Apple Raisin Cake

Here is another recipe from the blog, Kitchen Stories.

We love apples and baking with apples.  This recipe appealed to me because of the meringue that  is incorporated making it light.

Ingredients
3 apples
1 1/2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon yeast
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup white sugar
1 cup raisons
1/2 cup butter at room temperature
2 eggs, separated
1/2 cup milk
zest of one lemon
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 cup brown sugar

Directions
Wash, peel and cut the apples in half.  Place them in water with lemon juice.

Beat the egg whites until stiff

In a separate bowl, beat the white sugar with the butter and gradually add the yolks one at a time

Add the lemon zest

Mix the salt, baking powder, yeast and flour and sift into a bowl.  Mix with the milk using a spatula until combined.

Pour half of the cinnamon into the mixture

Carefully fold in the egg whites

Then fold in the raisins and the vanilla

Pour the mixture into a greased bundt pan

Remove the apples from the water and cut into 1/4 inch slices

Place the slices apples vertically into the dough in a circle, pushing the apples into the dough

Butter the apples and sprinkle with he brown sugar and the rest of the cinnamon

Bake for one hour at 350 degrees

Jam Tarts

After making all this plum jam, I started to look at recipes using jam.  I have always wanted to try making pastry and my favorite food blog, Kitchen Stories provided the perfect recipe.  These were delicious!  They were light and flaky and did not last long.  Even if baking is not your thing, I think you would do well with these.

One warning, is that this dough is a bit hard to work with.  You must work quickly because the warm temperature of your hands works against the quality of the dough

Ingredients
1 1/3 cups all purpose flour
1 cup butter
1 tablespoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
4 tablespoons ice water
jam

Directions
Sift the flour, cut the cold butter into small pieces and place in a bowl with the flour.  Add the sugar and salt.

Mix until you get the size of peas.  Slowly add the cold water and form into a ball.

Divide the dough in half, wrap each ball with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 1/2 an hour.

Put each ball on a floured surface, spread with a rolling pin to a thickness of 1/4 an inch.

Cut the sheets of dough into rectangular pieces of 2x4 inches.  You will need 24 rectangular pieces to make 12 pastries.

Wet the outer edge of  a rectangular, then place a teaspoon of jam in the centre and top with another rectangular.

Press lightly around the edges with your fingers then pinch lightly with the prongs of a fork to seal the edges.

Repeat process until you have a dozen pastries.

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and place the tarts on the pan.

Pierce the tops of the tarts with a fork.

Place the pan in the refrigerator for an hour.

Bake at 375 degrees for 25-30 minutes