Apple and Cheddar Scones

Beautiful, bountiful apples, we have to make the most of the apple harvest, hearty apple dishes. From sweet to savory, we've five rich pickings to savor. I usually make a sweet or just a classic kind of scones. Having tried this, is not bad altogether as it taste good and very different from the usual type of scones we usually have.








APPLE and CHEDDAR SCONES

225g self-raising flour, plus extra for dusting
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp baking powder
50g unsalted butter, chilled, plus extra for greasing
1 tsp Colman's Mustard Powder
75g extra mature English Cheddar
1 eating apple, such as Discovery
100ml milk



1. Preheat the oven to 200ºC. Grease and flour a large baking sheet. Sift the flour, salt and baking powder into a large mixing bowl. Add the butter to the flour and rub in with your fingertips until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs.

2. Mix in the mustard and 50g of Cheddar. Coarsely grate the the unpeeled apples into the bowl, discarding the core and any pips. Mix well to coat the apple in the flour. Gradually pour in the milk and mix with a knife to make a soft dough.

3. Turn out onto a well-floured surface and roll out until about 2cm thick. Using a 4-5cm round cutters, stamp out about 12 rounds, re-rolling the dough if necessary. Place onto the baking sheet and sprinkle the tops with the remaining Cheddar.

4. Bake for 15 minutes, until well risen and golden. Leave to cool on a wire rack. Serve warm or cold, split open and topped with Ham, a slice of apple, and a spoonful of Apple and Walnut Chutney.

Pancakes

A pancake is a thin, flat cake prepared from a batter and cooked on a hot griddle or frying pan. Pancakes exist in several variations in many different local cuisines. Most pancakes are quick breads, though some are made using a yeast-raised or fermented batter.The batter is quite runny and forms a thin layer on the bottom of the frying pan when the pan is tilted. It may form some bubbles during cooking, which results in a pale pancake with dark spots where the bubbles were, but the pancake does not rise.They may be eaten as a sweet dessert with the traditional topping of lemon juice and sugar, drizzled with golden syrup, or wrapped around savory stuffing's and eaten as a main course. Or you can turn everyday pancakes into a very special treat in, with a fabulous seasonal fruits and fruit liqueur sauce.






Pancakes

125 g plain flour
1/8 t salt
2 L eggs
210 ml milk mixed with
90 ml water
25 g butter, melted
extra butter for greasing pan

1. Sieve the flour and salt into a large bowl. Make a well in the center of the flour, add the eggs and whisk together briefly, then start adding the milk and water mixture gradually, whisking until all the liquid is added and the mixture is a smooth batter.


2. Just before cooking the pancakes, stir the melted butter into the batter. Use a 7-8 in pan and brush with just enough melted butter to coat the base. Over a high heat, pour in enough batter just to cover the pan, tilting it to spread the batter evenly over the base. Cook for 30 seconds until lightly brown, then flip over and cook the other side. Slide out of the pan and continue as before. Stack the pancakes between sheets of greeseproof paper. The mixture will make about 8-10.
   

Apple Muffins

As having an extra apple in the fridge, I attempt on trying this recipe. You have to cut the apple into large chunks as they just melt and disappear, and you can't have the taste of apple and it's bite. You can add vanilla extract instead of cinnamon, if you are not fun with spices. Turn out soft and delicious.





Apple Muffins


280g plain flour
3 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
50g butter, soften at room temperature
100g caster sugar
1 egg, lightly beaten
1½ teaspoon cinnamon
1 cup milk
1 cup apples,peeled, chunks



1. Preheat oven to 220°C. Grease or line muffin pans with paper cups.

2. In a bowl, sift together flour, baking powder, cinnamon powder and salt, blend well.

3. In another bowl, cream together butter and sugar, still creamy. Add in egg, gradually, mix well after each addition. Stir till mixture is creamy and fluffy.

4. Add flour mixture (in 3 additions) alternately with milk (in 2 additions) , starting and ending with flour. Mix only until well combined. Gently fold in the chopped apples.

5.Fill muffin cups with batter till 2/3 full. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, until muffins turn golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

6.Transfer and cool in a wire rack.

Egg-Free Raisin Scones

Traditionally, scones were part of an elegant tea-time spread with jam and whipped cream or with clotted cream along with Earl Grey tea. Scones are easy to make and quick to bake. To be at their very best they should be freshly baked and served warm. Follow this simple recipe, put the kettle on and enjoy simply the best cream tea ever. Piled high with cream and jam, scones become the most luxurious, tempting teatime treat imaginable. This recipe is good for those who are allergic with egg and nuts. I will also add the dairy and gluten free recipes.





Raisin Scone (egg & nut free)

225 g self-rising flour plus extra for dusting
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
30 g sugar
45 g butter plus extra for greasing
30 g raisins or sultanas
120 ml milk
2-3 tbsp cream or milk to glaze

1. Preheat the oven to 425°F. Grease a baking sheet or line it with parchment paper.
2. Sift together into a medium-sized bowl the dry ingredients: flour, baking powder, and salt. Mix in the sugar.
3. Cut up the butter and rub it into the dry mixture until it resembles fine breadcrumbs. Add the raisins.
4. Add three quarter of the milk and mix it quickly with a knife. Add the remaining milk, only if it is needed, to mix to a soft dough. Do not over mix as this will make the scones tough.
5. Turn out the dough onto a lightly floured area and pat or roll out 2cm thick.
6. Cut out the scones with a 5cm floured cutter. Gather up any trimmings, roll into a ball, and cut more scones.
7. Place the scones on the baking sheet and brush the tops with milk and dust with flour.
8. Bake near the top of the oven for 10m - 20 minutes or until the scones have risen, are lightly browned on top, and the bases sound hollow when tapped. Cool on a wire rack.

TIP:
1. If you like the scone with a soft crust, cover them with a clean tea towel for one minute after removing from the oven.
2. There's no need to slice the scones. Simply pull each scone apart at the natural break in the middle.


Dairy free Scones

Follow the recipe above, but replace the butter with an equal quantity of firm non-dairy spread( the soft ones have too much water in them); and the milk or cream with the same quantity of soya equivalent.


Gluten Free

Follow the recipe above, using the following ingredients:
60 ml black tea
30 g raisins
225 g gluten-free self-rising flour
½ tsp baking powder
¼ tsp salt
½ tsp xantham gum
30 g sugar
45 g butter
1 egg, lightly beaten
50 ml milk
2-3 tbsp cream or milk to glaze

Gluten-free flour can be slightly drier and absorb more water, so make the following alterations. First soak the raisins on the black tea for at least 30 minutes. Add the xantham gum with the dry ingredients in step 2. Drain the raisins and add to the rubbed-in mixture in step 3. Add the beaten egg before the milk in step 4.

Spinach Omelet

Super SPINACH - rich in iron. I have to prepare something with spinach to make my son eat it. He don't like spinach, maybe because of the after taste it left in your mouth. After all the tricks of telling him he will be like Popeye, to no avail no success. Since he likes egg in any way of cooking, I decided to make it into omelet. Oh what a success. He ate it, sandwich with the croissant.


Spinach Omelet

150 g spinach
2 eggs
salt n pepper to taste


Wilt the spinach; chop. Separate the eggs, whisk the whites until stiff. Add the yolks to the spinach, fold into the whites. Cook in a frying pan.

Lugaw, Congee or Porridge

This is a comfort food for me. For some this maybe a food for the sick. I have plain lugaw since I started my solid food. In Hokkien we call lugaw "Am beh". In my Father's home this is always serve as breakfast as in everyday, no miss. We have it with soysauce, salt, sugar, chokolate (like champorado,but its made of sweetrice), dried salted lapu-lapu, century egg,pork floss (only when somebody went to manila and bring it as pasalubong), soysauce with peanuts or tofu. Plain and simple lugaw. Now I'm married and with kids on my own, I carry on on cooking the lugaw for my children. I guess its because I grew up with eating and its just like a habbit. Do I make sense? hahaha.






Nowadays you can see a lot of snack house having different kinds of lugaw. Of course they are called with different names such as Goto, Arroz Caldo, and etc..... I plan to just make it plain lugaw for dinner but since my son requested something with chicken, I decided to just add it on my plain lugaw.



Basic Plain Porridge

2½ L (10 cups) water or stock
½ t salt
250g short-grain rice, washed and drained
250 ml water

1. Bring water and salt to the boil, then add rice, stirring gently until water returns to the boil. Lower heat and simmer, uncovered, for 1 hour, stirring occasionally. After 20 minutes add another 250 ml (1 cup) water. Towards the end of cooking, when most of the water has evaporated, stir frequently to avoid porridge sticking. Alternatively, cook everything in a rice cooker using the porridge setting.

2. When porridge is soft and mushy, remove from heat and serve.



Chicken Porridge

500 g chicken, steamed
2 tbsp light soy
2 tsp sesame oil
250 ml chicken stock
¼ tsp salt
1 portion hot basic porridge
2 spring onions, finely chopped
2 sprigs coriander leaves



1. Shred the chicken meat or chop into bite-sized pieces.

2. Combine the soy sauce and sesame oil, and sprinkle half over the chicken.

3. Heat the chicken stock and salt and mix with the Basic Porridge. Bring to the boil.

4. Stir in the remaining soy-sesame mixture and chopped chicken (if using shredded chicken, serve in a separate dish or piled on top of rice).

5. Serve immediately in small bowls and garnish with spring onions and coriander leaves.

6. Alternatively, serve the chopped chicken separately from the rice porridge.


Note: An alternative to steaming the chicken is to thinly slice raw chicken and cook it in the rice porridge until done.