Old Mother Hubbard

A whole week has slipped by since my last post and I have no real excuse for my lack of dedication. Work has been insane, I spent Monday on a mini bus travelling from Edinburgh to Stockport and back again all for an hour long meeting (just between you and me my backside was flatter than a pancake by the end of it!) The rest of the week was spent sorting out different presentation packs for all the teams and also sifting through 100 files for an audit that was supposed to be held tomorrow and has now been moved to next Monday. Of course we only found out about our extension after 5pm on Thursday!

I think too that my lack of kitchen activity is also down to a bit of a dent in my confidence after the spectacular failure of the Triple Chocolate Cake for the team meeting. I was being serious when I said it was my worst cooking disaster since Mum's ill fated birthday cake all those years ago. But then Hubby's Dad called this morning to say he was on his way over and I realised, just like Old Mother Hubbard, that the cupboards were bare! Oh the shame of it! Action was required and quickly. The only problem with impromptu baking is that ingredients are limited, my selection pretty much consisted of basic store cupboard stuff and 2 bramely apples. I quick flick through the internet and the Bramley Apple Website came to my rescue with this tea cake. Phew!

Easy Bramley Apple and Sultana Teabread
25g porridge oats
50g Muscovado sugar
2 medium Bramley apples, cored, peeled and grated
6 tbsp apple juice
4 tbsp olive oil
115g self raising flour
115g sultanas
½ tsp baking powder
1tsp mixed spice
1 medium egg, beaten

Pre heat the oven to 180°C.

Place the oats and sugar into a bowl, add the grated apple, juice and oil, mix well and then leave for 15 minutes.

Add the flour, sultanas, baking powder, mixed spice and egg and mix well, but carefully.
Spoon the mixture into a greased and lined 1lb loaf tin.

Bake for 45-50 minutes, then remove from the oven and cool slightly.

When cool, slice and serve with a smidgeon of olive oil spread.

Serves 6-8

From Phil Vickery on the Bramley Apple Website

This produces a very moist tea cake, so moist in fact that all three of us had a debate about if it was actually cooked or not. I felt it wasn't. Hubby and his Dad thought it 'might be' but that the grated apple made it look as though it wasn't. Hmmmmmm. The skewer test said it was cooked as well but I think next time I'll bake it an extra 10 mins or so just to be on the safe side, my oven does seem to be on the cooler side of the temp range - really most get a thermometer for it one of these days.

Now for some exciting news! Tomorrow sees the start of Chocolate Week. A whole week dedicated to my all time favourite food stuff, one might say that I am about as happy as a pig in chocolate (what did you think I was going to say?!?!?!) To mark this truly wonderful week in [my] history books I've thought long and hard about what to do. It was a short list. A very short list! So I'm sticking with my original idea which is to extend my Chocolate recipe file and create something new everyday for the whole week, the only rule is that I can't make something I have already made before. I'm hoping to be able to post everyday but in case you need more of a chocolate fix check out one of my fave blogs the Chocolate Log Blog.