Tag Archives: recipe

01/07/2010 · 12:58 pm

Almond Biscotti

I love Biscotti…they’re sweet but not too sweet, crunchy but not too crunchy and are perfect for dunking. What more could you want! I’ve tried a few different varieties in the past including cranberry and almond and date and walnut but tonight the plan was to stick to simple but delicious almond biscotti. I followed a recipe that I found on the Joy of Baking website. Here it is – 

Almond Biscotti

145g blanched whole almonds, toasted and chopped coarsely

1tsp baking powder

1/8 tsp salt

260g plain flour

150g granulated white sugar

3 large eggs

1tsp vanilla extract

1tbsp lemon rind

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees.

Toast the almonds for 8-10 minutes or until light brown and fragrant. Leave them to cool for a few minutes and then chop roughly.

Reduce the temperature of the oven to 150 degrees and line a baking sheet with greaseproof paper.

Mix the eggs and essence in a small bowl.

Mix together the flour, baking powder, salt and sugar in a large bowl. Gradually add the egg mixture and beat with a handheld whisk until it forms a stiff dough. Adding the chopped almonds halfway though.

I usually form the dough into 2 logs approx 30cm long and about 2 and a half inches wide on the baking sheet. This part can get quite messy and sticky so have some spare flour handy to dust your hands.

Bake for 30-40 minutes until they are firm to the touch. Remove from the oven and leave to cool for about 10 minutes. Then slice each log diagonally into 1/2 inch slices with a sharp knife. Lay each of the slices on it’s side on the baking sheet and return to the oven for 10 minutes, turn over and give them one more 10 minute blast in the oven until firm.

Remove from the oven and leave to cool fully before decanting into a container. I’ve been told that they keep well in an airtight container but to be honest mine never last that long as the temptation is too strong and it would be rude not to test a couple with a nice cup of tea wouldn’t it?

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20/06/2010 · 2:06 pm

Rhubarb & Cardamom Muffins

Recently, during my daily igoogle check up, a recipe caught my eye and lured me to a blog called Kitchen Culinaire. It was for rhubarb cardamom breakfast muffins, which looked absolutely amazing. I printed it off and stashed it away for future use!

I love a bit of rhubarb and try to make at least one crumble during the rhubarb season. This year it’s seemed that rhubarb has been more popular than ever…I was even introduced to rhubarb bellini’s at a friends party recently. She had stewed the rhubarb with some sugar, passed it through a sieve, poured some into a glass and topped it up with champagne…simple yet divine!

I have been carrying the rhubarb muffin recipe around in my handbag for a couple of weeks now with the intention that next time I was in the supermarket I would buy the ingredients but I somehow kept getting waylaid. I was re-inspired by the fresh rhubarb on sale at Kinvara Farmers Market, on my recent trip to Ireland  but after prevaricating a bit too much, I returned to the stall only to find that it had all sold out! I didn’t let this put me off and yesterday I unearthed the somewhat crumpled recipe from the depths of my bag and got around to baking the little beauties!

Kitchen Culinaire is written by a Canadian lady and therefore all of the measurements are in cups, which is still a pretty alien concept to me but I managed to work it out with the help of Delia and her online conversion tables.

I also risked making a few substitutions, which actually worked really well. So here’s my version of the recipe…

Rhubarb & Cardamom Muffins

150g plain flour

150g wholemeal flour (I used self raising flour because that’s all I had in the cupboard and just halved the quantity of baking powder)

160g granulated sugar

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

3/4 tsp ground cardamom

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 fine sea salt

240ml creme fraiche (the original recipe used plain yoghurt)

8 tbsp unsalted butter, melted and slightly cooled (I have never measured butter by tablespoon before so I just did my best to approximate 8 tablespoons worth)

2 large eggs

175g rhubarb cut into 1/4 inch dice (This worked out to be approx 2 stalks)

For the topping – 

2 tbsp granulated sugar

1/4 tsp ground cardamom

My first hurdle came when my local supermarket didn’t stock ground cardamom. I was determined not to be put off and decided to grind my own…I slit open 25 cardamom pods, scraped out the seeds and ground them to a powder using good old fashioned elbow grease in a pestle and mortar. This made the perfect amount for this recipe (you need 1 tsp in total).

Preheat the oven to 200 degrees, make sure the oven rack is in the middle of the oven and line a 12 cup muffin tin with paper cases.

Mix the flours, sugar, baking powder, cardamom, baking soda and salt together in a large bowl.

Whisk the crème fraiche, melted butter and eggs in another bowl until smooth.

Lightly stir the liquids into the dry ingredients until just combined. Don’t over mix it or apparently the muffins will turn out very tough.

Stir in the diced rhubarb.

In a small bowl mix together the topping ingredients.

Divide the muffin mixture between the 12 cases (I actually made 13) and sprinkle over the sugar and cardamom topping. 

Bake for approx 20 minutes until they’re golden brown and a skewer/sharp knife comes out clean if plunged into the centre of one.

Allow to cool slightly and then tuck in!

They turned out to be incredibly moist and the fresh tartness of the rhubarb was balanced beautifully by the sweet, spicy topping. My rhubarb repertoire is looking pretty healthy.

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06/06/2010 · 12:56 pm

Temptation is the devil looking through the keyhole. Yielding is opening the door and inviting him in.

I love perusing food magazines and am amassing a substantial collection, which I flick through every now and again for inspiration. Two of my housemates share the same birthday, which gave me the the challenge of producing a cake amazing enough to be able to get away with only making one for them to share without them feeling slighted.

I found what looked like the perfect solution in the April 2010 edition of Sainsbury’s Magazine….

Devil’s Food Cake with Raspberries

I am so unbelievably proud of this cake and can’t be modest about how good it looked and tasted 🙂 The texture is more fudgy than spongy and it’s supremely naughty…

225g butter

200g dark chocolate (70% cocoa solids)

6 large eggs

200g caster sugar

40g plain flour

25g ground almonds

100g white chocolate

350ml double cream

1 tbsp icing sugar

175g raspberries

For the ganache – 

250ml double cream

150g dark chocolate (70% cocoa solids)

50g soft butter

Line 2 x 22cm cake tis with baking parchment and preheat the oven to 180 degrees.

Melt the butter and chocolate in a bowl over a pan of simmering water and leave to cool to room temperature.

In a separate large bowl whisk the egg yolks and 150g of the caster sugar with an electric handheld whisk until thick and pale. Add the cooled chocolate mixture and fold together with the flour and the ground almonds.

In another clean bowl, whisk the egg whites with the remaining 50g caster sugar and 1/4 tsp of salt until they form soft peaks. Gently fold into the chocolate mixture in batches making sure everything is combined. Pour the mixture into the cake tins and bake for 30 minutes until the cakes have risen and are firm the the touch. Leave them in the tins to cool – they’ll sink but that’s normal so don’t panic!

This is the first time I have ever been instructed to do this but…wrap the cold cakes, still in their tins, in clingfilm and chill for 3-4 hours or even better overnight. I made my cakes on Thursday evening and left them chilling until Saturday and they definitely didn’t suffer for it. The chilling just makes them even more fudgy and delicious!

For the ganache you need to bring the cream to the boil, pour over the chocolate and leave for 2 minutes before mixing it in thoroughly. Leave it to cool for another 5 minutes and then add the butter. Leave to cool and then chill for approx 30 mins as it needs to be the consistency of chocolate spread. The ganache was absolutely amazing…the most sinful, creamy, chocolatey, shiny gloop I have ever seen.

To make the chocolate curls you melt the white chocolate in a bowl over a pan of simmering water and then pour it onto a baking sheet of plate and leave it to set for approx 30 minutes. Then drag a sharp knife over the surface to produce the curls. I was impressed with how easy this was to do and how professional they looked.

To assemble the cake place one on a serving plate, whip the 350ml of cream with the icing sugar and smother over. Top with the raspberries and sandwich with the other cake. Pile on the ganache and sprinkle over the white chocolate curls….simple!

I was dying to tuck in but had to wait a few more hours…boy was it worth the wait…

The whole cake was consumed in a matter of minutes and the feedback was really good. Using 70% cocoa solid chocolate means that it’s not too sickly, which is also helped by the tangy-ness of the raspberries.

I have most definitely yielded to the Devil…and invited him in with open arms! 

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03/06/2010 · 7:39 am

Coconut and Pineapple Cupcakes

I was supremely surprised on Monday morning to not even have a smidgen of a bloody mary hangover and was able to make the most of the bank holiday. I had evening plans to go and watch Sex and the City 2 at the flicks with my girlfriends (I know I know what a cliché) and saw it as a great excuse to do some baking for guinea pigs other than my work colleagues or housemates.

I’m gradually working my way through the Hummingbird Bakery Cookbook and to this date have been very impressed by every single creation. This time I chose to make coconut and pineapple cupcakes as they have been intriguing me for a while and I’ve never baked with coconut milk before. 

Coconut and Pineapple Cupcakes

120g plain flour

140g caster sugar

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

a pinch of salt

40g unsalted butter

120ml coconut milk

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1 egg

9 tinned pineapple rings chopped into small pieces

dessicated coconut to decorate

and for the coconut frosting – 

250g icing sugar

80g unsalted butter

25ml coconut milk.

Preheat the oven to 170 degrees.

Put the flour, sugar, baking powder, salt and butter in a bowl and beat using a handheld mixer on a slow speed until everything is combined and a sandy texture.

Mix the coconut milk and vanilla extract in a separate bowl and add to the flour mixture. Add the egg and beat well.

Divide the chopped pineapple between the cupcake cases and spoon the mixture over the top until each case is two thirds full. Bake for 20-25 minutes until golden brown and they bounce back when touched and then leave to cool.

To make the frosting beat the icing sugar and butter using a handheld mixer until the mixture comes together (I always get impatient and add the liquid a bit early but it never seems to have a detrimental effect on the finished frosting). At this point you should add the coconut milk and beat for 5-10 minutes until light and fluffy.

When the cupcakes are cold, spread them with the frosting and sprinkle over the dessicated coconut.

I finished frosting my cupcakes and dashed out the door to meet the ladies without having a chance to check whether they were edible so I spent the first half of the film worrying that they were going to be uncooked an soggy in the middle because of the moist pineapple (sad I know). I needn’t have worried…they were delicious! I think the ladies in the seats around us wondered what all the yummy murmurings were all about and were shooting us jealous glances…or maybe that’s just what I was hoping! 

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28/05/2010 · 1:08 pm

Gaggen(au) for a Lemon Tart

On Tuesday I spent a very enjoyable lunch break watching a cookery demonstration at the Bulthaup showroom on Clerkenwell Road as part of Clerkenwell Design Week. They were showing off the Gaggenau Steam Oven and I have to confess…it was love at first sight! I left the showroom having tasted some gorgeous morsels all cooked in the aforementioned wonder oven including steamed asparagus with hollandaise, steamed haddock with a chilli and soy dressing on chinese vegetables, almond and raspberry cake and to top it off a lemon and ricotta tart, all of which the home economist whipped up in an hour!

Since my return from Paris I have been dying to try my hand at baking a tarte au citron and this alternative version really spurred me into action. It’s by no means an official french lemon tart and is more italian in style due to the inclusion of ricotta but it’s a good starting point and a very yummy one at that.

The demo lady cheated and used shop bought pastry but with a pastry aficionado for a mother I felt duty bound to attempt to make it from scratch. So I followed my mum’s favourite recipe from the be-ro book and used the filling recipe given to us at the demonstration.

Lemon and Ricotta Tart

(makes a 9 inch tart)

Sweet shortcrust pastry –

175g plain flour

pinch of salt

40g butter

40g margerine (you can use lard but I didn’t have any hanging around)

cold water (approx 2 tbsp)

20g caster sugar

Mix the flour and salt in a bowl and rub in the fat with your fingertips until it resembles breadcrumbs. It’s good if the fat is cold but not too cold as it’ll just take you a lot longer to rub in. Now add the sugar and stir. Use a knife to cut/stir in the water a bit at a time (remember less is more) until it comes together into a stiff dough. Turn onto a floured surface and knead lightly before rolling out. It should be about 30mm(ish) thick. Line your pie dish and chill in the fridge for a little while.

If you are lucky enough to own a steam oven then you won’t need to blind bake the pastry or in my case if you don’t have any baking beads or enough time then omitting the blind baking process isn’t the end of the world! Blind baking just adds a bit more crispness to the base of the tart. Instead I decided instead to follow the demo ladies advice and put a baking sheet at the top of the oven to block some of the heat from above and to put the tart near the bottom of the oven. Apparently this reduces the need for blind baking.

Filling –

250g ricotta cheese

25g icing sugar

2 large egg yolks

1 x 320g jar lemon curd

rind and juice of 1 lemon

icing sugar to dust

Preaheat you oven to 190 degrees.

Beat all of the filling ingredients together in a bowl and pour into the pastry case – it really is as easy as pie (excuse the pun)!

I have an admission to make…I realised as I was putting the pie in the oven that I had forgotten to add the icing sugar to the filling. BUT I was actually very happy with the outcome and I’d go so far as to say that I would omit the sugar again in future. The lemon curd adds just the right amount of sweetness to counteract the tartness (now that wasn’t even meant to be a pun) of the lemon.

Bake for 10 minutes and then reduce the heat to 180 degrees for a further 25-30 minutes or until golden and set.

Allow to cool before dusting with icing sugar and serving.

The tart was delicious! A slightly crisper base wouldn’t have hurt so I’m going to invest in some baking beads for the next time…

One of my favourite childhood memories of baking with my mum was making little jam tarts with the leftover pastry once the pie dish has been lined. So to finish off I made some little treats for my housemates…

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09/05/2010 · 7:18 pm

Use your loaf

My favourite way to while away a lazy Sunday afternoon is, surprise surprise, with a spot of baking. I realised that due to my housemate’s dislike for lemon/orange peel I had been neglecting cakes with these ingredients and thought it was high time that I built them back into my repertoire. So I set about trawling the interweb to find a good recipe and found an Observer article written by Nigel Slater called Crumbs of Comfort. I love his writing style and the fact that he is such an obviously, passionate foodie. A few years ago I read his book, Toast, which is the story of his ‘childhood and adolescence told through food’ and is a very good read. 

I decided to try out his Lemon Loaf Cake described as ‘A truly moist cake scented with lemon and almond, with a thin, sweet-sharp icing’. Sounded good to me!

The recipe lacked any raising agents so what came out of the oven was a dense, compact loaf and I was a bit worried that it would be too stodgy but good old Nige set my mind at rest by saying that as a ‘general rule, the taller the cake the less good it is to eat. As usual less is more.’ While the cake was still hot and fresh out of the oven the recipe tells you to prick some holes in it and squeeze over the juice of half a lemon, which made a satisfying sizzling sound and an amazing smell! I had to exercise some patience and wait for it to cool before icing with an icing sugar and lemon juice paste.

But it was definitely worth the wait….


It was amazingly moist. The lemon and almond flavours, which go so well together, were delicate but still shone through the buttery goodness of the cake. In fact it was so good that I even managed to tempt my lemon hating housemate into trying a slice and…she’s a convert! That’s what I call a result.

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03/05/2010 · 10:35 am

Mental Cupcakes

I love the excuse to bake birthday goodies and with two friends celebrating this weekend I was in my element! I was a bit short on time and as I needed to produce enough for 2 people I decided to do a big batch of cupcakes as they are so quick and easy. I use the vanilla cupcake recipe from The Hummingbird Bakery Cookbook. It sounds quite simple and boring right?? but you’d be surprised how much simple cupcake recipes can vary….this one ALWAYS produces moist, delicious cupcakes. Now that I know this recipe is a dead cert I can have lots of fun with colouring….

I have christened these creations my ‘Mental Cupcakes’ – red (vanilla) cupcakes with black (chocolate) butter icing and just because I didn’t think they were quite gaudy enough I topped them with edible gold stars 🙂

And this is what you see when you crack open these bad boys……

Here’s the recipe for you…

Vanilla Cupcakes

120g plain flour

140g caster sugar

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

a pinch of salt

40g unsalted butter

120ml milk

1 egg

1/4 tsp vanilla extract

The Hummingbird bakery say that this recipe makes 12 but when I use the standard cupcake cases sold in all good supermarkets I can only get about 10 out of this recipe.

Preheat the oven to 170 degrees.

Put the flour, sugar, baking powder, salt and butter in a bowl and beat on a slow speed with an electric hand whick until you get a sandy consistency and everything is combined. Gradually pour in half the milk and beat until the milk is incorporated.

Whisk the egg, vanilla and left over milk together and then pour into the flour mixture. Continue beating until all incorporated but don’t over mix! At this stage I added some concentrated food colouring from Lakeland as it doesn’t water the mixture down and you don’t need to use too much to get a vivid colour.

Spoon the mixture into the cupcake cases until two thirds full and bake for 20-25 mins (I usually only do 20 as I like them good and moist). They should be golden brown and spring back when touched. If you’re in doubt, insert a sharp knife or skewer into the middle of one and it should come out clean.

Leave to cool before decorating.

Chocolate Butter Frosting

300g icing sugar

100g unsalted butter

40g cocoa powder

40ml milk

Beat the icing sugar, butter and cocoa powder in a bowl with an electric hand whisk at a slow speed. I always get in a huge mess at this stage and am saving up for a freestanding electric mixer like this KitchenAid beauty which comes with a shield so that my kitchen won’t get liberally sprinkled with icing sugar dust every time I bake :). 

Add the milk a little bit at a time. Once it has all been added and mixed in, turn the blender up to a high speed and continue beating until light and fluffy. Apparently the longer you beat it for the fluffier and lighter it becomes. 

If you want black butter icing it’s best to start with a chocolate base so that less food colouring is needed to get a deep colour.

I use an icing bag with a large plastic nozzle as I love the over the top cupcake look!

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26/04/2010 · 3:14 pm

What to do with some leftover cheese and a day off work…

The title kind of gives away the fact that today I had both, a day off work and some leftover goats cheese and cheddar knocking around my fridge. I trawled my recipe books and found a recipe for savoury cheese muffins which I adapted slightly to become…

Savoury goats cheese, cheddar, red onion and rosemary muffins.

255g plain flour

2tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda

1/4 tsp salt

60g grated cheese ( I used half cheddar, half goats cheese)

1 egg

2tbsp white granulated sugar

120ml plain yoghurt

180ml milk

90ml vegetable oil

Grated cheese for topping

3tbsp fresh rosemary chopped finely

4tbsp red onion chopped finely 

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees. My recipe book said that these stick to paper cases more than sweet muffins so it might be best to use a muffin tin and grease it well. However I used my wonderful silicone cases – I don’t think it’s possible to get anything stuck to them!

In a large bowl sift together the flour, baking powder, bicarb, salt and grated cheese. 

In another bowl mix together the beaten egg, sugar, yoghurt, milk, oil, fresh herbs and onion.

Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ones and mix with a metal spoon but try to minimise on stirring.

Fill the muffin cases 3/4 full and top with grated cheese and sprig of rosemary.

Bake for about 20 minutes until brown. They are extra tasty fresh out of the oven. 

You don’t have to add the rosemary and onion but they compliment the cheesiness perfectly! mmmmmm cheese!

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26/04/2010 · 2:58 pm

My tribute to Anzac Day

Yesterday was London Marathon day. It has become a tradition of mine to head down to the Isle of Dogs with friends, armed with beer (purely to lubricate the vocal chords you understand) to spend the day track side, giving the runners some much needed encouragement at the 16 mile mark. I love it! – I have such respect for everyone who takes part. I ran my first half marathon last year and can confirm that 13.1 miles was no mean feat so I find it hard to even imagine the pain of 26 miles. It always inspires me and who knows, come May 4th I might even have a go at entering the ballot for next year!

Among my marathon cheering buddies was my kiwi friend Simon and his brother Shane who educated me that yesterday was also Anzac day, a day of commemoration and remembrance for all Australians and New Zealanders who lost their lives defending their countries. Apparently it is also tradition to bake and eatAnzac Biscuits. I love a tradition involving baking and of course eating and was offered official Anzac Biscuits made by Shane himself. They were delicious and with a day off work ahead of me today I could think of no better way to spend it than having a go at making my own. I used a recipe from the BBC Good Food website. It’s a really exciting recipe which involves adding dissolved bicarbonate of soda into a mixture of melted butter and golden syrup, which fizzes up like a volcano. It felt a bit like a science experiment. These biscuits are super easy to make and very very yummy!

The recipe said it would make 20 but I think I got a bit carried away and made super huge biscuits as I only managed to get 11 out of the mixture!

When you take them out of the oven after 8 or so minutes they are brown but still quite wet, apparently this is normal and as they cool they harden.

All packed up and ready to take into work tomorrow….

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09/04/2010 · 9:08 pm

Brill tiffin

Another cafe that I visit regularly on Exmouth Market is Brill. It’s a small, independent music shop with a few tables and chairs, good coffee and bagels freshly toasted and prepeared to order (I can recommend smoked salmon and gherkin – not a combo listed on their board but one from my personal repertoire). I popped in one day after having already eaten lunch but with a longing for something to satisfy my sweet tooth and I picked up a tiffin.

You may find it hard to believe but I’d never come across a tiffin before so after devouring it I set about googling how to make them. Apparently they’re also known as refrigerator cakes and as the name may suggest, don’t require any cooking at all. I decided that tiffin making would be my mission for this evening. I’m going to Winchester tomorrow to celebrate my friends birthday and thought tiffin would make a good birthday cake substitute.

Here is the finished article…I dare you not to drool….

It was incredibly easy to make and they can be tailored very easily to your individual tastes.

This version contained

125g ginger nut biscuits

125g rich tea biscuits

50g mixed raisins

50g dried apricots roughly chopped

50g walnuts

100g butter

25g soft brown sugar

3tbsp cocoa powder

4tbsp golden syrup.

Oh and as if that isn’t naughty enough….approx 200g melted chocolate to pour over the top.

Crush the biscuits roughly but so they are still quite chunky, I just used my hands, no rolling pins required. Add the fruit and nuts of choice.

Melt the butter, sugar and syrup together and add the cocoa. Pour this mixture over the dry ingredients and stir until everything is coated with chocolatey goodness. Pour into a tin (I lined mine with greasproof paper to minimise on mess), even out, pour over the melted chocolate and put in the fridge for 1 hour.

It really is as easy as that! Once set use a sharp knife to slice into squares and then enjoy!

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