Apple Crumble Pie

X’mas is 22 days left. Are you ready? Taiwan is not a Christ country so that we don’t really celebrate X’mas. Of course, most of us have no ideas what the story of X’Mas. Why do people celebrate X’Mas? Although this is my second X’mas, I really understand the meaning of X’Mas this year. It’s good. People can go travelling every time. But, it is difficult to understand their culture and festivals in their countries. I know why we should be encouraged to go and see the world. Because you will know and learn more during the adventure.

Oven Temperature Setting: 180C/350F/Gas Mark 4

Baking Time: 20~25 minutes
Recipe: A 7” Apple Crumble Pie

Shortcrust Pastry Link

 

 

Steps of Apple Crumble Pie

(1) Prepare a sauce pan. Put sugar, chopped apple and blackberry in the pan. Switch the medium heat on. Cook around 5~10 minutes until it turns soft. Dry the filling. Set aside.

 

(2) Prepare crumble: Add Sugar and flour in a big bowl. Mix a little bit. Add cubed butter in the bowl. Use your finger tips to rub the butter into flour until it turns crumb-like.

 

 

(3) Get shortcrust pastry ready. Pour the apple filling over the top of the pastry. And then, cover the apple filling with crumble. Send into the pre-heat oven at 180C/350F/Gas Mark 4 around 20~25 minutes until it turns golden.

 

 

 

I like this kind of pie a lot. It is not really a cake. It is more fruit dessert. Sweet and sour flavor… um… yum… yum… This pie was eaten out by 4 people. We ate with custard and ice cream. So, enjoy it.

Egg Custard Tart with Blackberry Apple

Last Saturday, It snowed in the UK. It is really unusually. Before coming to here, I always thought that it is very normal to see snow when countries at higher latitude. But, I was wrong!! Having snow depends on what kind of geography it is. Although here is at high latitude, but there is a few high mountains. So, it is unusual to have snow. Maybe in January. Just maybe. But, this year, having snow in November let me expect to have white X’mas. Oh… I definitely look forward to it. Anyway, it is very cold here. So, please keep warm.

My friend’s friend gave us some apples last week. I don’t really like to eat apple, but it like to use it in my cooking and baking. Although I just backed egg custard last week, I still want to eat more. I got apple and I want to eat Egg Custard. So, why not bake Egg Custard Tart with some apple filling?

Oven Temperature Setting: 180C/350F/Gas Mark 4

Baking Time: Around 20~25 minutes
Recipe: A 7" Egg Custard with Blackberry Apple

 

 7” Shortcrust Pastry Link

 

Steps of Egg Custard Tart with Blackberry Apple

(1) Place chopped apple and blackberry in a saucepan. And 20 g sugar in the pan. Switch the small heat on. Cook the apple until it turns soft. Dry it and set aside.

(2) Place eggs and sugar in a sauce pan. Switch the small heat on. Stir it until sugar is melted into the egg.

(3) Add milk and cream into the pan. Switch to medium heat. Keep stirring it. Cook until there are some bubbles floating up to the top. Switch the heat off.

(4) Pour the batter through a sieve twice. This movement can smooth your batter.

(5) Place the blackberry apple filling over the top of pastry. And then, pour the batter over the top of filling. Send it to the pre-heat oven at 180C/350F/Gas Mark 4. Bake it around 20~25 minutes until it is set but still slightly wobbly in the middle.

 

I think I like this fruit egg custard more than egg custard. It has more flavor for the tart. If you eat pure egg custard too much, sometime, you will feel too much. But, adding with some fruit, it balances. Um.. it is YUM.. Enjoy it.

Blackberry Cheese Cake with Shortbread Crust

 

After baking two different blackberry sponge cake. I need find out a new texture for my blackberry cake season. My favorite cake is classic cheesecake. I like the enriched and silky cream cheese filling in the mouth. The dense of cheese cake is the reason people like it. It is so simple to bake even though I am a new baker. So, cheesecake with blackberry, um… it sounds brilliant. And don’t use digestive biscuits today. It is so boring to use it all the time. Try a new crust for my blackberry cheese cake.

I think baking can reflect a person’s personality. I like to add something new in the classic style. I admit I am an old-school person, but I like to have some different things for my old-school life.

 





Oven Temperature Setting for shortbread crust: 200C/390F for 10 minutes
Oven Temperature Setting for cheese cake : 200C/390F for first 10 minutes; 170C/325F for another 30~35 minutes
Recipe: For a 8” round baking tray 

 

Steps of Blackberry

(1) Put blackberry in the pan. And add sugar in it.

(2) Boiling blackberry for around 5 minutes
(Selena’s Kitchen Talk: We can use a folk mashing a couple of blackberries first. It is easier to cook it. )
(3) Pour through a sieve. Set aside.

 

Steps of Shortbread Crust

(1) Weight all ingredients

(2) Add butter and sugar into a bowl. Mix it well until it looks fluffy and lightly.

 

(3) Add flour into the butter batter. Mix it well

(4) Pout it into a 8” tin. Spread and press it evenly by our fingers or a spoon. Leave it in the fridge around 10 minutes. And then, send it to a pre-heated oven at 200C/390F for around 10 minute until the top become golden.

 

Steps of Cheese Cake

(1) Weight all ingredients

(2) Put all wet ingredients (cream cheese, egg, cream, vanilla extract, and lemon juice) into a bowl. Well-mixed all ingredients into a light yellow batter.

(3) Add sugar and cornstarch into the batter. Mix well again.

(4) Add blackberry filling gradually (3~4 times) into the batter. Use a baking spatula fold the batter gently.

 

Steps of Assembly

(1) Remove shortbread from the oven. Use a spoon to press it tightly again.

(2) Pour the blackberry batter over the shortbread crust. Send it back to the oven. Bake at 200C/390F for 10 minute. And then, turn the temperature to 170C/325F for another 30~35 minutes.
(Selena’s Kitchen Talk: Insert the cake tester into the middle of the cake. If there is no batter left on it, it means it is ready.)

For cheesecake, I’ll leave it into the oven with an open door around 20 minutes. (Of course, the oven is switched off!) It can prevent the sink because the temperature difference.

 

The best taste of cheese cake is to leave in the fridge over 8 hours and EAT it. So, be patient. My friends and I ate this last night. Oh~~ It is so YUM. We were all full, but we still wanted more cheese cake. The sweet-sour flavor of blackberry balances the creamy cheese cake. It is so perfect with shortbread crust. Just one bite, you can have dense cheese cake, sweet-sour blackberry, and crispy shortbread. Look for something to bake for this weekend, try this one. Enjoy it.

Upside-Down Blackberry Cake

 

It is blackberry season in the UK. There are a lot of blackberries over there. My classmates and I walked by some last Saturday that they were surprised about it. They said they were curious about it and not sure these are blackberry. One girl picked up some. I think she likes it. Why is my new blackberry cake? Upside-Down Blackberry Cake. I never bake this one, but the principle of upside-down cake is same. Let me show you how to do it.

Oven Temperature Setting: 160 ℃/ 320℉. Baking Time: around 30 minutes

Recipe: For a 8” baking tin

 

Steps of Blackberry Topping

(1) Weight all ingredients

(2) Switch on small heat. Add butter into the pan and melt it. Add 45g sugar into the melted butter. Whisk it well. It is no need to melt sugar.
(3) Add Blackberry in the pan. Switch to medium heat. Mix blackberry and butter-sugar.
(Selena’s Kitchen Talk: Use a fork to squeeze few blackberries. It is easier to cook.)

(4) After boiling around 3~5 minutes, add the rest of sugar in the pan. Keep boil around 10 minutes.

(5) Pour the blackberry in the baking tin with baking paper. Set Aside.

 

Steps of Cake

(1) Weight all ingredients

(2) Add milk and egg in a bowl. Whisk them.
(3) Add butter into the batter. Mix it well

(4) Add flour, sugar, baking powder into the batter. Make sure they are mixed well.

(5) Pour the cake batter over the top of blackberry.
(6) Send it to a pre-heated 160 ℃/ 320℉ oven.

 

When it is well-cooked, I’ll leave it into the oven with an open door around 10 minutes. (Of course, the oven is switched off!) It can prevent the sink because the temperature difference. Then, wait around another 20~30 minutes to wait the caramel blackberry be set. Then, put a plate over the cake. Flip the cake over, CAREFULLY.

Compared to my previous Blackberry Cake, this upside-down blackberry cake has a different taste. When you eat upside-down blackberry cake, the taste of blackberry is stronger than Blackberry Cake. Because the upside-down blackberry cake layers the topping and the cake separately. Blackberry Cake is mixed blackberry filling with cake so that you feel blackberry flavor instead of eating blackberries. So, enjoy it. And see which one you like more.

Blackberry Cake

 

It is blackberry season now in the UK. You can pick up lots of blackberries walking in the countryside. Picking up blackberry is like a mother-daughter activity every summer. They will go and pick up every weekend and leave some in the freezer. I also saw an older couple that the husband picked up one and fed his wife. It was so touching me.

But, I got too many to eat. Why not just do some blackberry cake? Then, go picking up again.

 

Oven Setting and Time: 160 degree C, around 30~40 minutes

This recipe is for one 8” tin

 

Steps of Blackberry Filling

(1) Put blackberry and sugar into the fired pan. Boil it at medium heat around 5 minutes.

(Selena’s Kitchen Talk: We can use a folk mashing a couple of blackberries first. It is easier to cook it. )
(2) Pour it out through a sieve. We only need cooked blackberries. Set aside.

Steps of Cake

(1) Weight all ingredients

(2) Well-mixed milk and egg

(3) Add butter into the mixture. Whisk it again.

(4) Add flour, sugar and baking powder into the mixture 2 or 3 times. And mix it well.

 Assembly

(1) Add blackberry filling into cake batter and mix it gently several time.

(2) Pour the mixture into a 8” tin with either baking paper or greased surface. Send it into a pre-heat oven at 160 ℃.

 

When it is well-cooked, I’ll leave it into the oven with an open door around 10 minutes. (Of course, the oven is switched off!) It can prevent the sink because the temperature difference. And then, move the YUM cake on the cooling rack.

Because we mix blackberry into the cake, you can enjoy blackberry at EVERY BITE. I bring it to the picnic. Everyone LOVEs it and asks me to share this recipe. You can eat it individually. Or, you can try to eat it with a spoon of vanilla ice cream. Try it and let people know which way you prefer. ENJOY IT!