Banoffee Pie

I had forgotten how good this dessert is! It had been a while since I made it last, but last week I made it twice!
Not a light dessert, I have to say, but one of my favourite!

Banoffee Pie

1 packet of oat chocolate digestives (or any similar biscuits)
3 tbsp butter
1 tin of condensed milk (~400g)
2 large bananas
180 ml whipping cream
Cocoa powder for sprinkling

Put the tin of milk (without opening it!!) in a saucepan full of boiling water and boil for 2 hours.

In the meantime, crush the biscuits in a plastic bag with a rolling pin. You can use a food processor/blender, but I personally like the big-ish lumps you get when doing it manually.

Melt the butter in a pan and mix the biscuit crumbs in.

Transfer the crumbs mix into a glass dish and push down with the back of a spoon to have an even base. Place on the fridge to set.

After the two hours, take the milk tin out of the pan and let it cool down. Open it carefully and pour the toffee over the biscuit base. Leave in the fridge to cool down.

Thinly slice the bananas and place the slices over the toffee.

Whip the double or whipping cream and pour over the banana slices. Smooth out and sprinkle the chocolate on top.

Oaty bread!

Lovely white bread with some porridge oats and wheat germ. It's fully made in the breadmaker (no time for anything else!).

Oat and Wheat Germ Loaf

1 tsp yeast

400 g strong white flour

1 1/2 tsp sugar

2 tbsp olive oil

1 1/4 tsp salt

50 g wheat germ (or wheat bran)

50 g porridge oats

350 ml water

Add all the ingredients to the breadmaker in the correct order for your machine and start the basic (white) - bake program.

Once finished take the bread out and let it cool down on a wire rack.

Cake

After my plan for making a "Tarta de Santiago" didn't work out (it would be the most expensive cake ever, considering the price of the almonds here in Denmark), I decided to make this cake instead, which is one of my favourites.

Pistachio, cardamom and yogurt cake (with lime syrup)

150 g pistachio nuts
1/2 tsp ground cardamom
150 g unsalted butter, chopped
185 self-raising flour *
310 g caster sugar
3 eggs (at room temperature)
125 g plain yogurt
1 lime

Preheat the oven to 180C. Lightly grease a 20 cm round cake tin and line the base with baking paper.

Place the pistachios and the cardamom in a food processor and pulse until just chopped. Add the butter, flour and 185 g of the caster sugar and pulse for 20 seconds or until crumbly. Add the combined eggs and yogurt and pulse for 10 seconds, or until just combined. Spoon into the tin and smooth the surface.

Bake for 45-50 minutes, or until a skewer inserted into the centre of the cake comes out clean.

To make the syrup, peel the zest of the lime (try not to get any of the white stuff). Place the rest of the caster sugar and 100 ml of water in a saucepan and stir over low heat until the sugar has dissolved. Bring to the boil, then add the lime zest and cook for 5 minutes. Strain and cool slightly. Pierce the cake with a few skewer holes and pour the hot syrup over the cake.

* Today I didn't have self-raising flour so I used 185 g of plain flour and 6 g of baking powder.

Pasta bake

I'm not usually a big fan of pasta bakes, I prefer fresh pasta with a simple sauce, but I thought this was more interesting with the butternut squash and the creme fraiche.

Squash and bacon pasta bake

1 butternut squash
Olive oil
3 garlic cloves, peeled and sliced
400 g pasta
100 ml creme fraiche
100 g cheddar cheese (or your choice of grated cheese)
12 slices of bacon

Peel the squash and chop into small cubes.

Heat a splash of olive oil in a pan and fry the garlic over a medium heat until it starts to brown.

Add the squash and a small glass of water. Cover with a lid and simmer for about 20 minutes or until the butternut squash is soft. Then uncover and cook until the water has almost disappeared.

Remove from the heat and mash the squash. Season with salt and pepper.

Cook the pasta according to the packet instructions, then drain.

Mix the pasta with the mashed squash and the creme fraiche on a bowl. Stir in most of the cheese and then spoon into a baking dish. Top with the rest of the cheese and the bacon slices.

Bake in the oven at 200C for 30 minutes, until the bacon is crispy.

Irish soda bread

Another quick bread, with no rising or proving needed. However, a bit of kneading is necessary, but all in all this is an easy, good looking bread!

Irish soda bread

250 g plain flour
250 g wholemeal flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
30 g unsalted butter, diced
300 ml buttermilk

Sift together the flours, the soda and the salt into a a large bowl.

Add the butter and rub it into the flour using your fingers, until it's evenly mixed.

Make a well in the flour and pour the buttermilk. Mix with a wooden spoon until the mixture is soft and crumbly.

Knead on a lightly floured surface for about 3 minutes, until the dough is smooth and silky (I used the mixing Kenwood for this).

Shape into a round (15 cm diameter and 5 cm thick approx). Dust with flour and cut a cross on the top (about 2 cm deep) from side to side.

Bake at 200C for 35 minutes.

Cover with a tea towel and leave to cool on a wire rack.

Buttermilk muffins with a jam heart

This is my first recipe with buttermilk... In a few days I'll also be uploading the results of my first go at Irish soda bread, but for the moment here's the recipe for this surprisingly good muffins!

Jammy buttermilk muffins

280 g plain flour

1 tsp bicarbonate of soda

1/2 tsp salt

125 g caster sugar

1 egg

250 ml buttermilk

50 ml water

90 ml sunflower oil

Jam of your choice (I used raspberry)

Preheat the oven to 195C and prepare the muffin tins.

Sift together the flour, bicarbonate, salt and sugar in a large bowl.

In another bowl, beat the egg with a fork and add the buttermilk, water and oil, mixing it all together.

Add the wet ingredients into the dry and stir just enough to mix it (don't overstir!).

Spoon half the batter into the tins, then add a dollop of the jam an cover with the rest of the batter.

Bake for 23 minutes.

Petit pains au lait

A pretty simple recipe for very soft milky bread...

Petit pains au lait

2 tsp fast action yeast
450 g strong white flour
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 tbsp caster sugar
55 g butter, diced
300 ml milk

Add all the ingredients to the breadmaker in the right order for your machine and start the white/dough programme.

Once it's finished, turn the dough into a floured surface and divide it in 12 portions.

Shape each portion into a long bread roll. The way I do this is by first making a ball with both my hands (with a circular motion) and then making the roll on the kitchen top like I was working with plastiline (forwards and backwards with the palm of my hand). Place in an oven tray with some space between them.

Leave to rise for 30 minutes, until doubled in size.

Make some cuts diagonally in each roll with a sharp knife and brush with milk.

Bake in the preheated oven, at 200C for 30 minutes until golden on top.

Turn to cool into a wire rack.

Seeded Moroccan loaf

It doesn't feel very Moroccan-ish to me, maybe the honey? In any case it's turned out to be quite good... Really soft inside and full of sunflower seeds, mmmm... The original recipe suggested sunflower, pumpkin and sesame seeds, but I added what I had, sunflower, sesame, linseed and flaxseed.

Seeded Moroccan loaf

1 1/2 fast action dried yeast

350 very strong white flour

1 tsp salt

1 tbsp honey

225 ml warm milk

3 tbsp each of sesame, linseed and sunflower seeds (or whichever seeds you have/prefer)

Some extra seeds for sprinkling

Put the ingredients in the breadmaker in the right order for your machine and start the dough/raisin programme.

Once it's finished, turn the dough into a floured surface and shape into a round loaf.

Leave to rise for 45 minutes covered with a tea towel, until doubled in size.

Brush with egg and sprinkle with sunflower seeds (or any other seeds).

Bake in a preheated oven at 200C for 30 minutes.

Turn to a wire rack to cool.

Zopf

This bread looks great and it tastes even better! It's a plaited white loaf with milk.

Zopf

2 tsp fast action dried yeast

500 g strong white flour

1 1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp white sugar

60 g unsalted butter

egg glaze (1 egg and 1 tbsp milk)

Add the ingredients to the breadmaker in the right order for your machine. Start the white/dough programme. Once it has finished divide the dough in three equal pieces.

Roll each piece into a long rope (around 40 cm). Starting in the middle of the ropes, plait the bread (first to one side and then the other). Press the ends of the ropes together and tuck them neatly under the plait. 

Leave to prove until doubled in size for 40 minutes, covered with a tea towel. Then brush the top with the egg glaze.

Bake in the oven at 180C for 40 minutes. Leave to cool on a wire rack.

Quick seedy yogurt bread

I love this bread... It's really quick to make, no kneading, rising or proving, and it's perfect for breakfast. It's made with normal plain flour so no need for bread flour. It's easy to cut, freezes and toasts well - what else can you ask for?
You can make it with mixed chopped nuts or with a mixture of seeds and either way it tastes great.


Seedy yogurt bread

1 tbsp sunflower oil
375 g plain flour
125 g wholemeal flour
1 tsp salt
1 tsp cream of tartar
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
3 tbsp each of sesame and poppy seeds (or 90 g of mixed chopped nuts)
90 g sunflower seeds
1 tsp runny honey
170 g yogurt *
340 g milk *
2 tbsp sunflower seeds, for sprinkling

Grease a loaf tin with some sunflower oil.

Sift the flours, salt, baking powder, baking soda and cream of tartar in a large bowl. Add the seeds (sesame, poppy and 90g of sunflower) or the mixed nuts and stir.

Mix the honey, milk, yogurt and oil together and then stir into the dry ingredients. Mix to form a soft dough.

Pour the dough into the loaf tin and flatten the top with a spatula. Sprinkle the sunflower seeds.

Bake at 180C for 1 hour until golden and risen. Take out of the tin and leave to cool on a wire rack.

* In total you need 500 ml between the milk and the yogurt. I buy 170 g pots of yogurt, so I need to use 340 g of milk to complete the 500 ml. If you have a different size of yogurt, adjust the milk to get to 500 ml.

Salmon and spinach quiche

This is not a very special recipe, although it's a nice dish, but I'm adding it to the blog because the base of the quiche is also homemade.
The base is not quite like shortcrust pastry, it's a lot more "biscuity/bready", but it goes very well with the spinach and salmon. Also, the original recipe uses smoked salmon, but I think it's a shame to cook it so I use normal raw salmon.

Salmon and spinach quiche


For the base

175 g plain flour
75 g margarine
1 tbsp sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp baking powder
1 eg
2 tbsp cold water

For the filling

300 g salmon
Frozen spinach (approx 1/2 packet)
3 eggs
300 ml whipping cream
Salt and pepper

To make the base, mix all the ingredients together and leave in the fridge for 1 hour.

Extend into a 24 cm round quiche plate and poke with a fork, then leave in the fridge while you prepare the filling.

Defrost the spinach and squeeze out any water. Beat the egg with the cream and season with salt and pepper.

Spread first the spinach, then the salmon and finally the egg mix into the base.

Bake at 200C for 40 minutes.

And another wholemeal bread with seeds

Today I tried another of the wholemeal everyday loafs. This one is full of goodness! It has wholemeal, granary and rye flour, rolled oats and seeds.

Again, the original recipe had more than 700g of flour, so I've used 1/3 of all ingredients, which leaves the quantities a bit strange.


Multigrain harvest bread

5 g fast-action dried yeast
185 g wholemeal strong flour
185 g strong granary flour
75 g rye flour
37 g rolled oats
9 g salt
1/2 tsp light soft brown sugar
17 g butter, diced
1 tbsp malt extract
100 ml warm milk
200 ml warm water
40 g (in total) of poppy, sesame and sunflower seeds (plus some more to sprinkle)

Add all the ingredients in the right order for your machine and start the wholemeal/dough raisin programme.

Once the programme has finished, turn the dough into a floured surface and shape into a round (or anything you prefer). Leave to rise for 30 minutes or until doubled in size.

Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 220C. Brush the top of the bread with some milk and sprinkle with some seeds.


Bake in the oven for 15 minutes, then reduce the temperature to 190C and bake for a further 20 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack to cool.

Finally some wholemeal bread

As requested by my sister Laura, this is a wholemeal bread, although not seedy. I must admit that most of the wholemeal breads I've tried tend to be a bit dry, but not this one!

Sorry about the strange quantities for the ingredients. The original recipe had more than 700g of flour, and it wouldn't fit in my breadmaker, so I decided to do 1/3 of all the ingredients...



Malted wholemeal loaf

1 1/2 tsp fast-action dried yeast
300 g strong granary flour
150 g strong wholemeal flour
17 g butter, diced
10 g salt
1 tbps malt extract
200 ml warm water
100 ml warm milk
Kibbled (cracked) wheat, to sprinkle

Get all the ingredients into the breadmaker (check the order for your machine) and start the wholemeal/dough program.

Once the program has finished, turn the dough into a floured surface and shape into a loaf. Leave it to rise for around 40 minutes until doubled in size.

Brush with milk and sprinkle with the kibbled wheat. You can make some cuts or decorate as you prefer.

Bake at 200C for 40 minutes. Turn to cool into a wire rack.

White bread rolls

A bit boring, I guess... These are just pretty simple buns, but they're quite nice, the dough is really easy to work with and they're lovely for breakfast, so here they go...

Breakfast buns

1 1/2 tsp fast-action dried yeast
450 g strong white flour
1 1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp caster sugar
25 g butter, diced
150 ml warm milk
150 ml warm water

Put all the ingredients in the breadmaker (they're already in the right order for my machine, but yours might be different, check the instructions). Start the white-dough program.

Once the dough is ready, knock back and place in a lightly floured surface. Divide the dough in 12 equal-ish pieces and shape each one into a small bun.

Place the buns in a baking sheet and leave to rise, covered, for 30 minutes, until they double in size.

Brush the buns with milk and dust with flour.

Bake at 200C for 20 minutes, until lightly golden. Move them to a wire rack to cool.

Celery and walnut bread

Yes, I know, it doesn't sound very nice, but it is! This bread has more of a cake texture, which is expected looking at the ingredients, and it's lovely with butter. The celery doesn't give much flavour (which is a good thing, I guess) but the walnuts and cheese do (which can only be a good thing :-))




Here it goes...

Celery and Walnut bread

225 g self-raising white flour
1 tsp baking powder
55 g butter, diced
2 celery sticks, very finely chopped
55 g walnuts, chopped
85 g grated cheese (I used mature Cheddar)
Salt and pepper
1 egg, beaten
4 tbsp milk

Sift the flour and baking powder into a bowl. Add the butter and mix, preferably with the fingers, until it looks like breadcrumbs.

Add the celery, walnuts, cheese and salt/pepper and mix. Add the egg and the milk and mix until the dough is soft but not sticky. Knead on a lightly floured surface until smooth.

Shape the dough (I made a "loafy" shape). The original recipe suggests using a loaf tin, but I didn't have one small enough (the dough is quite small).

Bake at 190C for 45 minutes and then leave to cool on a wire rack.

Pesto rolls without pesto

I didn't cover them in oil, so they stuck to each other! Apart from that, quite nice...

Pesto rolls

Very easy to make, although I managed to stain my new fancy oak dinner table :-(

The consistence of the rolls is really good, and the pesto makes them very tasty.

I'll definitely be trying to make them without the pesto as breakfast rolls.

Pesto Rolls

1 tsp fast action yeast
350 g strong white flour
150 g malted grain flour*
1 tsp salt
1 tbsp olive oil

For the topping

2 tbsp olive oil
2 tbps pesto

Put all the ingredients in the breadmaker in the right order for your machine, and start the white - dough programme.

Once the programme has finished, knead the dough for a few more minutes, then divide it in 8 pieces, and shape each piece into a roll.

Oil a ring-shaped oven tin. Mix the oil and pesto in a bowl and with two forks coat each roll on all sides with the pesto mix, placing them in the oven tin.

Leave to rest until doubled in size (there is no need to cover them), approximately 40 minutes.

Bake at 200C for 25 minutes. Once they've finished leave them to rest in the tin for 5 minutes and then place them in a wire rack for cooling down.

For the malted grain flour I've used the one in the picture, which has wheat flour, malted wheat flakes and barley malt flour. 

Biscuits!

These biscuits are really good! They crumble in your mouth and they're soooo unhealthy! :-P Love them!

White chocolate and cardamom biscuits

125 g butter (softened)
25 g caster sugar
125 g plain flour
60 g cornflour
3 cardamom pods
25 g white chocolate chips
1 tsp orange flower water
50 g white chocolate

Mix the butter and sugar and beat until pale and fluffy. Add the sifted flours (both plain and cornflour) to the butter and sugar and mix until well combined and smooth.

Get the small seeds from the cardamom pods (discarding the husks) and crush them to a fine powder. Add the cardamom, chocolate chips and orange flower water to the butter/flour mix and combine well.

Place the dough in a piece of cling film and form a sausage (size is up to you!).

Leave the "sausage" in the fridge for at least an hour.

Slice the dough into pieces of around 1 cm thick. Place in a baking sheet and bake for 25 minutes. Move to a wire rack to let them cool down.

Once the biscuits are cold, melt the rest of the white chocolate and decorate the biscuits.

Haddock with a bit of spice!

I bought a jar of "mojo verde picante" for Christmas this year and I didn't really know what to do with it (there's a limit on how many potatoes with mojo you feel like eating!) so I found a recipe online for haddock with mojo verde and sort of adapted it... I'm not going to write a proper recipe for it, but I'm adding it to the blog because it's quite nice and a bit different.

Basically you boil some potatoes. Then you mix them with the mojo (up to you how much, depends on your taste for hot food!), mash it and form pancakes. Then fry the pancakes in a pan until they get a bit golden. Then fry the haddock fillet in a bit of oil. And that's it! Pancake on bottom, haddock on top and a bit of mojo to decorate.

Nutella and hazelnut biscuits

I've taken this recipe from the Ma Petite Boulangerie blog... She has the most amazing recipes!!!

I'm back!

After a bit of a break to have a baby :-), I'm back baking! The truth is that I've baked quite a few things since last post, but time is a bit more precious these days to spending updating the blog... I've now been threatened with losing one of my five(!) followers so here we go...

Sundried tomatoes and rosemary loaf

Very tasty bread, and surprisingly, quite spongy and soft. We had it with fresh mozzarella, rocket salad and sundried tomatoes :-) Yummy!

1 tsp fast action yeast
350 g strong white flour
150 g malted flour
1 tsp salt
55 g chopped sundried tomatoes in oil (drained)
2 tbsp tomato oil (from the sundried tomatoes jar)
1 tbps fresh rosemary (chopped)
320 ml water

As usual, I prepare the dough in the breadmaker (white basic - dough setting). Once is finished, take it out and shape it into a round loaf (or any other shape if you prefer). I leave it to prove for 40 minutes and then bake it at 200C (top and bottom oven) for 40 minutes. Then leave it to cool down on a wire rack.