TJ's Kitchen: Appelflappen

Greetings Lovely People!

Something new for you to read: A recipe! Yes, a lot of you know that I love to bake and I bake more than cupcakes hehe.

I wrote the recipe down for my friend, Bill Friday, and figured to post it on my blog as well. I haven't got those in-between pictures though, but I think this recipe is simple enough to go without that.

Whenever I make this recipe I use apples that have been on the table for a while and no one wants to eat them anymore. I don't have exact measurement for you as I don’t measure the cinnamon and sugar. Older apples are naturally very sweet.

Of course you can make your own puff pastry dough, but as I'm known to be lazy, I buy packages with puff pastry sheets. This is a quick snack and since I don't have a lot of time to bake complicated things, I go for an easier solution ;) Each package contains of 10 square sheets.

All in all, a very easy and tasty snack. So let's start!

Ingredients for the filling
Apples - I usually use 4-5 medium sized apples for 40 small pastries (2 packages of puff pastry sheets)
Cinnamon
Granulated sugar
opt. vanilla sugar
opt. sultanas

Extra sugar for the topping.

How to
- Peel and cut the apples in small cubes. Place it in a bowl and add the sugar, cinnamon and if you want sultanas. Exact amount can't be given as it really depends on the natural sweetness of the apples and to your own personal taste.

- Cut the puff pastry diagonally, so you'll get triangle shaped pastries. Add a bit of filling, pinch down the sides with a fork and then give it a wash with milk. Lastly, sprinkle granulated sugar over it.

- Bake it on 190 Celsius/375 degrees for 20-23 min. Of course you can create other shapes if you want. When the pastries are golden brown, they are done.

Buon appetito!! You can eat it warm or let it cool. They are best eaten on the same day. The longer you wait, the less crunchier they will become.

Extra thingies
1. You can mix granulated sugar with a bit of cane sugar for extra crunch.

2. You can also skip the milk and add a wash with water or egg.

3. Regarding the cinnamon/sugar. Personally, I don’t like overly sweet things, so I just add a few teaspoons of sugar and a few shakes of the cinnamon jar. If you add raisins, keep in mind that this gives its own sweetness as well.

4. Left over cinnamon apples are perfect over ice cream, in yogurt etc. 5. The longer the apple mixture sits in the bowl a syrup will form. I usually add a tablespoon of cornstarch flour to the mix to absorb a bit of syrup. But you can't prevent it from happening, so make sure to leave this out of the pastry as much as you can. No soggy pastries please!

5. Vanilla sugar can be easily made by adding vanilla pods (without the seeds) in a jar with granulated sugar. Set it on the shelf for 2 weeks and voila! Vanilla sugar has been made. I think I saw this in one of Nigella's cooking episodes.

That's it! You can experiment with other fruit or flavors or maybe mix the sugar for the topping with almond slivers. But this is a classic, just like apple pie ^_^. It's perfect with a cup of tea, coffee...basically with everything haha. If you make this recipe, do let me know!

Have a lovely weekend! Oh! Don't forget to check out my Zazzle *points to the sidebar* ^_^

Anyone? No one? Aaah come on! Pleaseeee??

Is the plane already leaving :|....

ZzZzzzZ...(that is one weird plane whahah)

So yeah, the first time I ate ramen was at a Japanese restaurant and it was served with udon noodles. Very tasty, but I found the noodles heavy on the stomach. But there are many dishes I haven’t tried just yet! I went to a Japanese restaurant last Friday with two friends and I tried...squid. I was proud of myself because I was quite afraid (yeah yeah I know...who would be afraid of fish that is already dead...well yeah I was...please no weird comments okay -_-'). But you know the thing with me is, I love to see food (a neat presentation *oeh pretty!*…but not toooo neat that you are afraid to eat it, because you will ruin the way it looks, but enough to work up an appetite!) and to eat it of course…but I have to be careful with some products, like pork, my stomach can get upset quite easily. Which annoys me a lot. I have tried a few dishes one time and afterward I felt a bit sick -_-‘’…but I try out new stuff anyway haha. I think I just have to get used to it. But I’m not a big fan of pork though and some sea fish ( I can't come up the names now hehe...it's kind of late here...). I usually eat shrimps only when my dad makes it; he has this Portuguese way of seasoning which I love! Oh my I sound picky...


But when it comes to food, I love to try out new dishes! When I started cooking I added, Mexican, Portuguese, Italian, Japanese and ehm *thinks*…hmm can’t come up with anything else now…but yeah I added a few new flavors. My mom is from Surinam and usually cooks with rice, vegetables and meat/chicken. My dad is from the Cape Verdian Island and has his special moments when he cooks haha. Like last Sunday both my grandparents came to visit us and my dad made not one, but two dishes and my grandparents arent big eaters haha. But it was very tasty! If you would like to know more about these dishes just let me know! Both my parents are mixed (Italian, Portuguese, Indian, Arabic and Africa are influences that run through my family). Are there any dishes out there that I really have to try? Just let me know!

Always use the secret ingredients...what that is? It's a secret hehe...I know I know...lame -_-'

Till the next blog!!

Anyone wants to go to Japan with me?

Anyone? No one? Please? I'm not scary...I probably will be screaming SUGOOI all the time...hmm perhaps that would be scary...*heey you don’t have to agree with me on this…*

@ Kimee: have you seen the wristlet hehe. I thought it would be perfect to complete my outfit hehe

Hmm perhaps the readers who read my blog, noticed that my drawing style leans towards anime...yeah I’ve had a thing for Japan since I was little. The first time I got exposed (whaha sorry lack of better word here...)…I was about 7, maybe even younger and I always saw him draw things. He is an amazing anime artist and the way he draws is simply…you know, I’m like this all the time o_O. He had a website, but its offline for a while now. I will ask him if it’s okay to place some drawings on my blog. He has an impeccable instinct what to draw in illustrations and the details he puts in it are truly amazing! I wish I be that good someday ^_^! A friend of mine went to Japan last year; don’t know if I told you about this, but she brought me back some nice stuff. I have a red/white hairflower thingy (don’t know how to call it properly though…probably hair accessory or something, I like thingy better).

Yeah that is me -_-'...this won't become a habit though, but here you can see the flower. Sorry didn't have a better picture and I was tired hence the darkness around my eyes...

I love flowers in my hair ^_^! My friend told me that the amount of hair determines how big the flower can be in your hair. Interesting and quite logic I think. You wouldn't want to have a giant flower in your hair when you have a short hairstyle. It's more to accentuate your hair, I guess. Does anybody know about this?

hehe ^_^

Let's see, oh yeah! She also got me a very very cute sushi box with chopsticks, very kawaii ^_^. It even had seasoning, mini chopsticks and a fishnet thingy with...well I think they are lemons, not sure though. But it is very cute!

@ Hevn: Tadaaa here are the pictures! Isn't it cute ^_^!

Well everything Japan-related is placed in my little bro’s room, since he also is a huge fan of. Although he always look like this -_-‘’, because I’m always talking quite fast and cheering hehe. If you watch anime, which series do you follow? Right now, I’m watching Naruto Shippuuden, Bleach and Full Metal Alchemist. Oeh! Studio Ghibli!!! I love, Love LOVEE their anime! Simply love them. The story lines, the graphic designs...do I need to go on? A couple of my faves are; Howls Moving Castle, Spirited Away & Princess Mononoke. If you know a good place to get the full SG collection with normal shipping costs, please let me know! I need…neeed the collector’s box! I do know that Ponyo is their latest release…so I guess there won’t be a box available with that already in it. Oh did I already told you how much I love them! If you are a Studio Ghibli lover cheer with me *woohooo* okay I will act normal...yeah so what is your favorite Studio Ghibli anime?

For food, well you can give me sushi (not all kinds though…I’m not an expert on eating sushi just yet) and ramen. Yeah I know quite standard. I usually make the pre-packed stuff and there are some good brands out there, but freshly made broth with noodles and vegetables is much better. Since I love to try out new recipes, I looked up some recipes and I saw you really need to prepare a lot! If you know a good, easy and quick recipe to make ramen, let me know too!

…why do I get the feeling that this post is a cry for help…