Cranberry and apple cake

Another recipe to use up some fruit. The original recipe used blueberries with the apples, but I love cranberries and wanted to try this combination.
The method used to make the cake is a bit unusual, whizzing the flour and butter first. The dough is quite firm; more like a cookie dough. You can bake it, as I did, in a 20cm cake tin, or as a loaf in a 900g loaf tin.

125g butter
225g sr flour
175g caster sugar
2 large eggs, beaten
2 large eating apples, peeled, cored and thinly sliced
125g cranberries [or blueberries]
2 tsbpn apricot jam

Preheat oven 190C/gas 5
Grease and line a 20cm cake tin or a 900g loaf tin.

Sieve flour into a food processor and add the butter. Whizz till it becomes like breadcrumbs.
Add the sugar and eggs and whizz again to make a smooth mixture.
Spoon half of the mixture into the tin, then scatter over half the apple and cranberries. Spoon over the rest of the mixture then scatter the rest of the fruit on top.
Bake for about 45 mins till risen and firm.
Put the jam in a small bowl and microwave on high for 20 seconds so that the jam is melted.
Brush the cake with the jam as soon as it comes out of the oven.
Cool in the tin for 10 mins then finish cooking on a wire rack.

So .......I didn't put any fruit on top as I only had 2 small apples and not the required amount of cranberries! You can't see it, but there is apple in the middle of the cake! It's quite a firm texture, and I think it's better as a dessert with some creme fraiche, than as a stand alone cake. I think I've chosen the piece with all the cranberries in it!

Orange and cinnamon thins

My younger daughter is coming today, so I thought I'd make her some biscuits with her favourite flavour, orange. I love cinnamon, so this seemed the perfect one to try.
The recipe comes from a free booklet in a 'Woman's Weekly' magazine a few years back, but I've changed it slightly to give the thins a more orange flavour.

Makes about 30 thins

225g butter
140g caster sugar
grated zest of an orange
1 egg yolk
4 tspns orange juice
280g plain flour
2 tspn cinnamon
pinch salt

Put the butter, sugar and orange rind in a bowl and beat till creamy. Beat in the egg yolk and 2 tspns of the orange juice. Add the salt to the flour and then stir into the mixture till it's all nicely blended.
Make into a ball, wrap in film and chill for about an hour.
Take it out, unwrap and roll dough out between 2 sheets of baking parchment  into a 30 cm square.
Take off top sheet and brush the dough with the rest of the orange juice and sprinkle over the cinnamon. Lightly roll it, then roll it up like a swiss roll.
Wrap in film and chill for 30 mins.

Preheat oven 190C/gas 5 and line 2 baking trays with baking parchment.

Unwrap the dough and cut into thin slices with a sharp knife.
Space put well on the baking trays and bake for 10-12 mins.
Cool on the trays for 5 mins or so, then put onto a wire rack using a palette knife.

So you can see that I didn't manage to roll them up like a swiss roll! The dough was very hard to handle, even with baking parchment, and when I rolled it up, it stayed rather flat. I'd left it in the fridge for 30 mins, maybe I should have left it longer.You can just about see a swiss roll-ish shape in the biscuit on the left. They taste very good.
I added a tspn of orange extract to the dough instead of 1 of the 2 tspns of orange juice, and I used a large orange, giving more zest.This gave the thins a good orange flavour.
Would I make them again - I don't think so.

Lime fingers

Limes were on offer today in the supermarket, so I decided to try this recipe which comes from one of my cookery books I bought in France called 'Patisserie'. I had no difficulty finding 'fromage blanc'. Another recipe using oil instead of butter.

200g plain flour
4 tspns baking powder
100g fromage blanc
1 tbspn milk
4 tbspns oil - I used rapeseed
60g demerara sugar
7.5g vanilla sugar [or 1 sachet - I found mine in Lidl]
50g icing sugar
2 tspns lime juice and the zest of 1 lime

Preheat oven to 180C/ gas 4
Grease and line a cake tin 30 x 20 cm.

Mix the flour and the baking powder together in a bowl.
In another bowl mix the fromage blanc, milk, oil and sugar together to get a creamy mixture.
Add the flour to this a bit at a time.
Spread the mixture into the tin and bake for about 15 mins till golden.
Cool on a wire rack.
Mix the lime juice and icing sugar and spread over the cooled cake and cut into 16 pieces. Decorate each piece with a little lime zest.

The icing gave the cake a nice lime flavour, but I think if I did it again, I'd add some lime zest to the cake mixture to enhance this flavour - give it a lime kick. The fromage blanc makes it moist. A nice every day cake.

Thumb biscuits

Apparently today is National Nutella day. I love any combination of chocolate and hazelnuts, so I decided to make a really easy biscuit that I've made many times for my children and grandchildren. Don't know where the original recipe came from - it's in my handwritten notebook. I've made them with jam and with lemon curd, as well as with Nutella.

It makes about 18 biscuits.

175g butter
175g caster sugar
1 egg
175g plain flour
125g plain flour
Nutella

Line a baking sheet with some parchment paper.
Preheat oven 180C/gas 4

Beat the butter and sugar together using a mixer till nice and fluffy.
Beat in the egg then add the flours, a bit at a time.
Leave the dough for about an hour to rest.
Take out tbspns of the mixture, roll into a ball then flatten on the baking sheet. Press your thumb in the top to make a hole. Fill the hole with Nutella.
Make sure you space the biscuits out on the baking sheet, because they spread.
Bake for about 12 mins.
Cool on a wire rack.

I can think of a few variations I must try - adding cocoa to make chocolate thumbs, or coffee essence, lemon juice etc. It's a good basic biscuit recipe.

Chocolate and cinnamon muffins

I'm sure that everyone has their own tried and tested muffin recipe. I like recipes which use oil instead of butter. I found this one in a French food magazine and it looked interesting, having yoghurt and coffee as two of the ingredients, plus one of my favourite spices- cinnamon. Muffins are quick and easy to make, and these are no exception.

For 12 muffins:

250g plain flour
2 tspns cinnamon
21/2 tspns baking powder
1/2 tspn bicarbonate of soda
130g caster sugar
1 egg
80ml oil - I used rapeseed
250g yoghurt
75ml cold strong coffee
12 squares of dark chocolate
Chocolate coated coffee beans to decorate

Preheat oven 180C/gas 4

Grease a 12 hole muffin tin, or use muffin cases.
In a bowl, mix together the flour, cinnamon, baking powder, bicarb.and sugar.
In another bowl beat the egg and add the oil, yoghurt and coffee. Mix these together.
Fold in the flour mixture carefully - don't overmix, a few lumps are fine.
Put the muffin cases, if using, into the muffin tin.
Fill the cases half full with batter, then put a square of chocolate on the batter and fill the cases up with the remainder.
Bake in the middle of the oven for about 25 mins.
Cool on a wire rack.
Decorate the muffins with a chocolate bean before serving.

I love the melted chocolate in the centre of these muffins. The texture is quite different from my usual recipe - coarser but still soft. The cinnamon and coffee add another layer to the flavour. I'll certainly make these again.

Banana and raisin loaf

Yet another of our favourite loaf cakes. There were some very ripe bananas in the fruit bowl just asking to be used up. The recipe comes from 'Cakes, Breads and Gateaux', a book published in 1979 by 'Living' magazine - anyone remember it?
This one is made by the 'rubbing in' method, and is supposed to keep well, for up to a week, if wrapped in foil. The recipe says that it cuts into 12 slices - depends on your appetite!

175g sr flour
50g wholemeal flour
1/2 level tspn baking powder
1 tspn cinnamon
125g butter of margarine
75g demerara sugar
175g raisins
450g bananas, peeled and mashed
2 eggs, beaten
finely grated rind of a lemon

Preheat oven 180C/gas 4.
Grease and line a 900g loaf tin.

Sift the flours, baking powder and cinnamon into a bowl. Rub in the fat till the mixture is like breadcrumbs.
Mix in the rest of the ingredients - the sugar, bananas, eggs and lemon rind. Beat it together lightly then spoon into the tin.
Bake for 45-55 mins till it's firm to touch.
Turn the loaf out onto a wire rack.
Theloaf is nice on its own, or served with butter.

The banana in theloaf keeps it nice and moist, and the raisins didn't all sink to the bottom. A good sign!

Low fat raisin and honey loaf

This is a very easy loaf to make.

300g plain flour
11/2 tspn bicarb. of soda
1/2 tspn salt
300g [10 fl oz] plain yoghurt
2 egg whites
60g raisins
2 tbspn runny honey
butter or margarine to grease the tin

Grease a 900g loaf tin.
Preheat oven 425F/210C/gas 7

Mix the flour, bicarb. and salt in a bowl. Whisk the egg whites with the yoghurt and fold into the flour.Add the raisins and honey.
Spoon into the tin and bake for 20 mins.
Cool in the tin.

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This loaf has a nice light texture. I think it's better eaten warm.

Irish cream tartlets

And now for something completely different....!
This is another recipe to use up a Christmas leftover, but this time it's a small bottle of Baileys that we were given in a hamper.
We were invited for a meal to a friend's house last weekend and she'd asked me to bring something sweet to have with coffee after the meal. An unusual request, so I hunted through my cookbooks and eventually came up with these little tartlets.
I made some sweet pastry, but shortcrust would do as well. I used 175g flour etc. and this made 12 tartlets.

You need 12 little moulds or barquettes  - these are the ones I used. I bought them on a whim years ago and have never used them! I have 3 of each shape.

Line the greased moulds with the pastry and bake blind.

For the filling you need:

150g plain chocolate, melted
120ml milk
3 egg yolks
2 tbsp caster sugar
3 tbsp plain flour
4 tbsp Baileys Irish liqueur
4 tbsp whipping cream, whipped

Chocolate shavings or cocoa to decorate.

Put the pastry shells on a baking sheet.
Brush the bottom of each shell with some melted chocolate.
In a heavy bottomed saucepan, bring the milk just to the boil.
Beat the egg yolks and sugar for about a minute, then stir in the flour. Add the hot milk, whisking all the time.
Put the pan back on the heat and cook till the custard thickens, about 2 mins, making sure you whisk all the time.
Take it off the heat and add the Baileys, then allow it to cool.
When cool, fold in the cream gently then put in the fridge till thickened - about half an hour.
Spoon the custard into a piping bag fitted with a medium star nozzle.
Pipe the mixture into the tartlet cases then put them in the fridge.
Decorate with a curl of dark chocolate.

They're rather fiiddly and time consuming, but they taste great. A special occasion recipe, but worth trying. Lovely texture to the custard, and it blends well with the cream topping.

Orange teabread

Another teabread to add to my collection - a Scandinavian one, or so I thought when I saw the name of the recipe, but it's more of a loaf cake .This comes from a book on baking I bought from a charity shop a while ago - it doesn't have an author - it's just called 'The Baking manual'.

150g butter
120g sugar
3 eggs
grated rind of 2 lemons
60ml orange juice
250g plain flour + 2 tspns baking powder
breadcrumbs to coat the tin
Fat to grease the cake tin.

You don't preheat the oven for this recipe - you put the cake mixture into a cold oven.
Grease a 900g loaf tin.

Beat the butter and sugar together till pale then add the eggs, one at a time, beating between each one.
Mix in the lemon rind, orange juice and the flour.
You sprinkle the breadcrumbs into the greased tin [ I didn't do this as I didn't want wholemeal crumbs around the cake]. The recipe didn't give an amount and I can't see any crumbs on the cake photo in the book. Seems a strange addition.
Pour the mixture into the tin and put into a cold oven then turn the oven onto 180C/gas 4.  Bake for about 45 mins.
The recipe says to turn the cake out and leave to cool under the upturned tin - not sure why?

It's a light, airy cake with a nice citrus flavour. You could ice it with an orange flavoured icing, but I kept it plain. It's good with a cup of tea, but I think it would make a nice dessert, with the addition of some fruit.

Macaroon mincemeat tarts

This recipe is another using up Christmas leftovers and this time it's some mincemeat. I wanted to make something different from mince pies and found this recipe in an old cookbook from the 70s. I'm not going to give the recipe for the shortcrust pastry - everyone has their own favourite one, or you can use Just Rol.

150g s/c pastry [that's 200g flour, 100g fat etc]
4 tbspns mincemeat
2 egg whites
75g caster sugar
75g ground almonds
15g flaked almonds
a few cherries cut in 1/4s

Preheat oven 190C/375F/gas 5

Grease a bun tin.

Roll out the pastry, cut out with a 8cm cutter and line your bun tin. [I cut out 10 cases]
Whisk the egg whites till stiff then fold in the sugar and the ground almonds.
Spoon some of the mixture on top of each tart then sprinkle with some flaked almonds. Put a piece of cherry in the middle.
Bake for about 20 mins, or until golden.

The topping is a good contrast to the soft mincemeat. A recipe to keep.

Almond thins

I had some marzipan left over from Christmas so decided to make some of these biscuits. They're fairly easy to make, have few ingredients and are delicious [but not healthy!]. The recipe is one I've used many times, and was in a free booklet that came with a Prima magazine, I think.

The recipe makes about 10 biscuits.

250g butter
100g marzipan
100g demerara sugar + little extra for sprinkling on top
250g plain flour

Preheat oven 180C/350F/gas4
Grease a baking sheet.

In a bowl, cream the butter using a mixer with a doughhook [I have a hand mixer which came with dough hooks, so I use this]. Mix in the marzipan and gradually add the sugar and flour, kneading the mixture well.

Make the dough into a roll and put in the fridge for 2-3 hours. Then roll the dough out till it's about 15mm thick, then cut it into strips 15mm x 6 cm and put these back into the fridge for 30 mins.

Put the biscuits onto your baking sheet. Makes grooves in each one using a fork, and sprinkle with demerara sugar. Bake for 25 -30 mins.

Coconut ice and yogurt pecan fudge

One of the presents I got for Christmas was a new sugar thermometer. Ever since I was a child,  I've been interested in making sweets. My Mum used to make them, and I inherited her old thermometer. I also inherited her book 'Toffees, fudges, chocolates and sweets' by Mary Novak, and I have a battered copy of Margaret Powell's ' Sweetmaking for children'. I made sweets with my children and yesterday I made some with one of my grandsons. We made coconut ice and he helped me make yogurt pecan fudge, the latter being an excuse to use my new thermometer!

Coconut ice

My grandson wanted to make something on his own, so this is a very easy version.

6 tbspns condensed milk
275g icing sugar
175g dessicated coconut
pink food colouring

Mix together the milk and icing sugar, then stir in the coconut. The mixture will be very stiff. Divide it into 2. Colour one half with the colouring.

Grease and line a small cake tin, and put the white mixture in a layer at the bottom. Put the pink mixture on top and leave to set. Cut into bars or squares.

Yogurt pecan fudge

This fudge is different from the normal vanilla fudge; it's a bit fiddly to make but is very moreish.
The recipe makes about half a kilo of fudge.

225ml natural yoghurt [not low fat or Greek]
1 tspn bicarbonate of soda
400g soft light brown sugar
30ml golden syrup
60g unsalted butter
150g chopped and toasted pecans

Grease and line a 20cm square or round tin with parchment paper.
Put the yogurt and bicarb. in a heavy saucepan and leave for about 20 mins.
Prepare a bowl with iced water.
Add the sugar and syrup to the yoghurt mixture, put the pan over a medium heat, stirring to dissolve the sugar.
When the sugar's dissolved, bring to the boil then add the butter. Boil till the syrup reaches soft ball stage [114C/238F]. Take off the heat and dip ther bottom of ther pan in the iced water for a few seconds, then leave to cool till the mixture is luke warm [about 50C/122F].
Beat till creamy then add the chopped nuts. Pour into the tin and leave to completely cool - can take up to 8 hours.
Lift the fudge out using the paper and cut into pieces. Store in an airtight tin or box.

The yoghurt makes this a lighter fudge and gives it a tangy taste. Next time I'll use a square tin, as the slices I cut in the round one were rather big!

Next sweet session I want to try making toffee, so watch this space!