apple

apple cucumber salad

by Eva on January 9, 2012

Usually I would have a desire for hot soup this time of the year. The calendar says it’s winter but outside it’s warm and sunny, strange weather isn’t it? Don’t get me wrong I am not complaining, love it. A couple of days ago I splurged on tea. The lady in the store told me: “Congratulations you spent 15 Dollar on your health.” Well I didn’t said it loud but for this little bit of tea I would expect it heals cancer or at least warts. Since then the tea is sitting on my counter and I am not in the mood at all for hot tea, as good as it might be. Instead I am making light salads. Like this apple cucumber salad. I got so much friendly feedback for the lentil salad with smoked almonds, sweet potato and goat cheese that I thought you might like to nibble on another salad as well. You and I still have to make up for the last holiday eat marathon, I can see you nodding your head… If not keep this simple salad in mind for the next spring or summer.

On another note, you might think I am a technical idiot (I am not denying that) but I can’t get my comment section working again. I even manage to delete your previous comments. I am so sorry! So please don’t hesitate to write me an email (contact.1bigbiteATgmailDOTcom) or twitter me or leave a message on my facebook wall. Looking forward to hear from you. In the meantime I am trying hard to move this side to wordpress but as I just mentioned I am not the smartest geek and this might take a while. If you know or you are someone who can help me and it won’t cost me a arm or a leg, contact me. Please!

apple cucumber salad

4 servings as a side dish

I like to wash and peel off strips from the cucumber and apples for a decorative look after slicing. I don’t bother to remove the seeds from the cucumber but do so if you like.

1 cucumber
2 apple (preferable tart apples)
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
1 green onion, chopped

1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon honey
4 tablespoons yoghurt
fresh dill

For the salad:
Cut cucumber and apples into fine slices or use your food processor or mandolin. Add to a bowl with the lemon juice, green onion and toss well.
For the salad dressing;
Add the remaining ingredients into a small bowl and stir until combined.
Pour over the salad and stir well.
You can eat this salad right away but it tastes even better after it sats around for two hours in the refrigerator. Makes a great lunchbox salad even the next day.

some notes
Crystallized honey is difficult to stir, heat it in your microwave oven just for a few seconds to liquify. A pot of hot water does the same job.

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apple cake with toffee topping

by Eva on October 4, 2011

Last week had been a fun one! My sister and her friend are visiting from Germany and we headed to Chicago to escape my small town and have some urban pleasure in the big city. The windy city lived up to its name and we got literally blown away all day long. The main things I had done these days was sitting around, watching people while having coffee, walking up and down the beaches north of Chicago, and visiting the cultivate festival in Lincoln Park last Saturday. This was not only a fun event with nice food and concerts, it had also been a great way to inform about where food naturally comes from and that industrialized farmers are the losers, bad guys, not so good for you and the environment.

Sunday had been all about apples and friends. Our dear friends from Chicago invited us to join them for an apple picking day on an apple orchard in Wisconsin. I didn’t count but our group was about 30 people of all ages. Everyone brought some nice food and it reminded me of tailgating without the football and the grilling. Games were played, some beer were drunken, apples had been picked and we had some interesting and fun talks. We drove home with a one year ratio of apples for a family of ten, a beautiful pumpkin and newly made friendships.

I see a lot of apple cakes coming my way, here are some recipes for you from me:

apple streusel cake

caramel apple butter

prune cake with marzipan streusel (works also great with apples)

apple cake Barbados

upside-down skillet cake

five variations of crumble

apple cake with toffee topping

adapted from Tessa Kiros: falling cloudberries
This recipe calls for 3 apples, I came out with 360 g peeled and cored apple chunks, for my licking a wee bit more would have been even better, I am going for 4 apples next time. And I used whole wheat pastry flour and really loved the nuttily flavor which went well with the apples and the sweetness of the topping.

3-4 apples (like golden delicious but any other will do)
juice of 1/2 lemon

100 g / 7 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
200 g / 1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 eggs
200 g / 1 2/3 cups all-purpose flour (or whole wheat pastry flour)
2 teaspoon baking powder (aluminum free)
1/4 cup milk

1 1/2 tablespoons unsalted butter
100 g / 1/2 cup sugar
120 ml / 1/2 cup heavy whipping cream

Preheat your oven to 190 C / 375 F and grease and flour your 24 cm / 9.5 inch springform pan.
Peel and core the apples, cut them into bite size chunks. Add the lemon juice and stir. Arrange the apples evenly on the bottom of your baking pan, no need to make it beautiful, you won’t see much of them under the topping later.

In a large bowl cream the butter, sugar and vanilla extract until pale and softened (takes 2-3 minutes) then add the eggs one by one. Add the flour, the baking powder and the milk and mix shortly until just combined. Pour the batter over the apples into the springform pan and bake for 35 to 40 minutes. The cake is done if a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.

Remove your cake from the oven and start to make the topping: put the butter and the sugar in a medium pan and cook for 3 to 4 minutes over medium heat. Sugar gets very hot while melting, you better resist to lick your spoon! Don’t add all the cream at once! Pour in the cream very slowly, start drop by drop, then in a steady stream, stir constantly. Continue to simmer for another minute over low heat.

Turn the cake upside down: run a knife blade along the rim of the spingform pan to release the edge of the cake, put a plate on the top of the cake and turn over, use a long knife to separate the bottom of the springform pan from the cake before removing it. This is optional and not part of the original recipe, I just prefer to have the apples on top rather than at the bottom.

If you have turned your cake or not, loose the side of the cake and pour the toffee sauce over the top of the cake. Let the cake cool before you remove the side of the pan. Serve with ice cream, warm or at room temperature.

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apple cake Barbados

by Eva on October 30, 2010

It has been many just a few winters since I moved out of my parent’s house. It had not been a one day move, it had been more a several weeks move. I took me quite a while until I got all my stuff in my new apartment and everyday time I packed some boxes I ‘accidentally’ took some of my mum’s things. That had been my way to shop for new dish towels, mugs and a can opener. Mum still believes these things broke or had been thrown away. I don’t wanna throw somebody under the bus but my Sister did the same. I also took some of her recipes which had been a childhood reminder for me. One of these is this apple cake Barbados, this was a fall standard and one of my favorite cakes as a little kid. Don’t judge a cake by its name, it is really flavorful. Shame on me but I never baked it until today and I had to find out that the amount of apples was missing. So I searched in the internet and found out that mum’s amazing apple cake Barbados is not a secret family recipe, it is more well known in many kitchens around Germany.

I nearly followed the original recipe but I thought Mrs. Barbados would never use lemon and sugar so I went for brown sugar and lime. The apple cake Barbados is good the first day but I like it better the next days when it is still juicy but easier to cut and has developed even more flavor.

If you feel like more apple cake give this one a try: apple streusel cake. Or try the prune cake with marzipan streusel and substitute with apples.

apple cake Barbados

I used my 10 inch (26 cm) springform pan
Make sure your butter and eggs are at room temperature

for the bottom:

100 g / 7 tablespoon butter
100 g / 1/2 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
200 g / 1 2/3 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder (aluminum-free)

for the apple top:

100 g / 7 tablespoon butter
100g / 1/2 cup brown sugar
3 eggs
75 g unsweetened coconut
3 tablespoon lime juice
750 g / 3 1/2 cups grated apples (about 5-6 apples)

Preheat your oven to 360 F (180 C) and grease your pan.

Put the eggs, sugar and butter into your mixing bowl and mix for about 1 minute. Add the flour and the baking powder and stir until the ingredients are just combined and the mixture is quite smooth, but don’t over mix.
Pour the batter into the pan and cover the pan bottom evenly with it.

Peel the apples, remove the apple cores and grate them but not too fine. Add the lime juice to prevent that the apples turn brown. Pour in the remaining ingredients and stir.

Pour over the batter in the pan and bake for 60 to 70 minutes.

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caramel apple butter

by Eva on July 7, 2010

From time to time I discover things in my fridge which about I totally forgot and I haven’t seen since weeks. Yesterday I found a bag half full with red apples. I am not sure for how long they have been there, but they still looked like fresh apples and not like shrunken heads. They were hiding behind some beer bottles and this might be the reason why I kind of lost them.
My first idea was the best and I decided to make apple butter of them. There is always a need for it because it is tasty with so many things: over ice cream, pancakes, crepes, oatmeal, bread, yoghurt or cottage cheese. What is your favorite?

What I don’t like about the apple butter in stores is the sweetness and the less natural apple taste, so I reduced the amount of sugar and tried to support the apple flavor with caramel and cinnamon.
Because of the low sugar you can store the apple butter for about 4 weeks. I think you can keep it for longer but I was never able to save some for trying out. As always if you make jams or jellies, make sure your jars are very clean and don’t forget the lids. After I cleaned my jars, I filled them with boiling water and let them air-dry. If you don’t want to put the apple butter into jars you can easily freeze it for several months.

You should use the apples which flavor you like most and if you are not going for low sugar you can substitute the water with apple juice and add more sugar to make the caramel.

To puree the apples after cooking I used a hand blender but you can also just mash them and you have a different texture.

caramel apple butter

1.7 kg / 60 oz. apples
4 tablespoons sugar
1 cup / 250 ml water
juice of 1/2 lemon
cinnamon

Peel the apples and cut into bite size chunks, cover with the lemon juice and set aside.
Put the sugar in a big pot and reheat at medium temperature so that the sugar will melt and become caramel. Let it golden brown but be careful not to burn the caramel, this all needs about 2 to 3 minutes.
Put the apple chunks and the water into the pot and stir well. Cover the pot and don’t forget to stir from time to time and make sure there is enough water left so that it will not burn. Let cook until the apples are tender, when you put a fork into the apple, it is soft and easy to fork. This can take about 15 minutes it depends on the apples.
Puree with a masher (for potatoes), hand blender or blender. Taste the apple butter and add some cinnamon, lemon juice and sugar if you want. Fill in the jars and put on the lids and turn upside down until chilled.

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apple streusel cake

by Eva on June 18, 2010

This cake is in the oven right now and you can smell it everywhere. It is one of my must have from time to time and I shared this recipe with many friends and colleagues. Although it is more like an autumn cake, it fits right now because there is one of these Mid West storms outside and it is dark and heavy rains are coming soon.
Usually I make a large baking sheet and freeze it in slices and take it out piece by piece. Try it warm with vanilla ice cream or serve it with whipping cream.
The streusel are crunchy at the first day and become soft and more aromatic the next days. The aroma is buttery with cinnamon and depending which kind of apples you use. This is one of these cakes tasting better day by day just keep it in an airtight container in the fridge but bring it to room temperature before eating.
Today I used red delicious (just because they were lying around and nobody wants to eat them) but every other is ok. Just double the ingredients for a 12 x 17 in baking sheet. For this yeast dough recipe I mix all liquid ingredients together, it is the easy way to make sure none of them is to hot or to cold for the yeast. If you have an egg and milk at room temperature just melt the butter, let cool down and mix everything.

for a 9.5 in or 24 cm spring form pan you need:

apple streusel cake

for the yeast dough:

1 cup / 130 g all-purpose flour
1/2 cup / 70 g whole wheat flour (or all-purpose flour)
2 teaspoon dry yeast
2 tablespoon sugar
pinch of salt
2 tablespoon / 30 g butter
1/4 cup / 60 ml milk 2%
1 tablespoon sunflower oil or other neutral oil
1 egg

3 apples

for the streusel dough:

1 1/4 cup / 180 g all-purpose flour
1/3 cup / 100 g sugar
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
4 oz. / 8 tablespoon/ 113 g/ butter (1 stick)
butter for the pan

For the yeast dough put the dry ingredients in a mixing bowl. Preheat the milk add the butter and let melt in the milk, add the oil and before you add the egg make sure the milk is not to hot otherwise you will cook the egg and you will kill the yeast. Put the milk mix in the mixing bowl and use a dough hook or knead by hands for 3 minutes. Cover the bowl with a wet towel and set on a warm spot to let rise. I use the oven and preheat for just a few seconds, the oven should not be warmer than 140 F optimal temperature is 80 F to 90 F. The dough is ready than doubled, mine needed 40 minutes. You know the dough is right when you leave a indention if you press a finger into it.

In the meantime I peeled the apples, sliced them into small pieces, covered and chilled them so they won‘t get brown.

Butter the pan, knead the yeast dough once more and cover the pan bottom with it. You can roll the dough but I just use my hands. Let rinse for 10 minutes while preparing the streusel dough. This is quit easy just put everything in a mixing bowl and cut the butter in small pieces, mix well.

Preheat your oven to 360 F / 180 C.

Put the apple pieces into the pan, press carefully and top with the streusel. If you prefer bigger streusel just press the crumbles to the right size.
Put in the oven for 30-40 minutes and let cool down or eat warm.

And later this day, we got two nice rainbows before it started raining again…

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apple cucumber salad

apple cake with toffee topping