Strawberries dipped in chocolate

Tags

dark chocolate, milk chocolate, Strawberries, Summer, white chocolate, Wimbledon

You know when the English summer is at its peak when Wimbledon is on TV and  the strawberries and Pimms are flowing! The strawberries have been particularly juicy this year and what could be more decadent  than sitting on the sofa, watching the tennis whilst eating a large bowl of strawberries dipped in chocolate…

Take a punnet of strawberries and wash and place on a tea towel to dry.

Break up a 100g bar of chocolate (white,milk or dark depending on what you fancy) into a  small bowl and place over a bowl of simmering water to melt. Do not stir otherwise the chocolate will go grainy. When the chocolate has melted remove the bowl from the heat and dip the strawberries in the chocolate then place on some greaseproof paper on a tray and pop them in the fridge to set.

 

White chocolate strawberries above  and Tasha’s milk and dark strawberries below.

 

After they have set carefully peel the strawberries off the paper and place on a plate. They won’t last long before someone gobbles them up!

Macaroon madness!

Tags

beetroot, black sesame seeds, chives, cream cheese, horseradish, macaroons, savoury

We had a lot of fun experimenting with macaroons this week. After one or two mishaps we finally cracked it!

Not having a particularly sweet tooth myself I decided to experiment with some savoury..ish macaroons. By switching the almond: sugar ratio the end results were amazing : not too sweet but still lovely and squidgey in the middle.

I filled the black sesame macaroons with a cream cheese and chive filling which paired very well with the dusky flavour of the black sesame seeds.

Then I made some beetroot ones which Tasha filled with a light horseradish cream . They went down a treat at the party!

 

 

Banana and Pecan Cake

Tags

Banana, Pecan

Had an abundance of bananas so I made this banana and pecan cake which turned out to be quite a showstopper!

4-5     ripe bananas

200g  castor sugar

400g   plain flour

4         eggs beaten

1tsp     bicarbonate of soda

4tsp    baking powder

250g   melted butter

200g   pecan halves

A little apricot jam for glazing

Preheat the oven to 175oc.

Grease a 12″ loose bottomed cake tin with a little butter and lightly dust with flour.

Mash the bananas with the castor sugar and pour in the melted butter. Add the beaten eggs and sift in the flours and raising agents. Mix well and pour in the prepared tin.

Bake in the middle of the oven at for 40-50 minutes. The cake is cooked when skewer comes out clean. (if the cake is browning too quickly lightly cover with foil).When cooked remove from the oven and leave to cool.

When cool remove the cake from the tin and place on a serving plate and glaze with a little melted apricot jam and arrange the pecans on top and glaze with a little more jam. serve with a nice cup of tea!.

Pain Perdu with Sticky Apples

Tags

brioche, castor sugar, dessert apples, panettone, sticky apples

Was really chilly this morning so fancied something to kick start the day with.As breakfasts go this really fits the bill, rather like being wrapped in a duvet of deliciousness!A great treat for weekends.

 

6/8 slices of white bread (preferably slightly stale)

125g chilled butter cut into small cubes

120g sugar

100g nuts (i.e. almonds,hazelnuts,walnuts or pecans)

Using a food processor whizz together  bread till they form crumbs. Add the  chilled butter,sugar and nuts and blitz again till they are mixed well then set aside.

To make the apple crumble

Take a shallow dish (about 30cm x 18cm or

Peel,core and chop 6 dessert  apples into small pieces and place in a the shallow dish.Sprinkle over 2 tablespoons of sugar and then top with the crumble mixture. Bake in a preheated oven at 180oc for 25 -30 minutes until the top is golden brown. Remove from the oven and serve with  salted caramel sauce and ice cream.

The apple crumble will keep well for 3-4 days. just reheat it in oven .The sauce will keep for at least a week in the fridge and is totally yummy poured over ice cream.

 Serves 6-8

 

 

Apple and nut crumble with salted caramel sauce.

Tags

almonds, Apples, crumble, hazelnuts, pecans, salted caramel., walnuts

 

My french mother in law first gave me this recipe for apple crumble over twenty years ago. she used breadcrumbs instead of the traditional English method of flour butter and sugar. The breadcrumbs give the crumble a much lighter and crunchier topping. AlsoI have added nuts and a salted caramel sauce to make this a truly scrumptious pudding.

6/8 slices of white bread (preferably slightly stale)

125g chilled butter cut into small cubes

120g sugar

100g nuts (i.e. almonds,hazelnuts,walnuts or pecans)

Using a food processor whizz together  bread till they form crumbs. Add the  chilled butter,sugar and nuts and blitz again till they are mixed well then set aside.

To make the apple crumble

Take a shallow dish (about 30cm x 18cm ).Peel,core and chop 6 dessert  apples into small pieces and place in a the shallow dish.Sprinkle over 2 tablespoons of sugar and then top with the crumble mixture. Bake in a preheated oven at 180oc for 25 -30 minutes until the top is golden brown. Remove from the oven and serve with the salted caramel sauce and ice cream.

The apple crumble will keep well for 3-4 days. just reheat it in oven .The sauce will keep for at least a week in the fridge and is totally yummy poured over ice cream.

Serves 6-8

Salted Caramel sauce

80g  butter                                                                                                                                    100ml double cream                                                                                                                 125g dark brown sugar                                                                                                                        A large pinch of sea salt

Heat the butter, cream and sugar. Bring to the boil and cook for 3-4 minutes until the sugar has dissolved and the sauce has thickened slightly (it want to coat the back of a spoon). Add the salt and keep warm.

The sauce will keep for at least a week in the fridge and is totally yummy poured over ice cream.

 

 

 

 

Celebration cupcakes

Tags

cupcakes, Delicious, frosting, hearts, Red, Red velvet cupcakes, velvet

My daughter Tasha had her first exhibition at uni and had to put on a show. Being students it had to be something sweet washed down with plenty of alcohol so cupcakes and vino were requested. Of course the cupcakes had to be red velvet or a variation of.

I tried out several recipes- most of which seemed to contain mainly sugar and red food colouring (I found them totally revolting and seemed to me something like the devil may have whipped up… although to be fair I haven’t got much of a sweet tooth!) After several attempts I opted for a light chocolate sponge recipe laced with cochineal topped with a classic cream cheese icing. then I went overboard with the decoration.

The cakes were a huge success and quite a lot were wolfed down by the students before the public arrived. It just goes to show that you cant go far wrong with students when free food is around!