Cat Sheppard
Cat has been teaching cookery for more than ten years, previously running a cookery school in Berkshire for Mike Robinson on Game and Wild Food which opened in 2007. Later she moved on to work for the Children’s Food Trust on the Let’s Get Cooking programme, which trained and set up over 7,000 cookery clubs across England, reaching over 3 million children.
Cat ran the London region for over seven years, working with schools, children’s centres, community centres and further education colleges. She built relationships and sponsorship with a number of large corporate organisations including Tesco, and went on to work with them to run cookery courses, teaching thousands more children basic cooking skills in store.
Now based in the world-famous ski resort of Verbier, Switzerland, Cat partnered up with Amy Corbett to open the Mountain Thyme Cookery School in 2017. Their love of teaching and passing on their hard-won skills to the next generation is evident. Also catering to the rich & famous as well as running a home-made ready-meal delivery service, they plan to expand to other Swiss resorts in the very near future.
Video Description
Mountain Thyme Cookery School based in Verbier, Switzerland, invites you into their classroom with these online lessons in cooking and baking.
In this episode Chef Cat Sheppard shows us how to make her delicious apple streusel muffins. Gluten free, simple and easy, these are the perfect treat to make when you're in need of something sweet.
INGREDIENTS:
150g sour cream
150g ground almonds
150g gluten-free plain flour
2 tsp gluten-free baking powder
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp xantham gum
½ tsp salt
150g butter, soft
125g caster sugar
3 eggs
150g apple, peeled, cored and chopped into chunks
Topping: 65g soft light brown sugar
2 tbsp gluten-free plain flour 25g cold butter
50g nuts, chopped (hazelnuts, almonds, pecans)
METHOD
Pre-heat the oven to 180°C. Line a 12 hole muffin tin with muffin cases.
First make the streusel topping. Combine the sugar and the flour, then cut cold butter in and rub-in until it resembles fine breadcrumbs. Add the chopped nuts and set aside.
In a large bowl, combine the dry ingredients (except the sugar).
Using an electric whisk, cream the butter with the sugar until it is pale and fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. It should look like mayonnaise. Add the flour alternately with the sour cream, folding gently to mix together. Fold in the apple chunks.
Divide the mixture into the 12 muffin tins, being careful not to over-fill as they will rise and have less structure than “normal” muffins. Place a spoonful of streusel topping on each one.
Bake for 15 - 20 minutes, and cool on a cooling rack (or the muffin cases go soggy).
