Tahini honey oat cakes

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Ta honey

These are lovely little biccies to have with your cup of tea, and they are pretty much guilt free as they contain no sugar, wheat, dairy, egg or butter! Also they only take 10 mins to bake and are super easy to prepare, being from the 'throw everything into a bowl and stir' family of recipes.

I love to have something sweet after my dinner and am trying a wheat free diet right now so these are pretty much a godsend and I know I will make them again and again.

Ingredients:

6tbsps Tahini paste

1/2 cup runny honey

1/2 a cup toasted flaked almonds

1/2 a cup raisins

6 dates, chopped

Blend the tahini and honey in a bowl, then add all of the other ingredients and mix well.

Using a spoon, divide the mixture into cookie shaped heaps on a greased baking tray. This should make about 12. Bake at 180c for 10 mins. Let them cool a bit and them transfer them to a cooling rack so that they don't go soggy underneath. Be careful when transferring them as they are crumbly when they are still hot, but get more solid as they cool.

You could use different variations depending on what you have lying around your kitchen, I will definitely be trying these with some of the following:

-toasted sunflower seeds

-hazelnuts (or any other nuts for that matter)

-lemon zest & a bit of juice

-candied peel

-Maple syrup

-peanut butter + some vegetable oil in place of the tahini (with chocolate chips which would make it not healthy but pretty delicious)

Ginger cake

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Post cake

Lu and I have a friend who is poorly at the moment and I really wanted to send him a care package. I thought cake sent by post would be a novel idea and might be just what the doctor ordered for a pick me up.

So I made this, as I needed something that would keep. Not only does this keep for a week but it actually gets better with age. The first day it was good, the 5th day it was spectacular! Gingery, sticky and delicious. All you have to do is wrap it up in greaseproof paper, put it in a good strong box and post it to who ever you know would appreciate cake delivered straight you their door in an unorthodox fashion.

This is a Nigel Slater recipe from one of the THREE Nigel Slater cookery books I got over the last month.... and it is pretty much as good as a cake can be. Next time Im making one I will keep it all for myself!

I've just copied the recipe here as I didn't make any changes whatsoever. Its simple and perfect!

Ingredients
250g self-raising flour 
2 level tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 level tsp bicarbonate of soda
a pinch of salt
200g golden syrup
2 tbsp syrup from the ginger jar
125g butter
3 lumps of stem ginger in syrup (about 55g)
2 heaped tbsp sultanas
125g dark muscavado sugar
2 large eggs
240ml milk

You will need a square cake tin measuring approximately 20-22cm, lined on the bottom with baking or greaseproof paper.

Set the oven at 180°C/gas mark 3. Sieve the flour with the ginger, cinnamon, bicarbonate of soda and the salt. Put the golden and ginger syrups and the butter into a small saucepan, and warm over a low heat. Dice the ginger finely then add it to the pan with the sultanas and sugar. Let the mixture bubble gently for a minute, giving it the occasional stir to stop the fruit sticking to the bottom.

Break the eggs into a bowl, pour in the milk and beat gently to break up the egg and mix it into the milk. Remove the butter and sugar mixture from the heat and pour into the flour, stirring smoothly and firmly with a large metal spoon. Mix in the milk and eggs. The mixture should be sloppy, with no trace of flour.

Scoop the mixture into the non-stick or lined cake tin and bake for 35-40 minutes, or until a skewer, inserted into the centre of the cake, comes out clean. Unless you are serving it warm, leave the cake in its tin to cool, then tip out on to a sheet of greaseproof paper. Wrap it up again in foil and leave to mature for a day or two before eating.

Apple Filo tarts

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Sunday paper-thin treats

I had a yen to make Parisian apple tartlets like these, but unfortunately, once again I couldn't find any ready made puff pasty in the whole of the Dublin 7 area (ok, I tried 3 shops and gave up). You may remember that we had a similar problem back in August when we were making the Beef and Guiness pie, and I actually had to go to effort of making my own! It turned out ok, but as all my tv cooking heroes (Nigel, Nigela, and Jamie) say, its not worth making your own puff, as the bought stuff is always going to be better. Anyway, Its a Sunday afternoon, and the less palaver involved the better.

Once again to the rescue came our local middle eastern shop Alauras. It stocks frozen filo, which can be used to make baklava (I will have to try it one of these days) and Lucy's famous home made jambons, (another improvised recipe which called for puff pastry but had to settle for filo) Using frozen ready made pastry means that these tarts are so quick and easy to make, and if you actually use puff pastry then you don't have to bother with all the brushing of melted butter. Just pop the sugar and apple on top of the pastry, and bake!

On reflection, I think I would actually prefer the filo version. These tarts were crunchy, melty, delicious. Perfect with a cup of coffee and the Sunday papers!

Ingredients:

Frozen filo pastry, defrosted

4 oz butter

1 large apple (2 small) such as coxs or braeburn

2 oz brown sugar

ground cinnamon

Start by melting half of the butter in a pan. Brush 6 individual tartlet cases with some of the butter. (If you don't have cases, you can just layer the pastry up in tart-sized squares on a buttered baking tray. This is what you would do if you were using puff pastry, too)

Layer the pastry, one sheet a a time into the cases, brushing each of the pastry sheets with the melted butter as you go. There should be 5 or 6 layers of pastry in each tart. Press the pastry in to the tins and leave the excess corners sticking out (I think they look lovely like that). Brush the top layer of pastry all over with the butter. Sprinkle some of the brown sugar into each of the buttered pastry cases.

Peel and core the apple, cut into quarters and slice very thinly. Arrange the apple slices in a fan shape in each of the pastry cases, and sprinkle with the remaining brown sugar and a pinch of cinnamon on each. Cut the remaining butter into tiny cubes and sprinkle these over the apple and sugar.

Bake for about 15 minutes in a preheated oven at about 180c. You want the apple to be cooked and tender, the sugar melted, but the pastry not over cooked or burned.

Crumpets

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Tea Vicar?
After coming across a stall called 'The Strumpets Crumpets' at Electric Picnic, I ate my first crumpet in years and, oh my was it delicious! Eating it planted the seed of a craving in my belly and a few weeks later I found myself searching the web for crumpet recipes. I even went searching around town for crumpet rings!

Eventually I just used cookie/scone cutters, blunt side down to shape these perfect, buttery, gorgeously decadent treats. Pam rightly described the strumpets crumpets as a cross between toast and pancakes, which, sweet or savory, make them perfect for a Sunday breakfast. I really thought there would be too many but they were all scoffed pretty quickly. They don't take too long to make, its a bit like making pancakes but more fecky and with more opportunities for burning yourself (3 times!!!) Crumpet ingredients

• 300ml whole milk
• 300ml water
• 420g strong white flour
• 1 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 sachet fast-action dried yeast

Combine the flour, salt and yeast in a large bowl. Warm up the water and milk in a saucepan, not too hot, just until its the same temperature as your finger when you dip it in. Gradually pour the milk mixture into the flour, stirring to combine. Cover the bowl with cling film and leave for an hour in a warm place. The mixture will rise and become all bubbly and light.

Heat a non stick frying pan and melt some butter in it. If you are using cookie cutter rings to shape the crumpets, brush the inside of them with melted butter and place on the pan. Pour the mixture into the shapes.

Cook until the bubbles rise to the top of the crumpets and burst. Then poke the crumpet out of the ring (be careful not to burn yourself) and flip it over to cook on the other side until golden brown. If you prefer, you can dispense with the rings altogether and just make individual blobs on the pan, they will be thinner, but still thicker than pancakes and I'd say it would be a lot less hassle. I'm going to do them like that next time. Crumpets are good cut in half and toasted with loads of butter & jam, or with cream cheese and smoked salmon (try adding some dill to the batter!) or with melted cheese and ham, or with.... anything really. I think my favorite is just with plain old butter, and of course accompanied by a cup of tea. SO good.

Raspberry lemon Curd Bakewell Tart

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Crispy, buttery, raspberry citrus explosion!

My mum bought me a gorgeous new blue glass cake stand and I wanted to make something to put on it. 'Wouldn't a lovely bakewell tart be nice', I thought. At the same time, Lu expressed her hankering for some lemon-curd related dessert, during a workday email. I did some research on my favorite food related spotting site (not to be named as in seldom takes our photos! Grr!) and it seems that the raspberry-lemon combination is a classic and has been used many a time before my fevered and hungry imagination dreamed it up.

I think the pastry was the real winner of this concoction. The whole thing was delish... but.... The pastry... *sigh*... crunchy and crispy and almondy.... definite pastry win!

Raspberry and lemon curd bakewell tart

For the pastry:

125 g plain flour

75g unsalted butter

25g caster sugar

1 egg yolk

1 teaspoon almond essence

For the Lemon Curd:

2 eggs

2 1/2 oz caster sugar

1 1/2 oz unsalted butter cut into cubes

juice and zest of 1 lemon

For the topping:

150g unsalted butter, at room temperature

150g caster sugar

3 eggs

120g ground almonds

1/2 teaspoon almond essence

1 handful flaked almonds

1 small punnet fresh raspberries

Start by making the pastry. Using your finger tips, rub the butter into the flour until it resembles fine breadcrumbs. Add the sugar and mix it about. Then add the egg yolk and the almond essence and bring the whole lot together using your hands. If its too dry, add a tablespoon of cold water, but I didn't find this necessary. Chill the pastry for an hour if you have time. Roll the pastry out on a floured surface and press it into a greased circular spring-form tin. Line this with some greaseproof paper and fill it with baking beans. bake in a preheated over at about 160c for 15 mins or so. Be careful as the edges can burn quite easily. Take it out and remove the beans and the paper, brush the pastry with egg white ( you will have one left over from making the pastry) and bake for a further 5 mins or until it is cooked. You are not aiming for it to be totally brown and done, just for the pastry to go opaque and crumbly all over.

While this is happening make your lemon curd.

Lemon Curd:

Combine the eggs, sugar and butter together in a heavy bottomed sauce pan. Turn on the stove to the lowest possible heat and stir until the butter is melted. The aim here is to make sure the eggs don't cook and scramble, so keep the heat as low as possible, and even remove the pan from the heat at intervals. When the butter is melted and the sugar dissolved, add the lemon juice and zest. The mixture will turn opaque. Keep on the heat and continue stirring until the sauce goes nice and thick, so that it coats the spoon in a nice spreading consistency. This should take about 10 mins. Transfer the curd to a bowl and chill until needed ( you can make double this amount and use the extra for whatever else you like)

When the pastry shell is cooked, take it out of the oven and leave it to cool. Spread the lemon curd all over the base of the pastry shell.

Now make the topping:

Cream together the butter and caster sugar with an electric whisk until the mixture is light yellow and fluffy. Fold in the eggs one at a time, sprinkling in a tablespoon of ground almond after each addition, to keep the mixture from curdling. Now gently fold in the rest of the almond and the almond essence.

Pour this mixture over the lemon curd in the pastry shell. The curd might rise up the edges of the shell a bit so make sure that the curd is 'sealed in' by completely covering it with the topping, right to the edges. Then arrange the raspberries in a circular pattern on top, pushing them in to the mixture so that only half of each berry is visible.

Bake in your preheated oven at 160c. After about 20 minutes, take it out and sprinkle the almonds over the top. Then bake for a further 20 minutes until the tart is set in the middle and firm to touch.

Absolutely delicious! God, I wish I had some right now!

PS: if you want to make a delicious lemon tart, make the same pastry without the almond essence, and make twice the amount of lemon curd. bake the pastry shell as above, add the prepared lemon curd, and bake the whole thing at about 180c for 20 mins or so, until the lemon filling is set. this is also absolutely wonderful and a bit less work! i might have to make one soon!

Rhubarb & Almond Cake

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A la Daily Spud I've been reading The Daily Spud for over a year now. It's where I learned of the heavenly combination of spud and harissa, and it's where I got the recipe for this super lovely cake. It's a perfect combination of almondy sweet sponge and tart rhubarb. I made it for my parents and then made it again the following weekend for our dinner party. Set out in the middle of the table it looks like we're having a kids party - great.
Here's the spuds version I followed the recipe to the letter but I'll re-write the recipe anyways

180g butter
180 g ground almonds
180g self raising flour
180g of caster sugar (so far so easy to remember)
360g rhubarb cut in good fine chunks
1 teaspoon of ground cinnamon
1 egg
1 egg yolk
Icing sugar for looking fancy at the end

Grease a 20cm loose bottomed round tin, and line the sides with baking parchment and pre-heat your oven to gas mark 5. In a pan melt the butter. In a large bowl, sift the flour and then mix in the almonds, ground cinnamon and sugar. Combine your egg and the egg yolk. Pour the melted butter over the flour and mix, then add in the egg. When you mix all of this together, you'll get a thick ball of cake batter- don't be alarmed this is the plan.

Spread half of this over the bottom of your tin. Then toss in the rhubarb.
Add the rest of the cake mixture on top. You may need to do some subtle squishing here and there to ensure you cover as much of the fruit as you can, but a few little bits sticking out here and there is fine. Bake for an hour until the top is a rich golden brown colour. We served this with cream, but would be divine with some nice vanilla ice-cream especially if it was still warm from the oven.... Writing this is making me a little sad that it's all gone nowThat is pretty much our entire crop of red-currants on top of that cake!! Stupid slugs

Fruit Scones

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The original and best

I haven't made scones in years and I got a serous nostalgia kick putting these beauties together. Have them with butter and strawberry jam (and cream if you want to be extra decadent!)

Fruit Scones

500g self raising flour

100g butter

60g caster sugar

250ml milk

pinch of salt

75g raisins or sultanas

Sift the flour and salt together into a bowl. Rub in the butter using your fingers until all incorporated. Add sugar and raisins and mix. Using your hands, add in the milk until you have a soft dough that is not too wet. You should be able to pick it up without your hands getting too gooey.

Roll out the dough to about an inch thickness on a floured surface. using a biscuit cutter (or a glass) dipped in flour, cut out as many scones as you can. Then gather together the offcuts, roll them out again and cut out more scones until you have no dough left. This recipe should make about 8 medium sized ones. Place the scones on a well greased baking tray, brush the tops with some extra milk and sprinkle them with some extra sugar if you like. Bake in a preheated oven (gas 7/220 degrees centigrade) for 15 mins. They will be golden brown and well risen. Best served warm with a lovely cup of tea.

Chocolate Brownies

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A chocolate hit!

I had a chocolate craving, and felt like bringing a nice treat in to work the next day.

I left these in the oven a little too long, they were still good, but not as gooey as they should have been.

It turned out to be only me and Claire in work the next day... oh well, all the more for us!!

300g Flour

2 Tbsp Cocoa powder

1 tsp salt

200g butter

200g dark chocolate

1 tsp instant coffee

250g brown sugar

4 large eggs

melt the chocolate, butter and espresso together in a bowl over a pan of boiling water. Add the sugar and remove from the heat. The sugar will not melt but don't worry! Allow this mixture to cool for 10 mins. Meanwhile, measure out the flour and sift it together with the cocoa powder and salt

Mix the eggs, one at a time, in to the chocolate and butter mixture. Then carefully fold the flour mixture into the chocolate mixture. Don't over mix this or it will become too cakey.

Bake in a greased baking tray lined with greaseproof paper (also greased!) at 270c for 20 mins (or a little less if you oven is hot!) don't over cook, the brownies should be gooey in the middle.

Take out of the oven and allow to cool for as long as you can bear before cutting into squares and scoffing!

Carrot Muffin Cupcakes

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Have you see the Muffin Ladies?

190 g Self Raising flour
150 g Sugar
pinch salt tsp
baking powder
80ml Vegetable oil
1 egg
80 ml milk
1 tsp vanilla essence
2 small carrots, grated
1 handful sultanas
8 Dates
1 big handful pecan nuts
1 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp ground nutmeg
1 tsp cinnamon

Preheat oven to gas 6/200c Line a bun tray with bun cases or (like we did) squares of baking parchment. Mix the flour, salt, baking powder, sugar and spices in a bowl. In a measuring jug, combine the egg, milk and oil. Whisk and pour in to the flour mixture.


Mix up and add all the other ingredients. using a teaspoon, transfer the mix into the prepared cases. bake for 20 mins.

To make the icing combine 200g low fat cream cheese with 2 tbsps honey. Wait until the buns are cold, then swirl the icing on top of them. Enjoy!

If you leave out the spices, fruit and carrot, you have a basic muffin recipe, to which you can add fruit such a blueberrys, raspberrys etc. Also good is to substitute brown sugar for the sugar, add some rolled oats or bran, some chopped apple and cinnemon and you will have the perfect breakfast muffin. We will post some photos and a proper recipe for this soon!

Lemon Possum

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So full of fish and looking at the Sunday papers we found this baby! Woooo who are we to say no - I've just copied the below recipe from the Guardian site - we didn't change anything and with such a perfect recipe - why would you. We halved the amount to serve 4 which worked pretty well - and we had some biscuits left over for the next day

Lemon posset

One of the simplest and most delicious of all English puddings. It's remarkable that something that takes only minutes to make tastes so luxurious. Serve it as it is, with small shortbread biscuits as we do here, or with a few raspberries later in the summer. Serves six.

600ml double cream
150g caster sugar or vanilla sugar
Juice of 3 medium-sized lemons

Pour the cream into a large saucepan and add the sugar. Warm gently, stirring to dissolve the sugar, then bring to a boil and boil for exactly three minutes, without stirring. Remove from the heat and whisk in the lemon juice. Strain into a jug, then pour into six ramekins or small glasses. Cool, cover, and refrigerate for four hours before serving.

River Cottage shortbread

Makes about 24 biscuits.

175g butter, softened
90g caster sugar, plus extra for sprinkling
A generous pinch of salt
2 medium egg yolks
Grated zest of an orange or lemon
200g plain flour, plus extra for dusting

In a mixer, beat together the butter and sugar on a medium-high speed until very pale and fluffy - you want it to be almost white - scraping down the sides of the bowl with a spatula as you go. Lower the speed to medium and add the salt, egg yolks and zest. Beat for half a minute, then gently fold in the flour using a spatula. The dough will be very sticky.

With floured hands, scrape the dough on to a floured surface and pat into a wide, flat disc. Wrap in clingfilm and refrigerate for an hour.

Preheat the oven to 180C/350F/gas mark 4. Roll out the dough on a floured surface to a thickness of about 3mm and use a 6cm pastry cutter to cut out your biscuits. Use a palette knife to transfer to a nonstick baking sheet or one lined with baking parchment. Bake for seven to 10 minutes, until just golden around the edges but pale on top. Remove from the oven and sprinkle generously with caster sugar. Leave on the baking sheet to firm up for a minute or two, then carefully transfer to a wire rack to cool.

Use your biscuits to dip into the lemon possum - delicious