Caged Apple

I love cupcakes and cookies but for me the sweet snack often overshadows an honest-to-God desert. Something sweet and yummy to wash down tea (the meal, not the drink. And the evening meal at that, I am Northern) and leave you with a smile on your face. So Wednesdays are turning Wicked and I'm going to be trying some new treats.

This one also combines with wanting to make more vegan pastry - a desire that came about when I saw a copy of The Vegan Boulangerie on my last trip to Manchester. Stephen bought himself a copy of Michel Roux's Pastry and in combining them I made this lovely caged apple.

The recipe itself came from Pastry with the pâte brisée (or shortcrust for those of you not trying to learn how to order sweets in French with a Mancunian accent) from Vegan Boulangerie. I omitted stuffing the thing with tea-soaked dates because I hate both tea and dates so thought it not worth the trouble.

I found pâte brisée an excellent starter pastry even if I couldn't quite roll it thin enough to make my apples quite as cute as Michel Roux's and the taste of baked cox is unbelievably good. As my cooks blowtorch is out of gas I topped it with cinnamon sugar which made it all that more autumnal and me all the more happy.