Sweet Tooth Experiments - Discover my baking experiments of unusual flavours and combinations, as well as traditional international sweet treats.

Hello and welcome to Sweet Tooth Experiments

Posted on December 31, 2013 by Ella Posted in Uncategorized .

Photographer: Margaret Paola Minero

Welcome to my blog centred around baking with delicious and interesting flavour combos as well as textures to uncover unusual bakegood gems. In addition, this blog discovers traditional sweet treats, opening up taste buds to different cultures and flavours from all over the world.

Alegria

Posted on December 8, 2018 by Ella Posted in Mexican .

Alegria

Alegria is a Mexican sweet treat, similar to a muesli bar, however instead of oats as the main ingredient this recipe uses puffed amaranth.

Similar to most traditional countries dishes Alegria has endless versions, with many variations on nuts, dried fruits and seeds.

The traditional version is generally a simple amaranth and honey mix.

For something a little different and to put my spin on the recipe I opted to add in bitter dark chocolate pieces. Additionally, I added my chosen dried fruit and nut combination that works brilliantly with honey. Using salted nuts will add a salty savory offset to the honey, while the sweet fig will complement the bitter chocolate.

Amaranth, itself is an ancient grain, similar to quinoa (a super grain with high protein and is gluten-free). Amaranth is a great source of vitamins and minerals, it keeps you regular and is said to lower bad cholesterol. Based on this, how could you not want to eat this ‘muesli bar’ alternative that has no processed sugar and is packed full of body loving nutrition.

Amaranth is fast becoming a health isle stable, where I was able to buy the puffed amarath (and grain amaranth) at my local supermarket.

Ingredients:

70g dried figs
80g lightly salted almonds
125g 85% cocoa dark chocolate
100g popped/puffed amaranth
185g honey
¼ tsn salt

Method:

Dice the figs, almonds and chocolate into very small pieces and place in a bowl.
Add the amaranth to the fig mix and stir until well combined.
Place the honey into a saucepan on a medium heat and cook for 4 minutes or until the honey is about to caramelize.
Take the honey off the heat and stir through the salt.
Pour the honey over the amaranth mix and stir until the mix is well combine and the honey is evenly covering all the mix.
Line a 20cm x 20cm slice tin with baking paper.
Spoon the mix into the slice tin and flatten the top until completely level.
Place the slice in the fridge for 30 mins minumum to set.
Remove the slice from the tin and cut into bars, enjoy!

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Chocolate and Orange Marmalade Sponge

Posted on December 1, 2018 by Ella Posted in Cakes .

Chocolate and Orange Marmalade Sponge

For a long time now (around 18 months) I have been attempting to make the ultimate amazing ‘Jaffa inspired’ treat.

I have gone through choc-orange flavoured mousse , focaccia, truffle balls, biscuits, mud-cake, pastries, flan…and the list goes on…Though some of these experimental sessions produced bakes that were not actually bad they were not absolutely amazing either, thus not good enough to post.

This sponge cake recipe was not part of the choc-orange original baking experimental sessions, I actually came up with this recipe a few months later as I wanted to turn my favorite (never fail) sponge recipe into a chocolate sponge to see if it would work (you don’t come across a good chocolate sponge very often so I thought I would challenge this).

When I made the sponge and was happy with the outcome I started thinking about some jam fillings that are a bit unusual (not the normal raspberry or strawberry jam options we typically see). As I had some marmalade left over from the choc-orange experiments I ended up opting for this. Once I spread the layers of jam with cream and sandwiched the cake layers together I was left with either a massive fail or new sponge recipe.

Next step was to drizzle with chocolate sauce, cut and devour. I must say the devouring part was not a difficult task at all.

Finally chocolate orange flavor combo success!

Ingredients:

Sponge:

2 tsn plain flour
½ tsn bi carbonate of soda
1 tsn cream of tartar
100g corn flour
30g cocoa powder
4 eggs
165g sugar
½ tsn vanilla essence

Filling:

300g thickened cream
2 tsn icing sugar
½ tsn vanilla essence
270g orange marmalade

Ganache:

100g dark chocolate, broken up
40g thickened cream

Method:

Preheat the oven to 190c degrees and line 3 x 20cm cake tins with baking paper.
Place the plain flour, bi carbonate or soda, cream of tartar, corn flour and cocoa powder into a bowl and sift 3 times.
Place the eggs and sugar in a bowl and using electric beaters whisk for 10 minutes on high speed.
Add the vanilla essence to the egg mix and beat for 1 more minute
Turn the beaters on low speed and add the flour mix, beating for 1 minute.
Spoon the mix evenly into the 3 cake tins and bake each cake for 20-25 minutes or until the sponges spring back when touched on the top.
Remove the tins from the oven and leave to cool for 10 minutes, cakes still in the tin.
Turn the cakes onto a cooling rack and leave until cold.
To make the filling whisk the cream, icing sugar and vanilla essence with electric beaters until peaks form.
To assemble place one cake layer on a plate and spoon the jam evenly onto this cake as well as a second cake.
Spoon the cream evenly on the top of the jam of both cakes.
Place the second filled cake onto the plated cake (cream side up) and top the cake off with the third/remaining (non-filled) cake layer.
To make the ganache, place the cream in a bowl and microwave until boiling.
Add the chocolate to the cream and leave for 1 minute.
Stir the chocolate and cream until glossy and thick.
Drizzle the chocolate ganache over the top of the cake.

Notes:

I dusted the top cake layer with icing sugar and cocoa powder before I drizzled the ganache for extra decoration.

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Cauliflower Chocolate and Coconut Cake

Posted on November 23, 2018 by Ella Posted in Cakes .

Cauliflower Chocolate and Coconut Cake

Recently I have gone cauliflower rice crazy (the current fav is with stock, coriander, mint, olive oil, falafels and tahini paste…yum!). Why I bring this up…savory dishes weren’t my only thought for utilising the cauliflower rice.

You will know that I have made many cakes with grains and vegetables as a core base ingredient, from pumpkin, zucchini and potato, to millet, quinoa and polenta. As cauliflower is a new one for me I of course had to start experimenting with this veggie in a sweet bake.

Using a past quinoa recipe as a base I started to test and learn with flavour and ingredient variations.

To keep on the ‘healthy’ theme I opted for a ‘sugar free’ frosting where I took my sticky date pudding recipe, coping the date prep and blitz with a loooot of cauliflower, cocoa powder and a little coconut oil for richness.

This cake is so moreish, in fact most people that trialled this cake saw it as more satisfying than a mud cake, with a better texture, taste and product.

Cauliflower Chocolate and Coconut Cake

Ingredients:

Cake:

350g cauliflower
100ml plain yoghurt
100g coconut oil
180g brown sugar
2 eggs
250g self-raising flour
80g cocoa powder
1/8 tsn salt
1 tsn lemon juice
180ml coconut cream

Frosting:

40g cocoa powder
50g coconut oil
140g dates
70ml water
Pinch salt

Method:

Pre heat the oven to 175c degrees and line a 25cm cake tin with baking paper.
Cut the cauliflower into chunks. Place cauliflower into a bowl and cover with hot water.
Cook the cauliflower in the microwave until just soft, drain and leave aside to cool.
Place the yoghurt, oil and sugar into a bowl and beat with electric beaters until pale and fluffy.
Add the eggs one at a time, beating in between each addition.
In a separate bowl sieve the flour, cocoa and salt, stir to combine.
Place the cauliflower into a food processor and blitz until almost pureed.
Spoon 110g of the puree cauliflower, lemon juice, coconut cream and flour mix into the egg mix.
Fold all ingredients until just combine.
Pour the batter into the cake tin and bake for 45 minutes or until a skewer inserted in the centre comes out clean.
Place the cake on a cooling rack until completely cooled.
Meanwhile, place the dates and water into a saucepan on a high heat until the water is absorbed and the dates have broken down, leave aside to cool.
Make the frosting by place the remaining 240g cauliflower, cocoa, oil, dates and salt into a food processor and blitz until silky smooth.
Cut the cake horizontally into 2 layers.
Place a cake layer on a plate and top with half the frosting.
Top the frosting with the second cake layer, then top with the remaining frosting.
Enjoy!

Cauliflower Chocolate and Coconut Cake recipe

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Date Strawberry and Chocolate Avocado Cake

Posted on November 17, 2018 by Ella Posted in Cakes .

Date Strawberry and Chocolate Avocado Cake

Date Strawberry and Chocolate Avocado Cake recipe

Many many times I have used avocado as the base to a healthier alternative frosting for cakes. Additionally, I have made mousse, tarts and pies with avocado as the core filling ingredient. But, what I haven’t really experimented with is using avocado as a key ingredient within the cake itself.

Sour cream, mayonnaise, yoghurt, varieties of cheeses, even cordial have featured as a wet ingredient in my past baking experiments but avocado surprisingly was a new one for me.

To come up with an avo based recipe I played around with a ridiculous number of cake flavor combos. And by a number I mean 14 different variations from sourcream & onion chips with chocolate to rosemary chocolate & orange blossom, even vegemite & chocolate.

The outcome of chocolate was def a winner. The experiment of flavor profiles of strawberry and dates resulted in the standout cake, delivering a rich chocolate strawberry treat.

As avocado is full of good fats, omitting the amount of bad fat I thought it would be an interesting direction for the recipe to completely replace sugar via dates and jam (yes I know jam has sugar but majority of the sweetness is through the strawberries) and chocolate replaced by means of raw Dutch cocoa powder.

The end result is a satisfying and suprisingly addictive sweet treat.

Date Strawberry and Chocolate Avocado Cake recipe

Cake:

150g pitted dates
1 tsn bi-carb of soda
45g butter
100g avocado flesh (2/3 of 1 avocado)
2 eggs
1 tsn vanilla essence
¼ tsn salt
65ml milk
180g strawberry jam
225g self-raising flour
60g cocoa powder

Frosting:

130g avocado flesh (1 avocado)
20g cocoa powder
Pinch salt
1/2 tsn vanilla essence
70g strawberry jam
100g butter, softened

Extra:

130g strawberry jam

Method:

Pre-heat the oven to 180c degrees and line a 25cm cake tin with baking paper.
Place the dates and 190ml water into a saucepan on a medium/high heat.
Once mix boils stir through the bi-carb of soda, set aside to cool completely.
Place the dates, butter, avocado, eggs, vanilla, salt, milk and strawberry jam into a food processor and blitz until well combine and smooth.
Transfer avocado mix into a bowl, sieve the flour and cocoa into the mix.
Fold all ingredients together until just combine.
Spoon the mix into the cake tin and place in the oven for 40 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the center comes out clean.
Place the cake on a cooling rack until cool.
Meanwhile make the frosting by placing all of the frosting ingredients into a food processor and blitzing until combine and fluffy.
Once the cake is cooled cut in half horizontally, place a cake layer on a plate cut side up, and spread with half the extra jam. Use the back of a spoon to push the jam into the cake. Repeat for the 2nd cake layer, leaving the layer on the bench, jam/sut side up.
Top the jam on layer 1 with 1/3rd of the frosting and repeat with the second layer. Sandwich the 1st cake layer with the 2^nd cake layer, jam side down to have an unfrosted cake top with all frosting and jam in the center of the cake.
Top with the remaining 1/3rd frosting and enjoy!

Date Strawberry and Chocolate Avocado Cake recipe

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Passionfruit Orange Blossom and Pineapple Custard Pots

Posted on November 10, 2018 by Ella Posted in Custard .

Passionfruit Orange Blossom and Pineapple Custard Pots

Passionfruit Orange Blossom and Pineapple Custard Pots recipe

Sometimes it is quite difficult for me to write up what inspired a recipe you see on this blog, this recipe being no exception.

Ultimately, I had a ton of passionfruits and wanted to make something that centered on this fruit as (a) I rarely experiment with passionfruit and (b) I cannot let food go to waste.

I have attempted passionfruit and chocolate cake in the past in which the end learning was that passionfruit is much better paired with a similar acidic toned profile. Orange and Pineapple both work together well, additionally they are complementary to passionfruit, not surprising that the 3 work perfectly together.

As I eluded to I have experimented with different passionfruit pairings which resulted in cakes that were not to my expectations so this time around I opted against a cake and looked at a pudding, custard and flan alternatives. The winner, that would be the custard pots.

A delicious, quick and easy, low fat, lowish sugar treat.

Ingredients:

Milk:

¼ tsn salt
500ml milk
1 piece of orange peel
6 passionfruits
1 tsn orange blossom water
30ml pineapple juice

Custard:

3 eggs
45ml sugar
45g corn flour
45ml butter

Syrup:

60ml pineapple juice
30ml sugar
Pineapple pieces

Method:

Place all milk ingredients into a saucepan on medium heat until the milk mix is boiling (the milk will curdle due to the acid in the passionfruit, this is fine). Once boiling, remove off heat and leave aside for 15 minutes to infuse and cool.
Once cooled remove the orange peel and blitz the milk mix in a food processor until smooth and creamy in consistency.
Place the milk mix through a sieve to capture any remaining passionfruit seeds and leave the milk mix aside for later use.
Meanwhile, beat the egg yolks, sugar and flour with electric beaters for 10 minutes or until light and fluffy.
Slowly pour the milk mix into the egg mix while stirring with a spatula until completely combine.
Pour the mix back into the saucepan on a medium heat and whisk with a hand whisk for 10 minutes or the custard is thickened to a curd/aioli consistency.
Take off the heat and whisk in the butter until well combined.
Pour the custard into 4 glasses and cover with plastic wrap.
Once the custard is at room temperature place the glasses in the fridge to set for at least an hour.
Meanwhile, make the syrup by placing the sugar and juice into a saucepan on medium heat, stirring until sugar has dissolved.
Leave the syrup to boil until it thickens to syrup consistency, remove off heat. Allow the syrup to cool before placing it into a container, them into the fridge.
When you are ready to serve pour the syrup over the top of the pots evenly and top with pineapple pieces.

Passionfruit Orange Blossom and Pineapple Custard Pots recipe

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Aniseed and Chocolate Biscuit Cake

Posted on November 3, 2018 by Ella Posted in Cakes .

Aniseed and Chocolate Biscuit Cake






This recipe is an interesting one, while being so super easy and oh so delicious. The inspiration came from none other than chocolate bullets (chocolate covered licorice).
I was looking for new flavours to pair with chocolate that were a bit unusual but complemented each other and though I could steal the flavour profile of chocolate bullets.
For the cake style and format I took influence from my Ginger and Date Biscuit Cake.
Outcome, a really delightful cake that took a whole of 15 minutes to make and contained only a few ingredients that are supermarket stables.
Cakes don’t get much easier than this!

Ingredients

300ml thickened cream
2 + ½ tbsn icing sugar
1 tsn vanilla essence
10g cocoa powder
1 + 1/3 tbsn white Sambuca
125g chocolate ripple biscuits

Method:

Beat the cream with electric beaters until soft peaks form.
Add the icing sugar, vanilla, cocoa and Sambuca to the cream until combine and firm peaks form.
Spoon a line of the cream mix onto a plate in a line.
Spoon ½ tbsn of cream mix onto a biscuit and sandwich together with another.
Place the biscuits long side up onto the cream.
Continue to spread ½ tbsn cream onto a biscuit and push into the biscuit on the plate, cream side first.
Continue until all the biscuits are used up.
Spread the remaining cream over the outside of the cream biscuit log.
Place cake in the fridge for 6 hours to set.
Dust with cocoa powder and serve.

NOTE: If you dont have Sambuba you can replace with Ouzo instead or any aniseed flavoured liquor.

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Apple Aniseed and Lemon Doughnuts

Posted on October 27, 2018 by Ella Posted in Doughnuts .

Apple Lemon and Aniseed Doughnuts

Apple Lemon and Aniseed Doughnuts recipe

There are so many doughnut recipes in the world that vary in base ingredients as well as methods, shapes, sizes, flavours and filling types (if any). On top of this many counties have their own traditional doughnuts; the Dutch with (oliebollen), Mexico (churros), Middle East (awwami), France (beignet) and the list could go on and on.

Then there is the use of different core ingredients such as flour, potato, semolina, apple, ricotta, rice, cream cheese, milk powder just to name a few.

Then there is yeast or no yeast, dry or soaked, iced or filled, round or ring shaped….there must be thousands of varies all special to someone in the world.

As this is such an interesting sweet treat I decided to have a day of experimenting with traditional and new age (injection filled doughnuts), different key ingredients for ultimate fluffiness and interesting flavour combos to stay true to my passion of unusual but amazing tasting flavour pairings.

It will take me a long long long time to list all the experiments, suffice to say this recipe I’m posting is fluffier than a pancake and delicious in taste – you won’t stop at one! Though you do need to be an aniseed/star anise/fennel/licorice fan as I heavily feature aniseed for something delicious and different.

Ingredients:

Batter:

250ml milk
100g sugar
2 tsn yeast
1 apple (130g)
250g plain flour
250g self raising flour
1 tbsn ground aniseed
½ tsn aniseed essence
¼ tsn salt
80g butter, at room temperature
3 eggs
1 lemon

Extra:

Oil for frying
100ml ouzo liquor
100g sugar

Method:

Warm the milk to a luke warm temperature.
Add 15g sugar and the yeast to the milk and stir. Set mix aside in a warm place for 10 minutes to bubble and activate.
Meanwhile, peel the apple and grate it (a 130g apple will produce 110g grated apple), place into a bowl.
Add the flours in a bowl along with the ground aniseed, aniseed essence, salt, butter, eggs and 1 small lemons zest.
Place the flour mix bowl into an electric mixer with a paddle attachment and beat on medium until well combined.
Next pour the milk into the flour mix slowly in a stream, beating for 5 minutes.
Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and set aside somewhere warm for 90 minutes to rise.
Place paper towel sheets onto a large plate for later use.
Place the 100g extra sugar into a shallow bowl.
Pour the oil into a saucepan and heat on medium on a stove top until 175c degrees is hit.
Oil 2 tbsn’s (to stop the batter sticking to the spoon) and spoon a large tbsn of batter into the frying oil, using the other spoon to scoop the mix into the saucepan.
Cook the doughnuts for 3-4 minutes until golden brown and crispy on the outside.
Using tongs remove the doughnuts from the oil and place on the paper towel to absorb excess oil.
Following, using a pastry brush add the ouzo to a doughnuts on both sides.
Place the doughnuts into the sugar, ensuring even coating.
Repeat ouzo and sugar steps until all doughnuts are done.
Place doughnuts on a plate and enjoy!

PN: If you don’t have aniseed essence you can replace with an extra tbsn of ground aniseed. Ouzo can be replaced with Black Sambuca or any other aniseed/licorice flavoured liquor.

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Lemon and Lavender Apple Balls

Posted on October 20, 2018 by Ella Posted in Truffles .

Lemon and Lavender Apple Balls

Lemon and Lavender Apple Balls recipe

This bake session was originally planned to experiment with salt and pepper apple crumble spiced oat balls that went through quite a number of iterations before I landed on the flavour combo of lavender, lemon and apple. This flavour mix was so tasty with the lemon and lavender flavours balanced to perfection. The texture though was not ideal and the flavour could have been stronger.

I had grated apples into the mix which took a lot of oats to absorb and dulled the flavours down a little too much.

So I attempted this same recipe again, this time squeezing the apple juice from the apple flesh and ‘bingo’ a significant reduction in the oats and biscuits allowed the flavour strength I was looking for.

These balls are delicious, super easy and take minutes to make with no oven required!

Lemon and Lavender Apple Balls recipe

Ingredients:

400g malt biscuits
10g icing sugar
1 tsn ground lavender
1 tsn lemon zest
40g toasted oats
1 tsn psyllium husk powder
4 apples (130g each)

Coating:

10g brown sugar
20g toasted oats
10g walnuts
1/8^th tsn ground lavender

Method:

Peel the 4 apples with a vegetable peeler.
Grate the apples into a bowl.
Squeeze out the apple juice with both hands into a glass to drink later (yum)!
You should have 140g of squeezed apple flesh in total, place into a food processor.
Add the biscuits broken into pieces, the sugar, lavender, lemon zest, oats and psyllium husk into the food processor.
Pulse the mix until the large lumps have subsided, give it a little stir, then blitz again until well combine and smooth.
Knead the mix ( on a lightly floured surface if the mix is too sticky) on a bench to ensure no lumps then set mix aside in the fridge for 15 mins.
Meanwhile, make the coating by placing the sugar, oats, walnuts and lavender into the food processor until the mix resembles salt grains in size.
Place the mix into a shallow dish.
Roll the apple mix into balls of 25g each then roll each ball into the coating mix until well covered.
Place coated balls onto a plate and continue the process until all apple ball mix is used.
Place the plate in the fridge for 30 minutes minimum to fully set.
Enjoy!

Lemon and Lavender Apple Balls recipe

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Cream Cheese Chocolate Ravioli

Posted on October 13, 2018 by Ella Posted in Unique .

Cream Cheese Chocolate Ravioli

Out of all the sweet treats I have created over the years my favorite experimentation sessions are turning savory dishes into sweet. However, these type of baking ideas don’t come as frequently as thinking up unusual flavour combinations to experiment with.

I did the other day have ravioli filled with sweet pumpkin and maple syrup which got me thinking of sweet ravioli…chocolate pasta…chocolate ravioli…white chocolate cream cheese filled chocolate pasta ravioli…why not?

Not since my Green Tea and Pistachio Eclairs have I created a savory to sweet dish that is website worthy. Therefore, introducing my Cream Cheese Chocolate ravioli.

Ingredients:

165g plain flour
30g cocoa powder
Pinch salt
40g icing sugar
2 eggs, beaten
15ml olive oil

Filling:

110g white chocolate
170g cream cheese
15g icing sugar
1 egg

Extra:

1 tsn milk
1 tsn oil
30ml cream
40g white chocolate, melted
30g chocolate biscuit crumbs

Method:

Place the flour, cocoa, salt and sugar in a bowl, stir. Make a well in the centre then add the beaten eggs and oil.
Mix with your fingers and knead the dough until smooth, following place the dough in the fridge for 30mins.
Next make filling by whisking the cheese in with electric beaters in a bowl until smooth.
Place the white chocolate in a bowl under a bowl of water on the stove until the chocolate has melted.
Allow the chocolate to slight cool then add to the cheese with the icing sugar and egg and whisk until smooth and creamy.
Place the filling into a piping bag fitted with a circle nozzle.
Cut the pasta into 2 even pieces.
Roll out both pieces on a lightly floured surface until the dough is 3mm thick (or ideally use a pastry machine).
Brush a pasta sheet with the milk.
Pipe small 1 tsn dots of the cheese filling on to the pasta 4cm apart.
Place the second pasta sheet on top of the first and using a ravioli cutter or cookie cutter cut out the ravioli making sure the filling bump is in the middle of the cutter.
Place ravioli pieces on a floured surface and let them dry out for 30mins.
Bring a pot of water with 1 tsn of oil on the stove and bring to the boil.
Once boiling turn the temperature to a simmer and place the ravioli in the water, simmering gently for 5 mins (or until pasta is cooked).
Remove the ravioli with a slotted spatula/spoon and place pieces in serving bowls/plates.
Add the white chocolate to the cream and heat in the microwave on medium in 30 second busts, stirring in between each interval until smooth.
Serve by drizzling the chocolate cream over the ravioli pieces.
Scatter with the chocolate biscuit crumbs and enjoy.

Notes:

It is recommended to use a 5cm cookie cutter as making the ravioli to small will be difficult to seal the pasta.

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Pretzel-base Caramel Apple Walnut and Pork Crackle Tart

Posted on October 6, 2018 by Ella Posted in Tarts .

Pretzel-base Caramel Apple Walnut and Pork Crackle Tart

Pretzel Based Caramel Apple Walnut and Pork Crackle Tart recipe

The idea for this recipe was all around combining the sweet, the salty, the sour and savoury.

As I had a bunch of apple left from a previous baking session I decided to use them up and have apples as a core sweet component of a dessert. I thought that if I made a salted caramel, in which would go brilliantly with the apple I could get some saltiness as well as the sweet. I’m also mindful that these 2 ingredients would make for a prefect tart filling.

So, if I was to make a tart then I needed a base. I figured since pretzels are basically flour and salt I could use these savory snacks as a base to my recipe, ticking the savory and salty box.

To not only ramp up the savory but also ensure some crunchy texture I opted for a few extra ingredients that also complement the apple flavour. After playing around with a few ingredients I decided that walnuts and pork crackle, when combine with the apple were too good of a combo to ignore.

Lastly, as I did want to have sour in the recipe in some way the only way this would work and add an extra depth to the flavour was through some lemon zest.

A lot of trial and error was had for this recipe, but in the end I’m impressed with the result. I successfully ticked the sweet, sour, salty and savory boxes as well as the tarts achieving deliciousness with a diverse range of textures, from crunchy, smooth and soft.

Pretzel Based Caramel Apple Walnut and Pork Crackle Tart recipe

Ingredients:

Base:

140g pretzels
110g butter
40ml honey

Caramel:

180ml cream
Pinch salt
50g butter
220g sugar

Apples:

5 apples (130g per apple will amount to 90g apple slices)
Pinch salt
40g brown sugar
1 tsn lemon zest
20g flour
50g walnuts, finely chopped
40g pork crackle, finely chopped

Method:

Pre-heat the oven to 175c degrees and grease 6 small tart pans with oil spray.
Process the pretzels, butter and honey in a food processor until the mix resembles breadcrumb texture.
Spoon 50g of filling into each tart case and pat the bottom and sides of the tart case with oiled fingertips until the whole tart case is covered with the mix.
Place the tart cases on a tray, poke with a fork in the centre lightly and bake in the oven for 8 minutes or until golden, set aside to cool.
Make the caramel by placing the sugar into a pan on high heat until the mix turns amber and bubbles.
Remove off the heat, pour in the cream, add the salt and the butter. Stir until well combine and silky smooth in texture.
Allow the caramel to sit for 10 minutes to cool then place half the caramel into a bowl and for the remaining pour into the bottom of the cooked tart cases.
Peel the apples and core them.
Cut the apples into quarters, then each quarter into 3 pieces lengthways.
Put the apple pieces in a bowl with a pitch of salt, the brown sugar, the lemon zest and flour. Stir until the apple is well coated and the mix is evenly distributed.
Place the bowl in the microwave on a medium heat, stopping and mixing in 60 second bursts until the apple is soft and the flour mix coats the apple well.
Add the remaining caramel to the apples and stir until well combine.
Place 40g walnuts and 30g of the pork crackle into the apple mix and stir until well combined.
Spoon the apple pieces over the caramel in a fan design, topping with the remaining caramel mix over the apples.
Place tarts on a tray and bake in the oven on 175c degrees, for 20 minutes.
Remove from the oven and top with remaining 10g walnuts and 10g pork crackle, leave aside until they have cooled to just warmer than room temperature.
Remove the tarts out of the tart casings and enjoy as is or with a scoop of vanilla ice-cream on the top.