Apple Slice

ingredients

2 cups self raising flour
1 cup sugar
3 apples, peeled, cored and diced (1cm)
125g butter or margarine
1 egg

directions

Toss apples with self raising flour and sugar in a medium mixing bowl.

Melt butter in a small saucepan on the stovetop or in a small bowl in the microwave. Stir in egg.

Pour butter and egg into the apple mixture and mix until combined.

Spoon into a greased and lined slice tin.

Bake at 180 C for 35 to 40 minutes or until the top is golden brown and a skewer inserted into the middle comes out clean. Keeps for about 3 days.

millionnaire shortbread

It's so good when your work turns out looking very much like the photo on the recipe. (The one above is mine, the recipe below is a slightly-adapted version of the one that appeared in a recent magazine)

Ingredients

For the base:

175g butter

60g caster sugar

225g flour

ginger to taste, chopped

For the caramel:

140g butter

1 tin condensed milk

4 tbsp golden syrup

20g sugar

For the top:

200g -ish bar of cocoa-rich chocolate

For the base, rub the ingredients together to resemble breadcrumbs as for pastry. Press the mixture into a square flat tin.

Bake at 150 C until lightly golden and leave to cool

For the caramel, melt all of the ingredients together in a pan and bring to a gentle boil while stirring. Continue to stir and simmer for 10-15 minutes. It should thicken and darken in colour. pour over the base and leave to cool. It'll take some time to set.

When it has, melt the chocolate in a bowl set in boiling water, and pour over the caramel.

When set, cut into squares. Enjoy.

Cherry Almond slices

Ingredients

Pastry:

• 8oz s/r flour
• 2oz lard
• 2oz margarine

Topping:

• 2oz margarine
• 2oz sugar
• 2oz ground almonds
• 1 egg
• 2oz flour
• glace cherries

Also:

• Raspberry Jam
• Chopped almonds

Method

• Make pastry in the usual way (rub fat into flour, add a little water and knead into a dough)
• Roll out and line a tray with it
• Spread thinly with jam
• cream together the margerine and sugar
• add the egg, ground almonds, flour, chopped up cherries and mix together
• Spread the mixture onto the pastry base
• Bake at moderate heat 190/375 for 20-25 mins

Yurt Cake

Thanks to Helen for passing on this recipe for a cake which her friend Alex used to make. "still does, I suppose, in his yurt, so I'll call it Yurt Cake", she says.

Similar to Han's Freestyle Breakfast Biscuits, in that you can improvise as much as you want.

My first attempt wasn't entirely successful - I don't think it cooked long enough, and it only made a half-hearted attempt at rising. Next time I'll try making it drier and rolling it out into a flat tin like flapjacks.

It's still very tasty. A little bit bland, as it has no sugar (I'll try adding some honey next time), but strangely addictive.

Apologies to anyone English - this one's in volume rather than weight - but Americans will feel at home with cups.

Ingredients

• 1 cup of s/r flour
• 1 oats
• 1/2 of oil
• 1/2 raisins
• 1/2 seeds / nuts / dried fruit / ad lib
• Add fruit juice to moisten

Banana Cake

Ingredients

• Self-raising flour - 225g
• Butter - 100g
• Dark soft brown sugar - 175g
• Ripe bananas - 2
• Egg - 1
• Vanilla essence (buy the real stuff, not artifical flavouring)
• Milk - a little to achieve the right consistency

Optional

• Raisins - ad lib
• Dates, chopped - ad lib

method

1. Rub the flour and softened butter together until it all looks like breadcrumbs
2. Stir in the other dry ingredients
3. Mash in the bananas and add the wet ingredients. Mix well
4. Tip into a greased loaf tin and bake at 160 deg C or gas mark 3 for approx 1.5 hours or until the cake is golden brown and springy.
5. Cool in the tin for 10 mins before turning out onto a wire rack to cool properly.
6. Enjoy!

Choc-Topped Fruit Flapjacks

Ingredients

• Porridge oats - 250 g
• Margarine - 150 g
• Golden syrup - 75 g
• Sugar - 75 g
• Chocolate - 100g
• Chopped nuts ad lib
• Dried fruit, eg apricot, raisins, sultanas, shopped if necessary - ad lib

method

1. Melt the margarine, sugar and syrup in saucepan and heat gently until it is all liquid
2. Mix the oats into the liquid
3. Put the mixture into the baking tin & press flat
4. Bake at 175 deg C (Gas Mark 4) for 20 minutes
5. melt the chocolate in a container over hot water, stir in a little marge and quickly spread over the top of the flapjacks
6. Leave to cool overnight
7. Slice and enjoy