Author: Emma Hawkins
Rhubarb and Custard Cruffins

Rhubarb and Custard Cruffins

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If I’m being honest, cruffins to me sounds more like a dodgy disease than a bake, but thankfully it’s not. It’s actually a delish fusion of a flaky croissant and a muffin, resulting in a kinda cruffin lovechild if you will. The croissant dough is shaped and then baked in a muffin tin, and then these pastries are traditionally filled with all sorts of custards, creams and jams.

Whilst rhubarb and custard are a great classic combo, custard will go with pretty much anything so don’t feel as though you have to go with this particular pairing. My Dad really hates rhubarb and he won’t go near the stuff, so if you’re likewise averted to rhubarb you can use any other fruit jam you like.  I’d recommend going for something with a bit of bite, like a lemon curd or a raspberry jam rather than a strawberry or cherry jam, as otherwise things can get a bit sweet. Likewise, if you don’t like custard, whipped cream works really well to! If you do use cream though make sure you chill them in the fridge when not needed, and eat them within 2-3 days.

Recipe

Makes 8

Time: 20 minutes

Ingredients

  • Butter for greasing
  • 350g Ready-to-roll Croissant pastry (see mince pie croissants recipe if you’d like to make your own dough!)
  • 175ml Whole milk
  • 1 tsp Vanilla bean paste
  • 2 Egg yolks
  • 30g Caster sugar
  • 25ml Double cream
  • 13g Custard powder
  • 2 tbsp Rhubarb jam
  • Icing sugar to dust

Method

  1. Pre-heat the oven to 180˚C. Grease 6 hole in a 12-hole muffin tin with butter.
  2. Unroll the croissant dough on a worktop and cut the dough into three, equally sized rectangles. Then cut each of these strips diagonally to make two right-angled triangles from each rectangle.
  3. Lay them so the long side is facing you. Then roll up the triangle along the long side to make a tight coil with a flat base. Then take a knife and cut the roll in half from the top to about half way down the roll. Then stand the dough up on it’s flat edge and twist the two tails round eachother, pressing them into the dough at the end to join it together. Then put the cruffin into a hole in the greased muffin tin. (This process can be seen in the photo at the top of the post).
  4. Break the egg into a bowl and beat with a fork. Then brush the pastry with the beaten egg to glaze. Bake in the oven for 15-17 minutes until crisp and golden. Then leave them to cool on a wire rack until needed.
  5. Now make the custard filling. Put the milk and vanilla into a pan and bring to the boil.
  6. Meanwhile put the egg yolks, sugar, cream, and custard powder into a bowl and whisk together to make a smooth paste. Pour the hot milk over the egg mixture, whisking constantly until combined. Then put the mix back into the pan and pop back on the heat, still whisking constantly. Continue to whisk until the mixture thickens. Then pour the custard into a bowl and leave to cool.
  7. When the cruffins and custard have cooled down you’re ready to start filling! Spoon the jam and custard into a two separate piping bags with small round nozzles. Then pipe a little of the jam into the middle of each cruffin, followed by some of the custard.
  8. Dust with icing sugar and serve!

Thanks for reading!

Emma x
Sumac and Pistachio Meringues with Pomegranate

Sumac and Pistachio Meringues with Pomegranate

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Those of you who follow my Instagram will know that I had an incredible meal at The Vanilla Pod restaurant in Lynton a few weeks ago. When I was there one of the specials was a sumac meringue with rhubarb and pistachios. Whilst I went for a different, but equally delicious feta cheesecake for dessert (which I’ll be adapting and re-creating soon!), I knew this was something I wanted to try out for myself when I got home.

Sumac is a tangy spice used in Mediterranean and Middle Eastern cooking. Traditionally it’s used in savoury food, but the combo of the sumac with the sweet meringue and the pistachios is to die for (no exaggeration). This is also super easy to make, the hardest bit is just the meringues and the trick with them is just to make sure everything is spotlessly clean before you start and to whisk for a really long time. So if you’ve got something coming up which you want a cool, inventive dessert for, this is the one for you! These meringues will also store for a really long time in an air tight tin, so if you have some left over egg whites from something else you can whip them up and then bung them in a box till you need them.

Recipe

Serves 8

Time: 45 minutes, plus cooking time

Ingredients

  • 4 Large egg whites (130g)
  • 260g (Double the weight of your egg whites) Caster sugar
  • 40g Salted pistachios, roughly chopped, plus extra to garnish
  • 2 tbsp Sumac
  • 400ml Double cream
  • A handful of Pomegranate seeds
  • 100g Fresh raspberries

Method

  1. To get set up pre-heat the oven to 140˚C and line two baking trays with baking paper. Then wash a metal or glass bowl and two electric whisk beaters with lots of soap and warm water to make sure they’re spotless (any fat on these utensils will stop the meringue for puffing up).
  2. Weigh the egg whites into your bowl and note down the weight. Then, using an electric whisk, whisk the egg whites until they hit a stiff peak. Now add the sugar, 1tbsp at a time, to get a stiff meringue (about 8 minutes), you want to add in double the weight of the egg whites in sugar.
  3. Add the chopped pistachios and 1 tbsp of the sumac, and then carefully fold them into the meringue with a large metal spoon or spatula.
  4. Now spoon the mixture into 8 small mounds on your lined baking sheets. Take a spoon and make them into wells by pushing the meringue up the sides slightly.
  5. Sprinkle the meingues with a little more sumac and then bake in the oven for an hour, until crispy but still white. Turn off the oven and leave the meringues to cool in it. When cool the meringues will store in an air tight tin for up to 3 weeks.
  6. When ready to serve, whip the cream with a whisk until it just holds its shape. Crush half the raspberries, and then mix them into the cream to get a ripple and then dollop it into the wells of the meringues. Scatter the pomegranate seeds over the cream and finish with the rest of the fresh raspberries, a few chopped pistachios, and a sprinkle of sumac.

Thanks fore reading!

Emma x
French Toast with Maple Syrup and Summer Berry Compote

French Toast with Maple Syrup and Summer Berry Compote

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With term over now I’m getting into full holiday mode, and a big part of that requires making breakfast at midday in m’ PJs, dancing crazily round the kitchen to Panic at the Disco. Pancakes would probably be my go-to brunch dish, but I’ve made a lot of them recently so I thought I’d branch out. There’s a tonne of different names for this, but whether you call it egg bread, gypsy toast or French toast, it all tastes insane. For those of you who’re as unfamiliar with French toast as I was about a week ago I’ll explain what it is. Basically you take some bread, or brioche in my case because the concept of dieting has flown from my mind, then you soak it in a gently spiced egg/milk mixture, before frying it in a pan with some butter to get a beautifully crispy, spongy piece of bread. You can then serve it with a good drizzle of maple syrup and some stewed red fruits to make an irresistible, comforting brunch dish.

The egg/milk mixture you soak the bread in isn’t sweetened, so you could easily make this into a savoury breakfast if that’s more your thing. To do this use some thick white bread instead of the brioche and don’t add the spices to the milk mix. Then top it all off with bacon and maple syrup, cheese and tomatoes, or scrambled egg!

Recipe

Serves 4

Time: 20 minutes

Ingredients

  • 2 Large eggs
  • 120ml Milk
  • 1 tsp Vanilla extract
  • ½ tsp Ground cinnamon
  • ½ tsp Ground ginger
  • 4 Thick slices of brioche
  • 1 tbsp Vegetable oil
  • 1 tbsp Butter
  • 2 tbsp Maple syrup
  • Fresh berries to serve

For the compote

  • 100g Mixed frozen berries (e.g strawberries, blackberries and raspberries)
  • 1 tbsp Lemon juice
  • 2 tbsp Caster sugar

Method

  1. Whisk together the eggs, milk, vanilla, cinnamon and ginger.
  2. Cut the brioche slices in half to make triangles, then lay them out in a single layer in a shallow dish. Then pour the milk mixture over them and leave to soak for 5 minutes, turning the slices over half way through.
  3. Heat 1 tbsp of the oil and butter in a non-stick frying pan until melted and bubbling.
  4. Carefully pick up two of the bread slices and fry in the pan for 3 minutes on each side till golden and crisp. Repeat with the rest of the bread.
  5. Serve with the berry compote, a drizzle of maple syrup and some fresh berries!

Thanks for reading!

Emma x
Mediterranean Lunch Bowl

Mediterranean Lunch Bowl

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There’s this big vegan food trend at the moment in the food-sphere which is big bowls full of bits and bobs, making up a delish lunch. I think the key idea is that they create a balanced, interesting, healthy bowl of goodness which will also fill you up. As I’ve got really into Mediterranean cooking recently I thought I’d do a bowl full of med veg and bites! As with most things, all the items in here are easily mixed and matched, so anything you like/don’t like you can substitute in/out. In this one I’ve got some spicy couscous, aromatic roast aubergine, crispy kale, and hummus, all served with pita bread and salad to mix with everything. Portion wise this does make a hearty lunch for one, but you could always add in some more salad and it’d easily do a good lunch for two.

Recipe

Serves 1

Time: 20 minutes

Ingredients

  • 1 Aubergine
  • 2 tbsp Olive oil
  • 1/2 tsp Zaartar spice blend
  • 30g Couscous
  • 1/2 tsp Rasel Hanout spice blend
  • A handful of curly kale
  • 1/2 tsp sugar
  • A large pinch of salt
  • 1 Pita bread (or other flatbread)
  • 1/2 Red pepper
  • 2cm Cucumber
  • 3 Cherry tomatoes
  • A handful of salad leaves
  • 5g Feta cheese
  • 2 tbsp Hummus
  • A pinch of Smoked paprika

Method

  1. Pre-heat the oven to 180˚C.
  2. Slice the ends off the aubergine, then halve it and chop it into slices.
  3. Put the aubergine into a roasting tin, drizzle over 1 tbsp of the oil, sprinkle with the zaatar spices and season with a little salt. Then roast in the oven for 20-25 minutes until soft.
  4. Meanwhile prep the couscous. Put the couscous into a bowl with the rasel hanout spices and pour over boiling water according to the packet’s instructions. Leave to soak and then break up with a fork, season with salt, and set to one side.
  5. Now prep the kale. Put the kale into a roasting tin. Drizzle over the 1 tbsp of the oil, then sprinkle over the salt and sugar.
  6. Mix everything together and then put the kale into the oven to cook for 10-15 minutes until crispy. The kale will go from crisp to burnt really quickly so keep a close eye on it.
  7. Put the flatbread onto a tray and put it into the oven to warm up.
  8. Whilst waiting for everything to cook/warm up, prep the salad.
  9. Begin by de-seeding the pepper and then chop it into strips. Then halve and quarter the cucumber lengthways before chopping it into chunks. Then chop the tomatoes into quarters.
  10. Put the salad leaves, tomatoes, cucumber and feta into a bowl and mix together.
  11. Take the bread out of the oven and use kitchen scissors to chop it up into strips.
  12. When everything’s ready start to plate. Begin by spooning the couscous onto the bowl/plate in a mound. Then work clockwise round the bowl, piling up the salad leaves, bread strips, kale, aubergine and then the red pepper strips. Finish off with a dollop of the hummus in the centre and then sprinkle a little paprika over the hummus to add some extra heat. Serve and enjoy!

Thanks for reading!

Emma x
Smoothies

Smoothies

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Oki so, it’s officially summer which means that it’s definitely peak smoothie time. I’ve just started a new job so I’m a bit short on time at the moment, so refreshing, quick treats like these are perfect for now. Unlike a lot of shop-bought smoothies these ones are free of added sugars and colourings, and what goes in them can be totally controlled. The thing I really love about smoothies is how easy it is to mix and match in them. Dietary requirements? No problem, just use soya milk or fruit juice instead of milk. Wanna to boost your iron intake? Just add a handful of spinach. Have some fruit you need to use up? Just chuck it in!

I’ve got three combos here that I like, but you can of course substitute and experiement to your hearts content, so these can be seen as more guidelines! They’re all super quick and easy to make, if you have a bit more time you can try sieving the finished smoothie to get a really smooth result.

Berry Bonanza

 Recipe

Makes 1 Large glass

Time: 5 minutes

Ingredients

  • 1 Medium banana
  • A handful of strawberries
  • 200ml Milk
  • A handful of blueberries, plus extra to garnish

Method

  1. Peel and roughly slice the banana, and then hull and halve the strawberries.
  2. Pop all the ingredients into a blender and whiz it all together until the mixture is smooth.
  3. Pour the smoothie into a glass. Garnish with the left over blueberries.

 

Pretty-in-pink smoothie

Recipe

Makes 1 Large glass

Time: 5 minutes

Ingredients

  • 2 Large peaches
  • A handful of strawberries
  • 200ml Grapefruit juice
  • Mint to garnish

Method

  1. De-stone and roughly chop the peaches and then hull and halve the strawberries.
  2. Pop everything but the mint in to a blender and whizz up until smooth.
  3. Pour the smoothie into a glass and garnish with the mint.

Sunset smoothie

Recipes

Makes 1 Large glass

Time: 5 minutes

Ingredients

  • 1 Banana
  • ½ Mango
  • 1 Peach
  • 200ml Apple juice

Method

  1. Peel and roughly slice the banana and mango. Then de-stone and roughly chop the peach.
  2. Put everything into a blender and whiz together until smooth.
  3. Pour the smoothie into a glass and serve!

Thanks for reading!

Emma x