Spiced Vanilla Apple Jam & A Chocolate Vanilla Traybake

In terms of creativity in the kitchen, today was definitely a successful day. There were wonderful smells seeping from the cracks under the kitchen door, through the gaps of the passing window, circling out through the back door and in through the front windows: cooking apples heavy with cinnamon, vanilla, and lemon, sweet spicy flavours of almonds and carrots from an Afghani pilau, the rich smells of flavourful lamb and peppers, and then, for a special, simple, and tasty tea time treat, the heavenly smells of chocolate melting and sugar cooking... yep, it was quite a day.
Upon entering the kitchen today, I saw a packet of lamb mince defrosting in a bowl on the worktop. I gave it a passing glance and headed straight out of the back door to collect a small box of garden apples, intending to make a warming, deliciously comforting apple crumble. It really was the day for it, frightfully nippy, with a bitingly cold wind that seeped through the cracks and through the walls, under your skin and through your bones, as though by osmosis. Unfortunately, I was to be deprived of my small bit of comfort; almost all the apples were rotten through! Crawling with those tiny worms, or completely and terribly bruised, one even had a layer of fungi. After salvaging what I could, I ended up with a woefully small amount of apples. I decided to turn them into a jam, and so the vanilla apple jam was born. It's quite delicious too.

Mine is quite dark because I added a lot of cinnamon.

 Spiced with star anise, cloves, and cinnamon, flavoured with lemon and orange and vanilla, it'll go wonderfully with a number of desserts and sweet treats, and also, as I've mentioned before, taste wonderful with battered, ovened prawns...
I've put rather a lot of cinnamon in mine, because I absolutely love cinnamon, so mine is quite dark in colour. I also used dark sugar because I was too lazy to dig the caster sugar out of the pantry. (I had to anyway, because it ran out...)
 Anyway, here's the recipe: (I'll put the savoury recipes in a separate post, and add the sweet ones here.)

SPICED VANILLA APPLE JAM
INGREDIENTS
5-6 cooking apples, peeled, cored, and sliced
2tsp ground cinnamon (or alternately, you could use 2 cinnamon sticks)
1 Star anise
5-6 Cloves
Seeds from one vanilla pod (or alternately, 1tsp vanilla essence)
Juice and rind of one orange
Juice and rind of one lemon
Caster sugar

METHOD

1. Place apples in a heavy based pot with the cinnamon, cloves, star anise, and juice and rind of orange and lemon.
2. Add in enough water to cover the apples, bring to boil until the apples are completely soft, cooked through, and mushy.
3. Sieve (strain) through a meshed sieve. Discard the pulp. Weigh the amount of sieved mixture, and for every pound, add 300g of caster sugar.
4. Place in pot with the caster sugar and vanilla, and cook on low heat until it reaches setting point. You can test this by putting a thin layer on a chilled plate/saucer, and pulling your finger through it. If the jam runs, its not ready. If it stays, its ready. Alternately, put a spoonful on a chilled plate, and leave for a minute or so to set. Lightly poke the jam, If the top wrinkles, its ready.
5. Place in a sterilised jar, Clingfilm, and cover with lid. Leave in a cool place to set completely before serving. Refrigerate once the jam has cooled.

I'll also add the other sweet recipe over here. This was courtesy of my mother, who was craving 'plain and simple' cake. So plain and simple cake it was. I was lingering in the kitchen whilst she was making this, complaining about boring flavours, and offering outrageous suggestions. She did, simply put, swat me and tell me to get lost. Tasting it, I had to admit, she had the right idea. Sometimes simple treats are the best. So here it is, chocolate vanilla tray bake.

CHOCOLATE VANILLA TRAYBAKE
INGREDIENTS
4oz butter, softened
4oz caster sugar
2 eggs, at room temperature
4oz plain flour
1tsp vanilla essence/extract
2oz dark chocolate chips
1tsp baking powder

METHOD

1. Beat butter, vanilla and caster sugar until pale and fluffy.
2. Add in eggs, one at a time, with a spoonful of flour.
3. Fold in flour and baking powder. do not over beat.
4. Stir in chocolate chips.
5. Spoon into a lined baking tray. Bake at Gas Mark 4 for approximately 15-20 minutes until golden, and pulling away at the sides.
6. Cut into slices, and enjoy warm with a cuppa.

I've been making this cake ever since I can remember. The amounts of ingredients are easy to remember, and you can substitute the chocolate drops for whatever you wish. Maybe almonds, or chopped dates? What about walnuts, or candied peel? Maybe glace cherries? You can also experiments with adding cocoa powder, or stirring in melted chocolate, or substituting sugar with honey, and chocolate for pine nuts, and add a bit of orange zest for a lovely tasting, healthier alternative? It's up to you really, don't stop at the simple flavours!