Toddlers and sugar, a match made in heaven? Probably not for their parents, but when it’s your niece’s third birthday party and you said you’d make biscuits, it’s hardly time to skimp on the sugar. I was inspired to make these little numbers by one …
Steamed pudding is like a sweet, jammy hug in a bowl. I love it. It’s a special favourite in our little country. I was recently introduced to a New Zealand specialty steamed pudding which is the queen of both steamed puddings and now of my heart…burnt …
I was the happy competitor in a baking competition recently. I say ‘happy’ because how could you ever not be happy when you have a genuine excuse to make sweet delicious treats several times over? And the competition was for a great cause too…Good Bitches Baking and their inaugural Mystery Box Challenge.
I was delighted to find coffee and dark chocolate in the mystery box. I would be delighted to happen upon this combination anywhere, granted, but having the opportunity to make two of my favourite things into something even better? Yippee is all I can say.
When in need of something sweet and decadent, shortbread is never too far from my thoughts. I’m a self-confessed butter-lover (yes, I did eat it in slabs straight from the block as a child). Shortbread may as well be a slab of butter that has been baked in an oven.
You might think shortbread couldn’t be any better and perhaps, even, should not be messed with. I’m sympathetic to this. There are few pleasures in life as scrumptious as a some buttery sweet shortbread and a hot drink, or during Christmas, a nip of single malt.
But do give this a go if you enjoy dark chocolate and coffee as much as I do…shortbread provides the perfect backdrop, and this can be whipped up without much bother. The ground coffee beans add a lovely coffee punch, but leave out or reduce if you want a hint of coffee rather than a cup.
For 10-15 pieces, you will need:
Pre-heat the oven to 150 degrees celsius.
Beat the butter and icing sugar together until light and fluffy. Sift the flour and cornflour together into the bowl with the butter and icing sugar mix. Stir lightly until just combined.
Add the coffee, chocolate and coffee grounds. Use a spoon to combine into the other ingredients until the mixture starts to form a dough.
Turn out onto a floured baking tray and knead lightly. Spread out into a circle or rectangle (up to you!) – it should be a lovely tan colour, like below. Cut into bars and prick with a fork.
Bake until slightly golden – about twenty minutes.
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? 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 …
I always loved visiting Wales when I lived in the UK, and what’s not to love? Beautiful countryside, that lovely lilting accent and, most importantly, Welsh cakes.
To the uninitiated, these little morsels may present like just another baked good. I promise you, they are so much more. Sugary and dotted with currants, they are gently browned like fat little pancakes on a hot bake stone, which in other words is a whacking great slab of cast iron heated on top of the oven elements.
The secret to the toothsomeness of Welsh cakes lies not just in the sugar, butter and dried fruit, but in the addition of lard. Yes, I too felt a little ill when informed of this fact. But please believe me, it adds a little something wonderful without any taste of fat, leaving the finished product just ever so slightly crisp on the outside, in contrast to the fluffy sweetness inside.
I was very privileged this past weekend to receive one-on-one tuition from a genuine Welsh person, my lovely friend Suze. Not only did she share her bakestone with me, but also her Nan’s welsh cake recipe. Very kindly, Suze also hunted out the required lard, seemingly impossible to find outside of a butchers, which arrived in a slightly piggy-scented white tub.
To learn how to make Welsh cakes a la Suze’s nan, read on…
Ingredients:
Tip the flour, baking powder and pinch of salt into a bowl
Add the butter and lard and rub in with your fingers until the mixture looks like fine breadcrumbs.
Mix in the currants, then add the egg and work in together with your hands until you have a soft dough. If it looks a little dry, add the splash of milk.
Lightly flour your bench top. At this point, put your bake stone (or heavy-based pan; I am reliably informed it will work just as well) over a moderate heat.
Roll out the dough to the thickness of your little finger (as demonstrated!). Use a 8cm cookie cutter to make the cakes.
Add a spot of lard to the bake stone and, once melted, cook the cakes in batches. They take about 3 minutes each side to become golden brown, crisp and cooked through – you can observe the colour changing as it cooks through along the side of the Welsh cake.
Sprinkle with caster sugar once cooked. I cannot emphasis enough how delicious they are served all fresh and warm with a good cup of tea. Dydd Gwyl Dewi hapus!
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 …
You all know how much I love a good, old-fashioned cookbook. 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 …
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. 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. 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. Pour over the boiling water and leave to cool.
Add the flour, cinnamon, ginger, egg, baking powder and golden syrup. 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? 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. But I love a good flan and this little number is easy …