Hurrah, apples are in season again! Â This means I can continue my alphabetical journey through New Zealand’s kitchen bible, the Edmonds Cook Book, where I am still languishing somewhat in the apple section of the A recipes. I’m not going to lie, the idea …
I know, I know, vegetables and chocolate.  My reflex reaction is ‘blurgh’ too.  But bear with me, these brownies are good, contain lots of dark chocolate and are a handy way to use up beetroot if you find yourself needing to do so. Not that I often …
What to do with sage? Make buttery, cheesy sage and cheddar biscuits? Â Yes please.
I’ve found myself with a reasonably plentiful supply of fresh sage, which is a new thing.  I have always managed to grow parsley and been left perplexed at how to use the stuff up, but my previous sage attempts have all turned into sad little heaps.
It seems I’m not the only person to pose this question. The lovely Chocolate and Zucchini blog has very helpfully compiled a list of suggestions.  Those of you who have read some of my other cheese-laced ramblings can probably imagine that sage and cheddar biscuits were a stand-out.
Mmm, cheddar.  Do you know what I love most about cheddar?  It’s those delightful little crunchy bits amongst the dense, savoury cheese.  And recently, I was fascinated to learn  from this wonderful cheese blog, Fromage Homage, that they have a special name….calcium lactate crystals.
These little biscuits are adapted from this recipe.  They provide a lot of bang for their buck, being so very simple to make but looking most classy served up as a home-made nibble to accompany drinks.  I need to provide you with a warning: they are incredibly buttery.  So much so that you need to have at least two.
Here’s how to make your very own:
Ingredients:
Preheat your oven to 200 degrees celsius and line two baking trays.
Combine the butter, cheese, flour, sage and pepper in a bowl. Â Mix until it forms a ball (I find it easiest to use my hands for this).
Turn the dough out onto a floured surface and roll out to 0.5 cm thickness. Â Use a cutter to make into rounds, treating it like a cookie doll by rolling up the offcuts and cutting out more biscuits.
Bake in the oven for 12-15 minutes until crisp and golden. Â Cool for one minute and then transfer to a baking rack.
Makes 16 biscuits.
I always loved visiting Wales when I lived in the UK, and what’s not to love? Â Beautiful countryside, that lovely lilting accent and, most importantly, Welsh cakes. To the uninitiated, these little morsels may present like just another baked good. Â I promise you, they are …
What a handsome red cabbage!  Or at least, that was my first thought when gifted some of the cabbage overflow from my parents’ bountiful garden.  And don’t you agree? And my second thought was coleslaw. Coleslaw, or slaw, has made quite the resurgence of late, I …
The busy run-up to Christmas is paved with good intentions, namely my intention to publish this post.  So forgive me for missing the boat a little with this one.  I think we can still consider this timely though, as many of us will have tin-foiled lumps of Christmas cake waiting for a cup of tea.
I would never try to better my go-to Christmas cake recipe – Nigella Lawson’s chocolate fruit cake.  I have made her cake for a least five years and partly what makes it so great is that it’s another of my favourite one-pot recipes.  You don’t need to make it weeks in advance as all of the delicious fruity, boozy, buttery ingredients are gently boiled together to mellow and release their flavours.  Not only does this make it scrumptious, it will also make your house smell amazing.
So without further ado, here are the ingredients and method below. It’s a long list of ingredients I know, but worth it! Â My only little tweak is the brazil nuts, which make the cake feel all hearty and wholesome and slightly good for you. Â I also used brandy in my most recent version instead of coffee liqueur, but both are equally good and cointreau’s not bad either.
For Nigella Lawson’s chocolate fruit cake you will need:
Put the fruit, butter, sugar, honey, booze, orange juice and zest, mixed spice and the cocoa in a big saucepan over a medium heat and bring it to the boil, stirring. Â Simmer for 10Â minutes and remove from the heat, letting it stand for 30 minutes.
Meanwhile, warm your oven to 150 degrees celsius and get your cake tin ready.  You are going to line it so the baking paper towers up beyond the sides of the tin and your finished, prepared tin looks like it has an extra top layer of baking paper.
This may seem a lot of faff but I promise it’s worth it as without it, the top of the cake can be burned and tough. Â There are more explicit instructions here. Â In short, I find it works for me if I grease the whole tin liberally to start. Â I cut out a circle of baking paper for the base and two long strips which circle around half of each side, and then plaster it all on, the side pieces first and then the base circle. Â This is not the best picture, but I’m including it to give an idea of the finished product if that’s helpful and, like me, the idea of origami makes you balk a little.
Add the eggs and all dry ingredients to the cooled butter mix and stir gently to combine. Â Pour the mix into the prepared cake tin and bake for 1 and 3/4 to 2 hours, until the top is firm but shiny and a skewer inserted into the middle has a little gooey mixture clinging to it.
Cool in the tin. Â It keeps for ages wrapped in a layer of baking paper encased in tin foiled. It’s not at all bad with a little nip of something! Â And of course, it goes well with tea.
Keep safe and happy this Christmas season, wherever you are in the world.
You all know how much I love a good, old-fashioned cookbook. Â So I was naturally delighted when this little gem, ‘The Cookin’ Woman: Irish Country Recipes’ arrived in my letter box, thanks to my little sister (Science teacher extraordinaire and blogger at Einstein’s Kitchen). It’s …
It’s truly wonderful to be writing about asparagus. Â The appearance of these little green spears of joy means it must be spring. Â I’m sure you’ve all enjoyed my endless assault of stodge and apples as much as I have, but there are few things in …
A friend in need is a friend indeed, do you think?  I don’t know the exact origin of this phrase (although the finger is pointed at a certain Quintus Ennius), but I do know that anyone in any kind of need can do with a tasty date loaf.  And if you are of my age and vintage in life, you may well have Placebo running through your head at the moment too.
This recipe brings together a few of my favourite things: butter, brown sugar, and Bin Inn. Â I won’t start up again about how much I love Bin Inn (I’ve done so on previous occasions, if you are desperate to know more), but I will say they do make a fine date loaf, on which I have based this version with a few of my own tweaks.
Knowing me by now as a somewhat lazy baker, you are probably not surprised that this requires very little effort and can be mixed up using only one bowl. Â You have to chop the dates yourself, but I bet you could find pre-diced ones somewhere, and voila, even easier.
I am taking this little number, all cutely dressed up, to drop over to a friend who is plagued by a most unkind virus.  I’m hoping my date loaf will bring a little solace, and if not, at least a little sugar.  So if you find yourself in need, give this one a try.
Take care until next time.
Restorative date loaf ingredients:
Line a loaf tin with baking paper and set the oven to 170 degrees celsius.
Place the dates, sugar, baking soda and butter into a large-ish bowl. Â Pour over the boiling water and leave to cool.
Add the flour, cinnamon, ginger, egg, baking powder and golden syrup. Â Combine and pour into the prepared loaf tin.
Bake at 170 degrees celsius for 45 minutes, until a skewer comes out clean.
How do you like them apples? Â That’s how I feel I should be addressing you, because we really have had a lot of apply recipes by this point in the Edmonds A section. Â But I love a good flan and this little number is easy …