A taste of September with Raspberry & Apple Crumble Squares

I'm really enjoying autumn (a.k.a. fall) at the moment.  I think there are several reasons for this as well.  For one thing, I have just always loved this season.  Even though growing up I loved the California summers, there was always something magical about the fall—well, October.  However, now that I've moved to London, I enjoy the whole season.  See, even in northern California where I grew up (South Bay Area/Silicon Valley) September was still a really very warm month.  Not that I minded too much, but I was either back in a wool school uniform or excited to wear my new autumn clothing, with the result that most of my memories of September are of being too warm and sweaty. Then I moved to New York City, where it is also often too warm in September—and not evening enjoying the hot, humid, sticky East Coast summers, I was in no way impressed with this weather carrying on into September.  But then I moved to London and discovered how lovely September could be.  The first year I was here (2006), September was still hot and gorgeous, but completely minus the humidity of the East Coast from whence I had just come.  In the following years it ha not really been warm (although this month, while not warm per say, it has been warmer than August was), but it has tended to be less rainy than the summer months.

Just to make me even more excited about this September, I feel as if it is the first one I've experienced for two years.  You see, this time last year I was in Sydney, Australia, having spent the earlier part of the month (and the tail end of August) in New Zealand.  Now, it was an absolutely BRILLIANT holiday, but as it was in the antipodes, it was early Spring, not early Autumn, and it felt more like March than September to me.  Moreover, having left in August and arriving back just before October, I realised just how important the transitional month of September is.  It's the time when you can still feel the warmth of the sun on your skin, but catch a whiff of falling leaves.  Likewise, it is the time when you can blend the flavours of Summer with those of Autumn; indeed, it's is a wonderful time of fusion in cooking.  And it also happens to be the month that I first started cooking for Alex and myself as a couple on nightly basis way back in 2007 (even though we hadn't quite moved in together yet, we had moved a 10 minute walk away from each other, so we ate together most evenings), so it will always be special for me in that respect (memories of making my first roast chicken, etc.).  As such, I am finding myself drawn to September recipes old and new.  So here is one of the new ones (and don't worry, I'm still loving "tray bakes").

Raspberry & Apple Crumble Squares


I found this recipe for Raspberry & Apple Crumble Squares as a suggested recipe of the day on BBC Good Food about a week ago and decided it would be this week's breakfast bake.  It is a perfect example about I am talking about.  Raspberries still feel like a lovely summer taste, after all the first British raspberries came into season in late July, but apples have such a lovely autumn taste association.  After several months of eating pears, peaches and plums for our afternoon snack, the new season of British apples are again in the stores.  Not only does this (like the peach melba squares) have an autumnal falling leaves colour scheme, it really does taste like September.

This really isn't very difficult to make "as is", but I made a few adjustments to make it even simpler to make on a weeknight.  Indeed, had it not been easy to make, I would not have made it last night.  We had gone home at a reasonable hour, with ready made asparagus ravioli and artichoke sauce, and the intention was to start watching the first hour of The Thornbirds (which we had both read about a year ago) and have an early night; we had had our respective hen (a.k.a bachelorette) and stag (a.k.a. bachelor) parties over the weekend (with Alex's having been in Dublin and requiring him to be up and leave the flat at 5:20 on Saturday and not return till 23:00 Sunday night—so he was really in need of a good night's rest).  However, when he said he was about to run his bath I said I was just printing off a recipe to make that night for the weeks breakfast.  I told him it would only take about 20 minutes, but he was not convinced.  Anyway, I was half done by the time he actually got into the bath and by the time he got out the Squares had been in the oven for fifteen minutes and dinner was just about done (and the dishes were washed and drying in the drainer by then as well).

So, how did I make this already simple recipe simpler?  Well, for a start I didn't bother to peel the apple.  Why bother?  I like cooked apple peel and it's not as if this is a pie!  I also made things simpler by not watching over the diced apple in a bit of water too much as it simmered on the stovetop.  I let it simmer for the whole time I made the crumble topping.  Which was five minutes (maybe seven at the outside), which is what the recipe calls for.  However, by that time half of the apple slices had turned to apple sauce instead of just being slightly softened.  But I didn't worry about it!  I'll repeat that because it is important:  I didn't worry about it!  When things go slightly wrong, don't sweat it.  Anyway, I've cooked enough in the States with unsweetened Apple Sauce to know how brilliant it is in baking.  Indeed, you can always substitute unsweetened apple sauce for oil (but not butter or marg) in muffins and cakes.  It's a lot healthier and very tasty (although if you are in the UK and don't have access to cheap, storebought unsweetened apple sauce and have to make your own, it can be a bit of a faff).  I have to say I also misread the recipe (even though  I read this bit twice) and but the crumble topping on before sprinkling on the raspberries, but I think I prefer it this way (I just push the raspberries into the top with my fingers).  Oooh, and I used 340g of raspberries, not 200g...what can I say, British raspberries are still in season and they were on special offer at the store and I think most recipes are improved by doubling the fruit in them.  Also, the recipe calls for golden caster sugar, but you could just as easily use white caster sugar or even (light or dark) brown sugar.

I must say, they taste great as well, and are surprisingly different tasting from the Peach Melba Squares and other tray bakes that I've made recently.  I think it's partly the apple (sauce), but they are much denser and moister than the others, more like an afternoon tea cake.  Indeed, these would make a very good cake to serve for afternoon tea, althoug I would add some caramel or toffee sauce swirled through the dough and drizzled (once it has come out of the oven) over the top.  You could even serve it after dinner with some custard, double cream or ice cream.  So without further ado, here is the finished product:

p.s. I have something else fun to show you as well.  A few months back my iphone/ipod headphones died (no hearing in one ear), so I've been using Alex's.  Then while I was sick earlier in the month, Alex's developed the same problem (plus the audio was starting to fade in the remaining ear).  So I ordered two news pairs off Amazon (using my Amazon iphone app in bed under the covers, so quick!).  Unfortunately, they have still not arrived (merchant says give just a few more days).  I'll give till a week past it's arrival guideline (last Thursday), then claim. But anyway, I needed no earphones that on the same day.  So I popped into Joy in the Brunswick Centre and these are what I got:

Yes, those are miniature, strawberry topped cupcakes on the sticky-out bit of the earbuds!

Peach Melba...for breakfast?

Yes indeed, Peach Melba for breakfast. Ok, I admit, this isn't the classic Peach Melba, the classic dessert of poached peaches, ice cream and a fresh raspberry sauce—actually, I'm not certain if I've ever had a classic Peach Melba, despite my love of opera, the Savoy Hotel, and desserts named after opera singers.  Rather, this is a "tray bake" variation that I found called Peach Melba Squares, the recipe of which may be found on BBC Good Food.

In fact, Tray Bakes are fast becoming one of my favourite breakfast food types, right up there with muffins.  They are just as easy to make, although they do tend to take longer to bake than muffins (you're looking at about an hour or more with a tray bake, as compared to fifteen to thirty minutes with muffins), although they take about the same amount of time to prepare (about fifteen minutes from walking into the kitchen to popping them in the oven).  Indeed, I suspect you could adapt most tray bake recipes to be muffins (although as many tray bakes are highly layered, this might be a bit fiddley to do for twelve muffins, where it isn't for one tray).  Moreover, they taste like cake, but are perfectly acceptable to eat for breakfast.  This Peach Melba tray bake is my second proper tray bake, following on from the Blackberry & Coconut Squares that I made the week before I went on holiday to the Peak District.  And I promise I will blog about those as well.  But at the moment I am nibbling on the Peach Melba Squares, so that's what I'm writing about them.

There is something wonderfully autumnal about these Peach Melba cake squares, which I can't quite work out.  Something about the combination of peaches and almonds and raspberries just seems to ooze September.  Perhaps it's the colours—the red of the melting raspberries and the different shades of gold from the almond cake and peach slices—which are so reminiscent of the turning colours of the leaves at this time of year.  Indeed, although as I write this now on the second day of September it has been a surprisingly warm 25 C today (that's 77 F), autumn came early in London this year (it was supposedly the coldest summer in eighteen years) and the leaves have already been falling off the trees around where I live.  But whatever the reason, this recipe just called out to me, reminding me that I had tentatively planned on making it for this week when I first discovered the recipe in early August.  And what a reward it has been!  I was simply transported when I first tasted this last night (I know, I know, I made it for breakfast, but I often forget to eat my breakfast until I get home from work; actually, on a school night that's when I prefer to eat "breakfast", as my afternoon/evening snack).  I'd come home from my first training session to be a volunteer tour guide on the (later) Medieval Europe eyeOpener tour at the British Museum, and was rather disappointed that Alex was still at work and not home with me.  However, having been a good girl and done all the ironing (while watching "The Simpsons"), I sat down, turned on "I Didn't Know I Was Pregnant" on the Discovery Home and Health Channel and began to munch on my Peach Melba Square.  Suddenly, things seemed much more pleasant.  Oh, and it went really well with Vita Coco's Coconut Water with Peach and Mango!  Tonight, have bought various  Spanish tapas dishes from M&S, so I don't have to cook (last night was ti-coloured pasta with sun dried tomato pesto, blue cheese, petit pois, parmesan and salad, yum!).  Instead, I worked on postdoc applications (just imputting all the formal data like who my references are), watching the tele and again eating this far too delicious tray bake.


Here's what mine looked liked like before we started to wolf it down:

The recipe is straightforward and easy to follow—and I did follow it (with the exception of leaving of the confectioner's (i.e. "powdered") sugar off the top (I forgot, but I really don't think it needs it).  And it is easy to make, I made mine while Alex took a quick shower.  I was listening to the Broadway recording of Jane Eyre (I'm very excited about the new film coming out over here a week from today), and I don't think I got through more than a few songs at most.  So do try these, and indeed, buy (buy in the USA or buy in the UK) the soundtrack for Jane Eyre as it is very good, and little known.  As for the tray to use, I used a "brownie tray", but I suspect most rectangular trays would work (indeed, whatever you would bake brownies in should do).  Also, I should add that I put the tray on the lower shelf of the oven and "borrowed" the top shelf of the oven to first cook garlic bread and then a frittata, and it still turned out magnificently (I can hardly take the credit for this being such a delightful recipe, so saying that isn't bragging), so it seems to be pretty foolproof.