Killerton Apple Recipe: Pink Apple Nice Cream

Pink Apple Nice Cream in a Jar

'Nice cream' is the deliciously indulgent, can't believe it's still healthy, eat anytime treat that is making vegans of Instagram go mad with glee. This one is made with Killerton apples and it's marvelous!

Short for 'banana ice cream', it is what happens when you blend frozen bananas with little or no liquid and is just what the dairy free doctor ordered. You can add almost anything to it to create new flavours - I've tried blackberries, strawberries and even spinach! So to celebrate Killerton's upcoming Apple & Cider Festival, here's my recipe for a pink apple nice cream treat. Free from added sugar and salt, it's as nutritious as it is delicious, great for breakfast or pudding.

This recipe uses the cardamom apple sauce that I made earlier, but you could use another apple sauce as well.

Pink Apple Nice Cream

• 2 frozen bananas (peel before freezing)
• 1/2 cup cardamom apple sauce

1. It's as simple as putting the two ingredients into a blender/food processor and blending until smooth.

Killerton Apple Recipe: Cardamom Apple Sauce

Cardamom Apple Sauce 

Apples are simply marvelous. They are probably one of the world's most popular fruits for this very reason.  In cakes and pies, poached, candied, baked, brandied - you can do so much with them it's kind of insane - and did I mention cider? Because you know....cider.

In the supermarkets, you'll generally find no more than 10 varieties of apple at any given time and most of those are from far flung places like South Africa, New Zealand or America. What gives? There is more to appledom than Royal Galas and there plenty of apple varieties that grow in England and are ripe for the picking throughout the year.  In fact, just up the road at the Killerton House estate, they're growing 100 varieties of old English apples in their orchards alone! I was lucky enough to get a box of these tasty little fruits and have been whipping up a few seasonal recipes with some of their delightfully pink apples and have been loving the results.  

This is an incredibly simple recipe for what may very well be the classiest apple sauce I have ever eaten. Cardamom is so fragrant, so light, so beautiful, it plays perfectly with a the crispness of a fresh apple. It's almost a dessert on it's own, but for me it was the first step for few more apple based recipes to come. 

Stay tuned for Apple Nice Cream, Apple Waffles and more.

Chopped but not pealed, because I love the texture.

Cardamom Apple Sauce

•  6 coarsely chopped small eating apples
• 15 green cardamom pods
• 2 tsp lemon juice
• 1 tsp cinnamon  
• water

1. Add cardamom pods to two inches water in steamer and steam apples for about 10 minutes or until soft. Remove from heat and let cool.
2. Add apples, lemon juice, and cinnamon to food processor AND open up the cardamom pods from the steamer water, to add the seeds of 10 pods to the apples and then blend.

Apple Recipe: Rum Raisin Apple Crumble

Rum Raisin Apple Crumble

In honour of Killerton House's up coming annual Apple and Cider Festival and National Apple Day, I have challenged myself to put together a collection of apple recipes to ring in the new season.

Now nothing says autumn to me like apple crumble and this one's got a bit a of a kick with a nice spiced rum and some raisins! As with most things, it's all about the ingredients, so if you've got a nice bunch of organic Killerton apples, like did, then you're off to a winner and if you've got a good quality rum, then all the better!  Serve it how you like it with custard, ice cream or whipped cream, but it's got to be done!

Rum Raisin Apple Crumble

Ingredients

1/2 cup raisins
1/4 cup rum
4-5 coarsely chopped and peeled cooking apples
2 cups flour
2 tbsp sugar
3 tbsp margarine

1. Preheat oven to Gas Mark 6.
2. Soak raisins in rum for about 10 minutes - or in my case as long as it takes you to peel and chop the apples!
3. Combine flour, sugar and margarine in a bowl and squeeze into crumbly bits with your hands. 
4. In a large bowl mix the apples, rum, raisins and cinnamon, then place in an oven proof dish. Pour the crumble mixture on top and place in the oven for 40 minutes.
5. Remove from the oven and serve warm.