I don't really like apples. They are probably my least favourite fruit. Well, actually I don't like fruit too much. If I have a choice between vegetables and fruit, I'd definitely go for veggies. I'd rather eat a whole tomato or a cucumber than an apple or a pear. Still, not all fruit are so low on my list of favourites. I absolutely adore mangoes and I love juicy and perfectly ripe watermelon; I crave tangerines during winters and nectarines when it's warm. Apples, however, are rarely present on my kitchen counter. But I must admit, that when it comes to pies, apples are one of my favourite choices and they only come second to cherries. So, what a girl can do when she suddenly craves that apple pie taste, but has absolutely no desire to make a pie? A Baked Apple of course! Well, the "of course" part apparently is not that obvious as it turned out that some people have never even heard of such a thing as Baked Apple.

recipe for one serving

• Apple, washed and cored - 1
• Dates, pitted and chopped - 2
• Pecans, chopped - 1.5 table spoons
• Lemon juice - 1/2 lemon
• Brown sugar - 1/2 teaspoon
• Cinnamon - 1/4 teaspoon

- Preheat the oven to 180C (350F).
- Pour the lemon juice inside the apple.
- Mix the dates and pecans together.
- Place the nut mixture into the apple.
- Mix the sugar and cinnamon together, sprinkle on top of the filling.
- Place the apple in an ovenproof dish.
- Bake for around 30 minutes until the apple is soft and the skin is wrinkled.

It's been quite a long time since my last post here. I haven't been cooking much, but I recently started to get back into the groove. I made a few things and they turned out pretty great. I also got a new camera - Nikon D700, so I am extremely excited and can't wait to start cooking and taking pictures again.

I got this book called "Cakes & Loaves" a few months ago. I fell in love with the pictures of the cakes - so simple, so bright, so inviting and delicious. Later, while browsing through the recipes I was a little bit disappointed - it seemed like there were just a couple of basic recipes and the rest were just multiple variations of the same idea, just different additions and flavourings. I thought about returning the book, but the pictures were too inspirational and I left it on my shelf. That was more than six months ago and I completely forgot about this gem until last week. I picked up the book and rediscovered all the beautiful cakes again. One of them just screamed my name. Blue Cheese, Pear and Walnuts - what a perfect  and classic combination of ingredients. Salty, spicy cheese combined with soft, sweet pear and crunchy, earthy nuts. On top of all that, the cake is very easy to make, all the ingredients just need to be combined and baked - no whipping, melting, resting, separating, etc. needed.

recipe adapted from "Cakes & Loaves" by Ilona Chovancova

• Blue cheese, crumbled (such as Roquefort) - 125 g
• Pear, peeled and chopped into 1x1cm cubes - 1 
• Walnuts, coarsely chopped - 60 g
• Eggs - 3
• Milk - 100 ml
• Walnut oil - 3 tablespoons
• Olive oil - 3 tablespoons
• Flour - 1 1/2 cups
• Baking powder - 1 tablespoon
• Sugar - 2 teaspoons
• Mild Cheddar, grated - 100 g
• Salt, pepper

- Preheat the oven to 180C (350F).
- Butter and flour the cake pan.
- In a big bowl mix together eggs, milk and both oils.
- Add the rest of the ingredients and mix just until it all comes together and no flour is visible. make sure that the filling is evenly distributed through the batter.
- Transfer the batter into the cake pan and bake for 50 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted into the middle of the cake comes out clean with no crumbs.
- Cool the cake in the pan.

Comments
- You may omit the sugar, I just like the combination of salty and sweet and I think the batter becomes to plain without it.
- Blue cheese should be strong since there are so many other ingredients in the cake. Milk blue cheese would be lost in it.
- This cake goes amazingly well with Strong Cider.