Just as soon as the sunny weather arrives, it’s cruelly snatched away from us again. It’s a rainy day in May, and what better to lift the spirits on a damp afternoon than a spot of baking? This is another recipe from the Hummingbird Bakery Cookbook, which I’ve some good successes with so far. This one is for buttermilk pound loaf and, because the recipe said I could, I’ve added some dark chocolate chips.
I love chutney, but carrot chutney is a new one for me; Marks and Spencer do an absolutely lovely Wensleydale cheese and caramelised carrot chutney sandwich that I wanted to be able to recreate at home. Carrot chutney isn’t something you can easily find, so I looked for recipes online, with not much luck. Nearly everything I found had things like sultanas added to it, which wasn’t right at all.
After a couple of experiments, I came up with this recipe. I recreated the sandwich and tried them side by side. It’s pretty damn close to the real thing. I used Wensleydale for authenticity, but this sweet chutney would go well with any salty and/or creamy cheese like feta, cheddar or goat’s cheese.
I remember when American-style cookies were quite a small player in the UK biscuit market. I also remember the vast majority of them being quite crunchy, and a lot smaller than most you get today. More like the British biscuits. Or, they’d be mostly crunchy, with a lovely, surprising bit of chewiness in the middle. An unexpected bit of indulgence, like you’d eaten it too soon from the oven.
One of my earliest childhood foody memories is visiting my grandmother (who had spent time as a 1950s American housewife) and tucking into her walnut and chocolate chip cookies. They weren’t like anything else I’d tried at the time.
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In honour of St George’s Day, I thought I’d bake something quintessentially English — scones. Ok, ok I know… they’re Scottish really, but that’s a hell of a lot closer than Greece, which is where old (young?) George was from. Anyway. Not just any scones, but orange marmalade scones; I thought marmalade added a bit of an English Breakfast touch to the affair.
They’re kind of delicious. Not too much sugar, so they’re not overly sweet, and the marmalade adds a lovely rich orange flavour. Now, I’m not saying that Paddington Bear would forgo his marmalade sandwiches for these, but he’d definitely have one or two for afters.
This recipe for spicy roasted chickpeas (aka garbanzo beans) is so easy and is a fantastic nutritious alternative to other savoury snacks. You only need a tin of chickpeas, a little oil and whatever seasonings you want to add. Chickpeas are high in fibre, low in fat and a good source of nutrients like vitamin B6 and iron. Once roasted to delicious crunchiness, they’re also very moreish! You can adjust all the seasoning amounts to suit your taste.
This recipe for chocolate brownies comes from the Baked: New Frontiers in Baking recipe book by Matt Lewis and Renato Poliafito. The Baked brownies are somewhat of an Internet Sensation and they are… well they’re pretty amazing. They’re chocolatey, rich, dark and fudgy. Not for the cake-y brownie enthusiast, and not for people who don’t like their chocolate really dark. Possibly not ideal for kids, although I witnessed one big brownie being happily devoured by a 5 year old. Oprah is a big fan, apparently, and who can blame her? I would definitely use this as a “go to” brownie recipe, depending on who I was making them for.
Couscous is such a great alternative side dish to the usual pasta/rice/potatoes. This recipe for Spicy Casablanca Couscous comes from Ainsley Harriott’s Low Fat Meals in Minutes. I discovered it last year when I was looking for lower-calorie recipes, and it works so well that it’s become a regular feature on the weekly menu. The cumin and coriander work really well together and you can dial the hotness up or down by adjusting the amount of chillies you use. (You could obviously substitute dried chillies or cayenne, or omit them altogether.)
Cranberry sauce is one of the staples of the modern British Christmas dinner. I made some cranberry jelly a few weeks ago which, preserved, keeps well. Now Christmas is only a few days away, it’s time to make the cranberry sauce, as an alternative.
This seasonal recipe for chocolate and chestnut yule log is from Jamie Oliver. A chocolate yule log is really an essential for me at Christmas. Having tried recipes from Nigella Lawson and Delia Smith, I thought I’d give Jamie’s a go this year.
I like chocolate logs because of their chocolate-y goodness, but also because they evoke the ancient European yule tradition of bringing a log into the house in the depths of winter. That’s bound to make you feel all warm and cosy at this time of year.
Making your own yule log from scratch means making a swiss roll, which can be a bit scary if you haven’t attempted this before. Never fear though, it’s actually very easy.
This recipe for cranberry jelly comes from The Complete Book of Preserves and Pickles by Catherine Atkinson and Maggie Mahew. Cranberry jelly, or its relation cranberry sauce, has become a staple of the Christmas table.
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