Caramelized Apple Sausage Rolls

For some reason, for my annual historical picnic I always gravitate towards British-y foods, rather than “traditional” American fare. Tea sandwiches, mini pork pies, and now sausage rolls.

I’d never made sausage rolls before (pigs in blankets don’t count!), but I never do things halfway– so rather than just get some pre-made sausage at the store, I decided to make things interesting and try out a recipe I found from The Flavor Bender, which includes caramelized apples and onions for an extra layer of flavor and texture.

I really enjoyed these– they were perfectly sized for 2-3 bites and were nice and juicy while still remaining flaky on the outside. I did find them just a bit sweeter than I generally like my sausage to be, so I edited the recipe below to reduce the sugary ingredients for better balance. Hope you like them!

Apple Pie Blondies

It’s fall! And fall means apple picking. And apple picking means a huge bag of apples that looks manageable at first but rapidly starts seeming insurmountable. What is one to do? Well, you can always make these!

These apple pie blondies are perfect for fall– they’re rich and sweet, with added texture and tartness from the apples and a crunchy cinnamon-sugar top that crackles with every bite. Less fruity than cobbler but chewier than cake, they’re perfect eaten out of hand but would also be amazing served warm with a scoop of vanilla ice cream. And they stay moist for days, which makes them great for lunchboxes or just having around the house to snack on.

Easy Apple-Cinnamon Biscuits

Last weekend I woke up before everyone else in the house (except for the cats, they were bugging me for food), and decided on a whim that I wanted to bake something for breakfast. Biscuits seemed just the thing, but they sounded kind of boring, so I tried to figure out a way to spice things up a bit. I considered jam– in college I used to whip up a jam scone-type thing that was always well-received– but didn’t have enough of any one flavor of jam in the refrigerator to make it worthwhile.

Instead I decided to go with cinnamon sugar, and to evoke the classic cinnamon roll I ended up doing a cinnamon swirl rather than just a topping. At the last minute, I added one small apple, chopped, which I think added both flavor and textural interest. All in all, a pretty decent result that took less than an hour from start to finish, though in all honestly it wasn’t so incredibly delicious that I’ll be crowing about it to all of my friends. Will I make it again? Perhaps, if I’m ever in the mood for something sweet at breakfast and have limited time to make it in.

Christmas Pudding

I grew up reading a lot of classic kids’ stories by British authors, and one thing that it took me some time to adjust to was how the characters would eat “pudding.” Remember, to an American kid, pudding means “thickened dairy-based concoction, usually flavored with chocolate or vanilla, often served in individual cups.” But these British puddings were clearly not the puddings of my childhood. For starters, “pudding” appeared to be an all-purpose word for dessert in general, so kids in the books would ask “what’s for pudding,” much in the same way people in certain areas of the U.S. might ask “what kind of Coke do you want?” to refer to flavors of sweetened carbonated beverages. In other contexts, puddings were described as “steaming hot” and being served in “slices,” which didn’t jibe with my idea of pudding at all. The most commonly-referenced type was plum pudding, served at Christmas, and get this– it was often set on fire???

Anyway, while the idea of a flaming dessert was of course intriguing, I never gave it much thought until recently, when I was challenged by a friend to make “Christmas pudding” this year. How could I say no?