Easy Apple Turnovers Recipe

Autumn’s not autumn without cinnamon, right? Regardless of how many ‘pumpkin spice’ things you eat, you’d notice if this little spice wasn’t there to welcome you home every October. The marriage of cinnamon and apple is a perfect and harmonious one- add buttery pastry and you’ve died and gone to heaven! I’m a lover of freshly made pastry and a rough puff would be awesome to use for these but sometimes you just don’t have the time! I always keep a ready made all-butter puff block in my freezer for super speedy pies but if you’ve got a couple of apples looking a bit worse for wear then stick ‘em in these little parcels of joy. They’re great for packed lunches or even breakfast- or go all out and reheat and serve with a huge scoop of vanilla ice cream. YUM.

Makes 6

Ingredients:

1 pack ready-made all-butter puff pastry

500g chopped apples

1 knob of butter

1tsp ground cinnamon

3tbsp brown sugar

cinnamon sugar: ½tsp ground cinnamon for every 1tbsp of white sugar

Recipe:

1.   Pop the butter and apples in a pan over a low heat and add the 1tsp of ground cinnamon and brown sugar. Add a splash of water and cook until the apples are just beginning to soften and caramelise. Leave to cool.

2.   Cut your puff pastry into squares and roll out.

3.   On one half spoon in a dollop of the stewed apples.

4.   Run a drop of water around the edge of the pastry and then fold it over in half. Use a fork to crimp the edges and seal.

5.   Sprinkle with cinnamon sugar and bake for 15-20 mins at 180c.

Jaffa Cake No Bake Cheesecake Recipe

Hybrid things seem to have been all the rage in patisserie over the past couple of years and this is a particularly good one. Although only a hybrid in flavours, the texture of this no bake cheesecake balances so well with the orange jelly. Chocolate orange has to be one of the most famous combos out there and this would certainly be improved by some chocolate dipped candied peel on top or for total chocaholics, skip the shard making and just pour the melted choc all over the top and leave to set. If you do this be sure to use a hot knife to cut it so that it melts right through the choc. 

8 large slices

Ingredients:

15 Digestive biscuits

100g melted butter

grated zest and juice of 4 large oranges

400g full fat cream cheese

300ml double cream

150g sifted icing sugar

150ml orange juice (from the zested oranges)

1 sachet powder gelatine or vege-gel

150ml water

350ml orange juice (from the zested oranges)

75g caster sugar

dark chocolate

decorations (popping candy, gold leaf, anything fun!)

Method:

1.   Smash biscuits up and add melted butter. Push into a tin and flatten. Chill until hard for about an hour or so.

2.   Whip up the cream cheese, double cream, icing sugar, orange zest and juice until thick. Smooth onto the biscuit base. Chill for 4-6 hours.

3.   To make the jelly, put the water and sugar in a pan to heat until it dissolves. Sprinkle the gelatine over the top and stir to dissolve. Add the orange juice and then pour over the top of the cheesecake. Chill overnight.

4.   Melt the chocolate and the spread out on to a baking tray. Cut into shards when cold and adorn with gold leaf.

5.   Release cheesecake from tin and stick chocolate shards in the top!

Jam and Cornflake Tart Recipe

A lunchtime classic, as old school as the morning break snack of vanilla block sponge with pink water icing and sprinkles- always put on far too early so they bled into the pink, creating a rainbow effect that poured down the sides. Enough about that! Let’s get back to this beauty… Buttery thick pastry topped with fresh strawberry jam and the perfect blend of crispy and sticky cornflakes was the ideal way to end your lunch. This is also a super easy recipe, which uses things you probably have in your cupboards – perhaps the school cook did this as a massive user-upper too! You’ve got to leave it to cool a bit before cutting but I highly recommend serving it warm with a blob of vanilla ice cream on top, melting through the golden cornflakes!

Ingredients:

250g Plain Flour

125g cold butter

cold water

strawberry jam

75g golden caster sugar

75g butter

150g cornflakes

75g golden syrup

Method:

1.   Rub butter and flour together. Add enough water to make a dough. Chill.

2.   Push into whatever tin you’d like and stab the bottom repeatedly with a fork. Bake blind at for 20 mins.

3.   Melt sugar, butter and golden syrup in a pan. Add cornflakes and coat entirely in the mix.

4.   When tart case is cool, spread with jam,

5.   Add cornflakes on top and bake at 170 for 15 minutes.

6.   Let cool completely before cutting. 

Strawberry Marshmallow Mousse Recipe

This is the easiest mousse recipe ever and is perfect to make with little hands. Make sure you get vanilla or plain flavoured marshmallows (i.e. not ones that are shaped) as they are usually flavoured and will make the mousse taste all kinds of weird. The mini ones are easier to melt too! Be careful if baking with littlies when using the pan, as the hot marshmallows can get super hot.

Serves 4 adults

Ingredients:

250g strawberries

25g caster sugar

150g mini marshmallows

200ml double cream

Method:

1.   Put all but a few berries in a pan with the sugar and 100ml water and over a medium heat, cook until just soft enough to mash.

2.   Take off the heat and squash until pulpy.

3.   Add the marshmallows and stir until melted. Leave to cool.

4.   Whip the cream until it just holds its shape and fold together with the strawberry mix.

5.   Pile into glasses and chill for 2 hours.

6.   Top with slices of the reserved strawberries and serve!

Coco Pops Ice Cream Recipe

If this isn’t the easiest ice cream recipe you’ve ever read I would LOVE to know. Seriously! The vanilla paste here is non-negotiable it really makes the difference with the cocoa to get that cocoa pops milk flavour that we all know and love. It’s available in pretty much all supermarkets now, Dr Oetker’s even got in on the act and does it both in a squeezy tube and a bottle. If you really can’t find it, use 2 tsp vanilla essence instead. Feel free to also swirl through any chocolate sauce/ dulche de leche caramel you have in the back of the cupboard too. This is indulgence so treat it as such!

Ingredients:

½ can condensed milk

600ml double cream

1tsp vanilla paste

2 tbsp cocoa powder

100g milk

100g + 250g cocoa pops

Method:

1.   Soak 250g cocoa pops in some milk until soggy. Blend to a paste.

2.   Whip up all ingredients apart from 150g cocoa pops until thick and fluffy.

3.   Stir through cocoa pops and the cocoa pops swirl and pour into container. Top with more cocoa pops.

4.   Freeze for 8 hours or overnight.