Gooseberry Flapjacks

I've had this bake and news ready for a while now, I just haven't blogged because I didn't know how to say it. Which is silly really, because its good and exciting news. To cut the waffle: I've won a competition! It was the Guild of Food Writers WriteIt! Competition, a food writing competition with a fab prize of 14 amazing cookbooks, publication on delicious magazine's website and a trip to delicious magazine HQ! I'm super excited and honoured to have won - you can read my piece here if you like. Now for cheesy photo alert...Look at my prize books! I won a copy of each book shortlisted for the Guild of Food Writers Awards which I’ve been working my way through and they’re all so interesting and varied – my favourites so far have been Street Food Revolution for being inspiring and making me want to start up my own food company, and Peyton & Byrne British Baking for being full of delicious classic bakes with little twists. Rest assured my baking in the near future will be heavily influenced by these and all the others. The President of the Guild of Food Writers came for brunch to bring that massive pile of books you see there and I made these gooseberry flapjacks for us to munch as we chatted. I love flapjacks for the way a good one can taste so caramelly and delightfully chewy, yet you can still claim some element of health due to the oats… although I'm pretty sure the golden syrup goodness cancels any nutritional value out...which is why you add fruit! The gooseberries keep the flapjacks moist for longer than they may last otherwise, and also add a sharp element to stop the treat becoming too sickly. The recipe comes from the British Larder, a great restaurant in Suffolk which has had a blog long before the restaurant opened in August 2010. I tweaked the recipe only by taking out the seeds and nuts – a virtuous addition I’m sure but I’m still yet to develop a liking for seeds of any kind other than poppy. Gooseberries have such a short season we need to take advantage of them while you can and this recipe appealed because to me it was original - previously it has always been so easy to simply pair the fruit with some elderflower in a crumble or pie and have a winner so I was interested to try something new. The end result was crumbly and delicious, perfect for afternoon tea or elevenses. Enjoy!

Cake and An Award!

What could be better?

Mmmmm this tea bread was absolutely delicious! I wasn’t sure whether I would really like it but I definitely do. The recipe calls it a dark and sticky tea bread which is perfect for it – it is like a dark toffee cake in some ways. Making it was such fun as well because you boil sugar, sultanas, water and butter up with bicarbonate of soda! Like making honeycomb, it puffs up very high so if you make this watch it very carefully – just as the recipe suggests :) I liked this unusual technique of boiling everything together because the mixture goes from a very pale golden brown, gradually to a dark golden all the way through to a thick dark toffee-mixture. Also, the liquid rehydrates the raisins and they puff up like cranberries! The recipe says to cook for 1 1/2 hours, but I only did it 45 minutes and it was definitely done – in fact it probably could have had less.

The recipe is from Frugal Food by Delia Smith. This book was originally published in 1976 ( I have the old version!) but Delia has recently republished it as a big hardback book – the same recipes but in more modern measurements. You can find the recipe here, on Delia Online.

Now, my award! I was thrilled to receive the I <3 Your Blog Award from Steph, of Obsessed With Baking. Steph started her blog a few months before I did and I urge you to go over and read it. She is a member of TWD and the Daring Bakers and makes lots of delicious things!

I am passing this award onto:

1. Marie of A Year From Oak Cottage

2. Tulip of Tulip’s Kitchen

3. Antonia of Food, Glorious Food!

4. Culinary Travels Of A Kitchen Goddess

5. Susan of Sticky, Gooey, Creamy, Chewy

I hope they like it and thank-you again Steph!

More Cookies!

I know, another cookie recipe! At this rate I should probably rename this blog Cookie Baker! Ok maybe not, but I do know that this is my seventh cookie recipe on here! I make them a lot because there are soo many different cookies you can make and they are so easy to whip up. My favourite two sweets are cookies and pie J and I’m not such a fan of cake – so it all makes sense really! Anyway, these cookies do deserve to be on here!

There’s often a little story behind my cookie bakes – a new book, an event or a time honoured recipe. Today however it was just this simple equation: Sister wants cookies + Teen Baker wants cookies and a break from homework and to blog = ...double chocolate cookies!

They are from Rachel Allen’s book, Bake, just like the oaty ones last week. Not quite as healthy as the oaty ones, but just as tasty. Rachel Allen provides the basic cookie recipe and then I added the Double Choc Variation so I’ve included that beneath the recipe below. Another variation she had was dried cranberry (which I tried recently when a packet came free in our Ocado shop and I liked) and white chocolate which sound yummy

These cookies came out crisp on the outside and like a brownie inside! They have hardened up slightly since but still have a delicious fudgy centre.
Basic Cookie Recipe, and double chocolate chip variation, from Bake by Rachel Allen

225g (8oz) butter, softened

110g (4oz) caster sugar

275g (10oz) plain flour

1. Preheat the oven to 170’C (325’F), Gas Mark 3.
2. Cream the butter in a large bowl or in a food mixer until soft.
3. Add the sugar and beat until the mixture is light and fluffy.
4. Sift in the flour and spices or grated zest (if using) and bring the mixture together to from a dough.
5. Using your hands, roll the dough into walnut sized balls and place them slightly apart on a baking tray.
6. Flatten them slightly with the back of a damp fork and bake in the oven for 13-15 minutes or until they are slightly firm on top. (mine took 12 minutes, they were very soft when I took them out but they harden as they cool on the tray)
7. Carefully transfer the cookies to a wire rack to cool.

Double chocolate chip variation:
Use 250g (9oz) plain flour and add 50g (2oz) sifted cocoa powder to the flour. Bring the dough together and mix in 125g (4 ½ oz) dark or white chocolate chips ( I bashed up most of a 200g milk chocolate bar).

A couple of weeks ago now, I was thrilled to receive my first blogging award! It was from the great Marie, at A Year from Oak Cottage. It was the Brilliante Weblog Premio-2008 Award (to give it its full title!) and I was very honoured. Thank you Marie!
I know I have to pass this on to seven people, I think, but I’m still deciding so I will get back to you! Tomorrow, its lemon time :)