Apple & Cheese Pie from The Children of Cherry Tree Farm

As a child I adored Enid Blyton books. By that I mean I was absolutely infatuated with them. They would captivate me, fire my imagination and would be responsible for much tiredness in the morning as I lay, at night under the duvet, utterly absorbed.

Whether it was because of the exciting adventures the children had; be it on a farm, in the dungeons of a ruined castle or up a magical tree, or the (unrecognisable now) amount of freedom the children had, I devoured many. And whole.

But the element that stood out for me, above the adventures, above the freedom and the magic, was the food. Picnics, high tea, amazing cooked breakfasts. Everything an Enid Blyton character ate sounded utterly divine. Her food has bewitched me for years. It has seeped into my adult life; has inspired me to create my blog, to write my Feasting on Romantic Comedy column for Novelicious, and has given me a love for cooking, baking and eating food and cake. Who knows, she may have also, indirectly, inspired me to keep chickens.

My daughter is now at the age where she too is becoming entranced by Enid Blyton. On our recent holiday she, like me many years ago, devoured The Children of Cherry Tree Farm, The Children of Willow Farm and More Adventures on the Farm. So, of course, I had to re-read them.

Enid Blyton is particularly excellent at firing up the tastebuds with her descriptions of food on farms. New laid eggs, milk straight from the cow, a ham gleaming and glistening on the table, tomatoes and fresh lettuce from the kitchen garden and fruit picked with small fingers straight from the bushes served with cream skimmed from the milk.

The Children of Cherry Tree Farm introduces us to four children: Rory, Sheila, Benjy and Penny. Due to illness they are sent from the family home in London to their aunt and uncle's farm in the countryside. There they would reap the benefits of fresh air, exercise and good, wholesome and homemade food.

Any guesses to what the children first thought about when they were told the news that they would be staying at the farm? Why yes, of course. The food!

"Golly! Cream every day! And those apple-pies with cheese that Auntie Bess makes! And strawberries straight out of the garden."

Hold on. Hold ON. Rewind...

Apple-pies with cheese?!

Yes, I hadn't mis-read. There wasn't an editing error. A few pages later Auntie Bess tells them about the high tea she has waiting for them:

"Cold ham, and apple-pie and cheese, and buttery scones, and my own strawberry jam, and those ginger buns you loved last time you came..."

I have never heard of an apple pie with cheese.I googled it, and came across some, quite frankly, disgusting combinations of pie and cheese. Mainly with the cheese melted over the top of the pie.

But on further investigation I found an old Yorkshire saying which was "apple pie without the cheese is like a kiss without a squeeze". Cheese is either added to the pastry or crumbled in with the apples. I love sliced fresh apple with chunks of english cheese. Cheese and apple are a wonderful combination. And I love pie.

So, with thanks to Enid Blyton, Aunt Bessie and the children of Cherry Tree Farm, here is my recipe for Apple Pie and Cheese.

Equipment:

One deep baking tin aprox 20cm x 20cm

Ingredients:

• 2 x 320g Ready Rolled Shortcrust Pastry
• 500g Bramley apples
• 500g eating apples
• 100g caster sugar
• 100g Wensleydale cheese
• A splash of milk and sugar to finish

Method:

1. Pre-heat oven to 200 degrees regular or 180 fan.
2. Grease your baking tin including up the sides.
3. Un-roll one of the pastry sheets and lay it into the tin.
4. Peel and core the apples. Slice onto the pastry.
5. Sprinkle with the sugar, toss the apples through it and crumble in the cheese.
6. Un-roll the second pastry and lay it over the top.
7. Pinch the edges together than trim ff the excess. I used the excess to create shapes for the top.
8. Make two holes in the centre of the pie then place into the pre-heated oven for about 30 minutes.
9. Serve cold or hot.

Pain au Chocolat from The Silent Hours

I can thoroughly identify with a novel when an author uses food to convey emotions, a moment or a sense of atmosphere. Debut author, Cesca Major, oh, I adore Cesca, she is one of my Novelicious colleagues, uses food perceptively in her brilliantly written and heartbreaking novel based in France during the Second World War.

The Silent Hours is told from various perspectives. There is Adeline, mother to both Isabelle and Paul. Along with Tristan, a young boy and Sebastien, a young Jewish man from a banking family. Their lives, their threads, come together powerfully, in a conclusion based on real-life events.

It is 1952 and the war has been over for a number of years. In a nunnery in south-west France a woman, Adeline, is being cared for by the nuns. Adeline is mute. She cannot speak. She doesn't know her second name, or why she's ended up there.

Rewind to when it all began. The outbreak of war, the men going off to fight, including her son, Paul. The changes that occur in France. The fear. The disappearance of the Jews. Families fleeing Paris. One family, Tristan's, heading towards the quiet village, to safety, where Adeline and her family live, and which is largely untouched by the war.

Armistice Day, near the beginning of the war, was more poignant than before. The people were celebrating. Proud to be French. Proud of their country. The streets are filled with the smell and taste of food. Hot chocolate, candy floss on wooden sticks, croissants and nougat. The sight of a young boy, with the insides of a pain au chocolat smeared around his face, capturing perfectly the innocence of the time, the innocence of the children. Children who will have lost all innocence by the time the war is over.

I asked Cesca about the food and how she used it to create a sense of atmosphere.  Was this deliberate?

Cesca says, "the food was vital for placing people in France. It was such a challenge to write a book set in a different country (it is no coincidence my next is 1950s Devon...!) and food was an important part of getting the setting right."

I also asked Cesca whether she had to research the food aspect at all?

"Yes I really felt the food had to be right and I sought a lot of advice on the matter replacing a lot of "English" food with better French alternatives. I adore good food and certainly the feast scenes in the book had heaps of food - so much so that we were very concerned no one would believe it because of rationing..! I loved the stories of people storing up their coupons at the time for big celebrations and I was amazed by the difference between getting food in a rural village in unoccupied France compared to Paris where queues were interminable, fines were introduced for stewed cat and people kept rabbits on balconies to eat..."

The Silent Hours is beautifully written, thoroughly researched and is creating a wonderful buzz. Congratulations, Cesca. And thank you for answering my questions.

Chocolate Brownies from Good in Bed

Dear Cannie

I don't know how I'd react if an ex-boyfriend of mine wrote in a magazine read by thousands of women that her being a ‘larger woman’ needed an ‘act of courage in our world’ to love her.

Maybe I'd do what you did - and plunge myself into misery. But seeing you claw your way out of that misery, even when one bad thing after another is thrown at you; with humour, with your ambitions, by being yourself, was quite simply captivating. Your book, Good In Bed by Jennifer Weiner, had a huge impact on me.

And you know what the best thing about your story was? That you saved yourself. You didn't need a man, you didn't need love, money or a fairy godmother. You just needed to be strong, be resilient. You grabbed your life with both hands and turned it around into one, big advantage.

One of my favourite things about you is your love of food. Chocolate chip scones, chocolate tarts and crème brullee, fried chicken, brownies, chocolate bread pudding, chocolate cake with raspberry sauce. The mouth salivates as we read through your story.

So thank you. Thank you for the inspiration. And for giving me what I want in a novel; a strong heroine, a great story. And food.

Love, Helen

Recipe for Triple Chocolate Brownies

Equipment

Bowl to melt chocolate. Electric mixer. 20cm/8inch square tin (or a rectangular or round one, as long as the squared centimetres add up to the same - or very close), baking parchment to line the tin, spatula.

Ingredients

• 185g butter
• 185g dark chocolate
• 3 eggs
• 275g caster sugar
• 30g cocoa powder
• 85g plain flour
• 100g white chocolate, chopped into small chunks*
• 100g milk chocolate, chopped into small chunks*

*You could replace either of these with dark chocolate chunks or chopped nuts if you like.

Method

• Heat oven to 160c regular or 140c fan.
• Melt the dark chocolate with the butter. Either in the microwave or on the hob. Allow to cool.
• Whisk the eggs with the sugar. Whisk for a few minutes until it is pale and doubled in volume.
• When the chocolate/butter mixture has cooled, fold into the egg/sugar mixture. Don't be vigorous as you don't want to lose the air.
• Sift in the cocoa and flour. Don't overmix.
• Scatter over the chocolate chunks then pour into your lined baking tray.
• Bake for 35 minutes. It should come out wobbly, so you don't think it is done. But it will harden as it cools.
• Enjoy.

Rock Cakes from Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone

Dear Hagrid

Oh Hagrid. I think you're a wonderful man/half-giant. You scooped Harry up, as tenderly as if he were your own, and took him to safety on the motorbike. Where he'd be safe though, admittedly, ill-treated with his aunt and uncle. I bet you thought about him many times over the following decade. Then, when he was old enough, and Dumbledore's letters weren't getting through, you went to fetch him.  You took him a chocolate cake with green icing saying Happy Birthday Harry. No-one else had remembered his birthday.

When Harry started school at Hogwarts you were always keeping a look out for him. You invited him to tea, by owl letter. I bet Harry was delighted to receive his first ever owl as he knew no-one else in this new world who would send him one. His aunt and uncle wouldn’t be sending him an owl now, would they? And in that first week you made him, plus his new friend Ronald Weasley, tea and rock cakes.

It was such a thoughtful thing to do. Whenever I wish to show love to my children I bake for them; maybe they’re having a tough time of it or I want to celebrate their joy.  Making Harry rock cakes spoke volumes about your affection for the little orphan boy. Unfortunately I know your rock cakes were found to be a little hard. Teeth-breakers, apparently. Like real rocks. There is nothing worse than rock hard rock cakes. (Well, there is. Dry rock cakes where you have to pick the 'dead flies' out, but that's personal preference.)

So I thought I'd send you my recipe for rock cakes. It provides a hard (but not rock-hard) outer and a soft, moreish, inside. I flavour the dough with just a hint of vanilla and stir in chocolate chunks, instead of dried fruit - although, of course, you can use dried fruit if you wish.

Happy baking, Hagrid. Next time you have Harry to tea, even though he's grown up now, I'm sure he'll love them. In fact, I guarantee it.

With best wishes

Helen Redfern

Recipe for Rock Cakes Inspired by Hagrid

Equipment

Large mixing bowl, baking tray lined with baking parchment

Ingredients

• 325g self raising flour

• Pinch of salt (a very small pinch, Hagrid)

• 175g light brown soft sugar

• Pinch of vanilla

• 200g soft butter

• 200g chocolate chunks (your favourite chocolate chopped into chunks)

• 1 egg (chicken egg, not dragon)

• Splash or two of milk

1. Pre-heat oven to 170 fan.

2. In a large mixing bowl add the flour, salt, sugar and vanilla. Stir.

3. Add the butter in small pieces, then use your fingers to combine the butter with the dry ingredients. You should end up with a crumble type mixture. (But don't do this for too long else the rock cakes will be dry.)

4. Stir in the chocolate.

5. Make a well in the centre of the bowl and crack in an egg. Add a splash of milk. Give it a little whisk with a fork then combine it into the rest for he mixture. Hands are probably best. (If it is too dry add a little more milk.)

6. Divide into small balls onto the baking sheet.

7. Bake for 15 minutes. until lightly golden.

8. Remove from the oven, allow to cool slightly, then place onto a wire rack.

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chocolate chip rock cake recipe - easy and extremely delicious. Great for bake sales, coffee mornings, tea time treats and dessert. http://abookishbaker.co.uk/