Tag Archives: Food

This Viral Reddit Apple Pie Recipe Is The Best I’ve Seen

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Reddit’s a goldmine for recipes, not least because you don’t have to go through a long pre-recipe story about the writer’s childhood collecting apples from their family tree.

More importantly, though, you get to see which recipes normal people can actually make and enjoy ― like the previously viral Reddit cream cheese pound cake, posted straight from a site user’s nan’s notebook to r/OldRecipes.

This week’s bake de jour is an American-style apple pie shared to r/Baking, however.

Redditor Good-Ad-5320 shared that they’d made a “massive apple pie,” adding that the US-style dessert is “bliss.”

Looking at their creation, which is truly the Platonic ideal of an apple pie, it’s impossible not to understand why commenters were baying for the recipe.

What’s the recipe?

The site user swears by a

Natasha’s Kitchen recipe

for their crust, though OP (the original poster) says they upped the butter content to 416g and added a bit more sugar.

They used a 24cm-wide, 6cm-high pastry ring.

“After lining the ring with the crust, I froze it completely before blind baking,” they explained.

After the blind bake, they sprinkled the inside of their pastry shell with egg whites and a “1:1 ratio flour/sugar,” which they called “crust dust.”

As for the apple insides, they took it a step further than I usually do by forming a sort of caramel in a separate pan to the chopped and peeled apples.

“I sprinkled the peeled and sliced apples with lemon juice and white sugar to get some water out of it (I let them aside for 1 hour),” OP wrote.

“After I put the apples in a colander to remove the excess water, I precooked the apples and put them again in the colander to remove even more water.”

They doubled up their regular recipe and used:

  • Apples: 16
  • White sugar (for the apples): 100g
  • White sugar: 100g
  • Packed brown sugar: 200g
  • Water: 120g
  • Vanilla beans, scraped: 4
  • Flour: 46g
  • Salted butter: 230g

However, this was for their frankly colossal pie. “For a regular tart, I think 7-8 apples are sufficient,” OP added. You can halve the rest of their recipe too.

To create the apple filling, they suggest we “combine [all sauce ingredients] in a saucepan, heat until [the sugar melts], [and] make it boil a bit until it thickens before mixing it with the precooked apples.”

They then baked the pie until golden brown.

“To get clean cuts, I let the tart cool down for approx 6 hours outside (it was around 10°C),” they ended their post.

People were pretty huge fans

“I’ve never considered a deep-dish apple pie! How cool is that,” a top comment underneath the post reads.

Another commenter suggested the poster might have gone bankrupt buying all those apples, to which they responded: “Actually half of the apples were from my brother’s garden, and the other half cost me around €2 (they were ‘Golden’ apples).”

Yet another Redditor said: “That’s an apple casserole bro.”

Yep, basically ― and I couldn’t be more sold.

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It’s Not Just Bread And Milk ― Hedgehog Food Can Be Bad For Them Too

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As we head into the winter months, hedgehogs are weeks away from settling into hibernation.

During their seasonal slumber, the animals rely on fat stores accumulated over the summer to survive, making this a crucial period for their diet.

To keep the creatures fed, many of us might start thinking about leaving food out for them in our gardens (though it’s also helpful to keep late-blooming plants like some ivy untrimmed and avoid raking leaves, so they have a store of bugs to eat).

Most of us know not to feed them milk or bread, as this is bad for their stomachs.

But according to hedgehog rescue centre Hedgehog Cabin and The Wildlife Trusts, what would seem like the safest alternative ― specially-designed hedgehog food ― can often pose its own threats.

Why would food designed for hedgehogs be bad for them?

The Wildlife Trust points out that unlike cat food (which actually suits hedgehogs just fine), hedgehog food is not regulated.

Therefore its quality and ingredients vary.

“There are many unscrupulous companies keen to cash in on the growing army of kind people trying to halt the hedgehog’s decline, and will happily sell little more than floor sweeping of the cheapest, most unsuitable products, all wrapped up with a nice picture of a cute hedgehog, at the highest possible price,” Hedgehog Cabin warns.

They explain that some hedgehog feed includes mealworms, peanuts, oats, sunflower hearts and other ingredients that the creatures might like eating, but which are bad for them overall.

Mealworms, for example, are low in calories but delicious to hedgehogs, meaning they overeat on the food and ignore more nutrient-dense fare (a bit like ducks with bread).

Eating too many mealworms can even lead to metabolic bone disease, a painful condition that can unfortunately be fatal to hedgehogs.

What should I feed them instead?

You can get good hedgehog feed from reliable sources, but it’s important you ensure that its main ingredient is meat, and that it contains zero sunflower hearts, mealworms, oats or peanuts.

These are the worst ingredients they could have, Hedgehog Cabin write, as they can all contribute to metabolic bone disease.

But there’s a simpler solution ― “plain kitten biscuits or meat-based wet dog or cat food” are perfect for their nutritional needs, The Wildlife Trusts say.

As cat food is more meat-heavy, though, it may sometimes do a better job. Don’t feed them dry dog food, either, which may contain too much grain.

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5 Food Habits People Say Are Socially Acceptable, But Really Shouldn’t Be

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As somebody that used to believe that there was nothing more decadent than an entire block of brie after a night out, I do not have much of a high horse when it comes to other people’s guilty pleasures.

However, upon reading a Reddit thread titled, “What is socially acceptable but you still shouldn’t do it?”, I’m starting to think that my cheesy indulgence might actually be forgivable.

Don’t read these while you’re eating…

The top-rated comment was about a person after my own heart, saying: “I saw someone sat on a bench eating a ball of mozzarella like an apple once”

What can I say, us soft cheese aficianados don’t need crackers.

User Effective_witness_63 (probably shouldn’t have) admitted: “I’ve drank pots of yoghurt in public before, people do look at you like you’re some kind of savage tho lol.”

Spoons exist for a reason!!!

Another added a story about a customer at their old workplace, saying that the customer would buy a steak bake and milk and then “take a bite then swig before chewing it all up together.”

They added that this was the customer’s Saturday treat, to which Glitterkelxo responded: “I wish I never read this.”

Huge mood.

User Doorwedge added a comment that actually made me gasp VERY loudly, saying: ”[I] Had a temp job in a warehouse and as part of a guys lunch he ate 3 Oxo cubes straight out of the foil.”

Heartburn?! No?!

Commenter The_cake_in_Matilda added: “Guy at my old work (supermarket) used to get a full Victoria Sponge, sit in the break room with a fork and go to town on one……EVERY SINGLE SHIFT.”

A king, a hero, and frankly, not somebody that deserves judgement from the monstrosity that was the cake in Matilda.

The one that really made me gag, made me question humanity and wonder if there is any good in the world, though, was: “I once was on a bus when a guy reached into his bag and picked out an onion which he preceded to eat like an apple.”

Horrified.

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I’ve Tried Over 30 Brownie Recipes ― The Best Ones All Omit This Common Ingredient

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Some people treat fudgy vs cakey brownie discourse like it’s a debate. It’s not; the latter is a chocolate traybake, and the former is a proper, you know, brownie.

After all, no less than the Cambridge Dictionary defines them as “a small, square chocolate cake that is soft in the middle.”

With that understanding, I’ve long been on the hunt for the fudgiest, densest, most chocolate-y of chocolate brownie recipes.

I’ve tried Gordon Ramsay’s (fine, but not quite the right texture), Nigella Lawson’s (delicious but, again, not as relentlessly squidgy as I prefer), and even Mary Berry’s (dare I say it; they were a little lacklustre too).

Only a few recipes stood up to my gooey-base, paper-thin crispy top standards; and all of them had a counterintuitive secret in common.

Which is?

It sounds completely wrong, but the densest, fudgy-est brownies I’ve made have never featured melted chocolate in the batter.

Part of the reason why that feels so untrue is that melted chocolate is so luxurious, so extravagant, and so, well, chocolate-y. Why would something so cocoa-lly good make a chocolate dessert less sumptuous?

All I can say is it turns out Bon Appetit found the same thing I did when testing brownie recipes: “As compared to those made with just chocolate or a combination of the two, cocoa brownies are reliably superior in terms of texture and flavour,” they shared.

That’s partly because chocolate contains a fat called cocoa butter, which is solid at room temperature (hence, you bite a chocolate bar rather than spread it on your toast).

But when you include cocoa powder, which contains next to none of the fat, your batter is forced to rely on the other fat in the mix for its texture ― butter.

Dairy butter is just about solid at room temperature, but much less so than its cocoa cousin.

That means brownies made without melted chocolate in the batter take on more of the properties of the butter; they’re softer, more velvet-y, and gooier when cold.

Then, there’s a question of taste; good cocoa is, well, 100% cocoa, while chocolate will always be somewhat tempered.

That leads to a darker, denser, more chocolate-y flavour.

So what’s the best recipe?

I do actually add some chocolate chunks (never chips) to the brownie mix after it’s all combined. Because it’s not incorporated into the batter, it doesn’t affect the brownie’s texture as much, and it tastes amazing.

But if you ask me, a person who has tried about 32 different variations, the best recipe around is from Hugh Fearnely-Whittingstall.

I have screenshotted, sent, and then saved his steps on multiple email accounts and written them out physically in more than two notebooks in case The Guardian ever take the page down.

“For me, brownie nirvana is a crackled, shiny top beneath which lies a rich, dense and chewy middle, verging on the underdone,” the food pro wrote ― and he delivered.

The only note I have is to skip the walnuts he suggests as an optional add-in in place of chocolate chips. Come on ― we all know why we’re really here.

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Mary Berry’s Failsafe Recipe For The Best Paris-Brest

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You may have seen bakers struggle to make the dreamy Paris-Brest dessert featured on this Tuesday’s Great British Bake-Off.

But if you’re anything like me, a delusional part of your brain probably also went: “That looks nice, I could do that.”

Well, if you want to attempt the precarious pastry, it turns out that none other than GBBO’s former judge Mary Berry has a timeless recipe.

Sharing her know-how on BBC’s site, the Cordon Bleu-trained chef said: “These decadent pastries filled with praline and cream are like giant profiteroles, perfect for sharing.”

How does Mary make ’em?

She says you’ll need”a food processor, a piping bag, a star nozzle and a silicone mat” to perfect her recipe, which offers two Paris-Brests (a pair if you will).

She preheats her oven to 220C/200C, lines a baking sheet with baking paper, and draws four 10cm-ish circles on it before flouring the parchment.

Then, she makes choux pastry by putting milk, salt, sugar, butter, and water into a pan, removing from the heat once it starts bubbling, and ― frankly ― beating the bejesus out of it “until it forms a dough that leaves the side of the pan clean.”

Then she places the mix back into the pan and heats it for five minutes or so.

Once cooled slightly, she beats eggs into the dough “until the dough is smooth and glossy,” and then place it in a piping bag.

She pipes four thick rings into the circles she drew earlier, then tops them with egg wash and almonds.

These should be baked for 10-15 minutes at full temp, and then a further 10 minutes at 180C/160C Fan/Gas 4; dry them out in an opened oven for three minutes afterwards.

Then, Mary makes a praline by spreading hazelnut-filled caramel onto a silicone mat, leaving it to cool, and whizzing it in a blender.

She also makes vanilla whipped cream for the filling.

“Sprinkle half the praline onto the bottom halves of the choux rings, then pipe a generous amount of cream over the praline. Sprinkle the remaining praline over the cream and place the pastry lids on top. Dust with icing sugar and serve,” Mary says.

Why is it called a Paris-Brest to begin with?

Per The New York Times, it was created by pastry chef Louis Durand.

It was named after a bike race that runs between Paris and Brest, a port city; it was even designed to look like a bike.

The New York Times advises making your praline first, in direct contradiction with Mary Berry’s advice (should we make them cycle a race to determine the winner?).

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Mary Berry’s Unexpected Secret To The Best Marmalade Cake

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I don’t know about you, but the upcoming release of a new Paddington movie (Paddington In Peru, out November 8) has gotten marmalade on my mind.

So who else to turn to for a perfect marmalade cake recipe than Mary Berry, who’s penned the perfect orange jam-based traybake recipe?

The former Great British Bake-Off judge shared the cake in her book Mary’s Baking Bible, which home bakers like Mel and Alex of Tale of 2 Kitchens tried and loved.

Surprisingly, though, she has some counterintuitive advice to prevent the cake from “buckling,” or sinking in the middle.

Which is?

You shouldn’t put too much marmalade in your marmalade cake, the Cordon Bleu-trained chef revealed.

Baking site Cakes By MK explains that “When it comes to baking, balancing your ingredients is key.

“If you have too much liquid or too much fat in your cake batter, this can result in a cake with a weak structure which can cause it to sink in the middle.”

The starches and binders in the cake can’t do their strengthening job if their path is interrupted by too much liquid.

This, along with a too-small cake tin, opening the oven door too soon, under- or over-mixing your cake batter, or having an oven that’s too cold can also contribute to the sinking, the baking pro adds.

How does Mary make her marmalade cake?

She begins by lining a baking tray with parchment and preheating her oven to 180°C.

Then she whisks all of the ingredients ― sugar, flour, marmalade, butter, sultanas, baking powder, cherries, eggs and milk ― into a bowl and chucks the lot in the oven for 40-45 minutes.

Pretty simple, right? And if the reviews are to be believed, it’s delicious too ― “A lovely, soft and fluffy traybake, this is more like a sponge cake in a tray than the usual slice,” A Tale Of 2 Kitchens writes.

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People Are Just Realising What The Spiky Side Of The Grater Is For, And I Never Knew

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I don’t think I could go a week without using my grater. But by “using my grater,” I mean what most of us mean: using the one, coarse grating side that’s perfect for shredding Cheddar.

When I’m making a dressing or baking, the finer testing side does get some use. But the flat, wide, slicing side of my box grater has never been used ― and as for the spiky side, I won’t even touch it for fear of losing a knuckle.

If Reddit’s r/Cooking is anything to go by, it looks like I’m not alone.

Site user u/Hansekins recently posted to the forum asking “What is the fourth side of a box grater for?”

“The one that makes it impossible to hand wash the thing without drawing blood. The side that’s just covered with sharp pointy spikes that do… what, exactly?” they wanted to know.

What DOES it do?

The top comment on the post reads that it’s for “Grating parmesan, ginger, horseradish, garlic… Basically anything you want more of a paste or powder as opposed to shreds.”

But the commenter added that they “usually just end up using the small grater or a microplane for that stuff anyway.”

“You can also grate tomatoes for juice there if you don’t have a food processor,” another Redditor wrote, sharing that it can help to pulverise garlic too.

Others shared that it doubles as a nutmeg grater, which is true (though I’ve never escaped a nutmeg grating unscathed).

Many more people agreed with the hard cheese theory, to which I say, “fear not the Parmesan shard but instead the mangled hand.”

Chef Nathan Lyon confirmed on YouTube that it was historically meant for grating aged cheeses “into a fluffy powder-like substance; the kind that you’d get at the grocery store.”

Still, I’m with commenter jason_abacabb, who wrote: “I believe it exists just to rip my sponge to pieces.”

Turns out it has a name

The side is officially called a “star grater” (ironic, given that it’s usually the last cast member on the billing).

Its raspy texture, which food site The Kitchn describes as “Medieval,” can also be used for coconut, cinnamon, and chocolate.

It CAN. But if you ask us, we haven’t seen convincing enough evidence to prove it SHOULD….

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I’m A Doctor ― You Should Never Eat From Cans With These 5 Signs

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Most of us grew up hearing that dented or chipped cans are no good to eat from, as there’s a higher likelihood that the food’s sterile environment has been ruined.

But being possibly too honest here, my family for one would simply eat them anyway.

According to Dr Karan Rajan, who’s known for dispelling medical myths on TikTok, however, there’s a better way to check when you really have to bin the tin.

“If you have dented cans, here’s what to look for to know if it’s safe,” he began.

What should I keep an eye out for?

You should “look for dents on the side seam” of the tin, the doctor explained.

These are the lines on the can that show where the material has been fused together.

They’re usually hidden by the products’ label “so make sure you peel if off to inspect it carefully,” Dr Rajan advised.

If the dent covers that area of the can, the doctor says we should “throw the can away because it’s likely compromised.”

There’s a higher chance of oxygen, bacteria, and other food-spoiling nasties making their way into the can if its weakest point has been damaged.

A side dent which doesn’t involve the side seam and doesn’t cause a sharp pointy edge is “okay to use,” the doctor shared.

If there’s a sharp edge at the end of your dent, there’s a higher risk a small hole has been created at its point ― meaning the bad stuff has a way in.

Dents which include the top seam of the can (the rim you place your can opener under), dents which make your can look like it’s been crushed, and cans that look like they’re about to explode all mean your tin needs to be thrown away.

What if I’m not sure?

“Not every single dented or damaged can needs to be thrown away,” Dr Rajan says.

“But if you find yourself with a dented can and you’re unsure, if in doubt, throw it out.”

The USDA writes: “If a can containing food has a small dent, but is otherwise in good shape, the food should be safe to eat. Discard deeply dented cans.”

“A deep dent is one that you can lay your finger into. Deep dents often have sharp points,” they add.

“A sharp dent on either the top or side seam can damage the seam and allow bacteria to enter the can. Discard any can with a deep dent on any seam.”

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Let’s Settle This ― Are Oats Bad For You Or Not?

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You might have read that the SNP categorised porridge oats as “junk food” under new government advertising rules.

To nobody’s surprise, Brits didn’t seem to agree with that categorisation ― according to a YouGov poll, only 2% reckon the classification is appropriate.

But even though we all seem to think porridge isn’t junk, does that mean it’s actually good for us?

After all, only 16% agree that fruit juice ― which often has the same sugar content as fizzy drinks, albeit with more nutrients ― fits that description.

So… what’s the verdict?

Speaking to the American Heart Organisation (AHA), Candida Rebello, director of the nutrition and chronic disease research program at Louisiana State University’s Pennington Biomedical Research Center in Baton Rouge, said porridge has “many, many good qualities.”

Dr Frankie Phillips, a dietitian at The British Dietetic Association, seems to agree, telling HuffPost UK: “There isn’t a single dietitian who would consider oats to be anything but a valuable food for all ages.”

Oats are high in fibre, which Dr Phillips says “we eat far too little” of in the UK (20g on average rather than the recommended daily 30g).

They’re also a cheap source of vitamin B1, phytonutrients, and manganese.

Studies have linked the consumption of oats to lower harmful cholesterol and better weight management.

Additionally, the type of fibre oats have (beta-glucan) is a soluble fibre that helps you to stay fuller for longer and feeds your good gut bacteria.

“The fibre component alone is a nutritional wonder as it is a type of fibre called Beta-glucan, which studies have shown to be effective in helping to lower blood cholesterol levels and may also help to reduce rises in blood glucose levels after a meal,” Dr Phillips shared.

Beta-glucan is “quite unequivocally” good for our heart and gut health, Rebello says.

What about processed oats?

“Even when they’ve been refined as porridge oats they remain a highly nutritious, low-cost and versatile food containing fibre, B vitamins, a range of minerals and antioxidants,” Dr Phillips told HuffPost UK.

Instant oats may have a slightly higher glycemic index than their less-refined alternatives, Rebello says, meaning they’ll cause your blood sugar to spike a little more.

But it’s very hard to avoid any processing with oats ― even jumbo oats that take longer to cook have been steamed and rolled flat.

Oats aren’t like wheat, though. Their inedible hulls are always removed, but the fibrous bran makes up part of the body of the food rather than encasing it.

“In other whole grains, like in wheat, you can remove that bran layer,” Rebello shared.

“But in oats, this groat is very soft, so that bran layer cannot really be removed.”

That means all oats are wholegrain.

“Clearly, adding a heap of syrup or sugar to a bowl of porridge isn’t a great way of achieving balance, but a topping of chopped nuts, berries or dried fruit can pack in even more nutrients to an already top-notch breakfast choice,” Dr Phillips shared.

“If you’re limited to instant pots of porridge though, I’d suggest going for the plain type and adding your own toppings rather than pre-mixed pots which have added sugars,” he added.

But as for the oats themselves? Those are pretty great, experts seem to agree.

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GBBO’s Cornucopia Showstoppers Have A Kaos-Worthy History

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After last week’s falls, frights, and quittings, you’d think the Great British Bake-Off had had its fill of Kaos.

But it turns out this week’s showstoppers, mouth-watering cornucopia, have a history that’d fit right into the Greek mythology-based Netflix hit.

Also known as a “horn of plenty,” cornucopias symbolise abundance.

They date back to Ancient Greece and originally consisted of a goat’s horn filled with fruits and grain ― and were supposedly once used to conceal a very important guest.

What’s the myth behind cornucopias?

According to Dictionary.com, a Roman retelling of the Greek legends from Ovid says that Hercules wrestled the horn from a river god called Achelous. Nymphs then turned it into a horn of plenty, always brimming with food.

One of those nymphs, Amalthaea, fed her foster child Zeus (Jeff Goldblum to fans of the Netflix show) food from the cornucopia in some Greek myths while he was hiding from his father, Brittanica’s online encyclopedia shared.

A Greek legend goes on to say that Zeus went on to place the horn of plenty along with the rest of the goat among the stars, the encyclopedia adds.

The motif stuck around, becoming part of Ancient Roman myths and even appearing in a 1630 Rubens painting of the goddess Abuntia who was associated with the horn.

Its image is so enduring that we recognise it today, featuring it in movies like The Hunger Games and, apparently, attempting to recreate it in flour on the telly.

And we put it in our Fruit Of The Loom T-shirts! Right?

Some people think they remember seeing the produce-filled horn on the cartoon fruit-bearing label of Fruit Of The Loom T-shirts when they were younger.

I’m one of them, but according to the company, we’re wrong ― the company shared on X that “The Mandela Effect is real, the cornucopia in our logo is not.”

Sounds like something a regretful Zeus would make the brand say after an overzealous Earhtly marketing campaign, but okay…

You can watch The Great British Bake-Off every Tuesday at 8 pm on Channel 4.

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