Apples and autumn

Well autumn has finally arrived and the cold has come with it! I have written more than once about how much I love this time of year - autumn into winter! It starts with a little chill that gets colder and colder until large coats and thick scarves are fully acceptable and expected and that, my friend, is  licence to walk around in a duvet all day!!

However we are not quite at that point yet, so for the moment I can just enjoy the chill in the air, an occasional scarf, which is my happy place, well one of them...my happiest place would be in my fiancé's arms standing beside a Christmas tree. Okay sorry, I am wandering off in a dream! From the time the leaves start to change I develop an obsession with apples so I decided it would be appropriate to dedicate a whole post to my seasonal favourite.

Property of Lipton

The inspiration for this has actually been a loss. Every single autumn/winter winter, since about 2008, until this one I have been drinking the delicious and incredible Lipton warming Apple and Cinnamon Tea. This won't be news as I have blogged about it before here but the loss of this consistent and warming tea has left me feeling at an enormous loss. I have tried every other apple tea available in the UK market right now and the only thing that comes close is Teapigs 'Apple and Cinnamon,' tea. However it's not as good, in my opinion, and at £4.15 for 15 teabags, well I hope sincerely that they bring out a 50 teabag box soon. However I have started a search to try to recreate this incredible tea myself and I will blog about it if I am anyway successful!

So you cannot think apple and autumn without thinking apple pie! This apple pie consists of a nutty pastry crust and a delicious apple and amaretto filling.

And finally I decided to make my delicious apple salted caramel cake into muffins and they turned out great! Granted they don't have much of the classic muffin format or puffy top but they are so soft and delicious on the inside that you will definitely forgive me. The recipe is here but there are a few alterations. The original recipe calls for cake flour or make your own cake flour. But for these I wanted them to have slightly more structure so I replaced 1 tablespoon of the flour with corn flour but nothing more because too light is not great for muffins. Half of the mixture from my last post will make 12 muffins and I recommend that you fill them up to the brim for the full looking muffins you see below....

 Inside they are fluffy and delicious with moisture and flavour from the apples and soft and delicious bits of cake between each piece of apple

They are not a health food but they are definitely full of autumn flavour and definitely good for the soul!!

Apple cinnamon Granola

It's finally autumn/fall and I am so happy about it. A while back I made a homemade granola for Mother's day and it was a beautiful summer treat but granola is a year round so why not make this more spicy and autumnal?

This mound of golden deliciousness is full of all sorts of wonderful natural flavours that evoke those seasonal senses.

Ingredients

1 cup organic rolled oats
1 cup irish quick oats
3 tbsp flax seeds
2 tbsp pumpkin seeds
1/4 cup almonds (activated by soaking overnight)
1/4 cup hazelnuts (activated by soaking)
1/2 cup dried apple rings
4 slices of candied lemon rind
1/2 tsp cinnamon
pinch of all spice
pinch of nutmeg
generous pinch of salt


3 tbsp almond oil
3 tbsp honey
1 tbsp almond butter

1. Preheat the oven to 130'C. Chop the apple rings and lemon rinds into small pieces.

2. Cover the apple and lemon pieces in the spices and mix well.

3. Mix together the oats, seeds and apple/lemon pieces together

4. In a small saucepan mix together the almond oil, honey and almond butter and heat gently until boiling.

5. Pour 90% over the oats and mix thoroughly.

6. Line a baking sheet in tinfoil and spread out the mixture.

7. Bake on for 20 minutes, keeping a close eye on them.

8. Pour the nuts into the end of the almond oil/honey mixture and mix until all the nuts are covered.

9. Mix the nuts into the rest of the granola and bake for a final 10 minutes.

10. Serve with yoghurt and fruit of your choice (I choose fresh apple, sprinkled with more cinnamon)

This granola tastes amazing!! I am so pleased with how it turned out, the lemon rind gives a zingy freshness which compliments the spicy apple perfectly and all the delicious nuts and seeds provide even more texture and crunch. So if you are looking for a taste of autumn that doesn't involve pumkin I would definitely recommend this. Til next week, enjoy =)