Corner Cottage Bakery

Lemon, White Chocolate & Black Pepper Muffins

2012-03-05T18:42:00.001Z

I made these to take to Homemade by You, a bake club set-up by the lovely Fleur of Homemade by Fleur.

I've previously mentioned the heartbreak at Kchocolat going bust. Their Lemon, White Chocolate and Black Pepper bars were delicious and this flavour combination has stuck with me. Ive translated this combination into muffins. Soft lemony sponge, sweet white chocolate and the gentle heat of black pepper.

Ingredients
200gr golden caster sugar
340gr self raising flour
Grated zest and juice of two large unwaxed lemons
2 medium eggs
250ml milk
80ml light olive oil
100gr white chocolate chips
1/2 tsp coarsely ground black pepper

Method
1, Preheat oven to 200o/c and line 12 muffin holes with paper cases
2, Sift the flour into a large bowl. Scoop out a heaped teaspoon of the flour and set aside. Whisk through the sugar to keep it light and airy.
3, In a separate bowl, beat the eggs, zest and juice, milk and olive oil together.
4, Make a well and pour this onto your flour and sugar. Stir gently until just combined.
5, Toss the chocolate chips in the flour you reserved earlier, shake off the excess and fold through your batter with the black pepper. You'll have quite a runny batter at this point.
6, Pour into your lined muffin cases and bake for 25 minutes until risen and golden, and an inserted skewer comes out clean.

I finished them off with a simple glaze made with icing sugar and lemon juice

Homemade by You - Bake Club

2012-03-04T22:56:00.001Z

Two years ago I never thought I would be immersed in such a diverse community that is based around a single love of food. And for me - one of the perks of food blogging is meeting people that wouldn't normally.

Homemade by You is a baking club founded by Fleur of Homemade by Fleur and I, luckily, living in the next town along from her - had the pleasure of attending. You can read Fleur's right up of Homemade by You here.

Here are some of the goodies that people brought along. I was lovely being able to talk to people face to face about their cakes, learn new decorating and baking techniques and hear the story behind them.

The impressive spread!

Fleur's gorgeous Chocolate, Banana and Honeycomb loaf

No Bake Chocolate Cake, Chocolate Guiness Cake and Gateau au Chocolate Micro-Ondes (a beautiful microwaved chocolate cake!)

The piping and roses on these cupcakes are just so sweet!

Beautiful mini chocolate cheesecakes. Jim - probably the worlds number one cheesecake fan - loved the one I got to bring home with me!

My Lemon, White Chocolate and Black Pepper Muffins - Recipe will be posted tomorrow!

We Should Cocoa: Mushroom and Stilton Tatin with Chocolate & Port Sauce

2012-02-25T20:35:00.001Z

This month's We Should Cocoa is hosted by Choclette at Chocolate Log Blog. Last month's incredibly healthy round up by Chele at Chocolate Teapot can be found here.

Choclette has challenged us to create something savoury that includes chocolate. And then raised the gambit by stating that it had to be vegetarian. Only around 50% of our meals contain meat but pairing most of the vegetarian meals I have cooked in the past with chocolate... Well... They just wouldn't work.

I looked around for savoury recipes involving chocolate and I got wave upon wave of roasted venison loins, slow cooked meaty chillis and bacon. Bacon dipped in chocolate. The true earthy nature of chocolate seemed to lend itself to those meaty, rich flavours. Pairing chocolate with celery or cucumber wasn't going to work for what I had planned. Pairing it with strong blue cheese and meaty nutty mushrooms and rich port, however did.

Ingredients
1 large onion
250gr chestnut mushroom
100ml port (or red wine)
20gr dark chocolate
200gr Stilton
1 sheet of ready rolled puff pastry (you won't need all of this)

Method
1, Preheat your oven to 200o/c.
2, Slice the onions (See N.B) and cook in 1tbsp of olive oil and a small pinch of sea salt over a medium low heat until they just loose their rigidity. Crank up the heat and stir in the mushrooms and cook them until they are just cooked and starting to go golden.
3, Pour in the port and grate in the chocolate and simmer until the sauce has thickened so it just coats the onions and mushrooms.
4, Crumble half the stilton into a pie dish, trying to keep it chunky and add the cooked onion and mushrooms. Leave this too cool a little or we'll be heading for soggy pastry.
5, Unroll and trim your puff pastry to fit the pie dish and snuggle the edges down the sides. Bake for 10 minutes until the pastry is golden and puffed up.
6, Invert onto a plate, crumble on the rest of the Stilton, cut and serve.

N.B - I'm lucky I got this one out. If you lose the guard on your mandolin, don't use it. I currently am missing a couple millimetres off the tip (and a portion of my nail bed) thanks to my own stupidity. It didn't hurt as much as I thought it would but it bled. Heavily. (Luckily, I'm assured by the triage nurse that it'll grow back! I'm like a starfish!) Be careful you beautiful bunch!

Thanks to Jim who did the rest of the cutting for this dish after our little trip to A&E. And for the Twix. He's bloody brilliant. ('Scuse the pun...)

Crêpe Cake

2012-02-21T15:07:00.001Z

I made a chocolate mousse. As I poured it into the bowl that it was destined to chill in, I realised that I had made, maybe, a bit too much mousse for a household that is made up of two adults and two cats. Cats don't eat mousse. Mouse. Maybe. Mousse. No.

I decided I could serve the mousse with pancakes. Then I remembered at the back of my favourite recipe book, there was a recipe for a crêpe cake.

So whilst my offering for Pancake Day may have an identity crisis (am I a pudding? Am I a cake?) I would definitely recommend trying this. I love how the layers of crêpe and chocolate give it a stripy effect, much like a baumtorte.

Ingredients

The Mousse
200gr dark chocolate
4 eggs, separated
Small splash of liqueur (optional - I used ameretto)
100ml double cream, whipped lightly

The Crêpes
4 eggs
150ml milk
150ml water
1tbsp olive oil
250gr plain flour, sifted
Small pinch of salt

Method

1, Start making the mousse by melting the chocolate in a heatproof bowl over a saucepan of simmering water. Whilst the chocolate is melting, whip the egg whites to a medium soft peak and set to one side. When the chocolate is fully melted remove from the heat and beat in the egg yolks, liqueur and a pinch of salt.
2. Fold through a couple of large dollops of the whipped eggs whites to loosen the mixture before folding through the double cream and finally the remainder of the egg whites. Using a cutting and folding technique with a spatula until there are no visible heavy white streaks of egg whites. Pour into a bowl, cover with clingfilm and pop in the fridge to set.
3, Whilst the mousse is cooling, make the crêpes by gently heating a non stick frying pan and wiping it with a little melted butter on a piece of kitchen towel. Beat the eggs, milk and water together in a mixing bowl and sift in the flour. Whisk until you have a smooth, lumpless batter.
4, Make the crêpes by pouring around 60ml of batter (I used a 1/4 cup US measuring cup to do this) into the frying pan and swirl to spread the batter as much as possible. Cook gently until there is no raw batter on the surface of the crêpe, flip it and cook it for a couple of seconds before sliding onto a dinner plate. Layer the hot crêpes between sheets of baking parchment to stop them sticking and repeat until you run out of batter. I used 18 crêpes for my cake. The first one is always duff and a couple got taste tested. These need to cool completely before spreading the mousse between them or else it'll melt and leave you with a big sticky pile.
5, When everything has cooled and you're ready to construct your cake, simply lay down a crêpe, spread a dollop of mousse on it, top with another crêpe and repeat. When the crêpe cake is completed, pop it in the fridge for a couple of hours to chill before slicing.

Disclaimer
This is quite a rich and heavy thing to eat. I was defeated by ONE slice. Lighten it up with plenty of fresh fruit.

"Cats don't eat mousse"

Happy Valentine's Day

2012-02-14T16:46:00.001Z

Hidden Kisses

2012-02-14T07:55:00.001Z

Things that regularly hide from me-

1. The vegetable peeler, apple corer and the safety guard off my mandolin (I think they are in kitchen utensils cahoots together)
2. Devil cat’s fur brush. And considering she is 90% fur and 10% pure hate she needs it done regularly, lest we suffer her wrath when it comes to clipping out knots.
3. The lids off every can of hairspray I have ever bought in my life.
4. My left mitten

But I’m taking the power back. Two can play that game.

Original recipe from Hersheys.com

Ingredients
20 Hershey's Kisses (unwrapped)
125gr butter
65gr golden caster caster sugar
75gr soft dark brown sugar
1/2tsp almond extract
130gr plain flour
50gr chopped nuts

Method
1, Preheat your oven to 190o/c and line a baking sheet with baking parchment.
2, In a bowl of a stand mixer, cream together the butter, both sugars and almond extract.
3,Sift in the flour and add the nuts and mix until you have gravelly looking crumbs that form a dough when pinched together.

4, Take a heaped dessert spoon of the mixture and squeeze it gently in your hands to form a ball. Push a Hershey's Kiss into it and mould the dough around it so it is completely covered. Repeat until you have covered all of the kisses.
5, Bake for 10 minutes and remove from the oven. Cool the cookies on the baking sheet as they are quite delicate when they are hot.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Plumble Cake

2012-02-10T07:37:00.002Z

I know. Plum Crumble Cake would probably have been a better name for this cake.

Following on in a similar vein to a blackberry crumble cake I made a while ago, I had some wilty looking golden plums that were destined for a cakey domain. This is a great way to use up little bits of fruit you have laying around.

Ingredients

Cakey Base
125gr butter
125gr golden caster sugar
2 eggs
1/2tsp vanilla extract
125gr self raising flour
1tsp baking powder

4 plums, destoned and cut into 8ish segments

Crumble Topping
40gr plain flour
40gr dark soft brown sugar
25gr ground almonds
15gr cold butter

Method
1, Preheat your oven to 170o/c and grease or line a deep 30cm by 19cm baking tin.
2, Beat together the butter and sugar until very pale and fluffy. Gradually beat in the eggs with a tablespoon of the flour to stop it curdling. Mix in the vanilla extract.
3, Sift in the rest of the flour and add the baking powder and fold in gently. Pour this into your prepared tin and scatter (or very neatly, depending on preference) the plums.
4, Gently rub the crumble topping ingredients together with your fingertips until they reach a breadcrumb like consistency. Scatter this liberally over the top of your cake.
5, Bake for 25-30minutes or until golden brown. Cool on a wire rack before slicing with a sharp knife.

Brunch: Snowy Eggs

2012-02-05T11:24:00.001Z

Eggs on a cloud? Nah, Snowy Eggs!

Ingredients
For Two
2 slices of bread
2 eggs
Two large pinches of finely chopped coriander
Small pinch of dried chilli flakes
Salt and pepper

Method
1, Preheat your oven to 175C, toast the bread lightly on both sides and place on a lined baking tray
2, Separate your eggs gently, keeping the yolks intact and whisk the egg whites until soft to medium peaks.
3, Stir through the coriander, chilli and season to taste.
4, Spoon the fluffy whites onto the toast and make a well in each. Gently slide the yolks into the dips.
5, Bake the eggs for 10-12 minutes until the egg whites are hot through. Serve immeditely.

I'm entering this eggy delight into the Breakfast Club, the brainchild of Helen at Fuss Free Flavours and this month is being hosted by Karen at Lavender & Lovage.

Lemon and Blueberry Buttermilk Cake

2012-02-03T19:51:00.000Z

I once had a dream where I lived in a house made of cake. It was a tourist attraction and I was fighting a losing battle with sneaky people eating things. Like walls. I remember I 'escorted someone from the premises' because they took a bite out of my sofa.

If that dream were real, this cake would be carved into my bed. I would happily sleep in a bed made of this cake. It's so light, fluffy and moreish. I love how the blueberries stain the cake, little flecks of yellow lemon zest peak through and the icing glaze adds a tingle of sweetness.

Original recipe from here

Ingredients

250gr self raising flour

1/2 tsp baking powder

Small pinch of salt

125gr unsalted butter, room temperature

175gr caster sugar

3 eggs

200ml buttermilk

Finely grated zest of two medium sized unwaxed lemons

150gr blueberries

Juice of one of the lemons and icing sugar for the glaze

Method

1, Preheat your oven to 180o/c. Grease and flour, or spray with cake release, a 25cm round bundt tin.

2, Sift the flour, baking powder and salt together and set to one side

3, Cream the butter and sugar together until pale and fluffy.

4, Beat in the eggs with a couple of tablespoons of the flour to stop it splitting.

5, Beat in the buttermilk and lemon zest

6, Fold in the rest of the flour mixture until combined and then fold in the blueberries

7, Pour evenly into your bundt tin and bake for 25 to 30 minutes until risen, golden and an inserted skewer comes out clean

8, Mix the lemon juice with enough icing sugar to form a glace icing that is about the consistency of double cream.

9, Invert the warm cake onto a cooling rack and using a pastry brush, paint and cover the entire cake in the icing. Leave to cool and then drizzle on the remaining icing.

Peanut Butter Marshmallow Blondies

2012-01-29T09:09:00.003Z

If I had started a new exercise and diet regime as a new year’s resolution, these would have made me fall off that horse. Hard.

As if white chocolate and peanut butter wasn’t enough, a liberal sprinkling of mini marshmallows add a little bit of chew. A hybrid blondie that will satisfy Cake Fudgy and Camp Cakey when it comes to texture but tastes even better the next day.

Based on this recipe

Ingredients
175g unsalted butter
100g white chocolate , roughly chopped
100gr peanut butter
300g golden caster sugar
3 large eggs
200g plain flour
¼ tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla extract
50gr mini marshmallows

Method
Preheat your oven to 160o/c and line or grease a deep 30cm by 19cm roasting tin
1, Melt the butter and bring it to a gentle simmer in a small saucepan. Remove from the heat and add in the white chocolate and peanut butter, gently stir until melted and leave to cool.
2, In a large bowl, sift the sugar and flour together.
3, Gently beat the eggs and combine with the butter/chocolate mix with the vanilla extract and salt.
4, Fold the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and pour into your prepared tin.
5, Scatter the marshmallows on top and bake for 35 minutes or until golden and an inserted skewer comes out almost clean.
6, Cool and cut into squares.

Brunch: Eggs in a Basket

2012-01-22T11:22:00.002Z

Recipe from here. I topped ours with ham and spinach too.

Slow Cooker Steamed Lemon Pudding

2012-01-17T20:39:00.001Z

It's not unusual that the weather has an effect on what people want to eat. I, personally wouldn't go about gulping down gazpacho and icy lemon sorbet on a cold day. So when I nipped into the garden to round up the felines, noticed a proper ground frost and truly felt wintery, I immediately wanted something warming, something verging on comforting.

A quick kitchen survey and a root through a good cookbook left me with this steamed lemon pudding, conveniently done in a slow cooker.

Based on a recipe from this book

Ingredients
3tbsp honey
65gr soft unsalted butter
65gr caster sugar
1 egg
100gr self raising flour
Zest of 1 lemon
2tbsp milk
Pinch of fine table salt
1tbsp brandy

Method
1, In a 1.3lb/600ml pudding basin, spray the inside of it with cake release spray or butter and then shake a little flour around inside it. Pour the honey into the bottom and set to one side.
2, Turn on your slow cooker to high and pour half an inch of boiling into the bottom.
3, In a mixing bowl beat together the butter and sugar until pale and creamy, beat in the eggs and the gently fold in the flour.
4, Add the lemons zest, milk, salt and brandy and stir until you have a soft batter.
5, Pour the batter into your prepared pudding basin and cover with a sheet of parchment and a sheet of foil. Make a pleat in the top to allow for expansion and tie with string.
6, Put this into the slow cooker and pour in more boiling water until it comes to halfway up the side of the pudding basin.
7, Secure the lid and forget about it for two and a half hours. You don't need to check on the water levels unlike the traditional steaming methods as the slow cooker will keep it all self contained.
8, Check the pudding is cooked by inserting skewer and checking it comes out clean. Invert onto a plate and serve hot

We Should Cocoa: Baked French Toast

2012-01-13T22:26:00.001Z

This month's We Should Cocoa is hosted by Chele over at the Chocolate Teapot. She has challenged us to make something healthy for the new year. You can see the orange round up here.

I'm not going to lie to you. You already know that the word 'healthy' doesn't actually feature around here much. Cake, brownies, fudge, tarts, more cake, big cake, small cake, cakes made from soup, more brownies, donuts, and biscuits... And you would think that I am the size of a house. But I'm not.

The rest of the time, when I'm not knee deep in butter, I eat pretty healthily. Apart from the odd sneaky takeaway and swift meals out (drifts off into MEATliquor daydream), all our food is cooked from scratch at home. I cant actually tell you the last time I ate a ready meal. I run three times a week and take pole dancing lessons too. I simply believe in moderation. And I dont launch myself into a self loathing hate spiral if I demolish a packet of jaffa cakes. Stuff happens. Jaffa cakes happen. Deal with it.

I decided to take something that I love eating for brunch but limit myself on - French Toast - and try and healthy-it-up a bit. Baking rather than frying, egg whites only, fruit, very dark chocolate and some lovely seeded granary bread is the key. I based my recipe on this one, its perfect for a get ahead breakfast.

Serves 3-4

Ingredients
6 slices of wholemeal granary bread
3 eggs whites
250ml skimmed milk
2tbsp honey
1tsp vanilla extract
1 pear - cored and chopped into chunks
Small handful of raisins
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
25gr dark chocolate - roughly chopped

Method
1, Spray a by baking tin with cake release spray and set to one side
2, Cut off the side and bottom crusts of the bread and chop these into small bite size chunks and put the chunks in a bowl and leave the slices to one side.
3, In a bowl or jug beat together the egg whites, skimmed milk, honey and vanilla extract until well combined.
4, Add the pear, raisins, ground cinnamon and dark chocolate into the bowl with the bread crust chunks and toss together until well combined.
5, Arrange the bread slices in the tin, interspersing with the dry pear/raisin/bread/etc mix.
6, Pour over the milk mixture evenly and cover with clingfilm. Pop this in the fridge for a anything over 8 hours. I left mine overnight.
7, Take the french toast out of the fridge and preheat your oven to 160o/c. Replace the clingfilm with foil and bake for 30mins covered. Then remove the foil and bake for a further 10 minutes until golden brown and piping hot through.
8, Cut into slices and serve.

Brown Butter Banana Bread

2012-01-04T21:53:00.001Z

Our decorations came down early. Baubles wrapped carefully, pinecones buffed between layers of bubble wrap. Ribbon wreaths carefully laid down with ornaments snuggled in their hollows.

I admit, the cottage felt empty. The cats are visibly annoyed that the tree has been cut into three, bagged and awaiting a trip to the Christmas tree farm in the sky.

Maybe the emptiness influenced the things that started to come out of the kitchen. A big hearty vegetable gratin, a burgundy beef stew with horseradish dumplings and this banana bread. Smells filled the void. The smell of browning butter has been my favourite one to envelope the empty space.

Based on this recipe

Ingredients
75gr butter
120gr golden caster sugar
225gr plain flour
2tsp baking powder
Small pinch of salt
2 eggs
4 ripe medium sized bananas

Method
Preheat oven to 160o/c
1, In a small saucepan, melt the butter and then simmer it, very gently until it takes on a golden brown hue. Nutty and fragrant, not black and bitter, is what you're aiming for. Pop this to one side to cool a little.
2, Sift the sugar, flour and baking powder together in a large bowl.
3, In a smaller bowl, mash the bananas until you have a chunky paste, and stir in the eggs and the browned melted butter.
4, Add the wet ingredients to the dry ones and fold gently to combine into a smooth batter.
5, Pour into a well greased 1lb loaf tin and bake for 40-50 minutes until rise, golden and an inserted skewer comes out clean. Transfer onto a wire cooling rack. Sneak a warm slice.

Preserved Clementines

2011-12-30T15:41:00.001Z

There is an old saying, which you probably all are familiar, which goes 'When life gives you lemons, make lemonade'.

I'm thinking of starting a new one that says 'When life gives you 1.5kg of clementines, freak out, Google, and ask The Oracle, that is Twitter, what the hell you should do with them'.

One suggestion that really stood out (as well the idea of making a clementine sauce for desserts, which is next on my food hit list) was preserving slices of clementine in sweet sugar syrup (Thanks Susan!). The uses for them then looked endless from my clementine tunnel vision point of view.

Unlike some preserved fruit, theses arent heavy. Or too boozy. Instead they boast a cleansing, freshness that is often sought around this time of year. I love how they glisten, fat from sugar syrup.

You can also preserve them whole, Kavey from Kavey Eats posted a delicious looking photo of her whole ones on Twitter. I suggest you go and have a good look (and good dribble) over her blog.

Ingredients
7-9 small firm clementines
125ml honey
200gr caster sugar
5 cardamom pods
3 cloves
25ml triple sec (optional)

Method
1, Cut the tops and bottoms off the clementines and discard the ends. Cut each clementine into three or four thick slices and set aside.
2, Set a medium sized saucepan over a medium heat and add in the honey and sugar. Add in 250ml of water and stir to dissolve the sugar.
3, When the sugar has dissolved, gently slide in the clementines and increase the heat to a boil. Try not to poke around too much as they are quite fragile. Pop in the cardamom pods, cloves and triple sec.
4, Lower the heat a little and simmer for 10-15minutes.
5, Transfer the saucepan contents into a heatproof jug or bowl, cover tightly and leave to sit overnight
6, Fish out the cloves and cardamom and discard.
7, Decant into sterilised jars and use within three months.

We Should Cocoa: Chocolate Orange Fudge

2011-12-24T17:18:00.001Z

This month We Should Cocoa is hosted by Choclette from Chocolate Log Blog and she has picked orange as the special ingredient. You can see the gorgeous apple round up here.

I think I'm with the majority of associating orange and chocolate with that British classic, a Terry's chocolate orange. Not a year goes past where one isnt snuck into the house or attempted to be flogged by the side of a till when you're doing your Christmas shopping. Christmas just wouldn't be Christmas without one. I've loved reading some peoples memories associated with them .And if you can eat and entire one in under 2 mins 39.5 seconds, you should call the world record people.

As well as making marshmallows, I also made some delicious fudge as I had my sugar thermometer out. However, there wasn't much fudge left after "quality control" took place.

Original recipe from here

Ingredients
300ml milk
350gr caster sugar
100gr butter
Finely grated zest and juice of one orange
50gr dark chocolate
Gold and silver sprinkles (optional)

Method
1, Place all the ingredients, except the orange zest, chocolate and sprinkles, in a large heavy based saucepan and place over a medium heat.
2, Stir the ingredients until they have melted, clip on a sugar thermometer and carry on gently stirring until you hit 115o/c
3, Remove from the heat and let it stand for 5 minutes
4, Add in the orange zest and start beating the fudge with a wooden spoon until it looses it's shine and thickens up.
5, Transfer the fudge to an 18cm square tin that has either been lined with cling film or sprayed lightly with cake release. I used a silicone cake tin that I had spritzed very lightly with oil.
6, Smooth the top with a damp spoon and leave to set in a cool place.
7, When your fudge has set, melt the chocolate and spread across the fudge. Sprinkle with some festive sprinkles and cut.

Peppermint Marshmallows

2011-12-21T21:28:00.004Z

There is one thing I always struggle with at Christmas and that is Christmas cards. I'll inevitably forget to post them, forget someone off the list, forget I've left them in the Tardis that is my handbag and find them in February or spend ages trying to pick the right ones (nothing too cute, rude or "funny" - and I use the term "funny" very loosely...)

So for the past 4 years, I've lightened the load and made small bags of edible goodies for those who would inevitably miss out on a card due to my sheer tardiness. I've done popcorn, truffles, gingerbread, biscotti, meringue, macarons and cookies in the past but anything small, that keeps relatively well can be bagged.

Like these marshmallows...

Recipe from here

Ingredients
120ml cold water
23gr (two pouches) powdered gelatine
160ml golden syrup
440ml caster sugar
1tsp peppermint extract
Red food colouring (optional)
Vegetable oil for greasing
Couple of tablespoons of cornflour and icing sugar mixed together.

Method
1, Put the water and gelatine into the bowl of your stand mixer and leave to sponge while you make your sugar syrup.
2, Add the sugar and golden syrup into a medium sized saucepan and add enough cold water to cover it.
3, Turn the heat to low and stir until the sugar melts.
4, Using a damp pastry brush remove any rogue sugar crystals from the edge of the pan. You don’t want these falling in as it might trigger the syrup to crystallise. Turn the heat up high
5, Bring the syrup to a boil and continue to heat it until it reaches 130o/c on a sugar thermometer. Remove from the heat and leave to one side for a minute.
6, Turn your stand mixer on and slowly pour the hot sugar syrup into the bowl. Be careful not to hit the spinning whisk.
7, Beat until it goes white and fluffy and is the consistency of sticky bubblegum. This can take up a good few minutes and wont look very promising in the beginning but it will fluff up.
8, Whilst its beating, line an 10 inch square cake tin with greaseproof paper. Brush that lightly with vegetable oil and then dust with a little cornflour and icing sugar. Make sure you oil up the sides and dust those also.
9, When the marshmallow is ready, it will take on the consistency of really sticky bubblegum, beat in your peppermint extract, carefully pour it into the prepared tin. At this point you can drip on a couple of drops of red food colouring and swirl with a cocktail stick but that's entirely up to you. Leave for a little bit to dry before sifting a little more icing sugar.
10, Leave in a cool place for a couple of hours until it has set.
11, Cut into small squares and shake in more of the cornflour/icing sugar mixture. These will keep for around 2 weeks in an airtight container, or bag up and gift. I made 8 small bags plus extra for, erm, taste testing...

Brunch: Blackbirds

2011-12-18T12:20:00.001Z

Blow out comfort food. It reminds me of Girl Guide camp. But without the authentic grey smokey flavour that everything had because it was cooked over an open fire.

My defence is that I'm building up my winter layer of fat because the weather has finally turned nippy...

Ingredients
(Serves 2)
Four slices of bread
Blackcurrant jam (to taste)
1 egg
50ml milk
Vegetable oil for frying
Icing sugar for dusting

Method
1, Heat a little vegetable oil in a on stick frying pan over a medium heat
2, Make two jam sandwiches and cut in half, diagonally. Dont put too much jam in or they will explode in the pan.
3, Beat the egg and milk together and dip in the half sandwiches
4, Let some of the excess liquid drain off and carefully place them in the pan.
5, Fry until golden brown. Sprinkle with icing sugar, there's no turning back from the calories now. (Also, be careful the jam filling will be really hot)

Cranberry Mincemeat

2011-12-13T20:57:00.001Z

This is a variable drop into the mincemeat ocean, I'm sure you're all inundated with recipes for the stuff. It's based loosely on this Delia recipe, I hate chopped peel! Mine doesn't profess to be anything special. It doesn't have nuts in. But does have cranberries. Erm... That's about it...

But you want to hear something that is special? The smell of this cooking that fills you're house. Christmas in jar format. Plus, I wouldnt reserve this solely for mince pies... I have big plans for my jars of Christmas.

Ingredients
One massive cooking apple, or two small ones, cored and chopped finely.
400gr mixed dried fruit (mainly sultanas, raisins, currants)
100gr dried cranberries
100gr dried cherries
100gr vegetable suet
Zest and juice of a lemon, an orange and a lime
1 and 1/2tsp ground mixed spice
1/2tsp ground allspice
1/2 knob of nutmeg, grated
1/4tsp cinnamon
40ml rum, plus 25ml for adding before sealing the jars.

Method
1, In a large casserole dish, combine everything together and stir well, slap on the lid. Leave this for 12-18 hours in a cool place. Top of a double oven is great, not the fridge though.
2, When you're ready to go, take off the lid, stir it and cover loosely with foil. Put into your cold oven and turn the heat to 120o/c and leave for three hours.
3, After three hours, remove from the oven. Before you lift the lid, imagine that everything inside has actually been to a swanky spa and is currently indulging in a new liquid fat swimming regime. This is normal. Lift the lid and give it a stir. And leave to cool.
4, Pack into sterilised jars and add a little more rum on top.

We also recently did put up some of our Christmas decorations. This is out Christmas monkey.

Luci turns into a robot every time baubles are involved in her life... "Must. Kill. Baubles."

Baby Cake

2011-12-07T21:46:00.001Z

Before another wave of Christmas posts hits, I got the chance to make this as a respite. One of Jim's work colleagues is leaving to have a baby, and as you can see from the cake, they have chosen not to find out the sex!

This is simply a light lemon sponge, doused in lemon syrup and slathered with a crumb coat of lemon buttercream and covered in fondant.

Ingredients:

For the cake
250gr soft unsalted butter
250gr golden caster sugar
4 eggs
Grated zest of one unwaxed lemon
250gr self raising flour
1/2tsp baking powder

For the syrup
35ml water
30gr granulated sugar
Juice and zest of a lemon

For the buttercream
115gr soft unsalted butter
265gr icing sugar
1/2tsp good Sicilian lemon extract
Small splash of water

Method

1, To make the cake, beat together the butter and sugar until pale and fluffy. Beat in the eggs, zest and a tablespoon of flour to stop it splitting. When smooth, fold in the rest of the flour and baking powder.
2, Line and grease two seven inch sandwich tins and divide the batter between them. Bake in a preheated oven at 170o/c for 20-25 minutes or until golden brown and an inserted skewer cones out clean. Turn onto wire racks for cooling.
3, While the cake is cooking, prepare the syrup by heating the water and sugar in a small pan until boiling. Simmer for 3-4 minutes and then add in the lemon juice. Simmer for another minute. Leave this to cool.
4, Spoon a couple of tablespoons over the cakes when they are warm and leave until they are cold before icing.
5, Whip together the butter, icing sugar and lemon essence for the icing. Add a small splash of water if it needs it to bring it together and beat until pale and fluffy.
6, Spread the butter cream thickly on one cake and invert the other on top. Ice around and on top of the cake giving you a smooth base for the fondant. It doesn't matter if this looks crappy, bits of cake are showing or there are crumbs in the buttercream, this is the crumb coat for the fondant. Leave this to set for an hour or so.
7, When your ready to fondant it, cut a piece of fondant around 500gr. I alway white fondant and then colour it, unless I need black or brown fondant then it's easier (and cleaner!) to use ready coloured. I used these fab gel colours from Dr. Oetker, which were very kindly sent to me by Citizen Brando.
8, I didn't take step by step photos of the fondant when I did it, but if you find yourself in a sticky fondant situation, YouTube has great videos for showing how to cover a cake. The only tips I can give you is make sure the fondant is well kneaded and soft before use, don't douse it in icing sugar - this will make it dry out and the crack, roll it out bigger than you think you'll need and if it tears, it can be pinched and smoothed together.
9, Roll out a small piece of white fondant and cut circles, flowers or stars and stick them on with a little water either on a paintbrush or your finger.

Giant Yorkshire Pudding

2011-12-04T16:07:00.001Z

There are some days when you just feel the urge to make a Yorkshire pudding so big you could use it to either sail the English Channel or put your entire dinner in it and still have room to host a music festival.

Ok, so maybe it's not that big, but measuring in at a hefty 8 inch diameter, we're not playing games with this goliath. Here is how to do it:-

You will need 3 eggs (for two gargantuan Yorkshire puddings) flour and milk.

In a measuring jug, crack in your eggs. This recipe is done on ratios and since eggs vary in weight and size, volume is the key. Measure how many millilitres or fluid ounces, then add the same amount of milk, and the tip the same volume of flour on it too. Transfer to bowl, and whisk until smooth and season to taste. Pop this into the fridge.

Acquire two eight inch sandwich cake tins, and pour in 3tbsp of vegetable oil into each. Put straight into your cold oven and crank the heat up to 230o/c. When the oven has finished preheating, leave them for five minutes so the tins and oil gets very hot. When your ready to go, pour equal amounts of the batter into each tin. It will sizzle and may spit so do be careful.

Bake for 15 minutes until they are evenly golden brown and well risen. Hot pan, hot oven, hot oil is the key for these. Marvel at your handy work. Impress people with your Yorkshire pudding skills.

Food Bloggers Unplugged

2011-11-27T16:09:00.002Z

Thank you to Kate from What Kate Baked and Julia from Eat Healthy But Tasty for tagging me in Food Bloggers Unplugged - a new meme doing the rounds created by Susan, from A Little Bit of Heaven on a Plate.

So here goes...

1. What, or who inspired you to start a blog?

I used to upload all my cake/food photos onto a couple of online albums on Facebook as I had a temperamental laptop that refused to keep things in folders. I remember skipping back to a couple and thinking "now where did I put the recipe for that?" It was especially tricky when I had shared something and friends had commented on it, or asked me for the recipe. I dont write everything down and I thought online would be the easiest way to chronicle it all. It was only when I started my blog did I discover such a close and caring community.

2. Who is your foodie inspiration?

I love websites like Tastespotting and Foodgawker. Other bloggers are a huge and currently changing inspiration, I've bookmarked countless pages! Also the seasons impact heavily on my home cooking, along with eating locally produced fruit, veg and meat. It's really good to see Kentish stock in big supermarkets like Sainsburys.

3. Your greasiest, batter - splattered food/drink book is?

Sugar Baby by Gesine Bullock-Prado would be the most splattered if I didn't have an indescribable urge to keep my cookbooks well out of sight of boiling vats of sugar! If I'm using recipes off the Internet, I often stack my iPad up on the coffee machine so it is well out of reach of a wayward splash.

4. Tell us all about the best thing you have ever eaten in another country, where was it, what was it?

New York. September 2009. The day before my birthday and the morning of the day Jim proposed to me later in Central Park. A breakfast monolith called The Lumberjack (huge stack of thick fluffy American pancakes, sausages, bacon, eggs, love, melted butter and maple syrup). Metro Diner.

It was HUGE! I ate so much, I was convinced I was going blind. I'd go back to New York just to eat that again.

(Note:- We went back there again on one of the last days of our trip, and I thought I'd play it safe and order wholewheat waffles with yoghurt and fresh berries. Mistake. Just as big. But equally as delicious.)

5. Another food bloggers table you'd like to eat at is?

After reading other bloggers Food Blogger Unplugged memes, my mouth instantly watered at A Trifle Rushed signature dish answer...

6. What is the one kitchen gadget you would ask Santa for this year (money no object of course)?

Either an indoor smoker or someone to build me an outside wood burning pizza/bread oven. Or, if they came into mass production, one of these fridges. I wouldn't put it on the ceiling though as they mention. That's madness.

7. Who taught you how to cook?

My mum. The kitchen, easily being one of the smallest rooms in their house was (and still is whenever we have a family do!) always crowded. I love that. She is an amazing cook AND baker.

8. I'm coming to you for dinner what's your signature dish?

Without sounding big headed, I'm actually not a shabby cook. I love French food so probably a big cassoulet (with something confit-ed) followed by something outrageously calorific for dessert. We don't mention the C-word* in the cottage, it's deemed bad luck (*calories)

9. What is your guilty food pleasure?

Gherkins/pickles and mustard. Sometimes with each other. I'm vast quantities. That's a pretty tame guilty pleasure actually...

10. Reveal something about yourself that others would be surprised to learn?

If you've read any previous memes then you'll know I have a pea phobia and I take pole dancing lessons. Maybe you'd be surprised to learn that I'm taking an open water diving course with PADI. Jim and I are off to the Maldives on our honeymoon in under six months where we can dive to our hearts content. We've got two dive days at a local swimming pool, a theory test of sorts and then two open water dive days. Which Jim has kindly booked for April. In England. In some freezing lake. Thanks darling!

Now to pass it on! I struggled here a little, as a lot of the blogs I wanted to give to pass this onto, already have been tagged. So I could only really pass it onto Cookistry and Cornflower Kitchen. I've loved reading everyone else's Unplugged.

Let's Make Christmas: The Big Event

2011-11-20T21:26:00.004Z

After weeks of watching all the delicious things popping up all over the foodie blogosphere, the event 50 brilliant food bloggers had all been looking for took place on Friday 18th November at Fortnum & Mason.

Created by the gorgeous Vanessa Kimbell, Let's Make Christmas has given us the opportunity to actually meet bloggers face to face and discuss all things food and beyond.

Each of brought gifts to swap. I took along some Triple Ginger Cakes baked in Kilner jars, some Glittery Chilli Vodka and some little Meringue Nibbles. These are the laden gift tables, the baked one proving to be very popular!

After judging the entries, baking king Dan Lepard announced the winners. Congratulations to them all! Can't wait to see the recipes!

It was really lovely chatting to some new and old bloggers alike including Laura from Craftstorming, Julia from Eat Healthy But Tasty, Kate from Turquoise Lemons, Kate from What Kate Baked and Choclette from Chocolate Log Blog.

These are the gifts I received in the swap. Some lovely Blackberry Liqueur from A Trifle Rushed, some Table Truffles from What Kate Baked and some Christmas Feel Good Cookies from Cindy at Food for Thoughts. All of which, I can personally say are delicious. Jim was very impressed too!

Overall, it was a great day spent in great surroundings with even greater people. I honestly hope we can all meet up again very soon!

Brunch: Austrian Hash

2011-11-20T09:20:00.001Z

With colder mornings, my seasonal craving for stodge raises it's ugly head. Anything with carbs is unfortunately quarry. This delicious amalgamation of potatoes and sausage is right up my street.

Original recipe from here

Ingredients
Sunflower oil and a small knob of butter for frying
2 large potatoes, cut in medium sized chunks and parboiled
1/2 a red onion, diced
1/2 smoked pre-cooked sausage (like mathiesons) cut into thin slices
1/2 tsp caraway seeds
Small pinch of good smoked paprika
Very small pinch of dried chillis
Chopped parsley (to taste)
Salt and pepper
Fried eggs (for serving)

Method
1, In a large frying pan, add a couple of tablespoons of oil and the butter and fry off the potatoes, onions and sausage until they are golden. Try not to break up the potatoes too much.
2, Add in the spices and heat through until they start to smell very aromatic. Season to taste and add in the chopped parsley.
3, Top with fried eggs and tuck in!

Let's Make Christmas: Meringue Nibbles

2011-11-17T21:37:00.001Z

This is the third item I will be bringing to Vanessa Kimbell's Let's Make Christmas event at Fortnum & Mason on the 18th November. I have been following #letsmakechristmas on twitter and Im getting more and more excited about things that are popping up!

Three ingredients, a 100o/c oven and a little time will yield tiny nuggets of melt in the mouth wonder or crunch, dependant on how you want to eat them.

Ive always been fascinated by meringue. Those huge billowy clouds piped with fresh cream and topped with fruit behind the glass counters of bakeries stacked in front of eclairs and scones spilling out fillling. The hefty wedges of lemon meringue pie I fought one of my sisters over as a kid. And the unbridled joy of making meringue mushrooms in my own kitchen. Above the whirr of Rosie, my Kitchenaid, its near on impossible not to look into bowl and watch translucent egg whites turn foamy and then double up in size and turn a brilliant white. Piped into tiny rosettes these are perfect for satisfying a sweet tooth and perfect respite from cloying truffles and dipping your hand into that tin of Roses.

Ingredients

2 medium egg whites
100gr caster sugar
1/4 tsp white wine vinegar

Method

1, Preheat your oven to 100o/c (Gas Mark 1/4) and line two baking sheets with parchment paper
2, Place the egg whites into your stand mixer and beat the eggs until they start to turn foamy. Splash in the vinegar and crank up the speed.
3, Beat until they reach soft peaks, reduce the speed of the mixer to medium, and slowly spooning in the sugar allowing it to be fully mixed in before adding the next.
4, Beat the meringue until it turns bright white and a tiny bit rubbed between your fingers doesnt feel too grainy.
5, Spoon the meringue into a large piping bag fitted with a small star nozzle and pipe little dollops onto your baking sheet.
6, I also painted some red stripes up the inside of my piping bag with a little red food colouring to give some of them a little candy cane effect.
7, Bake for two hours and then turn the oven off and leave until completely cool. Store in an airtight container

Let's Make Christmas Glittery Chilli Vodka

2011-11-16T12:29:00.001Z

This is another one of the things I will be taking to Vanessa Kimbell's Let's Make Christmas event at Fortnum & Mason on the 18th November.

Oh, Christmas! How you tricked me into eating one more roast potato. And a mince pie. And to finish that pan of mulled wine. And then another mince pie. Nothing will fix the pain I'm in apart from a classic Bloody Mary. The punchier the better. This vodka is perfect for my favourite Bloody Mary recipe. And exceptionally easy to make!

Ingredients
350ml vodka
2 chillis (plus 1 extra whole one for presentation)
1/4 tsp red edible glitter (available from cake supply shops)

Method
1, Chop up your chillis finely and add them to the vodka. Give it a good shake and leave to infuse it's spicy kick for two to three hours. Longer if you dare.
2, Strain out the chilli bits, pop in the glitter and the whole chilli. Reseal and shake.
3, Soothe your hangover with a Bloody Mary.

Let's Make Christmas: Triple Ginger Cake in a Jar

2011-11-14T21:27:00.003Z

This is one of the things I will be taking to Vanessa Kimbell's Let's Make Christmas event at Fortnum & Mason on the 18th November. I'm really honoured to be invited and I'm really looking forward to it!

I'd saw the idea of baking cakes in jars on one of my favourite baking blogs. And was desperate to give it a go not only because it looks exceptionally cool but it would be easy to seal and transport. There was a lot of trial and error in finding a recipe that didn't shrink when cooled too much and that cooked through nice and evenly. It was also important that the cake didn't require icing and this gorgeous ginger cake was certainly a winner!

Original recipe from here

Ingredients
125gr butter
125gr soft brown sugar
125gr black treacle
150ml milk
1 egg
2 chunks of jarred ginger in syrup, chopped finely
1tbsp ginger syrup from the jarred ginger
190gr plain flour
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1tsp ginger
1/2tsp mixed spice

You will also need two Kilner jars (1 pint/500mls). To prepare these, wash them thoroughly in hot soapy water, rinse and the wash them again in hot water. Sterilise them either in a water bath or in the oven. When you are ready to fill your jars, dry them whilst they are still warm, coat the insides with cake release or cake spray.

Method
1, Preheat your oven to 160o/c. In a medium saucepan, melt together the butter, sugar and treacle. When the sugar has dissolved, heat very gently for about five minutes. Do not boil. Remove from the heat and set to one side.
2, In a separate bowl, sift all the dry ingredients together and whisk gently so they are mixed together completely.
3, Add the milk to the buttery-sugary-treacly mix and if it is still very hot, leave to cool slightly before adding your egg and chopped ginger. Beat it all together until well combined.
4, Make a well in the dry ingredients and pour in the wet. Slowly bring it together until you have a smooth batter.
5, Pour the batter into your prepared Kilner jars (see above). Don't fill more than half way or you will have pillars of cake rising from the tops of the jar! (Which I admit was a tasty mistake on the test run of this recipe!) If you do have any left, bake in cupcake wrappers for 20mins or so.
6, Place in a baking dish or on a baking tray and bake for 30 minutes. Test the cake is ready by inserting a skewer through the middle, all the way down the bottom, and back up. It should come put clean.
7, Remove from the oven, wipe down the top and inside for any smudges of cake release and cake crumbs. Leave to cool slightly for 30minutes or so before securing the lids. The Kilner jars I use are the preserving ones with the two part pop caps. They will pop shut. They will retain their heat for a LONG time so handle with care.
8, When they are fully cooled, dress up with a little cellophane and ribbon. Perfect for a something a little different in your christmas hampers! I added a little hand stitched tag on mine for a special touch.

Brunch: Cardamom Apple Fritters

2011-11-10T14:48:00.001Z

Following last weeks brunch mishap, these apple fritters were happening. Not in the cool, hip sense, but as in "They will be made. They will be consumed. They will be enjoyed"

Nothing was going to stop me.

Unlike a lot of apple fritter recipes, these aren't deep fried. I know a lot of people don't like vast quantities of hot oil and I certainly didn't want to messing around with that in the morning but I found that just less than a centimetre of hot oil in a frying pan works just as well without that stomach turning fear of a huge pan of the stuff!

The cardamom adds a delicious, fragrant citrussy note to these making them even more delicious. Who would have thought that was possible!

Ingredients

135gr self-raising flour
40gr golden caster sugar
Seeds of one large cardamom pod, ground in a pestle and mortar
Small pinch of salt
1 egg
80 ml milk, any type
2 medium sized eating apples, cored and diced

Oil for frying
Icing sugar mixed with a little milk or water to form a glaze

Method

1, Take a frying pan add in just under a centimetre of vegetable oil. Turn the heat up to medium to preheat whilst you make your fritters
2, In a bowl, sift in the flour, sugar, cardamom and salt and mix together with a whisk to keep it light and airy.
3, Beat in the egg and milk and you should have a thick sticky dough.
4, Add in the apple and stir until all the apple pieces are covered evenly.
5, Test the oil by gently dropping in one piece of coated apple. It should bubble and float to the top when it is hot enough.
6, Fry the fritters by scooping tablespoons of the appley batter and placing in the hot oil. The closer you are to the oil when you drop in the batter, the chances of it splashing are lowered. Do this in batches of 4-5. Don't be tempted to add loads in even if you have space, it will lower the temperature of the oil and you'll be heading for greasy fritters. Crisp on the outside/fluffy in the middle is what we're after
7, When they are golden brown and cooked through, remove from the oil and drain on kitchen paper. Enjoy hot sprinkled with icing sugar.

We Should Cocoa: Toffee Apple Truffles

2011-11-05T15:18:00.001Z

We Should Cocoa is hosted this month by Chele from Chocolate Teapot. You can see the red hot chilli round up here! This month, the ingredient is apples. You can find the rules and details of how to enter here!

One of the perks of this time of year is toffee apples. You can't deny it. You can't not love the idea of an apple encased in thick amber-esque toffee. That teeth worrying crunch as you break through it. The sweetness giving way to comparative sourness. I was going to make chocolate covered toffee apples. Then I found a recipe for these little smashers.

Original recipe from here

Ingredient
40gr salted butter
90gr golden caster sugar
2tbsp lemon juice
4 medium sized eating apples (peeled, cores and chopped into small chunks)
Small pinch of cinnamon

100-110gr dark chocolate for coating

Method
1, Add the butter and sugar to a heavy bottomed saucepan and place over a medium heat. Stir until the butter has melted and the sugar has dissolved.
2, Leave the caramel to bubble away for around 4-5 minutes or until it it has turned golden brown.
3, Tip in the lemon juice, apples and cinnamon and stir to coat in the caramel and reduce the heat.
4, This now needs to be reduced down so you have around 250ml (or 1 cup measure) of thick apple paste. I needed to stand by mine for the last couple of minutes, just turning it over so it didn't stick or burn on the pan.
5, Leave to cool thoroughly and then roll into 18 small balls. Pop these on a baking tray and freeze for at least half an hour.
6, When you're ready to start coating, melt your chocolate in a bain marie and dip the balls in. Make sure they're covered completely and tap off the excess. Place on a lined baking sheet and sprinkle with edible glitter.
7, Chill for 20-30minutes to firm them up before serving

Perfect for Guy Fawkes Night!

Add a little sparkle!

Brunch: Nutty Chocolate Chip Pancakes

2011-10-30T14:10:00.001Z

I had my stomach settled on apple and cardamom fritters for brunch this morning but a quick inspection of the fruit bowl soon put an end to that idea. Store cupboard brunch it was then!

I simply used this recipe, and added in 40gr mixed chopped nuts and 40gr of dark chocolate chips. Deliciously simple!

*scribbles apples on shopping list*

Haunted Gingerbread House

2011-10-27T09:19:00.001+01:00

If there is one time of year, you can go deliciously dark, it's Halloween. From scaring trick-or-treaters, snuggling in to watch a good horror, sneakily hiding away to read a horror novel (note: your imagination of a horror novel is scarier than the actual novel intended) to hitting up the kitchen and utilising some ghost shaped biscuit cutters, there is an aspect of Halloween that I'm sure a lot of people love.

I haven't had much time to get in a lot of Halloween themed baking, I sadly only see my house in daylight hours at the weekend, but there was one thing I saw last year that I definitely wanted to have a go at.

I made my own template, which I'm hoping I'll be able to have as a downloadable template in the tutorial post which is to follow. Are you splashing out at Halloween? Made anything delicious? I'd love to know!

Brunch: Breakfast Eggs

2011-10-23T10:11:00.001+01:00

Jim and I both commute to London to work. Waking up in darkness doesn't make me spring out of bed an hour early and whip up a breakfast fit for a king. Breakfast for Jim is inhaling three weetabix. Breakfast for me is porridge at my desk. Saturdays aren't much better because we try and catch up on all the things we miss doing during the week. Laundry, gardening, shopping etc.

Sunday mornings are our solace. Brunch is my forte. So I thought I'd start sharing them with you.

These Breakfast Eggs are a delicious way to start the day. And perfect for clearing out the fridge!

Serves 2

Ingredients
4 rashers of streaky bacon, chopped into strips
1 small onion, chopped
200gr courgette, chopped
3 tomatoes, chopped
Pinch of black pepper
Small pinch of dried chilli to clear out the cobwebs
4 eggs

Method
1, Warm a nonstick frying pan over a medium heat and add the chopped bacon. I like to render some of the bacon fat down, rather than adding cooking oil, or else it can end up a bit greasy.
2, When the bacon has released a bit of fat and is nearly cooked through, increase the heat, add in the onions and courgettes and cook these until they just loose their crunch.
3, Add in the chopped tomatoes, pepper and chilli and stir through until bubbling.
4, Make four small spaces in the vegetables, son you can see the bottom of the pan and crack an egg into each.
5, Cover the whole pan with foil and crimp around the edges. You want to steam the eggs rather than fry.
6, Turn down the heat to medium and cook for two minutes for soft eggs.
7, Divide and serve.

Apple and Cinnamon Galette

2011-10-17T12:53:00.001+01:00

A galette isn't showy. Or extravagant. It'll hold whatever you ask it to, with no complaints. It doesn't care if it splits a little. It doesn't care if looks a little rough around the edges. It doesn't need fancy dressing up with icing and doesn't require special baking tins. All it needs is a baking sheet, a rolling pin and a hot oven. That's all it wants in life. Simplicity.

We could all learn from the humble galette.

Ingredients

Gingerbread dough (see below)

300gr chopped eating apples
2tbsp golden caster sugar
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1tsp lemon juice
Milk for brushing

You'll need 1/3 of the dough that the below recipe creates. The dough does freeze well and makes great gingerbread men if you want to use it up. You could make three galettes and freeze the spares. Or one giant one for a crowd.

Gingerbread dough
350gr plain flour
2tsp ground ginger
100gr cold butter, cut into cubes
175gr golden caster sugar
1 egg
4tbsp golden syrup

Method
1, Put the flour and ginger into a large bowl and rub in the butter to a fine breadcrumb consistency.
2, Stir in the sugar and the add the egg and golden syrup. Mix this together until it forms a ball of soft dough. Divide into three flat round discs and pop in the fridge for 30 minutes before use.
3, Preheats your oven to 190o/c and roll out 1/3 of the dough to a rough circle about 12inches in diameter and slide it onto a line baking sheet.
3, Toss the apples together with the sugar, cinnamon and lemon juice and pile up into the centre. You want to leave about an inch, maybe two, gap around the fruit.
4, Fold the edges up, enveloping the fruit slightly. Pinch shut any huge tears or breaks. Brush the pastry with a little milk.
5, Bake for 20minutes until golden brown and the fruit is bubbling.
6, Serve hot or cold, with cream or custard. The galette won't mind.

I'm entering my galette into Kate's Autumnal Baking Challenge. You can find all the details on her lovely blog. Happy Autumn

We Should Cocoa: Apricot Chilli Florentines

2011-10-10T18:40:00.001+01:00

Did you see all the beautiful party food for We Should Cocoa's 1st birthday? If you haven't, click here and see all the amazing creations.

This months We Should Cocoa is hosted by Choclette at Chocolate Log Blog and the ingredient of choice is chilli. You can see how to enter and view the rules here.

I had previously used chilli in a We Should Cocoa entry. I made white chocolate chilli blondies for the leftover challenge and they didn't seem to work well for me so I wanted to hit the darker end of the spectrum for this entry.

I have been testing out recipes for Christmas and these are my current favourite. Batches and batches of florentines have been coming out the kitchen with different nuts and fruit in it. The red chilli in these gives them a little kick and makes them look especially festive!

Makes between 10-15 dependant on size

Ingredients
55gr butter
80gr caster sugar
30gr plain flour
30gr flaked almonds
50gr chopped nuts
50gr dried apricots
1/2 small medium red chilli, de-seeded and chopped finely

100gr dark chocolate (at least 70%)

Method
1, Preheat your oven to 160o/c and line two baking sheets with baking sheets. I use Teflon baking sheets but silicone ones would be just as good.
2, In a small saucepan, melt the butter and sugar together and bring to a light simmer.
3, Stir in the flour until well combined and stir in the rest of the ingredients until they are evenly coated.
4, Spoon teaspoons onto the prepared baking sheets, leaving gaps of about an inch apart.
5, Bake for 10 to 15 minutes until golden brown and then remove them from the oven and allow them to cool on the baking sheets.
6, When they are completely cold, melt the dark chocolate and paint thickly over the back, flat side of them. Leave to set slightly before dragging a fork through the chocolate to create waves.
7, Store in an airtight container.
8, Alternatively you can bake the florentine mixture in shaped silicone moulds.

Mint Lemonade

2011-10-02T15:35:00.001+01:00

I had been preparing for the beginning of autumn. Stockpiling slow cooker recipes, making notes on how to perfect my mulled wine recipe in time for winter (testing it frequently isn't such a chore), looking for a new scarf, hat and gloves. And possibly a snood. I was genuinely excited about starting to be able to wear thick woollen tights. And boots.

But instead, I'm typing this in the garden, wearing shorts and a bikini top. It's easily hitting 30 degrees in Kent. The garden is confused. The cats are melting. The smell of other people's barbeques is wafting over the fence. I was going to bake but it's too hot for that. I toyed with the idea of making sorbet but mint lemonade came up trumps. Quick and easy gratification on a hot, October, day.

Ingredients:-
2tbsp of packed mint leaves, no stalks
Juice and zest of a lemon
4tbsp level caster sugar
120ml water
Ice, soda water and lemon slices to serve

Method
1, Pummel the mint leaves in a pestle and mortar until they have formed a thick paste.
2, Add this to a cocktail shaker filled with ice along with the lemon juice, zest, sugar and water.
3, Shake until the shaker is frosty and cold.
4, Fill short tumblers with ice and lemon slices and half fill with the lemonade. Lengthen with soda water.

Serves 2

Italian Blackberry Cake

2011-09-30T19:04:00.001+01:00

After making one giant chocolate cake for my birthday, I didn't have the time to make another for my birthday soiree. We spent the majority of Saturday laying flooring in the kitchen which involved squeezing around appliances in the middle of our galley kitchen with hot pans, cleaning and making a copious amount of Italian food for some lovely friends.

I needed a cake recipe that was reliable, tasty and didn't require fancy piped icing or a multilayered monstrosity that had a questionable internal structure...

This recipe always comes up trumps for me. I made it with more seasonal blackberries and dusted it with icing sugar. (I normally make it with raspberries and glaze with glacé icing). It can be baked as cupcakes, round tins, square tins, what ever you have to hand. I baked mine this time in a shallow bunt tin

Ingredients
100gr soft butter
200gr golden caster sugar
2 eggs
1tsp vanilla extract
250ml sour cream
250gr self raising flour
150gr blackberries (fresh or frozen)

Method
Preheat the oven to 180o/c and grease a shallow bundt tin.
1, Cream together the butter and sugar until pale and fluffy.
2, Beat in the eggs and vanilla extract until well combined.
3, Beat in the sour cream until smooth.
4, Fold in the self raising flour and cocoa powder gently until just combined and then fold in the blackberries.
5, Pour into your cake tin and bake for 30-40 minutes or until golden brown, springy to the touch and an inserted knife comes out clean.
6, Dust heavily with icing sugar when cool.

Happy Birthday We Should Cocoa!

2011-09-25T14:14:00.000+01:00

Happy birthday We Should Cocoa! The brainchild of Chele and Choclette has turned one!

Luckily for me, We Should Cocoa's birthday has also coincided with mine. I hit the big 2-5 on Monday. I went up an age bracket on questionnaires. This makes me feel old.

So to stuff my sorrows, I made one of my favourite cakes. It's called the Jackie Oh! Cake from Sugar Baby by Gesine Bullock-Prado. It's beautifully moist and chocolaty and has become a firm favourite for big cakes.

Unfortunately, I didnt get a photo of the cake this time I made it. So here, sneakily, is a picture of the cake I made a couple of months ago using the same recipe. I baked mine in four 7inch pans, sandwiched together with buttercream. I smoothed a thin crumb coating of icing around the edge and rolled it in one packet of blitzed Oreos. Then I piped rosettes around the edge of the cake and carefully sprinkled the leftover blitzed Oreos into the centre.

Apologies for dodgy photo. (iPhone + late night icing = fail)

Six Plait Bread

2011-09-07T20:40:00.000+01:00

The humble loaf. Often I squeeze some dough into a loaf pan, stick it in the oven and forget about it for 30 minutes or so. Not today though. I’m giving my usual failsafe recipes a holiday and trying something new. Plus I have a few more days off before I start my new job so want to get some quality baking in.

I wanted a bread with a slightly sweeter, buttery taste and from plenty of research (hello, Google), the general consensus was the addition of butter, obviously, and egg to give it a richer flavour. With the addition of egg, it reminded me of challah, so I decided to braid it like one.

Ingredients

500g strong bread flour

50gr unsalted butter, chopped into little chunks

1 x 7gr sachet of easy blend (fast action yeast)

2tbsp caster sugar

1tsp salt

1 egg (medium/large)

Around 250ml tepid water

Method

1, Sift the flour into a large bowl and add in the butter, yeast, sugar and salt. Rub the butter between your finger tips until it is fully incorporated and there are no visible large lumps.

2, Make a well in the centre of the flour mixture and add in the egg with 200ml of the tepid water. Start to bring this together with a fork, adding more water if necessary, until you are left with a lump of dough that isn’t sticky to the touch.

3, Turn the dough out onto a work surface that has been lightly dredged in flour and knead for between 5-10minutes until the dough is soft and elastic. Pop in an oiled bowl and cover with oiled clingfilm. Leave this somewhere warm for an hour or until it has doubled in size.

4, Knock back the dough with your fist and give it another quick knead so that it is smooth Divide the dough into six equal pieces and stretch and roll into sausages about 3cm thick. I couldn’t video myself doing the plaiting but I followed this video. It’s really easy when you get into the swing of it.

5, When you have finished tucking in the ends of the completed dough plait, brush it lightly with melted butter or olive oil, put on a lined baking sheet and very loosely cover with oiled clingfilm to prevent sticking. Return to the warm place for about 20-30minutes

6, Preheat your oven to 220o/c and bake the bread for around 20 minutes. I covered my loosely with foil after about 10 minutes to prevent it darkening too much.

7, Remove from the oven when the loaf is cooked. To test this, tap the bottom of the loaf, if it sounds hollow then you’re on to a winner.

8, Leave to cool, slightly, before tearing apart.

Chocolate Courgette Brownies

2011-08-29T12:09:00.001+01:00

What do you do when you have armfuls of these?

Or you’ve picked one that is the size of your torso?

And you still have thousands growing in the garden?

Announce a culinary war upon them. Add this recipe for moist and not overly sweet brownies to your arsenal.

Original recipe from here.

Ingredients

120ml vegetable oil

200gr golden caster sugar

100g dark brown sugar

2tsp vanilla extract

250gr plain flour

50gr cocoa powder

1 ½ tsp baking powder

1tsp salt

250gr courgette, coarsely grated

75gr chopped good dark chocolate

Method

1, Preheat your oven to 180o/c and line a 9 inch square cake tin/baking dish with baking paper.

2, Blend the vegetable oil together with the sugars and the vanilla extract until smooth.

3, Stir in the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder and salt. The ‘batter’ will be very dry. Keep your cool.

4, Stir in the courgette and chocolate chunks and stir really well until all the courgette is well covered. Bear in mind the courgette will release a lot of water when it’s cooking so it looks really dry now but it will leave you will a really nice moist brownie. Eggs aren’t missing off the ingredient list. Trust me.

5, Spoon and spread the brownie mixture evenly in the lined tin and bake for 25 minutes.

6, Leave to cool in the tin, slice and serve.

Eton Mess Stack Tutorial

2011-08-23T10:27:00.000+01:00

It was Jim’s birthday last Monday and, like every other year we have been together, I made him a cake to take to his office to share with his work colleagues. He has had huge boxes of cupcakes and Tardis to name a couple but this year, time is in short supply. I haven’t been able to take off a day (or two) to make a big fancy cake at my leisure. So this year, simple wins.

The original recipe is from here but I baked mine in three seven inch sandwich tins to create a stack. And this is how I did it.

Preheat your oven to 160o/c and line and grease three seven inch sandwich tins. And I mean line and grease by the way. I didn’t. Mistake…

Melt 175gr unsalted butter in a small saucepan.

When it’s melted, remove from the heat and add 1tsp of vanilla extract.

And 5 tablespoons of double cream (about 60ml)

In a large bowl, add 225gr plain flour, 100gr almonds, 1tsp of baking powder and a large pinch of ground sea salt.

Using a whisk, combine to keep it light and airy.

Set this aside for the moment.

Add 5 eggs and 200gr golden caster sugar…

…into the bowl of your stand mixer. (Rosie-Rose has a new bow. Isn’t she a doll!)

And using a whisk attachment, beat for 5 minutes or until the eggs and sugar are thick and creamy.

While that is beating, pull out your 400gr of strawberries and chop half of them into chunks…

…and the other half into slices.

By now, the eggs and sugar should be thick and creamy.

Beat in the butter-vanilla-essence-cream combo.

And fold in the flour in batches.

Fold the chopped strawberries in.

Pour equally into your three (lined and greased) sandwich tins.

Top with the sliced strawberries and 50gr of meringue. I made my own meringue but shop bought is fab for this.

Bake for 30 minutes or until they are golden brown, an inserted knife comes out clean and they are starting to pull away from the edges.

Turn out the cakes and leave to cool right through.

Take pictures of one of your cats whilst you’re waiting. (Optional)

When the cakes are cool, whip up a batch of butter cream icing by beating together 115gr soft unsalted butter with 265gr icing sugar and a little splash of vanilla extract.

Put the most damaged cake at the bottom, I should have greased and lined… And turn it round so that it is at the back of the cake. Out of sight…

Slap on some butter cream and some strawberry jam.

Add another cake and top that with more butter cream and strawberry jam.

Put the prettiest cake on the top.

Add any leftover strawberries/butter cream/meringue on top. If you fancy, or simply dust with icing sugar.

I made meringue letters for the birthday boy too.

It was gorgeous! Hooray!

We Should Cocoa: Chocolate and Rose Baumtorte

2011-08-19T19:18:00.001+01:00

This my entry for We Should Cocoa hosted by Choclette at Chocolate Log Blog. Last month’s entries can be seen here for the Apricot challenge. This month’s challenge is Rose and you can see the rules here.

I couldn’t possibly name a specific cake as my favourite. But I can definitely name Baumtorte as one of the most calming and therapeutic cakes to make. It’s also one of the most delicious discoveries I have ever found! I decided to make one it with a little twist. And that little twist has made it suitable for We Should Cocoa!

Amazing original recipe from here

225gr unsalted butter

225gr golden caster sugar

6 eggs

225gr plain flour

2tbsp cocoa powder

1tbsp rose water

1, Preheat your grill to medium heat. Grease a deep 7 inch sandwich tin well and set to one side.

2, Beat together the butter and the sugar until pale and fluffy.

3, Slowly beat in the eggs and then blend in the flour until smooth.

4, Divide the batter into two bowls and beat the cocoa powder into one bowl and the rose water into the other. You could add a little pink food colouring into the rose flavoured one but I went au natural.

5, Spread a thin layer of either of the cake batters onto the bottom of the tin and place under the grill under golden brown.

6, Spread a thin layer of the other cake batter onto the top of the ready cooked cake and return to the grill until golden brown.

7, Repeat this process until all the batter has been used or until the cake pan is full.

8, Turn out onto a wire cooling rack and cut into slices when fully cooled.

Eton Mess Stack

2011-08-15T20:32:00.000+01:00

It’s a very special someone’s birthday in the cottage…

Congratulations on reaching the big 2-8 Jim!

Here is his cake.

Tutorial to follow. Yeah, a tutorial. With pictures and everything…

Spicy Crunchy Courgette Pickle

2011-08-14T21:08:00.000+01:00

My best friend only found out about my slight mustard addiction two months ago after nearly 11 years of friendship.

I haven’t let on to her about my obsession with pickled things. Anything that has been sitting in vinegar for over 6 hours is at risk of being eaten if it is in my eye line.

The happiness of stumbling upon the recipe here was immense. The two week wait for this Spicy Courgette Pickle to mature was hard. Often I heard Jim’s voice saying “Put the jar down… Now…” I’ve just finished another batch and have a jar left for the next two week wait. I’m prepared this time.

Ingredients

500gr courgettes

2 shallots

2tbsp salt

500ml cider vinegar

140gr golden caster sugar

1tsp mustard powder

1tsp mustard seeds

1tsp celery seeds (I used celery salt)

½ tsp dried chilli flakes, more if you’re brave

1tsp ground turmeric

Method

1, Slice the courgettes and shallots thinly. I used my mandolin for this. Put them in a large bowl and cover with the salt. Give it a gentle mix so not as to break the courgettes and then pour over ice cold water and chuck in some ice cubes. Stir again to dissolve the salt and leave to one side for an hour.

2, After the hour is up, drain the courgettes and shallots and spread evenly over some kitchen towels or a clean tea towel to soak up the excess water.

3, Make the pickling liquid but adding everything to a large pan and bring to the boil, stirring to dissolve the sugar. Simmer for 3 minutes and then remove from the heat to cool slightly.

4, When the pickling liquid has cooled a little, pop in the courgettes and transfer into two sterilised 500ml jars. Leave to mature for a couple of weeks before eating. Totally worth the wait.

Toffee Apple Jam

2011-08-13T19:49:00.000+01:00

Not only has the parent’s apple crop this year been bountiful, it has also been early. I’ve been adding them to salads, baking them, chopping them for easy additions to our lunches and chucking them into chutneys. This one is I had bookmarked for when the seasons started to change but with two carrier bags of apples sitting in my kitchen, they needed to be used up.

Recipe adapted from here. Makes two 260gr jars.

Toffee Sauce

100gr dark brown sugar

4tbsp honey

100gr butter

4tbsp double cream

Apple Jam

600gr Bramley apples, peeled, cored and roughly chopped

100ml water

Juice and zest of one lemon

250gr golden caster sugar

1, Make the toffee sauce by adding the butter, honey and sugar to a small saucepan and stir until the butter has melted and the sugar has dissolved.

2, Simmer gently for 4-5 minutes, remove from the heat. Stir in the cream and leave to cool.

3, Put the apples, water, lemon juice and zest into a large saucepan and place over a medium heat. Cook the apples until they are just starting to go soft.

4, Add in the sugar and bring to the boil for 5 minutes or until the jam is thick.

5, Alternate layers of toffee sauce and apple jam in sterilised jars.

Nutmeg French Toast with Caramelised Apples in Kentish Honey

2011-08-07T11:54:00.000+01:00

A new and happy addition to our brunch repertoire. French toast, or eggy bread as it used to be called when I was a kid, reminds of Girl Guide camp. The amount of work we had to do before breakfast was even served guaranteed we were suitably hungry for breakfast. We used to spend a week chopping wood, keeping fires alight for hot water and food, hiking, doing little crafty bits when we had the time and singing round a fire. It sounds a bit rubbish but it was good clean fun that is almost impossible to find now. All the food was cooked over an open fire and it was amazing!

We used to dish up huge platters of eggy bread and devour with sugar or ketchup. We also used to make an eggy bread based concoction called blackbirds. Which are blackberry jam sandwiches, dipped in beaten egg with milk, and fried. I haven’t introduced Jim to these yet. All in good time.

Ingredients (for two)

French Toast

2 eggs

60ml milk

Grated nutmeg to taste

Four slices of old white bread, cut in half diagonally

Caramelised Apple Topping

55gr golden caster sugar

25gr butter

2 tbsp milk

Couple of drops of vanilla extract

1tbsp honey (I used a really nice Kentish honey that has a really floral taste)

2 eating apples, cored and cut into eight wedges each.

Method

1, In a medium sized sauce pan, melt the butter and add in the sugar. Heat this through until it starts to bubble. Cook this for a couple of minutes and add in the milk. It should bubble up quite ferociously at this point, so keep on stirring and it will calm down.

2, Cook this for about 4-5 minutes over a low heat, add in the apples and stir to coat them in the caramel. Turn the heat down to the lowest setting and prepare your French toast.

3, In a non-stick frying pan heat a couple of tablespoons of vegetable oil over a medium heat.

4, Whisk the egg, milk and nutmeg together until well combined. Dip the bread into the egg and gently place into the frying pan.

5, Fry until golden brown and then flip over and cook the other side. Remove from the pan when the underside is also golden brown. Keep these warm until serving.

6, Go back to the apples and they should have just started breaking down. Don’t mush them up too much just gently toss them over in the sauce until they are coated.

7, Serve the French toast topped with the apples and a dusting of icing sugar.

Bitter Chocolate Madeleines

2011-07-31T21:06:00.000+01:00

Part of me loathes buying new baking tins. The sheer amount of space they take up is ridiculous. So I thought I would try out some new recipes with the more unusual tins that I have. (This means more donuts! Win!).

I needed to make something quick for a couple of wedding supplier meetings we had today (which went fabulously!) and decided on madeleines. I’ve made some before but decided to try out a different recipe.

Original recipe tweaked from here

Ingredients

115gr butter

130gr self raising flour

3 eggs

135gr golden caster sugar

½ tsp good vanilla extract

75gr bitter chocolate, chopped. I used about 85% cocoa chocolate.

Method

1, Melt the butter and leave it to cool

2, Beat the eggs and sugar together until pale and creamy looking. This takes about 5 minutes and then beat in the vanilla extract.

3, Sift in a third of the flour into the eggs and gently fold in with a spatula. Add the rest of the flour in two additions in the same way.

4, Add the butter in three additions, gently folding in with a spatula.

5, Add in the chopped chocolate.

6, Butter and flour your madeleine tin well and fill them up to just below the lip of the indents.

7, Bake in a preheated oven to (190o/c) for 8-10 minutes until they are lightly golden brown and springy to the touch.

8, Remove from the oven, leave for a minute or two and turn out onto a cooling rack.

9, Dust with icing sugar and serve.

Pistachio and Whisky Shortbread

2011-07-24T17:42:00.000+01:00

Isn’t it funny when you make a recipe and it turns into something completely different. This was purported to be Pistachio Biscotti. But the recipe didn’t call for it to be twice baked and it wasn’t dry and crunchy, so in my book, it’s not biscotti.

But it is really, really tasty! I added whisky rather than rum and that lovely smoky oaky flavour is there without the overly boozy taste. And I love whisky.

Adapted from here

Ingredients

225gr butter

140gr caster sugar

1 egg yolk

2tbsp good whisky

Couple of drops of vanilla extract

280gr plain flour

100gr shelled pistachio nuts

Pinch of salt

Method

1, Beat the sugar and butter together until pale and fluff

2, Mix in the egg yolk, zest, whisky, vanilla extract and salt

3, Sift in the flour and add in the pistachio nuts and gently mix together to form a dough.

4, Form a log with the dough, wrap in clingfilm and chill for an hour to firm it up.

5, Preheat your oven to 190o/c

6, Remove the dough from the fridge and unwrap the clingfilm. Cut into wedges about 5mm-1cm thick. Arrange on two lined baking sheets

7, Bake for 10 minutes until just starting to turn golden brown and remove from the oven. Leave on the baking trays for at least 10 minutes before moving onto a wire cooling rack to cool through.

8, Store in an airtight container.

Versatile Blogger Award

2011-07-21T22:08:00.001+01:00

The very lovely Mrs Stranded over at Stranded in Cleveland has awarded me this decoration! Thank you! Please go and take a look at her lovely blog for yummy looking recipes and beautiful crafty finds!

This award comes with a provision where I have to share seven things about myself. I’ve already shared seven previously here so I’ll see if I can come up with seven more…

One

I ran my fourth Race for Life earlier this month. Without sounding so gushy, it’s amazing to see so many women banding together and running for a single cause.

Two

As stated in my last seven things, I was just about to take up pole dancing lessons. Five and bit months later I’m still going and loving every minute of it! The Mighty Grip sounds a bit grubby but it stops me falling on my face when doing the upside downy moves!

Three

I carry a note book around with me everywhere. It’s a mess of scribbles recipes, cake ideas, sketches, meal plans and lists.

Four

If I could pick one book to read over and over again it would be The Beach by Alex Garland. This is my tatty, over thumbed, cracked spine copy.

Five

I’m getting married in just under ten months. I have The Fear^TM when it comes to planning things! This is my wedding planning book. I also have a spreadsheet. I get really excited about updating my spreadsheet.

Six

I’m one of those people that notice the mistakes in films/tv shows/adverts. Jim just rolls his eyes when I say things like “she was wearing nail varnish in the last shot…”

Seven

The last song I downloaded was a cover of ‘Tainted Love’ by Hannah Peel. It’s off that mouthwash advert with the woman who has nail varnish on one moment and then in the next shot doesn’t… *cough cough*

I would like to pass this award on to some fellow lovely bloggers, as follows:

Kate’s Cakes and Bakes

Rambles and Shambles

Baking Obsessively

I Bake Therefore I Am

Kissed By Sweets

We Should Cocoa: Apricot Chocolate Bites

2011-07-09T09:23:00.000+01:00

This month’s We Should Cocoa is hosted by Chele at the Chocolate Teapot. This month’s ingredient we have to incorporate into something special was apricots. Last month’s bumper strawberry round up can be found here!

I recently bought my sister a set of alphabet cake moulds from this lovely website after I fell in love with the set that I won from Sarah-Jane’s blog. I also picked up this cute little silicone chocolate mould and I’ve been waiting to find something to do with it. So this is what I came up with.

Ingredients:-

50-80gr good dark chocolate

8 small dried apricots

2tbsp cake crumbs

Method

1, Melt the chocolate and paint the inside of the chocolate moulds. Chill these in the fridge until set and then give them another layer before chilling again.

2, Whilst the chocolate moulds are chilling, cut rounds from the apricots that are the same diameter as the base of the mould. I used a piping tip to do this. Separate each round into two little circles of apricots and chop up the off cuts of apricots

3, Mix the apricot off cuts with the cake crumbs and a teaspoon of the melted chocolate. This should make it sticky enough to press together.

4, Remove the mould from the fridge and press in a tiny bit of the crumb/chocolate/apricot filling into each one, keeping a gap at the top big enough to…

5, …Press in one of the apricot rounds sticky side down, cover with chocolate and chill again.

6, Chill these for a minimum of 30 minutes before turning out and serving.

Please note the amounts I used are pretty approximate for 15 small chocolates. It was one of those creations where you don’t really write down the amount of each component you use!

A Gift for a Gardener

2011-07-04T22:48:00.000+01:00

As mentioned in previous posts my parents have a large garden divided into lawn, patio, fruit trees and bushes and vegetable patches. My dad is an avid gardener. You’ll see him hunched over seed catalogues in the winter months, sowing and nurturing seedlings in spring, pottering around in the sheds and greenhouse in summer and sharing out all the fruits of his hard work. You’ll also see him carefully checking on the sweet peas he grows for my mum behind the greenhouses.

This year is a special birthday for my dad. He has reached the big 6-5. And thus retirement! You should have seen the glee on his face when he was telling us about the first proper day off he would have had in decades! So I made him something special for him and the garden.

It’s simple, all you’ll need is a box, some black waterproof paint and a steady hand! (and bits to put inside!)

The box

The text, which I outlined on the reverse and then scrubbed over the top when it was positioned on the box.

Painting. Yeah. I have an Art GCSE. Finally, comes in handy…

Complete!

Cheap herb pots…

…Jazzed up with a bit of cellophane and some raffia! (Remember to include the growing instructions!)

A gardening journal from Paperchase and a little seed marker, just from Wilkinsons. It cost me a whole British pound!

Plus I couldn’t resist this!

Complete!

Sunken Mud Pies

2011-06-28T16:49:00.002+01:00

You would have thought that the mere thought of mud would get me some sort of mental breakdown after the weekend I just endured.

But I’ve wanted to make these for a long time and now it just seemed right to get it over and done with now. I promise you won’t have to stomp through sticky, calf deep mud to get to these. Promise.

Tweaked from BBC Food here

Ingredients

Biscuit Base

150gr bourbon biscuits

40gr melted butter

Sunken Mud Filling

45gr good dark chocolate

45gr butter

1 egg

45gr golden caster sugar

50ml double cream

Makes six mini mud pies

Method

1, Make the biscuit base by crushing the bourbon biscuits into fine crumbs and stirring in the melted butter

2, Share equally between a six hole, well greased, muffin tin and press it down firmly, coming up slightly at the sides.

3, Put this into the fridge and preheat your oven to 160o/c whilst you make the filling.

4, Melt the butter and chocolate together and leave to one side.

5, Beat the eggs and sugar together until pale, fluffy and airy.

6, Gently fold in the melted chocolate/butter mixture and the double cream and gently fold with a spatula until combined.

7, Remove the muffin tin from the fridge and pour in around 2 and a half tablespoons of the filling mixture into each base. You might have a little bit of filling left.

8, Bake for 15 minutes and leave in the tins to cool slightly before lifting out carefully. The tops of the pies will be rounded but will sink when removing them from the oven.

9, Serve with raspberries and cream.

We Should Cocoa: Chips and Dips

2011-06-18T22:19:00.000+01:00

This month’s We Should Cocoa is held by Choclette at the Chocolate Log Blog. You can see last month’s fantastic roulade and Swiss roll entries here. There are some fantastic ones there and some have definitely been bookmarked for future reference!

This month’s challenge is strawberries and you can see how to enter here. Get going! Eat strawberries and a copious amount of chocolate! For research purposes of course!

I was in the process of doing my usual Google of ‘strawberry glut’ for the impending one my parents are going to be victim to, when something a bit different cropped up. Strawberry salsa. Made with peppers, onions, coriander and limes. Sounded utterly gorgeous and has been filed under my BBQ sides list. (Compulsive list maker over here…). But I have a sweet tooth. How lovely would be to have a sweet salsa? But how would you serve it?

Nachos of course!

Chocolate Nacho Biscuits

Ingredients:-

125gr butter

100gr golden caster sugar

1 egg

220gr plain flour

1 & ½ tbsps of cocoa powder

Method

1, Beat the butter and sugar together until pale and fluffy

2, Beat in the egg

3, Sift in the flour and cocoa powder and gently fold together into a soft dough.

4, Stick this in the fridge for at least 30 minutes to make it easier to roll

5, Preheat your oven to 160o/c

6, Take your chilled dough from the fridge and pinch off a lump the size of a golf ball

7, Roll this out as thinly as you can on a lightly floured surface and cut a circle that is roughly 15cm in diameter. It doesn’t really matter what size they are because they are so thin, if you want to do big ones, go for it! I simply used a bowl and cut round that.

8, Cut each circle into six portions and carefully lift them onto a lined baking sheet.

9, Cut more in the same way and bake for about six minutes.

10, Remove them from the oven and carefully lift each one up as soon as possible and mould over a rolling pin. Leave until just cool. This doesn’t take long as they are so thin.

11, Voila! Nacho cookies!

Fruit Salsa

Ingredients

10-15 strawberries

½ green crunchy apple (like a Granny Smith)

10-15 stoned fresh cherries

Finely grated zest of ¼ of a lime

Couple of tsps of lime juice

1 tbsp icing sugar

Method

1, Chop the fruit finely and toss together in a bowl.

2, Add in the zest, juice and icing sugar and stir to combine

3, Yeah, that easy. Add different fruit/more of one type of fruit etc to taste.

Serve with whipped double cream and chocolate nacho biscuits!

Orange Curd

2011-06-15T19:50:00.000+01:00

I made this for my Tiger Swiss Roll. And then made another batch because it was so nice. Yup. I’m blowing my own fruit curd trumpet.

This only makes a small 190gr jar with a little left over. It’s the perfect size for two people, but it does do well if you double it up etc.

Ingredients

2 oranges

½ lemon

220gr caster sugar

3 eggs

50gr butter

1tbsp orange flower water

1tbsp orange liqueur

Method

1, Bring a pan of water to the boil and set a heatproof bowl on top of that making sure the water doesn’t touch the base of the bowl.

2, Zest the oranges and lemon and juice them. Add them to the bowl.

3, Add the rest of the ingredients to the bowl and stir them gently until the butter has melted.

4, Slowly continuing heating up the curd until it starts to thicken. If you heat it too quickly, it will split.

5, When the curd is thick enough to leave a good coating on the back of a wooden spoon, remove from the heat and pour into sterilised jars.

Pesto Swirl Bread

2011-06-05T19:51:00.001+01:00

Ok. I’ll admit it. I’ve completely run out of ideas for packed lunches. There is only so much cous cous, tuna sandwiches and pesto pasta a girl can take. Time to shake it up? Enter the swirl bread. It’s jazzed up lunches for a couple of days at least!

Ingredients:-

500gr strong white bread flour

1tsp salt

1tsp sugar

15ml extra virgin olive oil

1 x 7gr sachet of easy blend yeast

Around 300ml-350ml warm water

3 to 4 tbsps of good jarred pesto

Couple of sundried tomatoes, chopped (optional)

Method

1, Sift the flour into a large bowl with the salt, sugar and yeast.

2, Add in the olive oil and about 200ml of the warm water and start to bring the dough together. Add more water until the dough comes together and forms a ball.

3, Transfer on a lightly dusted worktop and knead for 5-10 minutes until the dough becomes smooth and elastic and in no way sticky.

4, Stretch the dough out to form a rough rectangle with the long side the same length as your loaf tin. (I just used my standard 1lb loaf tin)

5, Spread the pesto over the doughy rectangle and sprinkle the sundried tomatoes out evenly.

6, Roll the whole thing up like a swiss roll and place into your lined or well greased loaf tin.

7, Put the loaf tin inside a large freezer bag and leave somewhere warm for an hour or two until doubled in size.

8, Preheat your oven to 230o/c, brush the top of the loaf with a little water, and bake for 15minutes and then turn down the temperature to 190o/c for the last 15-20minutes. The bread should make a hollow sound when tapped on the base when it is cooked.

9, Turn out of the tin as soon as it is cooked and slice away to reveal that swirl.

How do you guys make lunch interesting? Come on, I’ve seen some of your beautiful bentos!

Chocolate Covered Pretzel Toffee

2011-05-30T18:07:00.000+01:00

If you’re my dentist, then I certainly didn’t eat any of this. Not a smidge. Now, look away…

If you follow me on Twitter, then you would have heard me profess my love of Cybercandy and my love of Pretzel M&Ms. The hard sugar shell, chocolate and then pretzel are a sugary mouthful of heaven and I knew I had to pay homage.

Recipe adapted from SeriousEats.com

Ingredients

115gr butter

250gr caster sugar

2tbsp golden syrup

Pinch of salt

¼ tsp bicarbonate of soda

½ tsp vanilla extract

90gr crushed pretzels (not dust, chunky crushed)

100gr dark chocolate (chips or just chopped up block)

Couple of pinches of rough sea salt (optional)

You will also need:-

A sugar thermometer (unless you are happy doing it with a cold saucer or a glass of water)

Baking sheet

Greaseproof paper

(Measure everything out before starting because I found I was scrabbling around for my measuring spoons and chopping chocolate like a thing possessed!)

Method

1, Add the butter, sugar, syrup, salt and a couple of tablespoons of cold water to a medium sized saucepan. Stir gently over a low heat until everything has dissolved.

2, Clip on a sugar thermometer and turn the heat up to medium/medium-high.

3, Prepare a baking tray with a layer of grease proof baking paper.

4, Keep an eye on the toffee, stir it gently occasionally and bring it up to 145o/c or hard crack stage.

5, When it has reached this, carefully remove from the heat, unhook the sugar thermometer and stir in the vanilla and the bicarbonate of soda. Be careful, it will hiss and spit at you.

6, Quickly stir in the pretzels and make sure they are all covered.

7, Tip the entire lot onto your baking sheet and spread as evenly as possible.

8, Leave this for a couple of minutes before sprinkling with the chocolate. Wait another couple of minutes and the chocolate will have melted enough to be spread using either a spatula or a pastry brush. Sprinkle with some rough sea salt like Maldon (or my favourite, Cornish Sea Salt)

9, Cover and leave to cool or pop it in the fridge.

10, Smack it with a rolling pin to make bite size shards when fully cooled.

Rainbow Cake

2011-05-28T13:48:00.000+01:00

I made this cake for my blogs first birthday and as promised, here is the recipe! I’ve been itching to make one of these cakes for ages! They look so unassuming from the outside until they are cut into and people gasp and say “wow!”

I baked my cakes in three batches of two. I didn’t want to put more than two in my oven at a time due to space and I wanted them cooking evenly.

Altogether you will need:-

570gr unsalted butter

570gr caster sugar

9 eggs

3tsp vanilla extract

570gr self raising flour

3tsp baking powder

Food colouring (red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple)

Buttercream Icing

300gr butter

700gr icing sugar

1, For each batch (two cakes) you want to cream together 190gr of butter and sugar together until pale and fluffy.

2, Beat in three of the eggs along with 1tsp of vanilla extract

3, Sift in 190gr of the flour along with 1tsp of the baking powder

4, Fold this until just combined. Don’t mix too much at this stage.

5, Divide the batter into two bowls and add food colouring to each. Bear in mind that the colour of the cake will be brighter than the batter but make them as bright as possible without overbeating.

6, Pour each batter into a greased or lined 7inch sandwich tin and bake in a preheated oven at 170o/c for 25 minutes

7, Cool the cakes and make the next two batches in the same way.

8, When you have all six cakes cooled and ready to be iced , trim all the cakes to a six inch diameter and make sure they are level using a cake leveller or a knife and a steady hand.

9, Make one batch of butter cream icing by beating 150gr of butter until really pale and light then fold in 350gr icing sugar with a couple of teaspoons of milk and a couple of drops of vanilla extract. If you want a really white butter cream add the tinest bit of blue food colouring and beat well. I used a skewer to add the food colouring. It’ll offset some of the yellow tinge.

10, Use this batch to spread a small layer of icing between each cake

11, Whip up the next batch and give the cake a thin crumb coating. Pop it in the fridge for a couple of hours so the crumb coat sets so your final ice will be all lovely and crumb free.

12, Remove the cake from the fridge and apply the rest of the icing to the cake using an offset spatula. I swirled the top and then used a dessert spoon to lightly drag up the surface of the butter cream to create the stripes.

13, Leave for a couple of hours in a cool place so the butter cream sets a little before cutting

14, This is a seriously large cake. You have been warned. Eight of us had a go at it and it beat us. It beat us bad. There was over half of it left. And we all really love cake…

We Should Cocoa: Tiger Swiss Roll

2011-05-22T21:31:00.000+01:00

This month’s We Should Cocoa is held by Chele at the Chocolate Teapot who has challenged us to make a swiss roll or a roulade. You can see last month’s round up here for the marzipan challenge.

Initially, this was supposed to just be a chocolate orange swiss roll but I think when it had been baked and rolled, it was looking pretty tiger-y! So I thought I would share with you some interesting tiger facts:-

I was born in the Chinese year of the tiger. Also due to the time of year of my birth the element of fire is also attached to me. This means I am a Fire Tiger. Jim is a Water Pig. I’m happy with this. Jim? Not so much. Water Pig. Giggle.

I once sulked for a good few hours because we didn’t get to see the tigers at London Zoo. I was 23. I’m never going back to London Zoo.

Tigers are cooool. But you already knew that…

Ingredients

3 eggs

75gr caster sugar

75gr self raising flour

½ tbsp cocoa powder

Couple of drops of red and yellow food colouring

Zest of one orange

Orange curd

Chocolate butter cream

Method

1, Beat the sugar and eggs together until pale and fluffy

2, Gently fold the sifted flour into the beaten sugar and eggs until just incorporated.

3, Take four tablespoons of the batter and divide it between two bowls.

4, Gently stir the cocoa powder into one bowl and the food colouring into the rest

5, Transfer the coloured and cocoa-ed batter into separate sandwich bags, snip a tiny bit off each corner and pipe ‘tiger stripes’ onto a lined and greased Swiss roll tin and pop into the freezer. I actually used a deep cookie tin to do mine and then, when cooked, trimmed it into a rectangle to roll.

6, When the tiger stripes are frozen solid, gently spoon the remaining cake batter over the top and smooth gently with a wet spoon. Sprinkle the orange zest evenly over the raw batter.

7, Bake for 7-10 minutes until springy to the touch and starting to go golden brown.

8, Remove from the oven, along with the greaseproof paper it was baked on and cover the top with a sheet of greaseproof paper. Leave until just cool enough to handle and roll the whole thing up, with the long side facing you. Leave this to cool

9, When the Swiss roll has cooled, gently unroll it, remove the inside piece of greaseproof and smooth on a layer of chocolate butter cream and top that with some orange curd.

10, Re-roll the whole thing carefully and remove the outside layer of greaseproof.

11, Cut and serve. Pretend you’re a tiger. (optional)

Recipe tweaked from here

The Cottage Garden

2011-05-18T18:43:00.000+01:00

The combination of hot weather and those quick heavy showers we’ve had over the last couple of weekends have really made the garden burst into fruit and vegetable heaven. I’m already excited about picking the fruits of our labour!

We’ve got onions, shallots, French beans, lettuce, courgettes, tomatoes, two lots of `garlic, horseradish, strawberries, a new rosemary bush, red gooseberries and blackcurrants. Plus, my lovely Dad has leeks, some more different types of tomatoes and other bits! Not sure where I’m going to fit everything in…

Plus mystery bush has flowered this year! Check out these beauties! I had to hold up the stems because the flower heads are so heavy!

Happy Belated Blogrthday

2011-05-15T11:19:00.002+01:00

I was quite happily sitting in the bath last night, debit card in my mouth, flicking about on the internet, whilst repeating the mantra “Do. Not. Drop. iPhone. In. Bath”, and booking my best friend’s birthday surprise.

Birthdays are cool. Well, other peoples are. I always book for me and the best friend to go and do something rather than buying her a present. Memories are better, sometimes, than gifts. We’ve been on the London Eye, been to the Ice Bar and this year, I have just found the perfect thing for us to do. But it’s a secret.

That’s when the word birthday stuck in my head. I knew my blog’s birthday was in May and a couple of swift clicks confirmed that it was a May birth for my blog. But May 1^st?!? Whoops…

So here is my big 1^st birthday blog cake. It looks pretty plain but looks can be deceiving… Hold back the hair. Make a wish. Totally wish I could share this with all the awesome people I’ve met through food blogging.

We took it to a BBQ and eight of us barely managed half of it. Recipe to follow.

Raspberry and Orange Mini Bundts

2011-05-08T17:44:00.001+01:00

I had problems writing this post. What do you write about bundts? I’ve never been one to dip into the history of certain cakes and I don’t want to bore you. As a substitute of writing this post, I have spent the past week (or so) replacing words in songs with the word ‘bundt’. It definitely hasn’t helped with the writing.

Jim thought I should just write ‘got bored, had ingredients, made cake, here it is’. He’s a man of few words… Unless he’s talking about accountancy…

Ingredients

190gr unsalted butter

190gr golden caster sugar

Zest and juice of one orange

3 eggs

190gr self raising flour

1tsp baking powder

225gr fresh raspberries

Icing sugar

Method

Preheat oven to 170o/c

1, Cream together the butter and sugar until pale and fluffy

2, Beat in the eggs and zest

3, Fold in the flour until combined

4, Gently fold through the raspberries

5, Grease a 6 hole mini bundt tin and sprinkle a little of caster sugar into each one. This helps with releasing the cake when it has cooked and who does like a bit of extra sugar…

6, Fill the mini bundt holes evenly with the batter and bake for 20-25minutes

7, When an inserted skewer comes out clean, remove them from the oven and turn onto a wire cooling rack.

8, Mix the orange juice with a couple of table spoons of icing sugar to form a glaze. Brush this liberally on the mini cakes before cooling

Eton Mess Union Jack-arons

2011-04-29T20:32:00.000+01:00

Has everyone enjoyed today’s festivities? We had a little BBQ with some lovely friends and served these for dessert!

Their basic macaron shells, with Union Jacks painted on them and filled with whipped double cream and finely chopped strawberries.

I hope everyone is having a lovely day and best wishes for the special couple!

My little Peach is worn out already!