Maple, Apple & Cinnamon Pinwheel Pastries

Last week it was pastry week on Bake Off, and whilst I would love to try making a bakewell tart, I know the kids wouldn't eat it, and I would've ended up eating too much. There was no way I was going to attempt filo pastry, so that left Danish Pastries.

I didn't have enough time for the whole proper Danish pastry dough, so I made my favourite cream cheese pastry, which is very similar to puff pastry, but a lot less work. It worked really well with these pastries, and is great for savoury pies too. It's a lovely light pastry, and these pinwheels were light and crispy.

Apple & Cinnamon Pinwheel Pastries

pastry
150g full fat cream cheese, diced
150g cold butter, diced
250g plain flour
1 tbsp caster sugar

apple filling
3-4 tbps home made apple jam (made with 3 parts peeled apples and 2 parts jam sugar)
tsp cinnamon
caster sugar

icing
3 tbsp icing sugar
maple syrup
water

• Add all the pastry ingredients into a stand mixer bowl
• Using a flat beater, mix all the ingredients together until combined and just starting to come together
• Press the pastry together, wrap in clingfilm & refrigerate for approx 1/2 an hour (do not be tempted to over work the pastry)
• Roll the dough out to the thickness of a one pound coin (I find it easier to roll between sheets of clingfilm instead of flouring the surface)
• cut squares from the dough, in your desired size - mine were approx 3" square as I wanted small pastries
• make 4 cuts on each square of pastry from the corners towards the centre, leaving a gap in the centre for the filling
• mix the jam with the cinnamon and spoon into the centre of each pastry
• fold in 4 of the corners to make a pinwheel
• return to the fridge for half an hour whilst the oven preheats to 200C
• place the pastries onto a baking sheet lined with baking paper
• sprinkle a little caster sugar over each pastry
• bake for approx 15 minutes, until golden and crispy
• once cool, drizzle with icing (I mixed icing sugar with a little water and a little maple syrup until it was drizzling consistency)

I am joining in with the Mummy Mishaps Great Bloggers Bake Off

Cheesy Chicken & Sweetcorn Slices

It's pastry week on The Great British Bake Off this week so I thought I would share these easy to make Cheesy Chicken & Sweetcorn Slices. I cheated a little here as I didn't make my own puff pastry, but store bought puff pastry is so convenient, and considering that home made puff pastry can take a whole day to make, it's definitely £1 well spent.

I served these up with some Actifry chips, which made a very fulfilling meal for the family. The recipe makes 4 good sized slices, but can easily be doubled up to make a few for now and a few for another day.

Cheesy Chicken & Sweetcorn Slices - makes 4

1 large skinless chicken breast, cooked

80g cooked & cooled potatoes

75g frozen sweetcorn, thawed

75g mature cheddar cheese, grated

pinch of dried herbs

twist of black pepper

500g puff pastry block

1 egg

• slice the chicken breast and potatoes into small pieces
• add to a bowl with the sweetcorn, cheese, herbs and pepper
• mix to combine all the ingredients
• roll the puff pastry block out into a rectangle until it measures approx 35cm x 30cm
• straighten up the sides of the pastry by cutting off any uneven edges
• cut into 4 equal pieces
• brush beaten egg around the edges of each sheet of pastry
• spoon some of the filling onto one side of each pastry sheet, leaving a gap around the edge
• fold the other side of the pastry over and press down on the edges to seal 
• using a fork, press gently around the sealed edges
• brush with beaten egg
• bake in a preheated 200C oven for approx 25-30 minutes, until puffed up & golden brown

Ham, Egg & Tomato Brunch Parcels

The end of half term is coming to a close. Goodbye lazy mornings & hello again school runs. It's only a few more weeks until the Summer holidays though, and as this half term is usually the busiest and most exhausting, it will be a welcome relief.

With the weather here being so lovely this week, bedtimes have slipped back, mornings have become shorter and breakfasts have run into lunch. This has been a great excuse to eat brunch, which is so much more exciting than breakfast, as nothing is out of bounds. 

Pastries are not considered to be a healthy breakfast, but add eggs, tomatoes, lean turkey ham, and pop a handful of fresh greens on the side, it suddenly becomes a light, well balanced, and healthy brunch.

We're a bit partial to Bernard Matthews wafer thin Turkey Ham in this house, and it's my usual 'ham' of choice for sandwiches and quick meals. It's often added to a cheese toastie, or forms part of the husband's speciality omelettes or 'egg on beans on cheese on ham on toast', when he's left in charge of dinner. 

Here I've used a combination of the classic brunch/lunch ingredients of ham, egg and tomato in a tasty (and slightly spicy) puff pastry parcel, which is easy to prepare and quick to cook. The scrambled egg could even be made in advance and kept in the fridge, ready to assemble and bake right before brunch time.

Ham, Egg & Tomato Brunch Parcels - makes 6

tbsp olive oil

1/2 red chilli, finely chopped

3 sundried tomatoes, finely chopped

4 eggs, beaten

salt & pepper

6 slices Bernard Matthews wafer thin Turkey Ham, chopped

a few basil leaves, chopped

375g (approx) puff pastry sheet

60g grated Emmental cheese

• heat the olive oil in a non stick frying pan
• add the chill and tomatoes and cook over a medium heat for a couple of minutes
• add the eggs (reserving 2 tbsp for later) & a pinch of salt & pepper and increase the heat
• stir continuously to scramble the eggs
• remove from the heat and stir in the turkey ham & basil leaves
• unroll the pastry sheet & cut into 6 equal squares
• lay the pastry squares onto a lightly greased baking sheet
• spoon the scrambled egg into the centre of the squares
• top the egg with grated Emmental
• brush around the edges of the pastry with the reserved beaten egg
• fold the corners of the pastry into the centre to meet, and brush with more beaten egg
• bake in a preheated 200C oven for approximately 20 minutes, until puffed up and golden brown

serve warm or cold, or pop in a paper bag and take it with you for a brunch on the go!

this post has been commissioned by Bernard Matthews

Bramley Apple, Cheese & Bacon Tarts

This week it's Bramley apple week (2nd to 8th February), so I've been busily cooking up lots of recipes using these deliciously tart apples. Bramley apples have a higher acid content and lower sugar levels than eating apples, which produces a stronger, tangier tasting apple whose flavour is retained when cooking. I love using Bramley apples in cooking as they 'melt' down, and are great for making apple sauce too. 

The smell of freshly peeled Bramleys always reminds me of my childhood visits to a friend of my dads. He lived with his mum and she would either be in the kitchen baking an apple pie or picking fruit and vegetables from her garden when we visited on a Sunday.

These savoury tarts have a herby apple puree on the base, topped with cheese and bacon, which is a really tasty combination. They are easy to make using ready made (unsweetened) Bramley apple sauce, although it's really simple to make your own.

Bramley Apple, Cheese & Bacon Tarts - makes 4 tarts

2 Bramley apples
tbsp Balsamic vinegar
2 tsp dried thyme
2 tbsp water
320g sheet of ready rolled puff pastry
75g Wensleydale, grated
4 rashers dry cured streaky bacon, each cut into 3 pieces
pinch of dried thyme

• Peel, core and chop the apples
• Add them to a saucepan with the vinegar, 2 tsp thyme and water
• Place the lid on & heat gently for around 10 minutes, until the apple has cooked down to a sauce. set aside
• Lay the pastry sheet out and cut into four
• Score each sheet approx 1cm from the edge and prick the centre gently with a fork
• Spoon some apple sauce onto each sheet of pastry and smooth to the edges
• Sprinkle the cheese over the sauce, and top with the bacon and sprinkle with a little thyme
• Bake in a preheated 200C oven for approx 25 minutes

more apple recipes

more Bramley apple recipes

This recipe has been commissioned by Bramley Apples

Mini Lamb Keema Pasties

We've been eating quite a bit of Indian food recently, but one dish I've never tried making is Keema. To be honest, the only time I've heard of Keema is in a Keema Naan, as it's the husband's favourite naan bread. Keema is a dish made from minced lamb, which is cooked using different spices, with peas added towards the end of cooking. I've teamed up with Simply Beef & Lamb to show you how easy it is to cook, and share my recipe for serving it to my family.

I decided to cook up a double batch of Keema and use some of it for these tasty mini pasties, and put the rest in the freezer ready for a quick pasta dinner another day. My recipe for the Keema has been adapted slightly from the original recipe that can be found here. I chose not to add any fresh chillies as I felt it was spicy enough for the family as it was.

You could use puff or shortcrust pastry for these, but I opted to use my favourite cream cheese pastry, as it's not only really easy to make and roll out, but it's also really light and flaky. The pasties can be eaten as part of a main meal, or as a lunch or snack - or even taken in the school lunchbox.

Mini Lamb Keema Pasties - makes approx 15

Lamb Keema

1 tbsp olive oil

1 large onion, peeled & chopped

1 tsp garlic & ginger paste

2 tsp ground cumin

3 tbsp garam masala

450g lean lamb mince

4 tomatoes, chopped

2 tbsp tomato puree

100g frozen peas

Pastry

250g plain flour

150g butter

150g full fat cream cheese

1 egg, beaten

• Heat the olive oil in a large pan
• Add the onion and fry for approx 10 minutes
• Add the garlic & ginger, cumin & garam masala and cook for 1-2 minutes
• Add the lamb and fry until mostly browned
• Add the tomatoes and puree
• Bring to the boil and then turn down the heat and cook uncovered for approx 20-25 minutes, adding the peas for the last 5 minutes of cooking 
• In the bowl of a stand mixer add the flour, butter and cream cheese
• Mix on a low speed until it becomes like breadcrumbs and then starts to come together
• Squeeze together into a ball and wrap in clingfilm and place in the fridge for around 30 minutes
• Roll the pastry out to approx 5mm thick and cut circles with a large round cutter or cut around a glass
• Brush beaten egg onto one half of the pastry disc and then a spoonful of Keema onto the other
• Fold one half of the pastry over the filling and press the edges together, and then crimp
• Lay the pasties onto a lined baking sheet and brush with beaten egg
• Bake in a preheated 180C oven for 20-25 minutes, until golden brown and crispy

Serve with a light salad of sliced cucumber, sliced red onion and a dash of tamarind paste, along with a spoonful of yogurt

I was provided with ingredients to make the Keema

Mini Filo Homity Pies

At the moment the weather doesn't seem to know what it's doing. One day it's cold and miserable and we're hovering over the heating controls, and the next day the sun comes out and we're grasping onto the last strands of summer.

These Homity pies are perfect for this weather, with their hearty potato, cheese and garlic filling, and a light filo pastry casing, they can be eaten with either a salad or steaming vegetables, depending on what the weather decides to do. They are also very easy to make (unless of course you decide to make your own filo pastry), and can be made in around 30 minutes.

You can find the full recipe and directions how to make these, along with some of my other recipes that I've been commissioned to write, on the Great British Chefs website here.

Garden Salad with Grilled Fennel, Tomato & Balsamic

When I was first asked by Higgidy Pies if I would like to grow my own salad to accompany some lovely pies I was a little bit dubious to say the least. You see, I am not very green fingered and I wasn't feeling at all hopeful that I would manage to grow enough salad for one person, let alone the family. I can grow potatoes, rhubarb and wild strawberries, but they pretty much grow themselves.

Just before Easter I received a package of seedlings from Sarah Raven, but as we were going away for the weekend, and I hadn't got anything to grow them in at that point, I left them in their paper and popped them in a container with water in and crossed my fingers.

Thankfully, when we returned from our Easter break the seedlings were still alive, and off we went to find a home for them. One large wicker planter and 6 bags of compost later the seedlings were planted, and just a week later looked like this... 

It was all looking hopeful. We had plenty of sun and I religiously watered my salad every day, and they were growing nicely.

Then the sun all but disappeared and the rain came, and just a month later my salad planter was like a jungle.

The rocket did grow some pretty flowers though.

To accompany some Higgidy quiches -  Spinach & Roasted Red Pepper, Balsamic Onion & Cheddar and Smoked Bacon & Cheddar - I made a salad of grilled fennel, tomato and balsamic. I would like to say that I grew the tomatoes myself, but sadly mine are still very much at the seedling stage!

Garden Salad with Grilled Fennel, Tomato & Balsamic

Fennel bulb, thinly sliced

cherry tomatoes on the vine

Olive oil

Balsamic vinegar

Extra virgin olive oil

Selection of garden salad leaves

• Rub a little olive oil onto the fennel slices and tomatoes
• Cook on a griddle pan over a high heat until slightly charred and softened
• Make a dressing with equal parts of balsamic and extra virgin olive oil
• Arrange the salad leaves in a bowl with the fennel and tomatoes, and drizzle with the dressing just before serving

I was provided with salad seedlings and a selection of pies and quiches free of charge

Christmas Party Food - Mini Falafel Pies

With Christmas descending upon us rapidly I'm thinking more and more about food, not just food for the big day itself but also for Christmas Eve when we have family coming. We have plans for the day and I don't want to spend too much of it in the kitchen cooking, and plan to make the bulk of the party snacks and appetisers in advance.

Supermarket sausage rolls are often a good party staple to have in the freezer ready for any unexpected guests but these mini falafel pies are a great alternative for vegetarians, or if you prefer home made sausage rolls with a little twist - no sausage, ha!

They are very simple to make and the the falafel mix can be made in advance and kept in the fridge.

Mini Falafel Pies - makes 8

250g chickpeas

1 tsp ground coriander

1 tsp ground cumin

1/2 tsp chilli flakes (optional)

handful of fresh coriander

drizzle of olive oil

250g puff pastry

1 egg, beaten

• Add the chickpeas, spices & olive oil to a food processor and blend until smooth (ish)
• Roll the pastry out to a large rectangle approx 25cm in length
• Straighten the edges of the pastry if necessary and cut into 8 equal rectangles
• Spoon some of the falafel mixture onto one half of the rectangle
• Brush around the edge of the pastry with beaten egg and fold over the mixture
• Seal the edges with the prongs of a fork and place on a baking tray
• Repeat with the remaining mixture and pastry
• Brush all the pies with beaten egg
• Place in a preheated 200 C oven for approx 15 - 20 minutes, until golden brown

Serve warm with mango chutney and yoghurt for dipping

The Great Bloggers Bake Off - Week 10 - Pumpkin & Chestnut Picnic Pies

Well that's it, Great British Bake Off is over for another year (apart from Mary & Paul's Masterclasses) and the winner has been announced.

It was anybody's game really as it was all quite even up until the final wedding cake round. I did really like the look & sound of Ruby's vegetarian pie but she never managed to pull off the wedding cake. To be honest I don't think any of them were particular show stoppers, but they do have limited time, which must be really hard to deal with.

Anyway, it was a bit of a shocker that Frances won, I really thought it was going to be Kimberly or Ruby.

Back to reality and the baking hasn't stopped for us quite yet...

The challenges this week are :

Signature : Picnic Pie

Technical : Pretzels

Showstopper : Wedding Cake

I decided to go with picnic pies, nothing big or creative, but tasty all the same...with distinct layers (sorry no rainbows though)! The pastry is light and flaky and they are lovely served warm or cold, with a spoonful of chilli jam. I love chestnuts and the chestnut and mushroom filling in these pies is similar to that used to stuff mini yorkshire puddings last Christmas.

Pumpkin & Chestnut Picnic Pies - makes 8

for the pastry

175g plain flour

175g cold butter, diced

pinch of salt

1 tbsp chopped fresh Thyme

1-2tbsp cold water

for the filling

tbsp Olive oil

1 small onion, finely chopped

1 clove garlic, finely chopped

75g chestnut mushrooms, finely chopped

75g prepared chestnuts, finely chopped

1 tbsp chopped fresh Thyme

salt & pepper

knob of butter

100g steamed pumpkin, cut into 1cm pieces

100g Goats cheese, crumbled

1 egg, beaten

Make the pastry

• Add the flour, salt, butter & thyme to a food processor or mixer & pulse/mix until it resembles breadcrumbs
• Add the water in small amounts & mix until the dough comes together
• Roll into a ball, flatten and wrap in clingfilm & place in the fridge whilst you make the filling

Make the filling

• Preheat the oven to 180C & grease 8 holes of a muffin pan
• Heat the oil in a frying pan over a medium heat
• Add the onion & fry for 3 minutes until softened
• Add the garlic, mushrooms, chestnuts, thyme & the butter
• Fry gently for approx 8 minutes until the mushrooms have cooked through
• Set filling aside whilst you roll the pastry
• Roll the pastry until approx the thickness of a £1 coin
• Cut out 8 circles large enough to cover the base & halfway up the sides of a muffin pan 
• Cut out 8 smaller circles for the pie lids
• Spoon some of the mushroom/chestnut mixture into the base of each pie
• Add the pumpkin on top and then the cheese
• Brush around the edge of the pies with beaten egg
• Place the lids on & crimp the edges (I used the end of a teaspoon)
• Brush the pies with beaten egg
• Bake in the oven for approx 30 minutes, until golden brown

What will you bake this week?

This is your last chance to gain an entry into the Great Bloggers Bake Off giveaway, which you can read more about here.

Please also take the time to read the rules & grab the badge here.

The Great Bloggers Bake Off - week 4 and a Custard Tart

Week 4 of The Great British Bake Off was all about pies - Fruit Pies, Custard Tarts and Filo pastry Showstoppers.

The custard tarts were carnage, I was saying 'oh dear, oh dear' all the way through watching the contestants attempt to remove them from the tins...

I don't think I'll be attempting Filo, that looks like far too much work for my liking.

However, as well as successfully making my first pork pies, I did try out a new pastry at the weekend that I spotted in one of my new cookery books, Pies and Tarts by Martha Stewart. It's a very simple recipe that (after conversion) equates to approximately 195g Plain Flour, 115g Cream Cheese & 115g Butter.

It's a very easy pastry to make and is also very easy to roll out yet isn't hard like pastry can be if you add too much water to it to make it easier to work with. In fact I didn't need to add any liquid to this pastry at all as it all came together in the food mixer without liquid.

I made a savoury tart using yellow courgette from a friend's allotment and Feta cheese, firstly blind baking the case for 30 minutes.

 

This produced quite a lot of juice from the courgette but when left to cool it was lovely & fresh with the courgette still a bit crisp...nice with salad.

 

Next up I made a fruit pie and added some Linwoods ground flaxseed & nuts into the pastry. My initial idea was to make a small double crusted pie until I realised that I didn't actually have a small pie plate so instead just added a top onto some fruit that I tossed in flour and sugar before adding to the pie dish.

I thought I would attempt some fancy leaves on top of my pie, however the only leaf cutter I had was holly, too soon for a Christmas pie? I thought not so added 3 berries to the top too...

This pie wouldn't win any awards for looks but it did make up for it in taste....


 

Next up I attempted a custard tart using the same pastry recipe as above and adding a tbsp of sugar. Again I blind baked the case before whipping up the filling. I followed The Hairy Bikers recipe despite not having any double cream or whole milk and instead improvised and used mascarpone and semi skimmed milk.

 

Custard Tart Filling
3 eggs + 2 egg yolks
100g Caster cugar
300ml semi skimmed milk
250g Mascarpone 
vanilla pod
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg

• Beat the eggs and sugar together in a large bowl until smooth
• Heat the milk, mascarpone, vanilla pod & nutmeg in a pan, stirring continuously until it is just about to boil
• remove from heat and slowly stir into the eggs, mixing well & removing the vanilla pod
• Pour into the blind baked pastry case and sprinkle with a little nutmeg
• Bake in a 160C oven for approx 30 minutes until just set
• Allow to cool fully before removing from the tin

apart from the custard filling looking a little brown from the nutmeg (I'll buy a whole one next time) it wasn't a bad tart - the pastry was lovely & crips & no soggy bottom...and it came out of the tin intact! 

After all that you probably want to share your own fabulous pies and tarts so here is the linky for you to add your post. Please remember to read the rules and a little reminder that it will be open until 8pm on Sunday. We can't add any after this time I'm afraid.