TODAY’S RECIPE: Apple dumpling puddle pudding

ULTIMATE comfort food. Serves: 6. Ingredients

75g butter

450g light brown soft sugar

3 tbsp golden syrup

6 dessert apples (750g), peeled, cored and sliced

FOR THE DUMPLINGS:

200g self-raising flour

1 tsp baking powder

2 tbsp caster sugar

Method

Pinch cinnamon

100g cold butter, cubed

6 tbsp milk Double or clotted cream to serve

1 Heat oven to 180c/160c fan/gas 4. Melt the butter, sugar and golden syrup in a pan with 125ml water. Bring to a simmer, add the apples and cook for ten to 15 minutes until they’re starting to soften — it will be quite saucy. Add a generous pinch of salt, taste to check, adding more if you like. If your pan isn’t ovenproof, pour into a 20cm x 30cm baking dish or two smaller ones.

2 Tip the flour into a bowl. Mix with the baking powder, caster sugar, cinnamon and a pinch of salt. Rub the butter into the mixture with your fingertips until it resembles damp sand. Add the milk, stir with a cutlery knife until it starts to clump together, then use your hands to bring the dough together, picking up any flaky bits. Don’t overwork it or your dumplings will be heavy.

3 Divide into 12 golf ball-sized pieces and roll into dumplings. Arrange over the apples, leaving little gaps here and there. Sprinkle with a little extra sugar (brown or caster) and bake for 25 minutes until the dumplings are puffed up and golden. Rest for a few minutes and serve with plenty of cream.