Snow day: 15 cakes, bakes and cosy dinners to keep you warm in a cold snap

Come in from the cold and cook up a snow day feast 

Derval O'Rourke's slow cooker stew tastes even better the next day

Whether you woke up to a light dusting of snow or a full-on blizzard, one thing is for certain. A snow day sees us return to dishes that provide comfort and cosiness. From banana bread to the perfect chicken casserole, from warming soup to chocolate chip cookies, read on for our perfect snow day recipes.

Old-fashioned apple tart

recipe by:Michelle Darmody

With a flaky, buttery, golden crust and tender apples flavoured with orange zest, who could resist this afternoon delight?

Servings

8

Preparation Time

 1 hours 15 mins

Cooking Time

 30 mins

Total Time

 1 hours 45 mins

Course

 Baking

Ingredients

• 225g flour

• 1 pinch of salt

• 140g cold butter, cut into cubes

• 55g caster sugar

• 1 egg, lightly beaten

• 3 large cooking apples, peeled, cored and roughly sliced

• ½ tbsp golden brown sugar, to taste

• zest of 2 oranges

Method

1. Mix the flour and salt together and rub in the cold butter until it looks like rough breadcrumbs, do not over mix.

2. Stir the sugar into the egg, mix it lightly until it begins to dissolve. Add this to the flour with a fork.

3. Bring everything together with your hands then rest the pastry for an hour in the fridge or overnight.

4. Heat oven to 200°C and prepare a 7inch round tin.

5. Roll out half the pastry to fit the base of the tin. Place the apple slices on the base, sprinkle with the sugar and zest.

6. Roll the remaining pastry and gently lay it on top. Pinch the pasty in ridges towards the centre. Dampen the edge of the base pastry with cold water to seal, press it into the pastry from the base and trim any excess. Cut a cross in the very centre of the top.

7. Bake for 30-35 minutes until golden on top and the apples have completely softened.