Autumn bounty

The transition to Autumn ranks pretty high on my personal Richter scale of good food opportunities. There's something serendipitous about the harvest-time bounty coinciding with tummies needing extra warmth and nourishment as the weather turns cooler.

Here at our house, we've already greedily slurped up the first pumpkin soup of the season, gobbled the stew and anointed the crumble with hot custard. When I got up this morning craving porridge, I knew I'd truly given into the seductive culinary delights of the season.

Autumn home menus pose no problem for me, but I do struggle a little with what to put in the boys' lunchboxes.  We have those clever food flasks, so I can send a soup or stew or something warm from time to time. But it is a faff in the morning, making sure everything is piping hot (and thus still edible by lunchtime).

This week, they should be in for a treat though with a batch of Autumn muffins - apple and blackberry.

Recipe? From Trish Desesine:

2 eggs
125 ml vegetable oil
200 g sugar
250 ml milk
375g plain flour
4 tsp baking powder
3 apples peeled cored and diced
200 g blackberries

Preheat oven to 200 deg C.

Beat together eggs, oil, sugar and milk in a large bowl. Sift in flour and baking owder and beat again. Fold in apple and blackberries.

Fill paper muffin cases in a muffin tin two-thirds full. Bake for 20 - 25 mins. Easy peasy.

My batch made more than 12, so I baked the extra in silicone cases and amazingly, they turned out fab too. I don't have a good track record with silicone, so this was an added bonus. I think putting the cases straight on a baking tray was probably a good move.

So, a new Autumn recipe enters the repertoire. What's your specialty?

Comments

[dottycookie]

I was ridiculously proud of myself least week for making a blackberry and apple cake with fruit I'd picked from hedgerows and the garden. Yum.

[Rebecca]

Ooo those look delicious! Yummy yum, I know what you mean about belly warming autumn food, last night I cooked up cottage pie which felt so wholesome and warming. Made some shortcakes with lemon posset for pud too - delicious but sooo unhealthy!

[megan]

It doesn't actually start to get cooler here until October-ish, but I try to hurry the process along by cooking warm meals and dressing warmer anyway. This morning was pleasantly cooler, though, thanks to Hurricane Ike remnants.

The recipe I'm most looking forward to making this fall is Amish Chicken Corn Soup. It is super easy to make and so warm and tasty!

[pinkgreen]

I was given a load of cooking apples yesterday and picked heaps of blackberries, so I am going to make these tomorrow - thanks for the recipe. My Autumn staples are beef stew, crumbles and butternut squash or parsnip soup. Anything warming and hearty - especially after a walk in the woods!
Cathy X

[Diana]

All looks and sounds yummy! Supper last night was blackberry, apple and elderberry almond crumble, and it was delicious. And i love anything with squash and pumpkin.

[Gina]

I've got a feeling that apple and blackberry muffins could well become a speciality here too - they look delicious. Haven't succumbed to porridge yet but have thought about it a couple of times so it won't be long.

[bigbucketgirl]

Weetabix with hot milk and maple syrup! Not the most inspired but a celebratory 'school morn' breakfast to mark Autumn arriving. http://bigbucketgirl.blogspot.com/2008/09/autumn-fuel.html
I've yet to unpack the Autumn recipe book from the move but me thinks me better get my rear end in gear...

[Sally]

Hi Ali
So glad you've decided not to retire from blogging: you are one of the first blogs I stumbled across and you've taken the time to offer me, a mere beginner, some valuable tips, so thank you!
I too made blackberry and apple pie yesterday served with custard and ate porridge this morning with maple syrup! Can't beat it! Our Autumn favourites include liver and bacon, (even our 6 yr old loves it!), chicken cacciatore (a la Nigella Express) and jools’s favourite beef stew (Jamie Oliver)which contains parnsips and butternut squash, yummy! x

[Angel Jem]

We love stews like scouse, unsurprisingly, and a lot of pork and apple combos. I picked a load of blackberries fresh from my garden today, so when I get some apple tomorrow there will be crumble and custard as a mid week treat!

[kristina]

Yum--those muffins look so delicious--must give them a try! I absolutely love autumn food too. And so glad you haven't really retired from blogging. Big sigh of relief here :) K x

[capello]

i made obnoxiously light and fluffy pumpkin muffins. and i want to make more even though the first batch isn't completely gone.

[Alexis]

Now I'm desperately craving those muffins! I tend to put apples in much of what I make in Autumn--sweet or savory. I also love oatmeal and eat it almost every day in cool weather, and occasionally in hot weather, too. It's my comfort food.

[Michelle]

I cook a pretty mean porridge, if I do say so myself, but I think my specialty would have to be vegetable soup. Not vegetarian (the *really* good version has salt pork in it), but chock full of all the stuff that fends off colds and warms you up. I'm ready for that, as it's going to be 99 degrees today, and 102 tomorrow! Help me...

[bluemountainsmary]

Definitely pumpkin soup - spiced with a little cumin and coriander - delicious.

And porridge tends to be a feature too!

[blackbird]

Lucky kids.

[Dallas]

Ooh, those look delicious!

[ingrid]

How delicious!

[Kitty]

Mmmmmmm - that muffin looks mighty good. I too have embraced the season with stew, apple crumble, etc. Cooked chocolate brownies yesterday, but they're all-year-round cakes with my family.

x

[Louise]

The season changes certainly make me think about food. And of course with Spring here I have become slightly obsessed with salads and other yummy fresh things. I had a huge bowl of grapes today - gorgeous! And I think that those muffins would be perfectly lovely at any time of the year!

[Lucy Locket-Pocket]

That's a delicious sounding recipe! I can almost echo Dottycookie's comment because I was also ridiculously proud of myself for making proper toad in the hole (which became less proper when half the toads jumped out) and apple crumble. The mashed potatoes, beans, courgettes and apples were all from the allotment so I was very happy and I felt like a real grown-up mummy! I was even happier the next morning when I sneaked some of the cold crumble with cream for my breakfast - delicious!!!

[Zoe]

Yay! I'm so glad you didn't stop altogether. Will be making those delicious looking muffins shortly.

[frances]

I watched a cooking show today where the host was baking acorn squash sprinkled with pumpkin seeds. It immediately made me feel those lovely fall feelings, as did the rain outside the window ...

The muffins look wonderful!
Frances

[Alice C]

Do not post photos of ridiculously delicious looking muffins - don't forget ...I know where you live and I might pitch up on the doorstep looking pitiful.

[gina]

Ali, those look so so so yummy.
Must Make!!!! I can taste them already.

[amy]

i just want to sink my teeth in that delicious goodness...

[julie]

those muffins look scrumptious. It's nice to be thinking about warming foods again. At this time of year I always make up a big batch of minestrone soup and stick the etxra in the freezer to keep us going on chilly days.

[Amy]

I couldn't agree with you more about this being one of the best seasons for good eating! Soups and stews are some of my favorite things to make, especially those that include lots of the good veggies available. Oh! I also made ratatouille recently and it was fantastic. (The Simply in Season cookbook has great recipes for this.)

Baking's good too. I like making a hearty batch of bread every few days.

[Bev]

oooh how lovely, apple and blackberry muffins. Think it might be time to go foraging before the blackberries are all gone!

[tiel]

this is my second attempt! I blame my browser!
LOVE AUTUMN!!!

OK, I love pumpkins, apples and cinnamon, roast pork with crackling, rhubarb, creme brulee, fig jam, baked fruit with a small glass of port!

enjoy your Autumn ALi

[Thimbleina]

Great recipe, might have to try that with the blackberries picked this morning. We also picked elderberries and we were looking for the chestnuts but they weren't quite ready enough yet

[Helen]

These look delicious. What a great mum you are to pack your boys' lunchboxes with such lovely goodies! I do love Autumn - season of soups and porridge :D

[Lil' d]

Come on, this is verging on cruelty. I'm hungry, have nothing sweet in the house (ok, so that might be because I ate the last of the golden syrup with a spoon while no one was looking..) and now you're posting delicious looking food.

My poor kids get a brown bread cheese sandwich for lunch. And an apple.

Anyone that has tasted my cooking knows that I have no specialty...

[suse]

I've been baking lemon cake every weekend for over a month now ...

[Rebecca]

Autumn surely is the best of seasons, the food, the colours, perfect for knitting, the need to feel cosy and gosh yes, the food is good. Soups and stews, apple pies, yes, definitely the best of seasons.

The muffins sound lovely, I will try them soon. (As soon as the cursed oven is repaired by the cursed repair man....)

[lazylol]

I made these! They are so easy and delicious! thanks for sharing the recipe x