Py talks…shopping

There are three things in my life that I can’t help spending money on. Firstly, skincare. I am obsessive about skin care, spending a small fortune on washing my face. Secondly, make up. I spend that fortune perfecting my skin, then a second fortune covering up said skin. Sensible. Finally, kitchenware. For obvious reasons.

A tower of tins

However, I do have limited space. Very limited. Very very limited. So my bulging kitchen cupboards have been out of limits as far as new purchases go for some months now. But I cracked at the weekend. How could I resist when I saw these three (yes three) Emma Bridgewater cake tins in TK Maxx for a grand total of £15? In short, I couldn’t.

Emma Bridgewater is my gurl

I convinced myself that I needed them (I really do), that they are easy to store as they stack inside each other (very true), and that there were a steal at that price (they were).

Three’s a crowd

What are your best foodie finds? Or general TK Maxx bargains?

Now I just need to decide what to make to go in them…maybe these brownies, or these cookies, or maybe even this cake. Exciting times.

Py xx

Py+Brownies

Call me neurotic (and you wouldn’t be the first), but I just can’t bear to have a visitor in my house without any home baked sweetness to offer them. Now, in the name of the New Year I decided that I was going to let things like this slide. Don’t sweat the small things and all that. So, when I heard that my wonderful Mum was coming to London town for a brief visit, I decided that I was going to draw the line at the homemade pizzas for the night in with the kitten, the restaurants and afternoon teas that were booked, and the undoubtable lattes and treats of a day shopping. That would be enough, I told myself. Until the Friday morning, at least. At that point, roughly two hours before I was due to meet my Mum, I panicked, flapped and caved in. I made brownies.

Now my go-to brownie recipe is one that I have mentioned in brief many times before (found here), however that one calls for raspberries. In a mad rush, in the centre of snow-halted London, these were quite simply out of my desperate grasp. So I improvised, making these with what I had in the house. My Mum would call it ‘living off my hump’. The result was pretty damn nice, even if I say so myself.

Notes on the recipe:

Peanut butter and chocolate are a match made in heaven, but they are not the moistest of combos; these brownies are at their best soft, juicy and slightly undercooked. Don’t overcook these brownies: they are done as soon as their top is crisp and cracked, but a knife inserted does not come out clean.

For lack of alternatives (my house is where tins go to die) I used the glass lid of a pyrex dish to cook these. A square or rectangular tin would work just the same, if not better.

What you’ll need…

Just right…

INGREDIENTS

140g chocolate (milk or dark; I used a mix)
115g butter (I like to use salted)
225g caster sugar
170g plain flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
170g peanut butter (I like crunchy, but it’s up to you)
3 large eggs (whisked, ideally)

Maybe I didn’t bother whisking my eggs. Do as I say, not as I do.

mmm…melting goodness

RECIPE

Oven on to 170C / gas 3; line your tin with baking paper

Put your chocolate, butter and sugar into a pan, and melt together over a low heat.

Meanwhile (whilst keeping an eye on your chocolate mix) sift the flour and baking powder together in a large mixing bowl, and create a well at the centre.

Add the peanut butter to the now melted chocolate mix, and stir together.

Pour the chocolate mixture and the eggs into the flour and mix well (making sure to get rid of any floury lumps).

Pour the mix into the prepared tin; place in the prepares oven and bake for around 20 minutes.

Let the brownies cool in the tin, then cut into generous squares.

Enjoy.

Nearly time to eat them

Eat me!

What are your fave brownie recipes? And what is your best store cupboard invention?

That’s all for now,

Py x

Controlled Gluttony

It’s a new year. Of course you already know that; how could you not? Even if hard liquor means NYE is a little more fuzzy than the Black Hole of Calcutta, you can no doubt read the signs of newspapers, magazines and adverts: January is here. We are urged to eat salad, join the gym and consider plastic surgery. I am going to add another demand to that list: enjoy yourself. Yes, I know that we have all over-indulged in recent months. Yes, I know many of us could do with losing a pound or ten. But January is hard; it is cold, it is dark, it is full of money worries and fights at the sales.

I am not promoting 365 days of gluttony. Honest. What I am suggesting is that there is a middle way. Why not calm the calories, but continue the comfort? If getting up in the dark and returning home from work in the dark doesn’t qualify one for a slice of cake, I don’t know what does. But, that cake can be healthier. And perhaps smaller. I’m advocating controlled gluttony.

The way in which I like to control my gluttony is by controlling the amount of food that I can get my hands on. The only urge stronger than my urge to eat, is the urge to not visit Sainsbury’s on a drizzly Monday night. As there are only two of us in my flat, whole cakes sitting in the kitchen are simply too tempting. Thus I tend to scale my recipes down to one egg, and bake them in individual portions in a pudding tin (which usually cuts cooking time down to around 20 or 25 minutes); this way there are pre-destined portions and a limited quantity. Gluttony controlled.

To demonstrate this method, here are my Little Lemon cakes. No cane sugar, no butter (thus the healthiest cake I make) but pure luxury and joy.

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Notes on this recipe:

Only the best, unwaxed, organic, juicy lemons will do here. We are going to be using the whole lemon, pith and all, so nasty lemons will leave a nasty taste in your mouth.

Keep your eye on these cakes: fructose sugar can easily catch and burn.

If you double this recipe you can bake it in a lined 20cm cake tin, and bake it for around an hour.

This recipe is based on one seen on 'Eat Yourself Thin'.

INGREDIENTS

Cakes:
1 unwaxed lemon
1 egg
100g fructose sugar (available at health food stores)
100g ground almonds
30g plain flour
1/2 tsp baking powder

Icing:
100g light cream cheese
1 tbsp honey

RECIPE

Pop the lemon in a small saucepan and cover with water. Place on the hob to simmer for about an hour.

Once the lemon is soft, remove from the water and (carefully) cut it in half and remove any pips. Pop the remaining lemon, skin et al, into a blender or chopper and blitz until you have a lemon purée.

Heat the oven to 170C, and line your muffin tin (I like to use squares of baking parchment to do this, but muffin cases may be easier).

Beat together the egg and fructose until pale, light and fluffy.

Add in the flour, almonds, baking powder and mushed up lemon and fold together.

Spoon the mix into your cases or your tin, pop them in your oven, and bake for 20-25 minutes.

When the little cakes are a little more golden, remove them from the oven, leave to cool for 5 minutes in the tin, then decant them to a cooling rack to cool completely.

As they cool, make your frosting. Simply beat together your cream cheese and honey. Spoon this on top of your cooled cakes.

Enjoy.

So, what do you do to keep your calories in check? Any foodie New Year’s resolutions?

Hope you are well!

Sarah x

P.s. One of my resolutions is to be better with my blog. From now on you will have posts every Wednesday, and a few different types of post. So keep checking in!

The Christmas cakes are coming, the Christmas cakes are coming…

I know that the prepared amongst you will have been knee high in steeping fruit for weeks, and that your beautiful star-of-the-show Christmas cakes will be stacked up to your ears. I’m not in this position. In fact, I have never quite understood the notion of baking a cake then not eating it for weeks and weeks. Especially in this case, as the cake could be woefully lost in my race to eat ALL the food on Christmas day. It would be one more regret on a long list as I lay on the sofa unable to move away from Christmas tv. It deserves more than that.

So I have a different approach to Christmas cake. I make sure that there is a near continuous supply in my house from around this time (Christmas for me starts on 10th November, the day after my birthday) until Christmas eve. It is constantly in a production/consumption cycle. It is there for the beloved visitor, it is there to be taken to work on a sludgy Monday, and it is there to revive oneself post the ‘I forgot to get wrapping paper’ melt-down. In short, it is a winter time staple in this house; like candles, blankets, and Night Nurse, I could not get through the season without it.

Here is the recipe, which is my own take on one originally found in Mary Berry’s ‘The Aga Book’. This recipe is for a 18cm round tin (equivalent to a 15cm square tin), but if you wish to make it in a larger tin, just let me know what size and I can give you equivalent weights and measures.

INGREDIENTS:

175g Currants
100g Sultanas
50g Raisins
100g Glacé cherries (whole, halved or quarter, as you wish)
1 Orange (large)
65ml Sherry
100g Margarine
100g Dark brown sugar
2 Eggs (large)
25g Chopped almonds
1/2 tblsp Black treacle
50g Self-raising flour
50g Plain flour
1/2 tsp ground mixed spice

RECIPE:

2 – 4 days in advance: weigh the fruit into a bowl or container (the fruit will need to be covered, so a dish with a lid is ideal; clingfilm is the other option). Grate in the rind of the orange, then add the juice. Finally, add the sherry. Leave this to soak together for a few days, stirring daily.

Then, on the day you are going to make your cake, start by lining (bottom and sides) your tin with greased baking parchment. Then heat the oven to 140C / gas 1.

Add the margarine, sugar, eggs, treacle and almonds to a large bowl and beat them all together until smooth and wet.

Add the flours and the mixed spice and mix well.

Tip in the soaked fruit and all their juices and sherry, and stir until they are evenly spread.

Spoon or pour the mix into your prepared tin, and level out the top with the back of a spoon or a spatula.

Place the cake in the middle of the oven and leave to cook for anywhere between 1 and 3 (or perhaps even more) hours. This has to be a bit of a judgement call, as at such low temperatures, cooking times can really vary; try spearing a skewer into the centre or the cake to see if it comes out clean (although beware that this is a very moist cake, and you may have pierced a juicy cherry).

Serve with tea, cheese or a festive tipple; either way enjoy!

I would LOVE to see some photos of your Christmas cakes, or festive treats. What are your wintertime staples?

Ready, set, eat cookies!

I can’t go anywhere without making and taking food. It’s a psychological thing; a day out goes hand in hand with a Tupperware of treats. But when said day out calls for a 7am tube, you need to think creatively; fresh baking is not an option. So that’s when I make these little beauties.

The bulk of the biscuit making can be done a day or two ahead of cooking, and once baked these morsels suffering nothing for being stored for a few days. If you do the maths, that gives you loads of time to prepare these.

But those are just the practicalities. And these lovelies are so much more than practical. Somewhere between a cookie, a sponge and brownie, these treats are soft, moist and a satisfying chocolate hit. They are the perfect walked-miles-and-my-feet-are-sore-and-I’m-sick-of-the-crowds pick me up. Or even the perfect 3pm daily pick me up. No judgement here.

INGREDIENTS (makes around 12 biscuits):

175g plain chocolate, chopped
50g salted butter
175g plain flour
½ tsp baking powder
2 tsp cocoa powder
2 large eggs
150g caster sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
60g icing sugar

RECIPE:

Melt the chocolate and butter in a bowl over a small pan of simmering water, not letting the bowl touch the water, nor letting the pan boil dry. (You can also melt them together in the microwave, if you have one.) Leave to one side to cool slightly.

In a separate bowl mix the flour, baking powder and cocoa powder.

In another large bowl, beat together the eggs and sugar with an electric whisk until pale (which will take a couple of minutes).

Reduce the speed of the whisk and add the melted chocolate mix and the vanilla extract.

Add the flour mixture and whisk again until blended.

Cover the bowl and put it in the fridge for anywhere between 2 hours and 2 days, depending on what you are up to.

When you are ready to bake the biscuits, heat the oven to 160C/fan 140C/gas 3.

Put the icing sugar in a small bowl.

Shape the dough into good sized balls (about 3cm in diameter) and roll in the sugar, so that they are well covered.

Put them on baking sheets lined with baking paper and press down lightly with your hand to flatten a bit.

Bake for 12-15 minutes for soft centres and set edges. They will still be very soft in the middle when they come out.

Let cool on the baking sheets for 5 minutes or so and then move over on to a rack to cool and firm up.

Put them in a Tupperware and enjoy at your leisure.

MY EXPERIENCE:

I took my Tupperware of loveliness to….THE PARALYMPIC GAMES! That’s right, whilst sitting on my bottom chowing down on my chocolate cookies, I was watching people push themselves beyond all human limits. I saw men with above knee amputations running 100 metres quicker than I could ever hope. I saw blind women taking a literal leap of faith into the sand pit. I saw a man from Haiti, Josue Cajuste, hurl a javelin over 30 metres, having been fitted for a prosthetic leg just days before, thereby standing unaided for the first time in his life. It was beautiful, emotional and inspiring.

Having seen such awe inspiring achievements, I vowed that I should never moan about anything again. That was until I woke up with the mother of all Paralympic hangovers, with hands red raw from clapping and my throat burning from all the cheering. I have whined and whinged. My resolve didn’t last long.

Nonetheless, I think that I can hold on to some of the lessons of my wonderful day, and I don’t think that I will ever think the same way about my life’s little impediments.

Have any of you been watching the games? Or been anywhere exciting lately?

Fudge: my rum-and-raisin d’être

I’m a savoury kind of a girl. Feta favoured over fondant; crisps chosen over chocolate. However, there is one flavour combination that can alter my persuasion: rum and raisin. Especially when in fudge form.

I always thought making fudge was a painstaking, laborious task, with a 50/50 chance of success. Two things changes that. First, and most importantly, I got a jam thermometer. Mine cost £7. That’s all. Get one. Precision is the key to fudge and all such sugary treats, and precision can only be guaranteed by knowing the exact temperate of the mix. It also eliminates that panicky and uncertain ‘soft ball’ testing thing. Secondly, I worked out this recipe, which so far has proved fool-proof. And I would know.

I use evaporated milk (as opposed to double cream) as it stops any graininess creeping in (and negates the use of glucose). I don’t use butter as I like to keep the dish healthy (!) (actually, I just don’t feel it is required). There is no need to melt the chocolate – the sugar mix, at 116 degrees Celsius, is hot enough to do that job. And on that note, please be careful: this mix is hot as hell, and more likely to splash you in your kitchen. Use a deep pan and also the common sense you were born with.

INGREDIENTS:
450g caster sugar
125ml whole milk
125ml evaporated milk
0.5 tbsp cocoa
100g dark chocolate (70% cocoa solids at least), broken into pieces
125g raisins
50ml dark rum

RECIPE:

Line a suitable dish with baking parchment. I use the lid of a Pyrex dish, which is about 30cm by 20cm, and about 4cm deep.

Add the raisins to the rum and leave to one side to soak.

In your big, deep pan, heat together the sugar, milk, evaporated milk, and cocoa, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon, until it boils.

Then lower the heat slightly and cook for around 10 minutes more, still stirring constantly until the temperature reaches 116 C (240 F).

Remove the pan from the heat, and leave to cool to 110 C (230 F), by which time the bubbles will have calmed.

Stir in the chocolate and the rum and raisins.

Then beat the mix savagely, with your wooden spoon, for 5 – 10 minutes, until the fudge is thick and creamy (though still pourable).

Tip the mix into your dish and leave it to set; once set, cut into 2.5cm cubes, and enjoy.

MY EXPERIENCE:

How I have enjoyed eating my fudge:

Whilst watching the Olympics, actively being as far as possible from an athlete.
Sitting in Russell Square, watching the pigeons bathe in the fountain.
Outside the British Museum having seen the ‘The Horse: from Arabia to Royal Ascot’.
Curled up, reading Lace by Shirley Conran
Whilst writing this blog post.

And, finally…

6. Whilst researching gym memberships, to work off my fudge-pudge.

Goodbyes and Good Crumpets

I have always thought crumpets to be magical, both in their powers to transform even the worst morning into the best, and also in their very existence and form. Surely those perfect pits, so eagerly poised to hold on to your topping of choice (for me always an obscene amount of butter), are created by some sort of kitchen witchcraft or wizardry. It would appear not…

This is how the (mortal) magic happens…

Recipe adapted from Jo Wheatley’s, A Passion for Baking

INGREDIENTS (makes 10-12):

500g Strong bread flour
1 tsp Salt
2 tsp Caster sugar
7g Fast-action yeast
250 ml Water, warm
350 ml Full-fat milk, warmed
Oil, for greasing

You will also need a griddle pan, or a sturdy, non-stick frying pan, and 2-4 (the more, the speedier) crumpet rings or plain pastry cutters.

RECIPE:

Mix together the flour, salt, sugar and yeast in a large bowl, and make a well in the centre.

Combine the warm water and milk in a jug before pouring the wet mix into the dry and whisking until you have a smooth, thick batter.

Cover the batter and leave to rise for around an hour.

Heat your chosen pan over a very low heat and brush with a little oil.

Add the rings to your heated pan (lightly oiled if not non-stick), and pour your batter into them, filling each to just under two-thirds full.

Cook the crumpets on a very low heat until their bottoms are a golden brown, their tops are covered in characteristic bubble-holes, and the batter appears dry. (For me, just under ten minutes.)

Remove the rings, flip the crumpets and cook the tops for around 90 seconds, until tinged brown.

Repeat this process until all your batter is used up.

Have butter to hand, and enjoy.

MY EXPERIENCE:

This is the last post I shall write from my beloved little kitchen in Cambridge. These crumpets are a gift (or bribe, depending on how you look at it) for the ‘man-with-a-van’ who will be getting up obscenely early to drive Jonny and me, Cathy (our fish), and all our worldly possessions to our new pad. So all packed up until we touch down in London town.

A Trip to the Middle East, Part II

Alongside my Swooning Imam I like to serve this olive bread, Eliopitta, hailing from around Greece, Turkey, and Armenia, another recipe taken from Veggiestan by Sally Butcher, as I believe it has the perfect density for mopping up all the heady sauce from the aubergine dish.

The joy of the bread is neatly summed up by the author herself: ‘a jug of wine, a loaf of bread and thou, was Khayyam’s recipe for bucolic bliss – reckon this was the loaf he was talking about.’ And it’s true, there is something just right about this bread; its weight, its saltiness (a gift from the olives), and its luxury (provided by the rosemary). This is a loaf to break with loved ones. I would probably add more wine, and turn Khayyam’s ‘bucolic bliss’ into my own bacchic bliss. But that is just me.

INGREDIENTS (makes 2, smallish, loaves)

500g strong white flour
1 tbsp caster sugar
2 tsps salt
7g dried yeast
3 tbsp olive oil
300ml tepid water
100g pitted, sliced olives
1 tbsp chopped rosemary

RECIPE

Sift together the flour, sugar, and salt into a large mixing bowl

Sprinkle the yeast over the flour, then add the oil and water

Mix with a wooden spoon, at first, then with your hands – once it comes together, knead for 10 minutes

Return to the bowl and cover (with clingfilm or a damp tea towel), leaving it to double in size (around 30 minutes)

Punch the dough down, knead again, and add the olives and rosemary

Again, return to the bowl, cover and leave to double in size

Split the dough in half and shape into rounds, placing the two future loaves on a floured board

Cover them, and leave to rise for a final 30 minutes

Meanwhile, heat the oven to gas 9 / 240 C, and grease a large baking tray and place in the oven to heat up

Just before you are ready to put the bread in the oven, place a baking tin of water in the bottom of the oven, so as to keep the bread soft (NB skip this step if you are using an electric oven)

Slide the loaves from board to preheated tray, at bake for 10 minutes, before turning the heat down to gas 5 / 190 C, and cooking for a further 20-25 minutes

The bread should be golden, hollow-sounding, and tempting

MY EXPERIENCE

A bit of a boring one, I’m afraid. Monday night Middle Eastern was spent with my boy, just relaxing. The night ended as all our romantic dates do…

…with a banana, doused in nutella, sprinkled with nuts and seeds. The perfect end to any night.

THE Carrot Cake

Carrot Cake

Cake and carrot, cake and carrot, go together like a horse and carriage…

I know what you’re thinking. Carrot cake? You exclaim. But everybody knows how to make carrot cake! And it’s true, the world is awash with recipes for this cafe commonplace. And yet, oh and yet, this cake is the lightest, the moistest, and the most moreish morsel that I have ever encountered. This is my go-to cake; like that pair of shoes or those jeans. This is the only carrot cake for me.

What elevates this cake beyond mere mortal cakes is the process of treating the eggs yolks and whites separately then combining them, fluffed up and silky, right at the end. This may seem labour intensive, and true enough, if doing this cake by hand, equipped with nothing but a whisk, you may have to add ‘blood, sweat and tears’ to the ingredients. With technology behind you (I used an aged handheld whisk, so we aren’t talking rocket science levels of technology here), the results are well worth the effort.

You’ll find no cream cheese icing here (although the cake can take it, if you that is what tickles your taste buds). A simple lemon drizzle works wonders, or, like me, you can just douse the beauty with lashings of icing sugar.

A quick note on the recipe: this cake can be made gluten free by replacing the flour with more ground almonds, or, conversely, nut free by replacing the almonds with flour. Always handy to know these things. Also, if will-power permits, this cake is all the better if left for a couple of days before cutting.

Recipe adapted from A Year of Family Recipes by Lesley Wild

INGREDIENTS:

5 large eggs
250g sugar (split into two lots of 125g)
250g carrots, finely grated (it must be finely, otherwise the carrot won’t break down)
250g ground almonds
1 lemon, grated zest and juice
75g plain flour
2 tsp baking powder
Pinch of salt
Icing sugar to decorate

RECIPE (for 1 23cm cake or 2 1kg loaf cakes):

Heat the oven to 160C/ gas 2 1/2

Line your chosen tin, bottom and sides

Split the eggs, so that you have the whites in one large bowl, and the yokes in the another

Add one 125g portion of sugar to the yolks, and whisk until they are thick, pale, and about double in volume

Fold in the grated carrot, ground almonds, lemon zest and juice; when combined, stir in the flour and baking powder (the mix will be quite stiff at this point)

In the other bowl, whisk the egg whites and salt together, until they hold their shape

Add the second 125g portion of sugar to the whites, bit by bit, and whisk until the mix is thick and glossy

Fold the whites mixture into the cake mixture, spoon by spoon, careful not to knock too much air out

Pour the resulting mix into the prepared tin(s), and bake for around 30 – 40 minutes, until golden and risen, and a skewer comes out clean

Allow to stand for a couple of minutes, before turning out onto a cooling rack (at which point the cake will sink a little)

Dust liberally with icing sugar

MY EXPERIENCE:

Well, the results are in and it’s a…2.i. I’m really pleased (although fleetingly frustrated having failed a first by a single mark). So this Saturday was spent in gown and hood, parading around the city and receiving my certificate of graduation.

But what has this got to do with cake?, you greedy gluttons may declare. Well all the carrot cakes that were baked in my oven actually went out to all those who helped me through the past four years. That’s right, I didn’t even get a slice!