Showing posts with label cookbookery. Show all posts
Showing posts with label cookbookery. Show all posts
Every time I go to Costco I pick up a large punnet of Blueberries. I adore fresh blueberries and often have them on my cereal in the morning.
I also enjoy them baked into muffins, cakes and desserts. They really shine in baked desserts.
Theyare so good for you. They are what is known as a super-food, and small wonder as they are little power-houses of nutrition.
Packed with antioxidants and
phytoflavinoids, these berries are also high in potassium and vitamin C,
making them the top choice of doctors and nutritionists. Not only can
they lower your risk of heart disease and cancer, they are also
anti-inflammatory. You can't lose!
Today I decided to bake some of them into a cake I adapted from a recipe that I found in the book Simple by Ottolenghi.
This was the first recipe I have cooked from the book, although I have quite a few ear-marked. I love the food of Ottolenghi.
When I worked at the Manor, the oldest daughter would often come down from London for the weekend and she would often bring with her things she had bought in his London shop and restaurant. His salads are phenomenal.
I have been gathering middle Eastern ingredients together so that when my children are here we can do some middle Eastern cooking together.
Create a few taste memories with each other.
I found this cake is a bit denser than most cakes are, perhaps from the combination of the use of ground almonds and flour combined.
In fact there is more ground almond in the cake than there is flour.
There are a full two cups of blueberries in the cake.
Some are stirred into the cake batter before baking and some are scattered over the top of the cake partially through the bake time.
For the most part my berries sunk to the bottom . . . which didn't really affect the taste of the cake, just the looks.
In the book the photo of the cake had plenty of berries sitting on top, bleeding into th icing.
The texture is very much like a frangipane bake . . . dense, buttery and lovely . . . just sweet enough . . . the perfect combination with the sweet/tart berries . . .
It may not be the prettiest cake around, but it I think it is one of the tastiest . . . .
The batter is flavoured with plenty of freshly grated lemon zest, fresh lemon juice and vanilla.
Blueberries and lemon are the perfect partners . . .
The finished cake is drizzled with a lovely lemon drizzle icing once the cake has cooled completely.
This is the perfect cake to sit down and enjoy with a hot drink . . . . .
I can also see it being enjoyed on a warm summer's day with an ice cold glass of lemonade.
In short, this is a cake that you can enjoy any hour of the day, any day of the week, any week of the year . . . full stop.
Bluberry, Almond & Lemon Cake
Yield: 8
A very moist and delicious loaf cake adapted from a recipe in Ottolengi 's book Simple.
ingredients:
- 150g unsalted butter, at room temperature (2/3 cup)
- 190g caster sugar (1 cup fine granulated sugar)
- 2 tsp finely grated lemon zest
- 2 TBS lemon juice
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 3 large free range eggs, lightly beaten
- 90g self raising flour (1 cup, less 3 TBS) sifted
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 110g ground almonds (1 1/4 cup)
- 200g fresh or frozen berries (if using frozen, thaw and pat dry) (2 cups)
- 70g icing sugar (generous 1/2 cup)
instructions:
How to cook Bluberry, Almond & Lemon Cake
- Preheat the oven to 180*C/350*F/ gas mark 4. Butter a 9 by 5 inch loaf tin and line with paper, leaving an overhang to lift the cake out with when done.
- Cream the butter and sugar together with the, vanilla, lemon zest and 1 TBS of the lemon juice with an electric mixer on high speed for about 3 to 4 minutes. Lower the speed to medium and then slowly add the beaten eggs, a bit at a time and stopping occasionally to scrape down the sides of the bowl. Whisk together the flour, salt and almonds. Add in three additions, stirring it well together. Fold in 3/4 of the blueberries by hand. Spoon the batter into the prepared loaf tin.
- Bake in the preheated oven for 15 minutes. Remove from the oven and scatter the remaining blueberries over top. Return to the oven and bake for a further 15 minutes. It should be turning golden brown at this point, but still be semi-raw. Cover lightly with a sheet of foil and bake for a further 25 to 30 minutes, until risen and cooked (Mine took a further 45 minutes.) A toothpick inserted in the centre should come out clean. Leave in the pan to cool, on a wire rack for 10 minutes before lifting out to finish cooling completely.
- Once the cake is completely cold, whisk together the lemon juice and icing sugar until smooth. Drizzle this mixture decoratively over the cake. Leave to set and cut into thick slices to serve.
I am still trying to sort out my facebook page. Someone keeps reporting my recipe posts as Spam and then Facebook removes them as being in contradiction to their community guidelines for Spam. My recipe posts on there are no different than anyone elses. I can't think of any reason anyone would want to be so malicious with me, but you know people. It takes all kinds. I have asked for FB to review the posts, but you know how long it takes for FB to do anything. In the meantime I would suggest you follow me on Instagram or even Pinterest. Many Thanks!
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content (written and photography) is the sole property of The English
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it to me at: mariealicejoan at aol dot com Thanks so much for visiting.
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When I lived in Canada I used to love watching the cooking shows on Saturday afternoons . . . well, anytime really. It was my guilty pleasure. I used to watch Julia Child, and The Frugal Gourmet, Cooking from Quilt Country, Lidia's Italian Kitchen, and Martha Stewart of course (to name a few). Another show I enjoyed was one starring Caprial Pence. I can't remember what it was called. I've always been a fan of cooking television. It started with Take Thirty when I was still a teen at home and Madame Benoit, Wok with Yan and the Galloping Gourmet.
Nothing has changed, except at the start the cooking hosts were older and I was younger and now I am old and the cooking hosts are young! How did that happen??? Somehow it did it without me noticing!
I actually don't want a lot of food television these days really . . . I like the GBBO, and on Netflix those shows like Chef's Table and Chef's Table. My guilty pleasure is the Pioneer Woman, but I have to watch that when Todd's not home. He can't stand her voice. He says she sounds like a Duck quacking when she talks. He has a point . . .
So what does any of this have to do with peanut butter cookies??? Nothing really except that this recipe I am sharing is adapted from one I found in a cookbook I own by Caprial Pence.
I picked it up when I was working at the Manor. I always needed good desserts to cook for the dinner parties and luncheons. I could justify buying cookbooks as a working expense. 😏 Not so much now. Now they are just an addiction passion.
Actually I don't buy as many as I used to . . . there really is such a thing as having too many, and with the resources available on line that we have today, there is no need to own as many. I don't buy cooking magazines much anymore either. I only buy books that I know are filled with recipes I think I am going to want to cook and it is the same with magazines. Yes, I am that annoying person who reads through cooking magazines before I buy them.
Anyways, this is a cookie recipe I have had flagged in Caprial's book for some 14 1/2 years now. The book is filled with lovely dessert recipes from just about every dessert genre, but also adaptations for variations on the original theme.
I like that really . . . variations. That is the way I like to cook . . . switching up and changing bits here and there. Its more fun and works well.
The original recipe was for Mother's Peanut Butter Cookies, with this variation for Peanut Butter Everything Cookies.
The variation includes the addition of oats, orange zest, chocolate chips and shredded coconut . . . all things that I love.
I actually cut the recipe in half as there are only two of us . . . and I didn't want that much temptation hanging around my kitchen.
Smart move on my part because these are very incredibly MOREISH!!!!
They are delicious. If you bake them for the longer time you get crisper cookies. Just saying. If crisp is your thing . . . do bake for a tad bit longer. I baked some at the shorter time and some at the longer time. Both were very good, but I thought the crisper ones the best!
Peanut Butter Everything Cookies
Yield: Makes about 48 cookies
Moreish peanut butter cookies that are stogged full of chocolate chips, oats and orange zest. An unbeatable combination! Crisp and buttery!
ingredients:
- 240g cold unsalted butter, diced (1 cup)
- 190g granulated sugar (1 cup)
- 200g soft light brown sugar (1 cup, firmly packed)
- 2 large free range eggs
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 180g peanut butter (1 cup) (you can use either smooth or crunchy)
- 245g flour (1 3/4 cups)
- 2 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 120g old fashioned oats (1 1/2 cups)
- 180g bittersweet chocolate chopped (1 cup)
- the finely grated zest of one orange
- 75g shredded sweetened coconut (1 cup)
instructions:
How to cook Peanut Butter Everything Cookies
- Preheat the oven to 180*C/350*F/ gas mark 4. Line a couple of baking sheets with some baking paper. Set aside.
- Cream together the butter and both sugars in a bowl of a mixer and beat on high speed until light and fluffy, scraping down the sides. Beat in the eggs, orange zest and vanilla. Add the peanut butter, mixing it in well. Sift together the flour, soda and salt. Stir into the creamed mixture until smooth. Stir in the oats, chocolate and coconut.
- Shape TBS into 1/2 inch balls and place on the baking sheets leaving plenty of space in between for spreading. Press down lightly with a fork.
- Bake in the preheated oven for 10 to 12 minutes, until golden brown on the edges and set. Let sit on the baking sheets for 5 minutes before transferring to a cooling rack. Repeat until all the batter has been used.
- Store in an airtight container.
These fabulous cookies are like a combination of all your favourite cookies in one . . . oatmeal and coconut cookies, chocolate chip cookies and peanut butter cookies. You can't go wrong. Do use the orange zest. It really adds a wonderful layer of additional flavour!
Water Lily Pie. What's in a name. Deliciously different.
I was kind of feeling like baking something today, but was really unsure as to what it was I actually wanted to bake.
I went into my studio/office to look through my books and see if I might find something which caught my eye.
Very early on in my blogging days I made friends with a fellow blogger named Susan Bellah Dahlem. She has/had a blog called Not Quite June Cleaver.
I am pretty sure it was the June Cleaver tag which attracted me to the blog because I am a lover of anything June Cleaver-ee, June having been my ideal wife/mother when I was growing up.
Even someone who considered themselves to not be quite June was very appealing to me. Susan and I connected and somehow became friends and have remained friends to this day.
A number of years back she published this Pie cookbook. Not Quite June Cleaver Bakes a Pie. It is filled with everything to do with pie. Crusts, fillings, hints tips, family favourites, recipes with a history, tarts, resources, etc.
It caught my
eye this morning . . . I suddenly I fancied pie, and when I was ruffling through it looking for a recipe, the
Water Lily Pie really caught my interest.
It sounded simple and unusual . . . easy to execute, and I happened to have everything in the house to make it.
I bet you do too.
It really only takes a few ingredients.
Eggs. Sugar. Butter, and some flavourings (almond and vanilla). Oh yes and some cream of tartar.
It was very simple to put together. You just separate the eggs, whip sugar into both the whites and the yolks . . .
The whites get whipped into a stiff meringue with half the sugar . . . and the yolks get whipped until light, with the other half of the sugar, and then you add butter and flavourings to them.
The white meringue forms a type of crust . . . almost like a Pavlova . . .
Golden and crisp on the outside and marshmallow-like inside . . .
The yolks beaten with the flavourings and butter get poured into the centre of the whites prior to baking and they create an almost "Butter-tart" type of filling . . .
I don't know about you, but I totally adore butter tarts . . .
When it came out of the oven I wasn't quite sure if I had done everything right. I have never seen a Water Lily Pie before . . . but then I looked up water lilies and found this image and it looked kind of like the pie turned out looking like, so I figure I got it just right.
It is fabulously delicious . . . I think this is one of the nicest desserts I have baked this year.
And yes, I only meant to try one little bite . . . but after one bite, I couldn't help myself. I ate the whole piece of pie.
It really was THAT good . . . . I just kept digging my fork into it and before I knew it, the piece was gone, gone gone . . .
I had to cut another piece for Todd . . . .
and now I am thinking that this pie is far too dangerous for me to keep around for very long . . .
Too, too, too dangerous. I better invite someone over to help us eat the rest.
Water Lily Pie
Yield: makes 1 nine inch pie
A deliciously unusual pie recipe that I got from a book written by my good friend Susan Dahlem. It is maybe not the most attractive pie, but what it lacks in looks, it more than makes up for in taste! You are going to love LOVE this!
ingredients:
- 3 large free range eggs, separated
- 190g granulated sugar, separated (1 cup)
- 115g butter (1/2 cup) at room temperature
- 1/2 tsp almond extract
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/4 tsp cream of tartar
instructions:
How to cook Water Lily Pie
- Preheat your oven to 150*C/300*F/gas mark 2.9. Butter a 9 inch pie dish and dust lightly with flour. Set aside.
- Separate your eggs, putting the whites in one (scrupulously clean) glass bowl and the yolks in another smaller bowl. Add the cream of tartar to the whites and beat with an electric whisk until light and then continue to beat whilst adding half of the sugar (95g/1/2 cup) until very stiff peaks form. Set aside.
- Beat the butter along with both flavourings. Beat the egg yolks until light, then continue to beat whilst adding the remaining sugar. Beat in the butter mixture. Set aside.
- Spread the egg white mixture into the prepared pie dish, spreading it to cover the bottom and up the sides of the dish and leaving a bit of a hollow dip in the centre to about 1 inch of the sides all the way round. Carefully pour/spread the egg yolk mixture into this hollow area.
- Bake for 55 to 60 minutes until the crust/meringue is golden brown and the filling is set. Allow to cool completely before serving.
- Fresh fruit and berries go very well.
If you are looking for a simple and easy dessert pie that is sure to impress, don't look any further. This is the one! It might be kind of ugly, but it makes up for its looks in flavour. We enjoyed it with some sliced berries. You can buy Susan's pie book on Amazon. I highly recommend. I have never baked a recipe from it that wasn't totally delicious. I think you would like it too!
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@aol.com
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Welcome, I'm Marie
Canadian lover of all things British. I cook every day and like to share it with you!
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