Oatmeal Sandwich Cookies

I don’t really have anything to waffle on about this week before I let you have the recipe of what I made on Monday. I did think about sharing a list of all the places The Thew and I went on Saturday for one of our quarterly ‘Days of Fun’ but I got worried about how long the list of places was getting and what that may say about the alcohol consumption that went on. Needless to say we drank a lot, ate a lot of cheese and had fun.  

So on to the recipe. I found this on The New York Times’ website and tinkered a bit with quantities as their original recipe would have made something that resembled all that is wrong with US portion sizes. These went down well and were described as a reverse cheesecake. 

Ingredients

Cookies

40g of desiccated coconut

120g butter

165g dark brown sugar

1 large egg

1 tsp vanilla extract

95g plain flour

½ tsp salt

½ tsp baking powder

2 tsp ground cinnamon

130g porridge oats

50g stoned dates, chopped (you could use raisins or sultanas if you prefer)

3 tbsp caster sugar 

Filling

60g cream cheese

3 tbsp mascarpone cheese (I forgot to weigh what this was!)

12g icing sugar

2 tsp vanilla extract 

1.    Heat the oven to 180°/GM4 and spread the coconut on a baking tray. Toast for about 5 minutes (stiring half way through. You want it going golden and smelling great. Once done turn the oven up to 190°C/GM5.

2.    Cream the butter and brown sugar together until light in colour.

3.    Add the eggs and vanilla, mixing well. Worth scraping down the sides of the bowl midway through.

4.    Add the flour, salt, baking powder and 1 tsp of the cinnamon. Beat well and then add the oats, dates, and coconut mixing well again.

5.    This mixture will make 32 cookies so divide the mixture in half, then into four and then each of the four pieces into four. It sounds complicated when written down but it will make sense when you’re doing it. Roll them into balls.

6.     ombine the caster sugar with 1 tsp ground cinnamon and roll the balls in it to cover the outside.

7.    Put them on a baking tray, well-spaced out, flatten very slightly and bake for about 12 minutes (turn half way through if you have a gas oven to give an even colour).

8.    While that is going on put all the filling ingredients in to a bowl (sifting in the icing sugar) and mix well. Once the cookies are cooled use the filling to sandwich two together. I suppose it was about a tsp worth but I just used a knife the spread it on about 5mm thick.

Chocolate Cookies

I almost didn’t bake this week but then decided to. I ran home from work last night, as part of my training for a half marathon, and was exhausted by having to dodge out of the way of people who somehow failed to see me barrelling towards them. They’re happily walking along, minding their own business, when all of a sudden they realise that they could be not minding their own business and get in the way of someone running if only they moved about two feet to the left. They swiftly action this movement and cause me to have to jump into the road while yelling ‘I’m running here’ in a Brooklyn accent (that last bit is said in my head as per Sandra Bullock trying to glide in Miss. Congeniality – ignore me if you haven’t seen it). 

Anyway, while I have successfully taken out a few people while running (once in a particularly epic way) it’s not my preferred way of dealing with it. Run around and rack up some karma (minus whatever comes off for yelling at them in my head). Due to the running home I hadn’t picked up supplies so had to work with what was in the fridge and my cupboard. I haven’t stocked up in a while but luckily these use basic ingredients that I tend to have. 

Be warned. These are a little messy to make as you’re rolling sticky dough in your hands. If you have small children that need to be kept busy (and you’re not concerned about the hygiene of them licking their hands and stuff) get them to do it. The final result is worth it though as these are lovely and chewy. Almost brownie like if that makes sense.  

Ingredients

125g butter (ideally soft)

175g caster sugar

1 egg

1 tsp vanilla extract

125g plain flour

35g cocoa powder (use a good one)

Generous ½ tsp bicarb of soda 

1.    Preheat the oven to 180°C/GM4.

2.    Cream together the butter and sugar. If you can’t be bothered to let the butter get soft, cut it into small pieces and whizz it on its own for a while. Then add the sugar.

3.    Add the egg and vanilla, mixing well.

4.    Add all the dry ingredients, remembering to sift the cocoa powder in (I just measure both the flour and cocoa in the same bowl and sift it together).

5.    Then comes the messy part. Roll heaped teaspoons of the dough into balls. You’ll get about 23-26 depending on size. So walnut size I suppose.

6.    Line a baking tray/sheet and place well apart as these spread like anything. Place the balls of dough on and bake for about 10 minutes. They’ll come out looking puffy but will settle down flat.

7.    Keep on the baking paper while they cool a bit and then take off and cool completely on a wire rack. (Obviously eat one while they are still warm!)
 

Demi Brioche Hamburger/Pulled Pork Buns

I love entertaining. Having a dining room is one of the most exciting things about my flat as not only do I think it’s important to eat around a table at home, but it means that when people come over they don’t have to eat off their lap! However this is sometimes necessary when larger groups of people come over, my table is only so big, and I have to get creative with my thinking. You see I do have a dining room but I also have a very small kitchen. Planning is a big part of any entertaining I do but as I like planning and pouring over recipes that isn’t a problem. The size of my kitchen doesn’t allow me to ‘plate up’ so I have to go for things people can serve themselves from the table. 

My current love is for pork pibil. I’m finding that a lot of the pulled pork on offer is drenched in a very sweet BBQ sauce which just tastes of sugar. Going down the Mexican route gives delicious pulled pork which actually tastes of something. (Of course I could make my own BBQ sauce, and have done, but I’ve been swayed by the amount of burrito places near my work). My main concern for my next entertaining gig is how to get it on the menu. Burritos are a bit messy, as I’m going down a buffet route, so I thought about putting it in buns. They go well with pulled BBQ pork so why not pork pibil?! 

These aren’t traditional brioche buns but a more substantial take on it to maintain structural integrity when filled with stuff. The method does look long but trust me when I say that these are easy. nO Kneading is involved. I’m merely explaining how to not get covered in dough as it’s very sticky! If you want to make Pork Pibil to go inside these then the recipe is here. 

Ingredients

250ml warm water

3 tbsp milk

2 tsp dry active yeast

2 ½ tbsp sugar

450g strong white flour

50g plain flour

1 ½ tsp salt

60g butter

3 large eggs (one is used to glaze the final buns before cooking) 

1.    Put the warm water, milk, yeast and sugar in a jug. You don’t need to activate the yeast, as this is already done, but having it all together makes it easier later on.

2.    Put the flours, salt and butter in a food processor and whizz up until the butter is incorporated with the flour. Just use the usual blade. You can use a proper mixer with a paddle but I don’t have one so to hell with it.

3.    Add two of the eggs, turn the processor on and then pour the water and yeast mixture into the mixture. Let the food processor run until the mixture forms a dough. Probably a couple of minutes. Be warned the food processor will go a bit mental so you may need to steady it.

4.    Lightly grease a bowl with oil. The dough is majorly sticky so avoid touching it if at all possible. I just scrape the dough stuck on the blade into the bowl and follow with scraping in the rest. Done. Then cover with a piece of cling film that has been greased. You’ll thank me later as the dough sticks to everything.

5.    Leave in a warm place to rise to about double its size – 30 minutes to an hour.

6.    Once it’s risen take out of the warm place and scrape out on to a well-floured surface. Don’t worry about punching the air out as this will cover your hand in dough and the scraping will do it for you.

7.    Put some baking paper on a baking sheet (or two). Divide the dough into anything from 8 – 15 pieces depending on how big you want them. Shape into a ball (flour your hands) and put on the baking sheet. Ideally any joins in the dough go on the bottom giving you a smooth top. Make sure there is a gap between them but it doesn’t matter if they touch – you can pull them apart once cooked.

8.    Put them back in the warm place to rise again – probably nearer the 30 minute mark – and once risen lightly brush with the remaining beaten egg. While they are rising pre-heat the oven to 200°C/GM6.

9.    Bake for 15-20 minutes (if you have a gas move turn the baking sheet around half way through to get an even colour) and cool on a rack. Once cool fill with something good and devour. 

N.B. Bigger buns will work for burgers.

Nigella's Clementine Cake

The Thew has informed me that he sends people to my blog to get the recipe for the Clementine cake that I make and that they can’t ever find it. Well that is because it hasn’t been on here until now. I thought I should rectify the matter as it’s a great cake and one of those dairy and wheat free ones that rock (it’s not vegan because it uses eggs). 

I don’t think that you can get this wrong. It’s so easy and don’t be put off by the long time needed to poach the clementines. It’s very low intensity and fills your home with the most wonderful smell. The addition of chocolate to the top makes this a kind of massive Jaffa Cake. 

Ingredients

375g clementines (now you want to go over not under on weight so don’t worry if you’re at the 390g mark)

6 large eggs

225g sugar

250g ground almonds

1 tsp baking powder (use gluten free if you want to keep non-wheat eaters happy)

100g dark chocolate (I sometimes use Maya Gold Green and Black as it has orange oil in it) 

1.     Fill a large saucepan with water and put the whole clementines in. Bring to the boil, cover and let simmer for 2 hours. By covering the saucepan the water won’t evaporate so you won’t need to keep topping up to ensure the clementines float throughout the poaching process.

2.    Once done, remove from the water and cool slightly. Cut in half, remove the pips and whatever is left of the stalk and pulp everything left including the skin.

3.    Preheat the oven to 190°C/GM5 and line a springform tin, greasing with oil to keep dairy free. I’ve used both a 20cm and 23cm tin so whatever you have.

4.    Beat the eggs well – make sure they get light and foamy. Add the sugar, almonds and baking powder, mixing well before adding the clementine pulp.

5.    Put in the tin and bake for 1 hour. Check after 40 minutes as it does brown and cover with foil for the last 20 minutes if it’s got dark.

6.    While that is going on grate or whizz up the chocolate into little pieces. Once the cake comes out of the oven sprinkle all over the top and watch it melt into a lovely topping.

7.    Cool completely before serving.

Chocolate, Fruit and Nut Bars

 

 

Why couldn’t my mum be from the Maldives? I hear it’s the flattest country in the world. Very flat, no big hills, level. But no. Ireland it is and not just any old part – Connemara with its hills, bogs and lashing of rain. Now on a good day Connemara is one of the most beautiful places in the world. It’s also good on a bad day when you’re in a car or a pub. When it’s not good would be when you’re running for two miles up a fairly hefty gradient knowing that it’s only the start of the half marathon, or so I imagine. Soon I won’t have to imagine and will actually be experiencing this joyous event for myself. 

 

For some reason I agreed with The Thew when he said that when visiting my family we should time it so we could do the Connemarathon. Ok I agreed to half but still, the course looks brutal. This now means that I have to actually train for it. I’m not saying that I wouldn’t have to train for a normal one but it would be so much easier training for one in say the Maldives, than building hill training into my regime and thinking about waterproof clothing. I’m not the biggest fan of running at the best of times so I’ve decided to try and be a bit healthier so I have less of me to drag around the course.

  

So I’m afraid that today’s recipe is fairly healthy (although the dried fruit has a ton of sugar in so not that great – yay!) However it’s very easy and doesn’t involve putting the oven on. It’s something I’ve been thinking about for a while as The Thew eats a lot of Nakd bars and I think that they are dry and horrible. However when looking at the ingredients the bars should be moist so I decided to try them myself. I’m guessing that Nakd have to dry theirs out more in the cold pressing process they use so that they stay more rigid and can be packed easily. These bars retain the juiciness of the dried fruit used and are fairly sweet with the cocoa adding a nice touch of chocolate.  I actually enjoy these and they have gone down well in the office. Also gluten and dairy free, along with being vegan!

 

Ingredients

290g dried dates (stoned)

175g cashew nuts (not roasted or salted)

100g flame raisins (so I didn't use flame raisins once. You can read what happened here)

10-30g good quality cocoa powder (it’s more to taste and depends on how chocolately you want it. You can always add more so start low and just add more if you think it needs it.) 

 

1.    Whizz the cashews buts in a food processor until they are in tiny pieces.

2.    Add the rest of the ingredients and whizz into a mush. You’ll see what I mean.

3.    Turn out into a silicon or lined tray. I used a 20cm x 20cm silicon tray so something of similar dimension. Smooth out with the back of a spoon.

4.    Cover the top with baking paper and top with heavy books. Ideally the first book would roughly fit the dimensions of the tin to give an even press. Put it in the fridge for anything from 3 – 48 hours.

5.    Remove from the tin and cut into whatever size pieces you want.