Cranberry and White Chocolate Flapjacks

Seeing as I actually have free time again, it means that I’ve gotten back into baking lately. Possibly a little bit too much. But there’s no harm in that.

I made these today, as a slightly healthier alternative to my usual baked goods I made some flapjacks today. They’re so quick, so easy and so simple that you can’t not make them.

Ingredients:

• 125g margarine
• 125g brown sugar
• 75g golden syrup
• 225g jumbo porridge oats
• 75g dried cranberries
• 75g white chocolate, roughly chopped
• 1 tsp of cinnamon (or to taste)

Method:

1. Preheat your oven to 180C.
2. Put the syrup, margarine and sugar in a pot and melt together.
3. Add the oats, chocolate, cranberries and cinnamon and mix together.
4. Grease and line a baking tray and put the mixture into it, flatten down to an even layer.
5. Bake in the oven for 20-25 minutes.
6. When you remove them from the oven cut into portions after about 5 minutes. Allow them to cool completely before removing from the tin.

Coffee Cake

Another birthday, another post. So for the first time since I started college and work I have three days off in a row. I’ve had two days off in a row maybe twice, but not three. It’s going to be wonderful, it really is. And of course, what’s the first thing I decide to do on the first of these days off to get a break and relax, make a cake of course. It’s completely different baking at home as opposed to in work or college. At home I can do it in my pyjamas while listening to music and I don’t care as much if I manage to mess up what I’m making, essentially the pressure is gone.

Anyway, it’s my friend Sarah’s birthday today and she loves coffee cake. I made her one last year. It was just at the start of this whole thing, it was just after I’d dropped out of college and wasn’t really sure to do with myself. Making her one again this year on her insistence about how nice the one I made her last year was, I decided to use it as a little marking flag to see how far I’ve come in a year. I think I’ve done pretty well; my tasting has improved and I’m no longer as afraid to deviate from a recipe and change bits here and there; although the main thing that I’ve improved on I think is in my decorating and presentation. Now when I make a cake or something I have a clear idea in my head of how I want it to look and it is getting more regular that it turns out like this.

This recipe is an altered version of the one in The Great British book of baking.

Ingredients

Sponge:

• 175g unsalted butter
• 175g caster sugar
• 3 medium eggs
• 75g walnut pieces
• 175g self-raising flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 2 tablespoons instant coffee dissolved in 2 tablespoons boiling water

Filling/Icing

• 125g unsalted butter
• 300g icing sugar
• 3 tablespoons coffee dissolved in 2 tablespoons of boiling water
• 4 tablespoons of cream
• 25g walnut pieces

Method:

Sponge

1. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius
2. Beat together the sugar and the butter until light and creamy

3. Gradually add the eggs, making sure you beat the mixture well after each addition.

4. Add the nuts, flour, baking powder and the coffee. Fold the ingredients together carefully with a metal spoon until combined.

5. Divide the mixture between two greased and lined tins.

6. Bake in the preheated oven for 20-25 minutes

Icing

1. Heat the butter in a pan until it starts bubbling
2. Sift the icing sugar and add the butter.

3. Now, very quickly add the cream and the coffee.

4. Beat with a wooden spoon until the mixture is smooth

5. Add in the chopped nuts.

6. Leave the icing to get thicker before spreading it

• The original recipe for this only has one tablespoon of coffee in the sponge, I doubled this to two as I didn’t think there was much of a coffee taste off it.
• Also making sure you fold in the flour carefully with a metal spoon is important, if like me you ignore this advice and mix it in as you normally do, your cakes won’t rise very much at all. Because of this I made half the cake again, and even more icing and just added on an extra layer.

Crème Anglaise

Crème Anglaise , or as known to most people, custard has been the bane of my life for the last few months. No matter what way I made it I could never get it to thicken. I tried cooking it for longer, I tried adding more egg yolks, I tried cooking it at a low temperature to allow it to thicken slowly. None of them worked, it was still completely watery.

Then I got the lovely book sauces my Michel Roux for christmas and in it he says that you need to really whisk the eggs yolks before adding the milk/cream mixture to them. They should actually be at ribbon stage, similar to the stage you whisk them when making a hollandaise or beárnaise. With nothing to loose I decided to try it because having to make this at least once a week in work and it never working right was really starting to frustrate me.

I whisked the egg yolks with the sugar until they were pale and thick, and held a figure of 8. Slowly added the milk and cream while whisking then put it back on a low heat stirring with a wooden spoon constantly, while standing there watching and praying that the sauce would thicken. Then lo and behold, before my very eyes, it happened the sauce actually began to thicken, and better yet I didn’t overcook it at all. I was ecstatic at my success, much to the amusement of my co-workers who have long had the knack of making this sauce.

I’ve made it a few times since, and it now works every time. Revelations are a great thing. I thank you, Michel Roux, you saved my sauce!

The recipe I usually use is about 300ml of milk and cream a vanilla pod all put in a pot and brought to the boil. While that is boiling I separate and whisk my eggs yolks and sugar until a sabayon is created, the sugar I use is usually about 150g, but that is purely up to taste, it can be adjusted, I usually go by my eye. Then whisking constantly I pour the milk mixture in to the egg yolks. I then return this to a clean pot and and put it on a low heat, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon until it thickens.

Chocolate cupcakes with a caramel centre

I made these cupcakes last weekend for my friends 21st birthday. They are one of the first things I’ve properly made from scratch in a while, using a combination of my favourite recipes and some new ones I’ve learnt in college. This butterscotch/caramel sauce is amazing, you have to try it, I’m being deadly seriously, it’s so simple and will make your life much happier. Anyway, I was overall really pleased with these cupcakes and having been shown how to do it in college, I didn’t think my piping turned out too badly.

Ingredients:

For the sponge:

• 80g unsalted butter
• 280g caster sugar
• 200g plain flour
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 40g cocoa powder
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 240ml whole milk
• 2 large eggs

For the caramel centre:

• 250g caster sugar
• 250ml water
• 125g butter
• 125ml cream

For the icing

• 400g icing sugar
• 100g cocoa powder
• 160g unsalted butter
• 50ml cream

Method

Batter:

1. Preheat the oven to 190C
2. Beat together the butter, sugar, flour, cocoa powder, baking powder and salt until combined and they resemble fine breadcrumbs 
3. Pour the milk into a jug, add the eggs and whisk together. Add three quarters of this to the flour mixture, and mix until well combined. Add the remaining milk and mix until the batter is smooth 
4. Spoon the batter into the paper cases until they are about two-thirds full and bake in the oven for 18-20 minutes. 

Filling:

1. Place the sugar and the water in a  pot and caramelize until it reaches between 177-182C 
2. Move the pot away from the heat and mix in the butter and cream

Icing

1. Whisk the icing sugar with the cocoa powder and the butter until it reaches sandy consistency
2. Pour in the milk and beat until soft and fluffy

To fill the cupcakes, using a knife remove the centre, keeping the pieces, fill with the butterscotch. Replace the top and decorate as usual. 

Notes: If I were making these again, I’d either let the caramel/butterscotch centre cool a bit before adding it to the centre of the cakes as when I put it in it was still quite liquidy and warm and the cakes just absorbed it. They were still delicious but not as I’d pictured them.

Chorizo and Spinach Pasta

So here, we are yet again and this blog has been severely neglected. For good reason this time, I have officially started college as a culinary arts student, and I am now a commis chef in a new gastropub near me. Needless to say, things have been pretty crazy the last six weeks and I’ve barely had time to cook at home.

This is a first for this blog, it’s actually not a baking/dessert. It’s a main course, simple savoury dish that I made myself for dinner last night. It was delicious.

Ingredients

• 225g chorizo sausage, sliced into diagonal slice
• 1 onion, thinly sliced
• 1 garlic clove, crushed
• 1/2 red chilli, seeded and finely chopped
• 1 tablespoon freshly shredded basil
• 1 400g tin chopped tomatoes
• 1/2 teaspoon light muscovado sugar
• 250g penne pasta
• 50 baby spinach leaves
• salt and freshly ground black pepper
• freshly grated parmesan

Method

1. Heat a pan and add in the chorizo, cook for 2 minutes, tossing occasionally to make sure they are evenly cooked.
2. Add the onions and garlic then cook for another five minutes until the onions are golden
3. Add in the chilli and the basil and cook for 1 minute. Then add in the tomatoes and sugar and season to taste. Bring to the boil, then reduce the heat and simmer for 30 minutes to allow the sauce to thicken.
4. Cook the pasta in a large pan, drain well and add to the sauce.
5. Add in the spinach and mix well to combine (the heat of the pasta and sauce cooks the spinach).
6. Serve with the parmesan and some black pepper.

Easy and delicious. The amount of chilli can be adjusted to your own taste of course

Blackberry Pie

Well, it’s September, and that can only mean one thing. Blackberries. That’s one of the thing I love about living where I do. There’s blackberries everywhere. My mum went out last week and picked about 4lbs of them. So far we’ve made jam, smoothies and the latest instalment was my creation of a blackberry pie. None of this apple and blackberry crap, just pure blackberries. Yum.

Ingredients

For the pastry:

• 520g plain flour
• 220g unsalted butter
• 1 tsp salt

For the filling

• 575g blackberries
• 100g white sugar
• 60g flour
• 30ml milk
• 50g sugar

Method

1. To make the pastry, mix the flour and the butter together until you have fine crumbs. Add in the teaspoon of salt.

2. Gradually add enough ice-cold water, a tablespoon at a time until a dough is formed. Leave the dough to rest for an hour in the fridge.

3. To make the filling add the sugar and flour to 3/4 of the blackberries.

4. When the dough has been resting for an hour, spilt it in half. Roll one half out to use as the base.

5. Fill the base with the blackberry sugar mixture and then add the unsweetened blackberries on top.

6. Roll out the other half of the dough and use as a top, sealing the edges.

7. Brush the top of the pie with the milk and sprinkle evenly with the remaining sugar.

8. Bake in a preheated oven at 220°C for 15 minutes. Lower the heat to 190°C for a further 20 – 25 minutes.

Mississippi Mud Pie

I’ve made Mississippi mud pies a few times before, but this was my first time making it with a chocolate pastry, I usually just go for a standard shortcrust pastry. The difference was worth it. I also had some pastry and filling left over so made a few mini pies. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to return to my chocolate induced coma.

Ingredients

Pastry

• 225g plain flour
• 2 tbsp cocoa powder
• 150g butter
• 2 tbsp caster sugar
• 1 – 2 tbsp cold water

Filling 

• 175g butter
• 350g brown sugar
• 4 eggs, lightly beaten
• 4 tbsp cocoa powder
• 150g plain chocolate
• 300ml single cream
• 1 tsp chocolate extract

Method

1. To make the pastry, sift the flour and cocoa powder into a mixing bowl. Rub in the butter with your finger tips until the mixture resembles fine bread crumbs. Stir in the sugar and enough cold water to make a soft dough. Wrap the dough in clingfilm and chill in the refrigerator for 15 minutes

- I didn’t read this properly and added the sugar when I was adding the flour and cocoa powder. I also added too much water so added some extra flour, cocoa powder and sugar. 

2. Roll out the pastry on a lightly floured work surface and use to line a 9 inch pie dish. Line with baking parchment and fill with baking beans. Bake in a preheated oven for 190°C for 15 minutes. Remove from the oven and take out the paper and beans. Return to the oven for a further 10 minutes.

3. To make the filling, beat the butter and sugar in a bowl and gradually beat in the eggs and cocoa. Melt the chocolate and beat it into the mixture with the cream and chocolate extract.

- I couldn’t find any chocolate extract so I just used some vanilla.

4. Reduce the oven to 160°C. Pour the mixture into the pastry case and bake for 45 minutes or until the filling has set gently.

5. Allow to cool completely and decorate with whipped cream and grated chocolate.