Mother’s Day is a great opportunity to take some time out and celebrate the great work done by mothers.  The late nights pasting glitter onto poster boards, early taxiing children to sports or music and the endless dedication and sacrifice.  My mother is in another state so I don’t get to spend time with her on Mother’s day.

In a way my mother is responsible for my blog as she taught me how to cook.  I presume many mothers are responsible for food bloggers developing an insatiable desire for food, cooking and all things edible.  I started my apprenticeship under mother’s wing as the licker of the spatula.  After this I moved onto peeling potatoes, measuring out ingredients and stirring sauces.  This process continued until I was trusted to cook a whole meal.  In retrospect although these were childhood chores I learnt a great deal and had a good time with Mum.  And now I cook!

So today I decided to share another one of Mum’s great recipes.  This one is apple shortcake.  It is very easy and is great as afternoon tea.  I hope you enjoy.

afternoon tea

(noun)

A light midafternoon meal of tea and sandwiches or cakes; “an Englishman would interrupt a war to have his afternoon tea”#

I think afternoon tea is probably one of the most likeable meals (if you could call it that) of the day.  It fills that expansive period between lunch and dinner.  At my work the dedicated lunch time is 11:30 and due to my culinary ambition or laziness I usually eat dinner at about 8pm.  This means there is eight and a half hours between meals.  This is way too long for my liking.  By about 5:30 my stomach has started consuming itself.

The great thing about afternoon tea is that it fits that gap perfectly with class and sophistication.  It’s there when you need it most wearing a top hat and tails.  No matter what it is on offer, it will be appreciated.  A unique feature of afternoon tea is that it serves no nutritional value.  It doesn’t have to be meat and three veg, you don’t have to add an obligatory side dish of rice or pasta.  Afternoon tea just is….. goodness.

As a child we would always come home and raid the refrigerator.  It was like Genghis Khan and his band of marauding hungry Mongols were descending.  We would fight each other and nag our mother to get the best that was on offer.  Some days Mum would pity on us and indulge our whims and cook up a little treat.  She would often cook scones or pikelets.  When something a little more refined was required this little cake would appear.  It is light and simple and goes well with tea or a freshly brewed espresso.

This is a quick post as I don’t have much time during the week to write a story.  When I heard of the dumpling challenge my mind started racing.  As I ordinarily cook very European foods or on the BBQ I would be out of my comfort zone.

I love dumplings.  Going to Yum Cha is great fun and I like enjoying all the different pillows of goodness.  For this reason I was tempted to try Chinese dumplings but I really don’t have any idea how to control the flavours.

So I chose to cook a sweet dessert dumpling.  My mother used to cook this for the family when I was a child.  It is really sweet and a great way to enjoy apples.  For this reason I would say it was a healthy dessert .

As Sunday was Mothers Day I think posting one of my Mothers favourites is appropriate.  Hopefully I will have a chance to serve up a few more of my Mother’s classics over the coming months.  Please enjoy.

Butterscotch Apple Dumplings
Serves 4 Ingredients
2	Granny Smith Apples
1 Cup	SR Flour
2 tbsp	Sugar
60g	Margarine
2 tbsp	Water, approx
Butterscotch Sauce
2 ½ Cups	Water
1 ½ Cups	Brown Sugar, firmly packed
60g	Margarine
2 tbsp	Lemon Zest
Method
For butterscotch sauce place all ingredients in a bowl and microwave on high for 5 minutes, then on medium for 15 minutes. Sift flour and salt into bowl, add sugar; rub in butter.  Add water, mix to a soft dough; a little extra water may be needed. Peel, quarter and core apples.  Divide pastry into 8 equal portions, carefully press each portion of pastry round an apple quarter. Put in ovenproof dish, pour sauce over.  Bake, uncovered in moderate oven 25-30 minutes or until pastry is golden.  Serve warm with ice cream or cream.