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 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.
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.
The April 2011 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Evelyne of the blog Cheap Ethnic Eatz. Evelyne chose to challenge everyone to make a maple mousse in an edible container. Prizes are being awarded to the most creative edible container and filling, so vote on your favorite at http://thedaringkitchen.com!
The suggestion for the edible container for the mousse was bacon. Now, I love bacon. And, I do appreciate some sweet/salty combos, eg. sweet & sour Chinese, chocolate peanut butter cups etc. but for me, bacon dessert is taking things a bit too far. I was thinking of making something white chocolate-y for the edible cup, but I thought that would be too sweet with all the maple syrup, so I decided to make a nutmeg tuile cup.
Continue reading “Maple Mousse in Nutmeg Tuile Cups (Daring Bakers)”…
Fancy a chocolate cake without flour? Whether you’re looking for a gluten-free cake, or just something a bit lighter than normal chocolate cake, this is definitely worth a try. The recipe is Nigella Lawson’s flourless chocolate and lime cake. You could use orange instead of lime, or omit the fruit altogether if you want a pure chocolate flavour. To make it flourless, the recipe uses ground almonds instead of flour.
I’ve never tried combining pomegranate with chocolate before, although I know raspberry goes very well with chocolate. Back in December, I stumbled on Pomegranate Double Chocolate Chip Cookies by Michelle at Taste as You Go (which looked lovely) and saw that they were inspired by Pomegranate White Chocolate Chunk Cookies by Two Peas and their Pod. Both looked delicious, and I knew I’d end up making at least one of them. So, here are my version, too late for Christmas, but never mind! They were really tasty, but the pomegranate seeds got slightly lost amongst the white chocolate chips, so I’d put a few more in each cookie next time!
Continue reading “Pomegranate White Chocolate Chip Cookies”…
Palmiers are so easy to make, but I haven’t tried savoury ones up until now. It took me about 5 seconds to decide what fillings to use – sweet caramelised onions, salty parmesan cheese and creamy goat’s cheese go so well together! These can be really simple, if you use ready-made puff pastry (obscenely easy if you use ready-rolled!), and you can use caramelised onions from a jar. Of course, if you’re looking to put a bit more effort into it (and get more credit!) you can make the puff pastry and caramelise the onions yourself. I think the tangy red onion chutney I made back in December would work a treat.
Continue reading “Goat’s Cheese, Parmesan and Caramelised Onion Palmiers”…
follow: