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Eggy bread with berries, crème fraîche and maple syrup recipe

18 Dec

Christmas party season is in full swing. Knowing that I had my work Christmas party on Friday evening, I bought all of the neccessary food supplies for the weekend on Thursday evening after work. And I’m so glad I did.

I have a huge amount of eggs in the house at the moment so thought of ways to use them up. One idea was eggy bread, something that my mum used to make me every weekend when I was younger. I adored it but for some reason I’ve never made since I flew the nest. It is best made with brioche but I used granary bread and it was still delicious.

Eggy bread with berries, crème fraîche and maple syrup (Serves 2)

Ingredients

4 slices bread / brioche
2 large eggs
120ml whole milk
1/2 vanilla pod, deseeded
2 tbsp golden caster sugar
2 tbsp crème fraîche
100g butter
Handful of berries
Drizzle of maple syrup
Dusting of icing sugar

Method

1. Whisk the eggs, icing sugar, milk and vanilla pod seeds together in a bowl
2. Place the slices of bread in a tray and pour the mixture on top. Leave for a couple of minutes and turn over so that the dry bread soaks up the remaining egg mixture
3. Heat the butter in a pan until melted. Turn the heat down slightly and place the eggy bread into the pan. Cook on each side for three minutes, or until brown on each side
4. Place two slices on each plate. Place a handful of berries, a tbsp of crème fraîche, a dusting of icing sugar and a drizzle of maple syrup on top.

ENJOY!

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Lemon olive oil cake recipe

22 Nov

Olive oil cake. What’s all that about then? Well, let me tell you.

I first came across cake baked with olive oil at Towpath in Dalston last year. Towpath, if you are wondering, is a delightful little café on the canal in Dalston, run by writer Lori De Mori and photographer Jason Lowe.

I wasn’t brave enough at the time to try it, despite reading that it was very delicious. But ever since that day I have been contemplating baking a cake with olive oil, rather than butter. I’ve baked with vegetable oil before and been impressed with the results, but it was only when I was in touch with the lovely team at Nudo that I finally bit the bullet.

I was sent a tin of Nudo Extra Virgin olive oil with lemons to try, which I decided I would use to bake a lemon loaf cake. Good choice. I found this recipe on Completely Delicious and substituted the lemons and extra virgin olive oil for my nifty little tin of Nudo.

The whipped egg whites made the cake unbelievably light, while the olive oil kept in the moisture and gave it a fantastic lemon flavour. I wouldn’t have been able to tell that there was no lemon zest involved if I had bought a slice from a café.

I didn’t bother with lemon icing as I don’t like icing but instead I dusted it with icing sugar. A lemon drizzle would have been nice but it’s definitely not needed. Maybe next time.

This cake is definitely best served with a cup of tea. Try it!

Lemon Olive Oil Cake

Makes 1 loaf cake

Ingredients

180ml Nudo Extra Virgin olive oil with lemons
150g plain flour
5 egg yolks
4 egg whites
170g golden caster sugar
Icing sugar to dust

Method

Preheat oven to 180 degrees C. Greast a loaf pan with olive oil and line with parchment paper.

1. Beat the egg yolks and 110g sugar together at a high speed until thick and pale. Reduce the speed and slowly add the olive oil. Add the flour and fold in gently with a wooden spoon or spatula
2. In a separate bowl (or transfer the batter to another bowl and wash the bowl if using a stand mixer), add the egg whites and beat on a high speed until thick and foamy. Slowly add the remaining 60g of sugar and beat to soft peaks.
3. Fold the egg whites into the batter until just combined. Pour into the cake tin and bake for 50 minutes, or until a skewer comes out clean
4. Dust with icing sugar and enjoy!

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Bill Granger’s coconut bread

28 Sep

Anyone that knows me will be fully aware that brunch is my favourite meal of the day. Why wouldn’t it be – it’s an excuse to eat sweet, sugary, cakey goodness for breakfast. So when I saw Bill Granger’s recent brunch spread in The Times Magazine, I got all excited and put the Coconut Bread recipe STRAIGHT to the test. The results were fabulous, utterly fabulous!

Ingredients

2 eggs
300ml full fat milk
1 vanilla pod
310g plain flour
2 tsp baking powder
2 tsp ground cinnamon
230g golden caster sugar
150g desiccated coconut
75g unsalted butter, melted
Butter and icing sugar, to serve

Method

1. Preheat oven to 180C/Gas 4. Lightly whisk the eggs, milk and vanilla together.
2. Sift the flour, baking powder and cinnamon into a bowl, add the sugar and coconut, and stir to combine. 3. Make a well in the centre and gradually stir in the egg mixture until just combined. Add the melted butter and stir until the mixture is just smooth, being careful not to overmix.
4. Pour into a greased and floured 21 x 10cm (8¼ x 4in) loaf tin and bake for 1 hour, or until the bread is cooked when tested with a skewer.
5. Leave in the tin to cool for 5 minutes, then remove to cool further on a wire rack. Serve in thick slices, toasted, buttered and dusted with icing sugar.

ENJOY!!!

This recipe is from Bill Granger’s latest book ‘Best of Bill’, which is published by Murdoch Books.

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Lime friand recipe

31 May

I have two sources of inspiration for this recipe. The first is 15 year old Conor McLean who beat me to win Britain’s Best Dish. He made a fantastic vanilla friand dessert and during the process, I realised that I had never made one. The second inspiration is The Flavour Thesaurus by Nikki Segnit. This book gave me the idea for my dessert on Britain’s Best Dish. I love it. Literally weeks before it was released, I was wishing that I could have a book that would tell me what flavours go together. Then, voila, it appeared.

The complete idea for my dessert was lime friand with lemon and ginger sorbet, candied ginger and a tuille biscuit. In reality, making such a dish for two people isn’t really worth it but its an idea that i’ll hold onto for future dinner parties!

I started making the elements of the dessert about a month ago. First was the candied ginger, then the lemon and ginger sorbet. I never got around to making the friand, much to my boyfriends annoyance – he has asked me at least twice a week over the last month where his friand is. I couldn’t make any more excuses so I set to work in the kitchen and I’m so glad to say that it was easier and took less time than expected. It was one of the best things I have baked in a long time!

Unfortunately, I didn’t store the candied ginger in a good enough air tight container so I had to throw it away and I didn’t make the tuille biscuit. But, the friand and sorbet dessert was a delicious end to dinner.

Lime Friand

Lime friand

Ingredients (Makes 6)

2 egg whites
60g butter, melted
65g ground almond
40g icing sugar
20g plain flour
1 tsp lime zest
1 tsp lime juice
6 blanched almonds

Method

Pre heat the oven to 200 degrees and grease a small cupcake pan

1. Whisk the egg whites until slightly stiff and foamy
2. Add melted butter and ground almonds
Sift the icing sugar and flour into the bowl, add the lime juice and zest and mix until just combined
3. Pour the mixture into the moulds and place an almond on the top of each cake
4. Bake in the oven for 15 minutes, or until the top has browned. Make sure that a skewer comes out clean when inserted

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Sin free granola recipe

26 May

A pot of fat free apple and mango yoghurt landed on my doormat last week. I wasn’t particularly sure that I was going to like the flavour combination but it gave me an excuse to buy some luscious blueberries and make some healthy granola.

I love quick and easy recipes and this definitely falls into that category. Simply mix all of the ingredients in a big bowl and then bake in the oven.

A bowl of this granola makes for a very healthy breakfast. The sugar is substituted for maple syrup and honey, and, because there is no butter, it’s vegan too.

Ingredients

150g whole rolled oats
80ml maple syrup
1 tbsp runny honey
1 tbsp sesame seeds
25g sunflower seeds
25g pumpkin seeds
60ml vegetable oil

Method

Pre heat the oven to 160 degrees c

1. Mix all ingredients in a large bowl until well combined
2. Place on a lined baking tray and bake for 25 – 30 minutes, tossing it every 10 minutes to prevent the edges from burning
3. To enjoy as a delicious healthy breakfast, layer the granola in a bowl or small glass with blueberries and fat free apple and mango yogurt (I used Onken)

Yum.

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Maple and Pecan muffins

11 Mar

I love breakfast foods, which is why I’ve been making a lot of loaves and muffins recently. Since it was pancake day this week and I bought a bottle of Maple Syrup especially, I thought I’d carry on the theme and make some Maple Syrup and Pecan Muffins. I have the Hummingbird Bakery book but their recipe called for more buttermilk than I have in the fridge so it was back to the drawing board.

I came across a recipe from Nigella Lawson, which uses wheat germ. I had some oat germ in the cupboard which needed using so I decided to substitute it. There is no sugar or butter in the batter – instead I used milk, vegetable oil and of course, maple syrup. The result is a light and fluffy muffin with a delicious crunchy sugary and nutty topping. I wouldn’t go so far as to say that they’re healthy but i’m sure they’re not as bad as your regular muffin.

I have an American cup measure so I used this – if you don’t have one, you can convert here.

Ingredients (Makes 12)

1 cup pecans, roughly chopped
2 cups plain flour
4 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 cup oat germ
1 pinch of salt
1/2 cup milk
1 egg
1/2 cup maple syrup
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 tablespoon light muscovado sugar

Method

Pre-heat the oven to 190degrees

1. Fill a muffin tray with paper liners and set aside 1/4 of the chopped pecans

2. Mix together the remaining pecans with flour, salt, oat germ and baking powder

3. Whisk together the milk, egg, maple syrup, vegetable oil and vanilla in a separate bowl

3. Pour the liquids into the dry mixture and gently fold to mix. Do not over mix because the mixture can get too hard, which will make the muffin tough. It doesn’t matter if there are a few lumps in the mixture

4. Spoon into the muffin cases

5. Sprinkle the light muscovado and remaining pecan nuts on the top of each muffin case

5. Bake for 20 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean

6. Remove muffins to a cooling rack

Enjoy!

Blueberry, banana and cinnamon oat muffins

2 Mar

I have made a fair few banana loaves over the last few months. A lot of you probably know that I am a huge fan of breakfast foods, especially the sweet kind. My local supermarket is currently selling punnets of blueberries at £3 for 2 packs so I stocked up and decided to make some banana, blueberry and cinnamon breakfast muffins.

These muffins are low fat due to the fact that they’re made with buttermilk and light olive oil rather than butter – in fact they only contain around 5g fat per muffin. I’m not normally one to watch my fat and calorie intake but I don’t like to consume a lot of them at breakfast time as it leaves no room for my after dinner treat!

They are lovely and moist and will keep for a month in the freezer.

Ingredients

120g light muscovado sugar, plus extra for dusting
300g self-raising flour
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
50g oats, plus extra for dusting
2 ripe bananas
284ml carton of buttermilk
2 tsp cinnamon
4 tbsp light olive oil
2 egg whites
150g blueberries

Method

1. Place flour, bicarbonate of soda, sugar, oats and cinnamon into a bowl
2. Mash the bananas in a separate bowl and add the buttermilk, olive oil and whites
3. Add the liquids to the dry bowl and stir quickly. The mixture will be quite lumpy at first but keep stirring!
4. Pour the mixture into 12 cupcake cases and sprinkle sugar and oats over the top. I also placed two blueberries on the top of each muffin
5. Bake for 20 minutes or until golden brown
6. Enjoy for breakfast or for 11ses with a cuppa!

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Banana and Cinnamon Loaf Recipe

4 Feb

Don’t worry, I’m not going to preach to you about how amazing Australia is for brunches and fresh cakes again, although the banana bread there was what lead me to make my mind up about the country being the best.

I baked my first loaf of Banana Bread a couple of years ago and was absolutely bowled over at how amazingly easy it is to bake and how delicious it tastes toasted with a smothering of butter on top. It’s just too good.

IMG_4851

This recipe is for a simple Banana and Cinnamon loaf – just bung all of the ingredients in a bowl, mix, pop into a loaf tin and an hour and a half later, you can tuck into it warm! YUM!

My loaf tin wasn’t as big as I needed so I used mini loaf tins for the left over batter. They are a great size for one serving and look pretty too.

IMG_4853

Ingredients

225g self-raising flour
100g unsalted butter, softened
2 eggs
150g golden caster sugar
3 very ripe bananas, peeled and mashed
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
Pinch of salt

Method

Pre-heat your oven to 180degrees
1. Line a loaf tin with baking parchment – I didn’t have any so I just oiled the tin with sunflower oil
2. Pour all ingredients into a mixing bowl and mix until combined
3. Pour into the ready lined tin and place in the middle of the oven
4. Bake for around 1 hour and a half

Enjoy with a cup of tea for breakfast or an afternoon snack.

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American pancakes with blueberries and maple syrup

11 Jul

We’re having a heatwave at the moment. I can’t remember the last time we had so many scorching days and balmy evenings and I don’t know about you but the heat really takes it out of me. On days like this I dream of being sat by a cool swimming pool or lying on a beach listening to the waves lap up on the shore.

But the reality is, I’m stuck in a clammy city with no air conditioning and the closest I get to that beach is the dirty, grotty Thames or a lido full to the brim with excited pasty (and lobster red) Brits.

This weather calls for some energy food so I opted for American pancakes with blueberries and maple syrup this morning.

American pancakes with blueberries and maple syrup

I used a recipe by Louisa Carter. Check out her food photography, it’s pretty tasty.

Ingredients

135g plain flour
2 tbsp golden caster sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp baking powder
130ml milk
1 egg, lightly beaten
2 tbsp melted butter
lashings of maple syrup
handful of juicy blueberries

Method

1. Melt the butter in the microwave for 30 seconds (depending on the strength of your microwave) and place in the fridge until you need it
2. Place the flour, salt, sugar and baking powder in a bowl
2. Whisk the milk, beaten egg and butter together in another bowl or jug and add to the powder mixture
3. Whisk lightly – the mixture looks lumpy at first but I promise, the lumps disappear
4. Heat a frying pan and throw in a knob of butter. When this has melted, ladle some batter into the pan
5. When the pancake starts bubbling at the top, turn over and cook for another minute or until the other side is light brown
6. Stack on top of each other – drizzle with maple syrup, scatter with blueberries and you’re done

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