Apple Dappy

Just to prove that I actually DO something other than play around on the computer all day long, I would like to share my favourite pudding recipe with you. It is an old Devon recipe, and is a real rib-sticker - just the thing for a cold winter's day. I hope you will try it out and report back.

APPLE DAPPY

225gram/8 oz/2 cups Self-Raising flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

Pinch of salt

50g/2 oz margerine

150 ml / 1/4 pint / 5 fl ozs milk

450g/ 1 pound/ 2 very large cooking apples

1 tablespoon Demerara sugar

½ level teaspoon each of cinnamon, ground cloves, ground nutmeg (or 1 teaspoon mixed spice)

Syrup:

1 lemon or a little lemon essence

1 tablespoon golden syrup

15g/ ½ oz margerine

100g/ 4 oz sugar

200 ml/ 7 fl oz water

Make the syrup first. Peel a fine strip of lemon rind and squeeze the juice from the lemon. Put rind, juice and all other syrup ingredients into a pan and stir over a gentle heat until the sugar is dissolved. Remove from heat and leave in pan until needed.

Sift flour, baking powder and salt into a bowl. Rub in margerine. Mix to a dough with the milk. Roll out on a floured board to a rectangle about 20 x 13cm (8 x 5 inches) and 7mm/ ¼ inch thick.

Peel, core and chop apples. Spread them on pastry. Mix sugar and spices together and sprinkle over apple. Roll up pastry and apple like a Swiss roll. Then cut into slices about 2.5 cm/ 1 inh thick.

Grease an ovenproof dish and lay slices flat in it. Remove lemon rind from syrup and pour over the apple slices. Bake in a moderately hot oven: :Gas 6, 375 degrees F, 190 degrees C, for about 30 minutes. Serve with cream or custard.