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Carrot Cake Muffins

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 I’m a great muffin fan and have adapted my basic recipe, given to me by an American friend, many times. This is my latest idea. I made the muffins and was asked by a friend if I could make some for a party with the icing you usually get on a carrot cake.  280g plain flour, 1 tbsps baking powder, 1 tspn mixed spice, pinch salt, 115g soft dark brown sugar, 200g grated carrot, 50g chopped pecans or walnuts, 50g sultanas, 2 eggs, 175ml milk, 6 tbsps sunflower oil Optional: icing - 75g soft cream cheese, 49g butter and 35g icing sugar, sprigs of orange zest Preheat oven 200C/gas6. Grease a muffin tin or use muffin cases. Sift together the flour, baking powder and spice. Add carrots, sugar walnuts and sultanas and stir together. In a jug add the milk, oil and beaten eggs. Mix well. Make a well in flour mix and add milk mixture. Stir gently till just mixed. Don’t over mix or muffins will be heavy. Soon into the muffin tin - I use an ice cream scoop. Bake for 20 mins till risen. Cool on a wir

Galette de Rois aux Pommes

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 In France, the tradition is to have a Galette de Rois for Epiphany, January 6th., the visit of the Wise Men. I love these almond filled galettes, but decided to try something different this year and added apples. You need: 2 packs of puff pastry, 3 eating apples, 200g crème fraîche, 200g ground almonds, 100g caster sugar + 40g, 3eggs and 1 egg yolk Preheat oven 220C/gas7                 A baking tray Cut the apples up into small cubes and put into a pan with the 40g of sugar. Caramelise for about 10 mins. Add 1 tbspn of the cream and mix together. In a bowl mix together the rest of the cream and the 100g of sugar, the ground almonds and eggs. Put this in the fridge for 10 mins. Roll out the pastry sheets. Cut out 2 large circles [I used a large dinner plate]. Put one of the circles on the baking tray and cover with the apples. If you have one, put a bean or little fêve in, then spoon over the almond mixture. Cover with the second circle of pastry and pres the edges together. Dilute th

Toscakaka or Swedish Caramel Cake

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A belated Happy New Year.  I’ve had great problems posting on here for a while. Hopefully this has now been solved., I love Scandinavian baking and have several Scandi baking books, but to honest, I've never baked from them. Reading an article recently on this type of baking, I thought I must use my books, so decided to make a caramel almond cake. I've adapted it from 'Scandilicious Baking'. For the cake  you need; 20ml milk, 1 tspn lemon juice [or 75ml buttermilk] 75g butter, 3 eggs, 150g caster sugar, 1 tspn vanilla extract, 150g plain flour, 1 tspn baking powder and a pinch of salt. For the topping:  150g flaked almonds, 125g butter, 125g light brown sugar, 50ml milk and 1/2 tspn sea salt Preheat oven 160C/gas3                     Grease and base line a 23cm springform cake tin Stir the lemon juice into the milk to sour it, or use 75ml buttermilk instead. Toast the almonds till they're a light golden colour [takes about 6 mins]. Melt the butter over a low heat th

Carrot Cupcakes with a maple cream cheese topping

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As I haven’t posted anything for a while, I thought I’d post 2 recipes this month. I don’t often make cupcakes, preferring muffins.This recipe was given to me by a lovely Australian lady I met. We were chatting about how we both loved baking. It’s an easy recipe with a delicious topping. 225g sr flour, 230g brown sugar, 2 tspn mixed spice, 125ml vegetable oil, 3 eggs, 480g finely grated carrot (about 4 medium carrots), 90g chopped pecans and 6 pecans halved Preheat oven 180C/160C fan/gas4 Grease a 12 hole muffin tin or use paper cases.  In a bowl mix together the flour, sugar, spice, oil and eggs. Add the carrots and nuts and stir in. Divide the mixture between the muffin cases or muffin tin. Bake for about 39 mins. Leave in tin for 5 mins then put onto a wire rack. Topping - 30g soft butter or spread, 80g softened cream cheese, 2tbspn maple syrup and 200g icing sugar Beat butter, cream cheese and syrup together in a bowl with a hand beater till fluffy and gradually beat in the icing s

Apple Custard Cream

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Sorry I haven't posted for a couple of months. I've not been well, and had family problems too, so have spent time in London.  I was given a bag of apples and wanted to make something different. Browsing through my recipe folder I found this recipe. It's an egg custard over apples, but the custard is made with cream. Lovely to have as a pudding as we're now into Autumn. For the apples:  50g butter, 1 kg cooking apples, 50g sugar and the zest of 2 lemons For the custard topping: 825ml double cream, 50g sugar, 4 eggs plus 2 yolks, 50g demerara sugar and 1/2 tspn cinnamon Heat a frying pan and add the butter and apples, peeled cored and sliced.  Cook for 6-7 mins till soft but still keeping shape. Add the sugar and zest and cook for a further 2-3 mins. Pour into an ovenproof dish. Beat the eggs, yolks and sugar together; warm the cream over a gentle heat then add to the eggs and gently mix in. Pour over the apples. Mix the brown sugar with the cinnamon and sprinkle over th

Chocolate Tartlets

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I've been told that today is a special day for Chocolate. I don't need an excuse to make anything using it , (or eating it!) so made these little tartlets. The recipe is from a French book simply called 'Les Tartes'. The recipe makes 8 tartlets. 250g  shortcrust pastry [your own or bought] 175g dark chocolate, broken into pieces 2-3 tbspn water 1 tbspn butter - softened 1 tbspn cognac or cointreau [opt!] 3 eggs, separated chocolate shavings or grated chocolate to decorate Preheat oven 200C/gas6 Roll out the pastry and line eight 10cm tartlet moulds. Then put them in the fridge for about 15 mins.  Line them with parchment and fill with beans and bake them 15mins; take out the beans and paper and cook them for another 5 mins; leave to cool. Melt the chocolate over a bowl of hot water or in the microwave and leave to cool. Add the butter and mix till it's melted then add the egg yolks. Now's the time to pour in the cognac or Cointreau. Mix it all together. Beat the

Triple Tomato Tart

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  Sorry, missed out on May! I had some soft tomatoes to use up and a pack of puff pastry lurking in the freezer. I remembered this recipe my friend gave me. It uses a few store cupboard ingredients and a few extras. It’s really good with salad and is very easy to make. 250g puff pastry 3 tbspn tomato paste, 150g cherry tomatoes halved, 250g ripe sliced vine tomatoes, 2 sprigs fresh rosemary, 2 tbspn olive oil, 1 tbspn balsamic vinegar, 1 egg yolk, S&P and a few thyme sprigs.  Preheat oven 190C/gas5  Baking sheet Roll pastry out to a rectangle 35x25 cm and lift onto the baking sheet. Spread the tomato paste over the pastry leaving a 3cm border round the edge. Put the vine tomato slices carefully over the paste, then sprinkle the halved cherry tomatoes over them. Top with the rosemary and drizzle with 1 tbspn of the olive oil and the balsamic vinegar. Brush the edge with the beaten egg yolk then bake for 15-20 mins till golden. Take out of the oven and season with S&P, sprinkle o