Toffee Apple Cobbler

The nights are starting to draw in, the evenings are becoming cooler and the apples are beginning to fall from our tree. Jack collected a couple of boxes full of windfall apples whilst helping his Dad tidy up the garden at the weekend, and after a bit of a clean up and chopping out the bugs and bruises, I had enough for a pie. I didn't have any cream cheese in to make cream cheese pastry, I wasn't going to risk a rubbish shortcrust, and I've exhausted crumble recently, so a cobbler it was to be - kind of a cross between pastry, cake and scones.

It was to be a caramel apple cobbler, but the caramel sauce didn't go exactly to plan, although it did have a very happy ending and the result was a lovely smooth and dark toffee sauce. You only really need around 5-6 tbsp of toffee sauce in this cobbler but the recipe below makes a full jar full, leaving plenty to pour over ice cream or use in other recipes (if it lasts that long!)

Toffee Apple Cobbler

100g butter
200g self raising flour
1 tsp cinnamon
75g caster sugar + 1tbsp for sprinkling on top
1 egg, beaten
enough peeled, cored & sliced apples to fill your pie dish
5-6 tbsp toffee sauce

toffee sauce - makes enough for this recipe + 1 jar extra
400g caster sugar
40g butter
200ml double cream
pinch of sea salt (optional)

• Rub the butter into the flour, until it resembles breadcrumbs
• Stir in the cinnamon & caster sugar
• Mix in the egg until everything starts to come together - if it's too dry, add a dash of milk
• Fill the pie dish up with apples and pour over the toffee sauce
• Roll some of the dough into a ball and flatten between your palms, and lay on top of the apples
• Repeat with the remaining cobbler dough
• Bake in a preheated 170C oven for approx 45 minutes, until cobbler topping is cooked all the way through and the apples are soft, and the toffee sauce is bubbling.

To make the toffee sauce

• Add the sugar to a large frying pan or wide saucepan
• Heat over a medium heat until the sugar has dissolved and turned a rich silky brown liquid (if you want a lighter caramel sauce then don't leave it as long - my toffee sauce was completely unintentional but completely delicious!)
• DO NOT STIR THE SUGAR - instead, keep shaking the pan
• Once you have reached your desire brown-ness then remove the pan from heat
• Whisk in the butter and then the cream, and salt (if using)

Harissa & Vegetable Cobbler

I'm loving having Good Food Magazine on my ipad, not only is it very portable but it means I can search for recipes that I've seen without having to flick through pages and pages. One of the recipes that caught my eye was in the budget cooking edition for tomato & harissa stew with cheddar dumplings. I'm always looking for ways to save money on the weekly shop and making more veggie recipes is definitely helping.

I amended the recipe by adding a few more ingredients (vegetables from the bottom of the fridge) and using my recipe for cheesy scones for the top (leaving out the chilli) instead of the dumplings.

Vegetable & Harissa Cobbler

1 tbsp Olive Oil
1 Onion, chopped
2 sticks of celery, sliced
1 heaped tbsp of Harissa paste
1 Can of chopped tomatoes
1 Can of water
1 Can of chickpeas, drained
1 Large Courgette, chopped
1 Red pepper, de-seeded & chopped
2 Large Chestnut Mushrooms
1 Knorr Herb Stock Pot
75g Red Lentils
1 Egg, beaten

• Heat the oil in an ovenproof casserole pan and fry the onion gently for 3 minutes
• Add the celery, harissa paste, tomatoes, water, chickpeas, courgette, pepper, mushrooms & stock pot and bring to the boil
• Place the lid on and bake in a 180 C oven for 1 hour
• Stir in the lentils and return to the oven (lid on) for 10 minutes
• Make up the scone mixture and cut circles out
• Place the scones on top of the stew, brush with beaten egg and bake (no lid) for a further 15 minutes until golden brown

Spicy Sausage & Bean Cobbler

I'm loving my new cast iron casserole dish that I received as a Christmas present, yes I am one of the sad ones that asks for pots & pans instead of diamonds and pearls - you can take the girl out of the kitchen but you can't take the kitchen out of the girl. I'm using it as often as possible for a spot of one pot cooking and the husband doesn't even complain about washing it as nothing sticks to it, no matter how hard I try.

A family favourite in this household is sausage casserole and as the casserole dish can be used on both the hob and in the oven I decided to finish it off with some cheese topped scones on top - in hindsight I perhaps shouldn't have topped them with apricot stilton as the fruity bits burnt a little.

Spicy Sausage & Bean Cobbler - serves 4/5

1 tbsp Olive oil
1 onion, chopped
1 garlic clove, crushed
625g Good Quality Sausages (I used Chipolatas as Asda substituted my Cumberland sausages!)
1 tsp Paprika
1 tsp Mild Chilli powder
1/2 tsp Cayenne pepper
400g Can of tomatoes
410g can of Baked beans
300g can of Cannelini beans, drained
1 tbsp Tomato puree

Topping
250g SR Flour
1 tsp baking powder
60g Butter
70g cheese, grated (I used a mix of leftover Christmas cheese - mexican hot and white stilton with apricots) + extra for topping
pinch of dried rosemary (optional)
125ml milk + extra for brushing the tops

• Heat the oil in an ovenproof/stovetop dish & add the onion & garlic
• Fry gently for approx 5 minutes, until softened
• Cut the sausages each into 3 or 4 pieces
• Add the sausages to the pan & fry until browned off
• Add the paprika, chilli powder & cayenne & stir in
• Add the tomatoes, beans and tomato puree
• Stir well, place the lid on and simmer for around 20 minutes
• Make the scone topping by rubbing the butter into the flour
• Stir in the cheese & herbs and then the milk until the mixture comes together 
• Roll out onto a lightly floured surface to approx 2cm thick
• Using a 5cm cutter cut circles out
• Arrange the scones on top of the casserole and brush with milk and top with grated cheese
• Bake in a preheated 180 C oven for around 20 minutes, until the scones are lightly browned & cooked through