Rhubarb and Apple Pie | The First Four Years

There was a pieplant in the garden; she must make a couple of pies. The morning flew too quickly, but when the men came in at noon from the thresher, dinner was on the table.
The First Four Years
Laura Ingalls Wilder

I’m making an assumption that most people have read the Little House on the Prairie series as a child and spent a numerous hours wishing they lived on a farm on a prairie. Or maybe just me. I did a reread of these books recently and was surprised to realise how much I still enjoyed them. Reading them at an older age however does mean that you become a little more aware of the basically terrible racist overtones (overtones is putting it a bit mildly) and the romanticism of colonialism.

That being said, I still enjoy them. I think the nostalgia of rereading something from my youth overpowered any other thoughts. My mum’s workplace when I was quite young, was attached to the town’s library and I used to sit in it every week reading through any book I could get my hands on. I powered through the library’s entire collection of The Babysitter’s Club (and the subsequent spin off Little Sister books), Deltora Quest, Tamora Pierce’s collection, and of course - the entirety of Laura Ingall Wilder’s Little House on the Prairie series.

The mention of pieplant pie in The First Four Years caught my eye on my recent reread. A bit of a google later revealed that pieplant is rhubarb. A vegetable named pieplant because it used to primarily be used within pies. I created my recipe with the addition of apples - growing up a rhubarb and apple pie was a regular appearance after dinner most nights. With the rhubarb picked straight from our garden and the apples from a tree my dad had happen-chanced upon during the day. This recipe is based off that one I spent so many nights eating as a child, the rhubarb even is straight from my parents garden.

Rhubarb and Apple Pie
Ingredients
Pastry
450g plain flour
2 tbsp golden caster sugar
200g cold butter
150ml ice cold water
Pinch of salt
Filling
450g rhubarb, cut up
2 Granny Smith apples, peeled and diced
1 tbsp golden caster sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
One orange. juiced and zested
+ milk to glaze, and extra sugar

Pastry

1. Combine the flour, salt, and caster sugar into a large bowl and stir to combine.

2. Break the butter into small pieces and rub it into the flour mixture until it resembles wet sand.

3. Make a well in the middle and pour in the water and mix until it forms into a ball with no lumps. Wrap in cling wrap and put into the fridge to chill for at least 30 minutes before using.

Filling

1. Place the rhubarb, apple, orange juice and zest, caster sugar and vanilla into a saucepan. Cook for around 20 - 30 minutes, until the rhubarb has softened and turned into a puree and the apple has softened also. Put to the side to chill.

2. Once you’re ready to assemble the pies preheat the oven to 200C.

3. Remove the dough from the fridge. On a lightly floured surface roll the dough out until it is about 2-3 cms thick. If you’re making one big pie, place the rolled out dough into a lightly greased pie tin. If you’re doing small hand pies, use something to cut the circles out, placing half onto a baking paper lined baking tray. Leave the other to use as lids.

4. Spoon your rhubarb and apple filling into the middle of the pastry circles (or pastry lined pie dish), brushing the edges with water and topping them with the pastry circles that had been set to the side.'

5. Use a fork to seal the edges and and brush with the extra milk as a glaze, sprinkling a little sugar on top.

6. Bake for 30 - 35 minutes or until the pies are a golden brown. Enjoy!
   
   

Brownies | A Lonely Girl is a Dangerous Thing

She shrugs, unties her hair and whips it around like a dog shaking off its wet. She's clutching her helmet in one hand and extracting a Tupperware container from her shoulder bag. 'Brownies. I just baked them this morning.'
A Lonely Girl is a Dangerous Thing
Jessie Tu

My pile of to read books are slowly piling up and I’m finally making time for them. You’d think spending a year in strict lockdown in 2020 would have been a huge reading year but nope. Somehow being able to now sit in tiny cafes and bars have increased my book consumption by a crazy amount. Though I have found myself drifting back to re-reads of some classic favourites, The Chronicles of Narnia, The Secret History, and many more. In saying that though, I have also had about four more books appear in my mailbox this week as well.

A Lonely Girl is A Dangerous Thing is the perfect book for any past overachiever. Focusing on the life of a child prodigy after a fall, it delves into some dark corners. Unapologetically abrasive about what story it is telling, I pushed through this novel at some stage last year and have only recently done a re-read.

There are a number of dishes I could have made from these pages, the miso bolognese is something I definitely want to try at some stage soon, along with fish tacos. I have been wanting an excuse though to make some classic brownies. I’ve struggled a lot to find a good recipe for plant-based ones that don’t contain black beans or that need some hard to find ingredients. Not that black bean brownies aren’t deliciously fudgy, but I wanted some basic, easy to make ones that had a classic shiny and crackly top. These turned out amazing, and I’m already planning a range of different versions.

Brownies
Ingredients
275g plain flour
1 1/2 tsp bi-carb soda
1 tsp sea salt + extra for the top
95g Dutch cocoa powder
115ml vegetable oil
240ml boiling water
100g dark chocolate, finely chopped
320g raw caster sugar
2 tsp instant espresso powder, if you use actual espresso just minus that from the boiling water
2 tsp vanilla essence
90g dark chocolate, in chunks

1. Preheat the oven to 175C and line a pan (I used one that was 27.5 x1 7.5) with baking paper that have been lightly brushed with a little bit of oil.

2. In a bowl combine the flour, 1 tsp of sea salt, and the bi-carb soda together, put to the side for now.

3. In a seperate bowl combine the cocoa, 100g dark chocolate, espresso powder, and the boiling water. Stir until the chocolate has well melted.

4. Add in the sugar, vanilla and oil. Whisk together until the sugar has dissolved. You want to make sure the chocolate mixture is still hot when you add te sugar to it - as it melting gives it that lovely crackly top.

5. Mix the chocolate mixture into the flour mixture, stirring in the extra 90g of chocolate chunks.

6. Pour the mixture into the prepared pan, smoothing the top out. Bake for around 35 minutes - it shouldn’t wobble in the pan when it is done and the surface should be nice and crackly. Sprinkle the extra sea salt on top.

7. Let the brownies cool completely in the pan before removing. Enjoy!

Baklava | Middlesex

Desdemona went up and down the line, adding walnuts, butter, honey, spinach, cheese, adding more layers of dough, then more butter, before forging the assembled concoctions in the oven.
Middlesex
Jeffrey Eugenides

Has it taken me close to a month to get through Middlesex? Yep. Life has been crazy (I feel as though this is a common thought I’ve been writing for the last six months). This is not to say it’s not a good book - it’s absolutely incredible. If you’re a fan of generational novels then this is a must to pick up.

The story follows the life of Calliope, or Cal, and his family throughout the years and the growing strength of a gene in their bloodline which grows stronger as the generations pass. I was so hooked to this book. It may have taken me a day and an age to finish it, but I spent around a month sneaking in pages during coffee and lunch breaks on workdays, struggling to keep my eyes open on late nights as I pushed through more of the novel late at night.

Also, there is an incredible amount of food mentioned throughout the pages. I’ve made baklava a few times already this year, with pistachios, chia seeds and an assorted of different types of nuts. This one I made purely with walnuts - an incredibly good choice when paired with the maple syrup and lemon. Also - learn from my mistake and leave the baklava to cool completely before serving it. I perhaps dug in straight away and made an absolute mess of the warm, syrupy walnuts and pastry. Delicious - yes. Just not that aesthetically pleasing.

*Note: I use maple syrup as I eat a plant based diet. You can either use maple syrup, honey, or agave for this with no issues.

Baklava
25 sheets of phyllo pastry (give or take - depends on the size of the dish you need, as you’ll likely need to trim it to the right size)
450g walnut, finely chopped
200g butter, melted
1 tsp ground cinnamon
50g caster sugar
7 tbsp maple syrup *see note
150g caster sugar
Zest of one lemon + juice

1. Preheat your oven to 160C. Using a pastry brush, cover the bottom and sides of a 25cm baking dish with the melted butter.

2. Making sure you have trimmed the sheets of phyllo pastry to to the size of your pan. Take one sheet and place it onto the buttered bottom of your baking dish and brush it with butter. Repeat with ten more sheets, brushing butter between every layer.

3. Spread half the walnut mixture into the pan on top of the buttered phyllo sheets. Layer another 5 sheets of phyllo on top of the walnuts, buttering each layer in-between.

4. Add the remainder of the walnut mixture onto the top layers of phyllo and spread it so it covers it all evenly. Layer the remaining 10 sheets of phyllo on top of this, buttering each layer in-between and the top sheet. Using a sharp knife, slice the baklava into a square or diamond pattern. Place into the preheated oven for around 25 - 30 minutes, or until the top has turned a golden brown.

5. While the baklava is in the oven, you can make the syrup. combine the maple syrup, sugar, cinnamon, lemon zest and juice into a small saucepan. Heat on low until the sugar melts fully and it reduces a little - around 10 minutes. remove from the heat and leave at the side.

6. Remove the baklava from the oven once the top has turned a golden brown. Pour around half of the prepared syrup on top of the baklava and leave for about 5 minutes while the syrup soaks in. Pour the rest of the syrup over and leave it to cool before serving. Enjoy!

Chocolate Rum Balls | The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society

I spoke of my five-layer cakes - using a dozen eggs - my spun-sugar sweets, chocolate rum balls, sponge cakes with pots of cream. Cakes made with good white flour - not that cracked-grain and bird seed stuff we were using at the time.
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society
Mary Ann Shaffer, Annie Barrows

I did the very much condemned notion of watching this movie before reading the book. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society happened to come up on Netflix last year and catch my eye. It's an okay movie, but basically left me wanting to move to England and live in an island and be constantly grumpy while baking pies. Pretty much my life's goal.

I picked up the book not that long ago and sped through it on a work trip, managing to inhale the entirety of it within a single flight. It's quite simply written but delightful to read. While the notion of attempting a potato peel pie did cross my mind briefly, it soon disappeared when the description of the tantalising treats that Clara Suassey spoke of, which had her kicked out of the literary society, came to my attention on the page. Spun sugar, five-layer cakes and chocolate rum balls, an array of delicious sounding delights that immediately set my mind wandering. It settled quite firmly on chocolate rum balls - a treat that I remember as being very Australian, very much available around Christmas, and very much not containing rum. Though my memory of eating them is primarily based around the primary school years and may be a little skewed.

I wanted to step away from my childhood memory of rum balls and instead concentrate on ones that would have been most appreciated possibly on Guernsey as Clara Suassey read out loud her recipes. Ones without the outside coating of coconut, very much filled with a rich spiced rum and intensely chocolate-y.

*Note: I used coconut condensed milk and chocolate ripple biscuits for this recipe - both which happen to be plant based!

Chocolate Rum Balls
Makes approx. 12 - 16
Ingredients
1/4 cup of raisins, finely chopped
3 tbsp spiced rum
1 cup cocoa powder
2 cups desiccated coconut
250g chocolate biscuits, *see note
320g condensed milk, *see note
1/2 cup icing sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 tsp sea salt

1. Combine the rum and the finely chopped raisins, set aside for around 10 - 20 minutes and let the rum soak into the raisins.

2. Meanwhile, using a food processor or blender, crush the chocolate biscuits until they're basically powder. A few chunks here and there are okay.

3. Place chocolate biscuit powder, 1/2 cup cocoa, desiccated coconut, condensed milk, rum soaked raisins, vanilla extract and sea salt in a bowl together and mix until well combined. The mixture should be firm enough to mould into a ball - if not, add a touch more cocoa.

4. Using the palm of your hand, roll spoonfuls of the rum ball mix into balls, placing them onto a a piece of baking paper on a tray. When all mixture has been rolled into balls place the tray into the fridge for a few hours or until mix has set.

5. Place the remaining cocoa and icing sugar into two seperate bowls, and roll the prepared balls into them to coat (separately that is, unless you want to combine the icing sugar and cocoa, all means go ahead). Enjoy with a good cup of tea!

Little Women | Apple Turnovers

There was a momentary lull, broken by Hannah, who stalked in, laid two hot turnovers on the table, and stalked out again. These turnovers were an institution, and the girls called them ‘muffs’, for they had no others and found the hot pies very comforting to their hands on cold mornings.
Little Women
Louisa May Alcott

There's something deliciously comforting about the smell of apples and spices cooking while it rains lightly outside (ignoring the fact that it is summer and despite the rain it's still just so hot). I remember reading Little Women for the first time at a young age - it would be hard to pinpoint when I first picked it up exactly. There are faint memories though that my grandmother passed it to me to read when I was staying with her.

I spent New Years Day at the cinemas, viewing the newest adaptation of Little Women from Greta Gerwig. I absolutely adored it and can't wait to see it again - this may be the only adaptation that I've actually had sympathy for the character of Amy at all. The rest of the day was spent cooking up and eating these pastries as I flicked through my copy of the book, enjoying the small things that jumped out in memory to me.

Apple Turnovers
Makes approx. 8
Ingredients
6 granny smith apples, cored and peeled
3 tbsp raw caster sugar
2 sheets puff pastry
1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
1/2 tsp sea salt
1 tbsp butter, melted
2 tbsp water

1. Preheat the oven to 180C and prepare 2 baking trays with baking paper or by greasing them well.

2. Dice the apples very finely, they shouldn't be more than a cm large. Place them into a medium sized saucepan along with 2 tbsp water, 1 tbsp raw caster sugar, 1 tsp cinnamon, 1/4 tsp sea salt, and 1/4 tsp of nutmeg. Cook on medium until apples have softened and the water have caramelised a little. Remove from the heat before the apples become too squishy.

3. Combine the remaining sugar, spices and salt together and mix well. Put to the side till later.

4. Lay the two sheets of puffy pastry out, slice each down the middle diagonally, and then again in each corner. In the end you should have 8 triangles of pastry.

5. Spoon the apple mix onto one side of the triangle, folding the other edge over and pressing the edges closed with the prongs of a fork. Repeat with all triangles of pastry and transfer to the baking tray.

6. Using a fork poke a few holes in the top of each, and brush well with the melted butter. Sprinkle the sugar and cinnamon mix on top before baking for around 15 minutes or until the top of the pastry is golden and brown. Enjoy!

Northern Lights | Olive Oil Gingerbread

It was a mighty voice, a woman's voice, but a woman with lungs of brass and leather. Lyra looked around for her at once, because this was Ma Costa, who had clouted Lyra on two occasions but given her hot gingerbread on three.
Northern Lights
Phillip Pullman

This gingerbread was made close to a month ago - created on a day spent babysitting and the realisation that making batches upon batches of cookies was the best way to entertain little ones. I think there was a particular thrill also, making gingerbread so close to Christmas, the spicy scent of it filling the air as it baked.

Like many I'm sure, I spent the later part of the previous year fixed very closely on the TV show of His Dark Materials. I loved it - the casting was superb and I love how firmly the book was followed. It even inspired me to pick up the books again, I had forgotten how incredible they were - I think I likely finished all three within the month.While the gingerbread made by Ma Costa likely wasn't cut into the shape of people, it was sure to have the strong flavours that this one is filled with. And like hers, this is best enjoyed hot from the oven with a cup of tea.

Olive Oil Gingerbread
Makes approx. 16
Ingredients
1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
3/4 cup raw caster sugar
1/4 cup molasses
1/4 cup milk
2 cups plain flour + 1 tbsp for rolling out dough
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
1/4 tsp ground cloves
2 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp bi-carb soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp sea salt

1. Whisk together the oil and sugar until well combined. Add in the molasses and milk, mixing together as best you can. The oil will be tricky to mix in, but just do the best you can.

2. Sift all dry ingredients together, adding in the combined wet ingredients. Mix until a stiff dough forms. Flatten the dough a little and wrap in cling wrap - chill for at least an hour.

3. Preheat oven to 180C, line two baking trays for baking paper and put to the side.

4. Lightly flour a large surface, roll out the chilled dough till it is around 1cm thick, use any cookie cutter (or even the rim of a glass works well, honestly) you want and cut out the shapes wanted. Bundle the cut off dough together and repeat until all the dough is used.

5. Using a thin spatula, or the edge of a butter knife, gently place the cut out gingerbread shapes onto the prepared trays. Bake for around 8 - 10 mins.

6. Leave the cookies to cool on the baking tray for at least 2 minutes, to allow them to harden slightly before transferring them to a wire tray to cool completely. Or do as Ma Coster does and serve them hot!