Marshmallows

I’ve spoken before about my huge list of bookmarked sweet recipes to make. I reckon I add about 10 recipes to it a week, and cook about 1 or 2… meaning that list is just going to keep on growing! Something I have wanted to try for ages and that has been popping up all over the blogosphere is homemade marshmallows. Just like tablet, I’d been putting off making marshmallows due to visions of searing hot sugar syrup and my KitchenAid melting with the stress, but just like tablet it proved much simpler than I thought!I made these with my friend Emily after being sent some gelatine by Dr Oetker. Making them together meant that any stress was shared between the two of us and it was much more fun, it really reminded me to bake with friends more. I know that there are lots of wacky marshallow flavours out there – I saw a passion fruit flavour recipe recently that sounded incredible – but we stuck with plain vanilla. I slightly regretted this as the vanilla doesn’t exactly balance out the insane sweetness of marshmallows, but our boiling sugar syrup induced nerves meant we played it safe! As I mentioned, with careful concentration these weren’t tricky and went without a hitch. The results tasted like we wanted and imagined – squishy with an ever so slightly drier top and of course very sweet. I would be open to trying out some of the crazier flavours in the future, particularly playing around with sharper flavours and fruit as even for me these resulted in a pretty extreme sugar high. However I think the vanilla version is a great way to start for a marshmallow beginner. Also, I think the main fun of marshmallows is that you can do this…
Chocolate fudge cookie + toasted marshmallow = the ultimate S’more.  Not traditional, but so good! I think these marshmallows might even taste best when they are toasted – sticky, gooey, with the perfect burnt charred top…who could resist! You can find the marshmallow recipe here. I followed it pretty much to the letter apart from a dash of pink food colouring and dipping some of the cut edges (where it is most sticky) in different sprinkles for some colour, so my only note would be that I got about 40 decent sized marshmallows out of the mixture instead of 25 – those must have been huuge! One quick note before you go – check out my brand new pages at the top of my sidebar. I have finally got round to doing a proper About Me page, and also a page explaining my ongoing Homemade Shop Classics Challenge, which of course these marshmallows are included in. Go and have a read and let me know what you think! Enjoy :)

Spinach and Feta Filo Pie

Some recipes are for special occasions and come about after weeks of thought and planning. Some are repeated over and over again with minute tweaks each time to get it just right. Some are things people have wanted to make for ages, are inspired by a person, place or memory. Some come about when you are stuck on something savoury to make and type the very vague term ‘pie’ into BBC Good Food’s search engine… Today’s recipe would be the latter!But lack of planning or forethought does not mean lack of success. (Although it may mean lack of photo of whole pie due to it being eaten very quickly….)  This was super simple and I’ve made it several times now during the week – it’s so quick and the filling ingredients are all fairly store-cupboard regulars in my family. It might become my signature savoury dish at this rate! The buttery pastry and salty cheese makes the iron rich, super healthy spinach filling seem a little bit more indulgent and despite the hefty amount of veg you still find yourself going back for more. I also like that this can be easily adapted – I used frozen instead of fresh spinach and more pastry than suggested to get more layers but you could go further – one of the commenters on the website says they added chorizo and chicken which could be good if you’re cooking for a true meat eater! You can find the recipe here – enjoy :)

Rhubarb and Vodka Jellies

I’ve been trying to expand my baking this year. After a while, the constant rotation of cakes and cookies can leave me stuck for inspiration and I’ve enjoyed trying new things this year, such as the tablet and pannacotta. Jelly is really reverting back to proper childhood or nursery food – I have memories of traffic light jellies with different fruit suspended in the layers – but I think the addition of vodka in today’s jelly brings it up to adult level! However, I still lack the patience required waiting for jelly to set…This jelly took a long time to set, and for a while I was afraid that I’d be serving vodka cocktails with dinner. However, eventually they did and my friends were super excited when I told them  what was coming up! Forced rhubarb gives this jelly such a pretty pink colour and the addition of the cointreau adds another layer of flavour, reflecting the classic combination of orange and rhubarb.
The vodka only adds a slight kick (2tbsp are in the 3 jellies I made) and if you didn’t want it you could easily substitute it for something else, even just water. I hadn’t poached rhubarb before this – always roasted – and I thought it might lose some of its flavour but the sugar syrup that forms the base of the jelly really absorbs the rhubarb flavour and colour well. I really enjoyed the final result, it had a good smooth texture, refreshing taste and I liked the look of the poached rhubarb suspended in the jelly. You can find the recipe here – I halved it and still managed to make 3 decent sized jellies. Enjoy!

Custard and White Chocolate Cookies

These cookies came about because of two previous recipes I’ve blogged:
1) These white chocolate cookies which are the biggest hit on my blog. I was surprised, because whilst I remember the cookies and they were delicious, it’s still a pretty unassuming recipe.
2) These custard creams adapted from a Marcus Wareing recipe. I really enjoy doing biscuit challenge posts and so there was quite a lot of pressure when I tried making these as they are my favourite shop-bought biscuit. The results were also a hit.

Therefore, when I saw this recipe for Custard and White Chocolate Biscuits, combining the best of both recipes, I knew I had to give them a try! The result did not disappoint! They have a surprisingly large amount of custard powder in them, which gave the cookies quite a sandy texture and also a slightly orange tone. The amount of white chocolate didn't seem generous in the recipe but I think suited it well because otherwise, combined with the custard powder, they would be too sweet. I think they were nicest straight out of the oven when they were still soft in the middle and the chocolate was melting, as the biscuits became quite solid after a few days. This didn’t stop them being moreish though, particularly as I made them fairly small meaning the recipe made a large batch! They went down a treat with my friends too, despite already having had a bowl of tomato soup, ramekin of jelly and slice of pie each!

You can find the recipe here – enjoy!

Sticky Toffee Loaf Cake

Normally, the cake should be the star of the show – not the icing. A cupcake piled overwhelmingly high with decadent swirl upon swirl of icing can err on the wrong side of rich. However, I think in the case of this cake it is ok that the icing almost outshines the dark cake beneath. In fact, I think it is the best icing I have ever made, it was that good. It is very sweet, rich and full of butterscotch flavour. I’ve made a similar variation before – a penuche icing to top apple cupcakes – but this version managed to be even better and more caramelly than that. Plus, the cake it topped was pretty good too! I like making cake or cookie versions of traditional dessert recipes and working out how the flavours can be carried across different baking mediums. It means that instead of having a bake best served immediately, after a meal, the cake can last several days and be enjoyed at any time. Win. This Delia recipe uses all the classic sticky toffee pudding elements and also adds pecans. Personally I’m not a fan of nuts (other than almonds) in cakes but they seemed to go down well with the family, adding a contrast in texture to the dense squishyness of the cake and icing.You can find the recipe here and I didn’t make any changes other than decreasing the amount of pecans. The icing only uses 4tbsp of evaporated milk, meaning that the majority of the tin is left behind – it’s taking a lot of resistance and willpower not to make another batch!

Caramelised Garlic Tart

I normally bake when I’m home alone, meaning that I have full decision making power in the kitchen and can choose to bake whatever I want from my books, magazines or To Bake list. However, last week these decisions were taken out of my hands as my Mum put in her requests for her Mother’s Day meal. For our main course she chose this Caramelised Garlic Tart, from Ottolenghi’s latest book Plenty. I love Ottolenghi’s shops and recipes but I don’t think this would have been a recipe I would ever have chosen on my own, despite its intro saying ‘‘I think this is the most delicious recipe in the world’ wrote Claudine after trying it out for me’. However, I’m glad that I did get to try it out as it certainly was delicious!It was maybe a little bit more involved than savoury recipes I normally do, but really I think it wasn’t that difficult and you can do parts of the recipe while other components cook. Anyway, the results were worth it! I’m not normally a big fan of goats cheese but I really loved this tart and I think it worked really well with the garlic. Speaking of which, garlic is definitely the predominant flavour – with 40 cloves (3 heads) of garlic it would be strange if it wasn’t! This sounded overwhelming, but after being blanched, fried and caramelised for 10minutes garlic loses its super intense flavour and becomes much more mellow, sweet and soft. Another unusual aspect of this tart was the puff pastry base – I’ve used puff for more rustic galettes, pies and turnovers but not pressed into a fluted tart tin. When you had to bake the case without beans the base completely puffed up but I just pressed it down and it was fine. I was slightly worried that when I went back to the finished tart the filling would be all over the oven floor, but it was all good! Overall, the tart definitely had an intense flavour and was rich but really good with a simple rocket salad on the side. You can find the recipe here and I strongly recommend you give it a try, even if like me it doesn’t sound like something you’d normally make. Enjoy!