For the past seven years I was employed as a personal chef at Brenchley Manor down in Kent. It was a dream job for anyone that loved to cook as much as I do . . .
I got to stretch my abilities and skills cooking for large silver service dinner parties and cocktail parties . . . and scrummy lady's luncheons . . .
Always a cook, and never the guest . . . kind of like always being the bridesmaid, but never the bride!
Nevermind . . . today I was invited to a delicious ladies luncheon and, now that I am retired and no longer working . . . I could actually attend!
Oh, but it was nice to be on the receiving end for a change!!! I did so enjoy it . . . a delicious strawberry and spinach salad, with feta cheese and these lovely toasted candied almonds . . . a scrummy chicken and broccoli casserole, a pretzel salad . . . and a variety of yummy desserts.
I was asked to bring something chocolatey for dessert and I quite happily oblidged! You all know Todd hates chocolate desserts, and I just love an excuse to bake and sample them!
If there is one thing that lunching ladies like, it's chocolate anything. I often made these delectable little Brownie Bites when I was working for the ladies' luncheon parties. Perfect little bites of Brownie goodness . . . wrapped in scrummy chocolate ganache and decorated to your hearts content.
I had a bag of little chocolate drops from Hotel Chocolate that I was just itching to use and a variety of some other sprinkly decoratey little things that seldom get to see the light of day! (White Chocolate stars, Mixed Chocolate Curls, Cocoa Nibs, Hundreds and Thousands. Let your imagination guide your creativity!!!)
Oh look . . . what's that???
Mmmmmm . . . a lone brownie bite, slightly imperfect and decorated with some sea salt . . .
We can't have that can we? A lone brownie bite decorated with sea salt, all on it's own with no partners in it's crime . . . so to speak . . .
What's a gal to do??? Why . . . I came to it's rescue of course!!
Oh . . . I know . . .
I am a very naughty girl!
*Itty Bitty Brownie Bites*
makes 36 to 40
Printable Recipe
One, two, three bites they're gone!
For the Bites:
4 ounces good quality dark chocolate, chopped, melted and cooled
8 ounces unsalted butter, softened slightly (1 cucp)
14 ounces granulated sugar (2 cups)
4 large free range eggs
1 TBS vanilla extract
5 1/2 ounces of plain flour (1 1/4 cups)
6 ounces of milk chocolate, chopped into small bits
6 ounces dark chocolate, chopped into bits
For the Ganache Coating:
8 ounces good quality dark chocolate, chopped
250ml of cream, heated to the boiling point (1 cup)
2 TBS golden syrup (light corn syrup)
2 tsp vanilla extract
To decorate (if desired):
a variety ot chocolate bits, sprinkles and decorations
Preheat the oven to 160*C/325*F/ gas mark 3. Butter and flour several 12 cup mini muffin tins very well. Melt the chocolate for the brownie bites and then set it aside to cool to room temperature. You don't want it to be warm at all. Stir in the vanilla.
Cream the butter and sugar until it is light and fluffy. Beat the eggs together and then slowly beat them in until combined totally. Drizzle in the cooled chocolate and vanilla mixture, beating it all the while until it is well combined. Fold in the flour just to combine and then fold in both types of chocolate bits. Spoon into the prepared muffin cups by generous teaspoonfuls. You don't want to overfill them. (You may have to wash the pans and recoat and dust to finish using all the batter up after baking the first lot, so be prepared.)
Bake for 12 to 15 minutes until golossy and dry on top, and just set. Remove from the oven and allow to cool for several minutes, before carefully dumping them out onto a wire rack to finish cooling. (This is where you will realize how well you did or didn't butter the pans!) Cool completely before proceeding.
To make the ganache, break up your chocolate and place it into a narrow, but deep bowl. Stir the syrup and vanilla into the hot cream, mixing it in well. Pour this over the chocolate in the bowl and stir to melt the chocolate, whisking it all together until completely smooth. Using a fork and spoon dip the brownie bites into the ganache, coating them on all sides and allowing the excess to drip off. Place on a wire rack over top of some baking paper and leave to set. You will want to add any sprinkles etc. to the tops before the ganache sets completely. Don't refrigerate or your ganache will cloud up, and you want it to be nice and shiny.
I just adore Chocolate Chunk Muffins . . . I might even go as far as to say they are my only weakness . . . but we would all know that isn't true . . . I have many weaknesses . . .
But, in truth . . . Chocolate Chunk Muffins are right up there near the top of the list. Honest!!
I love a chocolate chunk muffin that is more cakey than muffiny . . .
One that rises high above the crest of the muffin tin . . .
With a rich vanilla batter, moist and scrummily filled with large chunks of rich dark chocolate, almost bitter . . .
Milk chocolate would just be too sweet, really.
Each mouthful is a delight . . . your teeth sinking into all that lovely cakiness and then sliding down into the creaminess of a big chocolate chunk.
Oh my . . . this is bliss.
*Chocolate Chunk Muffins*
Makes 8 muffins
Printable Recipe
Lovely big and moist muffins, chock full of delicious chunks of chocolate. Mmm . . . mmm . . . good!
1 1/2 cups of plain flour (180g) (1 1/2 cups)
3/4 cup of caster sugar (150g)
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp baking powder
1/3 cup of vegetable oil (80ml)
1 large free range egg
1/3 cup of milk (80ml)
1 tsp vanilla extract
9 ounces of good quality chocolate cut into chunks (1 1/2 cup)
Preheat oven to 180*C/350*F/ gas mark 4. Line 8 muffin cups with paper liners. (Fill the remaining cups 1/4 with water to help prevent the pan from scorching). Set aside.
Whisk the flour, sugar, salt, and baking powder together. Whisk together the oil, egg, milk and vanilla. Add all at once to the flour mixture. Mix only until the dry ingredients are moistened, without overmixing. Fold in the chocolate chips.
Using an ice cream scoop, place one scoop into each lined cup. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, or until well risen and a toothpick inserted in the centre comes out clean. Delicious warm or cold!
This month on The English Kitchen, I am very excited to organise a Viners Cookware giveaway!! Viners have been a cutlery manufacturer since 1901 based in Sheffield, the erstwhile steel city of UK. They have a heritage and tradition of making quality stainless steel cutlery as well as cookware.
With this competition you can win a very high quality, high anodised heavy gauge aluminium pan, 20 cm in diameter with a glass lid. The pan is triple coated with a reinforced Protec non-stick coating. 18/10 Stainless steel handles, and riveted for maintenance-free durability. In order to win this Techtonic omelette pan from the Viners Professional Cookware collection, all you need to do is answer this simple question below:
Viners is part the world’s largest cutlery company. What is its name?
Click here for a hint.
To post your answers, please visit this page:
The English Kitchen Viner's Competition.
Good Luck and keep your fingers crossed! The winner could be you!
It's all very exciting is it not!!
With the autumn virtually on our doorsteps the weather has turned rainy, windy and quite chilly. Not cold like winter . . . mind . . . but there is a definite chill in the air.
On afternoons when we go for our walk, we return to the house with a real chill in the bones and longing for something comforting to warm our bellys . . .
Something that is nourishing and rib sticking . . . rich and homey . . .
This delicious beef stew with it's herb filled suet dumplings fits the bill on all counts!!
The meat . . . fork tender and the gravy thick and rich and filled with deliciously simmered root vegetables . . .
The dumplings . . . rich and meltingly tender on the insides . . . herbily soaking up that lucious gravy. Oh my . . . but this is some good . . .
Mashed spuds on the side are a given! This is comfort food at it's very best!
*Beef Stew With Herbed Dumplings*
Serves 6
A satifisfying dish on a cool and wet autumn evening. Long slow cooking ensures that the meat is melt in the mouth tender. Topped with old fashioned herby suet dumplings, this is guaranteed to satisfy the heartiest of appetites. Delicious!
For the stew:
3 TBS olive oil
2 onions, peeled and chopped
2 cloves of garlic, peeled and minced
2 large carrots, peeled, sliced in half and then cut into half moon chunks
2 parsnips, peeled, quartered and sliced into 2 inch long bits
1/4 of a small swede, peeled and cut into 1/2 inch cubes
2 1/2 pounds good quality braising steak
2 TBS plain flour
10 fluid ounces of beef stock
a bouquet garni (see note below)
5 fluid ounces of good red wine
salt and black pepper
1 TBS chopped fresh flat leaf parsley to garnish at the end
For the dumplings:
4 ounces of self raising flour, plus extra for shaping (1 cup)
2 ounces shredded suet (about 1/4 cup heaped)
1 tsp dry mustard
1 TBS chopped fresh parsley
1 TBS chopped fresh sage
4 TBS cold water
salt and black pepper to taste
Preheat the oven to 150*C/300*F/ gas mark 2. Heat 1 TBS of the oil in a large frying pan and fry the onion and garlic until softened. Add the vegetables and sweat for about 10 minutes. Scoop everything into a large casserole dish.
Trim the meat and cut it into thick chunks. Using the remaining oil, fry the meat in the same pan over high heat, stirring well until it is brown all over. Sprinkle with the flour and stir well to prevent lumps. Season well with salt and pepper.
Over medium heat pour in the stock and the wine, stirring constantly to make a smooth sauce. Continue to heat to boiling. Carefully turn the contents into the casserole with the vegetables.
Give it a good stir and then add the bouquet garni. Cover tightly and cook gently in the oven for 2 to 2 1/2 hours.
Make the dumpling by placing the flour, suet, mustard, herbs and seasonings into a bowl. Add enough of the water to make a firm but soft dough. Break off the dough into 12 equal pieces and shape with lightly floured hands into round balls. Drop these on top of the hot stew, pushing them down a bit into the hot liquid. Cover and return the dish to the oven.
Cook for a further 15 minutes, until the dumplings have doubled in size and the stew is nicely tender.
Serve piping hot, sprinkled with the fresh parsley and with some mashed spuds on the side.
Note -The bouquet garni is a bundle of herbs usually tied together with string and mainly used to prepare soup, stock and stews. The bouquet is boiled with the other ingredients, but is removed prior to consumption.
There is no generic recipe for bouquet garni, but most recipes include parsley, thyme and bay leaf. Depending on the recipe, the bouquet garni may include basil, chernet, chervil, rosemary, tarragon, peppercorns and Savoury. Sometimes vegetables such as carrots, celery (with leaf attached) leeks, onion, celeriac and parsley root and are also included in the bouquet.
Sometimes, the bouquet is not bound with string, and its ingredients are filled into a small sachet, a net, or even a tea ball instead. Traditionally, the aromatics are bound within leek leaves, though a coffee filter and butcher twine can be used instead of leek.
I've had this Marks & Sparks' cookery book burning a hole in my bookcase for several months now. I take it out every now and again and think I should make something from it, but then I either don't have all the ingredients or I get distracted and, well . . . you know how it goes . . .
A few days later, I haven't baked anything from it and Todd is nagging me to put it away . . . sigh . . .
Today I finally cooked a recipe from it! There was this really scrummy looking recipe in it for Cappuccino Brownies and I thought I wanted to give it a go.
Except I'm a Mormon and we don't do coffee . . . these looked really moist and delicious though . . .
What to do . . . what to do . . .
I used Camp Chicory Essence instead. 2 TBS of it. They turned out lovely.
The original recipe called for a 7 by 11 inch shallow pan. There is no way this batter was fitting into that size of pan. I cooked them in a 9 inch square pan instead.
In retrospect, I should have cooked them in my 9 by 13 inch tray bake pan as the batter rose right up to the top in the smaller pan, it took them longer to cook as they were thicker and they ended up more like a cake than a brownie.
I want to try them again in the larger pan, cooked for a shorter amount of time and see what happens. Nevermind though, this is really a scrummy cake, if not a Brownie . . .
And that icing is to die for!
*Cappuccino Brownies*
Makes 15
Printable Recipes
Moist and delicious with a mild coffee mocha flavour and a rich white chocolate frosting.
8 ounces of butter, softened (1 cup)
225g of self raising flour (scant 2 cups)
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp cocoa powder
225g of caster sugar (generous cup)
4 large eggs, beaten
3 TBS instant coffee granules, dissolved in
2 TBS hot water (Note - I used 2 TBS camp chicory essence)
White chocolate frosting:
4 ounces white chocolate, broken into bits
2 ounces butter, softened (1/4 cup)
3 TBS milk
6 ounces icing sugar, sifted (1 1/2 cups)
To decorate:
sifted cocoa powder
Preheat the oven to 180*C/350*F/ gas mark 4. Grease and line the base of a shallow 9 by 13 inch baking tin.
Sift the flour, baking powder, and cocoa into a bowl. Add the butter, eggs, and coffee mixture. Beat well with an electric whisk until smooth. Spread in the prepared tin, smoothing the top.
Bake for 35 to 40 minutes, until well risen and the top springs back when lightly touched. Leave in the tin to cool for 10 minutes before turning out onto a wire rack to cool completely before frosting.
To make the frosting, place the chocolate, butter and milk in a bowl set over a saucepan of simmering water. Don't let the bottom of the bowl touch the water. Heat and stir until the choclate has melted. Remove the bowl from the saucepan and sift in the icing sugar. Beat until smooth and creamy. Spread over the top of the cake. Sift with more cocoa powder. Cut into squares to serve.
Bramley Cooking Apples have to be one of the most versatile fruits in the English Kitchen. Grown in the UK specifically for cooking.
They retain their apple flavour throughout the cooking process and produce a light, airy, moist texture, with a 'melt in the mouth' consistency.
They also count towards your "Five a Day!" I think next year we will be planting a Bramley Apple tree or two if we can, coz they surely are a favourite ingredient of mine!
Just perfect for traditional apple puddings like this lovely one, Apple Dappy.
Apple Dappy is a delicious dessert which hails from the West Country . . . the counties of Dorset, Sommerset, Devon and Cornwall. Apple growing counties where lots of apples are grown for cider, eating and cooking.
It's an old recipe having originated in Victorian times, so I can well imagine this having been a popular dish during Larkrise to Candleford times.
It's a simple enough recipe that even Minnie could make. Minnie is Dorcas' hopeless young housemaid.
Lazy, dreamy and utterly unreliable, Minnie seems to cause havoc wherever she goes. But she is also loveable and has a desperate need to belong. I just love Minnie!
This recipe consists of a beautiful rich buttery scone type of dough, spread with lovely tart cooking apples (Bramleys being my choice), sprinkled with some demerara sugar and spice, then rolled up and cut into slices.
The slices are then placed into a buttered dish and a buttery lemony sweet sauce is poured over top before the whole thing is placed into the oven and baked until it is all puffed up and golden brown . . .
The pastry all buttery and crisp on top and lemony sweet on the bottom and filled to the brim with lovely meltingly tart and tender bits of bramley apple . . .
Spooned out hot into a bowl and covered with lashings of warm custard or dollops of clotted cream, this is a dessert fit for Kings and Queens, but simple enough to have easily have fit into the simple man's diet.
Traditional, simple and oh so very delicious. I hope you'll give it a try!!
Apple Dappy
Yield: 4 - 6
Prep time: 15 MinCook time: 35 MinTotal time: 50 Min
A traditional Victorian Pudding from the West country, where apples grow in abundance!
Ingredients
For the pudding:
- 225g of self raising flour (scant 2 cups)
- 1 level teaspoon of baking powder
- 2 ounces butter, cut into bits (1/4 cup)
- 150ml of milk (scant 2/3 cup)
- 1 pound of cooking apples
- 1 TBS Demerara sugar (turbinado sugar)
- 1/8 tsp of ground cinnamon or allspice
For the Syrup:
- 1 large unwaxed lemon
- 1 TBS golden syrup (could use honey)
- a knob of butter
- 4 ounces caster sugar (1/2 cup superfine)
- 200ml of water (7 fluid ounces)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 190*C/375*F/ gas mark 5. Butter a two pint baking dish and set aside. (4 cup)
- First make the lemon syrup. Peel the lemon as thinly as possible. Place the peel in a saucepan along with all of the juice from the lemon. Add the syrup, butter, sugar and water. Bring to a simmer, stirring until the sugar is dissolved. Set aside.
- Sift the flour into a bowl along with the baking powder. Drop in the bits of butter. Rub the butter in with your fingertips until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs. Add the milk, stirring it in with a fork. Tip the dough out onto a floured board. Turn to coat in flour and then pat it out to an 8 inch square.
- Peel and chop the apples, discarding any peel and the cores. Spread the apples over the square of pastry. Sprinkle evenly with the sugar and cinnamon/allspice. Roll up like a swiss roll. Cut into 1 inch thick slices with a sharp knife and place cut side down in the prepared baking dish.
- Strain the syrup mixture and then pour it over top of the slices.
- Bake in the heated oven for 30 to 35 minutes until puffed up and golden brown. Serve hot with some warm custard or clotted cream. Delicious!
I love scones and am having a lot of fun developing new combinations and varieties. Todd's having fun testing them too, I must say! He loves being my taste tester, and . . . lucky him, he is one of those people who can eat whatever they want to eat without putting on an ounce! (I know, I'm jealous too!)
They're so easy to make, using techniques very similar to that of making biscuits (a scone type of quick bread, very popular in North America, not a cookie!) But that is where the similarity ends!
Scones are a lot lighter, and in many cases sweeter, often varying between cake-like and cookie-like in texture . . . but then again there are savoury versions that are more biscuit-like.
I guess there is no definitive way to describe a scone except to say that they are delectably delicious and the perfect thing to munch on with a hot cup of tea in the middle of the afternoon. (My choice is a lovely herbal tea, but I have friends that love Earl Grey and I do love the smell of a nice hot cup of Earl Grey.)
Whatever your poison . . . a cup of something hot and a plate with a warm scone on it just can't be beat on any occasion.
Today I thought I would try some dried sour cherries, white chocolate and flaked almonds in a scone . . . three wonderful flavours that go so very well together. The sour cherries help to cut the sweetness of the white chocolate that can sometimes be a bit cloying and the flaked almonds added a delightful bit of crunch.
All in all I'd say these are da bomb!! Definitely repeatable! These are going in my success file of things I have conjured up!
*Sour Cherry, White Chocolate and Almond Scones*
Makes 8 wedges
Printable Recipe
Cherries, white chocolate and almonds . . . the holy trinity of sconedom!! Seriously, these are fabulous!
8 1/2 ounces plain flour (2 cups)
2 1/4 ounces caster sugar (1/3 cup)
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
2 ounces unsalted butter, chilled (1/4 cup)
125ml of double cream (1/2 cup)
1 large freerange egg
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
1/2 tsp pure almond extract
6 ounces of good quality white chocolate, cut into small bits, or use
good quality white chocolate chips
5 ounces dried sour cherries, quartered (1 cup)
3 ounces toasted flaked almonds (1 cup)
Preheat the oven to 190*C/375*F/ gas mark 5. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Set aside.
Whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. Drop in the butter and then cut it in using a pastry blender or two round bladed knives, until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Whisk together the cream, egg and extracts. Add all at once to the flour mixture, mixing it all in well and kneading until it is well combined. Lightly knead in the chocolate chips, cherries and almonds. Pat out with lightly floured hands to a 9 inch circle. Cut into 8 wedges. Place on the lined baking sheet, leaving some space in between each.
Bake for 15 to 20 minutes, until the tops are lightly browned. Allow to cool on the pan for five minutes, before scooping off with a spatula to a wire rack to finish cooling. Store in an airtight container.
Note - if you want your scones to have soft sides, place the whole round onto the baking sheet, and cut into wedges there, leaving them together and baking them as a whole. Cut them apart again once they come out of the oven with a serrated knife. Me . . . I love crunchy sides, and so I bake them apart!!
I've been wanting to make this cake for awhile now . . . but for some reason there have been no ground almonds to be found in any of the stores locally. Perhaps there is a shortage or some such. Most annoying as they are an ingredient I use fairly often!
I decided to take the bull by the horns today and make my own.
I have always been a bit leery of grinding my own, because if you take it just that little bit too far . . . nuts can become a bit oily . . . and I didn't want that to happen.
I read somewhere recently though, that . . . if you add a bit of the sugar from the recipe to the nuts as you are grinding them, this can help to prevent that from happening . . . so this I tried . . . and with great success I might add!
We are having company tonight for a small group scripture study and then a time of fellowship and refreshments afterwards. I thought this cake would go down a real treat.
It's dense and rich and oh so buttery and delicious. It's one of those cakes that actually gets better tasting as the days go on . . .
Not that you will have it around that long. It's really that good that it will disappear . . .
lickety split!!
*Almond and Orange Syrup Cake*
Serves 8
Printable Recipe
A beautifully dense and delicious cake, with a sticky orange topping.
250g blanched almonds (about 2 cups)
225g of caster sugar (1 1/4 cups)
50g of self raising flour (1/3 cup plus 1 TBS)
250g of unsalted butter at room temperature (1 generous cup)
the grated orange zest of 2 large oranges
4 large free range eggs
60g of flaked almonds (about 1//2 to 3/4 cup)
Orange Syrup:
the freshly squeezed juice of two large oranges
55g of caster sugar (a heaped quarter cup)
To serve:
Creme fraiche or extra thick double cream
Preheat the oven to 180*C/350*F/gas mark 4. Butter a 9 inch springform pan and set aside.
Put the almonds into the food processor along with 1/4 of the sugar. Process until finely chopped. Transfer them to a bowl. Rub the orange zest into the sugar with your fingertips until it gets very fragrant. (my favourite part of this and a tip I learned from Dorie Greenspan.) Tip the sugar and flour into the bowl containing the almonds.
Beat the butter until fluffy. Beat in the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition to mix in well. Add the flour mixture in two batches, beating again after each addition until well combined. Scrape the mixture into the prepared pan. Level off. Sprinkle with the flaked almonds.
Bake for 45 to 55 minutes, until golden on top and set. If you think it is browning too quickly, then cover with foil, shiny side up.
While the cake is baking make the orange syrup. Place the orange juice and sugar into a small saucepan. Bring to the boil, stirring until the sugar is dissolved. Remove from the heat and keep warm.
Once the cake is done remove it from the oven and poke it all over with a skewer. Spoon the orange syrup over the top of the hot cake, allowing it to soak in.
Let the cake cool before cutting into slices to serve. Pass the creme fraiche or cream.
Note - a spring of rosemary simmered in with the orange syrup gives it an elusive and wonderful flavour addition! Discard the rosemary before spooning the syrup over the cake.
Giveaway!!
One Kellogg’s Family Breakfast Hamper
One Kellogg’s Family Breakfast Hamper
I chose a random numbers generator to pick a winner of the Kellogg's Family Breakfast Hamper and guess what, it chose Number 1! I wish I could have one of these sent to each of you. Heck I wish I could have one of these myself! Angie, you are the winner. Let me know your details and I'll arrange to have it sent to you as soon as! Take heart the rest of you. I'll be hosting another giveaway soon and I think the next one is going to be kitchenware!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Social Icons