Croissants with hot apples and cr¿me fra¿che
Minute for minute, probably the most delicious fast pudding in the book.
For 2
30g butter
1 large dessert apple
2 tbsp caster sugar
2 large, flaky croissants
3 tbsp cr¿me fra¿che
Melt the butter in a shallow pan. Halve and core the apple and cut into about 10 segments. Cook the apple in the butter till tender, turning once to cook the other side, then add the sugar and cook over a high heat till the mixture caramelises.
Warm the croissants under the grill, split each one in half, and sandwich together with the cr¿me fra¿che and some of the hot apple slices. Spoon over any remaining buttery sauce, and replace the top halves. Eat while still hot.
Good though the matching of crumbly, flaking croissant with hot sticky apples and cold, slightly soured cream is, you may want to gild the lily. Try a spoonful of proper jam, something with a bit more bite to it, such as blueberry or gooseberry, tucked inside with the apple. The jam should be high-fruit, low-sugar, and compatible with apple, ie, blackberry or quince rather than raspberry or strawberry.
Apple snow with maple syrup sauce
For 4
150ml maple syrup
100ml double cream
75g butter
2 large egg whites
1/2 tsp cream of tartar
apple pur¿e
Place the maple syrup, cream and butter into a small pan and simmer over a medium heat till slightly thickened, stirring from time to time. This will take about 10 minutes. Pour into a cool jug and set aside.
Beat the egg whites with the cream of tartar till they form stiff peaks. Gently and slowly beat in the apple pur¿e, a little at a time. The mixture should be soft enough to hold its shape in a spoon.
Divide the mixture between four wineglasses. Chill till required. When you are ready to eat, stir the maple syrup sauce, and spoon some of it over the apple snow. You may have too much. It will keep, refrigerated, for a couple of days.
A bowl of apple pur¿e is simple enough to make and is a good thing to have around, as a base for quick pudding of all sorts. Makes about 350g, or about 12 heaped tablespoons
500g dessert or Bramley apple
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp mixed spice
Cut the apples in half, remove the cores and then chop roughly. The pieces can be quite large. Throw them into a shallow pan with the spices and a couple of tablespoons of water (or cider or apple juice if there is some around).
Set the pan over a low to medium heat, shaking or stirring the pan occasionally, and checking that nothing has stuck. Add a little more liquid if it looks as though it needs it; the mixture is done when the apples are reduced to a thick mush, about 20 minutes. Perhaps less.
Whizz in the food processor or blender for a few seconds till smooth. But stop before it turns to baby food.
Blueberry muffins with cr¿me fra¿che
Makes 12
250g plain flour
1 tbsp baking powder
4 tbsp caster sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1 size 3 egg
225 ml buttermilk or milk
50g butter, melted
100g blueberries
cr¿me fra¿che, to serve
Warm, fruity cakes best eaten with tart cr¿me fra¿che. You will almost get them done in 30 minutes. Buttermilk is available from a surprising number of supermarkets. Preheat the oven to 200ÀC/400ÀF (gas mark 6). Butter 12 deep bun tins.
Sift the flour with the baking powder into a large bowl, stir in the sugar and the salt. Break the egg into a second bowl, then beat in the buttermilk or milk. Stir in the melted butter, then pour the mixture into the flour. Stir for half-a-dozen strokes. Then stop. The mixture will be a bit lumpy. No matter.
Divide half the mixture between the bun tins. Drop a few blueberries into each tin, then add the remaining mixture. Bake in the centre of the oven for 20 minutes or until firm and golden. Cool slightly, then slide a knife round the outside of each muffin to loosen it from the tin and serve with cr¿me fra¿che and a fork.
Christmas crumble
I keep this pudding for those occasions when only something sweet, rich and rib-sticking in the extreme will do. It takes a bit longer than 30 minutes (40 actually).
For 4
350g dessert apples
450g good mincemeat
1 large banana
juice of 1 small orange
100g flour
75g butter
50g sugar
Set the oven to 200ÀC/400ÀF (gas mark 6). Slice the apples fairly thinly (it is not necessary to peel them) and put them in a 900ml pudding basin or similar (a 15cm souffl¿ dish, for instance), then stir in the mincemeat, the banana sliced into thick rounds and the orange juice.
Whizz the last three ingredients in a food processor or work them to crumbs with your fingers, then drizzle over a few drops of water and stir. A few of the crumbs will stick together, which makes a crumbly, rather than powdery texture. Bake till crisp on top, about 25-30 minutes.
Navel oranges with mincemeat sauce is about the quickest thing you can do with mincemeat short of wolfing it straight from the jar. Although I have used this fruity sauce as an accompaniment to ice cream and a slice of almond spongecake, I find two or three huge slices from a large, cold, sweet orange a far better foil. Peel a large orange with a sharp knife to get rid of the peel and white pith, saving the juices as you go. The colder the orange the better. Slice it into six rounds and lay three slices on each of two plates. Add the juice from half a lemon and a tablespoon of brandy to 100g mincemeat. Bring to the boil in a small pan and turn down to a gentle simmer to 2 or 3 minutes. Spoon around the oranges and serve. Enough for two.
Figs baked with honey and lemon
For 2
6 fat purple figs
3 tbsp runny honey
juice of 1/2 lemon
Put the figs in a shallow baking dish; they should nestle up against each other. Pour over the honey and the lemon juice. Bake for 20 minutes in a preheated oven, 200ÀC/400ÀF (gas mark 6), occasionally basting the fruit with the juices in the dish. Serve warm, perhaps with thick yoghurt.
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The wine list
With the croissants with hot apple and crème fraèche 2000 Chèteau Doisy Daène, Sauternes (£11.99 per half, Waitrose)
It might sound like overkill to serve a second growth Sauternes with a croissant, but what the hell. This peachy, spicy, vanilla oaky, honeyed white is great stuff.
Apple snow with maple syrup 2001 Maculan Dindarello, Veneto (£6.99 per half, Oddbins)
A light, refreshing, grape-scented, Muscat-style white from northern Italy with lovely fragrance, beguiling sweetness and a balancing lift of acidity.
Blueberry muffins with crème fraèche Banrock Station Sparkling Shiraz (£7.99, widely available)
Traditionalists may be shocked by the idea of a sparkling red wine, but this juicy, sweet, blackberry, chocolate and liquorice like Aussie fizz always brings a smile to my face.
Christmas crumble 1999 Domaine Cady, Cuvèe Harmonie, Coteaux du Layon (£8.99 per 50cl, Oddbins)
Loire dessert styles are some of the great undiscovered treasures of the wine world. This is appley and concentrated with notes of honey and lemon zest. Mouth-coating yet refreshing.
Figs baked with honey and lemon 2001 Brown Brothers Orange Muscat and Flora (£5.94 per half, Asda)
An Aussie sweet wine that never lets you down, this is a perfumed, floral style with notes of orange peel and candied fruits.
Tim Atkin
