Apples

Autumn is well and truly upon us. There is a nip in the air and the leaves of the Virginia Creeper in the courtyard have turned glorious shades – rich reds, deep orange and yellow. We’ve been foraging for hazelnuts, elderberries, damsons, harvesting apples and picking up windfalls. We’ve got a poor enough crop this year, largely due to several frosty nights during apple blossom earlier in the year.

If you didn’t manage to plant a few apple trees last year, time to dash off to your nearest garden centre to pick up a Crimson Bramley tree, the variety that makes the fluffiest apple sauce and glorious apple pies, tarts and fritters, jams and jellies.
We keep adding to our repertoire of apple cakes.
Try this apple and cardamom tart, a new favourite. Cardamom marries deliciously with apples.  Serve it with custard or softly whipped cream.

The windfalls are perfect for apple sauce. Don’t worry about the odd bruise or slug bite, just cut them out, give the apples a good wash but for apple jelly, don’t bother to peel. Add the stalks and seeds too, they all add extra pectin and contribute to the deliciousness.  I’ve noticed that many young people who are conditioned to seeing ‘perfect’ fruit in supermarkets, most of which have been heavily sprayed, have never seen ‘real’ fruit, larger or smaller or misshapen versions so are scared to eat anything that’s not perfect.  There is a job of education and reassurance to be done here…these fruits often taste even more delicious.

Here’s a recipe for apple and elderberry jelly, the elderberries are ripe, ready for picking and are packed full of Vitamin C and iron, just what’s needed to boost the family’s immune system for the Winter. A few rose geranium or verbena leaves will add a haunting lemony flavour. Serve a dollop on roast pork with crackling or crispy duck legs. It’ll also be delicious on scones with a blob of cream.

If you have some dessert apples, why not experiment with dried apple slices – it’s easy peasy if you have a dehydrator but that’s not at all essential. A fan oven works brilliantly but a shelf over your cooker also works well. If all that fails, spread them out on a wire rack over a tray, on the back window of your car in the sun or on a shelf in a conservatory or in your tunnel.

Choose really tasty dessert apples, we love Ard Cairn or Ergemont Russets, Pitmaston PineApple, Charles Ross…
It’s really worth having a few tubs of apple sauce in the freezer too. Add to natural yoghurt for breakfast or serve on these Dainty Almond Tartlets for tea.
Do you know about Apple Snow, this one of Myrtle Allen’s favourite recipes – just fold some stiffly beaten egg white into the sweetened apple purée – shortbread biscuits are a delicious accompaniment and finally one of my mother’s favourite recipes, Bramley apple trifle – make a big bowl and invite a few friends around to celebrate Autumn 2021 and the easing of restrictions – keep safe and well.

Bramley Apple Trifle

This delicious Bramley Apple Trifle is one I have adapted from a recipe that I believe originally came from Co. Armagh, which is famous for its Bramley Apple orchards.

Serves 8-10

A Homemade Sponge Cake

Lemon Curd

50g (2oz) butter

110g (4oz) caster sugar

grated rind and juice of 2 lemons

2 eggs and 1 egg yolk, beaten together

Custard

4 egg yolks

1 tablespoon caster sugar

grated rind of 1 lemon

425ml (15fl oz) milk

150ml (5fl oz) cream

Topping

900g (2lbs) Bramley cooking apples

75g (3oz) caster sugar

1–2 tablespoons water

2 egg whites

300ml (10fl oz) cream

25–50g (1–2oz) toasted flaked almonds

Make a whisked sponge in the usual way.

Make the lemon curd. On a very low heat, melt the butter. Stir in the caster sugar, lemon juice and rind and then the well beaten eggs. Stir carefully over a gentle heat until the mixture coats the back of a spoon. Draw off the heat and pour into a bowl (it will thicken as it cools). 

Divide the sponge into two pieces, spread one piece generously with lemon curd and top with the other piece. Cut into small squares and put half into a glass serving bowl. 

Make the egg custard.  Whisk the egg yolks with the sugar and lemon rind.  Heat the milk and cream to the ‘shivery’ stage and add it to the egg mixture, whisking all the time.   Put into a heavy saucepan and stir over a gentle heat until the custard coats the back of the wooden spoon lightly. Don’t let it boil or it will curdle.

While it is still warm, pour half over the sponge. Top with the remainder of the sponge and the rest of the custard.

Peel and core the apples, cut into quarters and cover and stew in a non-reactive saucepan with the sugar and water. When they are soft, beat into a fluff. Allow to cool. Whisk the egg whites and fold gently into the apple purée. Whip the 300ml (10fl oz) cream and fold most of it into the apple also, reserving some for decoration. Spread this on top of the custard, cover and chill.

To serve, decorate with the remaining whipped cream and sprinkle generously with toasted almonds.

Myrtle Allen’s Bramley Apple Snow

We love this simple, traditional featherlight pudding.  It’s great with shortbread biscuits or even Lady Fingers, amazingly delicious for little effort.  Windfall apples can be used, just discard any bruised bits.  This recipe has been passed down from my mother-in-law Myrtle Allen’s family.

Serves 6

450g (1lb) Arthur Turner, Lanes Prince Albert or Bramley cooking apples

approximately 50g (2oz) granulated sugar

2 organic egg whites

cream, soft brown sugar and shortbread biscuits or Lady Fingers, to serve

Peel and core the apples, cut into chunks and put into a saucepan. Add the sugar and 1-2 dessertspoons of water, cover and cook over a low, gentle heat for 8-10 minutes, stirring every now and then until the apples dissolve into a fluff. Rub through a nylon sieve or liquidise. Bramley apples can be very sour at the beginning of the season, taste and add a little more sugar if it seems too tart.

Whisk the egg whites until stiffly whipped, then fold in gently. Taste, pour into a pretty glass bowl, pop into the fridge and serve well chilled with cream, soft brown sugar and shortbread biscuits or Lady Fingers.

Swedish Apple and Cardamom Cake

Delicious served warm as a pudding or with a cup of coffee.

Serves 8-10

2 large eggs preferably free range and organic

175g (6oz) castor sugar

110g (4oz) butter

150ml (5fl oz) creamy milk

185g (6 1/2oz) plain flour

3/4 – 1 teaspoons freshly ground cardamom

3 teaspoons baking powder

2-3 Bramley Seedling cooking apples (350-400g/12-14oz approx.)

25g (1oz) caster sugar

Cardamom Sugar

20g (3/4oz) castor sugar mixed with 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground cardamom

Preheat the oven to 200ËšC/400ËšF/Gas Mark 6.

1 x 23cm (9 inch) round springform tin

Grease the springform tin with a little butter and dust with flour shaking off any excess.

Whisk the eggs and the castor sugar in a bowl until the mixture is really thick and fluffy. Bring the butter and milk to the boil in a saucepan, and stir, still boiling, into the eggs and sugar. Sieve in the flour, add the ground cardamom and baking powder and fold carefully into the batter so that no lumps of flour remain. Pour the mixture into the prepared tin. Peel and core the apples and cut into thin slices, arrange them overlapping on top of the batter – some will sink but don’t worry. Sprinkle with the remaining sugar. Bake in the preheated oven for 15 minutes, then reduce the heat to 180ËšC/350ËšF/Gas Mark 4, for a further 20 – 25 minutes or until the apples are tender and the cake is well risen and golden brown. Sprinkle with cardamom sugar.  Serve with softly whipped cream or custard.

Dainty Almond Tartlets with Apple Fluff

Serves 12

110g (4oz) butter

750g (3oz) castor sugar

110g (4oz) ground almonds

Filling

Bramley Apple and Sweet Geranium Purée (see recipe)

300ml (10fl oz) whipped cream

Garnish

mint or sweet geranium leaves

Makes 24 shallow tartlets

Cream the butter well and then just stir in the sugar and ground almonds. (Don’t over beat or the oil will come out of the ground almonds as it cooks.) Put a teaspoon of the mixture into 24 small shallow patty tins.  Bake at 180°C/350°F/Gas Mark 4 for 20-30 minutes approx. or until golden brown, 10-12 minutes for tartlets or until golden brown.  The tarts or tartlets are too soft to turn out immediately so cool in tins for about 5 minutes before turning out.  Do not allow to set hard before removing to a wire rack or the butter will solidify and they will stick to the tins.  If this happens pop the tins back into the oven for a few minutes so the butter melts and then they will come out easily. 

Just before serving, spoon a blob of Bramley Apple and Sweet Geranium Purée on the base.  Decorate with a rosette of cream and a mint or sweet geranium leaf.

Bramley Apple and Sweet Geranium Purée

The secret of really good apple sauce is to use a heavy-based saucepan and very little water. The apples should break down into a fluff during the cooking.  This can also be served as an apple sauce with pork or duck and freezes perfectly. 

450g (1lb) Bramley seedling cooking apples

3-4 sweet geranium leaves

2 teaspoons water

50g (2oz) sugar, or more depending on tartness of the apples

Peel, quarter and core the apples, then cut the quarters in two and put in a small stainless steel or cast-iron saucepan. Add the sweet geranium leaves, sugar and water, cover and cook over a low heat. As soon as the apple has broken down, stir so it’s a uniform texture and taste for sweetness.

Bramley Apple and Elderberry Jelly

Use this basic recipe as a catch all for many Autumn berries, japonica, rowan berries, sea buckthorn, sloes, damsons…

Makes 2.7-3kg (6-7lbs)

2.7kg (6lbs) windfall cooking apples (or crab apples)

1-2 fistfuls of ripe elderberries

2.7 litres (4 3/4 pints) water

2 unwaxed lemons

sugar

Wash the apples and cut into quarters, do not remove either peel or core.  Windfalls may be used, but make sure to cut out the bruised parts. Strip the elderberries off the stalks.  Put the apples into a large saucepan with the elderberries, water and the thinly pared rind of the lemons, cook until reduced to a pulp, approx. 45 minutes.

Turn the pulp into a jelly bag* and allow it to drip until all the juice has been extracted – usually overnight.  Measure the juice into a preserving pan and allow 425g (15oz) sugar to each 600ml (1 pint) of juice*.  Warm the sugar in a low oven.

*We use 350g (12oz) of sugar, but if you wish to keep the jelly for 9 months or more, it may be preferable to use 425g (15oz) to each 600ml (1 pint).

Squeeze the lemons, strain the juice and add to the preserving pan. Bring to the boil and add the warm sugar. Stir over a gentle heat until the sugar is dissolved.  Increase the heat and boil rapidly uncovered without stirring for about 8-10 minutes.  Test, skim and pot immediately.

Note

Up to half the volume of elderberries can be used (1/2 pint of elderberries works very well although it’s not essential to measure – it’s a good starting point). A sprig or two of mint or rose geranium or a cinnamon stick further enhances the flavour.

Dried Apple Slices

Choose sweet juicy apples – no need to peel, it will add flavour and extra fibre.  Remove the core and cut into thin slices.  Dip in a solution of 1 tablespoon of elderflower cordial, 1 tablespoon of lemon juice and 225ml (8fl oz) of water.  Drain, dry on a wire rack then transfer to a dehydrator or other chosen method.  Store in Kilner jars.