Chocolate & Peanut Butter Cupcakes

We are nearing the end of National Cupcake Week, only two more days eat as many cupcakes as possible and shrug it off with a ‘well it is National Cupcake Week.’ In the end I didn’t manage to organise a cupcake party (everyone was busy) but I did manage to bake a batch of cupcakes to share around and spread the cupcake yumminess.

As cupcakes are an American invention I decided to go with chocolate and peanut butter cupcakes. Not only a delicious combination, but also one that is decidedly American.

The chocolate cupcakes were good, but to me their main purpose was as a carrier for the divine peanut butter frosting. This is a recipe I have adapted from a standard vanilla buttecream recipe and one I have made lots of times in the past few months. It produces a thick, yet creamy peanut butter buttercream that’s not too sweet and is intensely flavoured with peanut. There is nothing worse than being promised a peanut butter flavour only to find it practically non existent.

After a swirl of the frosting I added some chocolate covered peanuts to decorate and add a bit of crunch. As I’m sure everyone has got their own favourite chocolate cupcake recipe I am only giving the frosting recipe below (leftovers taste great on toast too – shh!)

Peanut Butter Frosting
Ingredients
70g butter
80g smooth peanut butter
260g icing sugar
25-40ml milk

Method
Make sure the butter is soft. Cream the butter together with the peanut butter until smooth and well combined.
Add the icing sugar, a third at a time, mixing well until incorporated. Add the milk as and when needed if it becomes a bit stiff.
Use more milk to slacken the frosting to the right piping consistency.
Fill a piping bag fitted with a large star nozzle. Pipe on top of your chosen cupcakes and decorate with a few chocolate covered peanuts to decorate.
Eat and enjoy.
Makes enough for 12 cupcakes

National Cupcake Week!

Today is the start of National Cupcake Week 2010 here in the UK!
It runs from 13th - 19th September. It's only the second year of this event organised by the British Baker Magazine to highlight the joys and delights of all things cupcake.

I might try to arrange a cupcake party with some friends to celebrate before the week is out, or at least eat a fair few cupcakes. The perfect excuse to indulge!

Spiced Apple & Plum Butter

Apples and plums are at the height of their season and the trees roundabouts are bowing under the weight of their fruit. We have a few tiny apples trees in our garden and some of our friends have trees too and as a result I ended up with a glut of apples, far too many eat and so I decided to turn some into jam.

While hunting for recipes I came across several recipes for a preserve called apple butter. I have heard of this before, but never tasted it. It turned out to be a smooth apple puree which is thick – the texture of softened butter – and often spiced with cinnamon and cloves, which many of you will know I absolutely adore. This seemed the perfect way to make use of the apples.

I was initially a little apprehensive about the recipe as I had read on several blogs that it can be quite time consuming and difficult to make. The process involves stewing the chopped apples, skin, core, pips and all until mushy and then pushing the mixture through a fine sieve to remove the ‘unwanted bits’ which results in a thick apple puree. Sugar and spices are then added and the mix is stirred constantly over the heat until thick.

This did indeed sound rather time consuming but it turned out to be remarkably easy and straight forward. I think it was actually easier than regular jam making, as not having to peel and core all the apples saved a lot of time and there was no tricky setting test to perform on the jam as its obvious once the puree has got thick enough to spread.

The resulting butter was gorgeous! It was smooth and thick and nicely spiced with the apples favourite accompanying spices of cinnamon, nutmeg and clove. As I also had a large bag of plums from another fruit foraging trip I substituted a quarter of the weight of apples called for with plums. This along with the russet red skins of the apples produced a lovely pinkish blush colour of the puree.

As its called butter I had my first bite of it spread thickly on bread and for an apple lover it tasted delicious and absolutely jam packed with fresh apple flavour. I’ve since used it on top of porridge, swirled in yoghurt and as a filling for a cake. My meat eating family have also had it with their Sunday roast pork and declared it ‘fabulous.’

My only slightly negative comment is that a little apple vinegar is called for in the recipe. This helps preserve the apple butter but means a slight vinegary taste is noticeable if eaten straight away – only very very slight though. This didn’t bother me but I’ve found that this mellows out and disappears if you store it for a while – just like when making chutney. If you too have a glut of apples or fancy something a bit different to marmalade on your toast in the mornings then I highly recommend you whip up a batch of this.

Spiced Apple & Plum Butter

Ingredients
1.5kg apples – skin, core and all
500g plums
450ml water
225ml apple cider vinegar
400-500g caster sugar
2tsp cinnamon
¼ tsp ground clove
¼ tsp freshly grated nutmeg

Method
Remove the stones from the plums and place into a large saucepan. Roughly dice the apples, leaving the skin, core and pips in. Place into the pan with the plums and pour over the water and vinegar.
Bring to the boil and allow to bubble for 20 minutes until the fruit is very soft and starting to break down.
Place a sieve over a large bowl and spoon in some of the fruit mush. Use a ladel to push and press the fruit through the sieve, catching the thick puree in the bowl below. The skin and pips will be left behind in the sieve – discard these before adding the next batch of fruit.
Weigh your finished puree and add 150g caster sugar per 500g of fruit puree. (I had 1.5kg fruit puree, so added 450g sugar).
Place 5-6 jars and their lids into a cool oven and set the temperature to 120C. Allow the jars to heat up with the oven and then sit for at least 10 minutes in the heat before using – this sterilises them and will prevent them from shattering when you add the hot apple butter later on.
Return the puree to the pan, add the sugar and spices and heat, stirring constantly for about 30-40 minutes. Don’t neglect to stir or it will start spitting at you or stick and burn to the base of the pan.
Once the puree has thickened to a spreadable consistency, remove from the heat.
Remove the hot jars from the oven and divide the hot apple butter between the jars. Screw the lids on while the contents are still hot, wearing rubber gloves to protect your hands. (Screwing the lids on while the contents are still hot will create a vacuum inside the jar as it cools down. This will seal the jars and mean they can be stored without spoiling for several months).
Allow to cool on the side before storing in a cool dark place until required. Once opened, store in the fridge.
Makes 5-6 jars

Note: You can of course use all apple in place of the apple & plum combo above

Carrot, Courgette & Ricotta Lasagne

This is the time of year when courgettes are in abundance. Courgettes on their own can be quite bland and yet every day blogs are posting new tasty ways of incorporating these vegetables into a variety of muffins, cakes, cookies and other baked goods. However I feel that this humble vegetable should not be completely overlooked in the more conventional savoury dishes too.

This carrot and courgette lasagne allows the courgettes soft texture and subtle sweetness to be the star of the show. All it needs is a little help from some herbs and spices to help bring them alive. It’s also an incredible easy and simple dish to put together and requires very little prep time making it the perfect mid week meal.

The courgettes are grated and paired with carrots which help enhance the courgettes savoury sweetness before being mixed with garlic, thyme and ricotta to produce a flavoursome creamy veg layer for your lasagne without the need for sauce making. This is then layered up with a simple tomato mix that has been spiked with a hint of chilli to give it some warmth and fresh lasagne sheets (shop bought unless your super organised) for a delicious speedy dinner.

I loved how the grated courgette kept its colour, showing flecks of bright green throughout the layers. It made it look very Italian amongst the white pasta and the red sauce. I’ll be making this one again before the courgettes seasons over.

Carrot, Courgette & Ricotta Lasagne
(Recipe adapted from BBC Good Food)

Ingredients
2 courgettes
2 carrots
2 tsp fresh thyme
½ tsp chilli flakes or ground chilli
1 clove garlic
150g ricotta cheese
400g tin chopped tomatoes
150ml passata
1 tbsp olive oil
Salt & pepper and herbs of choice
6 sheets fresh lasagne

Method
Place the chopped tomatoes, passata, chilli and some herbs of your choice into a pan and bring to the boil. Reduce to a simmer and allow to bubble for 15-20 minutes until slightly thickened. Season with salt and pepper. Set aside until required.
Coarsely grate the carrots and courgettes (there is no need to peel). Heat the oil in a large frying pan and add the grated veg. Cook for 1 minute before crushing the garlic and adding to the pan along with the fresh thyme.
Cook until softened and most of the liquid released from the vegetables has evaporated. Remove from the heat and mix through the ricotta cheese.
Preheat the oven to 190C.
Spread a third of the veg ricotta mixture into the base of a 30cmx20cm ovenproof dish. Spread over a quarter of the tomato and lay 2 sheets of the lasagne on top.
Top with another third of veg, another quarter of tomato and 2 more sheets of lasagne. Repeat for the final layer and then use the leftover tomato sauce to spread on top of the last lasagne sheets. Grate over a little cheese of your choice and bake for 25-30 minutes until the lasagne is bubbling and crisp around the edges.
Allow to cool for 5 minutes before serving with salad.
Serves 3-4

Daring Bakers August 2010 Challenge: Ice Cream Petit Fours

The August 2010 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Elissa of 17 and Baking. For the first time, The Daring Bakers partnered with Sugar High Fridays for a co-event and Elissa was the gracious hostess of both. Using the theme of beurre noisette, or browned butter, Elissa chose to challenge Daring Bakers to make a pound cake to be used in either a Baked Alaska or in Ice Cream Petit Fours. The sources for Elissa’s challenge were Gourmet magazine and David Lebovitz’s “The Perfect Scoop”.

This month we were required to make a brown butter pound cake and some ice cream of our choice and turn it into either baked alaska or petit fours. I had never had frozen ice cream cake petit fours before and so this was my dessert of choice.

As we experimented with ice cream in last months Daring Bakers challenge I wanted to do something different this month. I remembered a recipe for instant banana ice cream that I read about a few months back and decided now would be the perfect time to test it out, especially as I had yet more overripe bananas in the fruit bowl! The method is surprisingly simple yet yields delicious results. You freeze chunks of banana and then blitz them (still frozen) in a food processor with a little yoghurt and syrup and within seconds – ta da – instant smooth and creamy frozen banana cream that has the taste and texture of ice cream! You can eat it straight out the bowl or freeze it for later. It’s ingenious and fantastically bananary, not to mention healthy. I really recommend you give it a go.

I was also pleased to try out the brown butter cake recipe we were given, as I’d never made one of these myself. It turned out very well and produced a very light, springy and golden coloured cake with a nutty overtone. I also added a mix of cinnamon, ginger and freshly grated nutmeg to mine which I thought would complement the nuttiness as well as the banana ice cream.

Everything was going well until it came to the glaze. Rather than use the recipe provided I decided to make a glaze I have done in the past for profiteroles. I’m not sure what happened but one minute I had smooth glossy sauce and then next it was too thick and gloopy. I used it anyway, but it refused to coat the petit fours properly so instead I just spooned some over the top and let it drizzle over the sides a bit. They still ended up looking pretty, but not the elegant sophisticated petit fours I was hoping for. As a result I’m not giving you the glaze recipe I made, but I have written the glaze recipe provided below for anyone who wants to make these. Note to self: sometimes things are best left un-meddled.

I loved the taste and texture of these little bites. The spiced nutty cake and banana ice cream were a great match and the glossy dark chocolate glaze left you with a rich cocoa taste that tasted delicious as it mingled with the melting banana cream.

Thanks Elissa for choosing such a great challenge. Click to see a list of my fellow Daring Bakers and what they did with their cake and ice cream.

Spiced Brown Butter Pound Cake & Instant Banana Ice Cream Petit Fours

Spiced Brown Butter Pound Cake
275g unsalted butter
200g plain flour
1 tsp baking powder
½ tsp salt
110g light brown sugar
75g caster sugar
4 large eggs
½ tsp vanilla extract
(I also added 1 tsp cinnamon, ½ tsp ginger and ¼ tsp nutmeg)

Method
Preheat the oven to 165C and put a rack in the center. Butter and flour a 9inch/23cm square pan.
Place the butter in a saucepan over medium heat. Brown the butter until the milk solids are a dark chocolate brown and the butter smells nutty – but you don’t want black and burnt. Pour into a shallow bowl and chill in the freezer until just congealed, 15-20 minutes.
Whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt (and spices if using).
Beat the cooled brown butter, light brown sugar, and caster sugar with an electric mixer until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Beat in the eggs one at a time, mixing well, and then the vanilla extract.
Stir in the flour mixture at low speed until just combined. Scrape the batter into the prepared pan. Smooth the top with a rubber spatula. Bake until golden brown on top and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, about 25 minutes.
Cool in the pan for 10 minutes. Run a knife along the edge and invert right-side-up onto a cooling rack to cool completely.

Instant Banana Ice Cream

3 bananas
150g yoghurt
1 tbsp honey, glucose or golden syrup

Method
Ahead of time, peel the bananas and cut them into rough chunks. Place in a plastic bag and freeze them until solid.
Place the chunks of frozen banana in a food processor and blitz to break the bananas into smaller pieces. Add the yoghurt and honey/syrup and blitz again until smooth and creamy. (Adding the syrup helps prevent ice crystals from forming during freezing).
Eat straight away or spread the mixture into a clingfilm lined pan the same size as your cake, if making petit fours and freeze until firm.

Assembly of Ice Cream Petit Fours

Line a 9inch/23cm pan with clingfilm, so that no sides of the pan are exposed and there is some extra plastic wrap hanging off the sides.
Take the brown butter pound cake and level the top with a serrated knife if needed. Then cut the cake in half horizontally to form two thin layers. Place one of these layers into the base of the lined pan.
Remove the ice cream from the freezer, lift it out of the pan with the help of the cling film and place it on top of the base layer of cake. Top with the second layer of cake, wrap well in clingfilm and return to the freezer overnight.
Make the chocolate glaze (your own recipe or see below)
While the glaze cools, remove the ice cream cake from the freezer and use a sharp knife to cut it into 4cm squares. You can trim the edges first if needed.
Place the ice cream cake squares on tray lined with a sheet of greaseproof to help clean up later.
Glaze the petit fours one at a time by dipping/coating them in the chocolate glaze. Use a spoon or fork to help you. Place a petit four on the tines of a fork and spoon chocolate glaze over it.
Place the petit fours on the greaseproof lined tray and freezer for an hour. Allow to st at room temperature for 5-10 minutes before serving.

Vanilla Ice Cream Recipe Provided
250ml whole milk
A pinch of salt
165g caster sugar
1 vanilla bean, split lengthwise or 2tsp vanilla extract
500ml double cream
5 large egg yolks
1-3 tsp vanilla extract (see method)
Method
1. Heat the milk, salt, and sugar in a medium saucepan until the liquid steams. Scrape out the seeds of the vanilla bean and add to the milk, along with the bean pod. Cover, remove from heat, and let infuse for an hour. (If you do not have a vanilla bean, simply heat the milk, salt, and sugar in a medium saucepan until the liquid steams, then let cool to room temperature.)
2. Set up an ice bath by placing a 2 litre bowl inside a large bowl partially filled with water and ice. Put a strainer on top of the smaller bowl and pour in the cream.
3. In another bowl, lightly beat the egg yolks together. Reheat the milk in the medium saucepan until warmed, and then gradually pour a quarter of the warmed milk into the yolks, constantly whisking to keep the eggs from scrambling. Once the yolks are warmed, scrape the yolk and milk mixture back into the saucepan of warmed milk and cook over low heat. Stir constantly and scrape the bottom with a spatula until the mixture thickens into a custard which thinly coats the back of the spatula.
4. Strain the custard into the cream and stir the mixture until cooled. Add the vanilla extract (1 tsp if you are using a vanilla bean or 3 tsp if you are not using a vanilla bean) and refrigerate until thoroughly chilled, preferably overnight.
5. Remove the vanilla bean and freeze in an ice cream maker. If you don’t have an ice cream maker, you can make it without a machine. Click to see instructions from David Lebovitz.

Chocolate Glaze Recipe Provided
250g dark chocolate, finely chopped
250ml double cream
1½ tbsp light corn syrup/golden syrup
2 tsp vanilla extract
Method
Stir the cream and syrup in a small saucepan over medium heat until it comes to a boil. Remove from heat and add the dark chocolate. Let sit 30 seconds, then stir to completely melt the chocolate. Stir in the vanilla and let cool until tepid before glazing the petit fours.

Banana & Caramel Cheeseless Yoghurt Cheesecake

This cheeseless cheesecake was a bit of an experiment. I was eating some very thick Total Greek yoghurt and thinking how it was so lusciously thick and creamy that it was almost the texture of cream cheese. I then began to wonder whether it could be used in a recipe in place of cream cheese and naturally my first through for a cream cheese rich recipe was cheesecake.

I decided that if I was going to experiment with a cheeseless cheesecake then I didn’t want it to be your run of the mill cheesecake. I had three ripe bananas sitting on the side so decided to incorporate them into the cheesecake along with some dulce de leche caramel to make a sort of banoffee style dessert. I spread the caramel on top of the biscuit base, topped this off with slices of banana and then poured over the yoghurty topping which I’d flavoured with lots of mashed banana and a little cinnamon and finally a few more blobs of caramel.

The Greek yoghurt behaved well in the mixing of the dessert and I put it into the oven with hopes that it would bake and set, although I admit I was a little doubtful it wouldn’t collapse and try and seep out the tin or just remain liquid. However, I needn’t have worried as it baked perfectly. I took it out when it was lightly golden and puffy around the edges and still retained a gentle wobble in the centre. It levelled off into a perfectly smooth surface as it cooled. I loved how the extra little blobs of caramel were peeping out here and there, I could hardly wait for its overnight chill in the fridge before tasting it.

I can safely say the taste was worth the wait. It cut into perfect creamy slices and had a wonderful texture, creamy and thick as with all cheesecakes, but someone lighter. The biscuit base had remained firm and crunchy thanks to its covering of caramel and the slices of banana added a nice texture contrast to the mashed banana in the filling and the crisp base. There was a slight hint of cinnamon which complemented the other flavours wonderfully without being obviously cinnamony. Delicious.

I hadn’t told my family what I was doing and after serving them all slices and watching them gobble it up they couldn’t believe it when I told them there was no cream cheese involved. Its taste is so indulgent and satisfying that you would never guess it was made with Greek yoghurt. Even using the full fat Greek yoghurt there is only 130kcal and 10g fat per 100g compared to the cream cheese which has 240kcal and 23g fat per 100g – that’s nearly double the calories and nearly 2.5 times more fat compared to the yoghurt!! So next time you fancy a rich and creamy indulgent cheesecake why not try reaching for the Greek yoghurt instead of the cream cheese? I know I’ve been converted!

Banana & Caramel Cheeseless Yoghurt Cheesecake
(An Apple & Spice recipe creation)

Ingredients
190g digestive biscuits
75g butter
500g full fat Greek yoghurt (I used Total)
50g caster sugar
2 eggs
2 tbsp cornflour
50ml double cream
1 tsp cinnamon
3 bananas
½ tin (180g) dulce de leche caramel

Method
Preheat the oven to 180C. Have a 7inch/18cm deep springform tin to hand.
Crush the digestive biscuits until they resemble fine breadcrumbs. Melt the butter and stir in the crushed biscuits and mix until they are well coated. Press the mixture into the base of the tin and place in the fridge to chill for 10 minutes.
Meanwhile, cut two of the bananas into 5mm thick slices and warm the dulce de leche slightly in the microwave to make it more spreadable – it does not need to be hot or runny.
Remove the base from the fridge and spread over the dulce de leche. Cover with a layer of sliced bananas and return to the fridge while you prepare the topping.
Mix the sugar and cornflour together and place into a large bowl. Add the yoghurt and cream and beat until combined.
Mash the remaining banana and any leftover banana slices until very mushy. Add to the yoghurt mix along with the cinnamon and eggs. Beat well until everything is well combined – it won’t go completely smooth because of the banana.
Pour the yoghurt banana mixture over the top of the chilled base. Blob a few spoonfuls of the dulce de leche on top and swirl into the mix.
Place the tin on a baking tray and bake for 50-55 minutes. The cheesecake will have puffed up and turned lightly golden around the edges. It should still have a little wobbly in the centre when gently shaken, but not actually be liquid.
Allow to cool completely in the tin before refrigerating for at least 4 hours or preferably overnight before serving.
To serve, run a sharp knife around the edge of the tin and release from the ring.
Serves 8-10

Cinnamon Choc Chip Yoghurt Scones

These are delicious scones and so easy to make. They make use of Greek yoghurt in place of buttermilk and eggs and result in a lovely soft and tender scones. I decided to flavour them with some dark chocolate chips and cinnamon which is a combination I love – well I love anything with cinnamon as I’m sure you know but dark chocolate works particularly well with cinnamon.

I often cut my scones into rounds, probably because this is the most traditional way and recognised shape for a scone, but as I was jazzing up the scones I chose to jazz up the shape too and cut them into triangles.

As I was glazing them with a little milk I hit upon the idea of sprinkling the tops with cinnamon sugar, which gave them a wonderful thin cinnamon sugar crust, which added a slight crunch and a good burst of sweet cinnamon flavour to the finished scones.

The scones are baked in a very hot oven, hotter than I would normally consider but I’m sure this helped the scones be extra light and tender as they puffed up and browned quickly, without being in long enough to dry out the middles – and nobody likes dried out scones. Look at all the fluffy layers and little air bubbles.

These were delicious when eaten warm from the oven, I ate my first one plain, enjoying the taste of the still molten chocolate chips, and then had another one later on with Nutella. If you are not going to eat them all within 12 hours, I would suggest freezing them and then perking them up again in the oven as scones are best eaten fresh. They make a tasty and relatively healthy breakfast too!

Cinnamon Choc Chip Yoghurt Scones
(An Apple & Spice recipe creation)

Ingredients
450g plain flour
25g caster sugar
1½ tsp baking powder
50g cold butter
150g 2% fat Greek yoghurt (I used Total)
125-150ml milk
50g dark chocolate chips
½ tsp ground cinnamon

Cinnamon Topping
20g caster sugar
½ tsp ground cinnamon
Milk to glaze

Method
Preheat the oven to 250C (yes it sounds hot!) and have a baking tray to hand.
Place the flour, sugar, baking powder and cinnamon into a large bowl. Cut the butter into cubes and rub it into the flour mixture using the tips of your fingers. Lift your fingers up above the bowl as you rub in the butter, letting the crumbs fall back into the bowl. Continue until all the butter has been evenly distributed and some small crumbly clumps have formed.
Add the chocolate chips, yoghurt and half the milk. Use a round bladed knife to mix everything together until it stars to form a dough. Add a little more milk as necessary, then bring the mixture together using your hands. You want a soft but not too sticky dough. Don’t knead it like dough though as this makes it tough.
Turn the scone mixture out onto a lightly floured work surface and pat or gently roll it out into a large circle, about 1inch/2.5cm thick.
Cut the dough into 8-12 triangles – depending on how big you want your scones.
Brush the tops with a little milk to glaze and help the cinnamon sugar stick to them.
Mix the sugar and cinnamon for the topping together and then scatter it over the top of the milk brushed scones.
Transfer the scones to a baking tray and bake for 8-10 minutes. (8 for smaller scones, 10 for larger ones)
Once baked, transfer to a wire rack to cool slightly and eat while still warm.
Delicious served with honey or Nutella or just some good butter.
Makes 8-12 scones

TOTAL Overload of Greek Yoghurt

I love yoghurt, it’s probably my main source of dairy intake. I eat it almost every day – on my cereal, with fruit and served with desserts instead of cream. So, when I was asked if I would like to try some free samples of TOTAL Greek Yoghurt I was more than happy to accept. I was expecting 1 or 2 pots to turn up and so it was a great surprise to open the door a few days later and be presented with two bulging bags full of yoghurts, I couldn’t believe it.

The yoghurts are all Greek yoghurts but they are available in different levels of fat content – normal/full fat, 2% fat and 0% fat. They come in either 500g tubs or 170-200g individual pots and I had been sent two pots of each variety - talk about generous! There were also some nifty little honey and yoghurt combo snack pots which I thought were a great idea as Greek yoghurt drizzled with a little honey is a lovely combination.

After my excitement and some military style fridge rearrangement, I started off with a simple tasting of each of the different varieties to compare flavours and textures between the full fat, 2% and 0% fat varieties.

Full Fat – Very thick and creamy in appearance with a set texture. It held its shape well on the spoon and had the lusciously thick texture of clotted cream. When tasting, it was thick and dense and coated your tongue. The initial taste was slightly sharp and sour but this quickly turned to a very clean and fresh milky taste. It had a very good creamy aftertaste which lasted a long time. Very indulgent.

2% Fat – Quite thick and creamy in appearance, but slightly looser/wetter texture. It held its shape well but a little liquid gathered on the spoon. It had a lighter texture in the mouth, still creamy but it dissolved pleasantly on the tongue. Less sour than the full fat version, with a very fresh milky flavour. A creamy aftertaste although less sensation left in the mouth.

0% Fat – Wetter and softer in appearance, although it still held its shape on the spoon. A little liquid gathered on the spoon, although no more than the 2% variety. It had a very light and creamy texture, similar to fromage frais. There was no sour taste but it was still very fresh and milky. It didn’t really coat the tongue but still left a milky clean aftertaste. Soft in texture, almost whipped. Would be good for stirring into cereals.

After the enjoyment of tasting, I began to get worried about what I could do with so much yoghurt. I soon decided to do what I always do whenever I have an excess of something – to cook with it. TOTAL had also sent me a little selection of recipes and I decided to try one of theirs and then create some of my own.

Whenever I’m not eating cereal for breakfast, I often have porridge and so the recipe for porridge made with yoghurt instead of milk caught my eye and was the first recipe I decided to try.

You make the porridge using water instead of milk and cook it in the same way. Then, towards the end you stir in 1-2tbsp of the yoghurt of your choice, heat again briefly and serve. I would never have thought of doing this, but it turned out to be delicious and produced such a creamy flavour and texture that it made standard porridge seem very indulgent. I used the 2% fat variety and if I hadn’t made it myself I would have thought it had been made with cream, it was great to know it was so healthy. There was a slightly sticky texture to the oats, which I assume comes from heating the yoghurt, but I like my porridge quite thick so this suited me. It didn’t taste yoghurty at all, just milky and creamy. I topped it with a handful of blackcurrants that I had heated briefly to make them release their juices and it made for a very tasty breakfast. I’ve made this again on several mornings this week and it works well with all sorts of toppings.

Next I decided to experiment with the yoghurts in baking. I was thinking of possibly trying to make some kind of soda bread, but as I was flicking through a recipe book I came to a section on scones and settled on those instead. I started off with a plain scone recipe and then adapted it to suit the qualities of the 2% fat yoghurt as well as adding some of my favourite flavours. I ended up with these Cinnamon Choc Chip Greek Yoghurt Scones which were so light and tender – delicious. (Recipe to follow)

Finally I decided to make a dessert using TOTAL’s full fat Greek yoghurt variety. Its texture was so thick and creamy that I had even been spreading it on bread like cream cheese and it got me wondering whether it would be possible to use it in a recipe like cream cheese too. It was a bit of a gamble as I wasn’t sure it would work, but if this cheesecake is anything to go by then I can safely say – ‘yes it can!’ Here we have a Caramel Banana Cheese-less Greek Yoghurt Cheesecake!! The taste and texture of normal cheesecake only with a lot less fat – it was gorgeous. (Recipe to follow)

I had such a lot of fun tasting and experimenting with all the yoghurt – thank you TOTAL for being so generous and for enabling me to explore the greater uses of Greek Yoghurt.

Soft & Chewy Sourdough Pretzels

Recently I have been hankering after pretzels. I don’t mean those small dried crispy kind, but the big, doughy, wonderfully chewy kind. The only problem is that they don’t seem to exist in the UK (apart from maybe in London which isn’t exactly nearby). I’ve only ever had two, what I consider, genuine pretzels – once in Germany on a school exchange trip and one last year in Chicago. They were so good and I’ve been longing to taste one again but although I’ve searched, I’ve never found one. On reflection though this could be a good thing as mass produced pretzels in the UK would probably result in some horrible dry cardboard tasting pretzel shaped bread – sort of like our bagels. A dense piece of bread with a hole it in, that has to be toasted to be edible, isn’t a proper bagel people – unless you’ve tasted freshly made genuine bagels you don’t understand the pure joy of a true bagel – again I have America envy. Ok, enough about bagels (but grrr it does annoy me) anyway back to pretzels. Unable to get my pretzel fix I decided the only option left was to make them myself.

I spent an interesting few hours sifting through many pretzel recipes online and finally settled on one by Alton Brown which had good reviews. Of course me being me I decided to adjust the recipe slightly to make use of my sourdough starter which I started a few months back.

The dough came together well and was quite sticky before its prebaking swim in a pot of boiling water. This is the same technique used for bagels; it tightens the gluten in the flour and results in a wonderfully chewy texture and glossy appearance.

Some of my pretzels came out a little misshaped but this made each one unique and obviously homemade which I loved. Once baked I took a bite and was rewarded with the taste and texture I had been hankering after for so long. A crisp golden surface and a soft, chewy interior with little hits of saltiness from the sea salt on top. Heaven!

I ate my first one dipping it in mustard – a tip I was shown in Chicago and then another one split in half and filled with a little cheese for lunch. The only problem is I was so excited about how they tasted like ‘real’ pretzels that I made my family taste them too and now there’s none left! Better go make some more…

Soft & Chewy Sourdough Pretzels
(Modified from pretzel recipe by Alton Brown)

Pretzels*
200g sourdough starter
250ml warm water
475g strong white bread flour
1 tbsp caster sugar
2 tsp salt
50g unsalted butter

Pre-baking liquid
2.5 litres water
1 tbsp bicarbonate of soda

To glaze
1 egg yolk
1 tbsp water
Coarse sea salt

*If you want to make non sourdough pretzels then add an extra 100ml water, 100g flour and 7g dried yeast.

Method
Combine the water, sugar, flour, sourdough starter and salt in a large bowl. Melt the butter and drizzle this over the top.
Use a wooden spoon or spatula to start to bring everything together but then switch to your hands when it gets thicker. Mix the dough well, kneading it as well as you can until it begins to form a dough. Turn the dough out onto a work surface and knead for 5-8 minutes until the dough becomes smooth and tacky to the touch rather than wet and sticky.
Lightly oil a large bowl and place the dough inside. Cover with clingfilm and leave to rise in a warm place until doubled in size. This will take about 1 – 1½ hours.
Preheat the oven to 230C. Line 2 baking trays with greaseproof paper and set aside. Bring the 2.5 litres of water and the bicarbonate of soda to a rolling boil in large saucepan.
Meanwhile, turn the dough out onto a slightly oiled work surface and divide into 8 equal pieces. Roll out each piece of dough into a long rope, about 2 foot long/60cm. Make an upside down U-shape with the rope, holding each end in your hands. Cross the ends over each other twice, holding them above the bottom of the U. Then take the ends and press them into the base of the U to form a pretzel shape. Place them on the baking tray while you shape them all.

Lift each pretzel and place it gently, but quickly, into the pan of boiling water. Only do one at a time. It will sink to the bottom of the pan but after 30 seconds it should rise up and float to the top. Lift out using a large spatula and repeat with the rest of the pretzels. (This is what makes them lovely and chewy. They should be a little firmer and slightly glossy in appearance).
Beat the egg yolk and water together and brush over the tops of each pretzel. Sprinkle with a little sea salt.
Bake for 12-15 minutes until a rich golden brown colour.
Once baked, transfer to a wire rack to cool slightly before enjoying warm – either on their own, dipped in mustard or split in half and filled.
Makes 8 large chewy pretzels

Note: Click here to see a video on how to shape pretzels. Here they’re making cookies, but technique applies to dough pretzels too.