Little Party Nibbles: Mini Apple Sponge Cakes

My sister is having a few parties in NZ this month. And as I am 8,961 miles away  (14,421 km) I am not sure I can make it.  So I am going to join in by sending her a couple of my favourite party nibble recipes.  Though I never called them parties, we had gatherings.

Mini Apple Sponge cakes have a pastry base, unsweetened apple centre and sponge on top. The tart apple hits the sweet sponge with a crunch of pastry. Perfect.   I make them in the tiniest muffin tins you can find. In fact the tins I use are little round metal chocolate moulds. Very small. 

My rules with nibbles are:  You only have One hand for the food!  Think about it.  The other  hand is obviously going to be in possession of some kind of sensational sparkly beverage!   So nibbles must be little.  They must NOT be explosive (you know the ones) . And they should be small enough to pop into your mouth without overflow because juggling a drink, a bite, a plate and a napkin is not going to work. The drink always wins.

Make or buy some flaky pastry. Line your greased tins with little circlets of the pastry.  Cover in a barely damp cloth and store in the fridge.  Make little tiny leaves or shapes with your left over pastry, wrap these in a damp cloth and store in the fridge as well.

Cook 4 granny smith apples in a tiny bit of water until they fall apart then roughly mash with a fork. Allow to cool. Often I do this the night before. It is easier if the apple is cold. Do NOT sweeten.  The sponge does that for you. And no cinnamon either. Let that poor apple be!

Sponge:

• 125g (4 oz) butter
•  1/2 cup sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup flour
• 1tsp baking powder

Beat butter and sugar until fluffy. Add eggs one at a time. Fold in flour and baking powder.

Now  spoon a little apple sauce into the pastry. Place a small dollop of sponge on top of that (be careful not to overfill) and then top with a tiny hat of pastry. I glaze the little hat with apricot sauce or egg. Work fast so that your pastry does not get warm.

Cook at 200C or 380F  for 20 minutes. 

These can be made the day before and stored in an airtight container. 

Their shapes come out somewhat random.  But tasty.  I would make them more often but this lot just eat them. Just eat them without thought!  Snap. Gobble. Swallow. Gone!!

Maybe I should have put a guard on them.

c