Birthday Cooking

Hello, it's Sophia again in Little Lush Cooks land. You must be wondering about my apple pie for my birthday...it tasted perfect with my lemon custard but every one was so fixed on eating it that they forgot to take photos!

My birthday was busy and exciting. My little brother, Isaac, cooked me teddy bear birthday cakes - I will include the recipe later. He made a dairy free, low salicylate vanilla cake so that my other brother and sister could eat it. I made teddy bear biscuits, and baking powder!

The best thing about turning 8, is that now there is only 10 years until I can become a thermomix consultant like my mum - but that didn't stop me from doing my own demonstration for my friends.

First I made fresh strawberry sorbet - using the spicy apple water I froze in the ice trays - I think everyone loved it but they probably ate it too quickly as they got brain freeze.

 

Next up was my buckwheat and grain bread rolls. My friend and I loved shaping them

I made low salicylate chicken risotto for the dinner and finished with the lemon custard and my apple pie. I had lots of fun and hope everyone else did as well.

I promised the cake recipe - it's just changed a tiny bit from the Every Day Cookbook, and as you saw, my 6 year old brother can make it:

Dairy Free Vanilla Cake:

Ingredients

120g Nuttelex
2 Eggs
100g Rice Milk (home made- but bought is ok)
1tsp vanilla sugar or pure essence
130g sugar
160g self raising flour
1tsp baking powder

Method:

Pre-heat oven to 180 degrees celcius. Grease a ring tin, or muffin tins or bear tins :)
Put nuttelex into the TM, and blend 30 seconds, 50degrees, speed 2
Add everything else. Mix 30 seconds speed 5.
Get mum to pour it into the tins.
Bake in the middle of the oven for 15-35 minutes depending on the tin you use.

We sprinkle with citric icing sugar for the low salicylate people at our house, but cinnamon sugar tastes yummier - mum calls this a tea cake.

I'll be making more biscuits with my birthday biscuit cutters - stay tuned!

Oh So Spicy Apple Pie

What's the best way to turn 8? Yep - make your own apple pie! Mum had too many sad apples in the fridge and I was ready to burst with needing to cook.

The Apple twirly got whirly and the thermomix started cooking. We saved the yummy spicy water to use in the pastry and freeze for making sorbet. I'll post that later. We also swapped the blanched almonds for some macadamias that needed using. We did things in the wrong order. But mum has helped me write out the right order. I had to go play dress ups for a while.

It turns out I'm pretty good with pastry - and next time we'll use the home-made pastry on top instead of grandma's puff pastry that needed using up. I just have to make some fresh custard to go with it...YAY

Ingredients:

Filling:

5 apples twirled in an apple slinkee and then quartered
60g raw sugar mixed with
1tsp cinnamon
2/3tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp cloves
(you'll only use half of this)
600g water

Pastry

The remaining 30g sugar with spices
pinch of garam masala
30-40g blanched almonds or macadamias
210g plain flour
130g cold butter cut up into dice size pieces
pinch of salt
1 medium egg yolk
3-4 tsp cooled spicy water from steaming the apples, (or orange juice)

Method:

Make the pastry by whizzing up half the sugar and spices for 3 seconds, speed 9.
Put it on your pastry mat for now. Then put in your nuts for a few seconds on speed 8.
Put the sugar back in, plus flour, garam masala and salt, and butter. Mix for 7-10 seconds on speed 10. Mum said STOP when she heard the noise change and it looked like lumpy breadcrumbs.
Add the egg yolk and water. Turn the dial to the picture of the thermomix with it's lid closed. Press the wheat symbol and stop it after 10-20 seconds.
Tip it onto the pastry mat and knead it a little bit so any sticky bits mix in. I did eat some bits because it was too yummy. Wrap it up in cling wrap and let it sit in the fridge for 15 minutes.

Put the water in the bowl of the thermomix. Place apple pieces into the steamer part, (called the varoma). I split them between the two layers. Sprinkle the rest of your spice mix over the apples. Put the lid on the thermomix and the steamer on top. Press the timer to 30 minutes, then press the 'varoma' temperature and then turn the dial to speed 3. Mum stirred the apples a couple of times.

While the apple steams, you can get the pastry ready. The oven needs to go really hot - fan bake 220 degrees. Rub your butter paper over your pie tin and then get your rolling pin. Mum helped me to roll up the pastry on the pin and then she laid it gently out over the tin. It was still pretty messy so we just patched it all up. Then my favourite part was trimming the edges. I had to eat all the bits I cut off.

I put the pastry in the freezer for 10 minutes and then the oven for 12. We should have pricked it with a fork first. Then we filled it up with the apple and put strips of puff pastry over the top. We brushed it with a bit of honey and butter melted together. Mum put it back in the oven for another 25 minutes. I can't wait to eat it.