Mum's Tea Loaf

The snow's gone. It's raining. This calls for comfort baking. Whenever I'm stuck indoors I still like to bake, but I try to hold back a little on the fats and sugars - as I know I won't be out running it off anytime soon! Mum's tea loaf fits the bill perfectly. As the name suggests, it's great with a fresh cuppa, a good book and a comfy sofa... but there's no fat (in the recipe at least - see above!) and only a little sugar. I used earl grey tea for this one as it gives it a slightly floral note, but you can use whatever you like really.

I was particularly in the need of the comforting smells of cake today as I was having a bit of a 'growing up mope' - a bit of a "childhood's nearly over and what have I really achieved?" type complaint. I'm no olympic athlete, I'm not in a band or dancing on the west-end and I'm not a super-successful entrepreneur. I've experimented with a lot of hobbies, but they've all just fizzled out over time - ballet, gymnastics, violin, drums, tennis... my 'quit' list goes on. I came to question, "why didn't I just pick one and become really good at it?", "why did I never see the big picture?". My mum had the best advice, she said that if I was destined carry on with a hobby, I never would have doubted it, I would never have asked to quit, or found excuses not to go, I would have just done it no questions asked because it made me happy. And then I thought, isn't that what baking is to me? I've done it since I can remember, I never get bored of it, and I never question why I want to do it, I just do... So I got out the flour and turned on the oven.

Ingredients and method:

Soak 225g sultanas in 225ml earl grey tea (for a minimum of 2hrs)
Add 1 egg, 85g light soft brown sugar and 170g self raising flour and mix.
Pour into a greased and lined loaf tin (about a 900g one).
Cook for 45 mins at 180 degrees then cook for a further 30 mins at 150 degrees c (I used fan).
Leave to cool slightly, then turn out onto a wire rack to cool.
Serve in cold slices with butter or spread.


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Ginger spiced bran cookies

I'm not claiming this to be anything in the league of the accidental tarte tatin discovery, but this little recipe came about by a tasty accident. I think it must have something to do with sunday baking, my brain's had a day off and it just starts to relax... and consequently, I forget things. The forgotten item in question was an egg, something pretty essential to a cake, but cookies are a little more forgiving. I'm no cake-baking scientist, but I think the lack of said egg gave these cookies their slightly chewy texture - rather than the cake-like texture you seem to get with cookie recipes that use eggs. That's what I think, but as I say, I could be completely wrong, so please feel free to correct me.

I'd say this cookies lie somewhere between a ginger-nut and a cookie - once cooled, they're crunchy on the outside, but still a bit chewy on the inside - perfect tea dunkers I think!

Ingredients:

110g margarine
50g golden syrup (about 1tbsp)
170g self raising flour
110g light soft brown sugar
1tsp ground ginger
Half tsp bicarb
110g bran flakes (slightly crushed)
50g sultanas

Method:

1. Melt the butter and golden syrup.
2. Combine all dry ingredients.
3. Stir melted mix with the dry mixture.
4. Spoon blobs of the mixture, well spaced apart, onto a lined baking tray (about a small tablespoon full for each biscuit, don't squash them).
5. Cook in the oven at 180 degrees C for 10 - 15 minutes, until dark golden all over.

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Rum and Raisin Tart

I've done a couple of posts recently about recipes from my mum. Today it's dad's turn. This isn't exactly a recipe from him, but a recipe for him. He's always had a bit of love of rum and raisin ice-cream but, being January, I thought it was still a little early to get the ice cream maker out. So I decided to look for a warmer recipe, where I could combine these two ingredients, and Jamie's Great Britain came to hand. I've been wanting to make his Ecclefechan Tart for ages now (a whisky pastry with a dried fruit, black treacle and sponge-type filling) and I thought it would be the perfect base to make a few rum and raison flavoured adaptations.

So, I swapped whisky for rum in the pastry and used raisins alone, instead of a mixture of dried fruits in the filling. I also removed the stem ginger from the  raisin filling and added a bit of ground cinnamon to the sponge-type top - Jamie combined his stem ginger and orange zest with the raisins, whereas I decided to mix my cinnamon and orange zest into my sponge mix. 

One thing I'm not sure about is that Jamie didn't use any flour in his sponge (that's why I keep calling it sponge-type, as I'm not really sure what it's called when you effectively make a sponge but leave out the flour), but I added a couple of tablespoons of flour to stabilise it - this may have only been necessary because I over whisked my sugar/butter/egg mix, so if your's doesn't separate, I'm sure you can leave out the flour.

Mine also looks a little different to Jamie's as I had the wrong shaped tin, so my sponge batter was too thick, not leaving enough room for the raisins to peep through. Equally, this resulted in quite a nice tri-layer tart with the rum pastry, black treacle raisins and citrus and cinnamon spiced sponge.

So after all that explaining, here's the recipe (adapted from Jamie's Great Britain):

Ingredients:

Pastry

250g plain flour

125 unsalted, cubed, cold butter

Pinch of salt

50ml rum

Filling

150g room temperature butter

150g light soft brown sugar

150ml double cream

3 large eggs

1 heaped tbsp black treacle

300g raisins

Zest of 1 orange

1tsp cinnamon

(a couple of tbsp flour - see above)

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees C and grease a 25cm loose bottomed tart tin.
2. Rub together pastry ingredients, except rum, until they resemble fine breadcrumbs.
3. Add the rum and push it together, but don't overwork it.
4. Leave it to rest in the fridge for 15 minutes, then roll out to about 3mm thick and line the tart case with it.
5. Prick the base with a fork, and blind bake (cover with greaseproof and fill with baking beans or uncooked rice) for 10 minutes.
6. Remove parchment and beans and return to the oven for another 5 mins.
7. Spread treacle onto the base once it's out of the oven, then pour the raisins on top.
8. Make the sponge/batter by whisking together the butter and sugar, then add the eggs (I added a little flour here as mine had split, but that may not be necessary - I fear I may have over-whisked it!), finally stir the cream, zest and cinnamon through the mixture.
9. Pour this mix into the tart case (over the raisins) and shake it a little to make the layers combine a little.
10. Cook for 30 minutes until golden.

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Wholemeal date and pecan slice

Having eaten more than my fair share of Almond and Semolina Slice last night, I decided something a little healthier was in order. Don't get me wrong, there's still sugar and I'd still call it a treat, just with a little less guilt (although life's too short for food guilt anyway!). Having seen the sugary sprinkle on the picture, you may well ask what makes this recipe anything close to healthy? In essence, it's wholemeal flour and oats instead of plain flour, and the sugar quantity's been greatly reduced by the use of a dried date filling in the place of jam.

I decided on this recipe having watched the Comic Relief Bake Off and being reminded once again of Mary Berry's brilliance. This recipe is adapted from her Apricot and Walnut Sandwich Bars in her Baking Bible - I used dates instead of apricots (and I removed the added sugar from the filling because I find dates plenty sweet enough on their own) and pecans instead of walnuts to compliment the toffee-like flavour of the dates. I've also added a little more water to the filling as I find that dates soak up more liquid than apricots.

Method and ingredients (makes about 10 bars):

50g porridge oats

50g light soft muscovado sugar

40g chopped pecans

175g margarine, melted

175g chopped dried dates

100ml water

1 - 2tsp cinnamon sugar (you can mix this yourself, no need to buy special sugar - just mix 1part cinnamon to 2 parts sugar)

1. Place dates and water into a saucepan and bring to the boil, then leave to simmer until the dates have absorbed all the liquid (they should look almost jammy). Set aside.
2. Stir together all the other ingredients except the cinnamon sugar.
3. Grease and line a 18cm by 18cm square cake tin.
4. Spread half of the oat mixture into the tin, cover with the date mixture and then top with the remaining oat mix.
5. Sprinkle over the cinnamon sugar and cook a 150 degrees C oven for 45 minutes (until firm and golden brown).
6. Cut into bars whilst warm.

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Mum's almond and semolina slice with blackcurrant jam

I have to admit that I have a slight reliance on photos when it comes to choosing recipes. With 101 recipe books on the shelf, if it hasn't got a picture, the recipe tends to go back on the shelf and another book is searched through. It's a shallow habit I know, I should have more faith in the craftsman... and in  my own cooking for that matter. Determined to change this, I set about finding my oldest recipes, those without even a description, let alone a picture, in a hope to find some hidden gems - those passed down recipes which I had set aside to make way for another shiny new cookery book.

So did I find one you might ask? Well the answer is most definitely yes. I've entitled this recipe 'Mum's slice' because it was mum who always made it for me, but I think it's real heritage stretches back a little further judging by the paper... mum thinks it was passed down to her from her mum or possibly even her gran (I didn't even know they had almond essence back then!). It's one of those recipes that I have enjoyed eating for many a year, but one I've never looked at on paper or enquired about further - too busy enjoying it I suspect!

There's always something nerve-wracking about adapting a family recipe, something that's been cooked in the same way for years - and if I've enjoyed it so much, why change it? But I had a little yearning, a little adaptation I couldn't help but try. The dry ingredients always consisted of semolina and self raising flour, with the almond flavour coming from the essence. So I decided to substitute some of this for a bit of ground almonds, to compliment the essence. I'm pretty happy with the result, but I still love the original - so feel free to just swap the ground almonds back for self raising flour if you'd prefer.

Ingredients and method:

Rub together 140g semolina, 110g self raising flour, 30g ground almonds, 140g caster sugar and 140g margarine.

Add 1 beaten egg and half a tsp of almond essence (I always find the smell so nostalgic!) and mix to a stiff paste.

Press half the mixture into a lined, square cake or swiss roll tin (or just greased and dusted with flour) - mine was a square 18cm/18cm tin.

Dot with blackcurrant (or any flavour you fancy) jam (about 130g) and then spoon on the second half of the mixture in small pieces to cover most of the jam.

Scatter about 30g flaked almonds on the top and cook for about 30mins at 180 degrees c (I'd check after 20mins).

Leave to cool slightly, turn out of the tin and then leave on a wire rack to cool before storing it in an airtight tin (I often don't cut it into slices until I serve it so as to keep it as moist as possible).

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Little mincemeat cakes

I seem to spend January cooking with cranberries, mincemeat and sprouts (not together I hasten to add!) in a desperate attempt to empty my cupboards of these festive goodies before next christmas. Today was no different. With my final january exam looming over me tomorrow, what better distraction than baking? Some may say revision would have been a better use of my time, but in my opinion, if I don't know it by now there's nothing more I can do. With that in mind I switched on the oven a started thinking recipes. As I paced my kitchen (it doesn't take long!) I caught a glimpse of an unfinished jar of mincemeat in the corner of my eye. Being without apples or pastry I decided that any sort of slice or tart was unlikely... so my mind turned to cake... little heart shaped cakes to be precise (so you could even cook these on valentine's day if you still haven't used up those ever-lingering jars of christmas mincemeat!).

I didn't want lots so I based my quantities on a 1 egg victoria sponge (weigh the egg and then weigh equal amounts of flour, sugar and marg) and then made a few tweaks.

This recipe made 7 heart shaped cakes (a bizarre quantity, sorry!) and took about 15mins to prepare.

Method and ingredients:

Whisk together 80g of margarine/butter and 80g caster sugar.

Add 1 egg (mine was fairly large - it weighed 80g shell on) and 2-3 drops of almond extract (optional) and whisk again.

Fold in 90g (this is a little more than the butter/sugar to compensate for the fat in the mincemeat) of sieved self raising flour.

Fold in 100g mincemeat and spoon into muffin cases (or, in my case, greased silicone heart moulds).

Cook for 20mins at 180 degrees C (fan).

Leave to cool in the cases then dust with icing sugar to serve.

They're lovely just as they are but I'm intending to eat mine later with a bit of custard (a bit like a sponge pudding me thinks!).

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Mum's the word... Raspberry Torte

As the wonder woman who taught me to cook, I think it's time my mum got a mention. This torte is my favourite comfort food, dinner party dessert, bring & share pud... it's pretty perfect for everything really.

What I love about this torte is the way it reflects the seasons, in summer mum fills it with raspberries for a sharp contrast to the sweet almond cake and in autumn we go out blackberry picking for something sweeter. I've seen similar recipes in Mary Berry's Cookbook and The Master Chef 1991 Cookbook (Daphne Nelson's dessert) so I'm not sure who got there first, but to me it doesn't matter - it's my most requested dessert and my thanks goes out to whomever had the idea first... but my greatest thanks goes to my mum for cooking this for me after many a busy week at work.

Mum's method's pretty simple really:
Beat together 150g each of the following:
- Margerine/Spread
- Caster Sugar
- Self Raising Flour
- Ground Almonds
With 1tsp ground cinnamon (and a couple of drops of almond extract if you want a more obvious almond flavour - more akin to a bakewell)

Spread half onto a lined spring release 22cm circular cake tin, cover with fresh/thawed berries (about 200 - 250g unfrozen) and then 'dot' the remaining mixture over the top and scatter with flaked almonds.

Cook for about 45mins at 180 degrees C until the top is golden and a skewer comes out with only slightly moist crumbs - you may need to leave it a little longer or cover the top with foil (if it browns too quickly) depending on your oven so keep checking.

Leave to firm up until cooled (warm not hot) and then remove from the tin and dust with icing sugar before serving with yoghurt creme fraiche or cream... and mum says it's great with a fruit coulis at a posher 'do'.

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Three courses at Borough Market

Whenever I go to London with a fellow foodie, my first question is always "have you ever been to Borough Market?" If the answer is "no", all plans are aborted and we just have to go there immediately. On this occasion we decided to share everything so that we could try as much as possible within our budget and we came away with full tummies having spent less than £7.50 each. I'd go on a thursday or friday if you can as it's less busy so you get more chance to chat to the traders - I could wander round learning for hours! You'll find lots of fabulous bits and bobs to take home... new exciting ingredients, interesting breads, incredible brownies (I could go on...), but if you fancy eating as you go, the following three are my tried and tested favourites. Although I must point out... it was a tough competition and I expect I'll be writing again soon with more to add to my list!

Starter:

Seared Scallops in the shell with crispy bacon and a bean sprout and cabbage stir fry

£4.50 at Shell Seekers

Fresh, meaty in texture and truly decadent!

Main:

Confit duck roll with rocket and mustard

£5 - Le Marché du Quartier

A bit of a Meg Ryan moment from 'When Harry Met Sally' - need I say more?...

Pudding:

Goat's Milk Ice Cream: Apple pie + Blackforest Gateau

£5 (about that I think) at Greedy Goat

Incredible flavour combinations and a surprising lack of the feared 'goaty' taste

The caramelised cinnamon apple pieces were truly divine!

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Oaty Cookies

I know January's traditionally a time for horrible diets and expensive gym memberships, but sometimes, just sometimes, you have to treat yourself... to bring that 'I've just eaten a biscuit' glow to your diet-wearied face. That said, these aren't actually too unhealthy as far as biscuits go - plenty of oats to please the health conscious among us. For me, these are perfect morning biscuits because you can make them start to finish in 20 - 25 minutes, ready to bring up with a cup of tea to start the weekend - earning some extra brownie points in the process!

I've adapted this recipe from The WI book of biscuits, swapping some of the caster sugar for soft brown to give them a more toffee-like flavour and a slightly chewier texture... my attempt to replicate the texture of the amazing Ben's Cookies - a must-try for any cookie fan, or anyone in need of converting!

Makes about 15 - 20 depending on size

In a big bowl stir together the following:

100g oats

100g plain flour

1tsp bicarbonate of soda

+ whatever dried fruit/nuts/chocolate bits you fancy... I added about 80g of raisins and about 30g of chopped pecans, but dried apricots work really well too - tailor them to your preferences!

Melt the following in a saucepan:

100g spread

50g caster sugar

50g light soft brown sugar

1tbsp golden syrup

Stir everything together then spoon heaped blobs onto a lined baking tray - leave plenty of space between (about 3cm around each) and don't flatten them before cooking.

Cook for 15mins at 150 degrees C (fan) until golden brown - don't over cook as they'll firm up on cooling.

Leave them on the tray for a few seconds then put them onto a rack to cool.

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