baking

Pear and Ginger Scones

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For my fellow scone lovers, these are super easy to make and a good way to use up any pears that refuse to ripen.  

I got the inspiration for these from one  I had in the Avoca cafe a couple of years ago.  Their versions are cut into individual scones, but I like making  these big break apart versions, and honestly just wasn’t a*sed faffing about with a cutter. I didn’t have any but next time I’m going to try a white chocolate drizzle, as I think it would be yummy.

Makes 8

Ingredients

350 Grams Self Raising Flour

100 Grams Butter (chilled and cut into small squares)

50 Grams Sugar

150 Grams Firm Pear (peel, core and cut the pear into 1.5cm chunks)

1 Tsp Baking powder

2 Tsp Ground Ginger

1 Tsp Vanilla extract

Method

  • Pre heat the oven to 220 degrees (Celsius), line a large baking tray with baking parchment (I had a solid sheet which also works well)
  • Combine your flour and butter, if you have a food processor pulse until the mix looks like bread crumbs.  If you don’t, you can use the rubbing in method.
  • Add the baking powder and ginger and mix through, before adding the diced pear, gently mix into the flour mix to coat the chunks (it will stop them clumping)
  • Combine the milk and vanilla and gradually add to the flour mix stirring gently (I think you’re better using your hand for this, but this gives some people the ick, so use a spatula if you don’t like using your hands).  The mix should be fairly moist and bring it together  into a ball.
  • The secret of good scones is to handle the mix as little as possible.  When you have formed the mix into a ball turn onto the baking parchment, and with a floured rolling pin, roll into a circle that is about 5cm thick.
  • With a sharp knife score the top of the scone marking it in half, then a quarter then into 8ths.  Place in the oven and bake for 15-20mins.  Allow to on a wire wrack
  • Best served whilst still warm, but they’ll keep fresh if stored an airtight box for 2-3 days

Santiago Tart

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This traditional Spanish tart is usually presented with a cross on top which is meant to represent the cross of St James.  My attempt at this wasn’t very symmetrical, and I’m not religious, but I thought I’d at least try to follow up the tradition.

The smell of almonds and orange that will float through your home is amazing (better than any air freshener, and forget coffee if I was in the market for a house, I’d definitely buy somewhere if it smells like this cake)

Using an electric whisk makes this pretty quick to knock together and is a yummy treat for anyone who is gluten or dairy intolerant.

Ingredients

6 Eggs (separated on to yolks and whites)

250 grams Caster Sugar

250 grams Ground Almonds

Zest of an orange

1 Tsp Orange flower water (don’t be tempted to add more, it’s very strong)

Method

  • Pre heat the oven to 170 degrees (Celsius) and line an 8 inch baking tin with baking parchment
  • In a large bowl whisk the sugar and egg yolks tomorrow with an electric whisk until light and creamy and increased in volume
  • With a spatula, fold in the orange zest, orange flower water and ground almonds and 1 tablespoon of water
  • Wash the beaters of the electric whisk thoroughly (otherwise your egg  whites won’t whisk up properly) before starting to whisk the egg whites in a separate bowl until  they form stiff peaks
  • Carefully fold the egg whites into the almond mixture trying to knock out too much air, but making sure the egg whites are thoroughly combined
  • Transfer the mix to your pre-prepared cake tin and bake for 50 minutes
  • Allow the cake to cool in the tin for 15 minutes before turning out on to a wire wrack to cool.  Then when totally cool, dust with icing sugar

Cuppa Cuppa Cuppa Bars (only 3 ingredients)

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I made this as a cake a while back, and had to bring something to a family thing and didn’t have a cake tin so tried these as cake bars because they’d be easier to move.

The recipe couldn’t be simpler and you don’t even need scales to measure the ingredients.  It’s based on a recipe the blessed Dolly Parton’s character calls out to someone in the movie Steel Magnolias. The name comes from the recipe needing a cup of each ingredient.

There are equal quantities of the ingredients and you can use the can to measure the ingredients.  It’s also handy to make from store cupboard staples and literally takes 5 minutes to knock together before baking

Ingredients

400ml Can of fruit salad (make sure to buy the one with syrup, not saved in juice)

Sugar

Self raising flour

Method

  • Pre-heat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius, line a 6in x 9in baking tin with baking parchment
  • Pour the can of fruit salad into a large bowl.
  • Rinse out the can and dry it well.  Fill the can with flour, empty the flour into the bowl (you can sift it if you have time)
  • Fill the can with sugar and add it into the other ingredients.  Mix with a spatula until well combined and there are no floury patches
  • Empty the cake mix into the baking tin and spread evenly.  Bake for 25-30 minutes

Croque Monsieur Bake

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Stop throwing away stale bread and use it for this yummy unctuous comforting bake.  You can make most of it the night before and impress everyone with a super chic breakfast, but it’s great at any time of the day.  This is best if you can start it the night before but if not allow the bread to soak up the egg mixture for at least an hour or two

If you’re being totally authentic you should use Gruyere cheese, but I didn’t have this so I used cheddar and it was yummy too.

Serves 4

Ingredients

8 Slices of stale white bread

175 Grams Cheese (save about a third of the cheese to sprinkle on top before you put the bake in the oven)

4 Slices of ham

6 Eggs

350mil Milk

2 Tbsp Soft butter

2 Tbsp Dijon mustard

For the bechamel sauce

40 Grams Butter

20 Grams Plain Flour

4000 mil Milk

Salt and pepper

Method

  • Butter 4 slices of bread, and spread the other 4 slices with mustard
  • Thinly slice two thirds of the cheese, and with ham make 4 cheese and ham sandwiches
  • Cut each sandwich into 4 triangles.  Lightly grease an oven proof dish and arrange the sandwiches in the dish.
  • Whisk the eggs and milk together with a pinch of salt and pepper and pour over the sandwiches making sure they are all coated
  • Cover the dish with cling film and allow to sit overnight in the fridge (or for at least an hour or two)
  • Preheat the oven to 180 degrees (Celsius)
  • Make a bechamel sauce, melting butter in a sauce pan before stirring in flour to make a roux type paste and then gradually stir in the milk and heat until the sauce thickens and doesn’t taste floury anymore, season with salt and pepper
  • Grate the remaining cheese, and remove the oven proof dish from the fridge.  Top the sandwiches with the bechamel sauce and sprinkle with cheese
  • Bake for 30-40 minutes until deeply brown and bubbly.
  • Allow to sit for 10 minutes before serving

Chocolate Chip Banana Bread.

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I went away overnight and within 24 hours a bunch of bananas had turned manky and over ripe.

Never one to waste food, the recipe perfect for bananas that are past their best called to me.  I decided to add in some chocolate just to make it even yummier, but if you’re a psychopath and don’t like chocolate you can leave it out.

140 Grams Butter (soft/room temperature)

140 Grams Sugar

140 Grams Self raising flour

1 Tsp Baking powder

1 Tsp Vanilla extract

2 Eggs

3 Bananas (mashed)

100 Grams Chocolate (you can use chocolate chips, but i just cut up a milk chocolate bar)

Msthod

  • Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius qnd line a 2lb loaf tin wirh baking parchment
  • Using an electric whisk or stand mixer, cream the butter and sugar together
  • Add the vanilla, eggs and bananas to the butter and sugar and mix well
  • Whisk in the flour, a third a a time until fully combined
  • Stir in the chocolate until its evenly distributed through out the batter
  • Pour the batter into the loaf tin, making sure the mix gets right into the corners
  • Bake for 45-50 minutes, you’ll know the banana bread is ready when you stick a cocktail stick into the middle of tbe loaf and it comes out clean.  Allow to coo in the tin foe 15 minutes before try to cut (best left to cool completely, but it smells so good you might not be able to help yourself)

Cranberry and Hazelnut Muffins

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Trapped at home on rainy miserable Saturday with a shitty cold I wanted something sweet but couldn’t face going out and having change out of my oodie (if don’t have one yet, get one they are fantastic in cold weather (I’m not advertising, but if any oodie makers would like to send me one I wouldn’t say no).

Anyway, after raiding the cupboards this is  what I came up with and they were delicious. I used Greek yoghurt because I has some that needed to be used up but could also use milk instead.  If you’re lactose intolerant you could swap the dairy for the same volume of stewed apple or mashed banana.  I’d also recommend toasting the hazelnuts in a dry pan first.  Its not mission critical if you’re pushed for time (or just can’t be arsed) but it does make them even tastier.

Makes 12

Ingredients

200 Grams Self raising flour (or 200 Grams of plain flour qnd 2 teaspoons of bsking powder if you don’t have self raising flour)

100 Grams Sugar

2 Eggs

200 Grams Yoghurt

50 Grams Hazelnuts

50 Grams Dried cranberries

100mil Oil or Melted butter

Method

  • Preheat the oven to 200 degrees Celsius and line a muffin tin with muffin cases
  • Add all the dry ingredients to a large bowl
  • Mix all the wet ingredients together and mix well until fully combined
  • Stir the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and mix well making sure that the fruit and nuts are evenly distributed throughout the batter
  • If you have one of those fancy ice cream scoops you can use it to evenly distribute the batter into the muffin cases.  I dont have one. So I just used 2 dessert spoons to scoop and then scrape the batter in the cases.
  • Bske for 20-25 minutes and allow to cool.

Cherry Scones

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One of my favourite treats while I’m at work is a mid morning cherry scone.

Ingredients

450 Grams Self raising flour (hold back 1 tablespoon of flour to use to coat the fruit)

2 Tsps Baking powder

50 Grams Butter (chilled and cut into small cubes)

50 Grams Sugar

300 Mil Milk

100 Grams Glace Cherries (you can swap this for dried fruit if you prefer)

2 Eggs (beaten)

Method

Sift the flour and baking powder together, and add the butter. If you have a food processor whiz the butter and flour together until it resembles breadcrumbs. You can also use the rubbing in method if you don’t want to use a food processor.

Toss the cherries in 1 tablespoon of flour as this will help prevent them from clumping together. Add the cherries and sugar to the flour mix and stir to combine.

Add the eggs to the milk and stir before adding the dry mix and stir well until fully combined.

Preheat the oven to 220 degrees (Celsius), and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

Turn the scone mix onto a well floured surface and gently form into a ball (try not to handle the mix too much or you will end up with tougher scones, they’ll still taste good so you don’t need to be too precious about it).

Rub flour onto a rolling pin (or use a wine bottle if you don;t have one) and roll out the scone dough until it is about 2-3 cm thickness. Use a cookie cutter or glass to cut out the scones (how big you want to make them is up to you, I like a fairly substantial scone and this recipe made 8 scones, you can use a smaller cutter to make more dainty scones if you prefer).

Place the scones on the baking sheet and you can brush with a little milk if you want them to have a glaze (I don’t bother with this step, but you can do it if you a fancier scone). Bake for 15 minutes and then allow to cool on a wire rack.

Cheese and Onion Tear and Share Bread

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Serves 8

500 Grams Strong White (bread) Flour

1 Sachet dried yeast

350Mil Luke warm water

1 1/2 Tsp Salt

1 Onion (cut in half and finely sliced)

125 Grams Grated Cheese (I used 100 Grams of mature cheddar and 25 Grams of parmasan, but use any combination you have)

1 Tsp dried Thyme

Black pepper

1 Tsp Oil

  • Stir the yeast into the luke warm water
  • Add the salt and flour to a large bowl before pouring in the yeast mix and mixing well until it forms a dough
  • If you have a mixer with a dough hook, mix for 5 minutes.  If you don’t, turn the dough onto a floured surface and knead for 10 minutes
  • Transfer the dough back to a bowl that has been wiped with a little oil. Cover the bowl with a tea towel and and prove for 1 hour
  • When the dough has proved, uncover and hit it a punch to knock out the air and then form it into a ball
  • Turn onto a floured surface and with a rolling pin (or wine bottle if you don’t have one) roll out the dough into a rough rectangle 12cm x 24cm
  • Sprinkle the surface with the grated cheese, finely sliced onion, thyme and black pepper
  • Roll the dough into a sausage shape (using the long side of the dough)
  • Cut the dough into 8 equal sized slices
  • Line a spring form baking tin with parchment (scrunch the sheet up first, it makes it easier to spread out)
  • Place the slices of dough into the tin in a circle, cover the tin with a tea towel and prove again for 15 minutes
  • Preheat your oven to 200 degrees Celsius
  • Bake the bread for 35-40 minutes until golden brown
  • Serve while still warm (your kitchen will smell amazing)

Black Olive and Chilli Focaccia

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I made this as I needed to rage bake as I was totally pissed off.  Belfast has had far right knuckle draggers riot over the weekend and destroyed businesses owned by people who immigrated here for no other reason than the colour of their skin.  For the record, if you don’t know Belfast this is a tiny minority of fuckwits (many of whom had travelled here to start shit) and while these morons were destroying people’s livelihoods we also had the Feile (brilliant festival) with 10,000 people partying happily at an 80s-90s concert where everyone was welcome.

So at the weekends when you have a little bit more free time, make this and it takes time to prove while you get on with all those mundane tasks that steal your free time (yes laundry, I’m giving you serious side eye).  But hey, at least you have delicious freshly baked focaccia at the end of it all).

Ingredients

500 Grams Strong white flour

7 Grams Dried yeast

1 Tsp Salt

300-400 Mil Luke warm water

100 Grams Black Olives (well drained if in brine)

1 Large chilli pepper (sliced in 1/2 cm slices)

4-5 Tbsp Olive oil

Method

  • 1. Mix your yeast with 300ml of luke warm water and set to one side while you measure out the flour and add it to a large bowl
  • 2. Add a teaspoon of salt to one side of the (this will stop it coming into direct contact with the yeast and killing it). Make a well in the centre of the flour, add two tablespoons of olive oil and the water and yeast mix.
  • 3. Mix well, you may need to add more water, your dough should be quite soft and sticky, but not super wet
  • 4. Turn your dough onto a floured surface and knead for 5-10 minutes. If you have a mixer with a dough hook you can also use this, but I enjoy kneading the bread
  • 5. Clean the bowl you were using, (I always give the bowl a quick wipe with a little oil to stop your dough sticking). Put your dough back in the bowl and cover with a tea towel and prove for one hour
  • 6. Grease an 8 x 12 inch tin with some olive oil and transfer the dough from the bowl to the tin. Stretch the dough out to fill the tin. Cover with a tea towel again and prove for 45 minutes
  • 7. Pre-heat your oven to 220 degree (Celsius). Remove the tea towel from your baking tin, and with your finger tips press little dimples into the dough. Gently press the olives and chilli slices into the dough
  • 8. Sprinkle 2 tablespoons of olive oil across the top of the dough.
  • 9. Bake for 20 minutes, until golden brown. Allow to cool in the tin for 10-15 minutes

Courgette/Zucchini Bread

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This is actually more of a sweet loaf/tea bread, but you can kid yourself that this is slightly healthier than normal cake because it also incorporates vegetables. This is really good on it’s own, but I also like to spread cream cheese or butter on it.

The courgette/zuchini keeps the cake super moist and tender, and during the Summer when they courgettes are cheap and plentiful this is a good way to use them up if you are running out of ideas.

If you’re super organised and want to make a double batch this also freezes really well.

Ingredients

2 Eggs

125ml vegetable oil

350 Grams Courgettes, coarsely grated

300 Grams Plain flour

2 Tsp Cinnamon

1tsp baking powder

75g Walnuts (roughly chopped)

150g Dried cranberries or sultanas

75 Grams Brown sugar

1/4 Tsp Salt

(extra butter for greasing the loaf tin)

Method

  • Preheat your oven to 180 degree (Celsius), and line a 2lb loaf tin with parchment paper
  • Add the oil, sugar, and eggs to a large bowl and whisk until combined before adding the courgette
  • In a separate bowl, combine all the dry ingredients before adding to the dry ingredients and mix well
  • Transfer the mix to the prepared baking tin and bake for 1 hour.  Test the loaf with a cocktail stick and if it comes out clean the loaf is cooked.  If it doesn’t give the loaf another 5 minutes in the oven before checking again