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 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.
Continue reading “Hummingbird Bakery Chocolate Chip Cookies”…
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 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.
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.
Christmas just ain’t Christmas without a chocolate yule log. Two years ago, I made Nigella Lawson’s Bûche de Noël. That was a huge success, absolutely delicious, but last year I decided to try a different one and made a squidgy chocolate log with this recipe from Delia Smith’s Complete Cookery Course. Again, this recipe is flourless, giving a light sponge.
Now, you may notice that Delia’s version is not smothered with lashings of chocolate ganache or buttercream, but the cream and chocolate mousse filling means that this log is still extremely indulgent, and well worth a try.
This recipe for multigrain bread is made with quark, a curd cheese popular in Germany. The addition of the quark to the bread dough gives a loaf that is quite moist, with a subtle tangy flavour. I used malted flake (granary) flour, and added wheat bran and pearl barley for an extra dimension of texture.
Autumn brings a glut of apples, and the search for recipes to use them up in. This recipe for nutty apple loaf comes from the Hummingbird Bakery recipe book. It’s a lovely tea loaf, slightly spiced, with some cheeky chocolate pieces thrown in. The recipe calls for mixed nuts; I used walnuts, hazelnuts and almonds.
I thought I’d make some pecan pie as a nod to American Thanksgiving, which is today. I used this recipe from the Hummingbird Bakery cookbook. I love pecan pie, the nuts go so well with the toffee-like syrup. Corn syrup is not very easy to get hold of in the UK, although you can get it online. If you can’t get any, you can substitute golden syrup, or a combination of golden syrup and black treacle.
Pâte brisée is a shortcrust pastry. It’s not sweet, so it can be used for both savoury and sweet dishes, and it is a little bit lighter and more delicate than pâte a foncer (flan pastry). Shortcrust pastry is ideal for pies and tarts. Here, I’ve used Michel Roux’s recipe for pâte brisée, from his Pastry book (which is excellent).
follow: