Rhubarb and Custard Macarons

I’m not going to put up the recipe for these as they didn’t work out perfectly. I was experimenting with powdered egg white (because I find it a pain to have to make something with left over yolks) but I don’t think it works on these as the consistency of the whisked egg is so important to the overall recipe. I’m going to see if I can find pasteurised egg whites in a supermarket as I’m sure they must exist.

Macarons are fundamentally easy to make but fiddly to make look flawless. I will say that the texture of these were brilliant and I got that little lip on them that is so vital. So while they weren’t as beautiful as shop bought ones the end result in the mouth was spot on. It just goes to show that baking doesn’t need to look perfect to taste good.

One thing that was a success was the flavourings. I picked up some concentrated rhubarb and custard food flavourings and they worked out really well in these. Subtle and very realistic – I’m going to try it out on cupcakes next. 

Chocolate Malt Biscuits

A couple of weekends ago some good friends of mine got married. The night before one of the Bride's friends, who I met on the hen, stayed over at mine as we were decorating a boat together on the wedding day (I know - random). Anyway she brought many lovely gifts with her, one of which being a jar of caramel biscuit spread (the others alcohol based) which we had discussed in length on the hen do. It’s basically the caramel biscuits you sometimes get with tea or coffee in the little wrapper mushed up to make a spread. I know!!! 

She proceeded to reveal a packet of malted milk biscuits from her bag as these are the structure she had found best to spread this on. It was immense.  

So that got me thinking about malt and biscuits. I’m a fan of malt. I’ll have a malt shake over a pure milkshake but I’ve never been a fan of malt loaf or malt drinks. However the malted milk biscuits were good and so I investigated. I found a recipe and they worked out very well. I made 2 ½ times this amount as my work eat biscuits like the world is ending and I needed lots! 

Ingredients

150g plain flour

½ tsp baking powder

Pinch of salt

100g butter (soft)

75g granular sugar

60g Ovaltine

2 large egg yolks (you can whisk up the whites, add 120g caster sugar to make 2 large meringues. Bake on the lowest heat you have for about 1 hour, turn off the oven and leave to cool in the oven).

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1.    Preheat the oven to 180°C/GM4.

2.    Combine the flour, baking powder and salt in a bowl. Leave to one side for the moment.

3.    Cream the butter and sugar together until it’s got pale. Everyone goes for this fluffy thing but unless you have a free standing whisk thing then about3 or 4 minutes will do.

4.    Then add the Ovaltine, egg yolks and vanilla. Mix well.

5.    Add the flour mixture and you’re done. You may need to use your hands to bring the mixture together as it will just look like wet sand.

6.    Then divide into 16 balls.

7.    Space them out on a baking tray – no more than 8 on a large cookie sheet – and press them down until they are about 1cm thick. Bake for 11 minutes. No more, no less!

8.    Cool and eat with a glass of milk.

 

Look - spread on biscuits!!! Oh and wine.

 

Rocky Road Shambles

I was seeing some friends and wanted to bring them some goodies. I decided to make my Fruit and Nut bars as one of my friends is vegan and these don't contain any ingredients derived from an animal source. However Holland and Barrett were out of flame raisins so I got regular ones. BIG MISTAKE. The juiciness of flame raisins basically helps hold everything together.

So I found myself with fruit and nut rubble. It tasted great but it definitely wasn't a gift so I just left in the fridge and went with flowers and wine. After a lovely weekend I returned the rubble. I hate wasting food and was desperately trying to think what to do with it all. Then the eureka moment happened. What about just bunging it all in melted chocolate? I had some chocolate chips in the fridge and some golden syrup to bulk it out. Brilliant. But was chocolate going to be enough?

A quick trip to the local shop later gave me some marshmallows to complete the mixture. There isn't really a recipe here, just some lessons. If you make Fruit and Nut bars use flame raisins. Most things can be improved by chocolate and marshmallows.

Chocolate Cake in a Mug

This should have been a photo of the cake but it all went rather quickly at work

Yes you read that right. Cake you make in a mug. It’s not a new thing but I’ve finally tried it and it’s a success. The main thing is eating it when it’s warm as it doesn’t cool down well. You’ll also need a really big mug as it does rise up and can spill over or instead just divide the mixture between two mugs. 

This obviously isn’t going to be the best chocolate cake in the world but it isn’t half bad for something that comes out of the microwave.  You could also make it in a bowl and spoon it out to have with ice cream.

Ingredients

4 tbsp self-raising flour

4 tbsp sugar

3 tbsp cocoa powder

1 egg

3 tbsp vegetable oil

3 tbsp chocolate hazelnut spread (basically Nutella)

3 tbsp milk

Optional – squirty cream 

1.    Put all the ingredient in a mug and whisk together with a fork. Be sure the get everything mixed well.

2.    If making one mug put into the microwave on a plate and nuke for 2-3 minutes on your highest setting.

3.    If making two then pour half the mixture into another mug and nuke each one individually for 1 ½ - 2 minutes.

4.    Top with cream if you want.

Bacon and Chocolate Chip Cookies (Primal/Gluten Free/Dairy Free)

Primal – sounds fairly basic and maybe a little bit cool huh? It’s apparently a diet. Not a ‘less not eat anything until we need to pass out and then have a small piece of cheese’ diet but one that looks at what we evolved to eat. Or something like that. It’s probably like the Paleo diet and the Caveman diet and anything else that basically doesn’t let you eat anything fun or anything that was invented in France – French bread, pastries, macaroons, croissants (some of these things may not have been invented in France but I can’t be bothered to research in this for the sake of this). 

I’m slightly suspicious of these kinds of restrictions on what you eat, mainly because it stops me eating chocolate and bread. The Thew follows a Paleo-esque diet. He eats an incredibly healthy diet so he can drink lots of alcohol and maintain fitness. Currently he is spending most evenings upside down in a handstand position against one of our walls. Hey – whatever works for you! 

My good friend Claire shared this recipe with me and, while I’m not sure about trying to recreate recipes using paleo/primal ingredients in place of good old butter and sugar, it was intriguing enough for me to give them a try. The original method I read is a bit lacking on details and the one thing you need to do with these kind of recipes is a good methodology if you have any hope in hell of making something that looks like the ‘real’ thing. Many people at work liked these, and they are ok, but I’d just rather eat a chocolate chip cookie made with brown sugar and wheat flour. I’m not sure what the bacon adds, other than a bit of salty taste, but I guess it’s to add protein. Anyway, if this is your thing, go knock yourself out! 

Ingredients

5 rashers of streaky bacon (I used M&S)

60ml of maple syrup (plus 125ml – see below)

2 large eggs

1 tsp vanilla extract

125ml coconut oil (make sure it’s fairly well melted so room temp or melt it first)

125ml maple syrup

1 tsp bicarb of soda

1 tsp salt

300g ground almonds

200g dark chocolate chips 

1.    Preheat the oven the 190°C/GM 5.

2.    Dip the bacon in the maple syrup and bake for about 25 minutes. It may need longer. Put them on foil to save mess. Turn half way through and ignore how burnt the foil gets from the run off maple syrup. Cool, ideally on fresh foil or greaseproof paper. They are very sticky! Chop into bits.

3.    Whisk the eggs, vanilla, coconut oil and 125ml maple syrup together in a bowl. You want to goof frothy mixture as the eggs will add air to the mixture and help keep them light.

4.    In a large bowl mix the bicarb, salt and almonds. Add the egg mixture and whisk together.

5.    Add the chocolate chips and bacon bits stirring to incorporate.

6.    The put heaped teaspoons of mixture on a baking tray, leaving space between them. Flatten them out with the back of a spoon or spatula so they resemble a cookie shape.

7.    Bake for 11-12 minutes – you want them turning golden brown. Cool completely before serving.

Makes about 30.

N.B. I made these afterwards without the bacon and they worked well. The bacon definitely gives a good savoury/salty edge but it's not necessary.

 

Enthusiasm Flapjacks

Sometimes I need to clear out stuff from my baking shelves so flapjacks are an ideal way to use up ingredients. The quantities below are a guide so feel free to experiment. 

The name comes from the most wonderful Lorna who, when I lived with her, used to make Enthusiasm Soup. So called because you put everything you've got into it.   

Ingredients

250g butter

200g brown sugar (or any sugar)

Good dollop of golden syrup or honey

200-300g mixture of dried fruit, nuts, seeds
400-500g oats 

1.    Preheat the oven to 180°C/GM4.

2.    Melt the butter in a large saucepan. While melting add the sugar and syrup/honey. Mix it all together.

3.    Take off the heat and add the fruit/nut/seed mixture and stir well. Then add the oats, stirring again. You don't want a wet mixture at the end just enough to coat everything to create a sticky mess.

4.    Line a large tin and tip the mixture in, smoothing out before putting in the oven for 20 minutes.

5.    Cool and cut into desired sized pieces. Let it cool properly as the butter need to solidify a bit at bind it all together.

 

Rainbow Cake or Why Lorna Rocks

So a couple of weekends ago I walked 100km in just under 28 hours. The main reason for this is that my friend Lorna asked me to. I’ve explained before that she rallied a team together to collect money for Cancer Research after one of her friends at work was diagnosed with cancer. We have raised over £6,300 which is amazing and is testament to how kind hearted and supportive people can be of crazy physical challenges. It’s also testament to the fact that everyone needs Lorna as a friend. Or at least someone like her as she’s already a very busy lady and might break if she had to be friends with the world (she is already a friend of all animals which is fairly epic in itself). Who else would think of doing such a random thing and actually convince six more people to do it with her? Because of her Cancer Research has an extra 6k to get on with doing what they do best - pretty cool.

So this week I went a bit random. It’s not exactly a true rainbow cake, as I’m missing three colour layers (I need a bigger cake box to transport something taller), but this will give you a good enough guide. There is something satisfying about constructing a truly fun cake with no real purpose other to look pretty and get people hyper on the E numbers (someone in my office had to have a walk to get rid of the excess energy after her slice!)  

The sponge is really easy and robust as you don’t want to have to faff with lots of ingredients and breakages when doing multiple layers. Don’t worry though – it’s a nice sponge and tastes well. It also keeps so you can make the sponges a couple of days in advance. Maybe I should start getting sponsored for the tallest cake I can make?! 

Ingredients

Cake

Each layer uses the following (you can mix in big batches and divide into bowls to add the food colouring. Each layer will need 415g of batter).

100g softened butter

100g caster sugar

2 large eggs

100g self-raising flour

10ml or 10g of bake safe food colouring 

Icing

You can obviously just buy Betty Crocker ready mixed frosting or:

200g softened butter

900g icing sugar

400g full fat cream cheese

Decorations 

1.    Preheat the oven to 180°/GM4.

2.    Grease and line two sandwich tins. I did two sponges at a time as I only have two tins and my oven only fits two at a time!

3.    Cream the butter and sugar together, add the eggs one at a time and then mix in the flour. See – easy!

4.    If dividing the mixture do it now into about 415g a layer then add the food colouring and mix.

5.    Put into a tin and bake for 25 minutes. If you are cooking two at a time and have a gas oven then you’ll need to swap the shelf they are on half way through.

6.    Cool and turn out until ready to construct.

7.    If making frosting then then ideally use a food processor as icing sugar is messy! The quantities pack it to the max but you can of course use a hand held whisk or free standing . So put the butter in with the sugar and mix until combined through. Add the cream cheese and you're done.

8.    Then even out the top of the layers (you can always leave the top one domed if you like). Use the height of the sides as a guide and use a bread knife to saw through.

9.    Sandwich the layers with a thin layer of frosting and then finish off by covering the whole thing in it! I used hundreds and thousands on the top but you can use whatever you like. 

N.B. You can get some crumbs in the frosting when you do the whole cake. I’d advise to do a thin layer around the whole cake not worrying about crumbs running the lovely frosting. Pop into the fridge for 30 minutes and then finish off with a thicker layer that should stay lovely and clear of crumbs.