Thinking Time

I often find myself either in the garden or the kitchen when I have a decision to make and today is no different.  Two months ago I took the decision to leave behind a career of 17 years with the same company - time to move on and I haven't regretted my decision.  Now I have the offer of two new jobs to consider, so, as it's too cold for me in the garden it must be the kitchen for pondering my choices...

...and whilst in the kitchen what better than a bit of baking.  It relaxes me and allows thoughts to mull around in my head.   And the resulting cake will ensure that I take some time to sit with a coffee and do some more thinking.

So what's a tempting bake...how about some ginger slices or little jammy oat squares or how about both!  These little bakes make a good addition to a lunch box (for the Handyman) or to morning coffee (for me).  So two recipes today, starting with...

crunchy and plummy

Jammy Oat Squares
Ingredients
3 ozs soft brown sugar
5 ozs self-raising flour
8 ozs oats
4 ozs butter
10 ozs jam (I used Holly Grove Victoria plum jam)

Method
In a large bowl rub the butter into the flour and oats until you have a mix like fine breadcrumbs - don't do  this in a food processor as it will chop up the oats.  Add the sugar mix thoroughly.  Add 2tbsp cold water and mix together.  Press half of the mixture (it will be very crumbly) into an 8" x 12" baking tin.  Spread the jam evenly over the base.  Now cover with remaining oat mixture, pressing down evenly and gently.

Bake at 200C for 25 minutes.  Allow to cool in the tin then cut into squares.  Store in an airtight tin.

...followed by...

soft and sweet

Sesame and Ginger Slice
Ingredients
4.5 ozs plain flour
half a tsp bicarbonate of soda
1 tsp ground ginger
quarter tsp mixed spice
2 eggs
5 ozs soft brown sugar
4.5 ozs unsalted butter, melted
2 ozs chopped crystallised ginger (I used stem ginger as I didn't have any crystallised)
2 ozs of sesame seeds, toasted

Method
Sift the flour, bicarbonate of soda, ginger, mixed spice together, add quarter tsp salt.  Beat together the eggs and brown sugar until thick and creamy.  Add the melted butter to the egg mixture, then gently fold in the flour mixture.  Add the crystallised ginger and 1 oz of the sesame seeds and mix together gently.

Put the mixture into greased and lined 8" x 12" baking tray, sprinkle over the remaining sesame seeds.  Bake at 180C for 20 minutes.  Leave in the tin for 10 minutes then lift out and finish cooling on a wire rack.  Cut into squares to serve.

Slice of Delight

The Handyman and I love tray baked cakes, they are easy to pick up with a cup of coffee (for me) and tea (for him) without it being too obvious that slices are disappearing. So we can keep our greedy secret at least for a while until the cake tin is empty. 

I don't know why we feel guilty for eating lovely home baked cakes that contain no unnatural additives and we certainly work hard enough in the garden and around the house to use up the calories; probably just our culture that seems to say that if you enjoy something it must be naughty!

Recently I've discovered a couple of new tray bakes that have disappeared from the tin with alarming swiftness.  One was a chocolate bake from Jacqueline over at Tinned Tomatoes, Chocolate Tiffin, a no bake slice, very easy to make and to eat.  I used 70% cocoa chocolate for mine, a very adult taste; if I was making for children I'd probably use a milk chocolate...a good excuse to make another batch to try out the milk choc version, oh, and what about a white chocolate version with apricots instead of the raisins!

The second bake that we've had recently is an apricot and macaroon slice.  I made a half quantity in a 7" square shallow cake tin and it came out beautifully after a few anxious moments when the first layer of sponge was baked - it looked too thin but actually turned out really well in the finished cake.  Sweet,coconutty and generally yummy!


Apricot and Macaroon Slice
Makes about16 pieces
Ingredients

Base
100g unsalted butter, softened
80g caster sugar
1 egg
185g plain flour
half tsp baking powder 

Filling
250g dried apricots, roughly chopped
1 tbsp Amaretto
2 tbsp caster sugar 

Topping
100g unsalted butter, softened
80g caster sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 eggs
270g dessicated coconut
40g plain flour
half tsp baking powder

Method

Heat the oven to 180C and lightly grease and line an 8"x12" shallow baking tin.

To make the base put all the ingredients in a large bowl and beat with an electric beater until smooth.  Press into the baking tin and bake for about 25 minutes until golden.

Meanwhile make the filling by combining the apricots, Amaretto and sugar in a bowl with 4 fl ozs boiling water. Cover and set aside for 30 minutes then puree in a food processor.  When the base has cooled slightly cover it with the apricot mixture.

Make the topping by creaming together the butter, sugar and vanilla extract.  Beat in the eggs and then fold in the flour and baking powder followed by the coconut.  Spoon on top of the apricot mixture then return to the oven and bake for 20 to 25 minutes until golden.

Note: Next time I make this I'm going to replace the apricot mixture with some Holly Grove jam in a thick layer.

Beetroot Bonanza!

I spent a lovely day with my best friend, C, at the Malvern Autumn show on Saturday in the lovely setting of the Malvern hills.  The sun shone on us as we wandered around the craft stalls, flower show and animals - a real day out. 

Anyway, after a relaxing day out I managed to find the time and enthusiasm yesterday to pull up about half of my beetroot crop and spent the day in the kitchen converting the raw, red vegetable into a variety of produce for the kitchen cupboard and the cake tin!

First on the agenda was the ubiquitous pickled beetroot; actually one of my favourite pickles and so easy to make; just cook the beetroot, then peel and slice or cube and pack into sterile jars.  Pour over cold spiced vinegar then seal and label the jars.  Delicious with a selection of cold meats at Christmas time.

I then made a small quantity of beetroot chutney - a new recipe for me; I'll post the recipe for this once I've had a chance to taste it, which won't be for about 2 months whilst it matures.

Beetroot Bounty

Another recipe to be posted later is for the beetroot soup that I made yesterday, another new one for my kitchen, though whenever I take any beetroot to my sister she always mkes soup with some of it.  I've frozen most my soup as I already had some dreamy, creamy tomato soup in the fridge for us to eat.

So something pickled, something savoury, and finally something sweet.  A Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall recipe from his River Cottage everyday book: Chocolate and Beetroot Brownies.  These didn't make it to the freezer, they were delicious, chocolatey and moist with a little 'je ne sais quoi' provided by the beetroot...do, do try these...

Choco-Root Brownies

Ingredients 

Makes about 20

250g dark chocolate broken into pieces

250g unsalted butter, cut into cubes

250g caster sugar
3 free-range eggs
150g self-raising flour
250g beetroot, boiled until tender, then peeled and grated

Method

Preheat oven to 180°C/350°F/Gas Mark 4. Grease a baking tin of approximately 20 x 30 x 3cm and line the bottom with baking parchment.

Break up the chocolate into pieces, cut the butter into cubes then melt together in a heatproof bowl over a pan of simmering water.

Whisk the eggs and sugar together in a bowl until combined, then beat in the melted chocolate and butter until smooth. Gently fold in the flour then the beetroot – be careful not to overmix or it will make the brownies tough.

Pour the mixture into the prepared tin and smooth over the top with a spatula. Bake for about 20 minutes. A knife or skewer pushed into the middle should come out with a few moist crumbs clinging to it.  Remove the tin from the oven and leave on wire rack to cool before cutting into squares  Lovely on their own or even better warm from the oven with some good vanilla ice cream!

I've still got the other half of the beetroot crop to deal with - any suggestions?

Light and Lemony

The weather here yesterday was glorious, a beautiful day for the garden but we'd run out of cake. So I wondered what I might make that was quick yet a little more unusual than a plain sponge cake. I decided to leaf through my baking books whilst enjoying my morning coffee sitting in the sunshine.

My search revealed an old favourite that I haven't made for many years and this brought memories flooding back of when my boys were boys - so feeling warm from the sunshine on the outside and the memories on the inside I went dreamily back into the kitchen to make...

Lemon Crunch Squares
Makes 12 squares
Ingredients
For the cake
4ozs soft margarine or butter
4ozs castor sugar
4ozs self raising flour
2 eggs
1 tbsp lemon juice

For the topping
2ozs castor sugar
1 generous tbsp lemon juice

Method
Grease and line a square baking tin 7"x7" and preheat the oven to 180C. Put all the ingredients for the cake in a large bowl and whisk together until light and creamy. Pour the cake mixture into the prepared tin and bake in the centre of the oven for about 25 minutes until the top of the cake is golden and springs back when lightly pressed.

Whilst the cake is baking, mix the topping ingredients together. As soon as the cake is out of the oven lightly prick over the top and then cover with the topping. The lemon juice will sink into the cake and the sugar will create a lightly crisp topping. Leave the cake to cool in the baking tin then when the cake is quite cold remove from the tin and cut into 12 squares. Delicious eaten with a nice cup of tea or coffee or serve as a dessert with blackberry coulis and vanilla icecream.

Scones and Jam

Holly Grove kitchen garden has been swinging into full production; amongst the produce have been raspberries and blackcurrants...lots of the little blighters! Yesterday, though the garden was tempting me out, I remained resolute and stayed in the kitchen for a bit of baking and preserving.

Starting with the raspberries, I made a very simple fruit yoghurt - basically greek yoghurt layered with raspberries. I used the ripest berries for this, leaving it overnight for the juices to run into the yoghurt and ready for my breakfast this morning. One and a half pounds of raspberries I used to make raspberry jam, only a small quantity, but full of fruit. The remainder of the raspberries together with some of the blackcurrants were used to make another Berry Crumble cake.

Then on to the blackberries; aside from the small quantity in the cake, one pound of fruit was used to make Blackberry jam and the rest, about two pounds, was juiced.

With the jam gleaming at me through the glass jars I felt that I really ought to make some scones - you can't spend time making jam and not have scones to eat it on.

So a productive day in the kitchen and here are the recipes for scones and jam...

Almost Seedless Raspberry Jam
Makes about 1lb
Ingredients
1.5lbs raspberries
1tsp lemon juice
12ozs granulated sugar

Method
Put the raspberries in a heavy-based pan and bring slowly to the boil, mashing the fruit with a wooden spoon to release the juices. Turn down the heat and simmer for 10 minutes until the fruit is very soft and lots of juices have been released.

Press the fruit pulp and juice through a fine sieve into a bowl, this may take a while and you may end up with a few pips in the pulp if, like me, you press too hard to release the pulp for jam. Discard the raspberry pips left in the sieve and measure the pulp in a measuring jug - I had about three quarters of a pint.

Return the pulp to the clean pan and add the lemon juice together with the sugar - 1lb of sugar for every pint of pulp and juice. Bring slowly to the boil stirring to ensure that the sugar has dissolved. Boil rapidly until a set is achieved. Remove from the heat and stir in a knob of butter, this will help to clear the jam. The pour into prepared jam jars and seal and label.

Plain Scones
Makes about 8
Ingredients
8ozs self raising flour
1tsp baking powder
2ozs butter
1oz castor sugar
a little milk

Method
Sieve the flour and baking powder into a food processor. Add the butter and blitz to fine breadcrumbs. Add the sugar and pulse to mix through the crumb mixture. With the processor running, slowly add a small amount of milk until the mix comes together forming a soft dough. Be careful not to over process or you'll end up with dry scones.

Turn out the dough onto a floured board and bring together into a ball. Gently press the dough out into a round about two inches deep and cut out scones with a two inch cutter. Place the scones close together (but not touching) on a baking sheet and brush the tops with a little milk.

Place in the preheated oven at 230C for 10-12 minutes. Remove from the baking sheet and place on a clean cloth on a cooling rack and cover with the cloth. This will ensure that your scones stay soft, that's if you can resist eating them almost immediately with that delicious raspberry jam that you've just jarred up!

Note: You can, of course, make the scones without a food processor. Simply create the crumb mix by rubbing in the butter with your fingers to make the fine breadcrumbs. Then add the sugar and stir in. Finally bring the dough together by hand using a little milk.

Rhubarb Ginger Muffins

Today just became a baking day...comforting to be in the kitchen when the weather isn't fine enough for the jobs I have to do in the garden. I found this recipe in one of J's cookery books when I visited last weekend and it gives me a chance to use some HG rhubarb in a slightly different way from the usual pies and crumbles. The muffins turned out light and retained some of the rhubarb's tartness alongside the ginger spice - give them a try and you won't be disappointed.















Rhubarb and Ginger Muffins
Ingredients
300g self-raising flour
2 tsps ground ginger
½ tsp bicarbonate of soda
½ tsp baking powder
¼ tsp salt
140g castor sugar

150g fresh rhubarb, finely diced

1 egg, lightly beaten
150ml semi-skimmed milk
150ml crème fraiche
4 tblsps vegetable oil
1 tblsp demerara sugar

Method
Heat the oven to gas mark 5/190^oC/375^oF/fan oven 170^oC. Line a muffin tin with 12 paper muffin cases. Mix together all of the dry ingredients (except the demerara sugar) in a large mixing bowl. Stir in the diced rhubarb.

In a separate bowl mix together the egg, milk, crème fraiche and vegetable oil. Add this to the bowl of dry ingredients and mix briefly until just combined. Spoon the batter into the muffin cases and sprinkle with the demerara sugar. Bake in the oven for 18-20 minutes until well risen and golden. Cool in the muffin tin for 5 minutes and then transfer to a cooling rack.

These muffins freeze well for up to one month.