Duck Breast with Blackberry Sauce

This is a delicious dish to use up those autumn blackberries. It's a really lovely pairing. I served it with cauliflower mash, sugar snap peas and kale.

Duck Breast with Blackberry Sauce (from Lunch in Paris - Elizabeth Bard)
(Serves 2)

2 duck breasts
2 tsp butter
1 tbsp sugar
220g blackberries
splash sherry vinegar
1 tbsp chicken stock

Place the duck breasts, skin side down, in a frying pan. Cook over low heat until the fat is rendered and the skin is golden and crisp.

Meanwhile, melt the butter in a small frying pan, add the sugar and the berries, and stir, crushing with the back os a wooden spoon until they begin to bubble.

Deglaze the pan with a splash of sherry vinegar. Add the chicken stock, reduce a tiny bit and set aside.

Finish cooking the duck breasts, skin side up, for 3 mins. Pour any juice from the duck into the sauce. Reheat lightly.
Serve the duck topped with the sauce.

Blackberry Clafoutis

My sister came to help me out with a bit of housework and so I made her dinner. This was our pudding. I used blackberries that I picked on Walthamstow Marshes and they were oh so sweet.

Blackberry Clafoutis (from Sainsburys)
(Serves 4)

10g unsalted English butter
40g plain flour
30g caster sugar
2 medium eggs
200ml milk
1/2 tbsp sunflower oil
225 g fresh blackberries

Preheat the oven to 180ºC. Grease a shallow, 1-litre ovenproof tart or flan dish with the butter.

Sift the flour and sugar into a bowl. Whisk in the eggs, one at a time. Slowly add the milk to create a smooth batter. Stir in the sunflower oil and mix well.

Put the blackberries in the base of the dish then pour over the batter.

Bake for 35-40 mins, until golden on top and a skewer comes out clean. Serve.

Blackberry and Apple Tray Cake

The Community Centre down the road from me were having a Halloween day and as part of that they had a cake sale. This is what I baked for it. I cut the cake into squares and apparently it was the first cake to sell out :) So I'm very pleased! It was delicious, I saved a small slice for me and it was so crammed full of fruit and moist. The apples of course came from my Mum's garden and the blackberries I picked on Walthamstow Marshes back in August.

Blackberry and Apple Tray Cake (from Good Food Magazine October 2006)
(Serves 12)

175g butter, plus extra for greasing
300g plain flour, plus extra for dusting
4 Bramley apples, (approx 800g/1lb 12oz)
squeeze lemon juice
284ml carton whipping cream
225g golden caster sugar, plus 1 tbsp for sprinkling
3 eggs 300g blackberries

Heat oven to 200C. Grease a roasting tin (30x20cm) with butter, dust with a little flour, then set aside. Peel, core and slice the apples into rings, then toss in a little lemon juice to stop them going brown.

Tip the cream and butter into a saucepan, bring up to the boil, then set aside. Whisk the sugar with the eggs until they thicken and turn pale, about 3 mins. Whisk the buttery cream into the eggs, then fold in the flour until completely smooth.

Pour the batter into the prepared tin and arrange the apple slices over the top. Scatter over the blackberries, then sprinkle with the remaining sugar. Bake for 50 mins-1 hr until golden and beginning to pull away from the sides of the tin. Leave to cool in the tin and serve cut into squares.

Jumbleberry Crumble

For pudding I made a berry crumble. I used a mixture or loganberries and blueberries from my garden, blackberries from Walthamstow Marshes and strawberries from the supermarket as I never get a very good crop of strawberries. This was delicious, I love a crumble and the mixture before I baked it looked so pretty, just like jewels.

Jumbleberry Crumble (from Good Food Magazine July 2014)
(Serves 6)

100g plain flour
50g rolled oats
100g butter, cut into cubes
50g golden caster sugar

For the fruit filling:
900g mixed berries and currants, such as strawberries, raspberries, blackberries, blueberries, redcurrants or blackcurrants
50g caster sugar
1½ tbsp cornflour

Heat oven to 200C. Put the flour, oats, butter and sugar in a bowl, squash together with your fingers into a crumble texture.

Meanwhile, put the berries, sugar and cornflour in a large pan. Stir together and set over a medium heat. Cook until the berries just start to release their juices. Transfer to an ovenproof baking dish.

Sprinkle the crumble topping over the fruit, and bake in the oven for 30-40 mins until bubbling and golden. Leave for 5 mins before serving with ice cream or custard.

Blackberry and Apple In and Out

I'm not sure about suet puddings although this was tasty it was a bit greasy from the suet I think. It was a bit different from a cobbler and I'm not sure that I'd bother making it again although I would like to try making a sponge pudding at some point which I think uses suet.

Blackberry and Apple In and Out

(From The Good Granny Cookbook - Jane Fearnley-Whittingstall

225g self-raising flour

113g shredded beef suet
3 Cooking apples, peeled, cored and sliced
large handful of blackberries

3 tbsp caster sugar
285ml milk

Preheat the oven to 190C.  Butter a 3l oven-proof dish.

Mix the flour, suet and sugar together.  Add enough milk to bring the mixture to a dropping consistency.  Fold in the apples and blackberries, gently.  

Pour the mixture into the prepared dish and then bake for 30-35 mins or until it is brown and crunchy on top. Eat warm, with ice cream.

Elderberry, Blackberry and Apple Pudding

I got a really fantastic pudding cookbook a couple of months ago full of good old-fashioned English puds. From steamed to baked to apple snow, they all look delicious. This is the first one I have made primarily because it used up some of the elderberries currently languishing in my freezer from the autumn and it was fantastic. Just what you want out of a pudding. When I make this recipe again I think I will add more apple as the sponge seemed to grow enormously and the fruit to sponge ratio was a little off but otherwise an awesome pudding.

Elderberry, Blackberry and Apple Pudding
(from Great British Puddings - The Pudding Club)
(Serves 6-8)

450g cooking apples, peeled, cored and sliced
110g blackberries
50g elderberries
1 heaped tsp raspberry jam
175g butter, softened
150g light brown sugar
1 tbsp golden syrup
4 eggs, beaten
110g self raising flour
110g ground almonds
1 tsp baking powder

Grease a 2 pint oven-proof dish.

Put the apples, blackberries, elderberries and jam into a saucepan, cover with a lid and cook gently for 8-10 mins. Pour into the oven-proof dish.

Preheat the oven to 170C.

In a mixing bowl, beat together the butter, sugar and golden syrup until light fluffy, then gradually beat in the eggs, a little at a time, beating well between each addition. Fold in the flour, ground almonds and baking powder with a metal spoon.

Pour the mixture on top of the fruit, smooth over the top and bake for 30-40 mins until the sponge is golden brown and firm to the touch.

Serve with ice cream.

Blackberry, Pear and Apple Traybake

I was bored a couple of weekends ago and so decided to make some cake to take into work as it's always appreciated with morning coffee. This went down really well, the fruit kept the cake lovely and moist and was perfect. I also heated some up and had it with ice cream for pudding one evening.

Blackberry, Pear and Apple Traybake (from Fuss Free Flavours)
(Makes 16 large squares)

110g butter, softened
125g light brown sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla essence
190g self raising flour
1 tsp baking powder
pinch mixed spice
2 tbsp milk
1 unripe pear, peeled, cored and thinly sliced
1 eating apple, peeled, cored and thinly sliced
a handful of blackberries
1 tbsp demerara sugar

Preheat the oven to 180C. Grease and line a 20 x 20cm baking tin with parchment paper.  

Cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs and vanilla.

Gently fold in the flour, baking powder and mixed spice, with a metal spoon, adding milk to loosen the mixture so it can be easily spread.

Spread 2/3s of the mixture into the tin. Arrange the pear and apple slices on top and scatter the blackberries over, gently pressing them into the gaps between the pear slices. Cover with the rest of the cake batter.

Sprinkle the demerara sugar over and bake for 30 – 35 mins until risen and golden brown, and when a skewer comes out clean. Leave in the pan to cool and serve.

Apple and Blackberry Crumble Traybake

This was really yummy if extremely filling! I could only eat a small portion at a time. It was lovely heated and served with ice cram though!

Apple and Blackberry Crumble Traybake (from Sunday Brunch)
(Serves 6)

For the base
125g butter
100g caster sugar

150g plain flour

140g ground almonds

For the filling

125g butter

125g caster sugar

125g ground almonds

100g plain flour

Pinch of ground cinnamon

1 tsp baking powder

2 eggs

Splash of vanilla essence

3 Bramley apples, peeled and cubed

200g blackberries

 

For the topping
50g demerara sugar

Preheat the oven to 160°C. To make the base,butter, sugar, flour and almonds with your fingers until it resembles breadcrumbs, then press into a greased and lined 20 x 30cm baking tray. Bake for 15 mins then allow to cool.

For the filling, rub together the butter, sugar and almonds to form a crumble. Remove a couple of tablespoonfuls for the topping.

Add 25g flour, the cinnamon, baking powder, eggs and vanilla to the remaining mix and stir to form a batter. Pour the batter over the cooked base and sprinkle with the apples and blackberries.

Add the demerara sugar and the remaining flour to the reserved crumble and spread over the top of the fruit

Bake for 25 mins until the batter is set and the crumble topping is crisp and golden.

Cool the traybake a little, then slice and serve with ice cream.

Blackberry Cinnamon Rolls

I went to my sisters one evening a little while ago and as she was cooking the main course, I made a pudding. I had had enough of apples so I made a blackberry pudding instead. Technically these are not real cinnamon rolls as they don't have yeast in but they were very tasty nonetheless.

I also just wanted to make a quick note about quantities. Sometimes my amounts look a little weird like 113g butter or 63ml milk, this is because I'm using American recipes, which use cups and then transferring them into grams, which never comes out at a nice number! The recipes work though, even with the weird numbers.

Blackberry Cinnamon Rolls (from Food.com)
(Serves 4)

113g butter or margarine                           

113g sugar

125ml cup water

94g cup self-raising flour

63ml milk, at room temperature

110g blackberries

1/4 tsp ground cinnamon

1 tbsp demerara sugar

 

Preheat the oven to 200C. Put half the butter into a 13cm round or oval baking dish. Then place it in the oven as it heats to melt the butter

 

In a saucepan, heat the sugar and water until the sugar melts and then set aside. 

 

Place flour in a mixing bowl and rub in the butter using your fingertips until it resembles breadcrumbs. Add the milk to the flour mixture, stirring with a fork until the dough leaves side of bowl.

 

Turn out the flour mixture onto a floured surface and knead 3 or 4 times. Roll out the dough to a 14cm by 11cm rectangle, roughly a half a cm think.
 

Spread the berries over the dough and then sprinkle with cinnamon. Roll up the dough into a cylinder like a swiss roll and cut into 1cm thick slices.

 

Carefully lay slices of dough in the baking dish over the butter. Pour the sugar syrup around the slices. Bake in the oven for 45 mins, sprinkle sugar over top and bake for 15 mins more. Serve with ice cream.

Apple and Blackberry Bread and Butter Pudding

I made bread and butter pudding! I'd never made it before but have eaten it many times, so I thought I'd make it all my own and add in some autumnal fruit. This was delicious but I think I would stick with white bread as the wholemeal was a bit too much.

Apple and Blackberry Bread and Butter Pudding
(Serves 2-3)

4 slices wholemeal bread, buttered
1 large cooking apple, peeled, cored and sliced thinly
1 large handfuls blackberries
140ml milk
30ml double cream
25g caster sugar
zest 1/2 lemon
2 eggs, beaten
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp ginger

Preheat the oven to 180C and grease a rectangular baking dish.

Cut each slice of buttered bread in half. Layer half of the buttered bread over the bottom of the dish. Sprinkle over half the apple and half the blackberries. Cover with a second layer of bread and the rest of the apple and blackberries, pushing them down into the cracks in between the bread.

Next in a measuring jug, measure out the milk and add the double cream. Stir in the sugar and lemon zest, then whisk in the eggs.. Pour the egg mixture over the bread, sprinkle over the cinnamon and ginger and back for 30-40 mins. Serve with ice cream.

Birthday Highjinks - Apple and Blackberry Cobbler

I made two puddings for Saturday night, both cobblers to keep with the American theme. However, this is actually an English style cobbler using a scone like mixture to form the topping rather than the more American cake batter topping. At least I think I have that right! I tried a bit of both and although I liked this one I preferred the Peach and Blueberry cobbler.

Apple and Blackberry Cobbler (adapted from Market Kitchen)
(Serves 4)

700g bramley apples, peeled, cored and sliced
200g blackberries
75g caster sugar
1 vanilla pod, seeds only
25g butter, plus extra for greasing 
      

For the cobbler topping

450g self-raising flour, plus extra for dusting
pinch ground cinnamon
pinch ground ginger
200g chilled butter, diced
100g caster sugar
1 egg, lightly beaten
60ml milk
1 tbsp demerara sugar

Preheat the oven to 200C. Generously butter a deep, 1.5 litre ovenproof baking dish.

Put the apple slices, blackberries, caster sugar and vanilla seeds into the prepared dish and mix gently to coat the fruit in vanilla and sugar. Dot with the butter.

For the cobbler topping: sift the flour, a pinch of salt, ground ginger and ground cinnamon into a bowl. Add the diced butter and rub in with your fingers until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs, then stir in the sugar.

In a separate bowl, mix the egg and milk until combined.

Add the milk mixture to the dry ingredients, reserving a little to brush on the top of the cobbler. Mix well (a dinner knife works well for this) then remove from the bowl and knead lightly on a floured surface into a smooth dough.

Roll out the dough until 1.5cm thick and, using a cookie cutter, divide it into 12 rounds. Arrange these rounds over the apple mix – it doesn’t matter if there are gaps. Brush the tops of the cobbler with the reserved milk/egg mix and sprinkle with the demerara sugar and a little pinch of salt.

Bake for 10 minutes, then reduce the heat to 180C and bake for a further 20 minutes or until the cobbler topping has risen and turned golden and the filling is bubbling. Serve with ice cream.