Entries tagged with baking on I'm glad it burnt

Chocolate mince pies with marzipan tops

Wed, 15 Dec 2010 21:16:42 +0000

Homemade mincemeat recipe (courtesy of peasepudding.wordpress.com)

2 tablespoons brown sugar
1/4 cup brandy
1 Granny Smith apple (peeled, cored and grated)
100g raisins
100g currants
100g sultanas
Juice & zest of 1 orange
1/3 cup breakfast marmalade
1/2 tsp mixed spice
40g dark chocolate
40g milk chocolate

I used shop-bought Dessert pastry. Of course, you can use pastry for the tops if you not keen on marzipan.

...and if you have a sweet tooth whack on a lump of brandy butter too! mmm.
Thoroughly mix Brandy, butter, icing sugar and muscovado sugar (optional) into a paste: Simplz.

Easy dulce de Leche cookies

Sun, 22 Aug 2010 18:55:35 +0100

I spotted these on TasteSpotting.com, a great website for cooking inspiration. Don't they look yum!?

Dulce de leche literally means "sweet of milk", and can be found next to condensed milk in the shops. It's pretty much the same but more caramelly.

Read the Wikipedia definition.

Here is the recipe I used (translated from American cups, into grams/mls). It differs slightly from other recipes in that, the cookie mixture itself contains Dulce de leche (where as usually it is just the filling).

http://buttersugarflour.com/2007/12/double-dulce-de-leche-biscuits/

Ingredients

200g unsalted butter, softened
64g brown sugar
64g caster sugar
397g tin of Dulce de leech (Nestle Carnation Caramel)
2 eggs
340g plain flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon salt

Instructions

Preheat oven to 180°C. Prepare two baking trays with non-stick baking paper
Put the butter, sugar and half the tin of dulce de leche in a large bowl and mix
Beat in the eggs
Add the flour, baking powder and salt. Sifting the flour if inclined
Use a piping bag to squeeze the mixture on to the baking tray
Bake for approx 10 minutes.
Use the remaining dulce de leche as the fillings for each double cookie.

Tips:

If you don't have a piping bag, make your own using a sandwich bag with a hole in, or some baking paper rolled into a funnel shape.
No need to squeeze them out perfectly, as no matter when they look like raw, they always turn out nice and circular.
Alternate between your two baking trays (One in the oven, whilst you prepare the second batch).

Makowiec

Thu, 25 Mar 2010 11:24:01 +0000

Continuing on our journey into the land of bread... here is the second loaf, a Polish poppy seed swirl cake called Makowiec. We used the recipe from Taste.com.au - this is a great website, kind of like the Australian equivalent of the equally great BBC good food.

You can see from the photos that we decided not to smother it with lemony icing sugar. This was because, pretty much everything that could go wrong went wrong! And when it came it, we couldn't be bothered (It was the right decision in the end anyway...)

We ran out of plain flour and had to use wholemeal flour - which made it look (and taste) much more bready than cakey.
We also used 50 grams too little of poppy seeds, which resulted in very sloppy innards
We had no rolling pin!
To add the chaos we were simultaneously cooking tea (Creamy pesto gnocchi)

We put the hefty lump of gloopy dough into the oven, and crashed out for 40 mins whilst it cooked, disappointed with our efforts and not expecting it to work out at all. But, despite appearences this rather ugly looking thing tasted much better than the Finnish Pulla bread.

Finnish Pulla Bread

Sun, 21 Mar 2010 13:31:20 +0000

First in a series of bread-related posts is the sweet and slightly over powering Finnish Pulla bread. The recipe is Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall's and was in the Guardian newspaper, but is also available online as part of his Cardamom recipes.

Hugh describes it as a brioche-style bread (Light and rich), but our attempt proved extremely dense and quite dry. Still delicious don't get me wrong - and the smell was amazing... enough to bring my housemates of their rooms!

Perhaps the reason it turned out so heavy is because I didn't knead the dough enough. That's something I hope to improve on over the forthcoming recipes.

Being quite stodgy, and not really knowing what the bread is supposed to acompany, we ended up using it to absorb some tasty tomato and basil soup. Even though I think it's a desert bread, the combination was yummy.

I'm not ashamed to say (as a bloke), that I platted with confidence. It's quite tricky because once you've stretched the dough to 40cm as described in the instructions - all it wants to do is retract to it's original size. So you have to work quickly!

Coconut pyramids

Mon, 01 Feb 2010 20:17:38 +0000

My colleagues at work are aware that I'm a so called 'foodie', and 2 years on the trot they've bought me a book of recipes for my birthday. It's very generous of them, but I can't help but think it's just so I'll cook them treats :)
I'm fine with that!

One of my work mates has coeliac disease, and so every now and again I'm obliged to make something nice that doesn't have gluten in. So here is a really quick and moreish recipe called Coconut Pyramids, or coconut macaroons.

Things you need:

2 egg whites (whisked until stiff)
150g desiccated coconut
150g caster sugar
Edible rice paper (wafer-paper actually made from Potato starch, water and vegetable oil)

What to do:

Combine the ingredients and place in the fridge for an hour
Now place small dollops on the paper, and shape
Bake at 140°C for 45 minutes, but worth checking after 30.

Tip: If you can't be bothered making pyramids, you can push the mixture into a small funnel. Then, (although slightly unyhygenic) blow through the end which releases the funnel-mold from the mixture!

I made quadrilateral pyramids, shaped with a fork. Much easier than 3 sided!

Unfortunately, this time round, my pyramids sank! This is probably due to the fact that I was experimenting with the addition of some extra ingredients including: Ground almond; Almond essence; Vanilla essence; butter; and Agave syrup. Never mind.

To melt the chocolate, I added some Green & Blacks to a bain marie - but because the pyramids hadn't worked out shapewise (unlike these) - I didn't bother to neatly dunk them in the chocolate, as it wasn't really worth the effort.

Good luck if you have a go, they taste great!

Kopparberg cake

Sun, 17 Jan 2010 18:22:07 +0000

A good friend of ours made a status update on Facebook saying she'd made Kopparberg cake. Intrigued, I asked for the recipe, and she obliged by uploading a mobile-phone photograph of the recipe page.

Hannah, I have no idea where you got the recipe from, but it's really tasty! Especially with vanilla ice-cream. Thank you!

In fact, my attempt at the cake had to be eaten with ice-cream because, it wasn't really held-together enough to be eaten as a normal slice of cake. Hopefully future versions will be more refined!

The great thing about this recipe is all the ingredients pretty much just get bunged into one bowl and mixed together.

Ingredients

6 tablespoons of butter
225g self raising flour
1 teaspoon of baking powder
75g caster sugar
50g dried apple, chopped
75g raisins
150ml of Kopparberg or any other sweet cider
1 egg
175g raspberries / mixed berries

In translating the blurry mobile-phone photograph I noticed it said 6 tablespoons of butter. Would anyone in the right mind use a tablespoon to measure out butter?? No, I didn't think so. It's about 85 grams anyway.

Instructions

To keep this short, and sweet, (like the cider) just do this:

Put the flour and butter in a big mixing bowl
Get a sharp knife and fork, and chop it up as best you can
Now get one hand in, and smear the butter and flour through your fingers, making a dry, bitty mixture.
Okay, that's as bad as it gets. Next add all the ingredients to the flour and butter.
Mix, and mix well.
Bake for 40 minutes at 190°C

Kind of looks like puke after a night on red wine.
But I guarantee you, it smells amazing!

After 40 minutes, do the knife test - and depending on the depth of the cake tin you used, it might have to go back in for another 10 or 15 minutes.

The original recipe called for a 20cm/8 inch cake tin, but we reckon a shallow brownie tin would have been a much better idea. So that it gets cooked properly in the center.

The apple symbol is a tribute to my new Macbook Pro that I finally got this week after saving for many many months.

Macaroons, attempt #1

Sat, 16 Jan 2010 17:31:27 +0000

Pictures of Macaroons have been taunting me for a long time. Saying, “Make me, You know you want to. But, bare in mind - I'm a bastard to get right.”

They look so good. So perfect.
Being a perfectionist, I thought that meant I'd be able do it. Easy.

This weekend I finally made the effort and followed a recipe from Life's a feast blog, for the simple reason that it was on the first page of my Google Reader. In hindsight, perhaps I should have tried my usual trick of prefixing the search with "World's best" (there I go, trying to blame the recipe...)

I've got to be honest with you, the first batch didn't work - but I'm too proud to put up pictures of my failings. What happened was, I didn't whisk the egg whites for long enough, so when it came to piping them out - the mixture just ran out and spread into a liquidy mess.

I cooked them anyway, and although looking like little brown poo's on a plate, they actually tasted better than batch that worked.

A before & after of the good batch

Amongst the myriad of fiddly problems along the way, was the center mixture. It's made by combining melted chocolate with double cream - no mean feat. This also took two attempts, after the first one curdled.

Reality check

This was an expensive day, and I thought I was better than I actually am at cooking. Macaroons are off the cards for long while now. At least I have one decent photograph as proof that I can do it :)

Dolmio vs. The best lasagna in the world?

Sun, 16 Aug 2009 20:14:31 +0100

When growing up, whenever we had tea as children we could always tell if it had come from a jar. We called this "plop", mum would say, "Sorry I'm in a rush tonight we're having plop for tea".

Stuff from a jar, especially tomato based sauces, always have a distinct flavour that you can tell straight away is not home-made. Usually it's far too sweet and salty.

In the interest of science (and because there was an offer on Dolmio Lasagna sauces at the Co-op) I thought it would be interesting to make two and compare them under strict test conditions*.

The recipe that the Dolmio was up against is only The World's best Lasagna.

Unfortunately, a certain somebody accidentally burnt the second (home-made) lasagna. However, due to the name of this blog I can't complain and it does kind of make the pasta sheets all nice and chewy...

According to the World's best Lasagna serving calculator, 115g of mince meat was supposed to be used - but that didn't sound right, so for the test we used equal amounts (400g) for each recipe.

Dolmio:
This recipe uses equal amounts of red/white sauce and despite not having any proper fresh ingredients tasted pretty damn good, and again for breakfast. It did however taste like plop, but that is forgiveable as it came from a jar :)

World's best:
A bit too salty but extremely morish. It didn't reheat very well but that's probably because we nuked it in the oven. It was lacking in the white sauce department - the combination of Mozzarella and Ricotta didn't achieve the creaminess that the Dolmio had.

Verdict

Taste-wise the World's best lasagna definitely wins, I think the Italian salami in it just makes your mouth water! If you are going to make a lasagna, I suggest following that recipe, but keep some cheddar on standby because the red/white ratio was a little off.

I've had an offer from a friend who claims his mum makes a better lasagna, so I'll write a follow up post when my taste buds have made up their mind.

*Not really strict test conditions

The best flapjack recipe in the whole wide world

Wed, 08 Jul 2009 21:43:49 +0100

Due to the advent of a picnic in a park and my never-ending attempts to reduce the amount of porridge oats that have accidentally accumulated over time, I thought I might as well practice making some super-tasty flapjacks.

I've never made flapjacks before, but I've heard that it's often thought that adding more syrup makes for a gooier flapjack. I've also heard that this isn't the case, and in fact adding more butter makes it gooier.

I can see the logic that more syrup could would equate to a hard flapjack. So, I figured I might as well search on Google for 'the best flapjack recipe in the whole wide world', that way I couldn't go wrong.

As expected Google didn't let me down and the first result was for this brilliant, and brilliantly simple recipe: The Best Flapjack Recipe in the Whole Wide World

Just take a look for yourself! How many flapjacks do you know that can be cut into slices like a cake without either the knife not penetrating the mixture at all, because it's way too hard, or it all crumbling to bits because it's too soft!

(If you're wondering what the layer in the middle is - it's dates, mmm)

Sweet and spicy cupcakes

Sat, 27 Jun 2009 14:14:25 +0100

Last Thursday, as usual, I got the urge to bake when I didn’t really have enough time! I had a look in the ever well-stocked cupboard and decided I fancied something sweet and spicy. I adapted this recipe from a basic one found on cupcakeblog.com - if you have a sweet tooth, definitely check that blog out! Anyway, I ended up cooking a large batch of mocha cupcakes and the family meal at the same time, and of course then I didn’t manage to get to my tap class on time…

This recipe uses one of my favourite storecupboard ingredients: instant espresso. As a coffee lover, I always found coffee cakes and desserts very unsatisfying until I happened upon this wonderful product, which I believe is available in most supermarkets. I made the cupcakes with soy milk and vegan margarine so they were lactose-free, however, they would be equally delicious with cows' milk and butter.

The frosting on the cupcakes really makes them special, so make sure you put plenty on!

For the cupcakes:

3/4 cup margarine
2 cups dark brown sugar
2 large eggs
2 cups plain flour
1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup cocoa powder
1/4 cup instant espresso
1+1/2 cups soya milk
1 tablespoon vanilla essence (get natural extract if you can)

Preheat the oven to 180°C (350°F)
Beat margarine and sugar together (in a medium sized mixing bowl) until light and fluffy.
Add eggs, one at a time, beating after each addition.
Stir in the soya milk, followed by the vanilla essence.
Sift the flour, bicarbonate of soda, salt, cocoa powder, and instant espresso into a large bowl and stir to combine.
Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients a little at a time, beating after each addition. Stir the mixture until the ingredients are thoroughly combined.
Divide the mixture between paper cupcake cases and bake for 15 minutes or until the tops of the cupcakes spring back when gently pressed.
Leave the cupcakes to cool on wire racks before frosting them.

For the frosting:

½ cup margarine
2 cups icing sugar
3tbsp cinnamon
3tbsp allspice
1tbsp ground ginger

Beat the margarine to soften it. Sift the icing sugar onto the margarine and beat until soft and creamy.
Add the spices and stir them in thoroughly.
Use a piping bag with a large nozzle to pipe swirls on top of each cupcake.

If you don’t have a piping bag, feel free to just slap icing on top of the cupcakes in any manner you choose, I’m sure they’ll taste just as good! Now, sit down with a cup of coffee and enjoy…

Apple and oat cookies

Tue, 02 Jun 2009 22:05:27 +0100

Due to some miss communication amongst the household we ended up with too many boxes of porridge oats. Thankfully this evening, some cookie making solved the problem.

This recipe was made up on the spot, and as a result doesn't make the most amazing tasting cookies you've ever had. But, I thought it might be worth letting you know what was used, so you can rustle some up (if you ever find your self with an over-abundance of oats).

300g oats
100g plain flour
2 tbsps of milled flaxseed
270g of apple sauce
(you can use more or less, we just used the remainder of what was available)
250g plain yoghurt
100g butter/margarine
75g sultanas
...and for the topping: Ground ginger, cinnamon and xylitol

The process is simple, mix the oats with the flour & flax and add the melted butter. Stir.

Add the apple sauce, and keep stirring. In fact, you can't really stir the mixture as it's quite dry and and stiff. Use your hands to make sure the butter is well combined with everything else.

Plonk in some sultanas, raisins, currents or whatever is lying around and mix one last time.

Now all that's left to do is roll the mixture into little balls, cover them with the topping and squash them down into a reasonable cookie shape. Put them in the oven for a few minutes on a high heat and bobs your uncle.

If you have any suggestions for other oat-based cookies please comment!

These would be nice crumbled up with some vanilla ice-cream, think I'll try that now...