Cinnamon Apple Berry bake - come on Autumn!

You may have noticed that I like to pick up recipe magazines now and then.  And try out new recipes that I think sound good.  Well, here's another one...

This one is officially called Little Chefs apple, berry and yoghurt traybake but I prefer to think of it as a Cinnamon Apple Berry bake.  It smelled great when it was cooking, and was so moist and quick to eat! And it seems quite healthy too, with 3 different fresh fruits, natural yoghurt and not much sugar. Certainly I was happy for The Team to have their fill.  

 It even looks good raw, don't you think?  All those delicious berries, mmm...

When the time was up for baking, it seemed very soft inside, so I returned it to the oven for a further 15 minutes or so.  It was still soft and very moist, but I felt it must be done so removed it finally.

It cut up easily once cooled, and was moist all the way through - totally delicious!!  Although for the next time, I'll add a fair bit more cinnamon for a bit more of an Autumnal flavour.  And a friend tried it and she added mixed spice - that would work too.  Enjoy.

Autumn in a pastry? Cinnamon apple turnovers

Here in the lovely part of Scotland we have chosen to call home, it's most definitely Autumn.  Not only are the leaves changing colours and starting to fall (very pretty and fun for the kids, but a mess in the garden), but the temperature has dropped noticeably and we are barely getting into double figures these days (well, perhaps up to 11c/52f). 

I have some American friends, and am in an American cake group, and love how much they love their Holidays.  Starting with Halloween, then Thanksgiving then Christmas, it's just one big party for the next few months for them.  And all the blogs and Facebook pages are talking about baking and cooking with seasonal ingredients, most noticeably pumpkin and spices. 

I read about a really easy, tasty-sounding idea on one of the pages/blogs and didn't have all the ingredients to hand but wanted to make it.  So I (thought I bookmarked it, or emailed the recipe to myself) bought the ingredients the next weekend and got excited.  Then couldn't find the recipe for love nor money.  I mean anywhere!  I tried The Girl Who Ate Everything, not her.  I tried Created by Diane, not her.  It wasn't even Betty Crocker, for goodness' sake.   I was fast running out of patience, but more importantly I felt, desire to bake, eek.  So from my vague memory and without knowing correct proportions I went ahead with these Cinnamon Apple pastries...

 That's a sheet of store-bought puff pastry cut into eight rectangles  (ooh, could it have been on their site??), topped with apple pie filling and a mix of cream cheese (or their site?), icing sugar (confectioners/powdered sugar) and ground cinnamon.  I had to guess at the amounts, and just kept adding until it tasted good.

But I ended up with too much filling, and not enough space within each pastry rectangle, so did the best I could to pinch the edges together.  Then to bake...

Uh, they kind of exploded a little.  But mmm mmm, they tasted great!!  They were best warm, but The Team still managed to gobble them up at afternoon tea that day.  If you happen to see the recipe anywhere, please get in touch!

 

Autumn starts with Apple & Cinnamon

I thought I'd lead with the photo this time.  This was taken just a few moments after the muffins came out of the oven, and the Cinnamon butter had been added.  I'd pushed a bit inside each muffin, and left a generous blob on the top to start melting... making you want one yet?  Ha ha.  We posted on our Facebook page, to invite someone (anyone) for afternoon tea, but no-one came.  So these beauties were shared with some happy-to-help-out neighbours. 

I had a book on the shelf that I'd barely opened, and felt it was about time.  Called simply Muffin Magic, it has a selection of delicious and even healthy-sounding recipes.  I chose these because it said they were 'faff-free' (proved to be true, as they were easy to do) and as a way to help Mini-1 eat apples, as she has 3 wobbly teeth at the front (weeeeell, she is 6 and a half) and is complaining of sore gums.  So these contain 2 apples, finely chopped.  Plus the usual sort of ingredients and cinnamon.  And wow, did the house smell good or what?!!

Shame it happened to be one of the warmest and sunniest days of the year, ha ha.