Apple Mabon Bread

Ingredients
* 2 ½ cups grated apple
* 2 cups raisins or craisins
* 1 ½ cups boiling water
* 3 Tbs olive oil
* 1 cup honey
* 1 ½ tsp ground cinnamon
* 1 ½ tsp salt
* ½ tsp ground clove

* 3 cups whole wheat flour
* 1 ½ tsp baking soda
* ¾ cup chopped nuts

Method
Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius (160 for fan forced) and grease two loaf pans.
Combine the first nine ingredients together in a bowl and set aside.

In another bowl, mix together the last three ingredients.

Add the wet mixture to the flour mixture and combine well. Pour into prepared loaf pans and bake for 40-60 minutes. Use a cake tester to check when cooked. Remove from pans and place on a rack to cool.

Little Ostara Lemon Tarts

With spring in the air and time on my hands, I decided to cook something for Ostara. A recipe for little lemon tarts recently caught my eye so I decided to use this as a base for some Ostara themed treaties. Here's how it happened...

Firstly, I gathered the ingredients for the tart base:
* Cooking spray OR 1 tablespoon of oil
* 2 cups plain flour plus a little extra for kneading
* Pinch salt
* 125g butter - chopped
* 2 teaspoons castor sugar
* 1 teaspoon lemon rind - grated
* 1 egg yolk
* 3 tablespoons iced water

Next was the ingredients for the filling (yum!):
* 125g creamed cheese - softened
* 1/2 cup castor sugar
* 2 egg yolks
* 2 tablespoons lemon juice
* 1/2 cup sweetened condensed milk
* Food colouring and items to decorate (optional)

To make the tart bases:

* Sift flour and salt into a bowl
* Rub in butter
* Add sugar, lemon rind, egg yolk and water
* Mix with a knife


* Knead gently on a lightly floured surface


* Cover in cling wrap and place in fridge for 10 minutes
* Pre-heat oven to 180 degrees Celsius
* Grease two 12-cup patty tins (the recipe I was working off called for "shallow cup" patty tins but as I didn't have any of those I used normal ones and just pushed the bases a little higher up the sides)

Then on to the filling:
* In a separate bowl, add cream cheese, sugar and egg yolk
* Mix with electric mixer until smooth and thickened
* Add lemon juice and condensed milk
* Beat with electric mixer until well combined
* Separate into bowls and add food colouring as desired

Then back to the base:
* Roll out a portion of the base dough between two sheets of baking paper until approx. 3mm thick
* Cut the dough using a 7cm fluted round cookie-cutter


* Carefully place each round into a patty cup, pressing down gently into shape
* Lightly prick each round three times with a fork


* Bake for 10 minutes or until just starting to turn golden
* Remove from over and allow to cool slightly

Now put it all together:
* Spoon the filling into each of the cases
* Bake for 5 minutes or until set


* Allow to cook before removing from patty tins
* Decorate using skittles, smarties, piped icing, sprinkles etc to look like flowers and the bright colours of spring