Wednesday 31 December 2014

Lebkuchen

As Christmas is mostly over now I wanted to bake something for my Family's NYE party that still had the 'reminiscence' of Christmas but something tasty that could be enjoyed at any time of the year. I've been a huge fan of the Lemonpi food blog for a long time now so I really wanted to make one of her recipe's as some of her family were coming to visit. Definitely check out her blog  http://blog.lemonpi.net/

The recipe is  http://blog.lemonpi.net/2009/04/12/2181/








Friday 26 December 2014

Christmas Cake

So Christmas has now been and gone. However one of my favourite things about the festive season is enjoying the leftovers for weeks after. For me the classic Christmas cake is the ultimate leftover, it keeps for months and only becomes more delicious as the time passes by. 
http://www.deliaonline.com/recipes/cuisine/european/english/classic-christmas-cake.html















Tuesday 16 December 2014

Christmas Stollen

Stollen is a traditional German cake and something I absolutely ADORE! It was quite challenging to make but the end result turned out so well and my A-Level German class loved it.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/stollen_27553










Sunday 7 December 2014

Christmas Gingerbread Houses

Every year my friends have a tradition to get together and do some Christmas baking to really get into the Christmas spirit. I'm so pleased how they turned out (even though they took 4 and a half hours!)

 The recipe we used was http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/1802640/mini-gingerbread-houses





































Saturday 30 August 2014

Strawberry Shortcake

Summer is tragically coming to an end. It's been an amazing one, I've had the opportunity to travel to France, England and Germany and make some unforgettable memories. As much as I'm sad to see Summer end, I'm also excited for the Autumn months; forest walks with my pup, a dramatic increase in the consumption of hot chocolates and ditching the crop tops for big comfy sweaters. I hope all you lovely people who take the time to read my blog and support me have had an amazing summer and I hope you will all continue reading :)




Ingredients
- 210g self raising flour
- 1/2 a teaspoon baking powder
-120g butter (cubed at room temperature)
-100g sugar
- 2 eggs (at room temperature)
- 1/2 a teaspoon vanilla extract
- 250g strawberries (halved)
- 2 teaspoons milk
- icing sugar to decorate

Method
1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees. Grease one medium sized baking tin. Combine ingredients in an 'all in one method' in a large mixing bowl with a wooden spoon.



2. Place 1/3 of the mixture in the greased tin. Layer chopped strawberries over mixture. Place remaining mixture of top of the layered strawberries. 




4. Place in oven for 20 minutes until golden brown. Decorate with icing sugar!





Saturday 23 August 2014

'Short and Sweet' Vanilla Oat Shortbread

Having been away to Germany for a week I realized that a post was definitely due. This Recipe is super simple and easy. Taking inspiration from my auntie Margaret's amazing shortbread recipe, I put my own twist on these biscuits. These are perfect for tea dunking.  I'll be putting a long post about Germany and the food I tried there soon! 






Ingredients (makes ten)
-110g plain flour
-50g golden caster sugar
-110g butter (cubed at room temperature)
-50g cornflour
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 2 tbsp rolled oats

Method


1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees and line two baking trays with baking paper.

2. Add all ingredients to a large bowl and use hands to turn mixture into a fine crumble texture.

3. Bring mixture together to create a dough ( add a small amount of water if necessary )

4. Roll dough out on a floured surface and cut into small circles. ( you can make the shortbread whatever size/shape you want.)

5. Bake for 10-13 minutes or until golden brown. 




I

Thursday 7 August 2014

Apple Crumble Pie








So it's officially apple season and I was instructed to start using up the apples in our tiny garden. I have to say it's pretty cool to be able to use your own produce to make something really delicious. Apple pie and apple crumble are my favorite desserts so I decided to combine the two to make 'Apple Crumble Pie.' As you can see from the photo my mum tried to take a slice of it before I had a chance to take a photograph the pie, I shouted at her and quickly recovered the slice before it was devoured. Stressful.Anyway please try this recipe out and let me know what you think! By the way did anyone watch the great British bake off last night? I can't believe there's someone only a year older than me on it, scary. Anyway, thoughts on who might win? Comment below :)






Ingredients
Filling
-1kg cooking apples
-140g caster sugar
-1 tsp cinnamon
-2 tbsp flour

Pastry
-225g butter (room temperature)
-50g caster sugar
-2 eggs
-350g plain flour


Method
1. Quarter, peel and slice cooking apples into thin slices.Place on baking tray lined with kitchen roll, cover and leave aside to dry.



2. Make the pastry. Beat sugar and butter in a bowl with a wooden spoon until pale and blended.


3. Add a whole egg and an egg yolk (save the extra egg white for glazing later) to the blended butter and sugar.


4. Fold in the flour and work mixture with hands until the mixture forms a clumpy dough.

                                      

5. Wrap dough in cling film and refrigerate for 45 minutes. Mix together cinnamon, flour and sugar in small bowl and set aside.

6. After pastry has chilled preheat oven to 180 degrees. Roll out two thirds of the pastry on a floured worktop and place in cake tin. Make sure to leave overhang of pastry around the cake tin as the pastry will shrink when in the oven. 



7. Place apples into pastry, spreading evenly. Sprinkle the apples with the cinnamon, flour and sugar mixture from earlier.


8. Roll out remaining third of pastry and use to top apples. Glaze the top of the pie with egg white and prick top layer of pastry with a fork to make small air holes. Bake the pie in the oven for 40 minutes. leave to cool and top with icing sugar. 












Sunday 3 August 2014

'Guilt Free' Dark Chocolate Almond Cookies and Chocolate Cupcakes

 

Can you tell these simple bakes are completely healthy? I mean completely! Dark chocolate chip, deliciously gooey cookies and indulgent chocolate cupcakes? You must think I'm joking right? But these simple bakes are both easy and nutritious. It was my amazing friend Charlotte's idea to make these and it was the perfect way of filling some time during yesterday's long, cold, wet 'summer's' day. So my advice for making these? Invite your friends round, bake, laugh, chat, drink tea and eat cake; guilt free!







Dark Chocolate Almond Cookies


Ingredients
- 1 egg
- 1 cup almond butter
-1/2 cup coconut sugar
-1 tsp baking powder
-1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1 cup dark chocolate chips

Method

1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees. Line two baking trays with greaseproof paper.

2. In a medium bowl beat the egg. 


3. Add almond butter, coconut sugar, baking powder and cocoa powder and beat with a fork/ wooden spoon.


4. Fold in chocolate chips until combined.


5. Scoop tablespoon amounts of dough onto prepared baking sheets. The dough should make 8-12 cookies depending on how large you make them.


6. Bake in oven for 10 minutes. The cookies should be slightly under baked when removed from the oven but baked enough to hold their form. They will harden as they cool. Serve warm or leave to cool and sprinkle with icing sugar. 






Chocolate cupcakes

Ingredients
-150ml regular olive oil
-50g cocoa powder
-125ml boiling water
-2 tsp vanilla extract
-150g ground almonds (you can buy these from a health shop or simply place almonds in a blender to make a fine powder)
-1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
- pinch of salt
-200g coconut sugar or caster sugar
- 3 large eggs
- icing sugar to ice (optional) 

Method 

1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees. Grease two cupcake baking trays.

2. Whisk together the cocoa powder and boiling water in a bowl. Add vanilla extract. Set aside and leave to cool.

3. In another bowl whisk together the eggs, sugar and olive oil for three minutes until mixture forms a pale cream. 


3. Add cooled chocolate mixture to egg and whisk together. Fold in almond flour, bicarbonate of soda and salt. 



4. Divide mixture into cupcake baking trays and bake for around 20-25 minutes until browned and spongy.


5. Decorate as desired. You could use chocolate butter cream, flaked almonds or a simple sprinkle of icing sugar as the buns are lovely and moist. We used simple icing by adding water to icing sugar and decorated with sprinkles, mini fudge, pecans and desiccated coconut. 


ENJOY!