Toffee apple squares

Toffee apple squares

By Sarah Cook
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(5 ratings)
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Prep: 40 mins Cook: 45 mins - 1 hr

More effort

Makes about 18 squares
A crumble-like base, caramel nut topping and added juicy fruits - sticky toffee pud with a difference

Nutrition and extra info

  • Freeze between layers of baking parchment

Nutrition: per square

  • kcal417
  • fat25g
  • saturates12g
  • carbs43g
  • sugars30g
  • fibre2g
  • protein6g
  • salt0.5g
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Ingredients

  • 950g eating apple, peeled, quartered, cored and sliced
    Apples

    Apple

    ap-pel

    Grown in temperate regions, apples are one of the most widely cultivated tree fruits. There are…

  • good squeeze lemon juice
  • little caster sugar, to taste

For the base

  • 100g caster sugar
  • 250g pack butter, diced
    Butter

    Butter

    butt-err

    Butter is made when lactic-acid producing bacteria are added to cream and churned to make an…

  • 100g ground rice
    Rice

    Rice

    r-eye-s

    Rice is a grain, the seed of a type of grass, which is the most widely grown and the most…

  • 200g plain flour

For the topping

  • 397g can condensed milk
  • 85g butter
    Butter

    Butter

    butt-err

    Butter is made when lactic-acid producing bacteria are added to cream and churned to make an…

  • 100g light muscovado sugar
  • couple pinches sea salt
  • 25g cornflake
  • 100g pecan, very roughly chopped
    Pecan nuts

    Pecan

    pee-kan

    Related to the walnut, pecans are native to America, and grow enclosed in a glossy, browny-red…

  • 100g toasted whole almond
    Almond

    Almond

    arr-mund or al-mund

    Sweet almonds have a subtle fragrance that lends itself well to baking and also works well with…

Method

  1. Put the apples in a saucepan with the lemon juice and 4 tbsp water. Cook gently, partly covered, for 10-15 mins until softened. Taste, adding any sugar if it needs it – you want it a little sharp though, to balance the sweetness of the topping. Leave to cool.

  2. For the base, whizz everything together in a food processor. (If you don’t have one, rub the butter into the flour to crumbs, then stir in the sugar and ground rice.) Line the base of a roughly 18 x 28cm tin with baking parchment, then press the dough into the base.

  3. Heat oven to 180C/160C fan/gas 4. Bake the base for 20-25 mins until golden. Spread the cooled apples over the base.

  4. For the topping, put the condensed milk, butter and sugar in a saucepan. Heat to melt the sugar and butter, then lower the heat and bubble for 10 mins or so until a pale fudge colour. Stir in the salt, cornflakes and nuts. Spoon all over the apples, gently spreading to cover. Return to the oven for another 15-22 mins until the topping is golden and crisp. Cool in the tin, then cut into squares. Can be stored for 1-2 days in an airtight container.

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Comments, questions and tips

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mariabudgen
30th Mar, 2016
3.8
Made this for a bank holiday weekend dessert for the family and it went down very well. I didn't have the right sized tin so used a 20cm x 20cm tin without reducing the quantities and ended up with a base that on retrospect was a bit thick. The apple topping covered by crunchy caramel mix was lovely. I used crunchy nut cornflakes which I already had. No issues with the base not cooking - just gave it an extra 5 mnutes but my oven is always slow. Also no issues with the caramel burning - perhaps others haven't used non-stick pans? I stirred it regularly. Served the squares with vanilla ice cream- didn't make the additional toffee sauce that was suggested alongside the original recipe in the magazine, as it's rich enough.
maryechappell
17th Jan, 2015
Very nice & tasty, we like the slightly gritty texture of the ground rice, the base was good although I did wonder about the quantity of butter but needn't have. Caramel topping no problem I kept the heat on medium and stirred it often.
yummymummy83
17th Jan, 2014
What could I replace nuts with? Just don't like them!
laonie
3rd Nov, 2013
2.05
I'm a fairly experienced cook, but this recipe was a disaster. From the start I was suspicious of the massive amount of butter in the base (and sure enough, after an hour in the oven at 180 fanbake it was still greasy and hadn't even coloured) and the rice flour gave the undercooked base a horrible, gritty texture. (I would use ground almonds next time). As for 'bubbling' condensed milk for 10 minutes, the obvious happened there too; it did its best to burn and the resulting caramel was fudgy because I had no choice but to stir it. This would have been just OK if it wasn't for the revolting base, but overall it's one of the few really bad recipes I've tried off this site.
sllyst's picture
sllyst
5th Jan, 2013
5.05
Much more biscuity than cakey, this made a real change. I didhave a real problem with the topping though, i'm an experienced cook but as soon as the topping began to bubble it just burnt so i just poured it straight over and cooked as above, came out lovely!
nicolanymph
11th Nov, 2012
5.05
This was really loveoly - I didn't have 100g ground rice so I swapped it for 50g ground almonds and an extra 50g flour. The almonds gave it a really nice, autumnal flavour and the cake went down a treat with the family!
patriciaf
3rd Nov, 2012
5.05
Yum yum my husband said this is the best pudding ever!! I didn't have any ground rice so I used fine polenta and substituted the nuts with dates. I also used Bramleys and we really liked the sharp taste against the sweet toffee topping, but don't overcook if you use cooking apples as the mixture will be too soft to support the topping. If you do manage to get it as far as the freezer it does freeze really well.
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