Strawberry Scones

My lovely grandma came to visit me on Saturday, to see my new flat and for a bit of retail therapy in Leeds city centre. We had great fun browsing the shops and peering through the windows the designer shops. We had a wonderful lunch at Yo Sushi, a sushi bar that is inside Harvey Nichols (Veg sushi for me). Neither of us had had sushi before and enjoyed the whole experience. You sit on tall stalls around a conveyor belt that has little portions of sushi or marinated vegetables on colour coded plates that float past you. You simply pick what you fancy off the conveyor belt and at the end they work out what you owe based on the colour and number of dishes you have. We both had green tea to drink and shared some vegetable dishes which included soybeans and marinated aubergine which was particularly flavoursome. Then I had a little seaweed roll that had rice and red pepper inside and another one with omelette and avocado. Really tasty, I have never had the proper nori seaweed sheets before and really enjoyed the new texture and flavour. My grandma had some salmon sushi and a spicy prawn salad. We also both enjoyed the preserved ginger it comes with. It added a great boost of flavour. I think you are only meant to eat it with the fish dishes, but I liked it on my red pepper sushi too.

Anyway, I’m getting side tracked. After our shopping spree we headed back to my flat where we had afternoon tea and these scones which I had baked earlier that morning. They were lovely and light and the addition of the dried strawberries made a nice summery change to the usual raisins and really enhanced the flavour of the strawberry jam (homemade) they were served with and made them that little bit more special. Serve them with clotted cream for a really indulgent treat, although we made do with lightly whipped cream. Many thanks to Gigi from Gigi Cakes who gave me the idea of making scones with the dried strawberries.

Strawberry Scones
Recipe adapted from BBC Good Food Magazine
Ingredients
225g plain flour
2 tsp level baking powder
30g caster sugar
55g butter
50g dried strawberries (or other dried fruit of your choice)
2 tbsp natural yoghurt
120ml milk

Method
Heat the oven to 200C.
Cut the dried strawberries into raisin sized pieces using a pair of scissors and set to one side for later.
Add the flour, baking powder and caster sugar into a large bowl. Chop the butter into cubes, and rub into the flour using the tips of your fingers. Be gentle and lift the flour/butter mixture up and let it fall back into the bowl as you rub it between your fingers.
When the mixture resembles breadcrumbs, add the dried strawberries and mix briely so they become coated in flour.
Add the yoghurt and a little of the milk. Work the liquid into the flour mixture using the tips of your fingers in a claw formation. Add more milk until you have a smooth, slightly sticky dough.
Turn the mix out onto a floured work surface and form into a ball.
Roll the dough out until it is 2cm thick and then stamp out scones using a 5cm cutter. Do not twist the cutter or your scones will rise unevenly.
Place onto a dry baking tray, brush the tops with milk.
Bake for 12-15 minutes until risen and golden brown on top.
Remove from the oven and transfer to a wire wrack to cool. They are delicious eaten still warm and best eaten on the day they were made or within 24hrs.
Serve with strawberry jam and clotted cream for an indulgent afternoon tea.
Makes 6 scones and one small misshape as a cooks perk.

Two Summer Strawberry Recipes

Last week we needed around 8 punnets of strawberries for a kitchen trial but due to a bit of a communication mix up we ended up with two lots of 8 punnets, meaning we had plenty left over and I got to bring 4 x 400g punnets home with me on Friday. What a hardship working can be.

I happily munched my way through a few of them but knew I definitely had to make something with them too. I decided upon strawberry jam and strawberry ice cream. I delegated 1 punnet plus 100g to the ice cream and the rest to the jam.

Sunny Strawberry Jam

This produced a really flavoursome, summery and vibrantly red strawberry jam. In order for jam to ‘set’ it requires pectin which occurs naturally in fruits with certain fruits containing more than others. Strawberries contain very little pectin and so the addition of the lemon juice is essential to help the jam ‘set’ as it is an excellent source of pectin. It also helps to lift the flavour of jam but without imparting any obvious lemony flavour. Special preserving sugar containing pectin or pectin substitutes can also be used.

The jam also contains some lovely great chunks of strawberry that really gave an extra texture and flavour boost upon eating. It’s also not too sweet, containing less sugar than some other recipes, which I like, but feel free to add more to your taste. I tried this spread onto a freshly baked crusty white bread roll and it was heavenly, a real taste of summer. It would also be wonderful spread on freshly baked scones with cream for afternoon tea, spread on your morning toast, used as a filling for cakes and biscuits or baked into jam tarts. The choice is yours. Either way, the end result I feel is far superior to anything you can buy from the supermarket and you have the added option of adding your own flavour additions to the jam during production. E.g. vanilla, mint, black pepper, chocolate or anything else that takes your fancy.

Ingredients
1.1kg strawberries
4 tbsp water
400g golden granulated sugar
1 lemon

Method
Place three 425ml jam jars and their lids into the oven the turn on to 100C to sterilise the jars.
Twist the leafy tops off the strawberries and make sure any remaining green stalk is removed.
Place the strawberries into a large sauce pan along with the juice from the lemon and 4 tbsp water, or enough to just over the base of the pan to prevent the strawberries from initially burning.
Turn onto quite a high heat and allow to simmer and boil until the strawberries have begun to release a lot of their juice and turn mushy.
Using a potato masher, gently squash and brake up the particularly large strawberries. Don’t turn it into a puree though, you still want some nice chunks left.
Then add the sugar and stir until dissolved.
Place a clean saucer into the fridge to go cold.
Bring the mixture to the boil and allow to reduce and thicken slightly, stirring occasionally to prevent the mixture from sticking to the base of the pan.
Remove the cold saucer from the fridge and drizzle on a small pool of the jam mixture and return to the fridge for 1-2 minutes.
Remove the saucer from the fridge again and using your index finger push the little puddle of jam away from you. If the surface ripples then the jam is ready. If not, then continue to boil for a little longer before repeating the test. The more obvious the ripple effect, the firmer or more ‘set’ your jam will be. I like my jar still fairly soft and so I removed it from the heat after the first few ripples appeared.
Remove the jars from the oven and carefully divide the jam mixture between them (It will be extremely hot). I find a small ladle works best for this. Make sure they are well filled.
Then using oven or rubber gloves, tightly screw on the lids and leave the jars to cool before storing in a cool place until opened. Once opened they should then be stored in the fridge.
Makes 3 large jars.

Strawberry Ice cream
This ice cream is very light and summery. The large quantity of pureed strawberries not only add a strong strawberry flavour but also turn the ice cream a wonderful shade of deep pink. It also contains some chopped strawberries that are added at the last minutes producing little jewels of fresh strawberry flecked throughout the ice cream. If using bought fresh custard then the whole ice cream can be prepared and ready to eat in under an hour. The honey adds a nice subtle sweetness and helps keep the ice cream slightly softer upon freezing.

Ingredients
400g strawberries
100g extra strawberries
1 tbsp runny honey
500ml fresh custard – bought or home made.

Method
Either make or buy 500ml of fresh custard and chill until thoroughly cold in the fridge.
Remove the green leafy tops from all the strawberries and puree 400g’s worth using a hand blender or food processor.
Stir the strawberry puree and honey into the custard, it will turn a wonderful shade of pink, and chill again until ready to use.
Prepare your ice cream machine as per manufacturer’s instructions, pour in the ice cream mix and churn until starting to go thick and creamy.
Meanwhile finely chop the remaining 100g of strawberries.
When the ice cream is thickened add the chopped strawberries and along to mix in thoroughly.
Transfer the ice cream to a freezer proof container and freeze until required.
If the ice cream if left in the freezer for more than a few hours, remember to remove from the freezer and allowing to soften for around 20-30minutes before serving.
Makes 1 litre ice cream.

Fruit, Fruit and More Fruit

One of the bonuses of working in factory that means you have to experiment with different ingredients and recipes is that we often have a lot of excess fruit left over from the weekly trials when it comes to Friday. We clear out the ridges and divide any produce that won’t last the weekend between us. Last weekend I came home with two punnets of strawberries, a whole peeled pineapple, two mangoes and four fruit salads. Yummy yummy.

Another advantage is that we sometimes get companies sending us free samples of their produce or products in the hope of getting business with us. Last week we had a huge box of assorted dried fruit delivered to us. We don’t use dried fruit in our products all that often and so we didn’t have a need to keep the fruit. Instead we all had a little taster of it and then divided it up between us.

My haul included dried mango, strawberries, blueberries, pineapple and banana slices. I also ended up with the dried figs and prunes as my two other colleagues said they didn’t like these. I think they’re mad – but all the better for me. I have never seen dried strawberries before. They are still quite squishy and I don’t really know what to do with them. I’m sure they would be nice just to eat as they are, but I was wandering if there was anything I could cook/bake with them. If anyone has any ideas I’m open to suggestions. I plan use the blueberries in cookies and add the some of the others to my cereal. The pineapple is lovely the chewy with a great flavour and I think the banana slices would be great in muffins.

I bet there will come a day when I will be sick to death of fruit but, but I’m not there yet. Hope there is some nice fruit for the taking this weekend.

Orange, Cranberry & Ginger Oaties

This is the recipe I made a few weeks back, with just a few alterations to give a different twist. I baked these to post off to my dad for Fathers Day. I wanted a biscuit that would travel well and not turn up as crumbs. I thought these thick, soft cookies would fit the bill perfectly, plus they are more ‘manly’ looking than some other types of biscuit.

Orange and cranberry is a classic combination and I decided to add some ground ginger to give an extra depth of flavour. When they were baking they gave off the most wonderful spiced fruity aroma that reminded me very strongly of Christmas. Not really appropriate for this time of year but lovely nonetheless. The smell permeated through the whole house and greeted me hours later, when I opened the front door, after going into town.

They turn a lovely golden colour and are light and fairy soft in texture, with a slight chew similar to flapjacks. Crisp and slightly crumbly on the outside with little pockets of sweet cranberries. The orange complements them and the ginger adds an extra warming flavour and ties everything together.

They are so quick and easy to make and I’m sure there are endless variations that would produce yummy cookies. The others that come to mind are dark chocolate and hazelnut, apricot and almond or lemon and blueberry. Basically whatever combination takes your fancy.

Orange, Cranberry & Ginger Oaties

Ingredients
150g butter
100g light soft brown sugar
100g caster sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
170g porridge oats
160g plain flour
1 tsp baking powder
50g dried cranberries
Grated rind of 1 orange
1 tsp ground ginger

Method
Preheat oven to 190C and get two baking trays ready but leave them un-greased.
Cream the butter together with both the sugars until light and fluffy.
Add the egg and vanilla and beat until well combined.
Add the oats, flour, baking powder, ground ginger and grated rind of the orange into the bowl and beat together until all incorporated.
Fold in the cranberries.
Using an old fashioned ice cream scoop, or just a tablespoon, dollop level spoonfuls onto the baking trays, leaving around 4cm / 1.5inch gap between each one.
Gently press the tops down to form thick level discs.
Bake in the oven for 12-15 minutes until golden brown.
Transfer to a rack immediately with the help of a palette knife.
Allow to cool before storing in an airtight container.
Makes 16 cookies

I’m Back – Hooray!

It took a little longer than anticipated to get the internet up and running in my flat as BT were insisting they had to come and inspect the line before connecting me. Then the times they kept proposing to come and visit were in the middle of the day, during the week, when I was at work! Still all sorted now.

I absolutely love my job, it’s perfect for me being a fruit loving vegetarian. I have never eaten such a wide range and quantity of fresh fruit on a daily basis. The day feels quite long and my bus has broken down on me three times already but the work is so interesting, varied and ‘hands on’ that it more than makes up for it. Thank you to everyone who has sent me good luck wishes.

Anyway, I have a small backlog of recipes which I need to post about and seeing as today has been a lovely hot sunny day I thought I would start with a very summery recipe for individual baked strawberry sundaes. I made these to use up some madelines that had gone rather stale, but I have also made them in the past with thinly sliced scones, which are lovely.

I cheated slightly by using bought fresh custard, but in my defense you can buy some very good quality fresh custards these days. I decided to bake the strawberries rather than stewing them as I though this would give them more of an intense flavour and help to retain some of their shape. The baked strawberries looked and smelt good enough to eat just as they were; I bet they would be great spooned over some yoghurt or porridge.

The overall dessert was very tasty, with the sweet, summery strawberries and the thick, creamy custard with little layers of softened sponge in-between. They look quite impressive and take only minutes to assemble. They also happily sit in the fridge for two days without any ill effects. For extra indulgence add layers of lightly whipped cream on top of the custard.

Individual Baked Strawberry Sundaes
Ingredients
500g strawberries
300ml fresh custard
6 madelines or 3 plain scones

Method
Heat the oven to 190C.
Remove the stalk from the strawberries and place into a baking dish in a single layer. Reserve a few smaller strawberries for decoration.
Cut any particularly large strawberries in half but leave the rest whole.
Bake for 15 minutes, give them a stir and return to the oven for a further 10 minutes until softened and the juices given off have turned thick and syrupy.
Leave to cool.
When ready to assemble, slice the madelines or scones into 5mm thick pieces.
Using a pastry cutter, cut out discs the same diameter as your chosen glasses.
Place a scone/cake disc in the base of each glass and top with 2 tbsp of cooled strawberries, making sure to add plenty of the syrup to soak into the cake.
Top the strawberries with 2 tbsp of custard before adding another cake disc and repeating until all the strawberries have been used up.
End with a layer of custard and top with a whole reserved strawberry.
Cover and leave in the fridge for a minimum of two hours, to allow the cake to absorb all the strawberry juices and go soft.
Eat and enjoy.

Makes 3

Big Bunch of Bananas, Banana Choc Chip Cake

This last week I have been attempting to eat the entire contents of my freezer. I finish university today and will be leaving my accommodation tomorrow and moving up to Leeds where I will start a year long work placement as part of my course. I was aware that I had a few frozen bananas lurking in the freezer from when I picked up a bag of around 20 small very overripe bananas for a few pence. I thought I had eaten my way through most of them but after a short rummage I had unearthed nine bananas. Nine!

I couldn’t bear to throw them away and so I decided to make my favourite recipe for banana choc chip cake, and throwing caution to the wind, I decided to use all the bananas and to reduce the oil and butter content to compensate for the extra moistness. I also reduced the sugar as I thought the bananas would add a lot of natural sweetness themselves.

The batter turned out well and I eagerly placed the cake in the oven. The aroma as it baked was unbelievable. Really intensely bananary (hardly surprising really). Once baked I waited impatiently for it to cool down before slicing into it. The cake was incredibly soft, light and fluffy with a good scattering of dark chocolate chips. The flavour of the bananas is really intense and makes the cake very moist. The mixed spice really helps to bring out the flavour and adds a subtle spicy overtone. It’s not too sweet as biting into the occasional bitter dark chocolate morsel helps to balance it out. If you like bananas, this is the cake for you.

Bountiful Banana Choc Chip Cake
Ingredients
9 small or 4 – 5 large overripe bananas
50g softened butter
125g soft brown sugar
80g dark chocolate
300g self raising flour
½ tsp baking powder
1 tsp mixed spice
2 eggs
70ml vegetable oil

Method
Preheat the oven to 180C. Butter and line a deep 8inch square tin with baking paper.
Peel the bananas, place into a bowl and mash with a fork until very soft and mushy.
Put the butter and sugar into a separate mixing bowl and cream them together until light and fluffy.
Chop the chocolate into small chunks and beat into the butter and sugar mixture along with the banana mush.
Sift in the flour, mixed spice and baking powder.
Gently work the flour into the mix using a spatula, it will become quick thick.
Finally stir in the oil until well incorporated.
Pour the cake mixture into the tin and bake for 45-50 minutes until well-risen and golden brown.
The middle should spring back when pressed and a skewer should come out clean, when inserted into the thickest part of the cake.
Leave to cool in the tin for 15 minutes before turning out on to a wire rack to cool completely.

Immediately after baking the cake can be a little greasy but it seems to become reincorporated into the cake after a few hours.

I love this cake eaten just as it is. It’s so full of flavour that I don’t think it needs an icing. However, for a really indulgent treat its great gently heated and served with custard or even chocolate or caramel sauce. Replacing the chocolate with pecans or walnuts also works well.

Substantial Cinnamon Oat Raisin Cookies

I was in a baking mood and fished out a recipe for oat raisin cookies that I had been meaning to try for simply ages. The recipe was originally Phoebe’s Fabulous Oatmeal Cookies from the Friends Recipe Book which I adapted to suit my own tastes. I reduced the butter and sugar content from the original, which seemed a little steep for my liking. I also decided to add a tsp of cinnamon to the mix to add an extra dimension. I used an old fashioned ice cream scoop to portion out the cookies and I was able to fit nine cookies on each baking tray.

The batter was fairly sturdy, meaning they didn’t spread out too much during cooking. They stayed lovely and thick, unlike a lot of cookies I make, which usually spread out into thinner cookies. I really liked the fact these stayed so substantial. I was expecting them to be dense and sticky, a bit like flapjacks but I was pleasantly surprised at how light the texture was. Crisp and slightly crumbly on the outside with little pockets of chewy raisins and texture from the oats. The vanilla and cinnamon complimented each other wonderfully and the whole cookie was a joy to eat. They have a slightly craggily surface, with the raisins peeping through, giving them a very wholesome appearance. Utterly moorish, these are definitely on the ‘keepers’ list.

Substantial Cinnamon Oat Raisin Cookies
Ingredients
150g butter
120g light soft brown sugar
100g caster sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
170g porridge oats
160g plain flour
¾ tsp baking powder
¾ tsp baking soda
200g raisins
1 tsp cinnamon

Method
Preheat oven to 190C and get two baking trays ready but leave them un-greased.
Cream the butter together with both the sugars until light and fluffy.
Add the egg and vanilla and beat until well combined.
Add the oats, flour, baking soda, baking powder and cinnamon into the bowl and beat together until all incorporated.
Fold in the raisins.
Using an old fashioned ice cream scoop, dollop level spoonfuls onto the baking trays. (I’m sure a tablespoon would work just as well)
Gently press the tops down to form thick level discs.
Bake in the oven for 12-15 minutes until golden brown.
Cool on sheet for only 1 minute before transferring to a rack with the help of a palette knife. Repeat with any leftover dough.
Allow to cool before storing in an airtight container.
Makes 21 cookies

Lemon Buns Take Two

For a while I have had the thought of sticky lemon swirls formulating in my mind, a lighter version of cinnamon swirl buns. I loved the soft, light, workable dough I used to make the Light Lemon Fruit Buns a while ago, and so I decided to use it as the base to create these lemon swirl buns.

They are really simple and fun to make. It involves rolling out the dough and slathering over a layer of zingy lemon curd before rolling them up and cutting into buns. The dough stayed very soft and moist and they were finger licking sticky thanks to the lemon curd which oozed out slightly during cutting and baking.

These are great for a mid morning snack or afternoon tea. Pull off a swirl, nibble around the edge towards the gooey centre, before licking the sweet lemony stickiness off your finger – bliss. Feel free to drizzle them with some lemon icing for extra indulgence.

Sticky Lemon Swirls
Ingredients
350g plain flour
50g caster sugar
¼ tsp salt
25g fresh yeast
50g butter
200ml milk
1 egg
Zest of ½ lemon
1/3 jar (110g) lemon curd

Method
Grease a 20cm x 30cm, high sided baking tin. Line it with greaseproof paper and leave two strips overhanging the edges to aid removal after cooking.
Combine flour, sugar, salt, yeast and lemon zest in a large bowl.
Cut the butter into small pieces and add to a jug along with the milk and heat gently until warm but not to hot. (It shouldn’t get hotter than body temperature).
Whisk the egg into the milk and pour over the flour.
Using your fingers bring everything together and then kneed with a dough hook or by hand, for 5 minutes until soft and stretchy.
Transfer to a greased bowl, cover with cling film and leave to prove for 25 minutes.
Knock back the risen dough on a lightly floured surface. Roll it out into a long rectangle and around 5mm thick.
Spread the lemon curd over the surface of the dough. Roll up the dough as tightly as possible, starting at the longest edge until you have a long sausage shape.
Cut the dough into 1 inch (2.5cm) pieces, the lemon curd may ooze slightly, but don’t worry.
Place them into the tin, cut/swirl side up. Leave around 1cm gap between each piece to allow them to rise.
Leave to prove for a further 20-30 minutes until doubled in size.
Meanwhile preheat the oven to 230C.
Place the swirls into the oven and bake for 18-20 minutes until golden brown and springy when pressed.
Allow to cool for 10 minutes before removing the entire lot to a cooling wrack, still attached to the greaseproof paper. Dust with icing sugar.
Allow to cool before storing in an airtight container for around 3 days. Leave them attached to the greaseproof paper, as this will help keep them, moist.

Sunshine Smoothie

This smoothie is a wonderfully bright and vibrant shade of yellow. I made it in order to contribute to the event hosted by Barbara from Winoes and Foodies called ‘A Taste of Yellow.’ I’ve left it rather late, I hope I can still contribute.
It is designed to bring attention to LIVESTRONG Day in the US, which is organized by Lance Armstrong Foundation and helps to raise awareness of people living with cancer and cancer survivorship.

The aim of ‘A Taste of Yellow’ was to make a dish containing some type of yellow food. I decided to create this smoothie which contains three types of yellow fruit. It turned out a very sunny, cheerful colour with a very tropical taste.

Mango, Pineapple and Peach Smoothie
Ingredients
1 mango
½ pineapple
2 peaches

Method
Peel the pineapple and remove any of the ‘eyes’ from around the sides. Slices into cubes and place into a blender.
Remove the skin and pip from the peaches and slices into similar chunks. Add to the pineapple and blitz until you get a puree.
Peel the mango and remove the flesh from the stone. Slice into chunks and add to the puree and blitz everything together until smooth.
Makes 1 litre smoothie

I pureed the pineapple and peaches first as the mango was quite fibrous and I wanted to first create some liquid to help it blend together smoothly.

Update: The roundup of everyones posts can be found here. Barbara recieved an amazing 148 enteries.

Tea with Bread and Jam

The day started out cold and miserable and so I decided to stay indoors and bake some bread. I found a recipe for Baguettes on ‘Anne’s Food’ another blog I regularly read. Having never attempted them before I decided to give it a shot. The original can be viewed here. She does state that the dough will be “very soft” but I’m not sure what I did wrong but my dough ended up so soft that it actually started to flow across the countertop after I turned it out after proving. I hastily scattered it with lots of extra flour and managed to work it into a more stable dough. Apart from this minor hitch the recipe was very simple to follow and produced a wonderful tasting, light dough with a crisp golden crust.

The overall taste and texture of the bread reminded me more of Ciabatta than a Baguette, not that that’s a bad thing. I will defiantly be making these again. If you want to eat this bread by the afternoon you will need to start preparing it early in the morning as it needs quite a long proving time.

Ciabatta Style Baguettes
(Adapted from ‘Anne’s Food’ blog)

Ingredients
600ml warmed water
800 - 850g strong plain flour
30g fresh yeast
1 tsp salt
Extra flour for dusting

Method
Place the flour in a very large mixing bowl and gradually incorporate the water, whilst mixing together using an electric beater and a dough hook.
Add the salt and mix for around 3 minutes until you have a smooth, soft dough.
Crumble over the yeast and mix for a further 3-5 minutes. The dough should become very soft and stretchy.
Cover the bowl with cling film and leave to rise for 3-4 hours.
Line two baking trays with baking paper and lightly dust with flour.
When the dough has doubled in size, tip the batter out onto a very, very well floured surface and divide into two. (The dough will still be extremely soft).
Working quickly shape each half into a long baton shape and transfer each one onto a baking sheet.
Dust each one with a little flour and leave to prove for a further 30 minutes.
Meanwhile preheat the oven to 275C and place a cake tin full of water in the base of your oven to create a steamy environment.
Place the breads into the oven and bake for 10minutes. Then lower the oven temperature to 200C and bake for a further 20-25 minutes, until golden brown.
Allow to cool on the trays for 10 minutes before transferring to a wire wrack to cool.
Makes 2 baguettes.


Mango Jam

I bought a couple of mangos as they were ‘buy one get one free’ in my local supermarket. They looked and smelt lovely and ripe but on tasting one I was very disappointed to find it was very fiberous, with an astringent aftertaste. Rather than waiting in the hope that it would improve, I decided to turn it into jam as I find cooking poor quality fruit often improves it no end.

This jam is actually more like a fruit spread, than a jam as it doesn’t set quite as firm as a normal jam. It also doesn’t contain as much sugar, meaning it won’t keep as long but also means it’s not overly sweet and tastes very fresh and strongly of fruit which I prefer. It went wonderfully on the above bread. I should image it would also be great on toast, fruit buns, scones or as a filling for cakes.

It was very quick and easy to make and really transformed the mango, bringing out its sweet tropical flavour and fragrance. The colour is such a vivid, sunny, golden colour that makes it perfect for a summery afternoon tea.

Ingredients
1 large mango
50g caster sugar
160ml water

Method
Heat the oven to 80C and place a jam jar and lid in the oven to sterilize.
Slice and peel the mango into strips. Cut each strip of mango into very small cubes.
Place into a smallish saucepan along with the water and sugar.
Heat on high until the mixture comes to the boil then reduce the heat to a simmer.
After 10 minutes the mango should be very soft and looking bright and translucent. Mash the mango using a potato masher to achieve a thick smooth puree.
Allow to simmer for a further 5 minutes, stirring occasionally until the puree as thickened and turned jam like.
Remove the jam jar from the oven and fill with the mango jam. Quickly screw the lid on tightly (using washing up gloves to prevent burns) and allow to cool on the side before refrigerating.
Makes 1 large 370g jar

Peach, Lime and Coconut Cake

Today is my 20th birthday. That sounds so much older than saying nineteen! I am no longer a teenager. However, I’m quite pleased about this as I was never a typical teenager. I don’t consider being out until 4am and throwing up from drinking too much to be a good time which is typically the view people have of teenagers, especially university students. Hopefully I will no longer be slotted into this stereotype now that I have become 20. I must now be considered a mature and sensible young adult, at least, that’s the image I hope to portray.

Anyway, ramblings aside, I made this cake at the weekend as a sort of early birthday cake that I could share with my housemates. I picked up a very cheap bag of desiccated coconut from the shops and wanted to make a cake that incorporated it. However, having never made a coconut cake before, I spent a few hours browsing through many recipes in the search of one that appealed. In the end I had it narrowed down to two. A coconut and lime cake or a coconut and mango cake. I couldn’t decide between the two and so I decided to mix all three components together and create this tropical sounding cake. I ended up substituting the mango for peach as I had a tin of peach slices in the cupboard and decided this would be just as good.

I was a little unsure how this cake would turn out as I ended up just weighing out and adding the ingredients to sight and required consistency, without actually following a recipe. The batter was quite runny which meant it required longer cooking than a standard sponge but was very quick and easy to make as I just threw everything together in one bowl. I was very pleased with the results. It was light and very moist thanks to the addition of the syrup. When you take a bite, the first flavour is of zesty lime and then the flavour of the sweet peach emerges. As you begin to chew your teeth grind down the little coconut strands which then fill your mouth with a burst of creamy coconut.

Peach, Lime and Coconut Cake
For the cake
175g self raising flour
120g caster sugar
75g butter
75g desiccated coconut
2 eggs
1 tsp baking powder
Zest of 1 lime
Juice of half a lime
410g tin of peach slices in natural juice

For the syrup
Juice of half a lime
Juice from tin of peach slices
1 tbsp caster sugar

Method
Preheat the oven to 180C. Grease and line a deep 7 inch circular cake tin.
Open the tin of peach slices and transfer the fruit to a large mixing bowl. Keep the juice for later.
Mash the peach slices into a pulp using a potato masher.
Add the rest of the cake ingredients to the bowl and whisk everything together using an electric whisk until all incorporated.
Pour the cake batter into the tin and place in the oven for 40 minutes.
After this time, remove the cake from the oven, cover in a layer of foil and return to the oven for a further 25 minutes.
Meanwhile, pour the juice from the tin f peach slices into a small saucepan and add the juice of half a lime and the sugar.
Heat the mixture until reduced by half and thickened.
When the cake is cooked, remove from the oven and pierce the surface all over with a skewer. Drizzle over the fruit syrup (you will only need half) and leave to cool completely before removing from the tin.
Keep the rest of the fruit syrup in a plastic container in the fridge. Drizzle a little over each slice of cake just before you eat it as this gives the cake a very fresh, moist, zingy flavour even a few days later.

Light Lemon Fruit Buns

These buns are incredibly light, soft and tender thanks to the addition of the egg and milk in the dough. I wanted to make some buns that were more summery than the spiced buns I often make and so I decided to adapt a recipe for a standard milk loaf and create a more delicate bun. I added lemon zest for a fresh zesty overtone and the colourful apricots and cherries which looked very pretty dotted throughout the dough.

The buns are great eaten as they are, spread with lemon curd or jam and are also great toasted. I even know someone who likes to eat theirs with cheese and marmalade.

These buns are also my entry to this month’s BREAD edition of ‘Waiter There’s Something In My…’ as hosted by Andrew over at SpittoonExtra. You can check out the entry requirements here.

Light Lemon Fruit Buns
Ingredients
350g plain flour
50g caster sugar
¼ tsp salt
25g fresh yeast
50g butter
200ml milk
1 egg
Zest of ½ lemon
50g sultanas
45g dried apricots
45g glace cherries

Method
Combine flour, sugar, salt, yeast and lemon zest in a large bowl.
Cut the butter into small pieces and add to a jug along with the milk and heat gently until warm but not to hot. (It shouldn’t get hotter than body temperature).
Whisk the egg into the milk and pour over the flour.
Using your fingers bring everything together and then kneed with a dough hook or by hand, for 5 minutes until soft and stretchy.
Transfer to a greased bowl, cover with cling film and leave to prove for 25 minutes.
Weigh out the fruit ingredients and chop the apricots and cherries into small pieces using a pair of scissors.
Knock back the risen dough and kneed in the fruit until it is evenly distributed.
Divide the dough into nine even pieces and shape into bun shapes.
Place onto two lightly greased baking trays, loosely cover in cling film and leave to rise for a further 20 minutes.
Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 220C.
Brush the surface of the buns with a little milk and place in the oven to bake for 12 minutes. They should be risen and golden brown on top.
Remove from the oven and turn them upside down and place back in the oven for a further 3 minutes to firm up the bases.
Transfer to a cooling wrack and allow to cool before eating or storing in an airtight container.
Makes 9 lemony buns.

Update: The complete round-up of everyones enteries can be viewed here.

Super Smoothie

I had quite a few tired looking strawberries that I had bought at reduced price and a squashy mango lurking in my fridge and so I decided to make a scrummy, natural, fresh smoothie. It couldn’t be simpler, just blitz and drink.

The strawberries produced a wonderfully vibrant shade of deep red and a great flavour despite being out of season. The mango added natural sweetness and made the whole thing deliciously thick and smooth, almost creamy. I didn’t bother to sieve the seeds out of the strawberries as the smoothie was thick enough to keep them evenly distributed and I didn’t even notice them when I drank it. The flavour and texture of this smoothie was gorgeous and a perfect way to brighten up the tired looking fruit.

Strawberry and Mango Smoothie
Ingredients
450g strawberries
1 mango

Method
Core the strawberries. Peel the mango and cut the flesh away from the stone.
Place into a container and blitz with a hand blender or in a liquidizer until thick and smooth.
Drink and enjoy.
Makes 650ml of smoothie

Mothering Sunday Simnel Cake

Simnel cake is a light fruit cake that has a layer of marzipan baked into the centre and an additional layer added on top after baking. This cake is now often thought of as an Easter cake and yet it was traditionally made by girls in service to give to their mothers on Mothering Sunday as they were allowed this day off as a holiday.
I have always known a simnel cake to have 11 marzipan balls arranged around the edge which are meant to represent the 12 disciples, minus Judas who was a traitor. However, thinking about it now I suspect that this is an Easter addition and that the original Mothering Sunday simnel cake would not have had these. Nevertheless I have added them to my cake.

I decided to make this cake for Chris’s mother as she has invited me over for lunch with her family on Mothers Day. I usually also bake one for my own mother but as I am at university and away from home I am not sure how well it would survive the post, but I did send her something else instead. (Post to follow shortly)

I love this cake and often make it (minus the extra marzipan topping) throughout the year. The middle layer of marzipan adds a wonderfully moist layer to the centre of the cake and provides a great almond flavour. You can add a wide assortment of dried fruit to the cake and I see no reason why you shouldn’t experiment with adding more exotic fruits such as dried blueberries, pineapple, mango or cranberries to get a different flavour. However, the recipe below uses the more traditional fruits.

The cake is meant to be placed under a hot grill or gently blowtorched to allow the marzipan decorations to become a pretty mottled golden brown. However, my house at uni only has a very small external grill which the cake wouldn’t fit under and as I have no blowtorch the cake has had to be left natural. I am sure it will be just as tasty though.

Simnel Cake
(Recipe adapted from Mary Berry's Ultimate Cake Book)
Ingredients

175g light soft brown sugar

175g butter

175g self raising flour

3 eggs

25g ground almonds

2 tbsp milk

100g sultanas

100g glace cherries

100g dried apricots

100g extra dried fruit of your choice e.g pears, peaches, prunes, cranberries or raisins

2 tsp mixed spice

½ tsp cinnamon

250g marzipan

2 tbsp apricot jam

1 extra egg

Method

Preheat oven to 160C. Grease and line the base and sides of a deep round 20cm cake tin.

Measure out the sugar, butter, flour, ground almonds, spices, milk and eggs into a large mixing bowl.
Beat everything together using an electric whisk until you have a smooth batter.
Weigh out all of the dried fruit and chop it into small pieces using a pair of scissors.
Add to the cake batter and beat everything together again for a few seconds. Roll out about 1/3 of the marzipan until around 4-5mm thick. Using the base of the cake tin as a measure, cut out a circle using a sharp knife.
Place half of the cake mix into the cake tin and top with the disc of marzipan.

Cover with the remaining cake mix and smooth the surface, adding a little dip in the middle to compensate for the cake rising.

Bake in the oven for 1 hour before covering quickly with a layer of foil to prevent it from going too brown. Then allow to bake for a further 30-45 minutes until firm and springy when gently pressed.
Remove from the oven and allow to cool in the tin.
Once cool, remove from the tin, discard the lining and place onto a serving plate.
Roll out half of the leftover marzipan (1/3 of the original weight) and cut out another disc as before.
Heat the apricot jam in the microwave with 2tsp water until syrupy.

Brush the top of the cake with a little of the jam and top with the marzipan disc.
With the remaining marzipan, form 11 marble sized balls and place around the top of the cake in a ring at regular intervals. Attach them to the cake using a little jam.
If desired the cake can now be brushed with a beaten egg and place under a hot grill for 4 minutes until tinged golden brown on top.

Bananas for Breakfast

I really love pancakes and every year after Pancake Day I always tell myself that I will definitely cook and eat them again before the following year and yet for some reason I rarely do. Does anyone else do this? However, I woke up this morning to find that my last banana had gone past the ‘soft’ stage and was fast approaching ‘mushy.’ With the pancake plan still fresh in my mind I decided to transform my banana into thick American style pancakes.

This recipe contains no milk, I did intend on using some but the batter turned out soft enough not to need any. I also decided against adding any additional sugar as I assumed the banana would provide all the necessary sweetness, although I did add in a little finely chopped dark chocolate for good measure. The resulting pancakes were light, fluffy and very tasty. They also make for quite a healthy breakfast as long as you don’t like to eat your pancakes drowning in syrup. Thinking about it now you could make them even healthier by using wholemeal flour in place of the standard white.

Banana Pancakes

Ingredients
1 ripe banana
1 egg
20g dark chocolate
3 tbsp plain flour
½ tsp baking powder
1 tsp sunflower oil

Method
Peel the banana and mash it into a fairly smooth paste. Add the egg and mix together.
Finely chop the dark chocolate and add to the banana.
Fold in the baking powder along with the flour, a tablespoon at a time, until all incorporated and a thick batter has formed.
Heat a non stick frying pan with the oil until hot. Add small spoonfuls of batter to the pan and allow to cook gently until bubbles begin to appear on the surface, about 30 seconds. Flip the pancakes over, they should be golden brown, and leave to cook for a further 30 seconds.
Serve immediately while still hot, with a few extra slices of banana if desired.
Makes nine, 3inch/7cm pancakes.