More Cookies - Supermarket Bakery Ones

It's my new gluttonous quest to find the recipe that replicates those chewy bakery cookies that causes me to consume much more fat and sugar than I should. I feel some sort of security with having my cupboards full of the various different coloured sugars and chocolate and also with my fridge full of cold slabs of butter. My previous baking binge was to find the perfect flapjack recipe, which lets face it, has nothing remotely healthy in them. Damn tasty though.

Supermarket Bakery Cookies

• 100 g butter


• 50 g light brown sugar


• 50 g demerara sugar


• 1 tablespoon golden syrup


• 100 g chopped white and dark chocolate or Smarties.


• 150 g self-raising flour (it's this that gives the cookies their crinkle top)

1. Melt the butter and syrup.


2. Add the sugars and beat together.


3. Add the flour followed by the chocolates.


4. Place large spoonfuls on a baking tray and bake at 170º for 9 - 12 minutes, depending on the size of your cookies.


5. The biscuits are cooked when they are a golden brown colour but they look like they aren't quite ready. It's the not quite cooked cookie that gives the chewy quality.

Ginger Cake

I thought forgetting to add the sugar would make this ginger cake fairly bland but I was pleasantly surprised that the omission almost went unnoticed. When I remembered that the demerara sugar was still unweighed in the bag, I heated a heaped tablespoon of it with the left over stem ginger syrup and doused it over the just baked cake - I guess that's the reason that it tasted just sweet enough.

This photo was taken the day after it was baked but give it five days wrapped in foil and it will darken in colour and deepen in flavour. A good cake to prepare before a trip.

Preheat oven to 180ºC. Line a 1kg loaf tin with baking paper.

• 225g plain flour, I used wholemeal Spelt


• 1/2 tsp mixed spice


• 3 heaped tsp ground ginger


• 1 1/2tsp bicarb


• 140g Chinese stem ginger - rinsed, dried and roughly chopped


• 1 egg


• 285ml milk


• 85g butter


• 85g black treacle


• 85g golden syrup


• 115g demerara sugar

Preheat Oven 180ºC. Line a 1kg loaf tin.

1. Either sieve or whisk the flour, bicarb and spices together. I whisk dry ingredients  - less messy and it's quick. Add half of the ginger.


2. Beat the egg and milk in one bowl.


3. Melt the butter, treacle, syrup and sugar until melted.


4. Add the warm syrups to the four then add the milk mix and beat until combined.


5. Pour batter into lined tin and sprinkle over remaining ginger.


6. Bake for 1 hour.
   Check the cake after 30  mins and cover with foil if it's browning too much.

Paneer Cheese

I decided to have another go making paneer (Indian Cheese). My previous attempt a few years back resulted in a soggy mass of curdy curds which did nothing to impress Stu with my asian culinary skills. My recent batch being was much more succesful, I realised what I should have done before, was to pressed the cheese and leave it in the fridge to set for at least 3 hours before cooking. I did. Bingo. Tasty, cuttable and fryable cheese especially if it's coated in a flavourful chilli sauce (recipe below).

For those of you you familiar with baby sick, you will feel quite at home making this. I made it with Evie by my side who thought it was the most disgusting thing ever. I didn't remind her of the time she projectile vomited down Stu's back and no, she didn't try the fried cubes either. However, good friend Imogen was chief taste sampler and enjoyed the chilli cheese, but I doubt she would have tried it either if she had expereincd the baby sick stage - but don't let that put you off making it!

Here's how to make Paneer.

I used a litre of full fat milk and it yielded enough for two greedy eaters. You'll be surprised at how much whey you yield and how few curds, so if you want to make a larger batch, be generous with the amount of milk you use.

• 1 litre full fat milk


• 1/2 juice of lemon

1. Handy tip - Swish some water around a large pan and tip it out, this almost stops the milk protein sticking to the base of the pan.


2. Heat milk to just boiling then take off heat before it covers your hob.


3. Add the lemon juice and return to heat and simmer, and stir until it's very curdy. Add more lemon juice if it's not looking curdy enough. Take off heat and leave it for 10-25 minutes.


4. Place a small piece of muslin (I used one from Liz Earle's perfectly sized muslin's from her Cleanse and Polish range) into a sieve and if you wish to use whey for bread making, place the sieve over a bowl, if not, just hold the sieve over the sink.
   

   
   



5. Pick up the edges of the muslin and squeeze as much of the whey out as possible. Keep squeezing the curds too, to encourage the liquid to drip out.


6. Then, try and shape the curds into a rectangle and wrap tightly in the muslin.

   
   



7. Place the wrapped curds on a plate, then place another plate on top of the curds and thenplace something heavy on top and store int he fridge for 3 hours.


8. Once the cheese is chilled and pressed, it will be easy to cut into cubes ready for frying or i you'd rather, eat cold drizzled with honey and almonds.
   

   

Chilli Sauce for Paneer adapted from 'India with Passion'

• 1 tsp cornflour


• 1 tsp flour


• pinch of salt


• vegetable oil for frying


• 1 onion finely sliced


• 1/2 chilli, deseeded and chopped


• 1 garlic clove, crushed


• 1 tbsp sugar


• 1 tbsp vinegar


• 1 tbsp ketchup


• 1/2 tbsp dark soy sauce


• 1 tbsp hot chilli sauce or sambal


• 1 tsp cumin seeds + nigella seeds


• 2cm fresh ginger, grated or finely sliced

1. Mix together the cornflour, salt, flour and 1 tbsp cold water to make a thin paste.


2. Coat the cubed cheese with the paste.


3. Heat the oil in a frying pan and fry the paneer, browning each side of the cubes. Remove from pan.


4. Add onions, garlic, seeds and chillies and fry for a dew minutes.


5. Add the sugar, vinegar, ketchup, chilli and soy sauce and reduce for a minute. Add ginger.


6. Add cheese and season to taste.

   
   

battered potato balls

This recipe has not been inspired by Delia and her belief that frozen mashed potato is the way forward. I can't think of anything worse, oh yes I can, tinned mince. Yuck. I think Delia is great, but is the need for a couple of new strikers at NCFC really require her to cook such odd, supposesidly labour saving food?

When I watch Delia's new show, I can't help thinking that Hugh Fernley Whitingstall (my foodie crush) must be a little perturbed by Delia new fascination with tinned meat - is the tined meat from high welfare sources .....?

Anyway, steering clear of both tinned meats and frozen mash, this week I cooked a dish from the West of India involving deep fried potatoes in gram flour batter. Turmeric bright yellow crushed potatoes, with chillies, spices and fresh Methi (fenugreek leaves) dipped into thick chickpea batter. Delicious.

I've been trying to recreate some of the dishes I used to eat in Asian cafes in Birmingham where I studied Textiles in the Nineties.  The cafe I use to go to, usually on a Sunday, was no frills establishment with a TV mounted in the corner usually showing West Bromwich Albian football matches. The array of small vegetarian bites, both sweet and savoury were really delicious, along with the different chutneys to accompany the savoury eats, made the meal even more interesting.

I wish I could remember the region where the cuisine came from, I think it could be west India and possibly from the state of Gujarat but I'm only gleaning this information from the cookery book I found the recipe in. The book that has inspired me to cook Indian food this week, is India with Passion - Modern Regional Home Food by Manju Malhi.

Batata Vadas or Battered Potato Balls (slightly adapted from above mentioned book)

• 600g potatoes, peeled, boiled and slightly crushed


• 1 tsp brown mustard seeds


• 1 tsp coriander seeds


• 1 tsp turmeric


• 1 tsp ground cumin


• 1/2 tsp sugar


• good pinch of salt


• red or green chilli, finely chopped


• small handful of chopped coriander leaf


• small handful of chopped fenugreek leaf

1. Heat some oil in large frying pan, big enough to hold the potatoes.


2. Add seeds, ground spices, salt and sugar.


3. Add the potatoes, gently crushing as you heat and turn them in the spices, cook for 5 minutes.


4. Remove from heat and allow to cool before adding the chopped fresh herbs.

For the batter

• 150g gram (chickpea) flour


• 1 tsp ground cumin


• good pinch of salt


• 1/4 tsp baking powder


• Oil for frying

1. Sieve the flour with other dry ingredients into a bowl.


2. Add 1tsp oil and about 140ml water, more may be needed to get the batter the consistency of runny honey.


3. To make the balls, dampen your hands and roll walnut size lumps of potato into balls.


4. Drop the balls into the batter and lift out with a fork and drop into the hot oil.


5. Fry for 4 minutes and then drain on kitchen paper.

Methi or Fenugreek leaves

sourdough

Two weeks ago, I came home from work to find the oven that we bought over a year ago no longer in our bedroom but finally in it's place in the kitchen. I have a 70cm wide oven and a ceramic hob with touch sensitive controls. I love it and the difference the oven has made to my bread is quite excellent.  It rises so much more and cooks without it colouring unevenly. I can also watch it bake through the clean glass window instead of using my nose to guess when things are ready. I also love the fact the thermostat doesn't lie - which is quite odd and I can open the door with a handle instead of my fingers wedged in between the door and the oven. Basically I love it. The first thing I baked was a sourdough loaf....

It's amazing what you can achieve from fermenting potatoes, water and flour, time and patience. As I have mentioned  previously, I'm quite into making sourdough and am loving it and am ever so slightly obsessed with making it. Not one sourdough loaf seems to be the same, yet each loaf seems to taste pretty good. The flavour and texture I'm achieving is great but I can't get that proper looking loaf, you know the loaf that sits in deli windows, covered in flour with artful slashes across the top? But I will keep trying until I do.

I think to achieve that rustic look, you may need proper 'Bakers' equipment which I'm not using. Bakers use proving baskets, floured linen, bakers peel, baking stone and a spray bottle with water to get some humidity in to the oven. Stretching the skin/membrane of the dough as you shape it is also very important to achieve that rustic look. I often manage to tear the bubbly delicate skin as I’m forming the shape of the loaf, which then reveals the layers and structure of the dough underneath. I quite like this look once baked, I think it adds to its charm.

This recipe is for Angie. Good luck and get obsessed!

Feeding the starter prior to using it:

If you have 200g starter – and if it’s from me, it’s the’ mother starter’, it is more liquid than
a starter taken from a pre-salted kneaded batch.

Keep starter in a large glass jar, Kilner jars are ideal.
Take starter out of fridge and bring to room temperature. I usually give it 4-6 hours but it depends on your room temperature.

Add:
100g organic strong white flour  (sometimes I add 50g rye/50g white)
100g lukewarm filtered or bottled water. Use hot water from boiled kettle.
Mix with a wooden spoon.

Leave for another 6 hours.

Repeat above feed. Leave for another 6 hours.

Example Times:

Remove from fridge midday
First feed 4pm
Second feed 10pm.

• Start mixing the dough in the morning.


• The starter should be bubbly, thick and smell yeasty, fresh and slightly of apples.


• Take 250g starter and mix with 750g organic strong white flour. And 450 – 500ml of lukewarm water. The amount of liquid will depend on the flour using and also the consistency of the starter.


• Knead until you have combined flour and dough, it should take no more than 5 minutes. I use the bread machine on the dough setting and stop it once it has all combined and has a rough surface. Push your finger into the dough, it should be soft and springy and a little sticky.



• 
  

  Rest for 20 minutes for the gluten to develop.


• Meanwhile, warm a large bowl in the oven on a very low temperature.


• After the rest, the dough will have developed a stringing elasticity.








• Turn on bread machine if using, and use the dough setting and add:

1tbsp olive oil
15g Maldon sea salt.

• Knead for 15 minutes.


• Tip dough into warmed oiled bowl. Cover with oiled cling-film and leave to prove for 3 hours in a warm, draft free place.


• Once the dough has risen, very gently knock back the dough as you tip into on to a floured work surface.


• Without kneading, divide the dough into 2 or 3 pieces. It will be soft, warm, pliable dough and a little sticky.


• Then gently tuck the dough under, to form a round shape.


• Repeat this process for each piece of dough then sprinkle the dough with flour and smooth over.


• Make sure you leave space between each piece.


• Cover with a floured cloth and leave on the surface to rest for 20 minutes.








• Taking each piece of dough, again gently form a ball shape by tucking the skin under the loaf, this is the point when it often tears.


• Sprinkle again with flour.


• Place ball on to silicone matt or baking parchment and cover with plastic to stop a skin forming.


• Leave for final proofing for about 2-3 hours. Use indentation test*** to check if it's ready for baking (see below)


• At some point towards the end of the proving time, preheat oven to 220 ºc placing the baking stone and tray in the oven too


• Spray oven with water and very gently place bread in hot tray. Bake for 25-30 mins. You may need to turn it. To achieve a dry crust, keep the oven door open for last five minutes. It's cook when the bottom of the loaf sounds hallow when tapped.
  

***Indentation Test
To check the dough has proved enough, gently press your finger into the dough. If the dough springs back leaving no indentation, then it needs to be left to prove for longer.
If the dough springs back and leaves a slight indentation in the loaf, then it’s ready.
If the dough doesn’t spring back, quickly get it in the oven with knocking it, as this will disturb the gases that make it rise.

purple sprouting broccoli

How tasty is sprouting broccoli? Not only does it taste fabulous but the colour is ace too. I could it eat it daily, smothered in butter or even better, tasty virgin olive oil.
The other night, to ring the changes, I tried cooking it in small amounts but equal quantities of  virgin olive oil, water and white wine, along with garlic, home grown leeks and wholegrain mustard. Earlier in the week, we ate linguine with sprouting broc and a warm green salsa - this sprouting broccoli dish is a simplified version.

Mustard Sprouting Broccoli - serves 2

• 2 handfuls of trimmed sprouting broccoli


• 2 small and tender leeks


• large clove of garlic, sliced


• 1/2 glass each of white wine, water and olive oil


• pinch of chilli flakes or chopped chilli - optional


• dessert spoon whole grain mustard


• salt & pepper

1. Slice leeks into 1" diagonals


2. heat oil in shallow casserole or saute pan and add garlic and leeks


3. heat until garlic has started to brown


4. add chilli flakes if using


5. add water and wine and shake pan


6. add broccoli,  put on lid and continue to shake pan


7. cook for 2-3 mins. The broccoli will sort of steam in the liquid


8. when the broc is tender or however you like it, add mustard and seasoning and stir

pistachio, date and chocolate muffins

Yesterday became Evie and Matilda's first mud pie making day of the year. They they were digging up my allium bulbs, flinging soil about and mixing inaccurate quantities of soil with coarse sand to a sort of 1:3 mix - perfect for pies. While they were playing Delia vs Nigella, I was trying to perfect the perfect muffin recipe - again.

I came across a Peter Gordon recipe for brunch muffins in last months Food Illustrated magazine - it had orange, banana, ginger, chocolate and those annoying poppy seeds which make you teeth look like a lardy bird feeder. I had a go making something similar to the just mention combination on Monday, but without the ginger and using milk instead of yogurt. The results were more like a bought muffin than homemade. The cake texture was fine and light (think Starbucks), not dense but light, like these tasty buns turned out.  I'm guessing the change in texture was due to the fact I used milk, rather than yogurt or buttermilk as suggested.

Pistachio, Date and Chocolate Muffin

This mix makes 12 muffins

• 150g wholemeal plain flour


• 100g plain flour


• 120g caster sugar


• 1 large egg


• 2 tsp baking powder


• 1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda


• 300g natural low fat yogurt


• 3 tbsp rapeseed or groundnut oil


• 75g milk or plain Chocolate, chopped


• 75g pitted dates, chopped


• 100g raw pistachios, chopped - 75g for the cake mix, 25g for sprinkling on top

My oven thermostat is odd so I don't bake any cake or biscuits above 150ºc, but I think the recipe suggested baking them for 20-30 mins at 190ºc but that would blast them to a fine tinder in my irratic old cooker.

1. Mix all dry ingredients in one bowl


2. Add chopped fruit, nuts and chocolate and mix well


3. In another bowl, mix oil, yogurt and egg


4. Add liquid mix to dry mix and stir until just combined


5. Dollop spoonfuls into bun cases or silicone paper squares and top with remaining pistachios


6. Bake on middle shelf  for approx 25 mins, 150º (see comment above in orange)

eating Orange & Almond cake

....So I haven't exactly with-drawn myself from the kitchen, as I first thought I might. Stopping me is my new taste obsession - anything with huge amounts of almonds and or, coconuts in.

Last week, I had my second attempt at an orange and almond cake. I think it was much tastier than my first attempt when I used the Clementine Cake recipe from Nigella's book 'How To Eat'.  I will add that I don't think it was Nigella's recipe didn't work, it did, but I thought I may like it more if it was less eggy and a little denser.

I have also just discovered that my  digital weighting scales gains grams in mere anticipation of a weight soon to be placed on it. Perhaps the reason for my lack lustre Victoria Sponge a week back (I
like to think so). It's very odd and annoying, seeing as the scales are fairly new, but perhaps a good reason to buy another set. This mechanical set appeals, only I can hear Stu's sensible voice saying but where would they go'. He's right of course.

Anyway, moving on from my kitchen wish-list (it's huge), here is my recipe for a denser but still as moist, dairy and wheat free cake, suitable for both with coffee or for a pud. It's very simple, but please note that you can't make it last-minute as the oranges need to be boiled for nearly 2 hours and then cooled before making the mixture.

Orange & Almond Cake

• 2 large organic or unwaxed oranges


• 300g ground almonds


• 250g sugar (caster or granulated)


• 6 eggs


• 1 heaped teaspoon baking powder

Preheat the oven to 150ºc and line a 21cm spring form cake tin lined with silicone paper. If you put 2 or 3 sheets on the base it will reduce the browning of the cake, although this isn't necessary as the browning has no burnt flavour. I also left the paper at the sides of the tin, quite high to also reduce browning but placing a sheet on top of the cake half way through cooking will also work.

1. Start by placing the oranges in a saucepan and cover with water. Boil for 1-2 hours or until they feel like better when a knife is pierced into them. Cut in half and leave to cool.


2. Remove any pips from the oranges then place in a food processor. Whizz the oranges until they are a pureed, but not too pureed.


3. Beat the eggs and sugar in a large bowl with a balloon whisk.


4. Pour the orange puree into the egg and sugar mixture and mix gently.


5. Fold in the ground almonds and baking powder and pour into a the cake tin.


6. Bake for 1 hour.


7. Leave to cool in tin before cutting.


8. Delicious served with creme fraiche and even more delicious if the cake is chilled.

Coconut macaroon recipe to follow....

candied orange peel

Christmas just wouldn't be complete if I didn't candy orange peel to dip in chocolate, and also make fig salami. And if you are one of the lucky recipients, I hope you're not bored of them yet!

My slight obsession for candying orange peel started when I worked at Yetman's  Restaurant, I think the recipe we used was from a Jane Grayson book. We would add the peel to biscuits and also dip it in dark chocolate to serve with coffee. Although the recipes we used then was good, the peel never lasted long. We would always find it had gone mouldy even in an air tight tin.

I've tried many other recipes since, often concocting my own methods with OK results but more often, it would turn out too hard or too soft. But the one recipe that has worked the best is from the excellent book, Preserved by Jonny Acton and Nick Sandler. The reason this recipe seems to work, is because it takes about 5 days of  consuming huge amounts of sugar and also has a dose of glucose syrup in the final boil up.

I often struggle to follow a recipe and that, combined with my inability to understand anything numeric, means my food measuring can be a little hap-hazard. The quantity of peel required in the Preserved book is a little on the industrial size, so I have subtracted and divided to the best of my ability and come up with a recipe that seems to work just fine.

Candied Orange Peel

Approx 6 organic or un-waxed oranges, scrubbed and quartered. The peel should weigh about 600g.

Approx 1 kg sugar (granulated or caster)

Approx 150g glucose syrup

Day 1

• Cut most of the flesh from the peel. I like to leave some flesh on as it makes the strips more succulent once they are dipped in chocolate.


• Add the peel to large saucepan and cover with cold water. Bring to boil and simmer for 15 mins.


• Drain, and repeat above process.


• Drain again. Keeping the peel in pan, and add approx 600g sugar. Cover with water until peel is just submerged. Heat and stir until the sugar has dissolved and simmer for 30mins.


• Turn off the heat and let the peel cool in the pan with a lid on.

Day 2

• Remove the peel with a slotted spoon and add 100g of sugar.


• Bring to the boil then return the peel to the pan.


• Turn off heat and replace lid.

Day 3 and 4

• Repeat above process

Day 5

• Repeat above process, only you use 150g of glucose syrup instead of sugar and boil rapidly for 20mins or until reduced by half. Then place the peel in the pan and leave for a few a few hours.


• Using tongs, remove pan from peel and lay out on drying/cooling
  racks or silicone paper to dry for up to 4 days or until it's lost a
  lot of it's moisture. You can also place in very cool oven if you want to speed things up.


• Wrap it in a silicone paper, then put it in air tight box and store somewhere cool - it should last for months.


• If you want to try tempering the chocolate to get that glossy, professional chocolatier look, good luck. To my utter annoyance, I seem to fail every time, and I do try every time.

dense chocolate brownies

Some months back I stumbled across the blog Coco & Me,  at the time I was searching for a recipe for those perfect pastel macaroons when I clicked on a link to Coco & Me's step-by-step guide. Tamami's food instantly grabbed my attention and I often look at her blog, she is achieving something I have always thought about doing myself.

Tamami runs a chocolate and cake stall at Hackneys Broadway Market and her food looks amazing. She manages to bake from home for the stall on the days leading up to Saturday's market. She also has a toddler and is expecting another. I'm impressed. 

This week I was asked to provide food for a 'work' lunch for a good friends business meeting. She enjoys my food and I thought it would be a fun if a little hectic thing to do. So with the help of my wonderful parents in the house distracting the girls from 'helping', I did manage to provide what I had hoped would be a pleasing lunch for all.

I decided not to make sandwiches, (although it would have been easier) but instead I made a sweet potato, feta, onion and cumin tart;  lamb kofta's, pita, tzatiki, houmous. Slices of fresh melon and pineapple and grapes, home-made cookies and chocolate brownies for a price of £10 a head. I know I would have been happy to eat it and I believe everyone was, except the boss who wouldn't even try anything and instead, sent his secretary out for a white bap. I know he was peeved at the cost, he could have "bought in lunch for much less", but I couldn't help but feel deflated, annoyed that the boss didn't try my food and also slightly embarrassed that I had prepared something a little different and possibly charged too much. Yet I know the time and effort I took deciding, cooking, shopping and delivering not to mention the quality of ingredients that went into the lunch.

But it was a good learning curve. It reminded me of a post a few months back on Coco & Me where at Broadway Market, someone had challenged Tamami about the cost of her tarte tatin (but still bought it) and left saying “I should remember never to buy cakes from you.” 

On a brighter note, I think the  chocolate brownies I made were pretty delicious. They are wheat-free but certainly not fat-free. Moist and dense and they would last for days and days in the fridge if they weren't so damn tasty. I think I always under-cook my brownies, I  prefer them fudgy to cakey but I realise fudge isn't everyone's cuppa tea. If you prefer them cakey, just cook them for longer.

With this batch, I forgot to add the toasted hazelnuts until the mixture had been in the oven for a few minutes. Rather than omitting them completely, I threw them on the top of the slightly baked mixture and then put the tin back in the oven. I now actually think I prefer this look than them being concealed inside the dark cake.

Dense Chocolate Brownies

190g salted or unsalted butter (I like salted)

190g good quality (74%  cocoa solids) chocolate ( I swear Lidls is the best!)

3 large free range eggs

250g caster sugar

150g ground almonds

150g toasted hazelnuts or walnuts

17cm x 26cm tin lined with silicone parchment paper

Heat oven to 150ºc

1. In a heavy based pan, heat the butter and chocolate on a very low heat until melted.


2. In a large bowl, beat the eggs and sugar with a balloon whisk


3. Pour the slightly cooled chocolate mixture into the egg and sugar mix and beat until combined, thick and glossy.


4. Gently stir in the ground almonds and whole nuts (or leave nuts for throwing on top) and pour into lined tin.


5. Bake for 30 - 40 mins or until the top starts to puff up and crack.


6. Place the cake tin on a cooling rack and leave to cool completely until cutting. (Cutting the brownies with a wet, hot knife makes it look slightly neater).


7. Heat and eat with ice-cream or cut it into small pieces, and like me, eat it straight from the fridge when the girls aren't looking.

millionaires cupcakes

The other week, heavily pregnant Mia arrived with a bag of irresistible millionaire's shortbread. In the bag, were four individual chocolate topped shortbread in large muffin cases. I was inspired. What a great way of  serving the often messy to cut indulgence. Better still, she told me she just whizzed up a packet of shortbread fingers, added some melted butter and just pressed them into the white paper cases. So, last week I gave it a go. I think my shortbread base was too thick but Stu, being slightly Scottish loved it. With the caramel, I couldn't decide whether to boil the condensed milk in the tin, in a vat of water for several hours and risk it exploding, or, to use the other and quicker method - heating it in a pan with butter and sugar. I went for the later, I wanted full fat, billionaires shortbread.

And congratulations Mia and Sam, who have since given birth to a little girl called Mali -  very perfect and very beautiful.

Mia's Millionaires Cupcakes

1 packet 'all butter' shortbread fingers
50g melted butter

...for the caramel
120g butter
120g soft brown sugar
397g tin of condensed milk
large pinch of sea salt flakes

200g  chocolate (70% cocoa)
1 tsp sunflower oil

1. Empty biscuits in food processor and whizz.


2. Melt butter and pour in to whizzing crumbs.


3. Press the biscuit mixture evenly into the 12 (or more) cup cake / muffin cases.


4. Empty all the caramel ingredients into a saucepan and heat gently, stirring constantly until starting to caramelise. You want it to be a toffee colour although that is not essential.


5. Place the muffin tray in the fridge.


6. Break chocolate pieces into a bowl and heat over a pan of hot water.


7. Once melted, add a teaspoon of sunflower oil. This is suppose to add a gloss to the chocolate like tempering but It didn't really work for me, but neither does tempering, but that's another story....

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china spiced soup

Crown Prince squashes, in my opinion have the best taste and the best look. Pale duck egg blue with the deepest orange flesh. I made this soup with a quarter of a squash I have been hacking hunks off for the past two weeks.  The soup turned out to be delicious and velvety smooth with the peppers and star anise really adding to the flavour.

Squash Soup

• 50g butter


• 1 large onion, roughly chopped


• 3 sticks celery, roughly chopped


• 2 garlic cloves


• 2 red peppers, de-seeded and roughly chopped


• 1 inch fresh ginger, chopped


• 1/4 crown prince squash, skinned, de-seeded and roughly chopped


• roughly, 2 pints fresh chicken stock or veg stock - marigold bouillon is good


• 1 tsp Chinese Five Spice powder


• 2 star anise


• 1 cinnamon stick    

For garnish

• handful of cashews mixed with a little oil and sprinkle of Chinese Five Spice and roasted for 5 minutes in moderate oven.


• a chunk fresh ginger, peeled and finely sliced

1. Melt butter in heavy based large saucepan and fry onions and celery until soft.


2. Add garlic cloves, red peppers, ginger, five-spice, star anise, cinnamon and squash. Stir for a few minutes to stop veg sticking to base of pan.


3. Add stock and simmer until reduced.


4. Blend soup mixture until smooth. No need to sieve.


5. To serve, add sliced ginger and spiced cashews.

spinach and ricotta parcels

Evie and I didn't make pizzas the other day, instead she helped me make spinach and ricotta parcels. She loves painting so I asked for assistance in brushing melted butter over the paper thin filo pastry and what with the pastry being paper thin and Evie being typically eager and a little heavy handed, we had quite a few splits and cracks to patch up adding to their rustic charm.

Spinach and Ricotta Parcels

• 1 bag spinach


• 1 tub ricotta


• 1 onion, finely chopped


• 2 sticks celery, finely chopped


• handful black olives, sliced


• handful roasted pine-nuts


• grated nutmeg


• salt & pepper


• butter - lots


• 1 pack of filo pastry


• sesame seeds

1. Put a large pan of water on heat and bring to boil. Preheat oven to 180 ºc


2. Melt butter and fry both onions and celery until soft but not brown, then tip into a bowl to cool.


3. When water is boiling, add spinach until just wilted - about 20 seconds - and tip into a colander running cold water over it until it is no longer warm.


4. When onions and celery are cold, tip in the ricotta, 1/2 a grated nutmeg, chopped olives, pine-nuts  and plenty of seasoning.


5. Squeeze as much water out of the spinach as possible,  roughly chop then add to ricotta mixture.


6. Unpack the pastry and lay it flat on a table and cut it in half length ways.


7. Cover one of the lengths with cling film to stop it drying out while you are working with other half pile of pastry.


8. Paint a strip of filo with butter, set aside then layer them on top of each other. (You can use one sheet, but I think 2 layers is better).


9. Put a dessert spoon of ricotta mixture into the top corner of the pasty strip, then fold down in to a triangle shape until all the pastry has been wrapped.


10. Cover with more butter and sprinkle with sesame seeds.


11. Place on baking tray. When tray is full, bake for approx 15 mins.

very greengaging

Greengages, the sweet, thin skinned, short seasoned plum-like fruit that often passes me by each year. My sister Amy is a big fan of greengages and hearing her talk about them, earlier this week, made me go and find some.

Once I bought them I wasn't too sure what to do with them. When I buy apricots, I usually bake them gently with amaretto or make a compote or crumble. I do the same with plums but with the greengages, I thought I'd make a cake and for some reason I thought I'd make a pecan cake with greengages - quick, simple and very tasty and seemed a big hit with my parents (or was that the custard and ice-cream?)

Greengage and Pecan Slab

• 4 oz unsalted butter, soft


• 4 oz soft brown sugar


• 2 oz spelt flour


• 2 oz self raising flour


• half tsp baking powder


• half tsp vanilla extract


• 2 eggs


• 4 oz pecans, roasted


• approx 10 greengages


• dark muscavado or Demerara sugar

1. Place all the ingredients except the nuts into a food processor and combine


2. Add half the nuts and pulse until they are broken down - but not ground


3. Half and de-stoned the greengages and lay on the bottom of a lined tin


4. Pour batter into lined small, rectangular baking tray


5. Top with remaining broken pecan nuts and a good sprinkle of muscavado sugar and bake for 20 mins at 160º  c


6. Cool on wire rack for 10 mimutes then remove from tin

fruit sherbets

Jamie Olivers, Jamie's Italy cook book has appealing, simple earthy recipes. There are two pudding I've been meaning to cook for the past year, bolognese polenta and apple cake one Florentine rice tart. The tart appeals so much as I want it to taste just like a rice tart I use to love in a patisserie near Mum and Dads apartment in Antwerp and I'll never know unless I try it...
One recipe I have tried from Jamie's Italy is the extremely simple and zingy lemon sherbet. What makes it a sherbet and not a sorbet is the addition of mascapone which enriches it slightly. So far I've used the base recipe to make raspberry, mango and lime and as picture above, blackberry and apple. I've noticed that the blackberry's in the countryside aren't ripe until the end of the month but for some reason, the city bramble bushes over the road, along the river are ripe at the beginning of August. I experimented a bit with the apple sherbet, adding half a cucumber and a few mint leaves - I think  it works well but I'm not sure if others will.

Blackberry Sorbet

• 7fl oz water


• 7 oz sugar


• 250g blackberries, gently simmered, pureed and sieved


• half tub mascapone

1. Heat the sugar and water and boil for 5 minutes or until it is clear then leave to cool in a bowl.


2. Add the fruit puree and mascapone, beating until it's all blended.


3. Pour into a tub or pre frozen metal dish and freeze.

*If making pure lemon sherbet, use 7 fl oz of lemon juice and rind of  2 lemons. Taste and make sure it's sharp enough, then freeze.

Apple Sherbet

• 4 granny smith apples


• half cucumber


• 4 mint leaves


• glug of apple or pear liqueur


• 7fl oz water


• 7 oz sugar


• half tub mascapone

1. Make sugar syrup as above


2. Wash and core apples then chop and add to blender


3. Wash cucumber, chop and also add the blender


4. Add liqueur and a dash of water and sprig of mint


5. Whizz until completely pureed adding the mint leaves at the last second


6. Pass puree through large mesh sieve and add to sugar syrup


7. Add mascapone and whisk well, pour into tub and freeze

Cheeky cockney geezer recommends breaking sorbet up with fork every few hours but I forgot and it seemes fine.

blackcurrant jam

I made endless jars of blackcurrant jam last week. The fruit was purchased from the small fruit farm outside Horsford for only 50p a lb. Seemed stupidly cheap.

Recipe reference for next year.

• 6 lb blackcurrants - de-stalked and unwashed


• 5 lb 12 oz granulated sugar


• 1 1/2  pint water

Place the blackcurrants and water in preserving pan or large saucepan and bring to boil.
Simmer for 15 mins, removing fruit-scrum as it bubbles.
Add sugar and boil for 30mins, stirring frequently to stop it catching on the bottom of the pan.
Blackcurrant jam always sets without any problem, but to check, place a small amount on a chilled plate , leave for a few minutes and see if it 'wrinkles' when pushed. If it does, it will set.
Pour into sterilised jars, I used the dishwasher then warmed in the oven.
Then seal with wax discs and jam pot covers.

ginger & chocolate biscuits

This hideous weather isn't just making my emotions damp, my eyes weep irratically like a semi broken water feature, but it's also making me want to bake, bake and bake. I counted 9 different types of flour in my cupboard the other day. Is that excessive? And if I don't have flour, eggs, sugar, chocolate and unsalted butter in the house I feel uneasy. I can't work out if it's the constant rain, or the wheat/butter/sugar addiction I have that's getting to me, or just that I'm a mother with two small children trapped indoors during the summer months....

However, I made some buttery ginger biscuits the other day, very similar to my favourite chocolate salty sables from Foodbeam taken from Pierre Herme who incidentally, could be the most stylish baker I've ever come across. The biscuits are quick, easy, freezable and damn tasty and I've now got to add crystallised ginger as another must have security ingredient. Have you ever tried a mug of chopped ginger and hot water? Delicious.

To make the biscuits, weigh out:

• 175g plain flour, rice flour or 50/50 of them both - rice flour makes a crunchier biscuit


• 125g softened unsalted butter


• 50g light brown sugar


• 75g crystallised ginger


• 50g plain chocolate, chopped (optional)


• Maldon sea salt

Preheat oven to 150ºc.
Using a food processor, add the butter and the sugar and pulse until combined.
Add flour, continue to pulse then add ginger cubes. Pulse until you have the ginger to the size you like. Bigger is best in my opinion.
Take out blade and add chopped chocolate.
Scrap dough out of processor and halve.
Roll each half into a sausage and wrap in cling-film.
Place in fridge until firm enough to slice. (Freeze the mixture at this point if  wanting to use later).
Slice into rounds, sprinkle with sea salt, place on a baking tray lined with silicone paper, and bake for 10-12 mins or until a light, golden colour.
Cool on baking sheet then transfer to wire cooling rack.

If you don't want to add chocolate to the biscuits, you could cover them with melted chocolate instead.

summer pudding

I've discovered a PYO fruit farm just outside Norwich which sells the most delicious strawberries, loganberries and gooseberries. Unlike most strawberries, these ones are grown in grow-bags raised off the ground, so are a perfect height for picking, especially 3 year olds.

With this batch of red fruit I've made a summer pudding and with the gooseberries, I think I'll make a crumble or fool. Summer pudding has to be one of the tastiest fruit puddings and one of the simplest to make. I'm sure it's not everyone's idea cup of tea - eating soggy white bread drenched with fruit syrup, but to me, it's so traditional and summery and perfect with a hefty helping of double cream.

I used frozen blackcurrants, red currents and raspberries along with some fresh raspberries, loganberries and strawberries. Using frozen fruit is ideal as they produce more juice then fresh fruit, it was also easier as not all of the fruit is in season yet. I don't think the bread I used was really stale enough, a two day old pre-sliced, white sandwich bakery loaf is your best best. Using those pappy, bagged loaves is pointless, they go moldy before they go stale due to the amount of preservatives in them.

I've got no idea about quantities, you basically need enough fruit to fill the pudding basin you are using. Using glass bowl is best, you can then see if any of the bread is still white and not yet fruit drenched.

I think I roughly used:

• 1/2 lb hulled and halved strawberries


• 1/2 Ib fresh raspberries


• 1/2 Ib frozen raspberries


• 1/2 Ib frozen blackcurrants


• 1/2 Ib red/white currents


• 1/2 Ib loganberries


• 1 white loaf, sliced with crusts removed


• 2-3 tablespoons of caster sugar

Gently heat the blackcurrants and add the sugar and a little water. Then tip in the frozen raspberries and remaining currents and gently mix.
Tip in the rest of the fruit and check for sweetness and quantity of juice - you need a quite a bit.
Line your chosen pudding basin with the bread, overlapping the slices.
Once you're happy with your bread layout,  take it out remembering the order it goes back in and dip each piece into the pan of  fruit.
Put the bread back in the bowl, juice side down.
Once all the bread is lining the bowl, tip in the fruit and top with more bread.
Find a suitable sized plate and place it on top of the pudding followed by a weight.
Refrigerate for  8 hours or overnight.
When ready to eat, run a knife around the pudding, place a large plate on top, turn upside down and shake until it drops on the plate.
Eat with as much cream as your guilt will allow.

 

banoffee meringue

The label says 'luxuriously creamy, rich and smooth' but it forgets to mention 'addictive, fattening and totally unhealthy'. Still, that hasn't put me off from delving spoons of varying sizes into the jar at moments of greed/need.

Dulce De Leche is a food from Argentina and it is thought that it was created by a forgetful maid who was boiling milk and sugar. Sometime later, she remembered her pan of white stuff and to her horror (soon to be delight) she discovered in had turned into a brown, thick and sticky mass.

Today we had friends over for lunch, good old roast chicken followed by a made-up pudding using the Dulce De Leche (I've got to get it out of the house with out consuming it all myself  haven't I?) I decide to make a take on the sickly but pleasing banoffee pie - pecan meringue filled with a mixture of lightly whipped cream, 'the' toffee sauce and slices of banana rolled into a roulade.

I have to say it looked a little bland, too much of the same colour but it tasted good. If you find yourself snatching a jar of this sticky nectar into your shopping trolley and need to share out the calories you could always try and make the roulade. Here's how:

• 5 egg whites


• 150g pecan nuts, chopped


• 275 g castor sugar


• 150ml double cream


• 1 tbsp Dulce De Leche


• 2 bananas, thinly sliced

Roast pecans in low oven (140º) for 8 Min's, cool then roughly chop.
Line a large baking sheet with silicone paper.
Whisk egg whites until stiff then add a tbsp of sugar, a spoon at a time.
Add the pecans and dollop mixture onto baking sheet and spread evenly.
Place in oven and cook for 20-30 Min's or until it peel away from paper base then leave to cool for a few minutes before turning out onto a large sheet of grease-proof paper or foil. Peel away the base paper gently.

When ready to serve, lightly whip the cream. You can either have a go at spreading the toffee onto the meringue or if you think it will tear the meringue, lightly mix spoonfuls into the cream and then spread.
Top with slices of banana then using the foil or paper the roiled is lying on, pull it towards you, pressing it down to tighten the roll as you go. Dust with icing sugar and eat.

chewy almond macaroons

I baked this batch but over cooked them making them less chewy than I like.
Never-the-less, I ate most of them as I didn't want anyone else to risk dental troubles. scoff scoff.

This recipe is taken from Nigella Lawson's Feast.

• 200g ground almonds


• 200g caster sugar


• 2 egg whites


• 2 tablespoons of rose water


• 12 whole blanched almonds, halved.

Mix together all the dry ingredients, then mix in the egg whites stirring well to combine everything.
Wet hands with rose water and take teaspoons of the mixture and roll into balls and place on baking parchment set apart by 3 cm.
Flatten, then place half an almond on each macaroon.
Bake in oven set at 150º for 10-12 mins.
Resist from peeling off paper until cool as you may end up leaving some biscuit stuck to the paper.