Sugar and Spice Apple Cake

Since I'm really enjoying creating these baking posts on my relaxed Sundays, I thought I'd do yet another. This cake generally tasted like Christmas in a slice - I think I have a serious obsession with cinnamon at the moment!

So what you'll need for this scrummy apple cake is...
- 240g self raising flour
- 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 1 tsp allspice
- 170g butter cubes, room temperature
- 245g brown sugar
- 1 egg
- 450g applesauce

The method...
1) Set the oven to gas mark 3 and line two cake tins.
2) Sift the flour, bicarbonate of soda, baking powder and spices together in a bowl.
3) In another bowl, beat the butter and sugar until creamy.
4) Add the eggs to the butter and beat until combined.
5) Add the dry ingredients and applesauce in alterations to the wet mixture.
6) Divide the batter between the two tines and bake for 45-55 minutes.
7) Test that they're done by poking a cocktail stick into the cake, and if it comes back clean then the cake is done. Another way that you can test to see if it's cooked is by pressing your finger into the top, and if it bounces back then it's done.
8) Allow the cakes to cool in their tins for 20 minutes and then remove.

I hope you enjoyed this autumnal recipe, stay around for more recipes in the future! :) 

Becky x

Oat Cookies

I'm coming to you from my bed, full of cold, with a recipe which I came up with for oat cookies!

Oat foods definitely remind me of the cold autumn and winter weather, especially hot porridge on a freezing morning. This recipe is very versatile and you can add any flavourings or extras as you please. Have fun experimenting! 

What you'll need...

- 75g  self raising flour

- 75g porridge oats

- 75g brown sugar

-75g butter

- 1 tbsp honey

- 1 tbsp milk

To start with I set my oven to gas mark 4 and I weighed out the flour, sugar and oats and put them into a mixing bowl.

The next step involves weighing out your 75g of butter, honey and milk and melting it on a low heat in a saucepan.

The melted butter combination then goes into the dry mixture. 

Then combine this all together using a wooden spoon in your mixing bowl.

I found it much less messy using a spoon to shape the cookies before putting them onto a lined baking tray ready to be put in the preheated oven.

I only did this to half of the mixture and then added in some walnut pieces to the remaining mixture in the bowl and combined it together. 

I popped these in the oven for about 15 minutes because they were quite large. If you make them slightly smaller, they probably won't take as long and vise versa. I knew that these were done because they had become partly golden brown, hardened a little and expanded slightly.

I recommend leaving these to cool for a while so that they become set and less flimsy.

I hope you enjoyed this post, look out for more in the future! :) 

Becky x

A Food Favourite: Creamy Butter Chicken

Ever since I was young, my family and I would always come together and have a meal where my grandparents cook for an evening once every month or so. Most of the time it would involve my grandad cooking baked potatoes and juicy chicken wrapped in foil on his homemade outside fire cooker. However my nan would occasionally cook this amazing curry which there would never be enough of and we'd always fight over who would get the last spoonful out of the serving dish. This curry is now my all time favourite homemade curry and recently I've been making this dish myself. 

This curry is perfect for the family as it's not too spicy and, even if you do like spicy food, you can easily add a little bit more red chilli powder. It's also effortless to make, and very easy to make a lot of if you're feeding a bigger amount of people. The only downside to this dish is that the spices can end up being very expensive if you don't already own them. To go with this dish, I added a serving plain basmati rice with a garnish of coriander to add a bit more taste and colour. Although you can pretty much pair this curry with whatever choice of rice that you'd like to. Below is the recipe which I give credit to my nan for and if you do try out this dish; leave a comment or tweet me with your opinions and reviews. 

Butter Chicken

Ingredients

1.5lb Boneless thigh or chicken pieces

Marinade sauce

1 tbsp lemon juice

½ tsp red chilli powder

2 tsp ginger and garlic paste

2 tsp tandoori masala

¼ salt

1 cup of yogurt

Sauce

28g unsalted butter

1 large cardamom pod

Bay leaf

Cinnamon stick or sprinkle

2 tsp ginger and garlic paste

2 large tomatoes (pureed) or ½ small tin of puree or ½ box passata

1 tsp sugar

½ red chilli powder

1 tsp garam masala

Green chilli (Optional)

Heavy whipped cream (Optional)

Method

1. Cut chicken in pieces and wash well.
2. Put all marinade ingredients in bowl and mix well - add chicken and mix again to cover all chicken pieces, and marinade in fridge - overnight if possible.
3. Grease wok or large frying pan with oil and layer the chicken in a single layer. Cook on high for 5-7 minutes.
4. For the sauce - in a medium size saucepan on low heat melt the butter.
5. Once hot, add the cardamom, bay leaf and cinnamon, fry for 1 minute.
6. Add the ginger and garlic paste and fry for 30 seconds.
7. Add the tomato puree mix well - (green chilli).
8. Add salt, red chilli powder and garam masala and mix well.
9. Allow it to come to the boil and then lower the heat and simmer for 10 minutes.
10. Add the sugar and cook for 2 minutes before adding the cooked chicken pieces.
11. Add the whipped cream at this stage (if wanted) and bring to the boil.

I hoped you enjoyed this recipe and be sure to stick around for more blog posts in the future! :) 

Becky x