baking

Savory Cheese scones with cherry chutney
17Dec

Cheese scones with cherry chutney

I have been struggling with the flu for the last two days. Deciding to walk around the Christmas market in the pouring rain does that to you. With the temperatures dropping and the sun becoming very shy this time of year it has been easy for me to sleep in. And sleeping in means that meals merge into one another and this gives me a great excuse to have brunch in bed. In England scones are often eaten as an afternoon treat, with tea and sweet toppings like clotted cream and jam, and although I will never say never to a scone with cream and jam I will always reach for the savoury ones first. Scones are not what first pops into people’s mind when they think of brunch, but for me that’s the perfect dish to have with coffee. Fluffy cakes with tangy cheese. Chutney is often paired with cheese scones but my choice of cherries as the fruit is unconventional for a chutney. It makes it a little sweeter than traditional recipes, but as a big fan of sweet and sour tastes this was a gamble that paid off. Sweet cherry chutney (yields around 300g) 250g frozen pitted cherries
3 mins read
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Black Forest frangipane tart
17Nov

Black Forest frangipane tarts

Pie making is not my forte and after watching endless Buzzfeed pie making videos I started to really worry about my skills, especially as me and Kelly decided to host an Instagram pie party. I have been testing different types of shortcrust pastry recipes for a while but my nutty versions were huge fails. I also made peace with my “rustic” crust style (or rough around the edges as I call it sometimes) but instead of getting so hung up on the look of the pie edge I moved on to the most important bit: filling and its endless possibilities! Frangipane was one of the first things I ever baked, and have baked quite a few times over the years with a variety of fillings. I have never actually made the traditional frangipane recipe, the addition of sweet jam has always been too sweet for me. Thinking about the warmth darkness of a black forest gateau I wanted to bring the flavours of cocoa and dark cherries to this tart. I soaked the cherries in Port and orange juice, which initially was a haphazardly addition as I didn’t have any kirsch and it turned out sooooo good. Best to leave it to
3 mins read
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White pizza margherita with crispy base
06Sep

White pizza margherita

My blogger friend Amanda gave me this idea to make a #dirtypizzaparty to get all of our guilty pleasures on top of one base (or two. or three). This pizza party is transatlantic btw so i had this 12″ margherita to myself. She reiterated the pizza had to have your favourite, guilty food as a topping. And loads of it. Consequently cheese, which means the topping is pure cheese with a touch of cherry tomatoes. Pizza for me is all about simplicity, the way to my heart is a thin crispy margherita, simple and crunchy. The base in my opinion can make or break a pizza. This challenge by Amanda push me outside of my comfort zone because I rarely make bread and have never made a pizza base before. No, correction – I have attempted it before but ti doesn’t even bear thinking about it. The shape on my white pizza base turned out very “rustic” but the texture was really amazing, when rolled to half an inch it bakes like heaven. White pizza margherita (makes 2 12” pizzas) for the base: 300g plain flour 7g dried active yeast 1 tsp salt 1 tbsp olive oil 200ml warm water 1.
3 mins read
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Apple oat muffin with chai icing
15Feb

Apple oat muffins with chai icing

  I am not the best at picking breakfast. It’s for sure my favourite part of the day, but sometimes I  wake up craving for something sweet and unhealthy to have with my coffee like…chocolate cake. In fact when I was a kid, while everyone was having cake for dessert, I used to save a slice in the fridge just so that I could have it for breakfast the next morning. Many people frown upon this practice, so as an adult I kinda made a connection that bran cereal or poached eggs for breakfast show a certain level of maturity. So here’s my compromise: a small muffin, naturally sweetened with bananas, apples and oats with a healthy (ahem) dollop of sugar and chai on top because…well mornings are tough and you should have something to look forward to on a Monday morning. So when you can spare an hour, whip up this recipe and keep it in an air tight container and it will last you for at least half of your week. Apple oat muffins with chai icing (yields 10 small muffins) 100g oats 100g plain flour 2 eggs 90g softened butter 80g golden caster sugar 1 banana, mashed
3 mins read
22415 Views
Ginger and lime cookies, perfect for Christmas
19Dec

Ginger and lime cookies

I fell in love with ginger not so long ago. My husband urged me to try the famous Mcvitie’s Jamaican Ginger Cake and I was unable to stop at one slice only. It has since become my second favourite cake after the carrot cake from the Hummingbird Bakery which we had our wedding. After the Jamaican cake my views of baking with ginger changed dramatically, before I would never venture out of savoury dishes when using ginger. This recipe calls for ginger in syrup, don’t even try to use powdered ginger or any other form of ginger, you just wouldn’t get the fiery kick rounded up by chewy sweetness. And don’t be scared by the icing, it’s super easy, you only need 3 ingredients and a piping bag. It flows easily onto the biscuit and any mistakes on the design can be rubbed off with a dab of water on your fingers. Ginger and lime cookies (yields 20-25 cookies) Biscuit base: 200g butter 100g caster sugar zest of 3 limes 360g plain flour 180g stem ginger in syrup (drained), grated 1. Beat sugar and butter with an electric mixer, add grated ginger and zest. 2. Using a paddle attachment add
3 mins read
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vegan chocolate brownies
03Dec

Super fudgy vegan brownies

I don’t identify myself as belonging to any particular food tribes, whether it is clean eating, paleo or vegan. Sincerely, I love butter too much. This is not to say I don’t enjoy cooking and trying recipes from all of these tribes. Cooking with butter, cream and even meat is very easy as they have deep, rich flavours. But maybe I think like this because I am so used to cooking with these ingredients and any attempts to cook vegetarian or vegan recipes is something that takes a lot of effort. Fruit puree is what keeps bringing me back (made this dairy free cake a while ago), substituting it for dairy and eggs in a multitude of things.
2 mins read
1138 Views