PEACHY APPLE CRUMBLE-d crispiest crumbliest buttery crumble....

Oh Blogomania was suc a runaway sucess, i mean with 1300+ entries to my giveaway, 100+ followers and more so on twitter and Fb and within 2days ,am already looking foward to the next one:-)

I have emailed all my winners and waitn for 2 confirmations!!

For those who missed it , i still have a giveaway going , [along with all i learnt abt a vanilla bean] for gorgeous premium vanilla beans!!
Vanilla sugar anyone?

This Buttery crumble reminds me ,and makes me happy to ,dat our locally available butter,Amul ,has now hit the markets with unsalted butter, i got a call a few months back with the supermarket informing me of the same:-)
Well now the President and Lurpark packs are only out for breakfast and not for my tests:-)
Unless am working with chocolate....pure chocolate and i have almost worked my way thru that bag of callebaut:-), i have 5 varieties but somehow reach out for the milk always!!

Do you like apple crumble, sandy asked me!
I kinda knew what a crumble was and have been drooling over crisps and cobblers too.
Wiki sure will tell me the difference but it was Sandy's description that had me wanting to dig into one right away. you know its apple ( hah juicy and delicious what flavored with some lime and vanilla), and then we warm it in the micro and top with some smooth cream, luscious smooth cream, not whipped cream she corrected me.
of course living in India both are a distant reality unless you live in bombay or delhi.:-). sigh . . Sigh. .

well we were soon talking about creams and their types in the uk and here , and that was that!
or was it?
my new little ramekins made it a little easier to indulge and ThanxX 2dat little chat w Sandy, its a reality rite here.

 
Oh ,hang in der, we arent done yet coz i must show u my cuteeee new ramekins, for some1 who was so starved of ramekins , now i have a little collection , and id so love to begin with my hearts!!!

Id rather say ,we warmed up, den i broke in:-), oh ofcourse Le Creuset tops and i love my hearts...[i have 'em in another color too, i know u want to know ,i'll show u next time ok]

And i love the Le C star too:-)

And my HIC hearts arent far behind, oh dey are super super cuteee too....and the red and white HIC hearts are perfect for creme brulee too.

Ceramics bake beautifully and match my sprinkles too:-)

Ahh , can tools be far behind, everytime i open my kitchen drawer with the red and pink theme [more red for now,coz i want to have a seperate pinki one too:-)) ], i excitedly gaze at my microplane...how cute is it, the gleaming ,originally woodwork tool, zests like a dream!!

Oh my drawers,fast filling with tools have me happy and gay:-))

I wanna zest for every dessert!!

I love the Kitchen Aid set of tools too and used this peeler with great ease and it made apple peeler so muc more easier !!

 Will love to show u a couple of more graters and peelers and wat have u in my fav colors too, dey grate, zest ,peel , the skin off ur hands too with d same gusto...

So if u singing a song and swaying while at dez jobs. Beware!!!

BAck to the Crumble, lets begin with the fillings...gorgeous fillings dat are naturally so good and butter enhances!!

Flavored with cinnamon, honey, golden syrup, after all UK'S invention, and the best one at that, i didn say that Nigella L did. And lime.

Sandy this one's for ya, topped !
little pots of deliciousness that have all the goodness that perfectly compliments apples. . .
One of the better parts of the crumble...hazelnuts...or is it butter....

Or maybe they work together to make a delicious destination!!!

APPLE CRUMBLE
recipe inspired from Delicious Mag


 Filling 1
Hah not to forget the apple rich filling, well my cusinart blender, sure makes this in a jiffy right in the sauce pan. 

 Peel, core and chop 3 apples then place in a large pan with the lemon juice and caster sugar.
What i did is caramalize lightly a part of sugar, and tossed the apples!
Instant caramelly apple filling, this is how i wud make some apple sauce too:-)
With the peels for the color , rosy hue [or add some color maybe, unless u wanna use up blueberries like me]lol!
Heat on a high heat until the juices start to run, then cover and turn the heat right down and cook for 10-15 minutes, stirring once or twice until the fruit cooks to a pulp. -well since this didn seem to be happenning around i was more than happy to use my Cusinart blender , right in to the pot and place it back on low flame!!!
OR
Stir vigorously to help it break down. Remove and cool.

 Filling2
Flavored with cinnamon, honey, golden syrup, after all UK'S invention, and the best one at that, i didn say that Nigella L did. And lime.

2 apples tossed in cinnamon , vanilla, lime , zest, cook till juices thicken and add a blob of unsalted buttery goodness.

ofcourse with a good 2 tbh of golden syrup!!!

The juices of this buttery apple filling sure makes a wonderful sauce to go along....

Filling3
chopped peaches cooked slowly with sugar, lemon zest and vanilla are reduced to a luscious dream . .

 

For peaches. -i used tinned ones coz our fruit table had not a peach left and it was not until evening that would have them replenished!!

And i was free now ...so in went a tinned one:-))

Freely flavored with a vanilla bean or 2!!

Assemble
As u want in any order, or jus one filling will be delicious too:-)
Toss in some cherries /blueberries , tossed in vanilla sugar and then u go!

TOPPING-the buttery crispiest and melt in ur mouth crumbly topping!
The crisp topping brings together the great threesome of flour, sugar, butter, only better with toasted hazel nuts, vanilla and lime zest!


# 100g plain flour
# 1/4 tsp ground cinnamon- a whole vanilla bean scraped seeds/a little zest or rose water with saffron
# 90g unsalted butter [MIXED salted and unsalted]
# 50g  corsely ground lightly toasted hazelnuts [cashewnuts along r fantastic too]
#30 grams icing sugar
# 60 g soft brown sugar

whizz all except sugar [mix the vanilla cinnamon with the sugar- frangrance u'll love...] to fine crumble mix and then mix in the sugar.

 Butter all the ramekins well and then assemble in any order with the crumbly topping atop!
Toss the hazel nutty buttery topping, pop into the oven and in a bit you have a crumbly crispy topping, that deliciously leads you to the goodness below.

baked for almost - 1 hour but then my oven is ''different""
heated @190, baked @ 180 and then lowered to @ 150 on a small flame setting [ well i was aiming for real crisp]

RIght outa the oven waiting to be.....

dressed up....

with sprinkles or cherries....

or dug into.....

the golden syrup in the apples , caramalizes to a perfect golden caramelly sweet apples, caramel apples to the core....

 the crumble stays crisps for than 24 hours , though i did cling wrap the ramekins!
After that , though i doubt there would be any left overs , pop it in the oven.

The closest i got the dreamy cream Sandy described is melted , cold vanilla ice cream!!!

I love as u dig in , the crisp ,almost praliney, with the ground nuts and brown sugar, topping that melts in ur mouth ....
U have part of the filling thats sweet as delicious can be and part carmelly from the golden syrup....

Even if u stick to one filling these are bliss together!!

The crisp topping brings together the great threesome of flour sugar butter, only better with toasted hazel nuts, vanilla and lime zest!
And there is a something special to go with the apples too, peachy bites! whats not to like!
I'll never find out. . .

 

 i did try one with a base too, a cheese cakkey base. ground basic biscuits, crackers would be great too, with sugar, brought together with soft butter and push it in, thats it. . . . you'll love it as you discover the layers, digging into the crisp topping, right into the sweet melee of apples and fruits and if you get the pot , you'll find the one with the base too.

And if i thought that chocolate and apples didn go together, this one proved me wrong!

 loved it with a little custard, its so so good. there le creuset ramekins are perfect for those desserts right from the oven to the fridge to the micro to the table or any way you may please.

 The peaches  atop cinnamon tossed apples, juices cooked to thicken with a blob of salted butter and you have a. . . Super luscious dream.
The juices of the buttery apple filling sure makes a wonderful sauce to go along....

Layers you will to discover and deliciously delight in...


And a scoop of my all time fav creamy vanilla aint far behind!!!

I think a cashewnut, rose water flavored struessal with saffron marinated apples would be tops too.

Well am sure id add some vanilla too, i love the little specs all around.
Black never looked so beautiful, unless you talk mickey mouse, for a lover of pinks and reds and hearts in me.

Am sending this buttery crumble to the lovely host of this months Monthly Mingle, Deeba of Passionate about Baking , a truly delightfull blog filled with gorgeous bakes, and am delighted that this months theme is fruits, and fruity delights! Monthly Mingle was started by Meeta ,of another fantastic blog, What for Lunch Honey?

BLOGOMANIA,SEP'10,GIVEAWAYS.

WELCOME TO BLOGMANIA:The day is finally here, for the fest of giveaways galore.:-)


Two days of blog-hopping excitement and giveaways. 170 blogs with nearly 40 Thousand dollars in giveaways are up for grabs.

THIS IS NOT YOUR USUAL BLOG HOP! 

Every blog will have $100.00 PLUS in prizes for you to win. 
And u have a chance to win $ 40000.....
A group of very wonderfull, Blogomania members , have worked to make this event a sucess.

Lets begin with the giveaways , shall we?

Am sure you are just as excited as i am.:-)

PRIZE 1
A set of these 2 wonderful books.

The chocolate cookie book, has every type of cookie you can think of and more.
The typo meter makes up for the lack of pictures .
From cakkey to chewy to crispy to hard, you know exactly what to look for.
The 2nd book is an Indian book of desserts filled with some wonderful goodies.

PRIZE 2

Kitchen: Recipes from the Heart of the Home is Nigella’s first book since seasonal bestseller, Nigella Christmas, was published in 2008!

 Nigella Lawson's brand new book , KITCHEN, her love affair in the kitchen, a passion so real and true!

 Informative and engaging, Kitchen offers food for both cooks and eaters that is comforting but always seductive, nostalgic but with a modern twist, from “express” style recipes for the time-strapped, hectic week or leisurely slow-cook dishes for weekends and special occasions. It answers everyday cooking quandaries – from how to rustle up a meal for friends in moments to what to do about those black bananas – and since real cooking is so often about leftovers, Nigella makes “leftovers right”, by showing us how to morph one recipe into another, from ham hocks to peas soups and pastries, braised chicken to Chinatown salad.
We love all her books and we sure love this one.

PRIZE 3

 A cutie set of heart crinkle cutters that i got specially made, with a very fine crinkle.

 And a christmas tree cookie cutter too.:)

 And these cutest heart petal flowers...oh cute.....

And 2 little molds.

These are absolutely so cute a set.

PRIZE 4

From Goa,a land of sand, sea, pristine beaches and more is a culinary delight to behold, a journey of passionate love's. . .
A box of the wonderful goan sweet bebinca, and a pack of the guava cheese perada:-)
costa pic.

PRIZE 5

A 20$ gift voucher to the site of cutest cupcake supplies and more Bake it pretty.

 Hop by here, for detailed pictures and more.

All giveaways are international and you will have one winner each, for each giveaway here.
I will add a few more goodies to each package2, if possible.

Now for GIVEAWAY VANILLA BEANS.

For detailed pictures and product details hop by here, lemme tell you, you will love the page.

Now there are 3 boxes and 3 bundles of 2types of beans, of 49 permium gourmet beans  each, so will divide between 3 winners.

ENTER
For the mandatory entry, all you need to do, is add a comment to the post,with your email id, country of posting, if you win, which prize you would love, if you won.:-)

For more ways to enter ,and increase ur chance ,here goes:-)

~~~Follow BrightMorningStar on google follow and add 2 entries.

~~~Follow BrightMorningStar on Blog loving to the right on top or here and add 2 entries.

~~~ Follow BSM on Facebook   or at the box to d right and add 2 entries.

~~~2 ENTRIES if u have a confirmed email subscription to this blogs posts.

~~~Follow BSM on NEtworked Blogs HERE or click the Follow Button ,in the column to the right at Networked blogs.2 entries

~~~Blog about this Giveaway/add it clearly to ur side bar ,for added 2 entries.

~~~Add this giveaway to a linky or forum and leave me a link (2 entries)

~~~Tweet about this Giveaway, and get 2 entries daily.

 ~~~follow BSM's twitter HERE for added 2 entries

I will email the winners 72hours after blogomania.



All the very best to you all and here is the list for all the rest of the blogs participating.

Some have the most wonderful prizes and im off now too to enter a few giveaways.

Till i get around the master list code , here is the list of all the participating blogs, all of them have the most wonderful prizes !


And here is another link ,where u can blog hop to the wonderful blogs with lods of goodies!!!

AM BACK WITH A SUPER MOIST CHERRY CORNMEAL UPSIDE DOWN CAKE

Follow my blog with bloglovin

I am back after a forced ,[& sorry unannounced :-( ] ,hiatus.


Of course i missed blogging but have been cooking everyday and baking around too.

For someone who loves things mini, barring that heart shaped diamond(remember i collect cute kitchen stuff and nifty tools not diamonds though a solitaire would never harm :-)), though mom sure does love all things cute and small...lol ), i am in love with my brand new dell.:-)

I loved small laptops, but this 15" something screen proves me otherwise. And with an i5 processor , its so so good!!
Now only to have a 3G or broadband network and am set.

Ahh,it aint pink as everything , as far as possible, within my vicinity is, but red is pretty too.

The company delayed long long for the delivery, but did thrown in a cute free bie. . .

Am also gearing up for the blogomania giveaways, on 15th and 16th, you'll love to be here, though not confirmed yet, besides the giveaways for US/CANADA, will sure add in international , which sure includes Asia and India and Goa.

Am glad to be posting this delight of a recipe today and its specially for my pal Chaya, who writes 2 wonderfull blogs, Sweet and Savoury and Chaya's Comfy cook and has a very special place in my heart.

Whether she's baking strawberry pink cupcakes for her dearest grandchild, strawberry pairs well with chocolate she says and i agree with her, or creating a new salmon every week, which i look forward to,i love love her deliciousness.

Chaya here i am sharing my wonderful little hearts for you,just for u and ur little grandchildren............

 I settle in bed tonight very content.

With loads of cherry corn meal upside down cake in my belly.

 I mean it has been awhile since my taste buds have dribbled for this one, but i needed to find some good cherries and polenta . . .And i did . . .Deep jewel red bing cherries at that. . . .

Packed when at its ripest peak. . .One cherry in your mouth and you'll know it true.
Thats the Oregon Bing For u ...dark , juicy and red....

Its also the first time i am baking with my Rumford baking powder and i guess i will be able to use no other.:-)

Its so so good and rises so so beautiful.


If you lived in Goa, you'd be gushing too coz ingredients are hard to find.

I saw this at Elissa's blog and simply had to bake this asap.

Last night i dreamt of these tender, soft moist luscious bites . . .and asap i got down to baking today morning .
In the excitement i skipped breakfast but had tender hearts ready in awhile that delighted and satisfied.

The corn meal, polenta, adds a ever so slight texture that brings a slight crunch that you love. . .

It forms a almost crisp , yet soft, but definately melt in your mouth crust that is gorgeously loveable. .

After you are done baking , i had to slightly cut thru the crust , around , and yeah my cakes had risen well above the le crueset ceramic heart love pots.

I had around a cup of cherries but managed to get 3 hearts outa them.

Well i had 2 pineapple cakes too , but when you have bing cherries , the pineapple just didn hold anywhere close. . .but the next day is a wonderfully moist dessert cake with a blob of vanilla cream.

Or maybe this recipe is truly for cherries only, i thought...
But then next day d pineapple proved me wrong...it was absolutely buttery, and the flavor developed perfectly into the moistness....

But you take out the cherry love hearts and these are so good with a blob of vanilla cream or without.

For the topping i pretty much eye balled the tossing and coating. . .

Of course i had half a stick of butter and half a cup of brown sugar ready but only 1 cup bing cherries in syrup, so had 2 little dude's in pineapple.

Am so in love with these deep hue'd cherries that i sure want some more.

I have some blackberries too and if i dont make a berry crumble with 2 differently textured apple layers , id be suprised.:-)

Yeah i did bake a crumble a bit back that had the crunchiest topping ever , with a great addition you will love , and with 2 differently textured apples, peaches and more. . . .

And i want recreate that magic with bing cherries added in!

And blue berries that are on their way here .............

CHERRY CORNMEAL UPSIDE DOWN CAKE
thanxx to Elissa adapted from Bon Appétit

Bon Appétit- ''A little balsamic vinegar balances the sweetness of the cherries and enhances their flavor. Serve the cake with espresso or tea in the afternoon or with whipped cream or ice cream for dessert."


FOR THE TOPPING
# 1/4 CUP unsalted butter, room temperature [ used salted]
# 1/4 cup (packed) dark brown sugar
# 2 teaspoons balsamic vinegar
# 3 cups whole pitted fresh Bing cherries or other dark sweet cherries (about 21 ounces whole unpitted cherries)

Now i had only 1 cup of bing Cherries, tinned and made 2 little cakes with pineapple and one plain with apricot glaze!

So though i had weighed the above butter and sugar i eyeballed the ingredients while tossing them in the pan...ah lusciously inviting .......and then lined them in my ramekins!

Combine 1/4 cup butter with brown sugar and vinegar in 10- to 11-inch ovenproof skillet with 2-inch-high sides.
Stir over medium heat until butter melts and sugar dissolves, about 2 minutes.
 Increase heat to high; add cherries and bring to boil.
 Remove from heat.

And if using ramekins, pour into ramekins as i did, 3 heart ramekins , 1 mini pie ceramic baker for the round pineapple and a rectangle mini baker for the long pineapple [le crueset and revol]


FOR THE CAKE BATTER

1/2 cup butter [salted]

1 1/4 cups all purpose flour

1/4 cup yellow cornmeal [preferably stone-ground medium grind- i used polenta]

 2 teaspoons baking powder [i love Rumford]
1/4 teaspoon salt [only if using unsalted butter, if lightly salted add 1/8th tsp]
1 cup sugar
2 large eggs, separated
3/4 teaspoon vanilla extract [2 whole vanilla beans worked wonderful for me]
1/2 cup whole milk[ used saco buttermilk powder, add the powder with the dry ingrdnts and add warm water when milk is to be added]
1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar

Whisk flour, cornmeal, baking powder, buttermilk powder [if using] and salt [if using] in medium bowl to blend.

Using electric mixer, beat 1/2 cup butter in large bowl.

Add sugar; beat until pale and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Beat in egg yolks and vanilla.

Add flour mixture alternately with milk in 2 additions each, beating just until blended and occasionally scraping down sides of bowl.

 Using clean dry beaters, beat egg whites in another medium bowl until foamy.  [i used the whipping beater in a long beaker typa bowl]

Add cream of tartar and beat until whites are stiff but not dry.

 Using rubber spatula, fold 1/4 of whites into batter to lighten slightly.

 Fold in remaining whites in 3 additions (batter will be thick).

 Spoon batter over cherries in skillet, or ramekins then spread evenly with offset spatula to cover cherries.


Bake cake until top is golden brown and tester inserted into center comes out clean, about 45 minutes.

 Cool in skillet on rack 5 minutes.

Run spatula around edges of cake to loosen.

 Place large serving platter upside down atop skillet/ramekins.

Using pot holders or oven mitts, firmly hold platter and skillet / ramekins together and invert.

Leave skillet atop cake 5 minutes. Remove skillet.

If necessary, rearrange any cherries that may have become dislodged.

Let cake cool at least 45 minutes.

Cut cake into wedges and serve slightly warm or at room temperature.

The left over batter , after 3 hearts , a mini size pie and a rectangle got baked in 2 of these moulds , with some of the buttery juices from the topping and an apricot glaze.....
So so good right outs the oven and even later...

As i sign of on a happy note ,i have a little good news to share, Alice Medrich is on FB and blogs now and am sure all u fans will love this....BitterSweet is one of the most wonderfull books for a Chocolate lover and here below are her own words from my FB message box -
''Alice Medrich September 4 at 10:13pm

Thanks so much for your friend request! I am happy to confirm but also hoping all my FB friends will migrate over to my new page at http://www.facebook.com/pages/Alice-Medrich/141811455836663?ref=ts and click on the “like it” button! I will be posting everything of interest there, from now on…oh and I’ve just started blogging ''

http://alicemedrich.blogspot.com/

Am sending this Cherry Clafouti to the lovely host of this months Monthly Mingle, Deeba of Passionate about Baking , a truly delightfull blog filled with gorgeous bakes, and am delighted that this months theme is fruits, and fruity delights! Monthly Mingle was started by Meeta ,of another fantastic blog, What for Lunch Honey?