2011

I can’t believe 2011 is over already! It seems to have raced past, particularly towards the end in the run up to Christmas. It seems really not that long ago that I was writing up my 2010 round up. With 2012 just around the corner, I wanted to look back at my favourite bake from each month. I hope you all had a fabulous Christmas and I’m really looking forward to the coming year, I hope to really stretch my baking and this blog so keep reading! Happy New Year!

January – Celebratory Chocolate
This Chocolate & Salted Caramel Tart is one of my favourite things I’ve ever baked, not just in 2011. It wasn’t 100% perfect but it was such a decadent treat and the combination of textures and flavours were absolutely delicious.

February – Benedict Bars
These were a simple bake but really moreish – nutty, jammy, sticky goodness. And the best bit? The recipe makes a very large tray full. March – Mini Orange Drizzle Cakes
These zingy little cakes really cheer up a kitchen on a gloomy day – I think they’d be perfect when its been raining for several days, when you’re at a loss for inspiration or as a gift for somebody who is ill because they wake you up and make you smile. April – Passion Fruit Curd Tart
From one sunny recipe to the next, this tart was a perfect way to look forward to the not too far off summer. It was a lot of effort and not stress-free but the results were so very worth it.

May – Sticky Rhubarb and Ginger Cake
I always love baking with rhubarb – it’s such an intriguing and pretty fruit. This cake was what I made during rhubarb season this year and was a recipe I’d love to repeat.

June – Apple, Vanilla and Olive Oil Cake with Maple Cream Cheese Icing (from July…)
In June I was in the midst of twenty three (23!!) important exams and so my blog was sadly empty. However, I can’t choose a favourite July recipe so here’s the apple cake – a treat of a layer cake, with rich cream cheese icing and a moist, apple studded sponge.

  July – White Chocolate and Raspberry Cookies
I don’t know why, but whenever I make a white chocolate cookie on this blog it immediately becomes one of my top hits. This was no exception and for good reason – rich, moreish, soft but with perfect crunchy edges, tart raspberries – what’s not to like?

August – Mini Pork Pies
The first savoury appearance in this list and its well deserved. This post involved a recipe for a delicious and adorable pie that involved lots of techniques new to me but was so much fun to make with my friend E., combined with a rant about pork pie jelly.

September – Plum Frangipane Tart
I love making tarts -  hence this being the 3rd in this list – but this one was different due to not having to blind bake the pastry before adding the frangipane. It turned out perfectly and was a delicious Autumnal treat.

October – Parmesan Biscuits
These biscuits come from Simon Hopkinson and were such a hit. I say things are moreish a lot, but these really were – I had to photograph them very quickly before they were all eaten. And with the dough taking two minutes to make, I think I’ll need to repeat this recipe very soon…

  November – Love Bakery Book Review
I was lucky enough to be sent a book to review and it made the most delicious Chocolate Orange Cupcakes – moist, rich and full of flavour. The book didn’t fail on the classic recipes either, the Lemon Cupcakes were packed with citrus zing and I regretted only making half a batch! December – Cherry Chocolate Snow Cookies
Ok, so there’s not the largest choice here, but these cookies would always deserve a mention. They were full of Christmas flavours, easy to whip up and made a cute festive gift.

2010

Although December and the end of 2010 was rather quiet on Teen Baker, 2010  had been a good year. And just before we get properly into the grand heights of 2011 and all the new, exciting things I hope it has to offer, I thought it was time for a reflection. Month by month, my highlights of 2010. Hope you all had a very Merry Christmas and have a brilliant New Year and I wish you the best for 2011!
January – Glazed Fruit Rolls
Sticky, irresistible, crunchy on the outside, melting and soft on the inside. 2010 opened with a classic and sometimes it just doesn’t get much better.
 February – Cheese Straws
A rare savoury appearance on the blog, perfect for parties but pretty hard to stop yourself munching on any time.
March – Rhubarb Tart
This tart was the first delicious taste of summer, even though made when still in spring. The colours and flavours wake you out any winter stupor and truly brighten the day.
April – White Chocolate Cookies
A surprise top-blog hit, made with a great friend, celebrating the end of a No Chocolate month and dangerously moreish. Four months in to the year and a great cookie was found. And now, I think it is definitely time the cookie is repeated…Up for it, P?
May – Vanilla Pannacotta with Strawberries
Reaching the summer season and it is time to create something silky smooth, fruity, and make something I had previously thought I didn’t like. Turns out as a success!
June – Roasted Tomato&Thyme Soup with Twice Baked Potatoes
A mouthful of a title but a scrumptious savoury mouthful cooked up in June with my sister. It may have been the summer but a hearty soup always wins.
July – Brunch with Alice Hart at La Fromagerie
Not a recipe for July, but a chance to meet the author of a delicious cookbook, sample delicious food cooked by her and hear her tell my Dad about the wonders of food styling v. being a lawyer.
August – Blueberry Muffins
My Dad’s favourite, inspired by a great summer holiday and enjoyed back home really rather quickly…
September – Celebration Chocolate Log
I celebrated my blogoversary a little late but with something truly amazing, rich, decadent and above all – tasty. You cannot beat a chocolate overload. Fab.
October – Banana Cake
The controversial banana (in my house) was used in my baking for the first time with colourful and tasty results :)
November – Ricciarelli
Got to finish the year on a high, which for me means something addictive, delicious, perfectly flavoured and textured and just all round ‘mmm’.

December – Nutmeg Custard Creams
Perhaps there is not the largest selection here, but these were still a lovely bake and finishing the year on the Biscuit Challenge seemed like a yummy enough idea to me.

One hundred and seven…

cookbooks!

There are big ones, small ones, fat ones and thin ones. There’s Delia to Jamie, Nigella to Nigel, Rachel Allen to Darina Allen.
There is Galton Blackiston, Dorie Greenspan, Prue Leith, Sophie Grigson, Tamasin Day-Lewis, Lindsey Bareham and many more! There are books just about soups, just about Asian food, just about cupcakes, just about fish. There are old ones, new ones, my Dad’s ones, my Mum’s ones and my very own ones!

The fact is – we have a lot of cookery books! The problem is – they are not all used as often as they should be…Probably most cooks have a select few cookery books they always turn to, a few they couldn’t really live without. My family is no exception. Certain Nigella Lawson ones hold recipes brought out over and over again. Rachel Allen is one I bake from a lot – as you can probably tell from my previous bakes! You can tell which ones are used (flour on the pages, the odd page stuck together, the cover a touch scrumpled) and which ones aren’t (shiny new covers, stiff to open). It was when we moved our cookery books from dotted all over the house to their new shelves in the kitchen, that I realised just how many of the 107 (!) I had read and enjoyed from cover-to-cover (and many not even that), but not actually baked from. Well not anymore! A new resolution is to leave the well-used ones on their shelf for a bit, as I know how good they are, and work through some of the ones which I have declined. Beginning with The Chocolate and Coffee Bible.

The Chocolate and Coffee Bible does exactly what the name suggests – gives you lots of information all about chocolate (first half) and coffee (second half) and then gives you lots of delicious recipes using either chocolate or coffee – all accompanied with scrumptious photos! It is the perfect book for curling up with and reading all the way through, which I have done many a time! Having now cooked from it, I don’t think there is any other cookbook needed for a chocolate/coffee recipe – it has just about everything in here! Bizarrely, I maybe managed to pick the least chocolatey recipe from this book – chocolate dipped shortbreads.

Originally, these biscuits were meant to be like long Viennese biscuits which used a piping bag to pipe the biscuits out into long lines, and then you dipped them in chocolate at either end. My dough was a bit too thick to pipe, but perfect for rolling so I did that and cut them out instead. They still taste just as nice – crumbly biscuit and the rich chocolate covering. These are also very moreish!

Choc-dipped biscuits, from The Coffee and Chocolate Bible

115g/4oz soft margarine (I always use butter) 15ml/3tbsp icing sugar
150g/5oz plain flour
few drops of vanilla essence
75g/3oz plain chocolate, chopped

1. Preheat the oven to 180’C/350’F/Gas 4 and lightly grease two baking sheets.

2. Beat the margarine and icing sugar together in a bowl until very soft. Add the flour and vanilla and mix in well. (I needed a few drops of water to loosen the dough a bit)

3. Put the mixture in a large piping bag fitted with a large star nozzle. Pipe 10 neat lines, each 13cm long. (Or, put some icing sugar on the work surface and roll the dough out quite thinly. Cut with a cutter of your choice).

4. Bake for 15-20minutes until the biscuits are a light golden brown.

5. Put the chocolate in a heatproof bowl and melt over a pan of simmering water. Stir, then remove from the heat. Dip both ends of each biscuit in the chocolate (or half of the circle!), put on a wire rack and leave to cool and set. (I popped mine in the fridge for a while to set, but took them out when immediately when they were set because they taste better when they aren’t straight from the fridge).

2009!

Well here I am, a little late, but wishing everyone a truly fabulous Happy New Year! 2008 was a good year for me blogging wise of course - it was the beginnings of Teen Baker! We're still on our early first footsteps in the huge blogging world, having been up less than half a year! But I am thoroughly enjoying it and hope it will last for many years to come. I have loved everyones kind and helpful comments, the awards I have recieved which I was truly honoured to get - and everything else! Hopefully a full post and recipe coming very soon :D

xxx

Advent Series!

As this is my first Christmas blogging, I have decided to set myself a little challenge to make me bake lots and also post more! Every day through the Advent season, right up until Christmas Eve, I will post a festive recipe. I have lots of things in the planning: my first gingerbread house, cherry and pineapple cake, mince pies, ecclefachan cakes, a festive cookie, a cookie tree, crumble cake and lots more! I will also be trying some savoury things in the run up such as pork and practicing the goodies for real Christmas Day. Also, before clever people out there point out to me that as I post this it is the 2nd of December – I did want to post yesterday but today’s recipe needed 24hours soaking and I’m jut not organised enough to start the day before!
December 1st & 2nd – Homemade Mincemeat :)
This is a recipe from Delia Smiths Christmas book from a few years ago, but I double the recipe. I thought I would start my series with mincemeat because then I can go onto make lots of things using it. No pictures today as my camera lead has gone missing (aaah!) but I will put them up when it turns up.
The thing I like about making your own mincemeat is that you can alter the mix of ingredients to your own tasting. My Mum doesn’t really like candied peel, but we all love glace cherries in our mince pies so we replaced half the peel with cherries. We also only used half the almonds as I don’t really like the texture if there are too many nuts. You get great results with this recipe: lots of jars full of delicious mincemeat just waiting to be turned into something even more yummy.
Whilst making this, I decided that as much as I love homemade mincemeat, I’m not such a fan of having the job of making it! The process is pretty much just weigh, chop, mix, heat, mix, jar! Because of course the mixture is just currants and fruit etc, there is not the best mixture to eat! However, I would still always do it because it smells absolutely gorgeous, just like Christmas, and you know exactly what is in it so it is better than buying shop bought.
This link has the recipe. As I said, I doubled it. I got 11 medium jars out of it, and the original recipe says you get 3lb. As it is simply fruit and sultanas etc. it would be an easy recipe to double or half and make your own quantities.
See you tomorrow for December 3rd’s recipe!
x

And I'm Back!

Earlier this evening we finally got back from Spain! We had a great 2 weeks - admittedly not doing a whole lot other than lounging by the pool - but it was lovely and relaxing. Our villa was fabby and the pool amazing! We celebrated both my parents birthdays although we are having an honourary birthday for my Daddy tomorrow as his birthday was the 16th August but he wants a nice home cooked meal and, perhaps most importantly, a home baked cake! Hopefully tomorrow I will be able to post a longer post with a chocolate cake recipe.

I have enjoyed catching up on everyones blogs - I seem to have missed a lot and everyone has cooked some amazing treats.

Our kitchen is slowly coming along but oh will I be pleased to have tidy cupboards and proper worktops rather than cardboard and general havoc.

See you tomorrow for a couple of holiday pictures and a recipe or two,

Lucy x