Nigella's Gingerbread with fresh ginger

It’s beginning to feel a lot like Christmas! I’m a complete sucker for Christmas but don’t like getting excited too early about it as then I’m just all out of joy by the time the day comes. However it’s now the end of November and everything is starting to come together - the lights in London are twinkling, there is faux fur in most shop windows and the rain in coming down in sheets! Oh yes, winter in the UK has arrived.

When I get home out of the rain and cold there is nothing I like better than filling my house with great wintery smells. This basically boils down to stews and spices. So this week I was inspired to make gingerbread as it’s wonderfully aromatic and just has the most amazing texture to it. It also means I get to use golden syrup and treacle. I’m childishly happy that it comes in tins with a lid that needs prising off, and that no matter how careful you are there is always golden syrup over your hands that needs licking off. Simple things … I decided to use a Nigella recipe that uses fresh ginger as that sounded very nice, plus most of the ingredients can be measured straight into a saucepan that you then use for the whole batter. Less washing up and less mess.

The smell itself is reason enough to bake this but the finished cake has a dark luscious umptiousness (surely a Nigella word if ever there was one) to it which is quite incredible. As it’s a ‘tray bake’ in shape, and quite rich, you’ll get lots of little squares out of it to share around. I also imagine it would be good hot with custard so I’ll need to try that!

Ingredients

150g butter

125g dark muscovado sugar

200g golden syrup

200g black treacle

2 tsp fresh ginger, finely grated (I also added the juice that came off while grating)

1 tsp ground cinnamon

250ml milk

2 large eggs, beaten

1 tsp bicarb of soda dissolved in 2tbsp of warm water

300g plain flour

1.    Preheat the oven to 170°/GM3

2.    Get a largish saucepan – I used one that fitted on my electronic weighing scales so I could weigh straight into it. Add the butter, sugar, golden syrup, treacle, ginger and cinnamon. Melt these together on a low heat.

3.    Once melted add the milk, eggs and bicarcb in water and mix well.

4.    Now Nigella says to put the flour in a bowl and add the liquid ingredients in but I couldn’t be bothered with getting a bowl dirty. I just added the flour and mixed well with a balloon whisk. The cake came out fine.

5.    Put the batter in a lined roasting tin. Dimensions suggested were 30x20x5. I used a 26x18x5 and it was ok. Bake for about an hour but it depends on your tin dimensions. I’d say check after 45 minutes and adjust time accordingly. Mine needed 1 hour 15 mins.

6.    Now Nigella puts lemon icing on but I couldn’t be bothered. Plus it gets a wonderful sticky crust on its own which I quite like.

7.    Leave to cool before cutting (who am I trying to kid? Cut a corner out of the warm cake and demolish).



Chocolate Digestive Biscuits

Even with the ridiculous amounts of recipe books and magazines I have I do sometimes run short of inspiration. I suppose its' less about running out of inspiration and more not having something that I actually want to bake. I might have a load of recipes lined up to try but either due to the time they take, the ingredients they need or just then type of end product they don’t take my fancy. I can also get side tracked quite easily. If I see something that I like the look of all plans are scrapped and I go ahead and bake that.

I saw a post on a work colleagues Facebook page about the recipe to make digestive biscuits and was instantly hooked. Who wouldn’t want to make their own digestive biscuits?! They also looked very easy to make which is always an advantage when baking in the evening after work. This utilises a food processor and the dough can be made all in one which is always a bonus.

This recipe is for sweet ones but you can reduce the sugar and use them as a biscuit for cheese. I can tell you that the lower sugar version tastes delicious with a wedge of mature cheddar on top, enjoyed with a glass of wine. This make over 30 biscuits, depending on the size of your cutter.

Ingredients

200g porridge oats

200g wholemeal flour

1 tsp baking powder

130g brown sugar (reduce to 100g if you want these to go with cheese)

200g salted butter

4 tbsp milk

100g melted chocolate (I used dark as that was all I had but I made again with milk chocolate and they rock)

1.   Preheat the oven to 180°/GM 4.

2.   Put the porridge oats in a food processor and whizz until fine. The first time I did this I didn’t do it that long and the oats were a bit chunky. People at work said that they were almost like Hobnobs so if you want Hobnobs over digestives then I’d do 100g very fine and 100g barely whizzed to give a rougher dough.

3.   Add the flour and baking powder to the oats and pulse to mix.

4.   Add the butter and pulse to create a crumbly texture. It will start to bind together but that doesn’t matter. You could do this with your hands but why make another bowl dirty when you’ve got the food processor going?

5.   Add the milk and pulse again.

6.   Turn the dough out and press into a chunky disk. Wrap in cling film and put in the fridge for about 25 minutes so it firms up.

7.   Then take it out and roll to about 3mm thick. It’s important the dough is thin because if the biscuits are too thick they don’t have that amazing crunch. Cut them out with something round. I couldn’t find by 6cm cutter so I just used a random sherry glass that was at the back of my cupboard.

8.   Bake for 18-20 minutes until a little brown around the edges.

9.   Once cooled spread chocolate on top with a palette knife and let set. Eat with a cup of tea and company. Obviously leave the chocolate off if you’ve gone with the version for cheese!

Nigella's Chocolate Olive Oil Cake

 

Everyone seems more concerned with their diet these days. We’re bombarded with messages about nutrition on a daily basis with most of it conflicting. Quite a few of these are directed at food which, let’s be honest, is the more fun stuff. Cakes, biscuits and the like. Due to my love of baking this does cause issues as I only use butter, never margarine, and I won’t scrimp on full fat milk so some feel that they are unable to indulge. The Thew (my husband) avoids wheat and refined sugar so he’s immediately out of the tasting circle although he will sometimes have a slice of a gluten free cake if he’s feeling crazy!

There are those who are allergic to certain foods and these people have my sympathy. Not only do they not get to eat delicious desserts and cakes but the substitutes are generally fairly below average. There is a very lovely girl at my work who is allergic to dairy so when I saw Nigella’s Olive Oil Chocolate Cake I immediately thought of her. I make Nigella’s Clementine Cake, which is gluten free and is delicious, so I had high hopes.

The cake can also be gluten free but I didn’t have enough ground almonds at home to do that. It was raining outside as well so I wasn’t going to pop out and get some more. What you get for your effort is a wonderfully moist chocolate cake that is simply stunning for the minimal work that goes into it. I may try adding some ginger to this next time - this is a cake that encourages experimentation.

Ingredients

150ml regular olive oil

50g cocoa powder (I use Green and Blacks as its fab)

125ml boiling water

2 tsp vanilla extract

125g plain flour (or 150g ground almonds)

½ tsp bicarb of soda

200g caster sugar

3 large eggs

1.     Preheat the oven to 170°/GM3. Grease a springform tin with oil and line the base.

2.     Sift the cocoa powder into a bowl and add the boiling water. Whisk until smooth, add the vanilla, whisk some more and set to one side. Now it looks tempting to dip your finger in and try some. Warning - just because it looks like melted chocolate, doesn't mean it tastes like it!

3.     Combine the flour, bicarb and a pinch of salt and leave to one side.

4.     Put the sugar in a bowl with the eggs and olive oil. Whisk until very aerated and thick – this takes 3-4 minutes with a hand held mixer.

5.     Add the cocoa mixture followed by the flour mixture, beating together after each addition.

6.     Pour into your tin and bake for about 40 minutes.

7.     You can eat hot or cold so let cool for a few minutes if you want to eat it hot, or cool completely if you want it cold. I had it cold but I imagine that for those who aren’t allergic to diary, some double cream would do well with it.

Apple Crumble Cake

What would a cake version of apple crumble be like? This is the thought that struck me during a walk on Sunday. It was a bit of a random one, even for me, but was started when I smelt some cinnamon and went from there. I think because the weather was turning autumnal it made me think about winter cooking which always leads to crumble.

The Thew started it by getting excited about the fact that we’re entering the time of year when slow cooking moves up the agenda and our flat is filled with the smell of stews, pulled pork and lamb shoulder. I get quite excited about this because it means that if I have a Sunday at home I can pretty much do all the dinners for the week in one day. Some sort of slow cooked meat on the bottom of the oven and various stews on the middle and top shelves. Stews are always better after a day or two so reheating them during the week always makes them better.

The smell of these herald autumn along with those wonderful spices that start to conjure up the idea of winter. Cinnamon is one of my favourite spices and I liberally sprinkle it in every cake and dessert that I can. Therefore the jump from smelling cinnamon to crumble was not a large one. Thus started a search for recipes. This is one I found with some of my own twists.

This recipe uses a food processor to whizz the first bit together. If you don’t have one just use an electric whisk but thought I’d try out something in a food processor as I don’t normally use one. It was fine and there is a bit of speed in its use.

Ingredients

Cake

140g butter

250g self raising flour

3 tsp ground cinnamon

140g light muscovado sugar

100g sultanas

3 large eggs, beaten

2 cooking apples, peeled, cored and chopped (about 1cm square pieces but don’t panic about it)

5 tbsp whole milk

Topping

1 heaped tbsp plain flour

25g butter

25g light muscovado sugar

2 heaped tbsp hazelnuts

1 tsp ground cinnamon

1.   Heat the oven to GM4, 180 and line a loaf tin.

2.   Topping first! Whack the hazelnuts in the food processor and whizz them into small pieces. Put to one side. Then put the butter, sugar, plain flour and cinnamon in and whizz into breadcrumb type texture. Put in a bowl and mix in the hazelnuts. Leave in the fridge until you need.

3.   Now for the cake. Put the self raising flour, cinnamon and butter in the processor and whizz together. Then put in the sugar and mix.

4.   Tip the mixture into a bowl and add the raisins, eggs, apple and milk. Mix well. It will be fairly chunky as there is a lot of fruit in there.

5.   Put the cake mixture in the tin and smooth over. Sprinkle the topping evenly on top and put in the oven for about an hour – you want a skewer to come out clean.

Now, it may need to stay in longer. When I made this I had it on a lower heat and it took forever until a whacked it up to GM5. Basically because it uses cooking apples they need time to get nice and squishy. I am going to make this again as one of my work colleagues suggested that because the topping is so good it should be made in a shallower tray to allow more topping. Revised version will follow I’m sure.

Jetlag Sausage Bake

I always find that aeroplane food, especially after a holiday that involved a lot of good food, puts a bit of a dent in the end of the trip. This time I decided to not really eat on the plane but brought some peanuts and raisins in the hope that they would keep hunger pangs at bay for 11 hours. It also meant I got to try out a jetlag cure which says you shouldn’t eat while travelling over time zones and wait until the next meal time when you land, before eating again. I sort of kept to it – I ate some cheese pasta and a yoghurt because peanuts and raisins get fairly dull – and actually now don’t feel too bad. However this could be attributed to my determination to stay awake for about 26 hours (give or take a couple of short naps) and then sleep for about 10 hours. I can’t say it was entirely scientific.

Coming home always means that you’re not only dealing with the down from the end of a holiday but all the clothes washing and the restocking of the kitchen as well. Today I really couldn’t be bothered with much hassle at dinner and The Thew is on a massive health kick due to ‘overindulgence’ on holiday (we have differing view on what constitutes overindulgence but I’m sure I’ll get on to that in time) and the fact that he has to run 66 miles in a couple of weekends time. He also does the washing up so I thought I should be nice to him.

This is where the Jetlag Sausage Bake comes in. It’s basically things still in my fridge and a few things I could pick up on my way home. To be honest you could chuck most things in and it would work but below is what I put in.

Ingredients

1 pack of good quality sausages

1 large sweet potato

3 or 4 small to medium carrots

1 red pepper

1 red onion

A few slices of chorizo

1 blub of garlic

Some dried herbs

1.   Preheat the oven to 200° or GM6.

2.   Chop the sausages in half (or not but I like how it looks), chop the sweet potato, carrots, pepper and onion into fairly large pieces. Chuck them all into a baking tray. Add the chorizo.

3.   Cut the garlic blub in half and add to the rest of the ingredients. You can just use cloves and less garlic but I just like how the bottom of the bulb looks in the tray!

4.   Season and add some dried herbs. I went heavy on the sage because of the sausages but whatever you have will work.

5.   Add some oil and whack in the oven for about 45 minutes. Done.

6.   Eat straight from the tray if you want to minimise the washing up.

A Birthday Cake for Lucy

I'm cheating here as I made this a few weeks ago. However I'm writing this before I go holiday, for me to publish on holiday, so that I have a nice steady stream of posts. Dedication!

I always get excited when making a cake for someone's birthday. I think it's because I associate it with the amazing cakes my parents made for me and I really got into the swing while I was at university. When I started university my mum gave me a '1000 Recipes' book that covered everything - I still have it and do refer to it when I get faced with something random - and it had a whole 'Celebration Cake' section.

I gave this book to my friend Neil and said he could pick any cake he wanted for his birthday. Now they were pretty much all round or square and I figured I could get through any icing requirements with minimal fuss. However Neil chose the 'Hedgehog' cake which not only required the cake being cooked in two different sized pudding bowls but the cutting and constructing of the hedgehog shape from these. I think marzipan was also involved which just goes to show how random this cake was. Anyway, it all worked out and a successful birthday party was rounded off by a hedgehog aflame with candles.

Since then I do love a random cake mould but there is so little call for them in everyday life. I can never really justify it for a one off cake but a couple of years ago I invested in a giant cupcake mould. Since then it has brought nothing but joy into my life and so when Lucy on my team had her birthday coming up I decided that nothing but a giant cupcake would do for her.

It's really all in the preparation of the mould and the bravery of extraction. Everything else is just literally frosting and baubles!

This is basically Nigella Lawson's Chocolate Fudge Cake recipe but in a different shape.

Ingredients

Cake
400g plain flour
250g caster sugar
100g light muscovado sugar (soft brown will do)
50g cocoa powder
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda (I kind of heap it up a bit)
1 tsp salt
3 large eggs
Small tub of sour cream (they come in 142ml and 150ml)
1 tbsp vanilla extract (I think it’s worth investing in a good one so about £5 a bottle)
175g butter melted and cooled (use a large saucepan – see below)
125ml corn oil
300ml cold water

Fudge icing
200g dark chocolate (I go for the 72% one as any higher gets a bit powdery in taste)
250g butter softened
275g sieved icing sugar (if you can do this outside all the better as icing sugar gets everywhere)
1 tbsp vanilla extract

      Cake

1.   Preheat the oven to GM4 or 180°.

2.   Put the flour, both sugars, cocoa powder, baking powder, bicarb and salt in a large bowl and mix together.

3.   Add the oil to the butter in the large saucepan – this then becomes the main mixing bowl and minimises washing up. Whisk together – an electric whisk is going to be your friend here. Add the water and whisk again.

4.   Add the dry ingredients and mix well.

5.   In another bowl, or the measuring jug you had the oil in (washing up again), put the eggs, sour cream and vanilla extract. Add this to the other ingredients and mix well.

6.   Make sure your mould is well greased with loads of butter and put a small round of baking paper at the bottom of the mould. Fill it with cake mixture - go easy on the deeper side as it does rise -and bake for about an hour but you’re going to need to test it by shoving a skewer in and checking it comes out clean.

Fudge icing

1.   Melt the chocolate and leave to cool slightly.

2.   Sieve the icing into the butter (if you can do this outside all the better as icing sugar gets everywhere). Then cream together.

3.   Add the melted chocolate and vanilla and mix well.

4.   (Or buy a tub of Betty Crocker Fudge Frosting. Don't be proud as it's actually doesn't taste that different!)

Construction

1.   Cut off any cake that is excess and over the top of the mould. Eat this.

2.   Get the cake out of the mould! Leave it to cool and then just be very careful. I can't give much more instruction but just wish you luck. If the top sticks you don't need to worry as you're going to be covering it in fudge icing. If part of the bottom sticks then just make sure that's not facing front and on show!

3.   Use about a 1/3 of the icing to sandwich the two parts together and cover the top with the rest.

4.   Cover with as much decoration as you can get on there. I used silver balls, sugar butterflies and edible gold spray (possibly my favourite decoration ever). You're going to have to throw the decorations at it as it's not a flat surface but this is lots of fun. If there are children around get them to help.

Spicy Chorizo Sausage Rolls

Mondays aren’t the most amazing day of the week for people but for me once the working hours are done there is a feeling of the week having started and energy levels rising. I used to play netball on a Monday but when that finished I thought that I should put the night, and energy, to good use and start to expand my baking. There are so many recipes I want to try but find myself making the same things – mainly because those are the ingredients I have in my cupboard and fridge. I also want to start putting more personal twists on things so Mondays will become my night to bake.

It just so happens that I have an order to fulfil tonight (I said I’d bake in exchange for a favour).These have proved so ridiculously popular that I’m normally asked for these, over cake, if people are given the choice. The fact that I use ready rolled puff pastry does mean that these can be done really fast and considering my kitchen is tiny, and heats up fast, making pastry isn’t always on option. I also have ‘hot hands’ so when making pastry I tend to have to keep putting it in the fridge which I really can’t be bothered with!

Best eaten hot but most people only get them cold because I bring them into work. The heat comes from the spices, not the chorizo, so you can adjust to taste. Fresh chilli might also work but I prefer ground spice for these.

Ingredients

1 x pack of 8 pork sausages

1 x pack of ready rolled puff pastry

2 x smaller cooking chorizo or about 1/3 of a chorizo ring, chopped into small chunks

1 tsp paprika

1 tsp cayenne pepper (less or more depending on how spicy you want it)

½ tsp very hot chilli powder (I use Barts as everything else just seems weak compared to it)

1 egg, whisked (milk will do)

1.    Pre-heat an oven to GM5 or 190°.

2.    Remove the skin from the sausages and put in a bowl. I have made these – by accident – with reduced fat sausages and it worked. You just don’t get the wonderful colour from the chorizo and paprika oozing into the pastry as much. It does seem to give a firmer sausage in the middle so try whatever you like.

3.    Add the chorizo and spices and mix together. I always start with a wooden spoon and then realise I just need to get my hand dirty. I tend to have some water in the sink so I can do quick rinses without getting the taps dirty but I’m weird like that.

4.    Roll out the pastry a bit more as I don’t find the pack size is big enough and the pastry is too thick for a sausage roll. Just a little bit longer and wider should do it. Cut in half lengthways.

5.    Divide the sausage meat in two and roll between your hands so it fit the length of the pastry strips. Egg wash one edge of each strip, fold the other side of the pastry over the meat and seal by pressing along the join with a fork. I find something deeply satisfying in creating the fork impressions in pastry.

6.    Cut into each long roll into your desired sizes – I tend to get 8 out of each – and place on a baking tray (or two) and wash with the egg. Then cut a small hole in the top of each (I use scissors) and there you go.

7.    Pop in the oven for 20-25 minutes. If you’re using two trays and they are on different shelves the ones on the lower shelf might need more time. You basically want them to go golden and look like the picture. Then they’re done.

8.    Eat.