It is tempting to treat baking as a complicated formula that needs to be followed precisely. But on a rainy afternoon in England, with a bored five year old, baking can be a fun little project.
For our impromptu baking session we made use of what we had available. Starting with some flour, we dumped what was left of the bag (about 3 cups worth) into a large mixing bowl. To that we added a spoonful of sugar, and a bit of salt (omit if using salted butter). Next we added half of what was left of the butter (about 1 stick worth). And with tiny little hands we rubbed the butter into the flour, until it looked like course sand. We couldn’t find baking powder or baking soda so we added some club soda and one egg then mixed until combined. The dough seemed a little dry so we added a little more club soda.
Meanwhile, we peeled and chopped all the apples we had. Then in a oven-safe pan we melted the other half of the butter. To this we added the apples and cooked until they began to get soft, then added a little maple syrup we found in the back of the fridge (brown sugar would have worked).
When the apples seemed soft we turned off the heat, then placed pieces of dough on top. The trick is to break off a hunk of dough, flatten it with your fingers, then place it in patches onto the apples. Don’t forget the apples and the pan will be hot.
All this went into a hot oven to bake until the crust turned brown and the sauce bubbled.
Once cool we devoured it with some vanilla ice cream and a big smile.
