The Licker Bowler...

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Brownies...

So, brownies: overdone? maybe. Well I'm quite particular when it comes to brownies; not too soggy, not too dry, crispy edge etc. So, where better to turn than trusty Nigel Slater for a recipe. He gets this kind of thing. And I can safely say he gets it right again. This is where I'm going to turn for brownies from now on.

Ingredients:
• 300g Caster Sugar
• 250g Butter
• 250g Dark Chocolate
• 3 Eggs & 1 Yolk
• 60g Plain flour
• 60g Cocoa Powder
• Half teaspoon Baking Powder

Method:
• Preheat oven to 180°C and line a 22cm square tin.
• Beat butter and sugar together throughly.
• Break the chocolate up and melt 200g of it, set aside to cool slightly. Chop the remaining.
• Gradually beat in the eggs into the butter and sugar, then mix in all the chocolate.
• Fold in the sifted dry ingredients, then pour into the tin.
• Bake for 30 minutes until slightly risen and a skewer comes out slightly less than clean. Cool before cutting up.

Well, St. David's day is approaching, so it seems a good time to put these on the blog.

I had always been told you couldn't make good Welsh Cakes without a cast iron griddle, but thought it was worth a go anyway. Turns out it was. I'm sure they could be slightly improved on a griddle but with some patience in the heaviest pan you've got it's worth a go.

In case you don't know, which if you don't live in Wales you might not, Welsh Cakes are similar to a fruit scone but rolled flatter and cooked on a griddle rather than in the oven. They tend to be a bit moister too, dusted with sugar and really moreish.

For something like this you can rely on Delia, so that's where I turned for a simple recipe.

Ingredients:
• 8oz Self-Raising Flour
• 4oz Butter
• 3oz Mixed Dried Fruit/Sultanas
• 3oz Caster Sugar
• 1 Egg
• half-teaspoon Mixed Spice

Method:
• Sift the flour, 2oz sugar and spice together and then mix in the fruit.
• Rub in the butter until it resembles breadcrumbs.
• Beat the egg and slowly mix in, drawing the dry mix in to the centre, to form a smooth dough. You can add a small splash of milk if it's a bit crumbly, but not too much as you don't want it sticky.
• Roll out on a floured surface to about 5mm thick, cut into rounds.
• Heat a heavy frying pan (or griddle) on a medium heat, with a little oil rubbed over it to grease.
• When the pan's hot, put 3 or 4 of the rounds in and cook gently for about 3 minutes each side. They'll slightly puff up, but you'll barely notice it.
• Keep an eye on them as you don't want them charred (although some people prefer that in Wales), when they're done, pop them out, toss in the remaining sugar and cool on a rack.

(Makes at least 20. When you get on a roll, you can have some cooking, whilst you roll and cut the others)

Notes:
• Done-ness is up to you. I like to keep the centre still slightly moist, but some people will like it more thoroughly cooked. Whatever happens each will be a bit different as the pan will vary in temperature, their thicknesses will be different and you'll probably not time the cooking to the second.

This is currently on our mid-week meal repertoire. It's so simple, quick, cheap and really tasty; all you need in the week really. We sometimes have a pack of rolls in the freezer to put them in, but they're just as good open with chips on the side.

This is a bit of a 'bodge it' type recipe idea, but here's the rough basis of what I use.
• 350g pack Turkey Mince
• 1 Egg
• 1 slice bread, breadcrumbed
• quarter Onion, finely chopped
• Sprinkling of chopped something* for extra flavour
• Salt & Pepper

* the 'chopped something' is either some parsley/chives if there's any in, some finely chopped spring onion green tops (keep this in the freezer to add to all sorts of things), chilli, even a spoonful of mustard if none of them are available; it's completely up to you.

Method:
• Place all in bowl together and mix into a smooth paste (with hands is easiest).
• Shape in to small burger shaped patties.
• Fry in a little oil gently for about 4 or 5 minutes each side until golden brown and cooked through.

(Makes about 6)

Every time we’ve been to France recently there’s been some irrational obsession and anticipation about having a slice of ‘flan’. This is usually followed by the inevitable, equally irrational over-eating of said ‘flan’. In an attempt to meet this need the rest of the year, I have done some searching for the ‘flan’ recipe online, but with only that one word to go on, the results were variable. Then I spotted this box of flan mix in a French supermarket, which surely was going to be the answer to our need for flan the year round. It was worth a gamble for €1.15.

As it happens, when we got it home I realised that the box simply contains cornflour, vanilla flavouring and colouring. You have to add milk, sugar and, if you want to improve the flavour, an egg (On that note, make sure you add the sugar – long story); so really we already had everything we needed in the cupboard.

It was obvious really, but now I know it’s called Flan Pâtissier as I’ve seen it on the box, and a quick google reveals loads of authentic, egg-based recipes I can try, so look out for flan version 2 in the future.

• Line a fairly deep tart tin or cake tin with a rich shortcrust pastry, and bake blind so the pastry is cooked before adding the filling
• Beat the egg, sugar, 250ml of milk and the packet mix together in a bowl/jug
• Meanwhile bring the rest of the milk to the boil slowly, stirring all the time so it doesnt catch.
• When it has boiled, por it over the egg mixture and stir together thoroughly
• Return to the pan and simmer for 1-2 minutes until the custard begins to thicken up
• Pour into the crust and bake for around 40 minutes at 180°C until the crust is well browned.
• Cool for at least 2 hours in the fridge before slicing and serving.

Notes:
• A rich pastry can be made quickly by combining 8oz of plain flour, with 3oz of butter to resemble breadcrumbs. Then bind the mixture with an egg and a little milk. It can be sweetened with 2 or 3 spoons of icing sugar.
• Curiously the box recipe does not call for pastry, but says you can butter the dish and dust with flour. This does work, and it holds together fine, but really you want pastry!

This is one of a few things that I made for my birthday. These mini brownies (or blondies) were ideal to take into work to share around. For us it was a given that we'd like them, peanut butter being something of a favourite. To me, the end result is not so much like a brownie, but is a very tasty, dense mini cake with the perfect contrast of salty and sweet from the peanut butter and white chocolate respectively. Moreish.

• Cream the butter, peanut butter and sugar together. Beat in the egg and vanilla essence.
• Sift the flour and baking powders and add to the mixture with the chocolate chipe to form a dough.
• Spread into a square tin and bake at 170°C for 25 minutes until golden brown.
• Cool in the tin before slicing.

Notes:
• Taken from Rachel Allen's Bake

I made this cake as we were desperate for some cake but had no butter in. So I started trawling recipes for something that could be baked without it and came across this recipe, then played about with it a bit. Mainly changing it from rhubarb to apple. The cake is light and tasty. The apples add a nice moist element and the crunchy topping finishes it off perfectly. I think there's plenty of scope here for development or customisation if you fancy. It's handy to have a tasty non-butter based cake recipe you can call on when needed.

• Beat the brown sugar, oil, egg and vanilla essence together.
• Gradually add the flour, bicarbonate of soda and milk to this mixture, until smooth.
• Stir in the apple, pour into a tin.
• Combine caster sugar with a tablespoon of melted butter (I used oil as obviously had no butter) and stir in the flaked almonds.
• Sprinkle this over the top of the cake then bake for 30 minutes in a preheated oven (180°C).

Sometimes you need to branch out at dinner time and try something different. In this case, dream up something different. It was far from perfect and needs some development to make it really work but a general success and pretty tasty. Anyway, it's something you can work with as an idea. It's just a puff pastry sheet with a tasty filling topped with sliced potato and cheese. In this one I fried up onions, garlic, leeks and smoked bacon to make a filling, topped it with sliced boiled potatoes and cheese and carefully poured over a little beaten egg and milk mixture then baked it for about 30 minutes at 200°C.

The result is something of a cross between a pie, a gratin and a fritata. A welcome break from the norm.

This cake is divine. I saw it and wanted it immediately. But... we didn't have enought hazelnuts so had to wait. It's taken directly from Rachel Allen's Bake, with no modification besides the decorating (although i found it more practical to do things in a different order). There's no flour, just ground hazelnuts so the end result is moist, whilst the whipped egg whites keep it light. Sorry this photo is so boring, it doesn't to the cake justice really (see it in a different guise) but believe me* it tastes good.

Ingredients:
• 200g Hazelnuts
• 1 tsp Baking Powder
• 1 tsp Cinnamon
• 100g Butter
• 5 Eggs, separated
• 175g Caster Sugar
• 1 tsp Vanilla Essence

Method:
• Preheat oven to 170°C and line a tin with baking paper.
• Grind the hazelnuts on the food processor until finely ground; blend in the baking powder, cinnamon and butter to a coarse paste.
• In a bowl, whisk the egg whites thoroughly until you have stiff peaks.
• In another bowl, beat the egg yolks and sugar together until moussey, then add the hazelnut mixture.
• Fold the whites into the hazelnut mix in 3 stages.
• Pour into the tin and bake for 55-60 minutes until the edges are coming away from the pan.
• It is suggested you don't open the oven during cooking until close to the end of the time.
• Cool for approximately 10 minutes in the tin before turning out to cool fully.
• Decorate with a little buttercream icing and chopped hazelnuts.

Notes:
* Don't take my word for it. I made this for a cake competition and came away with 'Best Tasting'.

This recipe of my Grandma's produces you a lovely moist, yet light fruit loaf with a subtle caramel/malt-y flavour. It's the ultimate fruit loaf. Well, if Grandma makes it that is. If anyone else tries you end up with something acceptable, but the magic isn't quite there. This is my latest attempt and was pretty decent considering I didn't have the 'secret' ingredient in.

The original recipe is for 2 loaves, which is why I accidentally photographed 2 eggs.

• Melt butter, sugar and half a cup of water in a pan over a medium heat.
• Add the fruit and leave to cool.
• Combine flour and nuts with 2 tablespoons of Horlicks (secret ingredient), then fold in the flour and the egg (beaten).
• Bake for about 1 hour at 150-160°C. You may want to cover the top half way so the fruit doesn't burn.

I spotted this idea in an M&S magazine that was lying around. We didn't make it for Easter, but rather the week after when they were selling Hot Cross Buns off cheaply. It is essentially a bread and butter pudding, with the addition of some chopped apple. At any other time of the year you could make this with fruit buns or fruit loaf of course, there's no reason for it to be Hot Cross Buns.

Ingredients:
• 12 Hot Cross Buns
• 400ml Double Cream/Single Cream/Milk blend (depending on how rich you want it)
• 2 or 3 Eggs
• 50g Demerara Sugar
• 3 small dessert Apples
• Butter

Method:
• Slice and butter the buns, arrange in a greased tray so the tops are showing.
• Chop the apples into cubes and spread liberally amongst the buns.
• Beat the eggs and stir in the milk/cream. Pour over the buns.
• Sprinkle sugar generously over the top.
• Bake for 30 minutes at 170°C until the custard is set.

(Serves 12)

Notes:
• The original recipe added pears, we only had apples in at the time.
• I added some vanilla syrup (the stuff you'd add to coffee) drizzled over then buns. I can't prove this made it tastier, but it seemed a good idea if you have somehting like that around.

When you make the quiche from a few posts back you might have some pastry left over. I did, so I popped it in the fridge and a couple of days later we had these mini cheese & leek quiches for lunch. We had cheese and leek because that's what was in the fridge needing to be eaten up. I reckon cheese is a quiche essential, along with a little onion, but you should be able to add just about anything else and end up with a tasty egg tart of sorts.

• Veg fried lightly for a few minutes whilst pastry cases had 5 minutes in the oven
• Egg beaten with a dash of milk, poured into cases filled with a little cheese and vegetables
• Baked for 10-15 minutes in oven at 200°C

(made 9)

I seem to make so many cupcake/muffins at the moment. Well, unfortunately here's another. In my defence I started out intending to make this in tray cake format, then at the last minute decided I'd rather portion it up.

The idea is simple, based upon a classic fruit crumble dessert, but turned into a cake. You can try any tasty fruit you like, just make sure there's plenty of them. Having made these with 4 or 5 blackberries per cake I'd say it could easily handle twice that number, or maybe even some cubed apple too. Chunks of rhubarb would be nice.

I put a nice sprinkling of crumble on top of each cake before baking, which, once the cake mixture had risen around it, turned out to be barely noticeable. Next time I'll thoroughly top it off with crumble.

• Make a basic sponge muffin mixture by creaming butter and sugar, adding eggs and folding in self raising four (150g of each and 3 eggs).
• Spoon this into muffin cases, about two-thirds full.
• Drop several blackberries/fruit chunks on top and press into the batter.
• Make a crumble mix with the plain and wholemeal flour blend, remaining sugar, oats and cinnamon (other spices are good too). Blend in the butter gradually; you need it to just begin coming together and form lumps, but not quite become dough.
• Sprinkle generously on top of muffins.
• Bake for 15-20 minutes at 180°C

(Makes 12)

Notes:
• You might need more butter than the 50g in the ingredients for crumble, I didn't weigh it out so took a guess.

I'd been wanting to make a quiche for quite a long time, but just never got around to it. Well, finally did it and the result was really tasty. Obviously you can add whatever you fancy to the basic mixture, I added chunks of feta cheese, peppers and tomatoes which proved a very tasty combination of sweet and salty.

Ingredients:
6 Eggs
150ml Single Cream
200g Plain Flour
100g Butter
Cold Water
100g Cheese

• To make the pastry, blend the flour and butter together then combine to a soft dough with a little cold water. Refrigerate for 30 minutes.
• Roll out to 3-4mm thick and use to line a 20cm tart tray.
• Blind bake the pastry case for 10-15 minutes at 180°C (weighed down with pulses or similar)
• Whilst the pastry is baking, fry seom chopped onions and any other vegetables you want in the filling for a few minutes until softened.
• Remove the pastry from the oven and sprinkle a little grated cheese in the base along with the vegetables and fillings.
• Beat the eggs and cream together, season, then pour into the pastry case.
• Top with the remaining grated cheese then bake for 30 minutes at 180°C until golden on top and egg is set.

(serves 6)

I think this was defintiely one of those 'inspired' cooking moments. We had the obligatory blackening bananas hanging around waiting to be 'caked', but I didn't fancy the usual go-to banana cake this time. So, I thought muffins would be a good idea. Somehow I came up with oats and honey; the result was a moist, yet light, incredibly tasty muffin with a hint of coarse oaty texture. Perfect any time of day.

Ingredients:
5oz Butter
4oz Sugar
2 Eggs
2 Bananas
2 tsp Honey
7oz Flour
Handful of Oats

• Cream butter and sugar in a food processor.
• Mash the banana, honey and eggs together in a bowl to make your wet mixture.
• Add to the food processor.
• Quickly combine the oats and flour to the mixture.
• Place into muffin cases, sprinkle a few extra oats on top and bake for 20-25 mins until golden brown and spongy to touch.
• Turn out onto a cooling rack and whilst cooling drizzle a little warmed honey (10 seconds in microwave) on top of each muffin.

(Makes 12)

I've been featuring a lot of cakes recently, so hopefully you have a sweet tooth. These don't need a lot saying about them, it's just a simple lemon cake cut into small pieces.

• Cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
• Beat in the eggs, gradually with a little flour if necessary
• Fold in the flour and 1 lemon's juice.
• Pour into a 20 x 20cm tin and bake at 170°C for 25 minutes.
• Turn out and cool on a rack.
• Meanwhile, mix your icing with the other lemon's juice and the icing sugar to a consistency that will spread easily, but not run off the cake.
• Ice the cooled cake and sprinkle the top with zest from your lemons.
• Cut into 'finger' slices.

A classic cake slice, so much nicer when you make it yourself with the hint of real almonds, rather than the fake strong almond essence flavouring.

Pastry base:
(Requires 150g flour and 75g butter)
• Blend the butter and flour to the breadcrumb stage, then bind with a little cold water, milk or beaten egg, whichever you prefer. You can sweeten the pastry a little with some icing sugar if you like but it's not necessary.
• To keep things simple I pressed this dough mixture into 2 greased 20cm sandwich tins to approx 3mm thickness. You can of course roll it out and line the tin that way for slightly better results!
• Spread jam over the pastry and bake at 170°C for 5-10 minutes until it is beginning to harden slightly.
• Remove from the oven and cool in the tins.

Cake:
• Beat butter and sugar until creamed and fluffy.
• Beat in the eggs and fold in the flour and ground almonds.
• Pour/spread over the jam tarts to no more than 1cm deep.
• Sprinkle flaked almonds over the top then bake at 170°C for 20-30 minutes until golden on top.
• Cool in the tins slightly then remove and place on a wire rack to cool completely.
• Mix the icing sugar with a little water until the consistency is just runny enough to drizzle over the tarts.

Notes:
• Makes 2 x 20cm tarts, 8-10 slices per tart. Could use a 22cm square tin or individual tarts.
• Raspberry or blackcurrant jam is best

We received the Hummingbird Bakery Cookbook for Christmas, and so with a friend's birthday on 1st January it seemed the ideal occasion to try something out. I chose these Black Bottom Cupcakes. The idea is simple, chocolate cake topped with a blob of cheesecake. They look tasty and are tasty... although I think I will make some modifications next time to make them even tastier!

Cake:
190g Plain Flour
120g Caster Sugar
2 tbsp Cocoa
½ tsp Bicarbonate of soda
40ml Sunflower Oil
125ml Water
½ tsp Vanilla Extract
(the recipe also lists 1½ tsp White vinegar, but I can't remember using that so am guessing I didn't!)

Cheesecake:
250g Cream cheese
60g Caster Sugar
1 Egg
½tsp Vanilla Extract
100g Milk Chocolate Chips

Icing:
250g Icing Sugar
80g Butter
25ml Milk
Drop of Vanilla Extract

• Mix the flour, sugar, cocoa and bicarb together, then add the oil, vinegar, vanilla and water.
• Spoon the mixture into muffin cases to about 2/3 full.
• To make the cheesecake bit, beat all the ingredients except the chocolate in a bowl with an electric whisk on a medium speed until light and fluffy (roughly the consistency of loose whipped cream). Stir in the chocolate chips gently.
• Spoon on top of the cake mixture and bake in a preheated oven (170°C) for about 20 minutes (until the cheesecake topping is slightly golden at the edges.
• Whilst the cakes cool, beat the icing ingredients together until pale and fluffy.
• Decorate the cakes and dust with cocoa or chocolate shavings.

•Notes:
• Officially this mixture makes 12. For me the cake mix made 9 and the cheescake about 18, so next time I shoudl probably have a bit less cake and a bit more cheesecake per muffin and it'll be about 12!
• Also, the recipe calls for 140g cream cheese, I couldn't get this to thicken up without the extra 100g.

Mince Pies are Christmas essentials. There's loads of choice out there in the shops; deep fill, luxury, shortcrust, puff, lattice, big, small... However, they just aren't ever quite the same as ones you make yourself. This year I felt inspired to give homemade mincemeat a go, and turned to Delia for a recipe.

I was pleasanty surprised how simple it is, and so tasty too! Everyone should give it a go, you'll never look back.

Mincemeat: I followed Delia's recipe, except using pre-ground nutmeg as I couldn't get hold of fresh. Can't see this being a problem.
I've got some thoughts for variation below though.
This recipe makes LOADS of mince pies, so you'll have them coming out of your ears.

Pastry:
200g Plain Flour
100g Butter
1 Egg
2tbsp Icing Sugar

• Blend (by hand or mixer) the flour, icing sugar and butter to the breadcrumb stage.
• Add the egg to bind it together.
• Chill for an hour or so then roll out, cut into rounds and line a tart tin.
• Fill with a small teaspoon of mincemeat and top with smaller circles or christmassy shapes.
• Bake in a preheated oven (180°C) for 15-20 mins until golden brown.
• Cool on a rack and dust with icing sugar.
(makes at least 20)

Notes:
Potential variation ideas for the mincemeat...
• Add cranberries, should sharpen it up a bit.
• Add chopped dried apricot and use Amaretto liquer instead of brandy.

I came accross this recipe which in turn comes from here. I then gave it a go, and developed it to vary the ingredients. First of all I didn't feel the squash added much to it, so not worth the extra effort, but I thought there'd be some value in the charred sweetness of roasted red pepper. So, the ingredients picture below is in fact the Spinach & Feta, but the finished article is the Red Pepper & Olive. You need to substitute the spinach for olives and use one red pepper.

Anyway, these are deceptively simple to throw together and cook in no time so you have to give them a try.

• Preheat oven to 200°C and grease a muffin tin.
• Chop the pepper and roast for 10-15 minutes until softened and slightly charred.
• Leave to cool slightly, then place in a mixing bowl with a handful of chopped parsley, a handful of chopped olives, 2 tablespoons of grated parmesan, cubed feta, salt & pepper, seeds and a teaspoon of mustard. Mix lightly.
• Mix the eggs and milk together, then add to the bowl.
• Sift the flour into the bowl and bring together quickly. Don't overmix.
• Place large spoonfuls in the muffin tin and bake for 10-15 minutes.
(Makes 12)

Notes:
• You can set aside a little feta and seeds to sprinkle on top before baking

I’ve been making this for a while now. I can’t quite remember where the idea came from at first, I think I was just looking for something new to do with minced beef.
Anyway, this is what came about. It’s a bit time consuming, but all that time simmering leads to fantastic flavour. I couldn’t believe I’d been living without these in my repertoire for so long.

• Mix the beef, bread (make into breadcrumbs first), herbs, salt & pepper together in a bowl until well combined.
• Fry each one gently to brown the outside.
• Meanwhile, finely chop the onion and garlic, place in a large saucepan and sweat over a low heat in a little oil. Set aside.
• When the onion has softened, add the chopped tomatoes to the pan, bring to the boil, season with fresh herbs, salt and pepper then simmer to reduce the liquid slightly.
• When the mixture has thickened, place the meatballs in the mixture, cover and continue to simmer for 20-30 minutes depending on the size of the meatballs.
• Serve hot spooned over spaghetti with a sprinkling of cheese.

Notes:
• Don’t be tempted to over mix the meat or use a food processor. Smooth textured meatballs are not pleasant.
• You can also add an egg to the meatball mixture, I didn't on this occasion but it can help it bind together.
• This forms the basic recipe, nothing stopping you experimenting with other additions… chilli, pepper, mushrooms etc.
• You can simplify the process by not frying the meatballs first, they’ll still cook through, just without a smoother, paler outside.

The Licker Bowler...

Brownies...

Welsh Cakes...

Turkey Burgers...

Flan Pâtissier...

Peanut Butter & White Choc Brownies...

Apple & Almond Cake...

Bacon Gratin Pie...

Hazelnut Cake...

Grandma's Fruit Loaf...

Easter Pudding...

Mini Cheese & Leek Quiches...

Crumble Topped Fruit Muffins...

Quiche...

Banana, Honey & Oat Muffins...

Lemon Sponge Fingers...

Bakewell Slices...

Black Bottom Cupcakes...

Mince Pies (from scratch)...

Red Pepper & Olive Muffins...

Meatballs & Spaghetti...

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