Coconut oil (to grease pans)
1 ½ cups wholemeal flour (or white flour if desired)
1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
1 very ripe banana, mashed
¼ cup unsweetened apple sauce
1 tablespoon pure maple syrup
1 cup water

To decorate
Organic, smooth peanut butter
Small dog biscuits

image1-2 — One of the pawty guests, GB, enjoying a pupcake

Method
Preheat oven to 180°C (or 160°C fan-forced). Grease a 24-hole mini muffin tin & 4 holes of a muffin tin, with coconut oil/canola oil.

In a medium bowl, combine flour and baking powder.

In a large bowl, cream the applesauce, banana and maple syrup with electric beaters. Add a quarter of the flour mixture, followed by ¼ cup water and beat until combined. Repeat until all is incorporated.