How are you today? All well I hope💖 I've spent the past week or so happily shuffling outside very early every morning, at around 5am, armed with bird seed, peanuts and suet balls. Why so early I hear you ask, well that's when I'm usually awakened by the insistent cheeping and singing of our baby feathered guests 🐦 We have baby birds honeys and oh my are they noisy in the morning!
They are hungry after all and how else are they going to tell me 😃 I'm having such a great time, standing at the kitchen sink and watching them fly in and out of the blueberry shrub and bobbing about on the lawn and patio 🐤💗
Well, while outside in the garden feeding our tiny songbirds I noticed that the apples on our little apple tree had started to appear...
This is going to be a long post, with lots of photos too, so why not go grab a cuppa and maybe a cookie or two, and meet me back here in a few minutes... oh, and there will be baking involved so maybe grab an apron to put on while making your cuppa, see you in a few minutes...
Back again honeys? Do you have your cuppa? Wonderful, me too ☕🍪 Why not make yourself comfortable, put your feet up for a wee while and enjoy your cuppa.
Every year I count down to the arrival of Spring dear ones. I'm so not a winter person and would happily hibernate if I could 💤
Spring is always accompanied by a burst of gorgeous colour from the cheery pink and white petals of the apple blossom on our little apple tree. I adore apple blossom...
All too soon though, the apple blossom is replaced by tiny apples all in search of sunshine and good Scottish rain to grow. Sunshine isn't all that common in Scotland I'm afraid honeys, even in summer, but that just makes a good, sunny day all the more special 😊 The Scottish power grid must go completely haywire as everyone rushes to fill washing machines to peg out laundry before the sun disappears again 😊
Wonderful Scottish comedy legend Billy Connolly once said that Scotland has two seasons, June and Winter and sometimes it does feel as if he's right 😃
Back to the garden then dear ones and we have had a lot of rain these past few weeks but who can complain when this happens...
Of course these apples won't be ready to harvest for a while yet but it's wonderful to see them growing happily nestled in among the leaves of the apple tree...
Elsewhere in the garden the blueberries are starting to change colour from their pale green to shades of red.
Just like the apples on our tiny tree, the blueberries will continue to grow and ripen until they've changed to a gorgeous dark shade of purple-y blue-y black..
As you can see from the image above though honeys, by then the branches are usually a whole lot emptier than they were and that's just fine 😊 We planted this blueberry shrub during one of the first summers after we moved into our home and bought it for the sole purpose of being a food source for our garden birds.
They've already started to peck at them, I'm finding tiny berries on our patio. All I do is pick them up and pop them onto the grass under the blueberry shrub where they'll be found by one of our tiny garden guests ❤
I find our garden endlessly fascinating. Year after year it grows, changes and develops into something wonderful. Nature is amazing and just being able to watch it in action every year makes me smile 😍
Just watching the apple blossom appear, filling the tree with such vibrant colour, only for the first good windy day to make the patio look as though there's been a wedding with all of the gorgeous petals scattered across it like confetti.
I always feel a little sad when the beautiful, brightly coloured petals are gone from the tree but they're soon replaced by tiny apples that continue to grow until they're either picked or fall from the tree, either with the help of tiny feathery friends or another windy day..
Our apple tree too was planted by Hubby, along with the blueberry shrub, and last year was our first real harvest of apples. Here they are...
These were the surviving apples from our tree last harvest. I say surviving apples because the wind blew a few down and our tiny feathered friends also had a wee munch of a few bless them but we were so pleased with our apple harvest nonetheless.
The apples were really large, although the tree is a Bramley apple tree, so that was to be expected 🍎🍏
Bramley apples are sometimes referred to as cooking apples because they have a sour taste if eaten raw and so make the perfect apples for pies, tarts, turnovers (don't even start me on how delicious apple turnovers are! we're talking YUM in capital letters, bold and underlined lol) and, of course, apple crumbles 😋
Just because the apples in our garden aren't ready to be gathered yet doesn't mean we can't have that yummy apple crumble though honeys.
OK, to the kitchen, first have a look in the pantry to see how many apples there are, then dear ones, grab an apron and the rest of our ingredients and let's get baking...
Yummy Apple Crumble Delight 🍏🍎
Ingredients:
4 or 5 medium apples - washed, cored & peeled
85g caster sugar - enough to toss your apples in (or other fruit such as rhubarb... yum! love rhubarb crumble!) so that the fruit is ever so slightly coated in the sugar.
1 teaspoon of ground cinnamon (optional) to add to the sugar before coating the apples.
1 teaspoon of ground cinnamon (optional) to add to the sugar before coating the apples.
Approx 2 teaspoons of cold water
For the crumble topping:
175g plain flour
75g sugar - I like to use demerara sugar for my crumble toppings if I have it but honestly honeys don't fret about it. I've used plain old granulated sugar if that's all I had and it's been delicious.
85g (unsalted) butter, chilled - straight from the fridge.
Directions:
2. Wash, peel & core your apples. Place fruit into an ovenproof dish, layering it evenly across the bottom of the dish.
3. Sprinkle sugar (mixed with your 1 teaspoon of ground cinnamon if you've chosen to add it) across the top of the fruit...
Then, very gently, shake the dish until all of the sugar has coated the fruit. Add a little cold water - not a lot! Just around 2 teaspoons will be enough for a family crumble.
4. Into a mixing bowl add your flour and chilled butter, which has been cut into small pieces. Mix together until it resembles breadcrumbs. Add sugar and mix through until combined. If you have a food processor honeys just add the flour, butter (cut into small pieces) and sugar all at once and mix. It will be fine and saves on ouchy shoulders from mixing.
5. Lay your crumble mix evenly over the top of your sugar coated fruit mixture, I use a fork to spread it around the top until it looks even, and place the dish into the oven, on the middle shelf and bake for 35-40 minutes until the topping is pale golden in colour and the fruit is bubbling.
6. Serve with cream, natural yogurt, custard, ice cream or even just eat on its own :)
7. Enjoy!
Crumble is a perfect comfort food and ideal for birthday treats too. Having a family get-together? Why not make a huge "tray bake" version of a crumble in a roasting dish (such as a turkey tin) to share with everyone?
Not a fan of apples? Not a problem 😊 Choose your favourite fruits honeys. I've made crumbles using peaches, rhubarb and also bananas. Why not try a layer of apples with a layer of sliced bananas on top? I have it's fabulous 😋
Mixed berries, such as strawberries, blueberries, raspberries and blackberries all combine wonderfully and make such a gorgeous, and delicious, crumble.
Do you have a favourite crumble honeys? Have you seen any baby birds in your garden? Do you have as much fun as I do watching the seasons change in your garden?
I hope you've had a fabulous weekend and that you're looking forward to a wonderful week ahead. Till next time dear ones, smile lots and hug even more, huggles always xx
I hope you've had a fabulous weekend and that you're looking forward to a wonderful week ahead. Till next time dear ones, smile lots and hug even more, huggles always xx
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