Tag: Baking

Chocolate Espresso Biscotti

~ Emme ~ Leave a comment

I adore coffee, there are few smells that make me as happy as the smell of coffee. I can understand why people have coffee addictions (myself included) and how the aroma truly makes or breaks ones morning. Luckily, I now live in a country that is equally passionate about coffee, good coffee. When I came across this recipe, I knew it was for me. Biscotti is a twice baked Italian cookie, normally Im very American when it comes to cookies, the softer the better. However, I am prepared to sacrifice my soft cookie preference for a good biscotti.

I’ve started sending home baked treats with my colleagues to give to their partners, sharing is caring and honestly I think its cute and very undutch. One of the partners was so impressed with this ‘cookie’, that he emailed me to thank me and sent me the link to the Dutch version of the Bake Off. Whilst I was flattered, I politely declined. Its always nice when individuals appreciate your baking and being entirely honest, I even impressed myself with this baked treat!

Chocolate Espresso Biscotti

Makes: 30ish 1 inch cookies  Prep time: 10 mins  Cook time: 2 X 30 mins  Total time: 80+ mins

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Required Ingredients:

  • 2 cups (256g) plain flour
  • ½ cup (50g) cocoa powder
  • 2 teaspoons instant espresso powder
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • 2 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1.5 cup (230g) dark chocolate chopped 
  • 1/2 cup (113g) butter, room temperature
  • 1 cup (200g) granulated sugar
  • 2 large eggs
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
  • 1 cup chocolate coffee beans (or a chocolate covered coffee bean works) with 30ish reserved to decorate with
  • 1/2 cup (100g) white chocolate

Now how to make these delightful espresso twice baked cookies:

1. Pre-heat oven to 300 F (150C), line two baking sheets with greaseproof/parchment paper.
2. In the bowl of your food processor, combine the flour, cocoa powder, espresso powder, salt, baking powder, and 3/4 cup of chopped dark chocolate. Pulse until the chocolate is ground into the flour mixture, set aside.
3. In the bowl, cream the butter and then add in the sugar, mixing until creamed together. Add in the eggs and vanilla, mix until combined.
4. Now stir in the chocolate flour mixture just until combined, use a wooden spoon to ensure that you did not over it. I left quite a bit of flour around the sides, knowing that I still had the chocolate and expresso beans to mix in. Stir in the remaining 3/4 chopped dark chocolate and chocolate espresso beans.
5. On the parchment/greaseproof paper,  divide the dough in half and form two logs, leaving at least a 4 inch gap, be warned, they will spread whilst baking! Shape your logs so that they are smooth, even and vaguely the same shape/size.
6. Bake for 30 minutes, the logs should be firm but not hard. Allow them to cool for at least 15/25 minutes before moving them to a wire rack. I was overly keen and managed to crack mine in half in trying to move it too soon. I left mine to cool for about an hour, as the crack put me off.
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7. On a cutting board using a serrated knife, cut slices of ½-1 inches (if the slices are overly crumbly, allow the loaf cool a little longer, they will be somewhat crumby). Lay the the slices back on the parchment/greaseproof paper and bake for 30 minutes until the surface of the cookies is dry ( though the chocolate and chocolate espresso beans will be melty).

8. Melt your white chocolate (I was being lazy and opted for the microwave at 30 second blasts until melted) and using a piping bag or freezer bag with the corner cut off, drizzle the white chocolate over your cookies. I then decorated them with chocolate espresso beans I put to the side.
9. Allow the chocolate to ‘harden’ and store in an airtight container.

 

Remember to share with friends and enjoy!

 

Zucchini Bread

~ Emme ~ Leave a comment

Is it a zucchini or a courgette? Its both, in America, its zucchini, in the rest of the world, its a courgette. No matter what you call it, you’ve probably eatten it as a vegetable in a savoury way. I enjoy challenging the pallet and the mind and baking sweet things with zucchini, from breads to brownies. I thought I’d pass the idea by my Dutch colleagues, of ‘what do you think of zucchini bread?’, I then explained it was sweet with a lot of cinnamon. They thought it was a weird idea but that they were willing to sacrifice themselves as my ‘proefkonijns’ (guinea pigs). Luckily everyone has pleasantly surprised, despite pulling faces that suggested they really didn’t want to try it, (un)fortunately I refuse to leave my colleagues desks until they have taken a piece. I’m never really bothered by if they like what I make or not but I insist that they try it. 

I searched various different recipes and came across different ideas that I was able to combine into one. This is a combination of best zucchini bread with a crumb topping.

Zucchini Bread

Makes: 2 loaves  Prep time: 20 mins Bake time: 45-60 mins Total time: 65+ mins

Ingredients:

For the bread:

  • Butter and flour for preparing baking pans
  • 3 cups (384g) plain flour
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 2 teaspoon baking soda
  • 2 teaspoon baking powder
  • 3 teaspoons ground cinnamon
  • 1/2 tsp ground ginger
  • 1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
  • 3½ cups (500g) grated zucchini, with the excess liquid removed
  • 3 eggs
  • ½ cup (127g) apple sauce (I used pear butter or you could also use apple butter)
  • ½ cup (118ml) vegetable oil
  • 2¼ cups (450g) granulated sugar
  • 4 teaspoons vanilla extract
  • 1 cup (125g) chopped pecans

For the crumb topping:

  • 1/2 cup (60g) all-purpose flour
  • 1/2 cup (100g) packed light or dark brown sugar
  • 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • 1/4 cup (20g) old fashioned oats
  • 1/4 cup (60g) unsalted butter, melted

Now to make this deliciously sweet bread

1. Grate your zucchini (I used my food processor or rather I realised that my food processor had an attachment, got really excited and then used it) and then using a muslin/cheese cloth or similar cloth and remove/squeeze the excess liquid from the zucchini. Set aside.

2. Make the crumb topping: With a fork, mix the flour, brown sugar, oats, and cinnamon together in a small bowl. Stir in the melted butter. Don’t over-mix; you want crumbles that are flour-y! Set aside.

2. Preheat oven to 350°F (177°C). Butter and flour two loaf pan or line with parchment paper. Set aside.

3. Make the cake: In a large bowl beat the eggs. One the eggs are completely beat, add in the applesauce/pear butter, oil, sugar and vanilla extract.

4. Sift in the flour, salt, baking soda, baking powder and cinnamon. Stir gently to combine. Gently stir in shredded zucchini and nuts into the batter with a spatula or wooden spoon.

5. Pour half of the batter into each prepared pan. Top each loaf with the crumble topping. Bake for 45 to 60 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the centre of the loaf comes out cleanly. If you find that the crumble is burning or looks like its going to burn, cover the loaf pan with aluminium foil.

6. Allow to slightly cool in the pan and remove for cooling on a wire rack. It should be consumed within 3 days.

 

I forgot how much I enjoyed making this recipe years ago and then was reminded that it has autumn flavours in it. Lets be honest, summer is coming to an end and winter is most certainly the way, this is kind of a sweet reminder of whats to come. Sadly my crumble came out drier than I would have liked (I went a bit off piste from the recipe and regretted it before I set the bowl side) but it was still nice and gave the bread a sweet bite.

I absolutely loved that my colleagues kept telling me that every though they could see the green from the zucchini, they couldn’t taste it. Much like pumpkin, zucchini tastes of whatever you season/flavour it with. A few colleagues even took pieces home for their partners to try it. I think it’s funny/great how many husbands I’m now giving Monday treats to!

Remember to share with your friends, family and colleagues 🙂 

Breakfast muffins

~ Emme ~ Leave a comment

I love a muffin! Sweet or savoury, they are filling and can be either a meal or a snack. Muffins aren’t really done here in the Netherlands. You see them occasionally and if you see them, its like super standard (boring) flavours, blueberry or chocolate.

I was thinking of what I could take in to my colleagues that would be filling and healthy, well as healthy as I make anything. I was thinking maybe a carrot cake in a muffin or something similar and came across a recipe for Morning Glory Muffins, naturally I’ve taken it, adjusted it and changed it. Heres my creation, Breakfast Muffins, approved by my Dutch colleagues, who now look forward to Mondays or as they now call it ‘cake day’. I have created Monday monsters, if I fail to bring something in on a Monday, I get looks and ‘What? No cake?!’. I don’t mind but I feel like it goes to show how much I’ve changed my office but I am truly grateful that I am no longer asked if it’s my birthday.

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Breakfast Muffins

Makes: 12 large muffins   Prep time: 30 mins Bake time: 25 mins per batch Total time: 80ish mins

Ingredients:

  • 1/2 cup (75g) raisins
  • 1/2 cup (120ml) orange juice
  • 2 cups (260g) plain flour
  • 1 tablespoon baking soda
  • 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
  • 1/2 teaspoon ginger
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1/3 cup (35g) ground flax (optional)
  • 1/2 cup (64g)  chopped pecans
  • 3 large eggs
  • 1/2 cup (100g) packed dark brown sugar
  • 1/4 cup (85g) honey
  • 1/3 cup (80ml) vegetable or sunflower oil
  • 1/3 cup (60g) pear butter or applesauce
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 2 cups (260g) shredded carrots (about 4 large)
  • 1 cup (140g) grated apple (I did 2 apples)

Now to make these delicious muffins:

1. In a saucepan, combine the raisins and orange juice and bring to the boil and allow to boil until the liquid has evaporated, this will take 3-5 minutes. Set to the side.

2. Whilst your raisins are plumping up, grate your apples and carrots. I wont lie, this is time consuming and the least exciting part of making this recipe. If I had been clever I would have used the grating attachment on my food processor, needless to say I didn’t even consider this option.

3. Preheat your oven to 425°F (218°C) and line a 12-count muffin pan with cupcake liners.

4. In a medium bowl, whisk the eggs. Add in the brown sugar, honey, oil, pear butter/applesauce and vanilla together until combined.

5. To the wet mixture add in the dry ingredients, flour, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, salt, flax, and pecans together until just combined. Now add in the raisins, carrots, and apple. Fold everything together gently just until combined and no visible flour remain.

6. Spoon the batter into liners, filling them 3/4 of the way full. Bake for 5 minutes at 425°F  (225°C), keeping the muffins in the oven, reduce the oven temperature to 350°F (177°C). Bake for an additional 18 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. The total time these muffins take in the oven is about 25 minutes. Allow the muffins to cool for 10 minutes in the muffin pan, then transfer to a wire rack to cool until ready to eat.

I doubled the recipe and made 24 delicious cupcakes.

Notes: I used my pear butter because I have it and it added loads of amazing flavour, you can use applesauce but I seriously recommend pear butter for something a bit special.

I hope you enjoy these as much as much as my colleagues did!

Remember to share for with your friends, family or colleagues 🙂

 

Banana Bread

~ Emme ~ 2 Comments

I really love cookbooks, I have two types, the first being the cookbooks that seemed like a good idea at the time to buy but when Im looking for inspiration I never find anything I want to make but they look pretty. The second type is the cook book that I go back to over and over and over again.

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I have one recipe thats absolutely covered in butter, pureed things, possibly egg and everything else in between thats called for in the recipe, which shows how much I adore this recipe and cook book. This is my go to banana bread recipe, which have proven a hit time and again. In the UK its called banana cake, cake it is not but in the US and to me it will always be banana bread. I made it this weekend for my colleagues and all 16 pieces went ridiculously quickly and I didn’t even get a piece! You could even say they went bananas for it (pun completely intended). Several colleagues have now asked for the recipe or rather my version of the recipe, Im really great at taking a base recipe and changing it to suit my taste.

This cake tastes better if you let it sit for 2-3 days, as the flavour develops. It will be very hard to resist temptation, so go on and have a piece but honestly you will be able to taste the difference over the days.

Banana Bread

Makes: 16 small to medium portions   Prep time: 10 mins Bake time: 45-60 mins Total time: 70 mins tops

Ingredients:

  • 1 cup (200g) sugar
  • 2 eggs
  • 2/3 cup (150g) margarine or butter (butter is always better!)
  • 4 teaspoons buttermilk
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 2-4 teaspoons cinnamon
  • 1/4 cup (50g) brown sugar
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla flavouring
  • 1 cup mashed over ripe bananas (which is 3 medium sized bananas and you REALLY want them over ripe)
  • 1 1/2 C (192g) self raising flour

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Now to make this truly amazingly yummy bread

  1. Preheat the over to 350F/180C, grease with butter or line a pan with greaseproof paper. (I used a 10in square silicone pan)
  2. Mash your bananas, I always start off with a fork and then move to a food mixer. Having overly ripe bananas makes this much easier to do with a fork. Once your banana is mashed, add in the cinnamon. Set aside. As you can see from my ingredients photo, I had 2 super ripe bananas but I was short a banana and used a not so ripe one to make up the ingredients.

3. Combine the eggs and margarine and mix until combined. Add in the sugars and bananas (I then added in more cinnamon).

4. Add in half your flour and baking soda, mix until just combined, then add in the buttermilk and mix. Add in the remaining flour until just combined.

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5. Bake in a greased/lined pan for up to 1 hour, check it with a toothpick that comes out clean. I made a large banana bread for the office and then a small one for a friend who has never had it before (2 birds, 1 stone). The large bread took 45 mins and the small one like 20 mins.

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6. Allow to cool on a wire rack and store in a air tight container for up to 5 days. Seriously remember to allow the bread to sit for a few days for the flavour to develop, its so worth it!

 

Edits: You can add nuts to this, I would go with pecans personally but walnuts also work (I just find them bitter). If you do not have buttermilk, you can make your own, use 3 teaspoons of milk and add in 1 teaspoon of vinegar or lemon juice and allow to sit for 5 minutes.

Remember to share with friends (or colleagues) and enjoy! 🙂

Gluten Free Rum Raisin Carrot Cake

~ Emme ~ Leave a comment

I recently discovered I am married to my job, Ive been doing crazy hours and I have actively started getting into my office for 6:20 each morning. Sometimes you have a realisation and realise its not for fun or giggles and that if I want to be married, it shouldn’t be to the corporate world.  However, this also means that my time is taken up working and not blogging, although I still make time to bake for work each week.

Someone recently asked me why I dont take ‘pretty pictures’ of the food that I make, I laughed. I replied,’ for the same reason that I dont take pretty selfies, I know Im pretty and more importantly I know that my food tastes amazing.’ Theres nothing worse than seeing pretty food and tasting it and it having no flavour or substance. So you get less than pretty pictures and tutorials of food that is tried, tested and tasted and approved not only by me but also by my colleagues who are my guinea pigs or as they tell me in Dutch ‘proefkonijns’, which literally translate into ‘experiment bunnies’. This is what I love about the Dutch language, it doesn’t translate literally very well.

One of my favourite spirits in Rum, we are really good friends (probably too good) and what I like about Rum most is that it doesn’t give me hangovers (for the win!). When I came across this recipe, I knew I wanted to try it and improve it.  There is no rum taste in the cake, as its all cooked out, which actually felt like a let down and honestly I think Id make it alcohol free next time (and just drink the rum instead) and substitute orange juice instead for a more citrus taste.

Gluten Free Rum Raisin Carrot Cake

Makes: 16-20 portions   Prep time: 20-30 mins Bake time: 30-60 mins Total time: 90 mins

Ingredients:

  • 3 tbsp pine nuts
  • 2 (200-250g) medium carrots
  • 1/3C (75g) raisins
  • 1/4 C (60ml) rum (or use orange juice)
  • 3/4C (150g) caster sugar
  • 1/2C (125ml) regular olive oil
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • 3 eggs
  • 2 C (250g) ground almonds
  • 2 tsps ground cinnamon
  • ½ tsp ground nutmeg, or to taste
  • ½ lemon, finely grated zest and juice (optional – I left it out, mostly because I didnt have a lemon on hand)

Now to make this yummy gluten free cake:

1. Preheat the oven to 180C/350F. Line the base of a 9in round springform cake tin with re-usable non-stick silicone liner or baking parchment and grease the sides with olive oil. I used a silicone pan and made my own life easier 🙂

2. Toast the pine nuts by browning them in a dry frying pan, watch them to ensure that they do not burn. This will take approximately 3-5 minutes. Set aside. (clearly I did a lot more than the 3 tbsps as I was roasting for multiple recipes)

3. Grate the carrots with a coarse grater (sadly my processor is broken but if you have one, use it), then sit them on a double layer of kitchen paper and wrap them kind of wringing them out to soak up excess liquid. Set aside.

4. Place the raisins in a small saucepan with the rum, bring to the boil, then turn down and simmer for 3 minutes.

5. Whisk the sugar and oil until creamily and airily mixed. Add in the vanilla extract and eggs, whisking well, fold in the ground almonds, nutmeg, grated carrots, raisins (with any rum that clings to them) and the lemon zest and juice (which I left out).

6. Pour the mixture into the prepared cake pan and smooth the surface. Sprinkle the toasted pine nuts over the cake (I also threw on some chopped pecans because I had them and well, why not?) and bake it for 30–40 minutes, or until the top is risen and golden and a skewer inserted into the centre comes out sticky but more or less clean.

7. Turn out on a wire rack and allow to cool completely. Cut into slices, store in a air tight container and ideally should be consumed within three (3) days.

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I have to say that I was pleasantly surprised with this cake. Normally almond meal can be a bit grainy in texture but it wasn’t as bad as I had anticipated. My colleagues really enjoyed it, even though it didnt taste of rum.

Remember to share with friends (or colleagues) and enjoy! 🙂

Chocolate Pine Nut Tart

~ Emme ~ Leave a comment

I was recently made an honorary Dutch citizen, sounds exciting, right? Yeah, this means I was hit by a car whilst on my bike (if it weren’t for bad luck, I’d literally have no luck at all). Luckily it wasn’t my fault even though the car driver really wanted me to think that it was (insert several expletives) but it most certainly bruised my ego more than my legs (which were most certainly 50 shades of bruising). Im very lucky that I wasn’t seriously hurt, my legs were covered in bruises and I broke a nail (which upset me more than the bruising). I naturally heal slowly, so being covered in bruises whilst the weather has been nice has added insult to injury, all I really wanted to do is get out my lovely bronzed legs and show them off and three weeks later I was still in black tights. Ive now shed the tights, with a bit of bruising to show my roadkill survival.

One of my colleagues brought me a load of pine nuts on the basis ‘you bake, make something sweet with these’! Awesome… was not the first thought that I had. Ive never worked with pine nuts and was slightly clueless, however, this did not deter me. I have the ultimate sweet tooth and love a challenge to make new sweet things.

My Pinterest search began and I came across this awesome recipe, Chocolate Tart with Pine Nuts and decided to jazz it up and make it more to my taste.  Heres the step by step tutorial on how to make this rich chocolate tart, which was enjoyed by many colleagues. They seriously love the fact that every Monday I bring in something different, new and something that most of them have never tried.

Chocolate Pine Nut Tart

Makes: 8-12 portions   Prep time: 3.5 hours Bake time: 25 mins Total time: 4 hours approx

Crust ingredients:

  • 1 cup (128g) all-purpose flour
  • 1/2 cup (43g) unsweetened cocoa powder
  • 1 cup (100g) ground almonds
  • 1/2 cup (67g) ground toasted pine nuts
  • 1/4 cup (35g) toasted pine nuts
  • 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
  • 1 cup (225g) unsalted butter, at room temperature
  • 3/4 cup (150g) granulated sugar
  • 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
  • 1 teaspoon dried instant espresso grounds

Chocolate filling ingredients:

  • 6 ounces (150g) dark chocolate
  • 4 large eggs
  • 1/3 cup (40g) granulated sugar
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • Pinch sea salt 
  • 1 shot espresso

Now to make this very nice and delicious tart:

For the crust:

1. Grind the pine nuts down, I found that they went into a paste, which was unexpected but understandable (and made a bloody awful mess in my coffee grinder). I would suggest maybe using a pestle and mortar to grind the pine nuts down.

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2. In a bowl, beat the butter and sugar on medium speed until fluffy. Add in the flour, cocoa, ground almonds, pine nuts (ground and whole), dried espresso and sea salt, mix at low speed until combined.

3. Roll the dough between sheets of parchment (greaseproof) paper to about 1/8-inch thickness. Refrigerate for a minimum of2 hours or overnight.

4. Once your dough has chilled, preheat the oven to 350°F (180° C). Coat a 10-inch tart or springform pan with a removable bottom with butter or line a springform pan with greaseproof paper (like I did).

5. Carefully press the dough onto the bottom and sides of the pan (not going to lie, this was beyond tricky and difficult for me). Bake for 15 minutes (I let mine go for 25 mins because it just didnt look ‘done), until firm to the touch. Be prepared – the crust will slouch/fall down the edge of the pan a little as it bakes. Remove from the oven and allow to cool whilst making your chocolate filling.

For the chocolate filling

6. Melt the chocolate slowly over a bain marie (double boiler). Remove from the heat and let it cool slightly.

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7. Using an electric mixer (or kitchen mixer) whip the eggs and sugar on high speed until very pale and thick, about 5 minutes. Add in the vanilla, espresso shot and sea salt. Gently fold a third of the egg mixture into the chocolate just until incorporated to lighten the mixture, then gently fold in the remaining egg mixture.

8. Immediately pour the filling over the cooled crust and bake for 20 to 25 minutes, until puffed and set. A skewer or toothpick stuck into the center of the tart should show some crumbs but not a runny filling. Let cool before slicing into wedges.

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9. Refrigerate any cake that you do not eat and consume within 3 days, if it lasts that long!

 

Verdict: Im not going to lie, it was a LOT of effort that took hours to make and the taste was like a very rich brownie. You cant taste the coffee, as it just enhances the chocolate flavour, which is amazing. Part of me was like, ‘seriously, its just easier to make brownies’ but my colleagues were very impressed and asked for the recipe. I get the feeling once they realise how much effort it takes, they will be less keen to make it. Having said that, it did make an absolutely awesome Monday treat in the office.

Remember to share with friends (or colleagues) and enjoy! 🙂

Loaded chocolate chip cookies

~ Emme ~ Leave a comment

I honestly believe in starting off the week right by taking sweet treats to work on a Monday, true story! Mondays are pretty awful and anything you can do to make them better, do it! Ive been doing this for years if not well over a decade now. British colleagues thought it was great and never questioned the motive behind the baked good because well free baked goods. Dutch colleagues, this is a different matter and every week they ask me if its my birthday, as apparently you only bring something to the office if its your birthday. I find this entire concept strange, bringing in your own cakes for your birthday, I dont know, it seems slightly usual and kind of cruel. I think I will soon quit explaining its not my birthday and just say ‘yes’ every week instead.

Whats the difference between a biscuit and a cookie? This is only ever a question asked in the UK and possibly Europe but absolutely never asked in the States. Cookies are soft and slightly fluffy, generally melt in your mouth when you eat them. Biscuits (I refer to the British edible) is a very hard cookie that you are forced to dunk into tea/coffee to make it soft enough to chew without damaging any dental work. Given that my childhood was in the States, I prefer cookies and find British biscuits, well, sad.

I happened across these cookies and kind of feel in love with them, they are fully pimped out chocolate chip cookies that are over loaded everything but the kitchen sink.

Overloaded everything but the kitchen sink chocolate chip cookies

Makes: 25 cookies   Prep time: 15 mins Bake time: 12 mins per batch Total time: 60 mins approx

Required Ingredients:

  • 1.5 (195g) cups flour
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 3/4 cup (170g) butter, at room temperature
  • 3/4 cup (150g) Caster sugar
  • 3/4 cup (150g) brown sugar
  • 2 eggs
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla
  • 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • 1.5 cups (265g) semisweet chocolate chips
  • 1.5 cups (135g) old fashioned oatmeal
  • 1 cups (60g) toasted coconut
  • 3/4 cup (95g) chopped pecans
  • 1 box (4oz/113g) Reese’s Pieces

Now to make these super delicious cookies

1. Preheat the oven to 180C/350F and line a baking/cookie sheet with parchment/greaseproof paper.

2. In large bowl or kitchen mixer, beat your room temperature butter until soft. Gradually add in the sugars and mix until light and fluffy. (this is me forgetting to take a picture when between putting in the caster sugar and the brown sugar)

Making cookie dough
Making cookie dough

 

3. Add in the eggs, vanilla and cinnamon. Mix until fully combined. Technically you should add in the eggs one at a time but Im lazy and think its easier just to chuck them all in.20180415_150537

4. If using a kitchen mixer or electric mixer, switch over to a wooden spoon at this point. Stir in the flour and salt until just combined ( I forgot the cinnamon in the previous step, hence the extra brown colour). You NEVER want to over mix a cookie dough, as this can create hard cookies (or the ultimate insult, it can your your cookie into a biscuit, OH THE HORROR).

Overloaded everything but the kitchen sink chocolate chip cookies
Overloaded everything but the kitchen sink chocolate chip cookies

5. Stir in chocolate chips, oats, coconut, Reeces Pieces and pecans. Mix until just combined and no more (see note above).

Overloaded everything but the kitchen sink chocolate chip cookies
Overloaded everything but the kitchen sink chocolate chip cookies
Overloaded everything but the kitchen sink chocolate chip cookies

6. I use a medium sized ice cream scoop for cookie portioning, as this allows for each portion to be roughly the same weight and size. Otherwise use two large tablespoons and place cookie dough 3 inches apart on baking sheet. The dough is super wet/sticky, so dont try rolling it between your hands, you’ll just make a mess. I do also flatten the tops slightly with a spoon. As you can see Im rather heavy handed with my scoop and rarely are my cookies ever the same weight/size/shape etc, I like to think they are all unique differently with a homemade look about them.

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7. Bake for 12 minutes or until the edges are lightly browned. The middles should appear slightly under done. Remove cookies from rack to cool.

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These are the super delicious overloaded everything but the kitchen sink chocolate chip cookies. I have to say Im kind of impressed with myself and these cookies. My colleagues and friends also liked them, so Id say these are a bit of a success.

Notes: I dont use baking powder or baking soda in my cookies, as this makes them too fluffy and more cake like than cookie like. You can also make an adult version of this cookie buy mixing in 1 shot of espresso into the batter, which will enhance the flavour. You can substitute peanut butter chips for the Reece’s Pieces. You can basically throw in anything you like to this recipe, such as dried banana chips, chopped up pretzels, or even mini marshmallows.

Remember to share with friends and enjoy! 🙂

 

 

 

Pumpkin pie from scratch

~ Emme ~ Leave a comment

This is one of those instances where I happily go to back to my American roots. I scream, you scream…oh wait, no, no, wrong edible reference. Its autumn, the leaves are turning and there is a chill in the air, you see pumpkins in the stores, at the markets and on peoples porches. Yeah, they are a cute carved decoration but even better to eat! You start to think of ways to ensure that your pumpkins don’t go to waste.  The great thing about pumpkins is that they dont taste of much, so you can flavour them any way you like.

I love pumpkin pie, I mean I LOVE it, there is just nothing else quite like it, the taste, the texture and the feel of autumn and the holidays that it brings to you. I’ve said it once and I’ll said it again, I HATE recipes that are not really recipes. ‘Whats this non recipe – recipe?’ You ask… In this instance the ‘recipe’ would call for 1 unbaked pie crust and 1 can of ready-made pumpkin pie filling.  You see this all the time on Pinterest, like cake recipes that call for 1 box cake mix… Whilst these are recipes, just very bad ones, there are no elements of anything required, I mean even the FUN is left out of this. Ok, I’ll admit it, I’m jealous of places where such ingredients are available and you aren’t forced to bake from scratch. However, I am not in a country where such ready made ingredients exist and have to bake from scratch which lead me to making my own EVERYTHING from scratch this time round. I have no problem with cheating, in the UK I could get a short pastry and do everything else from scratch, fake baking I called it but no more fake baking for me! I can now say that I made my own short crust pastry and whilst it wasn’t perfect, it was an edible imperfection.  This recipe does take time, hours, and patience but it’s totally worth it. Oh and I successfully introduced 3 people (Hungarian, Vietnamese, and Dutch) to the amazingness that is Pumpkin Pie this week, which I think makes me a Pumpkin Pie Converter 🙂

Pumpkin Pie (with pumpkin filling and short crust pastry from scratch)

Makes: 1 large 10in pie Prep time: 1 hour  Cooking time: 50-55mins Overall time: 2 hours

For the Pumpkin pie mixture:

  • 2 cups (450g) pumpkin puree
  • 1 tin (14oz or 397g) sweetened condensed milk
  • 1 teaspoon cinnamon (I’ll be honest and use at least 2 and then in some extra for good luck, I LOVE cinnamon)
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground mixed spice
  • 2 large eggs
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt

For the short crust pastry:

  • 1 1/2 cups (192g) plain flour
  • 1/2 cup (125g) unsalted butter
  • 1 egg yolk, lightly whisked
  • 1/4 cup (60ml) ice chilled water
  • 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
  • 3 teaspoons sugar
  • extra flour for dusting

First we will work on the pumpkin element of the pie, as it need to cool while we are making the crust.

For the pumpkin puree:

I cheated and used pre prepared pumpkin (I know I made a big stink about cheating at the top but this is hardly cheating). If using a pumpkin in its original round form, cut it down, remove all the seeds and strings. Before you start cutting it into chunks, get your vegetable peeler out and peel the pumpkin. Be warned that the skin is tough! Once the skin is removed, cut into chunks.

Place your diced pumpkin into a steamer and steam until tender, which shouldn’t take more than 20 minutes.

Once your pumpkin is tender, put in food processor to puree until smooth. Now get a strainer out and put over a bowl. Pour the pureed pumpkin into the strainer to allow the excess water to drain, allow to drain until no more water comes out, this will take a few minutes. This is vital to the recipe, as the excess water will RUIN this recipe, making it far to watery to set.

Purreeing pumpkin
Step by step tutorial to making pumpkin pie
Removing the excess water from pumpkin

Once the pumpkin has drained, put it on a shallow dish for at least 20 minutes to cool. (If you use hot pumpkin to make the mixture, it will scramble and cook your eggs before it even goes in the oven, which is not nice.)20171029_120501

Now onto the pastry element

Place flour, cinnamon, nutmeg and butter in a food processor and process until it resembles course breadcrumbs. Add in egg yolk and water and process until dough starts to come together and form large clumps.

 

Turn dough onto a lightly floured surface and knead until smooth. Do not overwork your dough at this stage, as it will make it tougher and cause it to shrink when baking. Pat it into a disk and cover in clingfilm. Leave it to rest for 15-30 minutes but no more than 30 minutes in the refrigerator.

Once your dough has rested, time to roll it out. On a very lightly floured surface with your 3 teaspoons of water, roll out the dough with a rolling pin until it is 3mm thick. I got my pan and checked it a few times to make sure it was big enough to go up the sides too. Any excess dough that goes over the edges of the pan, trim them off, fill in any gaps you might have with this dough.

Place a sheet of baking paper over the bottom of the pastry and fill with baking weights or rice (uncooked) before baking. Remove the weights halfway through the baking time. Bake the pastry in an oven preheated to 180 degrees celsius (350F) for approximately 15 minutes. You don’t want to completely cook the crust as it has another 40 minutes to go with the filling in, yes this does mean the base is undercooked but its FINE, I mean it’s not amazing or a unicorn flying over a rainbow but it works. Its kind of a pumpkin pie thing.

Now back to the pumpkin pie filling:

Preheat the oven to 425F (220C). Place your pumpkin puree in a bowl and mix in the sweetened condensed milk, eggs, spices, vanilla and salt. Mix until smooth. Pour into the crust. (Yes my eggs were double yolked and I did NOT add in 4 eggs, I have an entire box of double yoked eggs!)

Bake for 15 minutes at the high temperature and then reduce down to 350F (180C) for another 40 minutes. You want a knife inserted into the centre of the pie to come out clean. Allow to cool completely. When the pie comes out of the oven the top looks a bit puffy but as you can see it will naturally drop as it cools, this is NORMAL. Keep in refrigerator in an air tight container. This can serve with whipped cream.

If you’ve never had pumpkin pie, this will convert you. Pumpkin pie isn’t overly sweet, as you can see from the recipe hardly any actual sugar is added to it. Pumpkin doesn’t have much of a flavour and takes on the spices, leaving you a fantastic cinnamony treat. It is a lot of effort, as you can see, but TOTALLY worth it!

Notes: Why do I steam pumpkin and not boil it or roast it? Effectively I think steaming it gives the best flavour profile (for baking, which is generally what I use it for), boiling I feel boils the flavour out and with roasting, you normally have to add oil to the tray for them not to stick/burn and I find the pumpkin can adsorb the oil, which isn’t great for baking.

Remember to share with friends! 🙂

 

Peanut what? Peanut Butter!

~ Emme ~ Leave a comment

Learning to bake in the UK has been an experience for me and learning how to substitute ingredients for other ingredients has been a sharp learning curve. It turns out there really is no substitute for American peanut butter. Peanut butter from the UK and other European countries does not melt when cooked (which was a unique experience for me when I was desperately trying to get it to melt the first time). The answer is to buy in bulk (this makes my inner hoarder happy), I found out that my local Costco stocks American supplies in mega sizes (hooray) including Skippy Peanut Butter. Sometimes when you find a product you’ve not had access to, all you want to do it literally sit in the middle of the isle with your hand in the peanut butter and it smeared all over your face trying to eat it! Ill be honest, this wasn’t me but its absolutely what I wanted to do it.  Its exactly what I was doing in my head whilst at waiting in the line to buy it.

Here are some recipes that I recently made using peanut butter.

PBB

Peanut Butter Bread/Loaf

Makes: 1 loaf and 1 mini loaf   Prep time: 10 mins  Cook time: 50 for large loaf and 25-30 for mini loaf  Total time: 60 mins at most

Required Ingredients:

  • 1 cup (250g) creamy peanut butter, American!
  • 1/3 cup (75g) granulated sugar
  • 1/3 (75g) cup brown sugar
  • 2 eggs
  • 3/4 (180ml) cup milk
  • 1/2 (125g) cup sour cream
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • 2 (256g) cups all purpose flour
  • 1 tbsp baking powder
  • 1/4 tsp salt

Now how to make these yummy loafs:

1.Preheat the oven to 350º F. Spray a loaf pan with non-stick cooking spray, I use Fry Light spray.

2. In a large mixing bowl, beat together the peanut butter, sugar and brown sugar with an electric mixer until combined. 20170803_100048

3.Beat in the eggs. 20170803_100406

4. At this stage, it does look abit ‘gross’ but thats fine. Add the milk, sour cream and vanilla extract, mix briefly. 20170803_100851

5. Add the flour, baking powder, and salt, mixing with a spatula to prevent over mixing. 20170803_101145

Only mix just until just combined, you will see a few lumps and or some flour streaks. (this is half way mixed, if you have this much flour left, you still need to mix, it is NOT combined)20170803_101207

6. Pour into the loaf pan and bake for 48-52 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out with a few moist crumbs. You can add toppings on it, like I did, I went for dutch sprinkles! You can use banana chips, chocolate chips or anything you fancy.20170803_101617

7. Check the bread 10-15 minutes before its due to come out, if the top of the bread is browning too much, tent the loaf with aluminum foil and then continue baking until the bread is cooked. Or if you are concerned about the top of the load being too dry, tent the bread as well.

8. Allow the loaf to cool maybe 15-20 minutes before removing from the pan and placing on a cooling rack.  Allow the loaf to cool completely before slicing.

20170803_112218.jpg

 

Notes: This bread can be a bit dense, so absolutely have a drink available, a glass of milk works a treat! Also great if served with Nutella or more peanut butter.

 

Nutella Stuffed Peanut Butter Cookies

Makes: 24 stuffed cookies and 3 spare peanut butter ones   Prep time: 3 hours Cook time: 11 mins Total time: 6 hours but best done over 2 days Level: Not overly difficult but time consuming and a bit messy

Required Ingredients:

1/2 cup (220g ish) Nutella
1 3/4 cups (210g) all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon fine salt
1 1/2 sticks (175g) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/2 cup (100g) granulated sugar
1/2 cup(100g) packed light brown sugar
3/4 cup (190g) creamy peanut butter
1 large egg
1/2 teaspoon vanilla

NSPBC

Now how to make these double whammy cookies:

The night before you plan to bake! Do not skip this step, you will regret it and it will just add more time on later. The dough can also be made the night before and put in the refrigerator, this actually makes it much easier and less stickier to work with.

1. Line a baking sheet with greaseproof/parchment paper (I think aluminium would work too?). Using two teaspoons, spoon out 24 to 28 sized balls onto it and pop into the freezer.  I did 24 balls, as per below (as I ran out of Nutella) and then had enough dough that I just made 4 non stuffed cookies at the end.20170803_094153

2. In a large bowl, using an electric mixer, beat the butter and both sugars on medium-high speed until smooth (roughly 1 to 2 minutes).20170803_113110.jpg

3. Beat in the peanut butter until fully combined.20170803_113245

4. Beat in the egg and then the vanilla until combined. 20170803_113614

5. Now with a spatula, gently fold in the flour, salt, and baking soda. 20170803_114152

Using a spatula ensures that you do not over work the dough and combine until just combined.  20170803_114310.jpg

This is what it should look like, with small bits of flour let and not over worked.  I used a small ice cream scoop to ensure equal amounts of dough is used for each cookie.
20170803_114713.jpg

6. Take your very frozen Nutella out of your freezer, I used a small ice cream scoop and put a ball of dough in your hand (at this point you kind of need to work quickly to stop the Nutella from defrosting).20170803_115132.jpg

7. Flatten the dough, so that its roughly the same thickness throughout.20170803_115149

8. Take a ball of the Nutella and put it in the middle of the cookie dough, and start to wrap the cookie dough around the cookie, to ensure that there are no gaps and the Nutella is completely covered.  ( I decided to cheat and only had my Nutella in the freezer for an hour, this didn’t freezer it and I made 4 cookies, I put it in for another 3 hours, this allowed me to make 9 cookies, so I was constantly waiting for the Nutella to freeze, do yourself a favour and let it freeze over night. I also learnt that letting the dough ‘harden’ in the fridge helped a lot too and made the dough less stickier and easier to work with).
20170803_115204

9. The ‘finished’ cookie should look a bit like this, no obvious Nutella showing through.  Then just make the cookie slightly ‘prettier’ by rounding out the edges to give it more of a circular shape.  20170803_115223.jpg

10. Bake for approximately 11 minutes or until slightly browned. Allow the cookies to cool on the pan before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely. Serve immediately for gooey Nutella or store them in an airtight container for up to 4 days.
20170804_100723.jpg

Enjoy a yummy stuffed Nutella Stuff Peanut Butter cookie on its own or with a nice glass of milk.20170804_113513

 

Remember to share with friends and enjoy!

The Ultimate Crumble Bar

~ Emme ~ 2 Comments

Do you love crumbles or cobblers? Do you like things that come in a handy treat sized bar form? Then this is the perfect recipe for you, its a fruity crumble in a bar. TASTY and AWESOME! These can most certainly fall into the category of vegan and gluten free and because fruit is involved, I like to think it will hit at least one of your five a day (winning)!

What I love most about this recipe? You can interchange it with most fruits, fresh or frozen. Ive made them with cherries and mangos and both were winners. I often go for frozen fruit, as its available year around and in plentiful supply at my local Aldi freezer section, oh and cheaper than fresh more often than not.

This is a great treat for friends, families, colleagues and yourself! I tend to bake on Sundays so that my colleagues have a sweet treat on Mondays, I feel its a great way to start the week on what can otherwise be the worst day of the week. My colleagues LOVE these and are often a requested item.  They are also a great for kids!

Please note that I doubled the recipe below, hence basically double of everything in the pictures.

The Ultimate Crumble Bar

The Ultimate Crumble Bar

Makes: 1 9x13in Pyrex dish   Prep time: 15 mins  Cook time: 55-60mins  Total time: 75 mins

Required Ingredients:

For the crumble

  • 1/2 cup (125g) unsalted butter
  • 1 cup (128g) plain flour (you an also use gluten free flour)
  • 3/4-1 1/2 cup (105-150g) porridge oats
  • 1/2 cup (100g) caster sugar
  • 1/4 cup (50g) light brown sugar, packed
  • 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
  • 2 teaspoons xantham gum (if using gluten free flour)

Fruit Filling

  • 2 cups (200g) blueberries (or any fruit fresh or frozen; if using frozen don’t thaw)
  • 1/3 cup (66g) granulated sugar
  • 2 tablespoons lemon juice
  • 2 teaspoons cornstarch/cornflour
  • 1 tsp ground cinnamon

Now how to make these truly amazing crumble bars:

1.Preheat oven to 350F. Line an 8-inch square pan with greaseproof paper; put aside.

2. On the hob/stove top melt the butter (or use your microwave, I hate how inevitably it ‘pops’ and goes all over he microwave, so I find it cleaner to do on the hob).Melted butter.jpg

3. Whilst the butter is melting, in a bowl, combine the flour, oats, sugars, and cinnamon, stir to combine. Oats Mixture.jpg

4. Once the butter is melted, add to the flour and oat mixture. oats mixture.jpg

Mixture will be dry and sandy with some larger, well-formed crumble pieces. (Often I find that the mixture is still quite wet and add in another 1/2-1 cup of oats, which get it to the point of the picture below).  crumble bar mixture.jpg

5. Set 1 heaping cup mixture aside to be sprinkled on later as crumble topping.crumble bars

6. Transfer remaining mixture to prepared pan, and using a spatula or your hands, hard-pack the mixture to create an even, smooth, flat crust; set aside.20170717_150914

Once flattened, the bottom of your crust should be nice and uniform as below.20170717_151136

Now for the awesome fruit filling!

7. In a large mixing bowl (save on the washing and use the same you made the crust and crumble in), combine the lemon juice, sugar, cornstarch and cinnamon, stir until smooth. 20170717_151516

8. Add in your blueberries to the cornstarch mixture and stir to coat all the blueberries, this is what makes the filling extra unctuous and thick.  blueberry bars.jpg

9. Evenly scatter the blueberry mixture over the crust.20170717_152514

10. Take the last of your crumble mixture and evenly sprinkle over the blueberries. There should be chunky and thin bits in this mixture. 20170717_152715.jpg

11. Bake for about 55-60 minutes, or until edges are set and center has just set. Crumble topping should appear set and very pale golden. If using fresh berries, baking time will be less, take off a minimum of 15 minutes, possibly more. Watch the bars, not the clock, check on them from the 30 minute point onwards.blueberry crumble bars.jpg

Once out of the oven, allow to cool for at least 30 minutes, then move to a wire rack and allow bars to cool completely before slicing (you can even stick them in the fridge if you like). Dont rush the cooling process, cutting the bars before they’ve completely cooled leaves a crumble mess with many bars falling apart. Bars need to be kept in a airtight container at room temperature for up t0 3 days or in the fridge for up to 5 days.

Remember to share with friends and enjoy!