An apple a day

Tags

an apple a day keeps the doctor away, apple, apple juice, apple pie, Apple purée, bake, baking sheet, brown sugar, bruises, comfort food, comforting, cooking apples, cool, core, countryside, crisp winter afternoons, crop, delicious, divine, easy, fresh, fridge, gin, ground cinnamon, ham, harvest, home, honey, hot, juicer, last-minute dessert, lemon zest, menu, mid afternoon snack, munch, mushy, natural goodness, oce, pick, pip, Plastic, recyclable bottles, ripe, roast pork, shortcrust pastry, slice, soft, spices, sterilised bottles, sticky, store, treat, true, vanilla ice cream, vitamin packed drink, wholesome

The old saying goes, ‘an apple a day keeps the doctor away’ and while we aren’t sure this is 100% true, they are packed with natural goodness and they taste pretty too delicious.

Go out in the countryside right now, and you are bound to come across trees bearing fruit that is ripe to pick, but once you have got them home, what can you do with them if you can’t munch your way through them as they are? Well, we have a few ideas.

Apple juice
There is nothing quite as delicious as fresh apple juice. Take your washed apples, cut out any bruises and then use a juicer to blast your crop. Put your smooth blend into sterilised bottles and either store in the fridge for several days, or if you have a lot then you can put in the freezer – but we suggest going for plastic, recyclable bottles for this. Add ice and drink alone, mix with a little gin or add to smoothies for a really fresh, vitamin-packed drink.

Apple pie
Who doesn’t like apple pie? This is a really easy, comforting way to use up apples and why not make extra and freeze some for those crisp winter afternoons when comfort food is on the menu but the shops are shut. We would say go for shortcrust pastry, cut and cook your apples in a little water and sugar, load in the fruit in a pie dish with some spices and extra raisins and your pudding is good to go in the oven to bake.

Apple crisps
Whether you have eating or cooking apples, you can make fruit crisps with your harvest. Slice the apples thinly, take out the core and pips, then place on a lined baking sheet with a little ground cinnamon and bake for about half an hour, turning over halfway through. Let them cool and store in an airtight container, and enjoy as a mid-afternoon snack, add to cereal or use them to top ice cream dishes.

Apple purée
If you have a lot of apples, making them into purée could be a good move and save any waste. Peel and core the fruit, then add them into a pan with about 1cm of water. Add some lemon zest and a little sugar, cover the pot and gently cook on a medium heat until the apples are soft and a little mushy. Freeze in pots, taking out what you need, when you need it and enjoy with roast pork, ham or add to some creamy custard for a sneaky treat.

Baked apples
The baked apple is the perfect last-minute dessert that looks wholesome and tastes divine. This simple winter pudding is budget-friendly and even more delicious when it is served with a huge scoop of vanilla ice cream and a drizzle of honey. Wash your apples and heat your oven to 200C. Mix cinnamon, brown sugar, orange zest, and lemon juice together then spoon the juice onto each apple, then bake for around half an hour. They should be soft and sticky when served but mind little mouths because the apples will be hot!

So, what are you waiting for? Get cooking!

Team Pure-Beauty

What’s in the Exclusive Dermalogica Ath-Leisure Gift Bag?

Tags

50ml Dermalogica Multi-Active Toner, absorb, added bonus, all skin types, Arnica, Artic Algae, £70, Balm Mint, basket, brightens your skin, Broad-Spectrum UVA and UVB protection, chalky, cooling massage applicator, customers, dark circles, Dermalogica Skin Perfect Primer SPF30, Dermalogica Stress Positive Eye Lift, desk, dewy looking finish, dry, earth minerals, energises, enhancing luminosity, even out skin texture, fine lines, flawless, free gift, go to beauty products, great service, gym bag, high-performance eye treatment, hyaluronic acid, lavender, loyalty, massage, moisturiser, natural day time look, neutral tint, Pearl Powder, pesky bags, prematurely ageing skin, primer, radiance, sea water, shopping, skin tone, skin-repairing Aloe, soy protein, sticky, tissue, titanium dioxide, under-eye luminosity, Velvety silicones, visible signs of stress, Wild Indigo Seed Extract, work, wrinkles, Zinc Oxide

At Pure-Beauty we pride ourselves not only on selling some of the best products in the world and offering great service, but also treating our customers in return for their loyalty.

At the moment, when you spend over £70 on Dermalogica Products in one shopping session, we will send you a free, exclusive Dermalogica Ath-Leisure gift bag.

We know you have your go to beauty products already, so we thought we would look inside the gift bag and tell you what could be coming your way for free if you take advantage of this fantastic offer.

For starters you will get a 50ml Dermalogica Multi-Active Toner that is perfect for your gym bag or in your desk at work. Made from a blend of skin-repairing Aloe as well as soothing Lavender, Balm Mint and Arnica this toner is free from artificial fragrances and colours which means it can be used on all skin types. Simply spray onto your face and neck after cleansing and your skill will feel hydrated and soft and will be ready to really absorb your moisturiser.

This free gift will give you the chance to try out the stunning Dermalogica Stress Positive Eye Lift. This high-performance eye treatment doubles as a masque and however you use it, it energises the skin and helps to reduce the visible signs of stress. Wild Indigo Seed Extract brightens the skin by increasing under-eye luminosity, improving skin tone and it also helps deal with dark circles – we like that! Sea Water and Artic Algae deal with those pesky bags and wrinkles while Hyaluronic Acid deals with hydration so you have happy eyes once again! Simply apply generously around the eye area using the fab, cooling massage applicator, leave on for around five minutes and either massage in any excess product after that time or gently remove with a clean tissue.

At Pure Beauty we love the Dermalogica Skin Perfect Primer SPF30 and are so pleased it is a part of this free gift because it means you get to see how good it is too. Perfect for drier or prematurely-ageing skin, this is a real ‘go to’ primer if you want a flawless, dewy looking finish. Helping to smooth away fine lines, this product brightens your skin and prepares it for your make-up, if you are going to wear it . Velvety silicones have been mixed with Soy Protein which together help to even out skin texture so your face looks and feels smooth. Pearl Powder and earth minerals offer a neutral tint that further helps skin tone as well as enhancing luminosity and radiance. In addition, Titanium Dioxide and Zinc Oxide give you Broad-Spectrum UVA and UVB protection but this doesn’t leave your skin dry, sticky or chalky, which has to be an added bonus? You can wear this over your toner and moisturiser for a natural day time look or use it under make-up for a really professional finish, but either way we think you will be so impressed by the results you will be using it on a regular basis.

So, what are you waiting for? Go fill up your basket and wait for your free goodies to hit your doorstep!

For details about this offer, as well and terms and conditions, go to the website, and we are of course always happy to help with more information so you can make the right choices for your skin.

Team Pure-Beauty

Bake a cake and be happy

Tags

baking, beauties, butter, cakes, caster sugar, chocolate, cloth, cocoa powder, cool, creations, crisp, cup cake, decorate, drizzle, dusted, eggs, even, fab, firm, free range eggs, golden brown, granulated sugar, grated orange, greased, icing, juice, kid, lemon curd, lemon drizzle, marzipan, minutes, mix, mixed, muffins, pale, paper cases, paste, pennies, pink, recipe, risen, roll out, sandwich, satisfying, self-raising flour, share, sift, slices of lemon, smooth, Special, sticky, Sunday afternoon, supermarket, topping, traditional, unsalted butter, wire rack, yellow Battenberg, zest

There is something relaxing about switching off, putting on your apron and baking a cake.

Yes, we know you can buy them for pennies in the shops, but making a batch of muffins or baking the perfect sponge is one of the most satisfying ways of spending Sunday afternoon and eating your creations is pretty special too.

We are big bakers here at Pure Beauty and today we are sharing a couple of our favourite tea time treats with you.

We have taken the traditional pink and yellow Battenberg and put a twist on it. This chocolate and orange version looks complicated but it is simply two flavoured sponge cakes cut into strips and wrapped in glorious marzipan.

Ingredients:
225g self-raising flour
1 tsp baking powder
225g caster sugar
225g butter, softened
4 large free range eggs, beaten
2 tsp finely grated orange peel
1 tbsp orange juice
1 tbsp cocoa powder mixed into a paste with 1 tbsp hot water
4 tbsp apricot jam, warmed
450g good quality marzipan

To start, pre-heat your oven to 180C/160C fan/Gas 4.

Sift the flour and baking powder into a large bowl then add the sugar, butter and eggs and beat until the mixture is pale, smooth and creamy. Divide the mixture into two bowls then fold the orange rind and juice into one and the blended cocoa powder into the other.

Spoon the mixture into two separate square cake tins and level the surface, make sure they are greased and we go for an 18cm tin.

Bake for 25-30 minutes until the cakes are risen and firm to the touch.

Cool for 5 minutes then place on a wire rack and leave to totally cool.

Trim the edges from each cake then cut each cake into four even-sized strips. Use a little of the jam to sandwich two of the chocolate strips of cake with two of the orange strips and this will create one chequered effect cake – it looks pretty fab!

Roll out half the marzipan on an icing sugar dusted surface and create an 18 x 30cm rectangle. Brush the top of the cake with jam and press this gently onto the marzipan. Brush the other sides of the cake with jam and wrap marzipan around all of the cake and crimp along the top edges of the cake with your fingertips – have a clean cloth ready for sticky fingers.

Repeat to make a second cake and serve with tea.

If you are more of a cup cake kind of kid, then how about these lemon drizzle beauties? For a dozen you will need:

175g unsalted butter, softened and at room temperature
175g golden caster sugar
175g self-raising flour
1 teaspoon of baking powder
3 large free range eggs
2 tablespoons of lemon curd
If you want to add the topping, you will need:
100g granulated sugar
The juice and grated zest of one, organic lemon – they taste the most zingy – and slices of lemon to decorate

To make you will need to preheat your oven to 180C / Fan 160C / Gas Mark 4 and line a 12 hole muffin tray with paper cases.

Put the butter, sugar, flour, baking powder and eggs in a bowl and whisk until pale and creamy then gently fold in the lemon curd.

Put the mixture into the muffin cases and bake for 15-20 minutes until the cakes have risen and are golden brown.

Whilst the cakes are baking, mix the granulated sugar and lemon juice and zest together and drizzle a little on each cake a couple of minutes after they have come out of the oven, put a slice of lemon on each one, then leave to cool so the topping goes crisp and enjoy at any time of the day.

Got a recipe you love? Send it our way and we might share with everyone else.

Team Pure Beauty