Friday, 23 October 2015

Triple Choc Crunchy (No Cook) Traybake

Triple Choc Crunchy Traybake


Are you bored with the usual range of biscuits on offer in the supermarket, and want to offer a sweet treat with tea or coffee that's a little bit different?

These are a quick and easy alternative and something with a bit more of a wow factor. And they don't even require any baking in an oven. They are essentially a bit of a hybrid between rocky road and tiffin.

It also doesn't have to be made with Maltesers and/or marshmallows as I have used, you can replace the ingredients with any of your favourite confectionery, as long as it adds some texture.


Ingredients

  • 150g Milk Chocolate 
  • 100g Unsalted Butter 
  • 2 tbsp Golden Syrup 
  • 100g Maltesers 
  • 200g Chocolate Digestive biscuits 
  • 50g Marshmallows
You will need:
  • 2 x heat proof glass (Pyrex) or metal bowls 
  • 1 x medium sized saucepan 
  • 1 x baking tray (at least 2 inches deep)
  • 1 x spatula

Topping

  • 150g White chocolate 
  • 60g Dark chocolate

Method

1.  Lightly grease a 17cm x 26cm (7 inch x 10 inch) baking tray and line the base with baking paper. Leave to one side while you prepare the chocolate biscuit base.

2.  Firstly, crush the digestive biscuits and Maltesers. Easiest way is to put the Digestives and Maltesers into a clear sandwich bag and tie the end, then bash with a rolling pin until the broken up into small pieces, make sure to leave some small chunks for texture.

3.  Next, place the milk chocolate and butter for the base into a pyrex or metal bowl, and place over a saucepan of simmering water (make sure the water isn't touching the bottom of the bowl). Add the golden syrup and melt all the ingredients together, stirring occasionally with a spatula.

4.  Once melted, add the crushed Chocolate Digestive biscuits and Maltesers, and mix all thoroughly together. Make sure that everything has been coated with the chocolate/butter mix.

5.  Take the mixture off the heat, and add in the marshmallows last to avoid them melting otherwise the mix can become too gooey/sticky.

6.  Spoon the mixture into the greased tray and put in the fridge to set while you prepare the topping.

7.  For the topping, melt the white chocolate, again over a pan of simmering water. Take the tray out of the fridge and cover the base evenly with the chocolate topping.

Allow it to cool and set, it should take somewhere between 30 mins to 1 hour, depending on the thickness of your chocolate layer, you can place back into the fridge to speed up the cooling process (Be careful not to get any water or condensation on the chocolate).

8.  Lastly melt a small amount of dark chocolate in another bowl over your pan of water. Using a small spoon or fork, flick the melted chocolate across the top of the traybake for decoration.

9.  Leave to set in the fridge for about 1 hour to fully set, then turn out onto a chopping board. And with a sharp knife, cut into 9-12 small bite-size rectangles of about 1½ cm x 2cm (½ inch x 1 inch).

You can increase/decrease the quantities above depending on the size and depth of your tray. And they're best enjoyed with an afternoon cuppa or as an alternative to dessert with after dinner/lunch coffee. 

Enjoy! :)



Sunday, 20 January 2013

Olive & Sun-dried Tomato GF Bread

Olive & Sun-dried Tomato GF Bread

Makes 4 mini loaves or 1 large loaf

Ingredients


  • 150ml milk
  • 1 teaspoon dried yeast
  • 3 tablespoons olive oil
  • 1 teaspoon white balsamic vinegar
  • 1 egg
  • 300g gluten free bread flour
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon sugar
  • 12 Olives (approx 25g)
  • 6 Sun-dried tomatoes (approx 20g) soak in warm water to re-hydrate

Warm the milk in a saucepan until tepid and dissolve yeast in the milk. Add the oil, vinegar and egg and mix together.


In a separate bowl combine the flour, salt and sugar. Gradually add the milk mixture to form a dough, add a sprinkle of flour if the mixture is too wet. Place in mixing bowl, cover with oil-greased cling film and leave somewhere warm for 60 minutes. 

Chop the olives and sun-dried tomatoes into small pieces and add to the dough mixture. Flour the work surface and take the dough from the bowl.

Knead dough and divide into individual rolls or leave as one whole loaf. Place in tin(s), cover again and let rise for another 30-60 minutes.


Preheat oven to 180 C / Gas 5.
Bake bread for 20-25 minutes until golden brown.

Best enjoyed warm with some butter and dunked in soup.



Sunday, 21 October 2012

Ginger and Lemon Cake


Ginger Cake filled with Lemon Curd

Ingredients 

Ginger cake

  • 250g Light Brown Sugar (can use dark brown sugar if you prefer)
  • 250g Butter
  • 320g Plain Flour
  • 250ml Milk
  • 4 Eggs
  • 50g Root Ginger *
  • 4 tsp Ground Ginger
  • 2 tsp Cinnamon
  • 4 tsp Baking powder
  • 1 tsp Vanilla extract
  • A pinch of Salt
* if you'd like a heavier/hotter ginger taste, you could add an additonal 25g of stem ginger or crystalised ginger for an additional kick.

Lemon Curd

  • 50g Caster Sugar
  • 50g Butter
  • 1 unwaxed lemon (zest & juice)
  • 2 eggs


Grease a loaf tin and place a sheet greaseproof paper (baking parchment) on the base.

Pre-heat the oven to 180ºC (Gas Mark 4).

Mix together the flour, spices (Ginger & Cinnamon), Baking powder and Salt.

Cream the butter and sugar together, add the vanilla extract, beat in the 4 eggs, grate in the fresh root ginger. Then gradually add the flour mixture and milk a little at a time whilst continuing to mix. Once you get a smooth batter, pour into the loaf/cake tin. Tap the tin on the work surface a few times to bring any air bubbles up to the surface.

Depending on the heat efficiency of your oven, it can take between 45mins and 60mins. Use a skewer or a sharp knife to pierce through the cake to check if any mix stays on the blade, if it’s still wet then bake for longer. If you find the top of the cake is getting too brown, you can turn the heat down and leave to bake for longer.

Once baked, remove from the oven and allow to cool in the tin for 30mins or more. Turn out the cake onto a cooling rack and allow to cool for a further 30mins. Cut across the cake horizontally and separate the two layers.

Lemon Curd
Place a heat proof bowl over a saucepan of water (careful the water doesn’t touch the bottom of the bowl). Bring the water up to the boil and then turn down to a simmer.

Add the butter, sugar, lemon juice and lemon zest and whisk together until smooth and sugar begins to melt.
Lightly beat 1 whole egg and an additional egg yolk together in a cup. Add to the bowl over the pan and continue to stir until the curd thickens (should take approx 10mins).
Spread a layer of lemon curd onto the base layer of the cake, place on the top layer.
Dust with icing sugar and it’s ready to serve.

I'd imagine it would be tasty served with some warm vanilla custard. But it’s also fine just on its own with a cuppa!

Wednesday, 17 October 2012

Chocolate Macaroons with Orange Cream



Makes 24 (12 when sandwiched)  -  Preparation time - 1 hour  -  Cooking time - 20 min 
 

Ingredients


Macaroon (a.k.a.Pâté à macaron)
  • 200g Ground Almonds
  • 200g Icing Sugar
  • 60g Egg whites (approx 2 eggs)

Meringue
  • 60g Egg whites (approx 2 eggs)
  • 150g Caster Sugar
  • 3 tbsp water
  • 100g Dark 70% + cocoa Chocolate (You could also use 100% cocoa solid)
Cream filling
  • 200ml  of Whipping Cream
  • 50g White Chocolate
  • Zest of 1 Orange
  • 150g Icing sugar
  • Orange food colouring (optional)

Preparation
Cut two sheets of greaseproof paper (baking parchment) to cover the surface of two baking trays. Leave to one side until needed later.

Pre-heat your oven to 180ºC (Gas Mark 4), place the 2 baking trays in the oven and pre-heat those too.

Pâté  à macaron mixture
In a large bowl, blend together the ground almonds, icing sugar and 60g of your egg whites. Once combined leave to cool in the fridge while you prepare the meringue mixture.


Meringue mixture
Heat the water and sugar in a saucepan until the sugar is melted. Bring up to the boil (You can use a thermometer if you want to get it completely accurate – aiming for 115ºC).

In a separate bowl, whisk the remaining egg whites until frothy. Slowly add the sugar syrup (Warning! Be careful pouring hot sugar syrup, do not whisk while pouring, it may splash and burn). Once the syrup is all added, continue to whisk until it reaches a smooth white texture, keep whisking until stiff, it should form peaks as you remove the whisk from the mixture.

Chocolate Flavouring
In a small saucepan add a small amount of water, place a heatproof (pyrex) bowl over the top and melt the chocolate.

Macaroon mixture (3 previous stages combined)
Fold in the meringue mixture to the pate de almond, pour in the melted chocolate, stir until the mixture becomes smooth and combined.
Pour the mixture into a piping bag.

Baking
Remove the trays from the oven (remember to use an oven glove!). Place the greaseproof sheets on top. You may need to dab a small amount of mixture onto the baking tray to prevent the paper from sliding around.

Pipe out the mixture in small 4cm circles onto the paper, holding the bag upright and piping vertically from the centre of each circle. Try to leave a sufficient gap between each circle as they will expand as they settle on the tray. You should fit 12 per sheet. Leave to one side for 10mins, the mixture should settle and form a skin.

(* Apologies… I didn’t take a photo during piping, my hands were rather full at the time!)

Bake in the hot oven 180ºC (Gas Mark 4) for 8-12minutes.

Remove and allow to cool for at least 20mins before removing from the paper. Allow to cool for longer before piping the cream inside.

Cream filling
Melt the white chocolate in a bowl over a pan of water (as before). Whisk the cream, while adding the icing sugar until it becomes stiff, add the zest of the orange, and a few drops of orange food colouring (optional).

Add the cream to a piping bag and pipe onto the base of each macaroon, then sandwich together another macaroon.

Finally dust with icing sugar and serve.

They are perfect served after dinner with coffee, or an afternoon teatime treat.


(* As you'll notice from the photos, for some added texture and flavour, I also crumbled some honeycomb over the cream filling before sandwiching together)
 


Tuesday, 16 October 2012

Cinder Toffee a.k.a. Honeycomb

Cinder Toffee a.k.a. Honeycomb



This is a great autumnal sweet treat, great eaten just on its own, or is fantastic crumbled into some vanilla ice cream. With its golden autumn colour, a brittle crunch and sticky toffee after taste. It’s a very quick and easy recipe requiring few ingredients. Bring on the bonfire season!

Cinder Toffee

Ingredients

80g Butter
160g Caster Sugar
80g Golden Syrup
2 tsp Bicarbonate of Soda

1 tblsp Vegetable Oil (to grease a baking tray)

Grease a baking tray with some oil, or you can add a sheet of greaseproof paper as I have done.

Choose a medium sized saucepan, preferably one with a thick base that can hold the heat.

On a low heat, add the butter and sugar to the pan, when combined and both starting to melt, add the golden syrup and mix together.


 Once combined and the sugar has melted, turn up the heat from a simmer to boil and until the contents begin to bubble. When it has reached the desired colour of golden brown you want, turn off the heat. 


Quickly add the Bicarbonate of Soda and stir vigorously, it will go light and fluffy in a matter of seconds. Warning! It will expand very quickly.

Empty the contents of the pan onto your greased baking tray. Allow to cool for at least 15mins before tipping out of the tray, it may require cooling a bit more before you can start to cut up into pieces.


Enjoy with a cup of coffee, or serve as a sweet and crunchy addition to ice cream.




Monday, 24 September 2012

Spinach, Feta and Pistachio Tartlets




(makes 6 small or 4 medium size tartlets)



Preparation time – 30mins
Cooking time – 20mins

Well, it seems the weather forecasters got it right. And Saturday was seeminlgy the last day of summer. While the sun was still shining, I thought I'd make some late summer tartlets to take to friends as a starter for dinner in the evening. 

So here are my little tasty tartlets that are the ideal size for a starter, or a light lunch. They're best served warm from the oven (but can be eaten cold) with some onion marmalade/chutney and a lightly dressed rocket salad on the side.

Ingredients

Short Crust Parmesan Pastry
250g Plain Flour
125g Butter
1 egg
5-10g grated Parmesan
pinch of salt (optional as parmesan is quite salty)

Tartlet Filling
100g Feta cheese
1 red onion
30g Spinach
20g Pistachios
5 eggs

Salt and Pepper
pinch of mixed herbs or sprig of fresh mint


Pastry

Crumble together the butter and flour until a breadcrumb texture forms. Add grated parmesan, pinch of salt and 1 egg. Work with hands until it combines into a dough/pastry. Lightly flour a clean surface. Roll out until 5mm thick and cut into circles a little larger than the tartlet tin, or mini pie tins work just as well. (I use Kuhn Rikon mini round pie dishes)

Line tins with the pastry, pressing firmly into the base and corners. Prick the bases with a fork to prevent bubbles from forming. Leave to cool in the fridge for 20mins before placing in a pre-heated oven.

Bake for 12mins @ 180ºC (Gas Mark 4)

Remove from the oven and allow to cool to one side while preparing the filling.



Tartlet filling

Finely slice the red onion, crumble the feta, crush the pistachios and finely chop the spinach and sprinkle a little of each ingredient into each pastry case.

Crack 5 eggs into a jug, and beat lightly. Season with some salt and pepper, add some dried mixed herbs or finely chopped mint, and pour over the contents of the tartlets.



Bake for 15-20mins @ 180ºC (Gas Mark 4) until golden and bubbling.


Remove from the oven and serve while still warm. Best served with onion chutney/marmalade and rocket salad.

You could even adapt the recipe, and use a 12 x muffin/cupcake tin, and make miniature versions to serve as canapés.


Sunday, 10 June 2012

Spicy Jerk and Ginger Chicken with Mango Salsa

Spicy Jerk & Ginger Chicken with Mango Salsa

Summer time usually means one thing… barbeques (weather permitting of course)! After a while we all get a little sick and tired of the usual burgers and bangers, this is an alternative that is sure to tickle the taste buds. Taking a bit of inspiration from the flavours of the Caribbean, here is a spicy jerk and ginger chicken recipe, with mango and sweetcorn salsa served with sweet potato wedges. It’s a great mix of flavours, the hint of spice of the sticky marinated jerk and ginger chicken and the fresh zingy mango salsa is surprisingly complimentary, not to mention the contrast between hot and cold.


Preparation time approx 1 hr
 
Cooking time approx 30 mins

Ingredients:
 
  • 400g Chicken (any cut you prefer, breast/thighs/legs).
  • 1 inch piece of Root Ginger
  • 1 x Lime
  • 1 tin of Sweetcorn
  • 1 Mango
  • 2 Red Chillies
  • 2 x Sweet Potatoes (or approx 1 per person)
  • 1 clove of Garlic
  • 2 tbl spn Jerk seasoning
  • 2 tbl spn Honey
  • 1 pinch of Cayenne
  • Olive oil
  • handful of fresh Coriander

Method:
If cooking on skewers slice chicken into bite size pieces, or if cooking whole breast fillets, butterfly cut them so they cook evenly throughout, place into an oven dish, dry rub the meat with the jerk seasoning. For the marinade, finely chop the garlic and one of the chillies, grate the ginger and zest and juice half of the lime, add the honey, spread over the chicken, then add 4 tbl spns of olive oil or until the meat is lightly coated. Leave in the fridge for minimum 30mins, or ideally for around 2+ hours.

While waiting for the marinade to infuse you can start on the salsa. Start by peeling and deseeding the mango then finely chop and tip into a bowl, drain the sweetcorn and add to the mango. Deseed and finely chop the other red chilli, zest and juice the other half of the lime, chop a large handful of fresh coriander then mix everything together in a bowl and place in the fridge until ready to serve.

Peel and slice the sweet potatoes into wedges, coat in olive oil and season with the cayenne pepper, bake in the oven for 15-20 mins @ 200°C (Gas Mark 5), or if barbequing, parboil for 2-3 mins and finish on the barbeque.

Remove the chicken from the fridge and cook on the barbeque, or alternatively, you can always grill or even fry in a pan if the weather doesn’t play ball.

Once the chicken is cooked through and the marinade starts to caramelise, you’re ready to plate up with the sweet potato and mango salsa.