Book Review: Veggie Desserts + Cake By Kate Hackworthy & Recipe: Cauliflower, Lime & Cardamon Cookies

A new book from a fellow-food-blogger is wonderful enough to quickly become an event. Veggies Desserts + Cakes by Kate Hackworthy is no exception. I have been following Kate's blog since she started and interacted a little with her on Twitter. 

Last year, in my January food column for the local newspaper, I mentioned the rise of all things "vegetable and sweet". That was after noticing the number of hits on my Choufleur Cake and then Kate comes along with a whole book which goes far beyond carrot cakes.

There is a method to her madness too. She explains that, "Veggies bring moisture, natural sweetness and, in some desserts, vegetable purée can replace eggs"

So what can you expect from Veggie Desserts + Cakes? 60 recipes never seen anywhere before: cakes, cupcakes, cookies, tray bakes, pies, frozen desserts and a whole section of "More Sweet Things" the Chocolate Beetroot Baked Doughnuts with Blueberry Glaze seen on the cover belong to the later.

It also seems to be a very personal cookbook. Kate tells of her growing up in Canada which has inspired her pumpkin desserts, of her kids who have had the most unusual birthday cakes that a crazy-about-veggies-mummy can make.

By now you'll have noticed that I like this book. I like it for one, no two, reasons; the unusual flavour combinations such as Kale and Chocolate, who would have thought? The cauliflower, Lime and Cardamon Cookies I tried are simply divine. It should have been Romanesco but never the less, the lime and the cardamon compliment ever so well the mild, nutty taste of any Brassicaceae. 

The other reason may look simple but....

The recipes work, there are no hanging ingredients, measurements are precise. The work of a pro.

And now for my effort at replicating what should have been romanesco but was...

Cauliflower, Lime 'n Cardamon Cookies

Ingredients
100g unsalted butter, softened
150g cauliflower
1 Lime, zest and juice

Pasta 'n grains

• 100 g Porridge oats

  Baking 'n spices

  • 8 Cardamom pods crushed
  • 125 g Self-raising flour
  • 100 g Granulated Sugar
  • 1/4 tsp salt

  
  

  Instructions

  
  

  1. Preheat oven to 180C/350F. Line a baking tray with parchment.
  2. Finely grate the cauliflower or whiz it in a food processor until it resembles fine crumbs. Heat it in the microwave, or in a dry pan on the stove, for 2 minutes to dry it out slightly. Allow to cool.
  3. Cream the butter and sugar with an electric whisk until light and fluffy. Add the lemon zest and juice and mix well.
  4. Stir in the cauliflower, oats, flour and ground cardamom and combine.
  5. Roll the batter into balls, place on the prepared baking tray and press down lightly with a fork.
  6. Bake for 10 minutes or until golden. Cool slightly on the tray and then cool completely on a wire rack.

Recipe reproduced from Veggie Desserts 

If you'd like to read more reviews click here another clever idea from Kate, A virtual launch

The perfect Jam Doughnut

In my opinion, doughnut is a rare thing indeed. By this I mean, the concept of frying a simple dough can be found in almost every country around the world.

A quick look the doughnut around the world list on Wikipedia will prove my point, to you. Earlier this year, I caught this picture

 Thai Youtiao being fried on Bangkok's night market; Margot, the co-host of Inheritance Recipes published a great recipe of paczki Oponki, Polish doughnuts.

In France, les beignets et bugnes have their own national day;

Jeanne as in Cook Sister, in her mischievous way named her blog after the South African doughnut, Koeksister. And, I might not be far wrong as in saying that half of the food bloggers are doughnuts lovers and have a doughnut recipe on their blog so it might be a little presumptuous to have named this post the 

Perfect Jam Doughnut

Ingredients
210g strong white flour, plus extra to dust
7g dried yeast
½ tsp salt
15g caster sugar, plus extra to dust
20g unsalted butter, at room temperature, chopped, plus extra to grease
65ml whole milk, warmed
45ml warm water
1 egg, beaten
2 litres vegetable or sunflower oil, to cook
6 tsp raspberry or strawberry jam

Method

1. Combine the top four ingredients in a large bowl.
2. In a smaller one, place the butter pour the warm liquids over and wait until the butter melts.
3. Add to the flour mixture stir, add the egg and either use a mixer with a dough hook or stir by hand until you get an elastic and smooth dough.
4. Transfer to a clean bowl, cover with a damp towel and leave it to raise, until double the size.
5. Shape into 6 balls of about 80g each, folding each side tightly into the centre in turn, turning as you go, then turn the ball over and put it on a lightly floured baking tray or board, spacing them well apart. 
6. Cover and leave to rise again for 45 minutes.
7. Deep fry in oil, you'll probably need to do several batches, 
8. Pad dry, roll in caster sugar
9. Pipe the jam in

Les Sourires aka Chocolate Lace Crisps #InheritanceRecipes

We all do it, don't we?: mnemotechnics. We all have little tricks to recall people's names, places etc...When he and I travel, we tend to change the name of places into similar sounding words to commit them to memory.

Years ago, a visit Mexico unleashed my inner Laura Croft. I suddenly became very keen on visiting all possible sites, may they be from the Aztecs, Mayan, Toltecs, Zapotecs or any other ancient cultures, for that matter.

Ancient cities in this part of the world have a fascinating Science-Fiction quality, especially these located in the dense jungle. The scenery helps to reinforce an aura of mystery.

In spite of the constant rain (If you think the UK is wet, try Yucatan) the sites are highly visited. People of all nations wearing, colourful PVC ponchos come and go, all day long and it's a spectacle in itself to watch them.

The problem with visiting so many sites soon becomes a very old one: "How do you recall which one is which?". So we applied fool-proof memo-technics and soon Yaxchilan was pronounced YackChilian, Teotihuacan ....Teoti-can-can and Chichen Itza became  forever the famous Chicken-Pizza site.

"Forever" is the critical word. As neither of us are now able to revert the proper names. This got forgotten. It can lead to some rather embarrassing conversations:

"When in Mexico, where did you go?" 

"heuuh, Teo-Ti-can-can, Chicken-Pizza" think not.

But this problem is not confined to travels. It spilt out, in fact, it has always been a way of coping with complicated proper names. Most of the dishes, I ate at my grandfather's had Arabic names, some of them didn't  even have a name. Of the many desserts baked by the equally many aunties, neighbours and which adorned the dining table during the religious festivals, often, were "renamed". 

A classic is the Ghoriba, a sweet, flowerless almond biscuit crinkled all around which I used to call Sourire because the cracks look like smiles. Sadly, I never got the recipe but on the first day of Spring, Sourires is the recipe, I wanted on Pebble Soup. So I chose to bake Chocolate Lace Crisps instead and from now on they will be called Sourires too.

Sourires aka Chocolate Lace Crisps

First, read these few tips.

These biscuits should not flatten (as they have in the picture)  Adding more oil than called for will also cause the cookies to spread -- I wouldn't suggest it, they really don't need extra butter.

Another way to make them rounder is to make them bigger

The icing sugar often gets absorbed during the baking process. to avoid this roll the balls, let them dry a little and then roll them in the sugar.

Ingredients

• 100g dark eating (semi-sweet) chocolate, chopped coarsely;
• 80g butter, chopped;
• 220g caster sugar;
• 1 egg, beaten lightly;
• 150g plain flour;
• 2 tablespoons cocoa powder;
• 1/4 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda;
• 40g icing sugar.

Method:

1. In a saucepan over low heat, melt the chocolate and the butter
2. In a large bowl, mix caster sugar, egg, sifted flour cocoa and bicarbonate of soda when the chocolate sauce has cooled a little add this to the bowl and stir, with a wooden spoon, don't use a mixer. Cover and refrigerate until the mixture is firm.
3. Preheat the oven 180C\160 fan. Roll level tablespoon of the mixture into balls, let them dry 5 minutes while you line a baking tray with greased baking paper
4. roll the balls in the icing sugar. Place them on the tray, well apart about 8cm
5. bake for 15 minutes. cool before transferring to an airtight container, they will keep a week

If like mine, they don't turn "a little too flat" use a cookie cutter to shape them.

a common problem to inherited recipes is that often inherited recipes don't really have a name. Therefore, with this reason in mind I add Sourires to this month "Inheritance Recipes" challenge which  hosted by Margot




Please join us Here and link your inheritance recipes we will add it to our social media
Note:
Pictures of Yucatan are my own, they were taken in 1999 and digitalized this morning for the purpose of this post.

And as this recipe makes plenty, I am also sharing with Casa Costello and Maison Cupcake

Catherine Wheels Mince Pies

Vanessa Kimbell from Prepped came up with the best Xmas 2011 idea: a food bloggers get together to exchange gifts. The event will take place at Fortnum & Mason. I feel extremely lucky to be able to take part.

My offering will be Catherine wheels mince pies. I will be cooking them nearer the time.  

Till then, I am asking you to close your eyes and picture a cross between a mince pie, a continental pastry and a squashed Chelsea bun. There, you've got it.This recipe is very easy to make and when you think about all what we will have to do before Xmas, this is just perfect

Catherine Wheels Mince Pies

Ingredients:

50g/2oz golden caster sugar

1 sheet ready-rolled puff pastry

411g jar traditional mincemeat

1tbsp milk

25g/1oz flaked almonds

Method:

Roll

Scatter the sugar over the worktop, unravel the pastry and roll it.

Spread the mincemeat evenly making sure to leave a border of 2cm all around

Fold one of the longest edges over the mincemeat and roll the pastry tightly into a sausage shape, when you get to the other edge brush it with milk and press down to seal

Press both ends in and chill for 30 minutes (if you fancy freezing this is the time to do so)

time to preheat the oven 200C/gas 6/fan 180C
Squash

Cut the roll into 12 rounds about 3 cm thick

Lay them evenly on a baking tray

Flatten them with your hand

Bake

Scatter the almonds on the top and bake for 20-30 minutes until golden brown and the mincemeat sizzle

Leave to cool for 5 minutes

Serve as they are or with ice cream

"Whoo", "Whoo", "Whoo", Whoopie Pies

OK, this is a bit of an easy title for Halloween. Last year or so Whoopie pies were almost unheard of in the UK, now they are the new cake phenomenon or they seem to be.

But what is a Whoopie pie? Amish in origin; I bet you will have no difficulty to guess the reasons behind the name.

That doesn't answer, "What are they?" The reply will look like a cop-out: they are a cross between pie, cake and cookie. They look like two gooey cookies with fluffy icing in the middle.

There is no way of telling what the authentic whoopie pies did taste like. The story is that they were baked for Amish workers and put in their lunch-boxes . But if the Amish men were going "whoopie" just at the sight of them there might have been a reason and that reason is simply that whoopie pies are incredibly delicious.

To feed the little devils, wizards and witches of Greenwich on Halloween night, I used a short-cut and got my whoopies out of a Betty Crocker Whoopie Pie mix. Three simple steps, takes 15 minutes to bake and 15 minutes to mix. It worked a treat, next time you are shopping, you could do worse than grab a packet at £2.15 for 10 whoopie pies- though I managed only 9- comes in two flavours Chocolate and Vanilla or Double chocolate. Impressed.

Strawberry Shortcakes

You may remember my attempt at making biscuits when the results looked slightly freakish.

Yes, these were supposed to the perfectly shaped cookies but as we know not everything in life turns out to be the way we think it might.

But this time, to avoid a certain amount of unpredictability I have been choosing my ingredients and recipe with more care. I have used Loseley Summer Meadow Butter before and I was seriously impressed by its great taste.

Therefore, I will be glad to give it another go. I also like the texture as it can be rather annoying to faff about with hard butter. Not that it is a problem during the summer though.

What summer also brings  are all these lovely soft fruits and he has hinted that we might go blackberry picking this week-end. Now, this is bliss. In the meantime I intend to bake these perfectly formed shortcakes and I will be very disappointed if they don't turn out anything like this picture.

 STRAWBERRY SHORTCAKES

20 minutes preparation time plus chilling and cooling
20 minutes cooking time
Ingredients:
Loseley Summer Meadow Butter 225g (8oz), softened
Caster sugar 110g (4 oz)
Plain Flour 300g (11 oz)
Ground Almonds 50g (2 oz)
Small strawberries 225g (8 oz)
Whipping Cream 300ml (1/2 pint)
Strawberry jam 2 tbsp, soft-set (if you use other fruits, match the jam)
Caster Sugar for dusting

Method:
1. Firstly make the shortcakes. Cream together the Loseley Summer Meadow Butter and sugar until light and fluffy, then mix in the flour, salt and ground almonds until the mixture clings together to form a dough. Turn onto a floured surface and knead gently until smooth.

2. Lightly press and roll the dough to flatten it to a thickness of 6mm (¼ inch) and, using a 7.5cm (3in) round cutter, stamp out as many shapes as you can. Re-roll the dough and continue stamping out shapes until all the dough is used up. You should end up with about 20 circles.

3. Line a baking sheet with parchment and place the shortcake circles on the sheet. Prick with a fork and chill for 40 minutes.

4. Preheat the oven to 180˚C/ 350˚F/ Gas 4 and bake the shortcake biscuits for 15-20 minutes until lightly golden. Set aside to cool.

5. To finish, wash the strawberries and hull and slice them. Whisk the cream into soft peaks, and then spoon onto half the shortcake biscuits. Top with a few strawberry slices and drizzle of jam. Add a small dollop of cream and then sandwich a plain shortcake on top. Dust very lightly with sugar and serve immediately.
Makes 10 shortcakes
Biscuits are suitable for freezing
Suitable for vegetarians

This post is sponsored by Loseley Summer Meadow Butter
Loseley Summer Meadow Butter is packed in a 250g tub and costs £1.29p. retailed in independent grocers, Morrisons and Waitrose.

Baking Betty Crockers' Cupcakes

I was asked if I wanted to review one of Betty Crocker's must-try product. At this stage, I could make things up for language fioriture sake and tell you that Betty Croker asked me to help her out but:

a) Betty Crocker never existed - it is a made up name-
b) I have to be careful about lexis as this story shows.

The product in question: Cupcake mix. Not being sure how I felt about cupcakes but going to a BBQ and in need of food which would travel easily on two buses I found the offer opportune and gladly accepted. I knew I was not going to produce what I understand is called Gourmet cupcakes, larger cupcakes based around a theme, the type one sees in specialists' shops.

I was happy  to settle for standard cupcakes as long as they rose which has always been my problem with cakes, they often look as flat as  yes .... pancakes. It was my chance to shine and rise, except that I do not own a cupcake tray. Off to the neighbours and back with 9 silicon moulds which looked like a rainbow when lined up on an oven tray.

The instructions at the back  of the Betty Crocker packets indicate that I would only require 10 minutes to get the mix ready for baking and then 16 minutes for baking- I needed to add water, oil, milk, and two eggs- my first effort concentrated upon the lemon mix which stretched as far as 8 cupcakes, not the promised 9. They did all rise and though it took me 20 minutes to mix, it worked well.
Should I have been able to make cupcakes without the mix. The obvious answer is yes but remember the pancake effect.

The icing - was the bit that amazed me - I have never been able to make a proper icing and here it worked without effort. Now I understand that the secret is to keep working that icing sugar with very little liquid.

I have one grumble : the fluted paper cups, it would not cost much more to include coloured paper cups instead of plain white after all cupcakes thrives on their looks. Moreover the paper cups are far too large and little cupcakes looked a bit drowned.

Attempt number two with the chocolate mix, produced more or less the same results, relatively faster. The acid test was always going to be  in the eating. Back to the neighbours with 5 empty silicon moulds and 4 cupcakes. They loved them, praised their moist textures and I now get great big grins when I met my neigbourgs in the street. Personally I thought that the taste of the baking powder was slightly too strong.

As for the BBQ, it may not have been a great choice of cake. On arrival the host told me, "you should not have bake fairy-cakes on my account." I knew the host was gay and that in Australia cupcakes are called fairy cakes but it never occurred to me ....anyway, on the spur of the moment, the only answer that came to my mind  was "I didn't bake them, Betty Crocker did."

My verdict : 
+ the mix is really convenient, and can be used with kids
- the taste of baking powder comes through a little bit too much
+ there is a lot of fun recipes on the Betty Crocker's website
- Paper cases are not pretty and too big
+The icing is really good and easy to make
+ The cupcakes are moist and light
+ cupcakes mixes are available from ASDA,Waitrose and Morrisons RRP £2.15. which adds up to £0.23 per cupcake.

You may have noticed that some of the cupcakes were sprinkled with glittering sugar and decorated with Daisies stay posted as these sparkles are going to be Pebble Soup's next Give Away

Short of a Present or Two, Turn to Baking Cherry Shortbread

If like me you were prevented to get out and about  today, prevented by snowflakes as large a flying saucers then you might not get all your presents on time. One suggestion is to have a quick look in your kitchen cupboard to see if you had the ingredients for this shortbread recipe which will make a nice present too

Cherry shortbread

Makes 10 fingers
Ready in 1 hour 10 minutes
This will keep for two weeks in an airtight container,

Ingredients
115g unsalted butter
55g caster sugar, plus extra for dusting (optional)
Few drops vanilla extract
175g plain flour
75g glacé cherries, quartered

Method
1.Preheat the oven to 170C/150C Fan/Gas 3. Line the base of a 20cm shallow, square cake tin with a sheet of baking paper.
2.Cut the butter into squares and put in a mixing bowl with the sugar and vanilla. Stir with a wooden spoon until evenly mixed.
3.Sift in the flour and mix with your fingertips until the dough starts to come together. Gather into a ball, then roll out to a 20cm square.4.Put in the prepared tin and prick with a fork
5.Arrange the cherries on top to make six lines, pressing them in lightly. Bake for about 35-40 minutes
6.Mark into fingers while hot, then leave to cool for 20 minutes. Remove from the tin to finish cooling on a rack
7.Dust lightly with caster sugar, if liked, then gift wrap or store in an airtight container.

recipe and top picture from Asda Magazine

Disaster Revisited: The Cake

I never really understood why my cakes were soggy in the middle and hardly ever rose.

You would think that such creations would never see the light of the day. Au contraire. I always took them dished them up, mostly at picnics, never realising that in doing so I was consolidating a certain reputation.

Till not long ago, a friend arrived for lunch complete with a hand made cardboard box full of pepper-flavoured cookies, presented with the following sentence : " you have bought me some non edible desserts in the past, now it is my turn" who could blame him really and by the way, the pepper cookies were delicious.

So when I read an invitation to revisit my dessert memory vault and take another look back at...a dessert disaster. I was in. You could too: Sugar High Friday is the The Domestic Goddess' brain child.

Slightly worried though I decided to approach the cake from a "one portion angle". I also broke my rules and bought all the ingredients. To make sure of sure I got the recipe out of what I consider the best baking cook-book: The Baker by Leanne Kitchen and to leave no room for the devil to do is work I follow the recipe for Little Jam-Filled Cakes step by step.

Perfection, loveliness, risen to plume height in the sky ( may be not that high), cooked in the middle, light, great recipe ..........at least for the first batch. For the second, I decide to put a little paper-cup in the holes....disaster: the cakes ate the paper which in turn meant that if we wanted to eat the cakes we had to cut off the edges.

Little Jam- Filled Cakes

IngredientsMakes 12
75g (2 1/2 0z) unsalted melted butter, plus more for tin
170 g 960z/ 1/4 cup) granulated sugar superine
2 large eggs
280g 910oz/2 1/1 cups) self-raising flour
250ml (9fl oz/1 cup)milk
6 tablespoons strawberry jam or preserves
1/2 teaspoon natural vanilla extract
6 small strawberries, hulled and thinly slice
icing (confectioner's) sugar, for dusting (optional)

Method
1.Preheat oven to 200C (400F/Gas6). Butter a standard 12-cup muffin tin; set aside.
2. Sift the flour into a large bowl, add the sugar and stir to combine. Make a well in the center
3.In a medium bowl, whisk together the eggs, milk, vanilla and butter. Pour into the well in the flour mixture and gradually stir until just combined, using a large metal spoon.
4. Spoon 3/4 of the cake batter into the muffin holes. tope each with 1/2 teaspoon of the jam then cover with the remaining batter.
5. Fan the strawberry slices over each cake, gently pressing them in.
6.Bake for 20 minutes or until lighly golden or until a cake tester inserted in top cake layer comes out clean. Remove from the oven and leave to coll in the tin for 5 minutes, before turning out onto a wire rack to coll completely.
7. Dust with icing sugar if desired
8. Little jam-filled cakes are best eaten the day they are made but keep well in a cake tin .......and I have just got one.....hand made by a friend.

Milan Cookies : The July Daring Bakers' Challenge

Beat the drum, Turn on the spot lights, it is the end of the month, time for another Daring Bakers' challenge.

The July Daring Bakers' challenge was hosted by Nicole at Sweet Tooth. She chose Chocolate Covered Marshmallow Cookies and Milan Cookies from pastry chef Gale Gand of the Food Network.
As we know I am not very good at following recipes to the letter and the Mallows seemed too complicated therefore I opted for the Milan Cookies.

All what you need for this recipe is in your already in your cupboard. these cookies are delicious, very quick to make. Some Daring Bakers were concerned because the result was too chewy and I don't know the secret to avoid that. Mine were not perfect but they tasted great, though my tip is : bake them in a muffin tray or use a cookie cutter so that you get a nice shape.

The recipe is for 3 dozen cookies which is quite a lot so divide according to your needs.
There are really worth trying

Milan Cookies
Recipe courtesy Gale Gand, from Food Network website

Prep Time: 20 min
Inactive Prep Time: 0 min
Cook Time: 1 hr 0 min (15 minutes did the trick, longer they would have burnt)
Serves: about 3 dozen cookies

• 12 tablespoons (170grams/ 6 oz) unsalted butter, softened
• 2 1/2 cups (312.5 grams/ 11.02 oz) powdered sugar
• 7/8 cup egg whites (from about 6 eggs)
• 2 tablespoons vanilla extract
• 2 tablespoons lemon extract
• 1 1/2 cups (187.5grams/ 6.61 oz) all purpose flour
• Cookie filling, recipe follows

Cookie filling:
• 1/2 cup heavy cream
• 8 ounces semisweet chocolate, chopped
• 1 orange, zested (I did not use this, I hear mint flavouring is good too)

1. In a mixer with paddle attachment cream the butter and the sugar.
2. Add the egg whites gradually and then mix in the vanilla and lemon extracts.
3. Add the flour and mix until just well mixed.
4. With a small (1/4-inch) plain tip, pipe 1-inch sections of batter onto a parchment-lined sheet pan, spacing them 2 inches apart as they spread.
5. Bake in a preheated 350 degree oven for 10 minutes or until light golden brown around the edges. Let cool on the pan.
6. While waiting for the cookies to cool, in a small saucepan over medium flame, scald cream.
7. Pour hot cream over chocolate in a bowl, whisk to melt chocolate, add zest and blend well.
8. Set aside to cool (the mixture will thicken as it cools).
9. Spread a thin amount of the filling onto the flat side of a cookie while the filling is still soft and press the flat side of a second cookie on top.
10. Repeat with the remainder of the cookies.

Tuiles : a Sweet Daring Bakers' challenge

This month's challenge is brought to us by Karen of Baking Soda and Zorra of 1x umruehren bitte aka Kochtopf. They have chosen Tuiles from The Chocolate Book by Angélique Schmeink and Nougatine and Chocolate Tuiles from Michel Roux.
Completed by me at the very last minute and posted a tat late, but enough of my domestic difficulties especially since I had no good reason for lateness: I have always wanted to make tuiles. Light and smart perfect with coffee at the end of a meal, excellent for parties and so easy to make

TUILES
Recipe:Yields: 20 small tuiles

Preparation time batter 10 minutes, waiting time 30 minutes, baking time: 5-10 minutes per batch

Ingredients:

• 65 grams / ¼ cup / 2.3 ounces softened butter (not melted but soft)
• 60 grams / ½ cup / 2.1 ounces sifted confectioner’s sugar
• 1 sachet vanilla sugar (7 grams or substitute with a dash of vanilla extract)
• 2 large egg whites (slightly whisked with a fork)
• 65 grams / 1/2 cup /4 ounces sifted all purpose flour
• 1 table spoon cocoa powder/or food coloring of choice
• Butter/spray to grease baking sheet

Method:
Oven: 180C / 350F

1. Using a hand whisk or a stand mixer fitted with the paddle (low speed) and cream butter, sugar and vanilla to a paste.
2. Keep stirring while you gradually add the egg whites.
3. Continue to add the flour in small batches and stir to achieve a homogeneous and smooth batter/paste.
4. Be careful to not overmix.Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and chill in the fridge for at least 30 minutes to firm up. (This batter will keep in the fridge for up to a week, take it out 30 minutes before you plan to use it).


5. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or grease with either butter/spray and chill in the fridge for at least 15 minutes. This will help spread the batter more easily if using a stencil/cardboard template such as circle or butterfly. Press the stencil on the bakingsheet and use an off sided spatula to spread batter. Leave some room in between your shapes.
6. Bake tuiles in a preheated oven (180C/350F) for about 5-10 minutes or until the edges turn golden brown.
7. Immediately release from bakingsheet and proceed to shape/bend the cookies in the desired shape.
   These cookies have to be shaped when still warm, you might want to bake a small amount at a time or maybe put them in the oven to warm them up again. (Haven’t tried that). Or: place a bakingsheet toward the front of the warm oven, leaving the door half open. The warmth will keep the cookies malleable.If you don’t want to do stencil shapes, you might want to transfer the batter into a piping bag fitted with a small plain tip. Pipe the desired shapes and bake. Shape immediately after baking using for instance a rolling pin, a broom handle, cups, cones….

Refrigerator Cookies

As I write more and more on US sites (catch me on lifestyle Gourmandia and Paper Palate), I get to hear a little more about American culture. I was looking into cookies today and found out that "every presidential election year Family Circle magazine runs a cookie recipe contest between the two possible First Ladies. The winner of the contest for the past four elections has gone on to be (or continued to be) the First Lady". Except for this year, Cindy McCain's Oatmeal-Butterscotch cookies beat out Michelle Obama's shortbread cookies. May be I should suggest that he runs for president next time because I surely stand a chance with this easy recipe.

these cookies/biscuits are the ultimate in home-baking convenience. They are so easy and popular that the fomula has been "tubed" and you can buy the neatly shaped log ready for cutting and baking. I found the recipe in "The Baker" by Leanne Kitchen and there are as many variations as you imagination allows.

• Mocha spirals which I attempted though not as neatly as I hoped has 2 tsp cocoa powder into 1 dough and 2 tsp of coffee powder in the other.


• Maple and pecan with 60 ml maple syrup added to the creamed butter mixture and rolled in finely chopped pecan


• Spicy fruits : 1 tsp mixed spices and 1/2 teaspoon ground giner added to the flour


• Coconut and Orange with 1/3 cup desiccated coconut and 1/2 tsp orange essence

If you bake others let me know

Happy Cookies

You go away for a few weeks and on return, the world has been transformed. The world, may be a little bit of an exaggeration.
Let me elaborate: when I have a minute, I take a sweet delight in reading "the Greenwich Phantom". Every district, town, village should have a phantom, ours is a kind of contemporary freelance town-crier. This morning as I looked at his/hers website, I gasp, threw my shawl over my head and flew out of the house direction....... a new bakery. We have not had a bakery for pffffffff many many years, I got to Rhodes in 5 minutes flat, that is its name: "Rhodes Bakery" not the island, I have not grown wings yet. It was hiving, a joyous site, lovely, brown breads in the window, buttercups and tartelettes parading on their stand, this is really good new and it would seem that artisan-bakeries are back.

Sometime ago, I got an email from a friend who was about to finalise her dream: opening a bakery. Rather they are going to re-open the village bakery in Wye (Kent) which had long closed and will offer freshly baked high-quality breads, cakes and all sorts of other baked "deliciouseries". So it was with some anticipation that I tried one of her recipe.

Chocolate and Ginger Cookies

Chocolate and Ginger is a marriage made is heaven, we are all aware of the mood-boosting properties of chocolate and if the best property of crystallized ginger (also called candied ginger) is its tastes, it also relieves indigestion, the symptoms of colds, it alleviates nausea of all sorts including morning sickness and now.... wait for it..... it could even burn fat, the latter I doubt a little, certainly not when used in this recipe.

Yield: c.24
150 gm plain sifted flour
2 gm baking powder
100 gm crystallised ginger, finely chopped
50 gm soft light brown sugar
120 gm castor sugar1 large egg
120g plain chocolate chips
120g butter, softened

Method


Beat sugars and butter until light and fluffy. Mix in egg. Sift flour and baking powder and add to mixture, along with ginger and chocolate chips. Blend lightly but well.
Drop rounded dessertspoons of the mixture onto two greased baking sheets spacing well apart. Bate in pre-heated 175 C oven for about 18 minutes until light golden brown. Transfer to cooling rack. Store, when coll, in airtight container.

Fun with Jam Drops

"A cup of coffee, friends and a natter" rates in the top five of my feel-good list at the moment, so yesterday as I was getting food ready for diner, Anne was coming around, I thought it would be nice to finish the meal with coffee and biscuits, slumped in cosy corner, exchanging news. Looking for a biscuit recipe in my new bible "the baker" by Leanne Kitchen, I knoooow, I still can't believe it is a real name either, but more of this in another post, I spotted jam drops.

When I was very small, at school, they taught us how to make "lunettes", biscuits shaped like spectacles, sprinkled with icing sugar, the eyes filled in with jam. Jam drops obey the same principle and they could have been named "eye balls" but I guess that would not have been very appetizing. There is nothing to them, they are a little time consuming to make but I have not had so much fun in the kitchen for a long time and they are delicious.

Jam Drops

Makes 32
Ingredients:

80g unsalted butter, softened
1/3 cup / 80g caster sugar
2 tblsp milk
1/2 tsp vanilla essence
1 cup /125g self-raising flour
1/3 cup/40g custard powder or instant vanilla pudding mix
1/3 cup raspberry jam/100g ( I used recently home made strawberry jam)

Method:
1. Preheat the oven to moderate 180C/ 350F/Gas 4 and line two baking trays with baking paper.
2. Cream the butter and sugar in a small bowl with electric beaters until light and fluffy, or a fork will do, Add the milk and vanilla and beat until combined. Add the sifted flour and custard powder and mix to form a soft dough. Roll heaped teaspoons of the mixture into balls and place on the trays.

3. Make an indentation in each ball using the end of a wooden spoon. Fill each hole with a little jam. Bake for 15 minutes, cool slightly on the trays, then transfer to a wire rack to cool.
Jam drops will keep up to 7 days, stored in a cool place in an airtight container, or can be frozen in which case, you will have to be really fast as they disappear so quickly.

April Fool’s Recipe

My theory is twofold: If hoaxes are judged by the number of people duped, how many people have slaved over these little biscuits, the recipe for which was published in a weekend broadsheet? Answer: possibly more than one. How many people thought they had poisoned their boss? OK, OK, I might be the only one. Therefore, if the aim of an April fool’s prank is to embarrass the gullible, then I have got the perfect recipe for the day.
Let me start from the beginning, then you could try to bake these little cookies. They take no time to bake, and if they taste like what you think they should, I shall eat my baking tray. Oops, mistake, dropped the “h,” I shall heat my baking tray. I know, I know, it does not conjure the same fun, but I was tricked once already.
Let me tell you how: I spotted this recipe over a weekend. Since I had my induction meeting with the network the following Monday, I thought, ”What better gesture than to bake these lovely ‘marmalade buttons’?” I used ground rice. I displayed them on a presentation plate. I put my offering in the middle of the meeting table, only to observe all participants crunching away while their noses twitched. Next thing I knew, the boss had disappeared. Had I poisoned her?
I contacted a baker friend of mine, who advised me to use semolina or, even better, crushed almonds instead of ground rice. Then the boss reappeared. I tried once more, this time with semolina. They still did not taste how I thought they should — though I hasten to add that they always tasted nice. Slightly too soft on retrial.
So, will you give it a go and try Dan Lepard’s Marmalade Buttons on April Fool’s Day?

Marmalade Buttons100g unsalted butter
50g caster sugar
50g good marmalade
100g mixed peel
100g plain flour
100g ground rice or semolina
Demerara sugar

Beat together the butter and sugar until smooth, then add the marmalade and mixed peel and beat until combined. Stir in the flour and ground rice; knead in the bowl until you have a smooth dough, then roll into a cylinder about 25 cm long. Wrap in clingfilm and chill until firm.

Heat the oven to 170 degrees C (150 degrees C fan-assisted)/325 degrees F/gas mark 3. Line a baking sheet with nonstick baking parchment. Unwrap the dough and rub with a little water to moisten. Tip some demerara sugar onto a plate and roll the dough in it to form a crust.

Slice the dough into 0.75 cm discs, lay them a few centimeters apart on the tray, and bake for 15 to 20 minutes, until pale golden brown.

Dulce de Leche & cheese cake

I was minding my own, surfing happily when I came across Dulce de leche on Sophie's site. Then a cascade of unforeseen events happened: before I new it, I
a) had entered a muffin competition
b) was searching frantically for the origins of Dulche de Leche in my grand-mother's battered cookery book. Mémé had no connection with Argentina or anywhere else further than 1km away from her flat.
c) cooking a cheese-cake for poor Bob and June who need cheering up.
All this, in a happy jumble with no particular order.


Let's, at least try to put back some chronology , as I was reading Sophie's blog, something was really nagging me, I had seen a similar recipe before a long time ago. Then in a flash it came to me, Confiture de lait mais c'est bien sure: Mémé 's book.
Mémé 's book has neither cover nor back, so no way to know what it is called or when it was published. Further research dated the first recipe to the 14th century, place it in Normandy, so dulce de leche might have originated in France, but it has dropped in popularity when in Argentina it is staple foods.
If there is an easy way, take it. So the next day I set to cook

Dulce de Leche the easy way

Ingredients:

1 can of sweetened condensed milk (while you are at it you could do two cans).

Method:

• Place unopened can(s) of sweetened condensed milk in a sauce pan, covered with water.
• Bring to a boil.
• Simmer for 3 hours IF it is not submerge the whole time, IT WILL EXPLODE, you have been warned.
• Leave it to cool before you open the can. IF you don't IT WILL POP OUT AND BURN YOU, this is a bit over-dramatic however though a really simple recipe it has to be handled with care.

The longer you cook it, the thicker it becomes, after 2 hours you can drizzle it, 3 hours is excellent consistency for cheese cake.

Now for the cheese cake, I found this recipe in "the hairy bikers ride again". I can confidently tell you that it taste delicious though I will not have the opportunity to taste it as it is all gone.

Dulce de Leche Cheesecake

Ingredients:

serves 8

• 400g Hobnobs (oat biscuits)
• 150 g melted unsalted butter
• 750g cream cheese
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 600g dulce de leche
• 2 eggs
• 2 tbs cornflour

Method:

• Preheat oven to 300°F (140°C).
• Put the Hobnobs cookies in a plastic bag and bash them into crumbs with a rolling pin
• Pour over the melted butter and mix well
• Press evenly into the bottom of a lightly buttered 23cm springform tin.
• With an electric mixer beat cream cheese, the dulce the leche, your vanilla
• add the eggs when at the time
• Finally beat in the cornflour
• Pour the mixture on the top of the biscuit base
• Bake for 1h30 min. When cool, remove from the tin, grab a piece for you and serve.

Blueberry Muffins & Royal Naval Mess so that is the film set fuel

They are filming around the corner. I am being told Nicolas Cage is there. It is a sequel of "Treasure hunt", well, I think it is more like "National hunt 2" but does it really matter? When all what you want to know is "what are all these people eating?".

Yesterday as I was passing by, the ginger bread men waved at me. So today I could not resist; But, I was not going to go alone, I asked Sue. Our mission was to discover what fuels the silver screen workers.

It was not very difficult to find out, the caterer was charming and more than happy to show us around, the caravan over there in reality is a giant fridge and goodness me, they run on bottled water, not the caravans, the crew and lots of water. And come this way, here are: the ovens, the sandwich toaster, massive, the juicer, the coffee machine which never stops purring, they run on coffee too, lots and lots of coffee. Hang on, somebody just asked for "an apple, celery and "something else very green" juice" to boost his energy level.

In fact, the reality is that they are fed non-stop lovely yummy food, healthy as well by the look of it, no more hesitation, Sue and I are going to tuck into that Royal Naval Mess which is, in fact, an Eton mess renamed to refer to the filming location. Thanks to the great friendliness of the canteen crew you get the blueberry muffins recipe, delicious they were, mission accomplished.

Blueberry Muffins

Ingredients

250g Plain flour

1 1/2 tsp Baking powder

1/2 tsp Bicarbonate of soda

1 Egg

175 ml Milk

150g Sugar

60g Melted butter

170g Blueberries

Method

Personally I use a mixer, put all the ingredients (except the fruits) in and give it a whirl but here is the more traditional way.

preheat oven at 180 C/350 F/ mark 4

• In a small bowl, mix the egg and the milk


• In a large bowl, mix the plain flour, baking powder, bicarbonate and mix


• Add the egg and milk to the dry mixture


• Melt the butter, when slightly cool, mix in the sugar


• Add the butter mixture to the rest and mix again


• Finally add the blueberries.


• butter a rectangular tin


• bake for 15 minutes


• rest in the tin for 10 minutes.

fantastic for kid's snacks, if they know that Nicolas Cage ate from the same recipe you may have to bake more than one batch.