Tag: almonds

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
1976 Views
26Apr

Banana split with brigadeiro fudge sauce

Things I am loving at the moment: I no longer listen to the radio. Some may think this is a bad thing but in my car I have a very narrow range of stations, mainly consisting of songs that are on the chart playing on a very annoying loop. I downloaded an app called Castbox and have started to explore the world of podcasts. My absolutely favourites are The High Low and Dear Sugar Radio. I can’t get enough of Cheryl Strayed and Steve Almond. I want to go out and have a beer with them. Weekends without my phone. It actually died and I didn’t even try to charge it. I forgot about it and it was all good. Re-watching old films that I was too young to understand when I watched it first time around: As Good As it Gets, Donnie Darko and Good Will Hunting eBay. I am planning my sister’s hen do whilst on my night shifts. I am going for a mermaid theme. All the glitter and streamers arrived on time and on point. Condensed milk. I’ve decided that ganache is well over rated as a sauce and that brigadeiro sauce should take the crown.
2 mins read
939 Views
13Jan

Recycling Christmas: Spelt and marmalade apple crumble

Merry back to normal. And I am actually glad Christmas is all over. It did not feel like Christmas to me as I was working and then as soon as I got my first day off of the season my immune system gave up. I have never been that ill, can’t-get-out-of-bed ill, the kind that you want to kick yourself for not appreciating all the days you were healthy. Even after what seemed like recovery I did not feel like myself. I decided to get back on track this week and it was hard, had to peel myself off bed to put my running gear on, and quite frankly felt sick and had to stop halfway through. Another thing that I had to tackle was the massive amount of leftovers in my fridge. I had my in-laws over and they brought a very, very generous amount of food. So trying to figure out what to do with it all has been a creative challenge, which I decided to call recycling Christmas! This is for sure the ultimate crumble recipe, and I say this as someone who has made many, many crumbles before and never got the crumble ratios of flour
3 mins read
1286 Views
28Jul

Cajuzinho (almond fudge)

My grandma left Italy in her early twenties to move to Brazil with her fiancé, my grandad. My grandad never stepped foot in Italy again, my grandma only went back a few times.  Although my grandma’s accent still has strong italian vowels, she has immersed herself  into the culture of her adopted country. She loves having papaya for breakfast, tends to her own jabuticaba trees and watches telenovelas. Her cooking has retained strong Italian roots, but most of her original recipes now often take typical Brazilian ingredients. I am now going through that same process, like her I moved to England still young, and I rejected the culture when I first arrived, but after a while I hated being and outsider. I made a big effort to refine the British accent, watch local shows, read the news, ask questions (beans for breakfast?!?!?). I now get the dry sense of humour and how to add just the right amount of milk to breakfast tea. A lot of natives now tell me they wouldn’t even be able to tell I wasn’t English, if it wasn’t for my looks. You would think that after 16 years of effort I would consider this a compliment, but it actually makes
3 mins read
985 Views
23Sep

Brown sugar and almond popcorn

So we are back. We have good excuses for being away for quite a few weeks…I think getting married is a good excuse for having a little annual leave, right?!?! Especially when you are the bride and the wedding planner. My family were a huge help the night before – and Karla drove from Germany to be my bridesmaid! They did the flower arrangements, set up the dessert table and ironed the linen. But now it is back to normality. It is exciting to be married, I want to do exciting things every night, and obviously life can get in the way of that sometimes. One thing we have always loved doing is going to the cinema together. It is not cheap to go to the cinema though and the food prices are astronomical. And I can’t not munch on something whilst watching Matt Damon go to Mars. So I always pit stop at the supermarket before hand to get ingredients for my favourite cinema food combination: minstrels and salty popcorn. Minstrels are crispy coated chocolate drops and I mix this with popcorn I pop at home. This time I decided to do something different: my own popcorn. It is
3 mins read
616 Views
26Jun

Crème fraîche raspberry ice cream with praline cones

Although I have been longing to use the kitchen I really haven’t had much time. I know I always go on about how busy I am, but until the wedding comes and goes it’s only going to get busier. I have palpitations just thinking about it.  But there’s no time like the present, my studies are winding down before exams start up so I can spend more time in the kitchen now, guilt-free. Plus I am home alone, with my husband-to-be working in the high seas, so all the whirlwind of food projects in my head make me have something to look forward to when I get home. To get in the zone I downloaded some cheesy soap operas (guilty pleasure) and set my laptop up in the kitchen to finally get to work with my favourite new ingredient: crème fraîche. This is my heaven: trashy tv in the kitchen.  I always saw crème fraîche standing next to the double and single creams in the chilled area but due to a fear of the unkown I never picked it up. Then I had a dollop of it served to me on a berry cake, well now I am I am making for
3 mins read
609 Views