Back from Spain. Holiday. I’d be lying if i told you i missed home. I miss the relaxed attitude, not being able to worry about the stress surrounding endless bills, laundry, ironing, washing up and work on Monday. It was all sun, sea, sangria and reading a book; my idea of heaven.
My book of choice was The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins. After watching the film, even though the straight out comparison to Battle Royale once put me off (a brilliant book of the same kind of concept), it really is a great piece of work. I love those kinds of thriller novels that really take you away from reality. It made me cry, and noone’s ever done that since (HARRY POTTER SPOILER) JK Rowling killed off Dumbledore.
*Enter the do you know what really grinds my gears paragraph:*
Why are Spanish/European supermarkets so much better than ours?
The chicken looks clean, fresh, in simple packaging. They’ll be no confusion of weird stickers and thingymebobs everywhere. The cheese is plentiful (a whole aisle dedicated to Manchego, is what i like to see). The fruit actually makes me want to eat fruit, huge melons, papaya, sliced to take away. It really was lovely and aside from becoming a temporary alcoholic and cheeseaholic on holiday, i think i remained rather healthy.
They also had frozen gluten free puff pastry. Oh the frustration.
I came home to no Ash. š She’s in the cattery till Monday, as they’re closed at the weekends. So i REALLY was a messy case of post holiday blues.
What does one do when one is depressed in England? They bake darling. They bake.
So i jolly well got on with it, went straight to thinking of a cosy Sunday afternoon pudding filling. Something that was truly very British in spirit i guess, to get me off my Spanish track. A cobbler of spiced Apple, peach and nuts with an almond crust. Healthy, filling, frugal and easy.
Warm and comforting, to keep you going throughout the working week after post holiday blues…
Spiced Gluten Free Apple, Peach and Walnut Cobbler
For the Crust ā From Cocoās Roost Blog
165g Almond Flour
1/4 tsp Salt
1/4 tsp Baking Powder
62g Melted Ghee (or butter or flavourless oil of choice)
2 Tablespoons Honey
1 teaspoon of pure Vanilla Extract
Cinnamon for dusting
Filling
1 teaspoon Ground Ginger
I teaspoon Nutmeg
2 teaspoons Cinnamon
2 peaches, 3 Apples sliced (dependent on size, go for equal amounts)
2 tablespoons of melted Butter
3 tablespoons of honey
20g of roughly chopped nuts (I used Walnuts and flaked almonds, but pistachioās or hazelnuts could be good)
1 Tablespoon of tapioca flour
Small sprinkling of brown sugar (for on top of the filling and on top of the pie)
To make the crust: Instructions edited and quoted from Coco’s Roost Blog
‘Preheat oven to 180c.
Mix dry ingredients in a bowl and mix the wet ingredients in a separate bowl.
Combine the wet into the dry bit by bit gently with a spoon until combined.
Lay down a piece of greaseproof baking paper and place your dough on top.
Place another piece of baking paper on top of dough and flatten in a disk shape with your hand.
Using a rolling pin roll out dough until it is wide enough to drape over a 9-inch pie dish.
Once rolled out place in fridge for 30 minutes.ā
To make the filling:
Pop your sliced, peeled peaches and apples into the pie dish with the nuts. Coat them all with the honey, butter, spices, tapioca flour and sugar and leave to blend for about 15-20 minutes in the fridge until very cold. I find this extra coldness will make the pastry cook more evenly and will enable it to become more of a layer rather than seep up too much of the juice from the fruits when cooking.
Place the cold pastry over the pie filling by removing the first layer of baking paper and swiftly flipping onto the fruit. Donāt worry if it crumbles at all, this is what we have to deal with being gluten free, just patch things up as well as you can with your fingers. Sprinkle over some cinammon and sugar.
Cook for 15-20 mins, checking every 10 mins or so to ensure the crust doesnāt burn, as Coco says in her recipe, almond flour tends to brown quickly. A further 10 mins is needed with tin foil placed lightly over the top to prevent this from happening.
Serve with a heavy double cream or cold homemade vanilla ice cream.
