Emma Hawkins | The Mindfulness Kitchen

Salted Caramel Cookie Bars

By Emma Hawkins | September 19, 2018 | Comments 0 Comment

During my time in Canada this summer I was surprised to find myself being more sociable than I’d ever been in my 19 years living in the UK. As my sister used to live out there she had loads of people to catch up with, and as all of them were so lovely and hospitable we were invited to more BBQs and picnics than I can count! It was so amazing to be in a culture where everyone is so welcoming. Maybe it’s because I’m English, or maybe it’s because I’m more specifically a Southerner, but until then I’d never experienced so many strangers being so hospitable and kind to me. A few plates of ribs, wings and chicken breasts and it felt like you were slipping into a community you were already apart of, sitting around with friends you’d known for years.

On the evening’s we were lucky enough to have a BBQ to go to we’d always take some food to add to the table, and being a keen baker it was often a dessert that I contributed. I made these particular bad boys to take to a BBQ at my sister’s old work friends Bonnie and Wanda’s house. They were super quick to make, really easy to transport and perfect for sharing as we could cut them up into as many pieces as we needed. For these I made my own caramel because I happened to have to ingredients for it lying around, but you could use a pre-made caramel to make these super easy!

Recipe

Makes 16 squares

Time: 20 minutes, plus cooking time

Ingredients

For the caramel

125g Light brown sugar
350ml Double cream
50g Unsalted butter

For the cookie dough

300g Plain flour
A pinch of salt
½ tsp Bicarbonate of soda
180g Unsalted butter, melted
130g Light brown sugar
100g Granulated sugar
1 Large egg
1 Large egg yolk
2 tsp Vanilla extract
100g Milk chocolate, chopped roughly
100g Dark chocolate, chopped roughly

Method

Begin by making the caramel. Put the butter, sugar and half the cream into a pan and bring to the boil whilst stirring. Leave to boil for 5 minutes, until starting to thicken and turning golden, and then take off the heat. Stir in the rest of the cream and set aside to cool until needed later.
Preheat oven to 170˚C and then line an 19x19cm square tin with baking paper.
In a bowl whisk together flour, salt and bicarb.
In another bowl mix together the melted butter and the sugars. Then add the egg, egg yolk, and vanilla and beat until smooth.
Slowly add dry ingredients, mixing as you do, and then the chopped chocolate. Mix together until combined.
Divide the dough into two and put half the cookie dough in the lined tin. Smooth over with a spatula to make an even layer.
Pour the cooled caramel over the cookie layer. Then spread the rest of the cookie dough over the top. (Spooning it on first can help here as the caramel will make it hard to spread out. If you can’t cover all the caramel don’t worry as they dough will spread itself out during baking).
Bake for 25-30 minutes until the top is golden brown and the edges have started to crisp. Leave to cool and then cut into 16 bars.

Thanks for reading!

Emma x

Peach Crumble Slices

By Emma Hawkins | September 9, 2018 | Comments 0 Comment

Is it too ott to say that my favourite thing about autumn are the crumbles? I mean yeah the leaves and the wooly jumpers are great, but there’s something so intrinsically comforting and autumnal about a crumble. It’s like an edible hug that makes use of all the beautifully plump fruit getting ripe at this time of year, and at the same time warms you up at the end of a long day when you went outside dressed in shorts and a strapy top because it was sunny and you forgot that as of 1st September the world is cold. I normally make apple crumbles because I’m English and apples are everywhere at this time of year, however this year the peaches have been so plump and delicious that I’ve turned to making peach crumbles.

The one thing, in my opinion, that crumbles lack is the ability to be eaten on the move. They’re amazing but they can’t really be sliced up, popped into a pot and eaten with your packed lunch. That’s why these little crumble bars are a bit of a hallelujah moment! They’re easy to make, just as tasty as a regular crumble, and they can be cut into squares and taken anywhere. You can even spread some custard over the base before topping with the peaches and the crumble if you want the full shebang in a bar to go.

Recipes

Makes 9-12 Squares

Time: 30 minutes

Ingredients

For the crumble

115g Unsalted butter
225g Plain flour
90g Rolled oats
100g Caster sugar
50g Light brown sugar
A pinch of salt
1 Egg

For the filling

2 Large peaches
65g Caster sugar
8g Cornflour
¼ tsp Ground cinnamon

Method

Pre-heat the oven to 180˚C and then line a 20x20cm tin with butter and baking paper.
Put the butter into a small pan and melt gently, then set to one side to cool.
Put the flour, oats, sugars and salt into a bowl and mix together.
Pour the butter into the dry ingredients, followed by the egg, and mix everything together until a crumbly dough forms.
Put 2/3 of the dough into the lined tin and then press it down to make an even layer covering the bottom of the tin. Bake this layer in the oven for 10 minutes, until starting to harden.
Meanwhile de-stone and peel the peaches. Then cut the peaches into thin slices.
Put the peach slices, sugar, cornflour and cinnamon into a large bowl and mix together until fully combined.
When the base has cooked, spread the peach mix out all over the base so that they form a layer. Then take the rest of the crumble mix and crumble it over the peaches so it covers as much as possible.
Bake the slices in the oven for 15-20 minutes, until the top is golden brown and the peaches are soft.
Leave the traybake to cool a little before slicing it into 9 squares or 12 rectangles.

Thanks for reading!

Emma x

Maneesh Bread with Hummus and Lamb

By Emma Hawkins | September 5, 2018 | Comments 0 Comment

Ok so, for those of you who were frequent Cocoa and Thyme visitors thank you for following me over to this new site and for those of you who are new, hello and welcome! As you’ve probably worked out by now I’ve changed the name and direction of m’ blog to be more centred around mental health awareness and support through food, (if you’re lost see my previous blog post or my ‘about’ page for more info). I’m still going to be the one behind each post so the style and general inspiration behind each recipe will be staying pretty much the same, but I will now be opening up more about my own mental health and will be aiming what I’m cooking more towards those who need quick, easy, comforting and/or nutritious food on a regular basis (whether that’s because of a mental health issue or just a general need). For now it’s worth saying that I normally prep my recipes a month in advance anyway, and most of what’ll be coming out over the next month will be stuff I made ages ago, so if it looks like it’s taking me a while to get into the swing of ‘The Mindfulness Kitchen’ that’s why.

So enough with the slightly angst explaining of what the hell I’m doing, onto the food! During my amazing time at Greenbelt we worked 4 hours shifts, often that went over a lunchtime or the time in the evening when you start to get peckish (some people call it dinner?). Luckily we were positioned right next to an little food truck that sold insanely good Middle Eastern dishes, so it was super easy to go and get some really good food in the calmer moments of a shift! My favourite of these was their maneesh, a soft flatbread topped with za’atar spice blend, which they stuffed with lamb and hummus. It was so good that as soon as I got home I just had to make my own, and this was the result!

This particular maneesh bread isn’t really a flatbread, more of a flat soft bread, but it still works well as dipping device. If you want more a pita type thing you could just roll your dough thinner but personally I wouldn’t for two reasons – 1. The big chunks of bread mean that this can double as a hearty lunch-type bread that’ll actually fill you up, and 2. the dough is really stubborn when it comes to rolling and springs back a lot, so you’ll be there ages if you try to get the dough thin enough to be a proper flatbread. Whatever you go for though, this is an amazing sharing bread that’s especially good served with oil, hummus, balsamic and minced lamb, so its perfect for parties or meze/tapas style dinners.

Recipe

Serves 4

Time: 40 minutes, plus proving and baking time

Ingredients

360g Strong white bread flour
8g Salt
15g Caster sugar
7g Fast action dried yeast
1 tbsp Olive oil, plus extra for greasing
250ml Water
2 tbsp Zaatar spice blend

To Serve (optional)

4 tbsp Olive oil
400g Minced lamb
A little Balsamic vinegar
4 tbsp Hummus

Method

Begin by making the bread. Put the flour, salt, yeast, and sugar into a bowl and mix together. Add the oil and ½ the water and then mix together until combined. Slowly add the remaining water, mixing constantly, until a soft dough forms.
Tip the dough out onto a lightly oiled worktop and knead until smooth and elastic, about 10 minutes should do it. Kneading is the process by which you stretch the dough, so as long as you’re stretching the dough as much as possible you’re doing it right, but if you want some more technique this is how I do it. With your left hand hold the end of the dough closest to you, then with the heel of your right hand push the dough away from you as far as you can. Roll the dough back towards you with your right hand, turn the dough 90˚and repeat.
When the dough is sufficiently kneaded (ie is smooth and lovely) form the dough into a ball, tip it into a lightly oiled bowl and cover with clingfilm. Leave for an hour or two until doubled in size.
When risen knead the dough a little on a worktop to knock the air out. Split the dough into two, roll each portion out into a circle about 1 cm thick, then place on a lined baking tray.
Mix the zaatar with a little olive oil to make a paste. Spread this paste over the bread circles and leave for another 15-30 minutes to rise slightly.
Pre-heat the oven to 180˚C. Bake the breads in the oven for 15-20 minutes until golden brown and slightly risen.
Meanwhile prep the lamb. Put 1 tbsp of the oil into a pan and heat gently. Add the minced lamb and then fry until browned all over but not dry. Season with a little salt and pepper and then serve with the rest of the oil, the bread, balsamic, and hummus!

Thanks for reading!

Emma x

Greenbelt and a Change in Direction

By Emma Hawkins | September 2, 2018 | Comments 0 Comment

Today I’m branching out of recipe writing and so instead I’ve got a post on my recent experience at Greenbelt which has inspired me to take this blog in a new direction. (Quick heads up – the photos in this post aren’t great quality as they were taken on my ipod and not my camera!) For those of you who haven’t come across Greenbelt before it’s a festival at Boughton House in Kettering, traditionally with Christian roots, that is very egalitarian and liberal. Throughout the course of the bank holiday weekend there is a whole range of live music, theatre, art, demonstrations, workshops, poetry, dance, talks, and of course food, all themed around liberation, equality, solidarity, and community. It sounds pretty unconventional as far as most festivals go, but it’s genuinely so lovely as there’s something for absolutely everyone and everyone is so nice!

Several of months ago my god mother was asked to lead a new venue called ‘The Table’, and she asked me to join her on the team. The venue hosted a whole range of chefs focusing on different issues and topics who did really interesting live cooking demonstrations. Our job, as the venue hosts, was to help out the chefs, prep the ingredients and (of course) do the washing up. I found this so much fun as being so close to all these amazing chefs and seeing how they each use their food to deliver a message or to fight for a cause was really inspiring!

For example, there was one chef, Pheobe Rison, who was from Palestine and was using her food as a way of keeping her Palestinian roots and culture alive, even though she herself had had her Palestinian citizenship taken away from her due to the current political unrest in the country. Her delicious food, combined with her heartfelt stories and the motivation driving her was really moving. I also met lots of other amazing chefs like Jack Monroe, author of Cooking on a Bootstrap, who writes budget for recipes those living on low incomes and for those who have to use foodbanks, and Brett Cobley (aka epivegan) who gave a really interesting demo on vegan cooking. These were really amazing examples of how food can be so much more than just pretty photos on Instagram, and it all made me think about my own cooking and the message I want to give out.

For a while now I’ve felt that it’s time for me to specialise this blog and to make it more than just a bunch of recipes, but it’s taken until now for me to nail down what it is I want to say through my food. Mental health awareness and support is an issue that has long been very close to my heart. As someone who suffers with mental health problems herself, not to mention knowing lots of other people with mental health issues, I’m really keen on getting people to talk openly about mental health problems and I’d love to use my food to help with this.

It’ll still be me writing the posts and I’ll still be posting recipes that I’ve developed, so you can expect the same kind of food to keep coming (ie my sweet tooth will be going no where!). However, I will also be focusing on dishes that are nutritious, comforting, quick and/or easy (to suit those who are going through a bout of depression and so on) and to acknowledge my own mental health issues through what I’m cooking. For instance I often don’t feel up to writing and I frequently don’t even want to cook or eat, but rather than covering up these times in my life with dishes I made back when I was feeling more stable and putting on a happy front, I’d rather show what I do like to make when I’m going through a bad time, to show support for others who might be going through something similar.

This is a new direction for Cocoa and Thyme and so I understand that this new idea/drive behind my blog might not be for everyone. I’m choosing, however, to take on this new angle in order to be more open and to promote a message that means a lot to me, and I’m hoping that this will be helpful to some people. I’ve got a month of already prepped recipes to post so I’ll get on with those, but after that I’ll start focusing more on mental health well-being and support through my food. I’ll be writing up a more coherent aim for the blog in my bio over the next couple of days, so if this is a bit too much of a ramble for you to decipher give that a read when it comes out! (I will also be changing the name of the blog at some point so keep an eye out for that!)

Thanks for reading! Please let me know what you think of this change in direction, feedback is always valued (providing it’s constructive) and I’d love to hear from you!

Emma x

Chocolate Ginger Biscuit Shards

By Emma Hawkins | August 31, 2018 | Comments 0 Comment

The final addition to our afternoon tea stack are these little chocolate ginger biscuit shards. These are so easy and fun to make so they’re perfect for baking with small children, and you can easily leave out the ginger if it’s not your cup of tea. As with most biscuits you can also get really creative with the decoration! I’ve just gone from a drizzle of chocolate and some crystallised ginger, but these are also a great biscuit base for icing and so on.

Recipe

Makes 20 biscuits

Time: 30 minutes

Ingredients

200g Unsalted butter
330g Plain flour
50g Cocoa powder
3 tsp Ground ginger
200g Caster sugar
1 Medium egg
50g Dark chocolate
50g White chocolate
A little Seasalt
Crystallised ginger to decorate

Method

Put the butter and flour into a bowl and cut the butter up into small pieces using a round bladed knife. When you can’t cut the butter up any further go in with your finger and rub the butter into the flour until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs.
Stir the cocoa powder, ginger and sugar into the mixture. Then add the egg and mix together until a dough forms. Wrap the dough in clingfilm and then chill it for at least 20-30 minutes.
Pre-heat the oven to 180˚C and line 2 baking trays with baking paper.
Roll the dough out between two sheets of clingfilm and then use a knife to cut the dough into triangles (or any other shapes you want). Transfer the biscuits to your lined baking trays and then bake in the oven for 12-15 minutes until starting to firm (the biscuits will firm up a lot more once cooled down).
Leave the biscuits to cool for a few minutes and then move them onto a wire rack to cool completely.
Now prep the decoration. Put the dark and white chocolate into separate bowls over pans of simmering water and leave to melt.
Cover a surface in baking paper and arrange the biscuits over it. Then drizzle the biscuits with the two chocolates (you can either use a pipping bag or a teaspoon). Scatter the biscuits with the crystallised ginger and a little seasalt.
Leave the chocolate to set and then serve! These will keep in an airtight container for 3-4 days.

Thanks for reading!

Emma x