"Ruby" cranberry flapjack

I was invited to a Ruby Anniversary lunch party.  I was wondering what I should bring.
It was a friendly "just bring your self" party, but I wanted to give the couple something cute.
The idea of this "Ruby Flapjack" using cranberries came to my mind when I was looking at the invitation card which had pictures of ruby stones.  So, here they are, my little gems in the Ruby flapjack.
I hope they bring a smile to the faces of the happy couple. :)

Ingredients 

• 7oz butter or margarine 
• 2oz golden syrup
• 2 tsp black treacle
• 7oz muscovado sugar
• 12oz porridge oats
• 3oz plain flour
• 1 lemon (or orange), finely grated zest
•  pinch of salt
• 3oz dried cranberries 

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 160C and line a 20cm/8in square baking tin with baking paper.
2. Mix the dry ingredients, (oats, flour, sugar, salt and cranberries) in a bowl. 
3. Melt the butter or margarine in a medium pan over a low heat. Dip a brush in the butter and brush the baking tin with a little bit of it. Add the golden syrup, black treacle and sugar to the butter and heat gently. Once the sugar is dissolved and the butter is melted, remove the pan from the heat and stir in the mixed dry ingredients and lemon or orange zest. 
4. Pack the mixture into the baking tin and squash down. Bake in the oven for 40 minutes.
5. Once cooked, remove from the oven, leave to cool for 15 minutes, then turn out on to a chopping board and cut into squares. 

Dairy free cranberry and chocolate muffins

No milk in the fridge .... fear not ... you can still make muffins without milk. 

If I say without milk, that doesn't mean you need substitute stuff like soya milk or oat milk.  

You can actually make muffins simply using water instead of milk.   

I recently discovered that I could bake cake without eggs and milk when I tried to make vegan cupcakes. When I found there was no milk in my fridge, I thought to myself I still could make muffins using water like I made vegan cupcakes the other day.  :)

I used an egg as I had some eggs in the fridge. So, these muffins are dairy free but not totally vegan. 

They have a lovely chocolaty flavour and very light.  

Ingredients 

• 200g plain flour (if you use self raising flour, no need to add baking powder) 
• 150g sugar
• 20g cocoa powder
• 2 tsp baking powder
• ¼  tsp Salt
• 100ml water 
• 60ml vegetable oil
• 1 egg
• Vanilla extract
• 120g fresh cranberries 

Method 

1. Preheat oven to 200 C / Gas 6 and add paper cases to a muffin tray.

2. Measure out flour, sugar, baking powder and salt in a large mixing bowl and mix the dried ingredients well.

3. Measure water and oil in a large measuring jug. Add egg and vanilla, then whisk well.

4.  Add the wet mixture (3) into the dry mixture (2).  Stir until just combined (mixture will be lumpy).        Do NOT over mix!

5. Gently fold in cranberries.

6. Bake for 20 minutes or until golden brown on top.

Apple and cranberry tarte tatin

Yes, this is really red, isn't it?  I didn't use any food colouring at all.
This beautiful ruby red naturally came from cranberries. I stocked up lots of fresh cranberries in my freezer after post-Christmas shopping.   Cranberries did not only add this beautiful colour but also added a lovely tangy flavour to my usual apple tarte tatin.
You can imagine my excitement when I turned it upside down on the plate.   What a wonderful surprise. :) 
Anyway, having warm dessert is a treat on a snowy day like today.

I filled the gaps with frozen cranberries straight from the freezer. My rough-puff pastry looking promising.

It makes a lovely dessert with creme fraiche. 

Ingredients

For the pastry

· 100g/4oz plain flour

· 50g/2oz butter (in a block) salted butter would be better for sharpening the flavour

· 25g/1oz lard (in a block) 

For the caramel

· 175g/6oz granulated sugar 

For the topping

· 3-4 red dessert apples

· some fresh cranberries to fill the gap

To finish

         · 50g/2oz caster sugar and lemon juice

         

Preparation method

1.    First make the pastry. Freeze the butter and lard until very cold.

2.    Measure the flour into a bowl and grate the butter and lard into the flour. Use a knife to coat the butter and lard in the flour. Add 4-5 tbsp cold water and mix to a firm dough until it comes together.

3.    Roll out the pastry on a floured work surface to a rectangle. Fold one third down and then fold the bottom third up and over the top fold. Turn it 90 degrees (a quarter turn) and repeat the rolling and folding. Set aside, covered, in the fridge for 20 minutes. Repeat the rolling, folding and chilling twice more so you have a total of four folds and turns.

4.    Preheat the oven to 220C/425F/Gas 7.

5.    For the caramel, place the granulated sugar and 6 tbsp water into a stainless steel pan. Stir over a low heat until the sugar has dissolved and there are no granules. Remove the spoon and increase the heat. Boil until a golden straw colour and immediately pour into a 23cm/9in fixed-base deep sponge sandwich tin. Don’t let it get too dark or it will be bitter – this is very important!  

6.    For the topping, core the apples, then cut into thick slices. Arrange a layer over the caramel in the tin in a circular pattern – start from the outside of the tin and work inwards. Fill the gaps with cranberries.

7.    Roll out the pastry to a round, slightly bigger than the tin. Cover the apples and tuck the edges of the pastry down around the apples. Make a small cross in the top of the pastry to let the steam out.

8.    Bake for about 40 minutes until the pastry is crisp and golden-brown and the apples are soft.

9.    To finish, before turning the tarte out, tip the juices from the tin into a saucepan. Add the caster sugar and lemon juice and boil until syrupy.

10. Turn the tarte tatin out onto a plate and spoon the syrup over the apples. Serve with cream or crème fraîche.

       Do not wash-up the sauce pan which was used for making caramel. Use the sauce pan to make glaze!  Add sugar, lemon juice and some juices from the tarte tatin to the sauce pan which has leftover hardened caramel. 

Cranberry and apple upside-down cake

Yes, I still have some cranberries which I got when I shopped after Christmas. These bargain cranberries have a really great flavour and very fresh. I used these beauties for my good old upside-down caramel cake. 

The cake looks very cheering on a cold winter day. :) 

Ingredients  (for 19cm round cake tin)

• 5 oz plain flour or selfraising flour 
• 5 oz caster sugar
• 5 oz butter or low-fat spread 
• 2 teaspoons baking powder (no need if you use selfraising flour)
• 2 eggs
• 1 tsp milk 
• 1 tsp lemon juice
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 100g cranberries
• 1 small apple
• for caramel: 3 oz granulated sugar + 3 tablespoon water

Method

To make the caramel sauce: 

• Place the granulated sugar and water into a stainless steel pan.
• Stir over a low heat until the sugar has dissolved and there are no granules.
• Remove the spoon and increase the heat.
• Boil until a golden straw colour and immediately pour into a tin. 

1. Preheat oven to 180 °C.  
2. Place cranberries and chopped apple in the cake tin when the caramel is cool and set.
3. Put all ingredients (butter, sugar, flour, lemon juice, vanilla, eggs and milk) in a bowl.
4. Mix with electric whisk.  
5. Pour the mixture on top of the cranberries and chopped apple.
6. Bake in a pre-heated oven for about 30-40 minutes. When the cake cools down turn the cake tin upside down.

Fresh Cranberry Muffins

I think it's very easy to get fresh cranberries at supermarkets at this time of the year because lots of people tried to get fresh cranberries to make cranberry sauce for their Christmas turkey dinner. 

Jars of cranberry sauce are popular, but more and more home cooks try to make home made sauce as it's actually easy to make and tastes great.  

Well ...., I didn't make cranberry sauce this year, as I was invited to a big family Christmas and the lovely cranberry sauce was made by one of the family members..... and tasted so good. 

After Christmas I found lots of packs of fresh cranberries at the supermarket with an amazingly reduced price. So, I thought to myself why not make cranberry muffins?  Here they are juicy and tangy. 

They have a very refreshing flavour and are just the right sort of thing to eat after a lot of rich Christmas food. 

Ingredients 

• 200g plain flour (if you use self raising flour, no need to add baking powder) 
• 150g sugar
• 2 tsp baking powder
• ¼  tsp Salt
• 100ml milk 
• 60ml vegetable oil
• 1 egg
• Vanilla extract
• 100g fresh cranberries 

Method 

1. Preheat oven to 200 C / Gas 6 and add paper cases to a muffin tray.

2. Measure out flour, sugar, baking powder and salt in a large mixing bowl and mix the dried ingredients well.

3. Measure milk and oil in a large measuring jug. Add egg and vanilla, then whisk well.

4.  Add the wet mixture (3) into the dry mixture (2).  Stir until just combined (mixture will be lumpy).        Do NOT over mix!

5. Gently fold in cranberries.

6. Bake for 20 minutes or until golden brown on top.

I added some crushed chocolate chips, 60g ish, to the cranberry muffin mixture.

I didn't know cranberry and chocolate is such a fab combo. 

I'm loving them. :)