Raisin Bread

I made raisin bread yesterday - and I have to say it was pretty delicious.
I love anything cinamony and doughy and this fit the bill exactly.

The recipe was from The River Cottage Family Cookbook by Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall and Fizz Carr.
This has to be our most used cookbook - it has lots of simple homely recipes like pancake batter, scones, banana bread, lentil soup - with an emphasis on the kids helping out. So, the instructions are very detailed and clear. I actually learnt how to make an omelette from this book - only last year, never quite been able to master it before.

Anyway, back to the raisin bread. In the book Hugh describes it as a giant currant bun and thats exactly what it was.
Perfect with an afternoon cuppa.

Apple flapjacks

I made these today and they are really delicious.

As my new schoolboy has insisted on packed lunches, I have vowed to make a batch of biscuits/bars/cakey things every Sunday to put into lunchboxes.
I've been looking for recipes with a healthy slant and, yes I know, flapjacks are full of butter and sugar (that's way they taste sooooo good!), but they do contain oats and these ones have apple in too. In my book, anything homemade, (no matter how many naughty ingredients are in there) is better than ready made biscuits and snacks piled high with preservatives, additives and goodness knows what else.

Anyway, as I mentioned before, these are amazing.

We were given a big bag of cooking apples and I wanted to use them in some way. I found the perfect recipe here, (I used cinnamon) and believe me - have I mentioned how scrummy they are?

The layer of grated apple (squeeze excess juice out before you use it) goes all gooey once cooked and when mixed with the cinnamon and oats, well what can I say - what a great combination.

To me (I know we're not quite there yet) this is the quintessential taste of Autumn.