Showing posts with label Baking. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Baking. Show all posts
I know, I got rather fanciful with the lavender which is blooming in the garden right now. It smells so nice and lavender and lemon go very well together . . . but there is no lavender in this recipe, just lemon.
To be honest I am not quite sure how I feel about eating lavender. I have done . . . and I made lavender sugar every year, but the jury is still out as to whether we love it or not.
As a decoration, absolutely . . . in my underwear drawer, pour surement . . . actually flavouring my food, not so in love . . .
We were having all of the missionaries over for our annual Summer BBQ that we love do for them, and that they love to come to and I wanted to make a dessert that was not only easy, but that the girls would love . . .
Girls are always watching their waistlines, young men, not so much . . . so I decided to bake a Lemon Drizzle Loaf and serve it with fresh berries and squirty cream.
They were free to put it together as they wanted to . . . with or without cake or cream. More berries, less berries . . .
This is a simple loaf with lovely lemon flavours and a deliciously tart lemon glaze. You can use either confectioners sugar in the glaze or granulated sugar. On a lemon drizzle cake, I like the granulated best . . . but you go with whatever floats YOUR boat!
Moist, delicious, lemony . . . proper lemony . . . with a sweet/tart crunchy crust on top . . .
What's not to love about that???
You apply the drizzle while the loaf is still quite warm . . . some gets absorbed, some doesn't. Some pools in the corners . . .
There was none left at the end of the BBQ. NONE! It went down a real treat! Go figure.
Yield: 1 largish loaf
Proper Lemon Drizzle Loaf
A moist and delicious loaf filled with lovely lemon flavours. You can either top it with an icing sugar glaze or a granulated sugar glaze. I prefer the granulated sugar one as it adds a bit of interest and crunch. Its your choice. Goes wonderfully with a hot cuppa or a bowl of berries and some whipped cream.
ingredients:
For the cake:
- 3 large free range eggs, lightly beaten
- 170g self raising flour (1 1/4 cups)
- 170g caster sugar (3/4 cup + 2 tsp)
- 170g butter, at room temperature (3/4 cup)
- the finely grated zest of 2 lemons
For the Lemon Drizzle Glaze:
- the juice of 2 lemons
- 130g icing sugar (1 cup) (You can also use 190g/1 cup granulated sugar for a grittier finish and crunch, which I prefer)
instructions:
How to cook Proper Lemon Drizzle Loaf
- Preheat your oven to 180*C/350*F/ gas mark 4. Butter your loaf tin and line with some baking paper. Set aside.
- Rub the lemon zest into the sugar until quite fragrant. Beat in the butter until fluffy. Beat in the eggs, a third at a time, until smooth. If it starts to curdle add a bit of the flour and continue. Fold in the flour until thoroughly combined. Pour into the prepared pan and bake in the oven for 30 to 35 minutes, until golden brown and risen and the top springs back when lightly touched.
- Prick the top all over with a toothpick.
- Whisk together the sugar and juice of the lemons until smooth. Spoon over the warm cake allowing it to be absorbed. Let cool in the tin. Once cold lift out and cut into slices to serve. Store any leftovers in an airtight container.
If you are looking for a superdy-duperdy lemon loaf to bake for your family, you can't really go wrong with this one!! Oh I do so love it when people gobble up what I bake. Don't you?
I think we are just about to the end of our strawberries now. Wimbledon is on. Strawberries and Wimbledon, the two go together like Peas & Carrots.
I have frozen some and made a chilled pie, and then yesterday I baked my husband an old fashioned Strawberry Pie.
This is the kind of Strawberry Pie your grandmother would have made! She didn't have anything fancy back in her day. Just simple ingredients done really well.
I favour my Butter & Lard Pastry Recipe, which you can find here. It makes two beautifully perfectly flaky crusts.
You could add a bit of sugar to the recipe because this is a sweet pie, but its not really necessary as you sprinkle sugar on top of the pie prior to baking.
The berries are simply washed, hulled and sliced. Don't ever wash them after hulling. You should always wash them ahead of that.
The water gets into the berry otherwise. Just a handy little tip. You don't want watery berries. Especially if you are going to pop them into a crust.
You just slice the berries into a bowl and mix them together with cornflour/cornstarch (for thickening) and sugar.
I use all white, but you could use a mix of white and brown if you wanted to.
My one difference from Grandmother's pie is the use of ground cinnamon and cardamom. The cinnamon she would certainly have had, but I seriously doubt she would have had cardamom.
Cardamom almost has a peppery lemon quality, and this goes very well with Strawberries.
There is some fresh lemon juice in with the berries also. This helps them to keep their lovely colour. Grandmother knew best.
You let them sit and macerate for a few minutes. You will be surprised at how much liquid they release. It will be necessary to lift them out of that.
You don't want to be pouring it into your crust, not unless you want a watery, soggy pie . . . the berries get spooned into the pie, and dotted with butter. I use a slotted spoon and they are just wet enough.
Sometimes I get a bit fanciful with the crust and cut out little hearts or circles on top . . . its easy to see when the juices are bubbling and done and it looks so pretty. A brushing of milk and a sprinkle of demerara sugar also dress it up just nice.
Once baked you need to let it sit for about 3 hours to let it set up and thicken nicely. Its easy to cut into wedges then . . .
I like to reheat them for about 30 seconds in the microwave and serve with a scoop of vanilla ice cream on top.
Of course in Grandmother's day that would have been home-churned ice cream, and I am thinking it would be oh so delicious.
My taste buds are tingling just at the thought of it.
It makes me think of the Walton's . . . sitting on their front porch on a hot summer's evening, Olivia and Grandma slowly swinging back and forth on the porch swing. "Go get the ice cream churn Zeb!"
Grandma would say. "Its hot enough out here right now to singe the feathers off a chicken! We could use some cooling down, and I do believe we are in the mood for a treat."
"It would go mighty good with that pie Olivia baked this afternoon." announces Zeb as he hops up and heads towards the barn to get the ice cream churn.
All the children squeal in delight, as John senior quickly hikes down to the ice house to grab him some ice for use the churn. "Get out the rock salt John Boy!" he shouts.
Cream is gathered, along with rich farm milk. Grandma always saves the cream after the cow has been milked. Most days they make butter with it. The girls gather together some precious sugar and a dash of vanilla . . . along with a few egg yolks from their laying hens.
All things in place the children all take their turns, rotating the handle on the old wooden churn . . . around and around and around . . . it makes a creaky noise . . .
Each turn becomes a little harder to make than the last . . . the ice cream getting stiffer and stiffer . . . until in the end it takes two of them just to make it move at all.
"I think its ready ma!" John Boy announces . . .
"Grab the plates and spoons Livvie! I do declare its time for pie!" Grandpa is licking his chops . . .
Yield: 8
Grandmother's Strawberry Pie
This is the pie our grandmothers would have baked. Quite simply delicious. Todd enjoyed a nice slice of this warm with some vanilla ice cream
ingredients:
- 865g fresh strawberries, hulled and sliced (6 cups)
- 50g cornflour (1/3 cup, cornstarch)
- 130g granulated sugar (2/3 cup)
- 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1/4 tsp ground cardamom
- 2 TBS lemon juice
- pinch salt
- butter to dot
- Pastry for a two crust pie
- milk to brush
- Demerara sugar to sprinkle on top
- vanilla ice cream to serve (optional)
instructions:
How to cook Grandmother's Strawberry Pie
- Make your pastry as per your recipe. (I like my Butter & Lard recipe.)
- Mix your berries in a bowl along with the cinnamon, cardamom, lemon juice, sugar, cornflour and salt. Let sit for about 10 minutes.
- Preheat the oven to 200*C/400*F/ gas mark 6. Line a baking tray with aluminium foil. Set aside.
- Roll out your bottom crust to fit into a 9-inch glass or ceramic pie dish, with a good overhang. Spoon the strawberry filling into the crust, leaving as much of the juices back in the bowl. If your mixture is too wet when you put it into the pie, it will make for a soggy pie. I scoop it out with a slotted spoon, and leave the juices behind as much as possible. Discard the juices. Dot the top of the pie with butter.
- Roll out the remaining pastry large enough to cover the pie with an overhang. Brush some milk on the edge of the bottom crust all around. Before placing the top crust on top you can use a small cookie cutter to cut out shapes. I used a heart cutter and it was quite pretty. Place the crust on top press together all around the edges and then trim off any excess. I used the tip of a teaspoon to crimp it a bit and make a pattern. Brush with milk and sprinkle with sugar.
- Place onto the baking tray and pop into the preheated oven. Bake for 20 minutes, then reduce the temperature to 190*C/375*F and cook for a further 40 to 50 minutes, until golden brown and the filling is bubbling. (If your pie is browning too quickly, lightly cover with a sheet of aluminium foil, removing it for the last five minutes of bake time.
- Remove from the oven and let sit at room temperature for about 3 hours before eating. I like to leave mine overnight. Then I just warm slices up for 30 seconds in the microwave for anyone who wants it warm. Serve with vanilla ice cream if desired. Store any leftovers in the refrigerator.
Later on, after the children are all nestled in their beds . . . John and Olivia swing slowly back and forth on the swing, all alone now beneath the haloed moon . . . the only sound being that of the swing as it moves back and forth . . . and the singing of a few crickets beneath the porch, who are dancing by its silvery light.
"I do declare Livvie," says John, "that was one of the nicest pies you've baked in a while." "Uh huh," is her only reply as she snuggles closer into him.
Goodnight John Boy . . .
Here in the UK as I write this, we are enjoying one of the nicest days so far this summer. The sun is shining and the skies are blue, well kind of hazy actually.
Its one of the lazy hazy days of summer!
I was up especially early this morning as we had a Missionary Correlation meeting to go to at 9:30. I baked some special muffins to take . . . Sugar Jam Muffins . . .
We ended up not going because it had ended up that Todd had a bad night last night, one of those night where he had not slept a wink (according to him) but in any case he felt pretty blah. So I told him to go back to bed.
The recipe itself is an old handwritten recipe . . . the kind that you write down . . . shared from a loved one or friend. With really brief instructions.
Sometimes only the temperature and cook time. These are the best kind of recipes. The tried and trues, but with such a brevity of instruction, you do have to have somewhat of a natural feel for cooking!
These are a really fabulous muffin . . . with a tender buttery crumb . . . its pretty basic. Just butter, sugar, egg, baking powder, flour, milk . . .
Most times when you make a muffin, you just whisk together the dry ingredients, and add the wet. These go together in slightly different manner . . .
You cream together the sugar and butter and then beat in the egg. Once that is done, then you fold in the flour/baking powder, alternating with some milk.
Half the batter gets put into a well buttered muffin tin, topped with a dab of jam . . . I like strawberry . . . and then the remaining muffin batter gets spooned on top . . . before baking in a hot oven.
Once they are baked, all puffed and golden brown, you roll them in melted butter and then cinnamon sugar.
You don't want to do this as soon as you take them out, they are a bit too fragile for that right then . . . wait about 10 minutes or so . . .
Just long enough to sit and stare out the window at the fine day that is coming to life and happening right on your doorstep . . .
I love my glass birds. I got them here, from Simon Alderson, on Etsy. On sunny warm day, they glow with light. He does about 8 different once. I have four. I had been looking for a sparrow a while back, to remind me that "His eye is on the sparrow and I know He watches me." I bought one of his sparrows.
Then I bought one for my mom for Christmas last year, and one for me at the same time, so we could share the joy. Mom's went with her . . . that brought me comfort to know that a piece of my love for her will always be in her hands. Since then I have bought a couple more as and when I can afford them. They're really pretty.
Almost as pretty as these delicious muffins!
I sat in my chair by the window while Todd slept, enjoying a hot cup of
fruit tea and one of these fabulous muffins while I practiced my
penmanship . . .
My handwriting has deteriorated so much over the last 30 years or so
since I first wrote out the recipes in my folder . . . I hardly write
at all these days.
Its mostly typewriting. I started practising my
penmanship a while back so that I could get back the skill. If you
don't use it you lose it.
Yield: 8
Sugar Jam Muffins
Buttery tender muffins, filled with jam and coated in cinnamon sugar. Scrumptiously tasty!
ingredients:
- 100g granulated sugar (1/2 cup)
- 120g butter, softened (1/2 cup)
- 1 large free range egg, lightly beaten
- 120ml milk (1/2 cup)
- 210g plain flour (1 1/2 cups)
- 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
- strawberry jam or your preferred jam to fill
To coat the muffins:
- 150g granulated sugar (3/4 cup)
- 2 tsp ground cinnamon
- 120g butter, melted
instructions:
How to cook Sugar Jam Muffins
- Preheat the oven to 200*C/400*F/ gas mark 6. Butter 8 large muffin cups really well. Set aside.
- Cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in the egg. Sift together the flour and baking powder. Add to the creamed mixture alternately with the milk, making 3 dry and 2 wet additions. Spoon half of the batter into the muffin tin. Dab about 1 tsp of jam into the centre of each, avoiding the sides of the tin. Cover with the remaining batter.
- Bake in the preheated oven for 15 to 18 minutes. Let sit in the tin for about 5 to 10 minutes before tipping out.
- Whisk the sugar and cinnamon together in a bowl. The original recipe only called for 1/2 tsp cinnamon, but we like more. Place the melted butter in another bowl. Gently roll the baked muffins (still warm) in the melted butter and then in the cinnamon sugar to coat. Set aside on a wire rack to dry. Enjoy with a nice hot cuppa!
We were having guests for lunch on Tuesday. I kept it simple this time. Just sandwiches, potato chips, pickles and cake.
You can never go wrong with cake!
I baked a Swedish Visiting Cake and a French Yogurt Cake because if you can't go wrong with one cake, you REALLY can't go wrong with two cakes.
And to be honest I was a bit ashamed that it was only sandwiches, so I thought two cakes would make up for the lack of anything else!
The French Yogurt Cake is a recipe I have shared before. Its a really simple cake. Really simple. This time I baked it in a loaf tin, and it took approximately 35 minutes to be done.
Its a no fail cake. When you are having company for lunch, you want something which is no fail . . . there is no time for do-overs.
This Swedish Visiting Cake is also pretty much a no fail cake.
Its quite simple to make and very easy to throw together at the last minute!
Because of the name, I am assuming it is Swedish in origin. Duh!
It is the kind of cake that would be perfectly comfortable sitting on the tea table, meant to be shared between friends and a nice hot cup of tea. (Herbal in my case.)
It is dense and buttery with a moist crumb.
Don't worry, I have not left the baking powder or soda out. There is none in the recipe. None at all.
Its not that kind of cake. It is a humble cake. A simple cake. A delicious cake.
Flavoured with lemon zest which I like to rub into the sugar. This helps release the oils and give the cake even more lemon flavour. A little trick I learnt from Dorie Greenspan way back when.
There is also vanilla and almond flavouring in the batter. I always use a good vanilla, pure vanilla.
Don't you just love the smell of almond extract? Or is it just me?
The batter goes together quickly and simply, which is one of this cakes assets.
You can easily throw it together at the last minute and it will be out of the oven in about half an hour. Just long enough to take your friend's coat and hang it up and get them all settled in.
You scatter flaked almonds over the top prior to baking, which gives it a nice crunch.
I like to dust the top with icing sugar to serve.
Its a bit like popping a frilly crinoline under a skirt . . . it just prettifies everything up.
I dare say it also goes very nicely with fresh berries . . . and this is berry season after all!
Yield: Makes one 9-inch round cake
Swedish Visiting Cake
A simple cake that is meant to be enjoyed with a friend and a hot cuppa. There is no leavening in this cake, don't worry I haven't omitted it.
ingredients:
- 190g caster sugar (1 cup)
- the finely grated zest of 1 lemon
- 2 large free range eggs
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1/2 teaspoon pure almond extract
- 140g cup plain flour (1 cup)
- 115g unsalted butter, melted and cooled (1/2 cup)
- a handful of flaked almonds
- icing sugar to dust
instructions:
How to cook Swedish Visiting Cake
- Preheat the oven to 180*C/350*F/ gas mark 4. Butter a 9 inch round cake tin really well and dust lightly with some flour. Set aside.
- Measure the sugar into a bowl. Rub in the lemon zest until quite fragrant. This helps to release the natural oils of the lemon and adds even more lemon flavour. Beat in the eggs, one at a time. Stir in the salt, vanilla and almond to mix. Stir in the flour. Fold in the melted butter until thoroughly combined. Pour the batter into the prepared cake tin, smoothing it out. Sprinkle flaked almonds over the top to lightly cover.
- Bake in the preheated oven for 25 to 30 minutes, until golden and crisp around the edges. It should still be moist in the centre. Remove from the oven and let sit on a wire rack for about 10 minutes before running a knife around the edges and carefully removing it from the pan to cool completely. Dust with icing sugar to serve.
Of course I had to try a slice after baking, just to make sure it had turned out properly as it should. No worries. Everyone knows that when they get cake in this house, there is always a slice missing! 😉
This content (written and photography) is the sole property of The English Kitchen. Any reposting or misuse is not permitted. If you are reading this elsewhere, please know that it is stolen content and you may report it to me at: mariealicejoan at aol dot com Thanks so much for visiting. Do come again!
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