Flavour profiles – what goes well with what?

After my successful Chocolate and Orange Drizzle Cake experiment I have developed a taste for more… as in more experimentation with different flavours.

Right now I have 6 ripe kiwi fruits which I would love to turn into a cake.

I was just browsing the net in search of something to complement the kiwi flavour when I stumbled upon Nouveau Raw website and their fantastic Flavour profiles that pair well in recipes article.

Experiments in the kitchen are fun but it is nice to have something to check if your picked flavours will pair well.

Nouveau Raw created this awesome chart which I will shamelessly re-blog here for you.

• Allspice pairs well with: apples, beets, cabbage, caramel, cardamom, cinnamon, cloves, coriander, ginger, juniper, mace, mustard, nuts, nutmeg, onions, pears,  pumpkin, root vegetables, yams.
• Almond pairs well with: apple, apricot, banana, caramel, cherry, coffee, fig, honey, orange, peach, pear, plum
• Anice pairs well with:  apples, beets, caramel, carrots, chocolate, citrus, cinnamon, coconut, coriander, cranberry, fennel, figs, fish,  garlic, peaches, pomegranates,  pumpkin
• Apple pairs well with: caramel, cardamom, chestnut, cinnamon, cranberry, currant, ginger, hazelnut, mango, maple, rosemary, walnut
• Apricot pairs well with: almond, black pepper, caramel, cardamom, ginger, hazelnut, honey, orange, peach, vanilla, plum
• Asian Pear pairs well with: almond, apple, black pepper, cinnamon, ginger, honey, macadamia, nutmeg, raisin, vanilla
• Banana pairs well with: caramel, cherry, chocolate, cinnamon, coffee, ginger, hazelnut, honey, mango, molasses, papaya
• Basil pairs well with: capers, chives, cilantro, garlic, marjoram, oregano, mint, onion, parsley, rosemary, thyme,  artichokes, eggplant, green vegetables, mushrooms, olives, Sweet Basil is the best basil for pesto and tomato salads.
• Bay leaf pairs well with: artichokes, beans, garlic, grains, juniper, lentils, marjoram, mushrooms, nuts, oregano, parsley, potatoes, sage, savory, thyme and tomatoes
• Beets pair well with: Apples, basil, beef, butter, cabbage, caraway seeds, carrots, cheese, chives, dill, hard-boiled eggs, garlic, honey, horseradish, lemon, mint, mustard, olive oil, onions, orange, pepper, pistachios, salt
• Blackberry pairs well with: apricot, black pepper, cinnamon, citrus, hazelnut, lemon, other berries, peach, plum
• Blood Orange pairs well with: almond, cardamom, chocolate, cinnamon, clove, fig, ginger, honey, other citrus
• Blueberry pairs well with: other berries, cardamom, mango, lemon, hazelnut, ginger, fig, lavender, other citrus
• Butternut Squash pairs well with: sage and rosemary, either of which can be used fresh or in dried form.  The warm “pie spices” of nutmeg and ginger are a good match for butternut squash, both underlining and balancing its sweetness. For a savory approach, consider cumin.  Chilies provide sweet-and-spicy flavor combination.  The naturally sweet taste of butternut squash is enhanced when paired with fruit, such as fresh and dried apples, fresh pear, orange juice and dried cranberries.
• Caraway pairs well with: apples, beets, broccoli, cabbage, pears, sauerkraut, allspice, almonds, cardamom, chili, cinnamon, coriander,  dill,  fennel seed, juniper berry, onion, mushrooms, garlic, oregano, parsley, thyme.
• Cardamom pairs well with:  apples, bananas, beans, caramel,  citrus fruit, coconut, ice creams, nuts, mango, allspice, almond, cardamom, chili, cinnamon, clove, coriander, cumin, curry, dates, fennel seed, ginger, mustard, paprika, pears, pepper, star anise, turmeric, saffron
• Carrot pairs well with: anise, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, walnut
• Celery pairs well with: cabbage, cilantro, cucumber, cumin, garlic, ginger, mustard, onion, parsley, pepper, rosemary, sage, tomatoes, thyme
• Celery Seed pairs well with: tomatoes, allspice, black pepper, caraway, chili, cinnamon coriander, cumin, fennel seed, ginger, sage, turmeric
• Cherry pairs well with: apricot, black pepper, chocolate, citrus, nectarine, peach, plum,  vanilla
• Chestnut pairs well with: apple, caramel, chocolate, coffee, pear, vanilla
• Chives pair well with: asparagus, basil, cheese, cilantro, dill, fennel, green vegetables, horseradish, mushrooms, olives, paprika, pasta, parsley, tarragon
• Chocolate pairs well with: oranges, nuts, Allspice, almond, aniseed, cinnamon, clove, curry leaf, fennel seed, garlic, ginger, lemongrass, mint, nutmeg, onion, vanilla
• Cilantro (coriander) pairs well with: apples, apricot, avocados, berries, cherries, citrus, coconut, nectarine, peach, plum, tropical fruit, Allspice, Cardamom, clove, cumin, curry, dates, fennel seed, garlic, ginger,  mint, sun-dried tomato, turmeric, tomatoes.
• Cinnamon pairs well with:  allspice, apples, bananas, cantaloupe, caraway, cardamom, clove, cacao, chilies, caramel, cauliflower, chocolate, corn, curries,  coffee, coriander, cranberry, cumin, dates, figs, ginger, mint, nutmeg,  grapes, oranges, peaches, pears, winter squash, star anise, sun-dried tomatoes, tamarind, turmeric, vanilla
• Chervil  pairs well with: artichokes, asparagus, carrots, chives, citrus, grains, green beans, leafy vegetables, mushrooms, nuts, onions, parsley, tarragon, thyme,and  vinegar
• Clove pairs well with: allspice, apples, beets, bay leaf, cakes, cardamom, cacao, carrots, chocolate, citrus, coriander, cumin, curry, fennel, ginger, mace, nutmeg, orange, peaches, pineapple, pumpkin, red cabbage,  star anise, tamarind, turmeric,vanilla
• Coconut pairs well with: Allspice, banana, basil, black pepper, Brazil nut, caramel, chocolate, citrus,  cumin, curry leaf, garlic, ginger, guava, lemongrass, passionfruit, pineapple, sun-dried, tomato, turmeric, vanilla
• Coriander pairs well with: allspice, apples, bananas, beans, chili, cilantro, cinnamon, citrus, cloves, cumin, curry, fennel, fish, garlic, ginger, mace, mint, mushrooms, nutmeg, onion, parsley,
• Cranberry pairs well with: apple, chocolate, cinnamon, citrus, mango, mint, pear
• Cumin pairs well with: allspice, anise, avocados, bay leaf, beans, cabbage, cardamom,  cilantro, cinnamon, citrus, coconut, coriander, cucumber, curry, fennel, fenugreek, garlic, ginger,  lentils, mace, onion, nutmeg, parsley, tomatoes
• Currants, Black and Red, pairs well with: cassis, chocolate, citrus
• Dill pairs well with: anise, basil, cabbage, capers, caraway, carrots, chives, coriander, cucumbers, cumin,  fennel, garlic, ginger, horseradish, mint, mustard, oregano, onion, paprika, parsley
• Elderberry pairs well with: apricot, fig, honey, lemon, mandarin, other berries, peach, plum
• Fennel pairs well with: anise, artichokes, basil, beans, cabbage, cheese, cilantro, cinnamon, cucumber, cumin, dill, eggplant, fenugreek, figs, garlic, lemon balm, lentils, mint, olives, onion, oregano, parsley, pork, thyme, tomatoes
• Fig pairs well with: almond, black pepper, cinnamon, citrus, hazelnut, pear, vanilla
• Garlic pairs well with: basil, caraway, chili, coriander, cumin, curry leaf, marjoram, mint, mustard seed, oregano, parsley, rosemary, sun-dried tomato, thyme
• Ginger pairs well with: allspice, almond, anise, apple, apricot, banana,basil, berries, Brazil nut, caramel, carrots, chives, chocolate, cilantro, cinnamon, citrus,cloves, coconut, coriander, cranberry, cumin, curry, dates, fennel, grape, hazelnut, passion fruit, peach, pear, pineapple, plum,  nutmeg, onion, peaches, pears, pepper, pumpkin, raisins, turmeric, vanilla
• Gooseberry pairs well with: citrus, hazelnut, honey, other berries, white chocolate
• Grape pairs well with: chocolate, citrus, fig, honey, ginger, raisin
• Grapefruit pairs well with: basil, black pepper, caramel, citrus, mint, rosemary, thyme, tropical fruit, vanilla
• Guava pairs well with: citrus, lime, coconut, huckleberry, kaffir leaf, pineapple, strawberry, tropical fruit
• Hazelnut pairs well with: apple, apricot, banana, berries, caramel, cherry, chocolate, citrus, fig, mandarin, peach, pear, plum
• Jicama pairs well with: acidic fruits and juices such as lime, lemon and orange juice.  Red pepper and hot pepper sauce,  avocado, cilantro, cucumber and grapefruit.
• Kaffir Leaf pairs well with: banana, citrus, coconut, lemongrass, tropical fruit, watermelon
• Kiwi pairs well with: apple, banana, berries, cherry, citrus, coconut, mango, tropical fruit
• Kumquat pairs well with: berries, cherry, chocolate, cinnamon, coffee, persimmon, plum
• Lavender pairs well with: chocolate, lemon, blueberries, vanilla, thyme
• Lemon pairs well with: apricot, berries, black pepper, cardamom, cherry, citrus, ginger, nectarine, peach, plum, prickly pear, tropical fruit
• Lemongrass pairs well with: cherry, berries, citrus, coconut, ginger, guava, kaffir leaf, coconut, tropical fruit, vanilla
• Lime pairs well with: apple, berries, cherry, ginger, papaya, plum, strawberry, tropical fruit
• Lychee pairs well with: citrus, ginger, gooseberry, tropical fruit, vanilla
• Mace pairs well with: allspice, asparagus, beans, cabbage, carrots, cheese, cinnamon, cloves, coffee, cranberries, cumin, ginger, nutmeg, peaches, pumpkin, potatoes, vanilla,
• Mandarin pairs well with: cardamom, cherry, chocolate, cinnamon, coffee, fig, ginger, nutmeg, tropical fruits, vanilla, star anise
• Mango pairs well with: apple, banana, berries, caramel, citrus, coconut, melon, tropical fruits, vanilla, cinnamon
• Marjoram pairs well with: artichokes, basil, cinnamon, cumin, eggplant, fennel, garlic, mushrooms, onion, oregano, parsley,  thyme
• Melon pairs well with: berries, citrus, lemongrass, lemon verbena
• Nutmeg pairs well with: allspice, asparagus, cabbage, cardamom, carrots, cinnamon, cloves, coffee, coriander, cranberries, cumin, ginger,  mace, onion, peaches, pumpkin, thyme, vanilla
• Orange pairs well with: almonds, basil, berries, brandy, cherry, chocolate, cilantro, cinnamon, coffee, cranberry, fig, ginger, grape, hazelnut, mint, nutmeg, persimmon, pineapple, vanilla
• Oregano pairs well with: basil, cinnamon, cumin, eggplant, fennel, garlic, marjoram, mushrooms, onion, parsley, thyme, tomatoes
• Paprika pairs well with: allspice, caraway, cardamom,  garlic, ginger, legumes, oregano, parsley,  rosemary, saffron, thyme, turmeric, vegetables
• Papaya pairs well with: citrus, black pepper, lime, mango, tropical fruit
• Parsley pairs well with: basil, bay leaf, chives, dill,  garlic, marjoram, mushrooms, grains, onion, oregano,thyme, tomatoes
• Pear pairs well with: almond, apple, caramel, chestnut, chocolate, cinnamon, citrus, ginger, hazelnut, vanilla, walnut
• Persimmon pairs well with: apple, black pepper, cinnamon, citrus, kumquat, pear
• Pineapple pairs well with: basil, caramel, cilantro, coconut, macadamia, rosemary, tropical fruit
• Plum pairs well with: almond, cinnamon, citrus, chestnut, black pepper, hazelnut, honey, vanilla
• Pomegranate pairs well with: apple, citrus, cucumber, mint, tropical fruit
• Prickly Pear pairs well with: citrus, lime, tomatillo, tropical fruit
• Raspberry pairs well with: apricot, cinnamon, citrus, ginger, lemon, nectarine, other berries, peach, plum, rhubarb, thyme, vanilla
• Rose water pairs well with: saffron, cardamom,jasmine, almonds, pistachios and coconuts.
• Rosemary pairs well with:  apples, asparagus, basil, citrus, cranberry, fennel, garlic, grains, mushrooms, marjoram, onion, oregano, parsley, thyme, tomatoes
• Rhubarb pairs well with: apple, apricot, berries, black pepper, citrus, ginger, nectarine, peach, plum, strawberry
• Sage pears well with: apples, bay leaf,  capers, caraway, celery, citrus,  garlic, ginger, marjoram, onions, paprika, parsley, rosemary, thyme, tomatoes
• Sesame pairs well with: citrus,  garlic, ginger, thyme
• Sorrel pairs well with: chives, beans, leafy greens, oregano, parsley, thyme, and squash
• Strawberry pairs well with: apple, black pepper, chocolate, citrus, coriander, mint, rhubarb, vanilla
• Thyme pairs well with: bananas, basil, bay leaf, beans, carrots, citrus, dill, garlic, mint, mushrooms, onion, oregano, parsley, sage
• Tomatillo pairs well with: berries, citrus, mango, prickly pear, tropical fruit
• Walnut pairs well with: apple, apricot, banana, caramel, chocolate, cinnamon, nectarine, peach, pear, plum, rum

I hope you will find this chart as useful as I am.

Chocolate and Orange Drizzle Cake

Last Sunday yet again I was asked to bake a Lemon Drizzle Cake. Don’t get me wrong, this is a lovely cake but after two weeks of baking it every other day I’ve decided it was time for something new. I didn’t want to disappoint nor, for safety reasons stray too far from the requested type of cake, so I decided to bake a “off spin” drizzle cake, or in cook-speak take it to the next level. It was my first attempt and I really wasn’t sure how it would turn out but in the end I needn’t have worried as it was quite something if I may say so myself; a bit more moist and sweater than a lemon version but extremely tasty and satisfying.

I present to you the Chocolate and Orange Drizzle Cake.

Ingredients:

For the cake:

• 3 eggs
• 150g self-raising flour
• 150g caster sugar
• 150g unsalted butter, soften
• 1tsp baking powder
• Zest of one large orange
• 1tbs of fresh squeezed orange juice
• 2tbs chocolate shavings

For the orange drizzle:

• 50g granulated sugar
• Juice of one large juicy orange

The above ingredients will make a cake that fits perfectly in an 8” loaf tin.

Method:

Preheat the oven to 180C fan.

Grease and line your baking tin, or just grease it.

In a large bowl mix together all the dry ingredients being: flour, sugar, chocolate shavings and baking powder; add zest from one large orange, soften butter, eggs and fresh squeezed orange juice – mix all ingredients until smooth.

Pour into your earlier prepared loaf tin.

Bake in the pre-heated oven for 40-45min or until golden brown.

Remove from the oven and allow it to cool for a few minutes.

Prepare your drizzle by mixing the sugar with the orange juice. “Stab” your cake repeatedly with a toothpick and then slowly drizzle it with your mixture allowing it to soak in deep inside the cake.

Let it cool completely.

Cut, serve and enjoy!

Happy Baking!

Quick and Easy Lemon Drizzle Cake

Lately we seem to have become obsessed with a Lemon Drizzle Cake. In the last 2 weeks I have baked one seven times 🙂 It was proving very hard to “save” the cake until I could actually take some pictures, but a few days ago I succeeded, so here you go – my Lemon Drizzle Cake recipe.

Ingredients:

For the cake:

• 3 eggs
• 150g self-raising flour
• 150g caster sugar
• 150g unsalted butter
• 1tsp baking powder
• Zest of one lemon
• Icing sugar for decoration

For the lemon drizzle:

• 50g caster sugar
• Juice of one large lemon

The above ingredients will make a cake that fits perfectly in an 8” loaf tin.

Method:

Preheat the oven to 180C fan.

Grease and line your baking tin, or just grease it if you have problems with making a perfect lining like me 😉

In a large bowl mix together all the dry ingredients being: flour, sugar and baking powder.

Add the zest from one large lemon. Due to possible wax coating on the lemons nowadays remember to wash it well before grating the zest (I like to keep it in a bowl of hot / boiling water for a few minutes first).

Melt your butter a little, so it is nice and soft (20sec in pulses in a microwave should do the trick).

Add the butter and eggs to your mixing bowl and beat all the ingredients until smooth.

Pour into your earlier prepared loaf tin.

Bake in the pre-heated oven for 40-45min or until golden brown.

Remove from the oven and allow it to cool for a few minutes.

Mix lemon juice with sugar and prepare to drizzle.

I like to remove my cake from the tin before drizzling begins and place it on a cooling rack.

“Stabbing” the cake all over with a little toothpick will help your drizzle to soak deeper into the cake, but it is an optional extra.

Drizzle your cake and allow it to cool…

When totally cool, sprinkle the cake with a little bit of icing sugar, which will give it a nice even finish.

If you want a more crunchy drizzle, use granulated sugar and for even more crunch go with icing sugar.

If you decided to give this cake a try and it is not lemony enough for you, just add a bit of lemon juice inside the cake during the mixing process and it will boost the lemon flavour right up.

Happy Baking!

What’s Cooking – Christmas Gingerbread Man Cookies

The Christmas season is in a full bloom so it is time to get some festive food ready. What can be more festive than some tasty little gingerbread cookies?

The recipe I want to share with you today is from The Christmas 3D Cookie Kit from Parragon. The kit contains 3D cookie cutters (so you can make your own 3D snowman and 3D Christmas tree) and a recipe book with a fantastic selection of Christmas cookies.

The recipe I’ve chosen was originally for a Mini Gingerbread House Cookies, but we thought that a gingerbread man shaped cookies will be a better choice 🙂

Ingredients:

125g butter

2tbp golden syrup

175g light muscovado sugar

300g self-rising flour

2tbsp ground ginger

1 large egg

Method:

Prepare 2 large baking sheets, ideally pre-lined with a baking paper.

Heat the oven to 160C.

Place the butter and the golden syrup in a pan and heat gently, stirring all the time until melted.

Remove the pan from the heat, add sugar and stir until dissolved.

Sift the flour and ginger into a large bowl and make a well in the middle ready for the wet ingredients.

Pour in the warm, wet ingredients and add the beaten egg into the mix.

Stir thoroughly to form a smooth dough.

Wrap it in a cling film and chill in the fridge for about 20 minutes.

Remove your dough from the fridge and prepare to roll it out; ideally you want your rolled dough to be about 5mm thick.

Cut desired shapes using a cookie cutter or an upside down glass if you want to make a classic round shape or even a knife if all else fails.

Transfer your cut cookies to your baking sheets.

Chill in the fridge for a further 10 minutes.

Bake in earlier preheated oven for about 12-15 minutes or until firm and lightly brown.

Remove from the oven and allow them to cool down.

Now the fun can begin…

It is time to decorate!

If you are good with decorating you can make your own royal icing (just mix 150g of icing sugar with 2tsp of white egg powder and 2 tbsp of cold water)… I am not a master decorator so we used shop bought icing pens to make this job easier 😉

Happy baking!

House of Fraser – The Blogger’s Recipe Book and My Special Apple Pie Recipe

This is not just any cook book, oh no, this is a very special cook book… this is a cook book in which you can find on pages 16, 17, 18 and 19 my very own Special Apple Pie Recipe!

We have been published in a real cookbook; not just an e-book but an actual book that you can hold in your hands and physically turn the pages. I just love it!

As you can probably guess I am chuffed to bits over this.

The whole project started back in August. I received an email in which I was asked if I wanted to be published in a cook book. Hell yeah! Of course I wanted to have my recipe in a book. The big question was which recipe… in the end actually it wasn’t such a big question… from all the recipes we have covered I knew that my Mums Apple Pie was the one which deserved fame the most. For years it was a closely kept secret but once we “let cat out of the bag” there was nothing to hide anymore. The recipe was out there, so why not immortalize it in print in a lovely cook book from House of Fraser.

We re-wrote the recipe a little making it clearer and easier to follow. Then I had to bake one in order to shoot the “perfect” picture.

I think it worked.

The recipe reads well and the picture shows the pie in all its glory.

I feel very proud!

The whole book contains 14 recipes from UK bloggers; mostly cakes but who doesn’t love a good cake?

Just in case you had never heard about My Special Apple Pie Recipe before – here it is again – the new and upgraded version.

Enjoy!

Ingredients:

6 eggs – yolks with whites separated

250g of unsalted butter

350g of plain flour

250g of icing sugar

2 tea spoons of vanilla sugar

3 tea spoons of baking powder

1kg of apples

Cinnamon (to taste)

Method:

1. Pastry

Mix the flour, baking powder, vanilla sugar and butter (ideally all ingredients should be at room temperature)
After the pastry starts to form add the six egg yolks, one at the time. Mix everything together until you are able to form a ball. Cover with cling film and pop into the fridge to rest.

2. Apples

Peel and core all the apples, using a grater shred them into small pieces. Once ready, put the apple shavings into a sieve to help get rid of any excess juice.

3. Preparation for meringue

Take a flat baking form – a roasting tin can be used if needed – grease the bottom and sides with some butter.
Remove your pastry from the fridge and split into two parts (¼ and ¾) – put the ¼ sized part back into the fridge for now; take the ¾ part, gently roll flat and place at the bottom of your greased baking form. Once ready cover the base with the shredded apples (make sure that they are not dripping with juice or you will end up with a soggy base, if necessary give them a squeeze with your hands before adding to the base). Sprinkle some cinnamon over the top of the apples. Now you are ready for the meringue part…

4. Meringue

Put the six egg whites into a mixing bowl. Whisk or beat until firm. When soft peaks start to form begin to add the icing sugar slowly. Once all the sugar is added and you are able to form stiff peaks stop whisking and with a metal spoon place the mixture on top of your cinnamon apples.

5. Topping

Once you have meringue covering the top of your pie; take the final ¼ of leftover pastry; and again with a grater grate tiny pieces on top of the meringue.

Bake in the middle of a preheated oven at 220C, after 10 minutes reduce the temp to 180C and bake for a further 20 minutes Or until the meringue peaks have a nice light golden brown colour.

Once cooled, you can dust with a little bit of icing sugar to make it look even more amazing.

Have fun if you decide to bake it!

Weekly Photo Challenge: Achievement

“Only those who attempt the absurd can achieve the impossible.”
Albert Einstein

Me? I am going to be published in a cookbook!

My Apple Pie recipe will be in the real, printed cookbook, sold in book stores.

Happy times!

Challenge set by The Daily Post

***

Baking Mad! – Quick and Easy Chocolate Brownies

Just before the weekend Baking Mad sent me a lovely box of baking goodies… I had no choice but to bake something 🙂

They have an amazing selection of recipes on the website but I wanted to bake some brownies. Months ago I bought myself a “perfect brownie” pan set; it supposes to do it all – bake, slice and serve. I’ve never used it and I really wanted to try it out… so the choice was made – we are going to have some brownies!

I picked something quick and easy as you can’t go wrong with some Chocolate Brownies.

Ingredients:

• 150g Butter (unsalted)
• 250g Dark chocolate
• 175g Unrefined light muscovado sugar (we use Billington’s)
• 75g Plain white flour
• 75g Almonds (ground)
• 3 Eggs large

Method:

Preheat the oven to 170°C (150°C fan, gas mark 3).

Grease and line a cake tin. I actually just greased my one slightly as the box said it should be non-stick, so in the spirit of saving the planet I decided to save some grease proof paper 😉

Place all of the chocolate into a bowl and add the butter. Set the bowl over a pan of gently simmering water; remember to make sure the water does not touch the bottom of the bowl. Stir gently until melted. Remove the bowl from the pan and cool slightly (we left it off the heat for about 5 minutes).

Beat the sugar into the chocolate mixture using an electric mixer.

Add the eggs one at a time until all combined.

Sift in the flour and beat until the mixture is smooth.

Finally add the almonds and mix well.

Pour the mix into the tin and bake for 30 minutes or until the skewer inserted into the brownie comes out clean.

Remove from the oven and allow it to cool.

Now was the time I was waiting for… time to test my perfect brownie tray… cutting the brownies…

So what do you think? Not perfect but much easier and quicker than doing it with a knife.

Anyways…

… at this point your brownies are ready; make a cuppa and enjoy!

What’s Cooking – Breakfast Cheese and Onion Rolls

This is a special request recipe.

A good friend of mine (Paul yes that would be you), saw one of my posts in which I described what we were cooking when Iwona from Smakowite Jadlo was here… one of the items on the menu were Breakfast Cheese and Onion Rolls. Apparently he searched for the full recipe in hope of baking some, but the recipe was nowhere to be found… not surprised really as I never actually posted it… ooops. Anyway when I saw him last time he was clearly not impressed with me or my omission, so here you go Paul – this is especially for you 🙂

Breakfast Cheese and Onions Rolls

Ingredients:

For the dough:

• 2tbsp flour
• 1tbsp sugar
• 20g fresh yeast
• 125ml milk

Additional:

• 300g flour
• 2tbsp melted butter
• 2 eggs
• 1tsp salt
• 1 egg yolk for egg wash

Stuffing:

• 2 large onions
• 100g cheese
• Pinch of marjoram
• Pinch of thyme
• Pepper to taste
• Butter for frying

Method:

Combine the fresh yeast with sugar, 2tbsp of flour and 125ml of milk and mix well in order to remove all lumps. Cover with a damp cloth and set aside in a warm place to begin to rise for 15-20 minutes.

Gently melt the butter and combine with the eggs and whisk.

Into a large bowl put 300g of flour, the lightly beaten egg/butter mix, a pinch of salt as well as the starter dough and start to combine to form a ball of dough.

Knead the dough in the bowl until it doesn’t stick to the sides of the bowl. Form a nice ball, cover with a damp cloth and set aside in a warm place for around 1 hour to rise.

Whilst the dough is raising this is the perfect time to prepare the stuffing.

Chop the onions into small pieces and fry slightly in some butter on a low heat. Do not let them change colour we just want to soften them.

Grate the cheese. The cheese will define flavour of your rolls so pick something you like and enjoy. We went for a lovely Swedish cheese from Västerbottensost.

Chop the herbs if you are using fresh ones.

Go make a cup of tea and relax for a while.

When the dough has doubled in size remove from the bowl and place on a lightly dusted surface and work it a little with your hands. When ready roll out to achieve a thin flat base, ideally in the shape of a rectangular. Spread your onions evenly on top of the dough and then sprinkle with grated cheese. Add spices/herbs to taste but be very careful with the salt. If your cheese is quite strong tasting I would advice to skip the salt all together.

Now you need to roll everything up into a log. Starting with the long side, use a palette knife to raise the edge so you can grab it. Fold it over on top and then with flat hands gently roll it all up.

With a sharp knife cut the log into small slices roughly a couple of cm wide and place into a baking frame. Again cover with a damp cloth and set aside to rise for another 15-20 minutes.

Paint all the tops with some egg wash and bake in the middle of the oven you preheated earlier to 180C, for 30-35 minutes or until golden brown.

Serve warm.

*Pictures credit: Iwona from Smakowite Jadlo

Baking with Stork – Chocolate and Orange Cupcakes

On Monday I along with eleven other bloggers spent most of the day in the Unilever Kitchen.

First thing was we had the opportunity to learn some interesting facts about tea; this session was presented by the lovely Jane Pettigrew. Afterwards we met Marco Pierre White who shared with us his hints and tips on cooking (I will write about this part at a later date). And finally we did some baking with Sue Batty, a Stork expert baker.

The whole day was fantastic but the baking part was the most fun, just simply because it was free form baking. We were all supposed to bake cupcakes but specifically their flavourings and decorations were totally up to us.

We were provided with some recipe sheets but I don’t think anyone used them; everyone was just running wild with their flavour combinations and choices of icing.

I believe all the cupcakes were based on this basic recipe, which will make 12.

• 115g Stork tub
• 115g caster sugar
• 140g self-raising flour
• 2 eggs; medium size

The rest is up to you 🙂

I decided on chocolate and orange cupcakes but as I have never used orange blossom water before I erred on the side of caution and so didn’t put enough in my mix so my cupcakes ended up being chocolate with only a slight hint of orange.

I had to change the basic recipe as stated above to be suitable for my creation. I’ve used:

• 115g Stork tub
• 115g caster sugar
• 115g self-raising flour
• 3 eggs; medium size
• 2tbs of good quality cocoa powder
• 50g of crushed dark chocolate
• 5ml of orange blossom water

+ Decorations

• 50g of melted dark chocolate and 50g of melted milk chocolate

To make this recipe work even better Sue suggested some small changes – add 1/2tsp of baking powder, this will help with the raising as the cocoa powder makes them quite heavy and then add an additional 5ml of orange blossom water, to achieve a more orangey flavour. The zest of an orange added to the mix would have also elevated them to the next level.

Method:

Place all cupcake ingredients except for the crushed chocolate into a mixing bowl and mix with a wooden spoon until everything is just combined. Add the crushed chocolate and spoon the finished mixture into 12 paper muffin cases.

Bake in a preheated oven at 180C for 15-20 minutes or until soft and firm to the touch.

Remove from the oven and place on a cooling rack.

Melt 100g of chocolate and slowly pour over your cupcakes.

Easy peasy lemon squeezy… as they say.

And if you are wondering what the other bloggers baked here is a selection of some of their lovely cupcakes baked on the day.

Lime & Dark Chocolate Cupcakes baked by Kirsty from Hijacked By Twins

Turkish Delight & White Chocolate Cupcake baked by Rose from Freycob

Lime & White Chocolate Cupcakes baked by Lucy from Supergolden Bakes

Oreo & Malteser Cupcakes baked by Amy from She Cooks She Eats

Strawberry & Chocolate Chip with Lime Cream cheese Frosting Cupcakes baked by Leyla from Motherhood Diaries

Still waiting to be claimed

Still waiting to be claimed

hmm I wonder who baked these ones… 🙂

I didn’t manage to ninja a sample of all cupcakes nor did I manage in the hussle an bussle of the day to take photos of everyone’s creations, so I do apologise if I missed yours.

Also I would like to send a big thank you to Rose @Freycob who investigated which cupcake belongs to which blogger.

@AgataPokutycka @supergolden88 @belleaukitchen @k_phillipson @M_Diaries @jimsyjampots Our cakes #unileverkitchen pic.twitter.com/5DwaD3rZ55

— freycob(.)co(.)uk (@Freycob) October 15, 2014

Thank you for the great day guys!

It was a pleasure to meet you all!

What’s Cooking – Quick and Easy Cinnamon Biscuits

From time to time we all get cravings, sometimes we can satisfy them, sometimes we can’t. One day last week sometime around 11pm I developed a huge craving to have some fresh baked cookies. We had guests over so it wasn’t exactly sleeping time yet so we decided to bake something. Obviously we knew that this had to be a quick and easy recipe as no one wanted to start a long preparation process at that time of the night. We settled on a batch of Quick and Easy Cinnamon Biscuits. As there were four people in the kitchen including a fellow foodie blogger Iwona from Smakowite Jadlo, we had a lovely warm biscuits in no time!

So if you ever get that feeling you must have a cookie now, I would highly recommend this recipe.

Ingredients:

• 160g flour
• 120g soft butter
• 3tbs icing sugar
• 1.5tsps cinnamon

Method:

To start preheat your oven to 180C and using some baking parchment line two large baking trays.

In a large bowl mix all your dry ingredients: flour, cinnamon and sugar. Add soften, cubed cutter and combine until you have a nice smoo0th and even dough.

Now depending on the shape of your cookies you can either:

– Form small balls which you will shape into roundish biscuits with your hands.

or (my preferred way)

– Roll your mixture flat using a rolling pin and then just use a cookie cutter to achieve your desired shape.

Bake in your earlier preheated oven for about 15-20 minutes or until firm to the touch.

Remove the biscuits and place on a wire cooling rack so they are allowed to cool.

Decorate if needed or desired.

They are perfect for storing, as long as you put them into an airtight container of course.

Now remember there were four of us in the kitchen and we all wanted something just a little bit different, we just couldn’t seem to settle on just one flavour, biscuits by committee! As it is a democratic household we ended up baking four batches of biscuits in four different flavours 😉 So if cinnamon is not for you, you can try adding some grated almonds or chocolate or dry coconut (our coconut biscuits also had an orange food colouring, I am quite unsure what we were thinking at the time but I suspect that a degree of tiredness may have resulted in the wrong bowl receiving the colouring. Though witnesses were few and far between…)

In the end for what amounted to less than an hour of fun and good humour in the kitchen, delayed somewhat by the deliberations over flavours, resulted in a huge box of awesome crunchy and super tasty biscuits. Possessing a wonderful snap when you bite into them and having a texture very similar to shortbread they are now a permanent feature on our “bestest recipe list”.