Apple, Almond and White Chocolate Cookies

I love making cookies. Fact. I love how I can just open the cupboard and add anything to the basic cookie dough mixture to invent a new one. We still had a load of apples from my Mum's garden left over so I knocked up these delightful apple, almond and white chocolate babies in about 20 minutes - the perfect comfort food when the weather is this miserable. A couple of cookies, glass of milk and a good book. Boom: the perfect rainy Saturday afternoon.

Ingredients
(Makes about 12)

1 cup sugar
100g butter, at room temperature
1 egg, beaten
200g plain flour
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp baking powder
1tbsp lemon juice
1 medium sharp apple (Bramley or Granny Smith will be good), peeled and chopped into about 1cm chunks
100g white chocolate, chopped 
Handful flaked almonds, toasted a little in a preheated oven at 180°C for about 10-15 minutes or you can just buy toasted ones

First pre-heat your oven to 190°C and line 2 baking trays with greaseproof paper.

Cream together the butter and sugar until fluffy. Add the beaten egg and lemon juice and mix in.

Sift in the flour, cinnamon, baking powder and nutmeg and mix until combined. Add the chopped apple, chocolate and flaked almonds and mix until evenly distributed.

Dollop a heaped tablespoon of the cookie dough per cookie evenly on the baking trays - you should get about 12. Don't worry about them looking pretty or flattening them out - lumpy dollops make the best cookies. Now bake in the oven for about 10 minutes or until just turning golden. The moisture in the apple will mean that these cookies are quite soft in texture and almost a bit cakey.

Leave to cool for a couple of minutes then transfer to a cooling rack to cool fully. They taste like delicious apple pie!

Toffee Apple Tart

I've made this pie only once before for a bonfire night/graduation party a good few years ago - we had a big family get together with a giant pan of curry, pork in cider and a meat and potato pie accompanied by fireworks! All very autumnal! It was probably one of the first things I ever baked (to moderate success).

So with a carrier bag of apples collected from my Mum's garden sitting in the cupboard I have been baking away trying to use them up (more apple based recipes to follow!) and I thought I would attempt this toffee apple pie recipe again - I remember I made notes in the cook book so I could perfect it the next time. 4 years later those notes came in handy!

The recipe is actually adapted from a pear tart tatin but I've swapped the pears for apples and cheated a bit and used ready made short crust pastry to make it more of an open pie/tart. It's very tasty with ice cream and I imagine with custard too.

Ingredients

3 large apples, peeled and thickly sliced

90g butter

110g brown sugar

160ml double cream

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1 sheet ready made short crust pastry

Handful of pecans

First melt the butter and sugar together in a heavy based wide pan (like a frying pan or cast iron pan). Add the cream until the sugar dissolves and then bring to the boil. The sauce should darken. Add the sliced apple and sprinkle the cinnamon over then reduce the heat and leave to simmer for about 45 minutes, turning occasionally until tender.

Meanwhile blind bake the pastry at 200°C - line the pie dish with the pastry then prick with a fork, cover with greaseproof paper and fill base with ceramic baking beads then bake for about 15 minutes or until lightly browned.

Raise the oven temperature to 220°C or leave at 200°C if a fan oven.

Fill the baked pastry case with the toffee apple mixture, spreading out evenly then top with the pecan nuts. Bake for about 25 minutes then allow to cool for 5 minutes.

Serve with ice cream, whipped cream or custard. Yes.