Home Made Fig Rolls

For Christmas my friend Chloe very kindly gave me a jar of her home made Figpote: Figs bottled in a honey and orange syrup. I decided to put them to use in home made fig rolls!

You will need:

For the filling:
200g Figpote - Chloe used a Pam Corbin recipe from the River Cottage Preserves Handbook

For the pastry:
75g plain flour
75g wholemeal flour
75g unsalted butter
50g sugar
A pinch of salt
1 egg, beaten and a little reserved for glazing
1tsp vanilla extract
40ml cold water 

Here's how to:

Put the flours, butter, sugar, salt, egg and vanilla into a food processor and whizz until combined. Whilst the machine is running, slowly add the water. Remove the dough, wrap in cling film and chill in the fridge for at least 30 minutes.  

 

In the meantime, cut the figs into small pieces, preheat your oven to 180C and prepare a baking sheet with parchment/greaseproof paper.

Take the dough out of the fridge and using a rolling pin, roll out on a lightly floured surface into a rectangle, about 40cm x 12cm. You want the dough to be relatively thin, about 5mm or so. Tidy the edges by trimming.

Arrange the figs lengthways down the centre of the rectangle, then fold one side of the dough over the filling, and then the other side over the top of that.

Cut the roll into pieces about 7.5cm long. Place the rolls fold side down onto the prepared baking sheet. Brush the tops with the remaining egg and bake in the oven for 18-20 minutes or until they start to turn golden. 

 

Remove from the oven and allow to cool on a wire rack. 

Time now for a cuppa I think!

Carnival Cookies

For Mardi Gras / Shrove Tuesday, I prepared these amazing Carnival Cookies and why the hell not! It's all about being the last night of eating richer foods before Lent isn't it? But actually if the truth be told, these little bundles of delight aren't all that bad, in fact they're butterless, flourless, eggless and virtually sugarless, all thanks to Heidi Swanson of 101 Cookbooks! That just meant we had to make up for really letting our hair down in another way... Hastings Fat Tuesday!

If you're interested in making your own Carnival Cookies you will need;

3 large ripe bananas, well mashed up

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

60ml extra-virgin coconut oil, warmed (not solid)

120g rolled oats

60g ground almonds

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon salt

100g shelled peanuts

170g dark chocolate, chopped up

20g popped corn

Preheat the oven to 180C with racks in the top and bottom thirds. Line two baking sheets with parchment.

In a large bowl combine the bananas, vanilla and coconut oil. In another bowl, whisk together the oats, ground almonds, baking powder, cinnamon and salt.  

 

Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients and stir until combined. Fold in the chopped chocolate, then the peanuts and lastly the popped corn. 

Firmly shape into balls with your hands, about 1 heaped tablespoon in each, and place on the baking sheets about 1 inch apart.

Bake for 14-17 minutes, swapping the baking sheets from top to bottom once along the way, until the bottoms are deeply golden. Remove from the oven and allow the cookies to cool on a wire rack. 

Wow! These really are like a carnival on the tip of your tongue! They are delicious eaten warm when the chocolate is all soft and gooey. Mmm mmm.

Cheddars

These little rich cheesy biscuits with their kick of red chilli are perfect for autumnal comfort snacking. I enjoyed them dipped in a home made cauliflower soup but they would also be a great accompaniment to a nice real ale or a cocktail. Here's how to make them.

You will need:

200g plain flour
1/2 teaspoon sea salt flakes
1 tsp dried red chilli flakes
150g extra mature Cheddar cheese, grate
1 whole medium free-range egg, plus 1 egg yolk

NB The mixture is very dense so these little babies are best made in a food processor.

Put the flour, salt, chilli flakes and cheese into the bowl of a food processor and pulse until just combined. 

Add the diced butter and run the machine until the ingredients look like coarse sand. 

Add the whole egg and the yolk and run the processor again until the ingredients come together to form a firm dough.

Turn out onto a lightly floured surface and form into a log shape with your hands. Bang the roll down on the work surface a few times to expel any air pockets that may have formed.  With your hands, roll the dough until it forms an even cylinder roughly 50cm long. Cut into 3 equal pieces, then wrap in greaseproof paper and chill in the fridge for 30 minutes. (The dough can be stored for up to 3 days).

When ready to bake, heat your oven to 200c.

Cut the dough into 1cm thick discs and place on a prepared baking sheet. Bake for 10-12 minutes or until lightly golden. 

Remove from the oven and allow to cool for a few minutes before transferring to a cooling rack.

And proceed to devour.

Seedy bread

My friend Chloe has been raving about the above book for a while and I am always excited to see what she has been rustling up from it. For my birthday back in April, she presented me not only with my very own copy, but also a delicious lemon drizzle cake that she had baked from the book!

Yesterday I tried my hand at baking this seedy (cumin / fennel) loaf...


Click for larger image of recipe...


I would definitely recommend this recipe to anyone! I'm now enjoying it for breakfast! Mmm!!!

Madeleines

My grandparents bought me a madeleine tray for Christmas, so this morning I put it to use and had my first attempt at baking madeleines!

To make your own you will need -

60g unsalted butter, melted and cooled

1 large egg

50g sugar (I used demerara)

50g plain flour

1 orange, zest grated

Madeleine mould

Method -

Preheat oven to 190°C. Grease the Madeleine moulds with a little butter...

Whisk the egg and sugar until the mixture is thick...

Sift the flour into the egg mixture and fold gently in...

Then fold in the orange zest and the cooled melted butter...

Fill each madeleine mould with the mixture...

and bake for 7-8 minutes...

Voila! (And they are bloody good if I'm allowed to say so myself!!)

Peach Shortbread

It's been far too long since I last done some baking, and having a free Saturday morning, I decided to make some peach shortbread to take to a friend's house for dessert. I found the recipe on Smitten Kitchen - an EXCELLENT foodie website created by a chefess (and photographer) in New York working from her home kitchen. You'll find everything you need on here, from simple 10 minute spaghetti with tomato sauce to colourful layered cookie cakes that will take you the whole weekend to make!

OK anyway, so you will need -


200 grams white sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder 
360 grams plain flour
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon 
1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon salt
227 grams cold unsalted butter
1 large egg
2 peaches, pitted and thinly sliced (about 1/4-inch thick)


Brown your butter in a saucepan over medium-low heat until it smells nutty. Set it in the freezer until solid (about 30 minutes).
Preheat the oven to 190°C. Butter a pan. In a bowl, stir together sugar, baking powder, flour, salt and spices. Then blend the solidified brown butter and egg into the flour mixture. It will be crumbly. Pat 3/4 of the crumbs into the bottom of the prepared pan, pressing firmly. Tile peach slices over crumb base in a single layer. Scatter remaining crumbs over peaches and bake in preheated oven for 30 minutes, until top is slightly brown.
Cool completely in pan before cutting into squares.Voila!


Mine came out closely resembling a crumble (I think I packed the bottom layer too thick) but it was still pretty damn good (if I may so myself)!