Apple & Pear Crumble with a twist.

Had a batch of croissants that went slightly off piste! Smelled great but hadn't risen very well. Not bad to eat but toughended up pretty quick - so what to do? Never one to miss an opportunity I decided that they would whizz up quite nicely into a crumble topping. Croissants blitzed with some brown sugar and hey presto! Bramley apples and commice pears with some brown caster sugar, a few cloves and a sprinkle of mixed spice. Crumble on top and into the oven for 40 minute. Lovely jubbly.

Bramley Lemon Curd.

Recipe from River Cottage preserve book. Can't wait for it to cool!

Steamed Apple Pudding

Steamed apple pudding. Simple recipe using suet crust pastry. Mixture of bramley and coxs apples with some golden caster sugar a sprinke of mixed spice and a few cloves. Steamed for two hours and served with real Custard. See the recipe here.

Sloe Gin done.

Eight litres in bottle which will give us four to drink next year. 500 ml of gin, same of sloes plus 150g of sugar. Some people use more sugar but we find that too sweet. A few sloes short so need to grab a few more tomorrow for a top up. The smaller darker bottles are last years production. Certainly worth the wait.

Sloe Gin Season.

First frost have been so it's time for Sloe Gin. Visited our favourite hunting ground and found plenty like the ones in the picture. Four litres of gin await and with some sugar will create a match made in heaven.

Tarte au citron - done!

Inspired by the great British bake off. I thought I would attempt Mary Berry's Tarte au Citron. quite happy with the result. will see what It tastes like later. Update at 23.39 - it was very yummy!

Perfect Puddings

Spent and interesting and tiring afternoon/evening filming "The Pudding Club" edition of Perfect for the good food channel yesterday. Along with fellow judges Nour and Lucy our task was to taste and give out thoughts and opinions about 6 puddings prepared by two mystery chefs. The rounds were; classic, simple and ultimate. I can't say at this point who the chefs were or give the results until the programme is broadcast in January next year. The puddings were; Steamed Ginger Pudding and Steamed Lemon Pudding for the classic round. It was Caramelised Banana & Butterscotch Fool and Passion Fruit Curd & Raspberry Puds for the simple round. Finally - for the ultimate round - it was Rice Pudding Souffle with Raspberry sauce and Chocolate & Lavender Mille Feuilles. Great fun and an interesting insight into the world of telly!