Gingerbread Women

Hmmph. It seems my scheduled posting didn’t happen, so my Easter post did not post itself whilst I was away. Ah well, lets just say I hope everyone had a lovely Easter and I enjoyed seeing everyone else’s Easter bakes. Moving on..
So often we end up baking or even eating things which don’t give us that thrill or make you smile when you pick it up from the plate. You may cook for your family, making their favourite dishes, and not for you. Or work at a restaurant producing so many of the same dish the fun eventually fades from it, or you are cooking multi-component but soul less desserts from the same menu day in, day out. Baking, for me, should ALWAYS be about relaxing and having fun in the kitchen making all our favourite treats. Sure, sometimes a big experiment with fancy new techniques and billions of dishes and ingredients make you feel extremely proud and satisfied at the end, but not always. Sometimes we want something a bit simpler, something just to make us happy or evoke happy memories in your mind! So next time you are in the kitchen why not make a bunch of cookies that smile back at you from the baking sheet…

Or hold hands together….
Or even reach out and wave at you..
Some gorgeous gingerbread women for instance!(Yes, its a feminine bunch: I couldn’t find my man cutter). Ok, so gingerbread is mainly thought of as a Christmas flavour but I was flicking through a cookbook trying to find something quick to bake and these just jumped out at me :) Soft gingery biscuit and the chewy raisins and sultanas make for a blissful munch !
A few years ago, it was a Saturday morning and my parents were trying to persuade me to get the weekend papers for them and I was steadfastly refusing! The shop is only at the top of the road so I’m not too sure why but thats 11year olds for you :) In the end I got them to agree to a compromise: I would go as long as I got an extra 50p for a breakfast treat from the bakery. Deal! And so began my love for the gingerbread women.
The recipe I used comes from the sole cookbook my Daddy is proud to call his own: The Good Housekeeping Cookery Book. He probably cooked all his meals from it before he met my Mummy! Its actually very good and I have never cooked from it before these. So, if your kitchen baking needs a smile: here’s the recipe!
Gingerbread Men (/Women) from the Good Housekeeping Cookery Book.
Ingredients: 350g (12oz) plain flour
5ml (1 level tsp) bicarbonate of soda
10ml (2 level tsp) ground ginger
100g (4oz) butter
175g (6oz) soft light brown sugar
60ml (4level tbsp) golden syrup
1 egg, beaten
currants, to decorate
1. Grease three baking sheets. Preheat the oven to 190’C (375’F).
2. Sift the flour, bicarbonate of soda and ginger into a bowl. Rub the butter into this until the mixture looks like fine breadcrumbs. Stir in the sugar.
3. Beat the syrup into the egg and stir into the bowl. Mix to form a dough and knead until smooth.
4. Divide into two and roll out on a lightly floured surface to about 0.5cm (1/4inch) thick. Using a gingerbread man cutter cut out figures and place them gingerly (HA!) on the baking sheet. Decorate with currants.
5. Bake in the oven for 6-12 minutes until golden. Cool slightly then place on a wire rack.

Running With Bourbons

Recently, I have taken up the habit of going for a thirty minute run most days after school and twice at the weekend. I run not to lose weight but to simply get fitter! Also, running along a riverside on a summery day can be quite lovely :) And after a good run, one of my new bake is perfect…

Bourbon biscuits! Yes, we are back to the Biscuit Mission. I just couldn’t stay away when bourbons to me are the staple of the biscuit tin (along with custard creams). The bourbon was created in 1910 by the biscuit company Peek Freans (who also first commercially sold the Garibaldi biscuit) and is named after the House of Bourbon, a Spanish family. There is also a very funny article instructing you on how to eat a bourbon, on the correct terms for bourbon eaters (I am a bourbonette :) ) here. All interesting, but the most important fact is that bourbons are oh-so-good! Two chocolate biscuits sandwiched together with a soft chocolate cream – what’s not to like?

I knew from the beginning of my Biscuit Mission that I needed to make bourbons but it took a bit of searching to find a recipe. I could have just made up a rough chocolate cookie and buttercream filling, but I wanted to get as close to the original texture and taste as possible of the bourbons in the shops. I was fairly pleased with the results, and my family definitely loved them. However I was looking for more of a crunch and neater filling: both of which are found in the Sainsbury's ones and are sadly probably due to a bunch of added nasty stuff. Overall, pretty good, but could be improved :)
Bourbon Biscuits
Ingredients (Biscuits):
1lb plain flour
2oz cocoa powder
2 level tsp baking powder
8oz butter (softened)
8oz sugar
4tbsp golden syrup
Filling: 4oz melted plain chocolate
8oz icing sugar
a few drops vanilla extract
a little water
Method:
1. Set oven to Gas Mark 3/ 160°C/ 325°F.
2. Sift cocoa, flour and baking powder. In a separate bowl cream together butter and sugar. When fluffy add the golden syrup.
3. Add the mixture to the flour, cocoa and baking powder mixture then knead together. It may take a while to become doughy but keep at it and it will come together.
4. Grease some greaseproof paper and line a baking tray with it. Roll out the dough to a thickness of about ¼ inch. Sprinkle a very small amount of flour onto the dough to stop it sticking. When it is spread across the tray sprinkle a little sugar over the top, and roll over the dough once more to set the sugar grains into it.
5. Cut the dough into fingers, then prick with a fork a couple of times. Bake for 15 approximately 15 minutes. Remove from oven and go over the cuts. Leave in tray until almost cool, then transfer onto wire rack.

Tomato, Ricotta & Basil Tart

Taking a break from The Biscuit Tin Mission, and returning to the Cookbook Mission, (loving these various mini projects) my next bake was – shock horror – savoury.

Everyone loves this tart! I had it ages ago and it is a surprise favourite thing, and now all the family enjoys it. It is extremely quick and easy to make: you just blend the basil and ricotta mix and spread it on rolled out pastry. You could make it more complicated by trying your own pastry or something but really there is no need: this is the perfect weekday dinner. It is quite hard to describe why it is so good – but just try it and it is crystal clear! The crunchy pastry is perfect with the soft and creamy ricotta topping, and all finished off with sweet and juicy tomatoes.
The recipe is from Jo Pratt’s “In the Mood for Food”. I haven’t cooked from it before but I have read it and it is a lovely book. The food is split by chapters like “In the Mood for Being Extravagant” , “In the Mood for Comfort” and “In the mod for Being Healthy”. The tart I made comes under “In the Mood for Being Lazy” which is appropriate seeing how easy it is! I also like the look of the Lemon Cheesecake Muffins, Chicken Leek and Ham Pies or the Lamb Steaks with Lemon Pesto. I am pleased to say this tart has made me realise baking savoury is fun :) and I may well go savoury again.
Tomato, Ricotta and Basil Tart from In the Mood For Food by Jo Pratt.
Serves four to six
375g ready rolled pastry
250g ricotta cheese
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
35g parmesan cheese, grated
1 clove of garlic, crushed
a LARGE bunch of basil leaves, finely shredded
salt and pepper
6 ripe tomatoes
olive oil
1. Preheat the oven to 180’C/gas 6. Place the pastry onto a lightly oiled baking tray and prick with a fork.
2. Mix together the ricotta, eggs, parmesan, garlic, basil and seasoning and beat until smooth ( I do this in a food processor). Spread over the pastry base leaving a 2cm border.
3. Arrange the tomateos on top of the ricotta. Season lightly and drizzle over a little olive oil.
4. Bake for 25minutes until the filling has lightly set and the pastry is golden.

Gypsy Creams

“I drizzled dark chocolate from a height so it set into crisp lines over the craggy surface. Behold, a biscuit of great, great joy!”
Nigel Slater

Ahh, the fabulous words of Nigel Slater! Since my post where I mentioned how I seemed to be baking through the biscuit tin, it has become my mini mission! I was going away for the weekend last weekend, and I wanted something simple which I could bake there as the kitchen is much smaller there. These little biscuits were in the latest Sainsbury's Magazine (so go along and get it!) and seemed just the ticket.
Before sandwiching, these are the humble gingernut. Afterwards, they are glorious crispy gypsy creams! The ginger biscuit itself has a lovely sandy texture, but still with a good crunch on the outside. Combined with the chocolate and coffee buttercream filling these were super! Sometimes buttercream is too sickly, but I think the coffee countered it well. In his article, Nigel Slater mentions how he tried dipping the whole biscuit in melted chocolate but that “good cooking is about knowing when to stop” and “it turned out to be too much of a good thing”. I can see why that would be, but totally agree that the sharp drizzle of dark chocolate over the top adds an extra something special (and it really should be dark chocolate, milk would be too sickly). One note: I chose not to level off the ginger, knowing I would want a stronger taste. However if you were going to do them minus the filling (which you could as they would be equally delicious) I would stump it up even more. Now, what next…chocolate bourbons? Enjoy!
Chocolate gypsy creams
Makes 12-14
For the Biscuits:
125g butter
125g golden caster sugar
1tbsp golden syrup
1 large egg yolk
175g plain flour
1tsp ground ginger
50g dark chocolate
Filling:

75g butter
100g icing sugar
1tbsp cocoa powder
1tbsp strong coffee
1. Preheat the oven to 160’C/Gas Mark 3. Cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Mix in the syrup and egg yolk.
2. Sift the flour, baking powder and ginger together and stir gently into the butter and sugar. Bring together to form a dough.
3. Remove heaped teaspoons of the dough, roll them lightly into balls then put them on nonstick baking sheets. Bake for 15-20 minutes until golden. Leave to cool slightly before transferring to a wire rack.
4. To make the filling, beat the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in the cocoa and coffee before using to sandwich the biscuits together.
5. Break the chocolate into small pieces and melt in a small bowl over a pan of simmering water. When the chocolate has melted, push all the filled biscuits up close together on the wire rack, then, using a teaspoon, drizzle the chocolate over them in thin lines. Leave until the chocolate has set.

A Wonderful…

plum and almond cake!

Another plum recipe! Plums are definitely one of my new favourite fruits – up there with rhubarb, strawberries and raspberries. They are not really one thing in particular, but a fruit full of contradictions:With all three there is something about their glorious pink/red/purple colours, their soft-yet-firm touch and sweet-but-sharp taste!. This plum and almond cake above is from Nigel Slater’s book, The Kitchen Diaries. I was actually looking for a marble cake at the time (last post), but found this! Ahh, thank goodness for cookbook indexes.

The Kitchen Diaries is exactly what it sounds – a year of Nigel Slater’s diary of what he has cooked and bought (food-wise) each day. Some days it is simply “was very tired – bought a pizza” but most of it is gorgeous descriptions of the food he has bought, markets he has visited and recipes he made. I was a bit worried about the cake when it came out the oven – it was very moist, but the title of the cake restored my faith in it! It was absolutely delicious, really almondy and sweet then you get a burst of flavour from the plums! I couldn’t fit all the ones above into the cake so I made some more plum compote which, happily, was delicious with the cake! Definitely worth a try for any fellow plum fans.
A wonderfully, moist, fresh plum cake from The Kitchen Diaries by Nigel Slater
Enough for 12
150g butter
150g unrefined golden caster sugar
16 plums
3 large eggs
75g plain flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
100g ground almonds
1. Set the oven to 180’C?/Gas Mark 4. Line the base of a square 20cm cake tin, about 6cm deep, with a piece of baking paper.
2. Beat the butter and sugar until pale and fluffy. I stop only when the mixture if light, soft and the colour of vanilla ice-cream.
3. Halve the plums, remove the stones and cut each half in two.
4. Break the eggs, beat them lightly with a fork, then add them bit-by-bit to the butter and sugar. Sift the flour and baking powder together and fold them gently into the mixture. I do this with a large metal spoon rather than the food mixer. Fold in the ground almonds.
5. Scrape the mixture into the lined cake tin. Place the quartered plums onto the cake mixture (do not worry about precision here – they sink into the cake).
6. Bake for 45minutes then test for doneness with a skewer. If it comes out clean then the cake is ready. Remove the cake from the oven and leave to cool in the tin for 15minutes before turning out.

Marble Cookies

Recently we had an abundance of chocolate in the house. Dark chocolate, milk, white, chunks – way more than we usually have. It was begging to be used – and I wasn’t complaining ;D

My first thought was to make a marble cake – have dark chocolate and white chocolate flavoured mixtures all nicely swirled in one loaf. But literally none of my books had a simple recipe like this! So, that was out. But I still liked the marble idea so I chose marble cookies.

I thought about melting the light and dark chocolates and incorporating into the halved mixes, but apparently the chocolate flavour doesn’t come through when you do that. Why? Anyway, then I found this little booklet which came with the latest issue of Olive magazine:

I love these little books! Its well worth buying the magazine just for them (although Olive is a very good magazine). Some of the chocolate recipes were a bit random (chocolate martini, anyone?) but also inside was the recipe for “black and white pinwheel cookies”. You get the swirled look by laying the chocolate dough on top of the vanilla dough, and rolling it up like a Swiss Roll. The recipe itself just puts cocoa powder in the chocolate half, but I used some of our dark chocolate chunks and put them in. They made it a bit harder to roll and cut flat, but the taste was worth it! For the plain dough, I added some extra vanilla essence to make the dough stand out more.

In the end result, I think these cookies were okay. I am no1 cookie fan so I still managed to eat a good few :) but I think they could have had something a bit more special. I could try putting white chocolate in the vanilla dough, or perhaps orange for an orange/chocolate combination. They were not the best use for the chocolate abundance – but they were yummy and it just means there is another excuse to use more chocolate next time!

Black and white pinwheel cookies

Makes 40

unsalted butter 200g

golden caster sugar 150g

vanilla extract 2tsp

1 egg

plan flour 300g, sifted

cocoa 25g

1. Cream the butter and sugar using an electric mixer or hand-held electric beater.

2. Beat in the vanilla and egg, then add the flour. Beat until smooth, remove from the bowl, halve and beat the cocoa into one half. Shape both dough portions into rough oblongs. Wrap in cling film and chill for 30 minutes until firm.

3. Roll out each dough to £1 thickness, trying to keep the oblong shape. Put the chocolate dough on top of the white dough and trim the edges to neaten. Roll up lengthways like a Swiss roll, then wrap in cling film and chill for 45mins.

4. Heat the oven to 180C/fan 160/gas 4. Slice the dough into discs as thinly as you can, put them on a non-stick baking sheet and cook for 15minutes. Cool on wire racks.

There was a bit more chocolate dough than plain, so I made some more chocolate biscuit shapes with it. Until next time :)