This is a cookery book I have had in my bookcase for a few years now. The Popina Book of Baking, by Isidora Popovic, published by Ryland, Peters & Small. I think I picked it up in Waitrose one day when I was grocery shopping, having immediately fallen in love with the looks of that tart on the cover.



Popina started out in 2000 with a grant from the Prince's Trust and a stall in London's Portobello Market. Their delicious goodies now grace the shelves of many, many gourmet food shops. They specialize in hand-made, organic, additive free sweet and savoury baked goodies, using the finest seasonal ingredients. I've never had the opportunity to taste any of their products . . . but this book, I guess is a way of being able to savour some of their delights in your own home kitchen.



Today I baked the Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe from the book. I didn't change anything from it. I only ever very rarely do the first time I bake something as I want to see what the recipe artist intended first off . . . before I grab the ball and run with it. (I know . . . for someone who is trying to lose weight, I'm very, very naughty to say the least . . . )



These are big cookies and they look really puffy . . . but they are amazingly crisp. The picture in the book showed really flat cookies. Mine were not flat, so I don't know . . . no matter . . . they are delicious anyways.



I didn't get any molten chocolate . . . probably because I used chocolate chips . . . if I had used real chocolate I would have had oodles of molten chocolate goo, which probably in the wrong hands could be rather dangerous . . . a minute on the lips and all that . . .



If you are looking for a lovely fat, crisp chocolate chip cookie filled with lots of milk and dark chocolate goodness, this is the cookie for you.
I think when I make them another time I will add some sultanas or dried cherries. I like a bit of fruit in my chocolate chip cookies . . .



And perhaps some chopped toasted pecans. Those would be a really delicious addition . . . although having said that they are pretty yummy without any additions . . . truly. With a glass of cold milk . . . ummm . . . deeply satisfying, fresh out of the oven.



I can't believe it took me two years to bake something out of this book . . . I think I'm going to try the Cherry Chocolate Truffle Brownies next . . . do you think I should??? Dare I????



Ohhh . . . might be deliciously temptingly dangerous, don't you think??? (Other tasty offerings include such delicious treats as Cheshire Cheese and Apple Straws, Pepper, Pecorino and Thyme Tartlets, Wholemeal Spelt, Carrot, Apple and Pumpkin Seed Muffins and that tasty tart on the cover??? It's a Nectarine and Summer Berry Tart!)



*Popina Bakery Chocolate Chip Cookies*
Makes 12 large cookies
Printable Recipe

You can use regular chocolate chips, or cut up your own chocolate for these. Any way you do it, they are fabulous. Eat the cookies warm for some molten chocolate scrummieness!! From the Popino Book of Baking. Plan ahead as the dough needs to chill in the refrigerator before baking.

120g unsalted butter at room temperature (generous half cup, about 4 1/4 ounces)
165g of soft light brown sugar (8/10 cup packed, or scant 14 TBS packed)
1 TBS golden syrup (can use golden corn syrup)
few drops vanilla
1 large free range egg
210g of plain flour (Generous 2 cups)
1/2 tsp baking powder
60g each dark and milk chocolate, chopped (1/3 cup each, or use chocolate chips)

Cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the syrup, vanilla and egg, beating it in well. Sift together the flour and baking powder. Stir this into the wet ingredients, mixing in well. Stir in the chopped chocolate. Shape the dough into a roll, 2 inches in diameter. Wrap in clingfilm and chill for 1 hour.

Preheat the oven to 170*C/325*F/ gas mark 3. Line several baking sheets with baking paper. Set aside.

Remove the dough from the fridge and unwrap. Cut into 12 equal slices. Arrange the cookie dough discs onto the prepared baking trays, leaving plenty of space in between for spreading.

Bake for 20 to 25 minutes until the cookies are pale golden brown. Remove from the oven and allow to cool for several minutes. Serve warm for a real taste treat. Store in an airtight container for up to one week.



In The Cottage today, a delicious Blackberry Cobbler.

Don't forget to enter my Blogging Event, Come Dine With Me! You can read all about it in the post just below this one. The more the merrier!!

This is a fabulous prize and well worth the effort of entering. So here are the rules. Every contest must have rules.

1. You must agree to host a virtual dinner party in your home to be held during the week of February 6th to 11th

2. In order to qualify for the Hello Fresh prize you must reside within the area that Hello Fresh now delivers to. This can be simply checked by going to their page and entering your postal Code into the box provided.

3. You must, on the day assigned to you, present your Virtual Dinner Party to the world via your blog, with write up and photographs etc. and then provide me with a link which I can then share with my readers. A photograph which I can present on here would also be very helpful.

4. If you are not within the area that Hello Fresh now delivers to, I will provide an alternate prize, (To be announced) which will not be worth as much, but . . . it will be coming out of my own pocket so . . . You will also gain a bit of prestige and the esteem of the food blogging community! This means that if you live in America, or elsewhere, you can still participate and get in on the fun!

Sign ups will be open until midnight on the 31st of January, with Dinner Parties to be presented on the week between Monday the 6th of February and every day through to Friday the 11th February inclusive. Voting will commence on February 12th and a winner will be announced on February 14th.

The more the Merrier! Let's make this a really fun event. I do hope you will want to join in.

Most Sunday afternoons I bake something scrummy for a light supper late in the afternoon. We are usually starving when we come in from church and so have a quick bite then . . . so we're not really all that hungry when the evening rolls around. Just a bit peckish . . . a quick scrummy bite is usually all we want.



Sometimes it's a fruity quick bread, or scones . . . or cakes. (I know naughty me!) Today it was these lovely Cranberry, Orange and Pistachio Muffins.



This folks is precisely why I stock up on fresh cranberries when they are abundant in the shops before Christmas. I just throw them in the freezer bag and all. That way I have lots of cranberry scrumminess to look forward to in the winter months . . .



. . . those dark and dull days that are so grey and gloomy . . . with not much to brighten them up. Damp and blah . . .




These lovely little muffins are like pretty little jewels in a winter wasteland! So bright with the cheery red cranberries and green pistachio nuts! Almost Christmassy . . . but they're not for Christmas coz it's January.



Light and moist and oh so yumbly tumbly good Good GOOD!



You can store any that you don't eat right away in a tightly covered tin and refresh them for a few seconds in the microwave before eating. Not that you will have much left over . . . but you might. You never know. Miracles happen every day.



*Cranberry, Orange and Pistachio Muffins*
Makes 6 large muffins, or 8 medium
Printable Recipe

Moist and flavourful muffins with just the right amount of tang and sweetness. The cranberry and pistachio topping is so pretty!

2 large free range eggs
80g caster sugar (scant half cup)
50ml of sunflower oil (1/4 cup)
the finely grated zest and freshly squeezed juice of one orange
150g of plain flour (1 1/2 cups)
2 1/2 tsp baking powder
100g fresh or frozen cranberries (1 cup)

Topping:
50g of fresh or frozen cranberries (1/2 cup)
hand ful of shelled pistachio nuts, chopped
demerara sugar to sprinkle.

Preheat the oven to 180*C/350*F/ gas mark 4. Line a muffin tray with either 6 large muffin cups or 8 medium cups.

Whisk the eggs, sugar, oil, orange zest and orange juice together well. Sift the flour and baking powder into a bowl. Add the wet ingredients all at once and fold together, just to moisten all. Stir in the cranberries. Spoon into the muffin cups, filling them about 2/3 full. Sprinkle the remaining cranberries on top, dividing them amongst each. Sprinkle each with some chopped pistachio nuts and aa generous sprinkle of demerara sugar.

Bake in the preheated oven for 25 minutes without opening the door. When they are ready they should be well risen and spring back when lightly touched.

Remove to a wire rack to cool somewhat before eating. Stire in a anrtight container for up to 3 days. (You can refresh them with a quick burst in the microwave.)



Over in The Cottage today, a delicious Deep Dish Salmon Pie.

Oh, it is bitter cold outside today. Not a day fit for man nor beast. This is a day for hunkering down in front of the fire with a good book, a lap blanket and a plate full of these tasty scones and a hot chocolate (or tea if that's your pleasure!).



We love them stogged full of fat little crunchy currants and sticky plump raisins . . . with a bit of spice. Mixed spice is our preference, which is a spice mixture sold over here in the shops . . . ground cinnamon, coriander, allspice, cloves, nutmeg and ginger . . . warm spices, homey spices . . . there's a recipe to make your own over there ------->> in my right side bar.



You can of course use whichever fruit combination that floats your boat! Dried cranberries and grated orange zest . . . poppyseeds and lemon zest . . . dried sour cherries and almond extract instead of the vanilla . . . toasted pecans . . . finely chopped candied ginger and chocolate chips . . . chopped dried apricots and white chocolate chips . . .



All lovely . . . all comforting . . . all delicious and just perfect for a day like today . . .



This does make a lot, but they freeze really well, either before or after baking. Just wrap up really well and freeze. When you are ready to bake them, just add a few extra minutes to the baking time before you turn the oven off. Easy peasy . . . lemon squeasy.



If you don't want wedges, feel free to pat the dough out into a rectangle, 1/2 inch thick and cut out with square or round cutters. (sharp tap straight down and up to prevent them from being lopsided.) The important thing is that you don't overhandle the dough.



But most important of all . . . quite simply enjoy.



*Basic Fruited Scones*
Makes 16
Printable Recipe

These are lovely and light. Stogged full of lovely currants and raisins and a a bit of spice.

298g of plain flour (3 cups)
73g of caster sugar (1/3 cup)
42g of powdered milk (1/4 cup)
3/4 tsp salt
1 TBS baking powder
1 tsp mixed spice (see recipe on sidebar --->)
3 to 4 ounces dried fruit (currants, raisins, apricots, or other dried fruit, 3/4 cup)
2 large free range eggs
2 tsp vanilla extract
125ml of buttermilk (1/2 cup)
8 TBS cold butter
1 large free range egg, beaten with 1 tsp water for glazing
coarse sugar or cinnamon sugar for topping (optional but good)

Preheat the oven to 230*C/450*F/ gas mark 8. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper. Set aside.

Whisk together all the dry ingredients in a large bowl. Drop in the butter. Cut it in using a pastry lender, or rubbing it in with your finger tips until you have a crumbly mixture with pieces of fat that are the size of baby peas. Stir in the dried fruit. Whisk together the wet ingredients. Add the liquid ingredients to the dry ingredients, mixing in with a fork and being careful not to overmix. Gently fold together until everything is evenly moistened.

Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead a few times. Divide the dough in half. Place both halves onto the prepared baking tray and pat each half into a 7 inch circle, approximately 1/2 inch thick, leaving at least 4 inches between each round. Cut each round into 8 wedges, separating them only very slightly. Brush the tops with the beaten egg/water combination and sprinkle with some coarse sugar or cinnamon sugar, if using.

Place on the middle rack of your preheated oven. Bake for 7 minutes only. Turn the oven off and allow them to sit in the oven for a further 8 to 10 minutes without opening the oven door. They should be golden brown. Remove from the oven at the end of that time and place on a wire rack to cool slightly before cutting apart and eating. Ideally they should be served immediately or at least within a few hours of baking. You can freshen them up by gently reheating in a warm oven. They also freeze well.

We like them warm with butter, but you can have them with whatever you want. Jam and butter are good as are jam and clotted cream.



Cooking in The Cottage today, some delicious Dill Sauced Poached Chicken.

I grew up surrounded by an abundance of wild blueberries, so much so that they were very much taken for granted . . . not those big grape sized ones that we get in the grocery stores over here, but those delicious tasty little pea sized morsels that you can only get from spending back breaking hours in the hot sun to acquire.



Along about the first week of August the ice cream buckets would appear on the kitchen counter, and we kids knew it was blueberry picking time . . . a time we both dreaded and revered all at once. We would spend hours in the blueberry bush, choosing and picking the dainty delicious berries and filling those ice cream buckets, the time only made longer according to how many actually made it into the buckets and how many made it into our tummies!



The warm summer sun and humming insects helping us to feel all cosy and, well . . . part of a family, all co-erced into partaking of this glorious labour! Co-erced by rose coloured memories and the anticipation of pieces of warm, fresh blueberrie pie, the lucious blue juice dripping onto the plate, mingling with runny rivelets of melting fresh vanilla ice cream . . . beautiful puffy lemon coloured muffins studded with those gorgeous purple berries and sprinkled with crusty sugar crumbles on top . . .



. . . light as a cloud buttermilk pancakes bursting full of the sweet lucious beauties, stacked three high, a golden pat of butter melting and gilding the edges, doused in beautifully sweet real maple syrup, the perfect foil . . . we knew as children that the more berries we picked the more of these delights we'd be able to savor over the long winter ahead.



Tired and hot at the end of the day, our fingers stained blue, with blue lips and teeth, sitting around the kitchen table with big bowls of tasty berries sprinkled with sugar and covered in cream. Berrys still warm from the sun, cream cold from the fridge, smiles on all the berry stained faces, knowing we had once again secured this little taste of summer for the winter ahead . . .



Oh how I missed them when I first moved over here to the UK. They were not readily available at all . . . what I wouldn't given at that time for a fresh blueberry pie. When you could find them at all, a premium price was paid for them . . . one that we could only afford as a very rare treat. Thankfully that is no longer the case, and whilst we can't get the lovely wild ones I grew up with, the larger cultivated ones are quite common in the shops now, although they can still be a bit pricey from time to time.



This past autumn we planted some blueberry bushes so that next year, with any luck, we will have our very own tasty source of the little beauties in our garden. Lots of little jewels to make delicious things such as this Blueberry and Almond Breakfast Bake . . . kind of like a baked French Toast . . .



Enticing, heartwarming and a beauty to behold. This pleases me on lots of levels. Eggy and lightly sweetened with a crisp and sweet sugared almond topping. Delicious!



*Blueberry and Almond Breakfast Bake*
Serves 4
Printable Recipe

You need to plan ahead with this as it needs to be refrigerated overnight. The hardest thing about it will be waiting for it to come out of the oven as it smells fabulous while it is baking!

1 9 inch whole wheat baguette, cut into 1 inch cubes
(about 4 ounces)
250ml of 2% milk (1 cup)
6 large free range eggs
125ml of pure maple syrup (1/2 cup)
pinch salt (optional)
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 heaped mug of fresh blueberries (about 1 cup)
a handful of flaked almonds
2 TBS demerara sugar (turbinado)
Maple syrup for pouring (optional)

Spray a 7 by 10 inch baking dish with some nonstick cooking spray. Arrange the bread cubes in the dish. Dust with the cinnamon. Whisk together the milk, eggs, vanilla, maple syrup and pinch of salt (if using.) Pour this mixture evenly over top of the bread cubes, making sure the liquid saturates the bread evenly. Scatter the blueberries over top. Sprinkle with the flaked almonds and turbinado sugar. cover with plastic cling film and then refrigerate overnight.

In the morning take it out of the fridge about half an hour before you want to bake it.

Preheat the oven to 180*C/350*F/ gas mark 4. Uncover the dish and then bake for 45 to 50 minutes until the eggs are set and the casserole is lightly browned on top. Allow to sit for about 5 minutes before cutting into quarters to serve. Serve hot with or without more syrup for pouring.



In The Cottage today a delicious Tomato and Bean Soup!

Here's an oldie but a goodie gleaned from the depths of my Big Blue Binder. I've been making these tasty muffins for years and years.



Hands down they have to be my absolute favourite Oatmeal Muffin of all time. I've tried lots of different ones . . . but I always come back to this recipe. These muffins are moist and stogged full of raisins and nuts, with just enough spice and vanilla to make them oh so scrummy delish.
They make great use of leftover oatmeal so you need never throw out any that's left in the pot after the family has eaten ever, ever again.



In fact . . . I dare say that after you try these tasty little babies, you'll make sure you always have enough oatmeal leftover just so that you can treat yourself and your family!!



Do make sure you butter the pan well though . . . as they do stick. I don't like to use paper liners with them either as they stick to them too and I want to have all that muffin scrumminess in my tumminess! (haha . . . I know . . . don't quit my day job!)



*Breakfast Oatmeal Muffins*
Makes 12
Printable Recipe

These muffins are a great way of using up leftover cooked oatmeal. I often cook extra oatmeal for breakfast so that I can treat us to a batch of these the day after!

100g of plain flour (1 cup)
200g of soft light brown sugar (1 cup packed)
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp grated nutmeg
125ml of vegetable oil (1/2 cup)
2 large free range eggs beaten
180g of leftover cooked oatmeal cereal (about 1 cup)
150g of raisins (1 cup)
1/2 cup toasted chopped pecans (optional)
1 tsp vanilla

Preheat the oven to 180*C/350*F/ gas mark 4. Grease a 12 cup medium muffin tin very well. Set aside.

Whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder, soda, cinnamon and nutmeg. Whisk together the leftover oatmeal, eggs, and vanilla. Stir the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients only to moisten. Fold in the raisins and nuts (if using). Spoon into the greased muffin cups, dividing the batter evenly amongst them.

Bake for 18 minutes, until well risen and a toothpick inserted into the centre comes out clean. Let sit in the pan for about 5 minutes before turning out onto a wire rack to cool somewhat before eating.



Cooking in The Cottage today, some delicious Light and Crispy Fish Fillets.

This has to be our favourite weekday breakfast in the winter time. Not only is it filling, giving us much needed energy to combat the colder winter temps, but it also is belly warming and immensely satisfying without being high in calories or fat.



It really doesn't take much effort to make your own oatmeal from scratch and let me be honest here . . . homemade from scratch tastes infinitely better than prepacked/instant . . . seriously.
It's comforting and heartwarming. It's delicious.



I think it is the vanilla and spices that make this so special. I also happen to like raisins and they also add something wonderful to the mix . . . and as for those toasted pecan nuts on top, well they give an added dimension of flavour and crunch.



You really can't go wrong with this . . . lightly sweetened with brown sugar and juicy plump raisins . . . it is the perfect winter breakast. And if you are really in a rush, you can spoon yours into a cup and take it with you when you dash out the door to begin your day.

It's a good thing . . . not to copy Martha or anything . . . but it IS a good thing! (Don't throw away any leftovers . . . I've got something fantastic to show you tomorrow that makes good use of them!)



*Vanilla Spiced Breakfast Oatmeal*
Serves 4
Printable Recipe

This makes a frequent appearance on our seasonal Winter breakfast table. Spiced with warm spices and topped with crunchy toasted pecans, it's filling, delicious and always welcome!

60g of shelled pecan nuts (1/2 cup)
825ml of water (3 1/2 cups)
160g of old fashioned rolled oats (2 cups)
75g of raisins (1/2 cup)
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract
freshly grated nutmeg
2 TBS firmly packed soft light brown sugar
250ml of low fat milk to serve (1 cup) or to taste
ground cinnamon to dust over top

Place the pecans in a dry skillet over medium high heat. Cook and stir, until golden brown and fragrant. Set aside to cool and then chop them coarsely. The toasting should only take about 5 minutes.

Combine the water, oats, raisins and salt in a medium saucepan. Bring to the boil then reduce to a slow simmer and simmer for about 5 minutes, stirring frequently, until the oats are tender and cooked. Remove from the heat. Stir in the brown sugar, vanilla and freshly grated nutmeg to taste. Divide into heated serving bowls and serve with some milk poured over top (if desired), a dusting of cinnamon and 1/4 of the toasted pecans.



Over in The Cottage this morning, a delicious Deep Dish Chicken Pie.