Tag: Baking
Mixed Berry Clafoutis

Mixed Berry Clafoutis

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When I was in Canada over the summer we were lucky enough to spend a day with a couple of my Mum’s friends at their lake-side house in depths of British Columbia. It was a stunning place – really hot, gorgeously sunny and beautifully peaceful.

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For dinner that evening we had a really good blueberry clafoutis for dessert. The end result was a really interesting texture, kinda unlike anything I’ve eaten before. It’s a cross between a set custard and a light sponge cake, so it’s creamy, sweet and fluffy all at the same time – but it somehow really works! I’d heard of clafoutis as a thing but I’d never eaten one, which is really odd as they’re so easy and quick to make! As the ingredients are very basic and are also really easy to substitute for, even in the depths of Canada, a boat ride away from the nearest town, something as tasty as this could be rustled up.

Here I’ve used fresh summer fruit as it’s that time of year when it tastes really good and is readily available, but you can use pretty much any fruit for this. It’s an especially good thing to whip up if you have any soft fruit that needs eating up (e.g plums, peaches, berries and so on). Just bung them in the dish, pour over the all-in-one batter mix and voila!

Recipe

Serves 6

Time: 10 minutes prep, 25-30 minutes cooking

Ingredients

  • 80g Plain flour
  • ½ tsp Baking powder
  • 100g Golden caster sugar, plus extra for sprinkling
  • 2 Large eggs
  • 2 Large egg yolks
  • 260ml Double cream
  • 1 tbsp Vanilla bean paste
  • Butter for greasing
  • A handful each of strawberries, blueberries and raspberries (or any other soft fruit you like)

Method

  1. Pre-heat the oven to 180˚C.
  2. Put the flour, baking powder, sugar, eggs, egg yolks, cream and vanilla into a bowl and whisk until fully combined.
  3. Take a medium sized oven-proof dish and grease it with a little butter. Then sprinkle over some sugar to line the dish.
  4. Hull and quarter the strawberries. Then scatter these strawberries, along with the blueberries and raspberries into the greased dish.
  5. Pour over the batter mix and then bake in the oven for 25-30 minutes, until golden brown and slightly puffed up.
  6. Serve slightly warm with icecream!

Thanks for reading!

Emma x
Sticky Toffee Puddings

Sticky Toffee Puddings

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Generally speaking I love complicated, fancy food. I love how weird and wacky it can sound on paper, or look on the plate, and yet how incredibly tasty it can be. But I have to admit that nothing beats the classics – I mean they’re classics for a reason. In this case I don’t think I’ve ever had a sticky toffee pudding I haven’t liked. Whatever the texture, whatever the ingredients, as long as it’s true to the name and is sweet and sticky you’re on to a winner!

These ones are particularly light a fluffy as they’re made with a classic sponge mix and are then steamed, but the date puree in the mix also makes them really squidgy and sweet. The toffee sauce put on the top then adds even more sticky moistness, with a bit of a bitter flavour to really complement the sponge! They’re also really good with ball of fresh vanilla ice cream and  this will cut through the sweetness and also provides a great temperature balance to the warm sponge!

Recipe

Serves 8

Time: 1 hour

Ingredients

  • 130g Chopped dried dates
  • 130ml Water
  • 130g Unsalted butter, plus extra for greasing
  • 125g Caster sugar
  • 3 Large eggs
  • 180g Self raising flour
  • 1 tsp Baking powder

For the toffee sauce

  • 300ml Double cream
  • 125g Light brown sugar
  • 50g Unsalted butter

Method

  1. Pre-heat the oven to 180˚C. Then grease 8 small pudding basins with butter.
  2. Put the dates and water into a small saucepan and leave to gently simmer over a medium heat until soft (about 5 minutes). Blend the mix to a puree and set to one side.
  3. Put the butter and sugar into a bowl and beat until smooth. Add the eggs and whisk together. Then add the flour, baking powder, and date puree until smooth.
  4. Distribute the mixture between the basins and put them into a deep roasting tin. Fill the tin with boiling water so it comes half way up the side of the basins. Cover the tin with foil and then put in the oven to bake/steam for 40 minutes.
  5. Meanwhile make the toffee sauce. Put half the cream, the sugar and the butter into a small saucepan and bring to the boil whilst stirring. Once the sugar is dissolved and the butter has melted, leave the mixture to boil gently until it becomes a deep amber colour.
  6. Then take the caramel off the heat and add the rest of the cream. Stir together and then keep warm until needed.
  7. When the puddings are ready (a skewer will come out clean when inserted into the middle), turn them out of their moulds onto plates. Serve with the toffee sauce and ice cream!

Thanks for reading!

Emma x
Mini Hazelnut, Cherry, and Chocolate Pavlovas

Mini Hazelnut, Cherry, and Chocolate Pavlovas

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My main issue with cooking, besides the endless washing up, is that I constantly have leftovers in pots around the kitchen. Consequentially, what I cook next is often influenced by what’s leftover, which doesn’t make for very interesting blog posts. In particular I always seem to end up with spare egg whites floating around which I feel compelled to do something with on the same day they’re separated, before they go off or become too runny. When I was making the ice cream for my hazelnut cake post (I made these a long time ago, I haven’t kept the egg whites in m’ fridge for all this time!) I had some egg whites leftover so I decided to whip them up into some hazelnut meringue nests to work with.

Luckily meringues last for a good while in a solid air-tight tin, so once I’d made them I could tuck them away until I’d worked out what to do with them. So when I realised we had some whipped cream and poached cherries in the fridge I had my answer – mini hazelnut, cherry and chocolate pavalovas. These are perfect little desserts which can be prepped well in advance, and then put together at the last minute. You can also switch in any kind of soft fruit you like to fit the seasonal fruits available.

(Meringues are kinda my default go-to for leftover egg whites, but I’ve got a list of other ways to use them up at the end of my chocolate fondants post if you’re interested!)

Recipe

Serves 6

Time: 1 hour, plus baking

Ingredients

For the Daquoise

  • 100g Chopped hazelnuts
  • 100g Caster sugar
  • 9g Cornflour
  • 2 Large egg whites
  • Pinch salt

For the Cherries

  • 200g Frozen cherries
  • 4 tbsp Kirsch
  • 1 tbsp Caster sugar
  • 2 tsp Ground cinnamon

For the Filling

  • 300ml Whipping cream
  • 1 tbsp Vanilla bean paste

To Decorate

  • 100g Dark chocolate
  • A few sprigs of mint

Method

  1. Pre-heat the oven to 180˚C.
  2. Begin by making the daquoise. Put the hazelnuts into a small roasting tin and roast in the oven for 5-10 minutes, until just starting to colour. (This is an important step as it’ll massively increase the flavour of the nuts).
  3. Leave to cool and then mix with 75g of the sugar and the cornflour. Set to one side for later.
  4. Lower the oven temperature to 150˚C for the meringues. Line 2 baking trays with baking paper. Take a round object with a diameter of roughly 5cm and draw round it onto the sheets of baking paper to act as a guide for piping later. You should get about 3 onto each sheet. Turn these sheets over so that the pencil line is on the other side of the paper to that which you’ll pipe on.
  5. Take a super clean metal or glass bowl and put the egg whites into it.
  6. Add the salt and then whisk with an electric hand whisk (or a stand-free mixer) until it forms soft peaks (can just hold it’s shape).
  7. Continue whisking and add the other 125g caster sugar, one 1 tbsp at a time until it’s all incorporated.
  8. Keep whisking until the mixture becomes glossy and forms a stiff peak.
  9. Then take a large, stiff spatula and gently fold the hazelnuts into the meringue. From here you’ll need to work quickly as the oils in the nuts will start to deflate the meringue.
  10. Take a piping bag with a round nozzle and fill it with the meringue. Then pipe onto the lined baking trays. Start at the middle of one of your circles and when you get to the edge pipe upwards in a circle round the edge to build the meringues into little nests. Do the same for each circle.
  11. Bake in the oven for about 40 minutes, until crisp to the touch but not starting to brown. Then turn the oven off and leave the meringues to cool in the ovens.
  12. Now prep the filling. Put the cherries into a pan and heat gently until they simmer in their juice and are soft. Then add the kirsch, sugar and cinnamon. Stir to combine and then leave to simmer for 10 minutes.  Remove the cherries from the heat and leave to cool in the juices.
  13. Then take 3/4 of the chocolate and melt it in a heatproof bowl over a pan of simmering water. Take a pastry/paintbrush and paint the inside of the meringues with it. This will add some flavour and will also stop the cream from making the meringue soggy. Leave to set.
  14. Meanwhile make the cream filling. Put the whipping cream and vanilla into a bowl and whisk until it just holds its shape.
  15. When the chocolate is set spoon the cream into the meringues. Take the cherries and scoop them out of the juice – save this juice for later! Dry the cherries slightly on some kitchen roll and then distribute them between the meringues, about 3 on each.
  16. Take a vegetable peeler and run it along the edge of the rest of the chocolate over the meringues to get little sprinkles on them. Garnish with fresh mint and serve with the rest of the cherry juice!

Thanks for reading!

Emma x
Chocolate, Orange, and Chilli Bread

Chocolate, Orange, and Chilli Bread

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 I haven’t made bread in waaay too long so I thought that it was time I entered back into that world again – and since it’s chocolate month, it’s chocolate bread! Though rather than a ‘chocolate, orange and chilli bread’,  as I’ve called it, it’s probably better to think of this as an orange bread with chocolate chips and a gentle wave of chilli heat after it’s eaten. I love a bit of heat in the background of any bake, but I’m not a fan of blow-your-head-off heat, so the amount of paprika in this is just enough to prickle the tongue. But of course if you like your food really hot you can increase the quantity of paprika going in, put in 3 tsp for a moderate warmth, and 4 1/2 tsp for a strong heat!

By using really rich, dark chocolate it also means that the loaf, whilst sweet and enriched, feels as though it borders the line between sweet and savoury. This makes the whole thing really moreish, and with a bit of butter it goes down really well with a good cup of coffee.

Recipe

Makes 1

Time: 45 minutes, plus proving and baking time

Ingredients

  • 350ml Milk
  • 80g Sugar
  • 16g Yeast
  • 12g Salt
  • 700g Strong white bread flour
  • 1 ½ tsp Paprika
  • 2 Large eggs
  • 100g Butter
  • 3 Oranges, zest only
  • 200g Dark chocolate, chopped

Method

  1. Put the milk into a saucepan and bring to the boil.
  2. Meanwhile put the sugar, yeast, salt, flour, and paprika into a large bowl and mix together.
  3. Add one of the eggs, butter, zest and ¾ of milk to the dry ingredients. Mix everything together and then slowly add the rest of the milk until you get a sticky dough.
  4. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface. Knead for about 10 minutes until smooth and elastic. Add the chopped chocolate knead for another few minutes to incorporate it.
  5. Lightly oil a bowl and tip the dough into it. Cover with clingfilm and leave to rise for about 2 hours, until doubled in size.
  6. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface. Knead for a few seconds to get rid of the air bubbles. Then tuck the dough under itself to make a loaf-shape with a tight surface. Place onto a lined baking tray, cover loosely with clingfilm and leave to rise for another hour.
  7. Pre-heat the oven to 180˚C. Take a sharp knife and score the top of the loaf with three confident slices. This will help shape the bread as it rises.
  8. Take the other egg, crack it into a bowl and beat it with a fork. Then take this beaten egg and brush the top of the loaf with it to glaze. Then put the bread into the oven to bake for about 40 minutes, until it sounds hollow when lightly tapped on the bottom. Serve!

Thanks for reading!

Emma x
Anzac Biscuits

Anzac Biscuits

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Back in the time when I was small, cute, and at primary school I came across this incredible recipe for Anzac biscuits. There was this lovely Australian teacher there who taught me in year three, and at a school fete one year she sold bags of them which were so delicious I had to ask for the recipe. A couple of days later she gave me an A4 hand-typed recipe which I still have to this day in a recipe folder on the shelf. I loved making them when I was little as they were so simple and quick to put together, and of course tasted delicious!

That said, for some reason I  haven’t made these in a  really long while. So, as it’s Anzac day today, I thought it’d be a good time to re-discover the recipe. Sure enough, they’re just as delicious as I remember them – sweet, chewy and with a slight nutty, caramelised flavour.

Recipe

Makes 16

Time: 30 minutes

Ingredients

  • 135g Plain flour
  • 200g Sugar
  • 100g Rolled oats
  • 100g Desiccated coconut
  • 150g Butter
  • 40g Golden syrup
  • 2 tbsp Boiling water
  • 1 tsp Bicarbonate of soda

Method

  1. Pre-heat the oven to 180˚C. Then line two baking trays with greaseproof paper.
  2. Put the flour, sugar, oats and coconut into a bowl and mix together.
  3. Next take a pan and melt together the butter and syrup. When fully melted add the water and bicarb and mix together.
  4. Mix the wet into the dry ingredients until completely combined.
  5. Take a table spoon and drop blobs of the mixture onto your lined tray. Make sure to leave space between the biscuits as they will spread a little.
  6. Bake in the oven for 10-15 minutes until golden brown and just starting to colour.
  7. Take the biscuits out of the oven and leave to cool for a few minutes so they harden, before transferring them to a cooling rack to cool completely.

Thanks for reading!

Emma x