S discovered a new word while surfing Urban Dictionary the other day: procrasturbaking (meaning, baking as a form of procrastination). Yesterday I was a little short of sleep / hungover after aerial show and subsequent drinks, and just really didn't feel like working (it was Sunday!). So I read some Guardian online instead, and found this biscuit recipe. And then I procrasturbaked.
The recipe was easily veganisable, which tempted me. And I love golden syrup. Also it's another good opportunity to use stuff up - this time weird hot chocolate in the form of dusty chocolate chunks, and homemade crystallised ginger and candied peel.
(makes approx. 20 biscuits)
50 g golden syrup
150 g light brown soft sugar (I used a mixture of this and raw sugar and it was fine)
90 ml sunflower oil
1 tsp vanilla essence
60 ml fake milk
210 g plain flour
¼ tsp bicarbonate of soda
¼ tsp salt
100 g candied ginger (used a mixture of candied ginger and candied peel)
100 g dark chocolate, chopped into small chunks
Zest of 1 orange (added candied peel to the ginger instead)
Heat the oven to 180C / 350F and line two baking trays with baking paper.
Measure the golden syrup, sugar, oil, vanilla essence and fake milk into a large bowl and mix. In a separate bowl mix the flour with the bicarb and salt, then add this to the wet ingredients. Stir until the just combined, then add the candied ginger, chocolate and orange zest (or candied peel).
Put teaspoons of the batter on the prepared baking trays, leaving space for spreading. Bake for 15-17 min, until the cookies’ edges are golden brown and the centres are puffy. Leave to cool for ~10 min then transfer to a wire rack to finish cooling.
I had to put one tray in the bottom of the oven, which it turns out is really hot. So those ones were a little burned. The rest were excellent though - nice texture, and the ginger / orange / chocolate combination is definitely a good one. Clever idea to use syrup to make a chewy texture. I think these would be easily made gluten-free as well (I'd sub plain flour with an almond-rice-cornflour mix similar to this) - the golden syrup may help with binding.
Showing posts with label candied peel. Show all posts
Showing posts with label candied peel. Show all posts
Monday, October 27, 2014
Sunday, March 10, 2013
Hamantaschen (vegan and gluten-free)
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| L-R: normal dough with prune-poppyseed filling, GF dough with apricot-almond filling, GF dough with spiced fig-cocoa filling |
Ever since I tried Hamantaschen I wanted to make them, and to make them vegan (and GF so my friends A+H can eat them). They are basically a free-standing jam tart, folded into a triangular shape, with some sort of fruity or seedy filling in the middle. They are traditionally eaten for Purim. Loosely, Purim: is 'like the Jewish Halloween' ie people get dressed up; you're supposed to get so drunk you forget the difference between good and evil (or something like that); Haman is a villain involved somewhere; Hamantaschen are supposed to represent Haman's hat (?). Purim is always around this time of year, although it varies and this year it was actually late February, when I was very much distracted by Pancake Day and S's birthday, so I didn't get around to Hamantaschen until I was reminded by this post - it seemed like exactly the recipe I had been dreaming of. I decided to follow the recipe to ensure success for some, and make a series of deviations for others.
Normal dough
(makes 20-25 - taken from this recipe)
1/3 cup coconut oil (solid state)
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup almond milk
1/2 tsp lemon zest
2 tsp vanilla essence
1 7/8 cups flour
1 tbsp cornstarch
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
Gluten-free dough
(makes 20-25)
1/3 cup coconut oil (solid state)
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup almond milk
1 3/4 tsp vanilla essence
1/8 tsp almond essence
1/2 cup almond meal
3/4 cup gluten-free oat flour
1/2 cup rice flour
1/4 cup glutinous rice flour
1 tbsp chickpea flour
3 tbsp cornstarch
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp xanthan gum
Prune and poppyseed filling*:
4 oz dried prunes, chopped
1/8 cup poppyseeds
1/8 cup sugar
1 tbsp rum
1 tbsp orange juice
water
Apricot and almond filling*:
4 oz dried apricots, chopped
1/8 cup almonds, finely chopped
1/8 cup sugar
1 tbsp lemon juice
1 tbsp rum
water
Spiced fig and cocoa filling*:
(inspired by the delicious Fichi Girotti (stuffed fig sweetmeats) we ate in the town of Amelia in Italy)
4 oz dried figs, chopped
1/8 cup walnuts, finely chopped
1/8 cup sugar
1 tbsp cocoa powder
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp mahlab
2 tbsp candied orange peel
1/2 tsp orange zest
1/8 tsp almond essence
1 tbsp rum
water
* Each filling recipe given here makes enough to fill approx 1/3 of the total from the combined GF + normal dough quantities above. Other alternative fillings are any kind of jam, thick stewed fruit, nutella, anything you like really.
To make dough, beat the coconut oil and sugar together in a mixing bowl with a fork until well combined (will still be a bit crumbly). Warm the milk to about hand hot and add it to the bowl gradually, beating to incorporate. Add in the essence(s) and zest (if using). Separately, mix together the flour(s), cornstarch, baking powder and salt (and xanthan gum if using) with a fork. Add about half of the flour mix to the oil mix and beat until combined. Then add the rest of the flour and mix until a stiff dough is formed. It will still be a little soft. Wrap the ball(s) (make two if doing a double quantity of either dough) in clingfilm and put in the fridge for 30-60 min.
In the meantime, make the filling(s). Put the dried fruit in a small pan with the nuts or seeds, sugar and any dried spices. Measure the liquid ingredients into a measuring cup and make the quantity of liquid up to 1/4 cup by adding water, then add the liquid to the pan. Cover and simmer until the dried fruit are soft and squishy. Add more water if it seems to be getting too thick - it should end up like a thick jam.
Preheat the oven to 350F. Line two or more baking sheets with baking paper. Flour a clean surface, then take a ball of dough out of the fridge, remove clingfilm and roll out to about 3mm thick. Cut into circles about 3 inches diameter (I used a Coke glass). Put a tsp of filling in the centre of a dough circle, then fold up three sides to create a shape like a tricorn hat, pinching the corners together tightly. Repeat for all the circles, moving the completed tricorns to the baking sheet when done. Gather the excess dough and roll out again to make more circles and continue with the process until all the tricorns are filled. Bake the biscuits for 18-20 minutes, checking and rotating the sheets after 10 min. The bases will colour golden, but the tops will remain quite pale. Cool on a wire rack.
My favourites of all these variants were the GF dough with apricot filling - if you were going to make one kind of dough and one kind of filling that's what I would recommend. The GF dough held its shape much better than the normal one - I think mainly because it puffed up less. Half to two thirds of the normal dough ones came undone at the corners while cooking, and where I'd used a runnier filling especially they ended up as circular cookies covered in jam. In those cases, plenty of jam slid off onto the baking sheet and I was very glad I'd lined the sheets with paper - would have been a huge pain to clean otherwise.
All in all, I thought these were great (they took me a while to make, but that would be much reduced if you stuck to one kind of dough and one kind of filling). And all the ones I took to a seed swap this morning disappeared (a particular hit with one little girl), so they seemed to be a success. There's loads of scope for varying the recipe (even more than I did already) - was thinking a savoury version might make a great canape. I love the cleverness of the simple folding - you can make an open tart without needing any kind of a baking mold.
Sunday, November 4, 2012
This year's parkin (+Bonfire Night)
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| Shane's photo |
225g plain flour
3½ tsp ground ginger
¾ tsp ground nutmeg
½ tsp bicarbonate of soda
a pinch of salt
125g medium oatmeal (used steel cut oats)
100g unsalted butter, softened (used fake butter)
125g light soft brown sugar
zest of ½ lemon
100g treacle (used a mixture of blackstrap molasses and carob molasses)
75g golden syrup
50ml milk (used fake milk)
50g mixed peel, finely chopped
Grease a deep, 20cm square cake tin and line the base with baking paper. Heat the oven to 180C (160C fan-assisted)/350F/gas mark 4. Sift the flour, spices, soda and salt into a bowl, then stir in the oatmeal. In another bowl beat the butter, sugar and zest until light and fluffy. Add the treacle and syrup, beat again until creamy and smooth, then add the milk and the dry ingredients, and beat quickly until smooth once more. Fold in the mixed peel, then spoon the mixture into the tin. Cover the top with foil, bake for 40 minutes, then remove the foil and bake for a further 20 minutes, until a skewer comes out clean.
It came out well enough: the citrus was interesting and good. But a little dry: perhaps I left it in the oven a little too long? It was very brick-like, as ever with my parkins. We celebrated last night, with a bonfire and lots of sparklers at Andrea's, and people seemed to like it.
Sunday, February 12, 2012
Citrus rice pudding
Noted this recipe a while ago: from the Guardian, by Nigel Slater. It sprang to mind when thinking about gluten-free things to make.
Serves 4-6
150 g pudding rice (or any rice that will go slooshy, e. g. risotto rice)
500 ml water
500 ml fake milk
3 tbsp candied peel
1 lightly heaped tbsp orange zest
1 lightly heaped tbsp lemon zest
4 tbsp sugar
Put the rice in a heavy-based saucepan, pour in the water and milk and bring to the boil. Turn the heat down so the rice simmers gently and leave for 15 minutes, with the occasional stir. Add the peel, the finely grated zests and the sugar. Partially cover with a lid and cook over a low heat for 15 minutes, stirring until most of the liquid is absorbed. Keep a check on the liquid – it should be thick and creamy. Pour into a dish and leave to cool, then chill thoroughly for a couple of hours. Check for consistency and add more milk to make it good, if desired.
Looked kind of gross - became a kind of orangey-brownish colour. But tasted good: pungently citrussy and not too sweet.
Serves 4-6
150 g pudding rice (or any rice that will go slooshy, e. g. risotto rice)
500 ml water
500 ml fake milk
3 tbsp candied peel
1 lightly heaped tbsp orange zest
1 lightly heaped tbsp lemon zest
4 tbsp sugar
Put the rice in a heavy-based saucepan, pour in the water and milk and bring to the boil. Turn the heat down so the rice simmers gently and leave for 15 minutes, with the occasional stir. Add the peel, the finely grated zests and the sugar. Partially cover with a lid and cook over a low heat for 15 minutes, stirring until most of the liquid is absorbed. Keep a check on the liquid – it should be thick and creamy. Pour into a dish and leave to cool, then chill thoroughly for a couple of hours. Check for consistency and add more milk to make it good, if desired.
Looked kind of gross - became a kind of orangey-brownish colour. But tasted good: pungently citrussy and not too sweet.
Friday, April 29, 2011
Royal wedding afternoon tea
We decided to have an afternoon teaparty to celebrate the Royal Wedding (William and Catherine). It was kind-of Nick's idea, then I ran with it, with Seb's encouragement. I made loads of Union Jack bunting of all sizes, and a ridiculous collage - all from scrap paper and a few print-outs. We bought six teacups and saucers and a teapot and 2 tablecloths all from thrift stores (about $15 total). And then made lots and lots of food and drink...
Savoury:
Cucumber and mint sandwiches (on light wholewheat bread that I thought would be white)
Tomato and basil sandwiches (on wholewheat bread)
Tomato, olive and rosemary scones (GF)
Pretzels (Seb's)
Sweet:
Tealoaf
Green tea buns
Orange, semolina and orange blossom cake
Raisin scones with strawberry jam / lemon 'curd'
Peanut butter cookies (GF)
Whole, fresh strawberries
Drinks:
Mint tea (from Bella's watering can)
Various black teas (mostly Earl Grey) - thanks to Nick and Alvin for lending teapots
Pimms (with lemonade, fizzy grapefruit juice, mint, strawberries, oranges and cucumber)
Lemon slices, sugar, almond milk to go with
Other people brought:
Scones (Beth + Per)
Blueberry and Apricot pies (Luis and Ana)
Hummus, falafel and pitta from Rami's (Kishore, Suzanne and Ramil)
Gingersnaps (Andrea)
Digestive biscuits, cake stand, teapot, tea and milk (Nick)
GF chocolate cookies, teapot and tea (Alvin)
Mini cupcakes and lemon sugar cookies (Katy)
Prep and washing-up skills (Andy)
Tealoaf
2 Earl Grey teabags
125g golden caster sugar
300g mixed dried fruit (raisins, golden raisins, currants and candied peel)
225g plain flour, sifted
2 1/2 tsp baking powder
Zest and juice of 1 unwaxed lemon
2 tbsp clear honey, to glaze
Place the tea bags in a heat-proof bowl and add 300ml boiling water. Leave to steep for 5 minutes. Remove the tea bags, add the sugar and stir to dissolve. Add the fruit and leave in a cool place to stand for between 4-12 hours, depending on how much time you have.
When ready to cook the tealoaf, preheat the oven to 180°C / 356F / gas mark 4. Line a 1kg loaf tin with baking parchment.
Drain the fruit and mix in some flour (to coat raisins and stop them sinking). Add the flour and the zest and juice of the lemon to the tea mixture and beat well. Add the fruit back in and beat some more. Pour into the lined tin and bake for 1-1¼ hours, or until golden on top / a skewer comes out clean. Allow the loaf to cool in the tin for 10 minutes. While it’s cooling, warm the honey slightly in a small pan or microwave then brush the honey over the top of the loaf with a pastry brush. Serve thinly sliced, with tea.
Green tea buns
1 1/4 cups plain flour
3/4 cups sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
3-4 tsp green tea powder (I just ground up some dried leaves)
1/3 cup canola oil
1 cup rice milk
1 tsp vanilla essence
juice of 1 small lime (~2 tbsp)
For icing:
~1 tbsp margarine
1 cup icing sugar
1/8-1/4 tsp green tea powder
1 drop green food colouring
1/2 tsp vanilla essence
~1 tbsp rice milk
Flaked almonds to decorate
Heat oven to 350F. Mix the dry ingredients with a fork. Add the wet ingredients and mix til just combined. Fill cups 3/4 full and bake for 20-25 min.
For the icing, beat the margarine then add the sugar and tea powder. Add the vanilla, food colouring and enough rice milk to make a good pouring (but not too runny) texture.
When buns are completely cool, cover tops with icing (it's OK if it runs a little), and decorate each with flaked almonds (I tried to arrange these to look a bit like a heart).
Semolina, orange and orange blossom cake
Followed this recipe (veganized).
For the cake
300g/11oz semolina
175g/6oz soft brown sugar
175g/6oz plain flour
40g/1½oz ground almonds
1½ tsp baking powder
1 orange, zest only
75g/3oz fake butter, melted, plus extra for greasing
225ml/8fl oz fake milk
16 blanched almonds / almond flakes
For the syrup
150g/5fl oz acacia honey
110ml/4fl oz water
1 tbsp orange blossom water
1. Preheat the oven to 180C/350F/Gas 4 and grease a 20cm/8in
loose-bottomed square baking tin (used 2 x 8in cake tins lined with foil).
2. For the cake, mix the semolina, sugar, flour, ground almonds, baking
powder and orange zest together in a bowl until well combined.
3. Gradually stir in the melted butter and milk until you have a smooth
batter.
4. Pour the batter into the greased tin and carefully arrange the
almonds on top in 4 rows.
5. Transfer to the oven and bake for 30-40 minutes, or until the cake is
golden-brown on top and a skewer inserted into the middle comes
out clean.
6. Meanwhile, for the syrup, heat the honey, water and orange blossom
water in a saucepan over a low heat, stirring constantly, for 2-3
minutes, or until the mixture is smooth and has thickened slightly.
7. When the cake is cooked, remove it from oven, prick the surface
several times with a toohpick, and slowly pour the syrup over the
surface of the cake. Set the cake aside to cool and absorb the syrup.
8. To serve, cut the cake into 16, so that there is an almond in
the middle of each piece. Serving suggestion with whipped cream (or greek yoghurt) if not vegan.
Scones
From this recipe.
Ingredients
225g/8oz self raising flour
pinch of salt
55g/2oz fake butter
25g/1oz caster sugar
150ml/5fl oz fake milk
1-2 oz raisins
~ 2 tbsp fake milk to brush on top
1. Heat the oven to 220C/425F/Gas 7. Lightly grease a baking sheet.
2. Mix together the flour and salt and rub in the butter. Mix in the raisins.
3. Stir in the sugar and then the milk to get a soft dough.
4. Turn on to a floured work surface and knead very lightly. Pat out to a
round 2cm/¾in thick. Use a 5cm/2in cutter to stamp out rounds and
place on a baking sheet. Lightly knead together the rest of the dough
and stamp out more scones to use it all up.
5. Brush the tops of the scones with fake milk. Bake for 12-15
minutes until well risen and golden.
6. Cool on a wire rack and serve with fake butter and jam.
I also made a GF / savoury version leaving out the sugar, using gram flour instead of normal flour, adding tomato paste to the milk mix, and adding chopped olives and fresh rosemary.
For both sets of sandwiches, took sliced bread, removed crusts (made these into breadcrumbs for future use), then lightly (fake) buttered one side, then added veg + herb filling, seasoned with salt and pepper, closed sandwich and sliced into quarters.
The tealoaf was excellent - really simple and really moist / excellent flavour. Definitely a keeper.
I was really pleased with the green tea cupcakes / buns too - when I opened what I thought was a packet of green tea powder I found it was actually leaves, so decided to risk grinding them in my spice grinder to make powder. It worked quite well, to my surprise, and I think the amount of green tea was about right - definite taste and colour without being too much. The frosting was pretty good too - colour was a bit icky without the food colouring, but with it was fine. And they looked pretty cute in the end I thought.
The semolina cake was alright. I liked the semolina and orange / orange blossom, but it was a very dense, almost rubbery texture. The syrup was really a lot when I added it - it was drowning in it. But after I left it to cool there didn't seem to be any problems with that. Perhaps using the wrong container to cook it didn't help? I was relieved that it came out of the container quite easily though. I kind of like this as a vegan cake recipe, and like the use of semolina - worth playing around with?
The scones were awful. The sweet ones were edible with the addition of jam or curd, but didn't rise or colour properly. Was the oven temp too high? The savoury ones were overpowered by the gram flavour and texture (better to use half and half gram and cornmeal?)... Beth's were much better!
The sandwiches were surprisingly good, esp the cucumber and mint. Seb had a pretzel embarrassment - he was very disappointed.
 |
| Green tea buns (L); cucumber+mint sandwiches (top), savoury scones (middle), tomato+basil sandwiches (bottom) |
Savoury:
Cucumber and mint sandwiches (on light wholewheat bread that I thought would be white)
Tomato and basil sandwiches (on wholewheat bread)
Tomato, olive and rosemary scones (GF)
Pretzels (Seb's)
Sweet:
Tealoaf
Green tea buns
Orange, semolina and orange blossom cake
Raisin scones with strawberry jam / lemon 'curd'
Peanut butter cookies (GF)
Whole, fresh strawberries
Drinks:
Mint tea (from Bella's watering can)
Various black teas (mostly Earl Grey) - thanks to Nick and Alvin for lending teapots
Pimms (with lemonade, fizzy grapefruit juice, mint, strawberries, oranges and cucumber)
Lemon slices, sugar, almond milk to go with
Other people brought:
Scones (Beth + Per)
Blueberry and Apricot pies (Luis and Ana)
Hummus, falafel and pitta from Rami's (Kishore, Suzanne and Ramil)
Gingersnaps (Andrea)
Digestive biscuits, cake stand, teapot, tea and milk (Nick)
GF chocolate cookies, teapot and tea (Alvin)
Mini cupcakes and lemon sugar cookies (Katy)
Prep and washing-up skills (Andy)
Tealoaf
2 Earl Grey teabags
125g golden caster sugar
300g mixed dried fruit (raisins, golden raisins, currants and candied peel)
225g plain flour, sifted
2 1/2 tsp baking powder
Zest and juice of 1 unwaxed lemon
2 tbsp clear honey, to glaze
Place the tea bags in a heat-proof bowl and add 300ml boiling water. Leave to steep for 5 minutes. Remove the tea bags, add the sugar and stir to dissolve. Add the fruit and leave in a cool place to stand for between 4-12 hours, depending on how much time you have.
When ready to cook the tealoaf, preheat the oven to 180°C / 356F / gas mark 4. Line a 1kg loaf tin with baking parchment.
Drain the fruit and mix in some flour (to coat raisins and stop them sinking). Add the flour and the zest and juice of the lemon to the tea mixture and beat well. Add the fruit back in and beat some more. Pour into the lined tin and bake for 1-1¼ hours, or until golden on top / a skewer comes out clean. Allow the loaf to cool in the tin for 10 minutes. While it’s cooling, warm the honey slightly in a small pan or microwave then brush the honey over the top of the loaf with a pastry brush. Serve thinly sliced, with tea.
Green tea buns
1 1/4 cups plain flour
3/4 cups sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
3-4 tsp green tea powder (I just ground up some dried leaves)
1/3 cup canola oil
1 cup rice milk
1 tsp vanilla essence
juice of 1 small lime (~2 tbsp)
For icing:
~1 tbsp margarine
1 cup icing sugar
1/8-1/4 tsp green tea powder
1 drop green food colouring
1/2 tsp vanilla essence
~1 tbsp rice milk
Flaked almonds to decorate
Heat oven to 350F. Mix the dry ingredients with a fork. Add the wet ingredients and mix til just combined. Fill cups 3/4 full and bake for 20-25 min.
For the icing, beat the margarine then add the sugar and tea powder. Add the vanilla, food colouring and enough rice milk to make a good pouring (but not too runny) texture.
When buns are completely cool, cover tops with icing (it's OK if it runs a little), and decorate each with flaked almonds (I tried to arrange these to look a bit like a heart).
Semolina, orange and orange blossom cake
Followed this recipe (veganized).
For the cake
300g/11oz semolina
175g/6oz soft brown sugar
175g/6oz plain flour
40g/1½oz ground almonds
1½ tsp baking powder
1 orange, zest only
75g/3oz fake butter, melted, plus extra for greasing
225ml/8fl oz fake milk
16 blanched almonds / almond flakes
For the syrup
150g/5fl oz acacia honey
110ml/4fl oz water
1 tbsp orange blossom water
1. Preheat the oven to 180C/350F/Gas 4 and grease a 20cm/8in
loose-bottomed square baking tin (used 2 x 8in cake tins lined with foil).
2. For the cake, mix the semolina, sugar, flour, ground almonds, baking
powder and orange zest together in a bowl until well combined.
3. Gradually stir in the melted butter and milk until you have a smooth
batter.
4. Pour the batter into the greased tin and carefully arrange the
almonds on top in 4 rows.
5. Transfer to the oven and bake for 30-40 minutes, or until the cake is
golden-brown on top and a skewer inserted into the middle comes
out clean.
6. Meanwhile, for the syrup, heat the honey, water and orange blossom
water in a saucepan over a low heat, stirring constantly, for 2-3
minutes, or until the mixture is smooth and has thickened slightly.
7. When the cake is cooked, remove it from oven, prick the surface
several times with a toohpick, and slowly pour the syrup over the
surface of the cake. Set the cake aside to cool and absorb the syrup.
8. To serve, cut the cake into 16, so that there is an almond in
the middle of each piece. Serving suggestion with whipped cream (or greek yoghurt) if not vegan.
Scones
From this recipe.
Ingredients
225g/8oz self raising flour
pinch of salt
55g/2oz fake butter
25g/1oz caster sugar
150ml/5fl oz fake milk
1-2 oz raisins
~ 2 tbsp fake milk to brush on top
1. Heat the oven to 220C/425F/Gas 7. Lightly grease a baking sheet.
2. Mix together the flour and salt and rub in the butter. Mix in the raisins.
3. Stir in the sugar and then the milk to get a soft dough.
4. Turn on to a floured work surface and knead very lightly. Pat out to a
round 2cm/¾in thick. Use a 5cm/2in cutter to stamp out rounds and
place on a baking sheet. Lightly knead together the rest of the dough
and stamp out more scones to use it all up.
5. Brush the tops of the scones with fake milk. Bake for 12-15
minutes until well risen and golden.
6. Cool on a wire rack and serve with fake butter and jam.
I also made a GF / savoury version leaving out the sugar, using gram flour instead of normal flour, adding tomato paste to the milk mix, and adding chopped olives and fresh rosemary.
For both sets of sandwiches, took sliced bread, removed crusts (made these into breadcrumbs for future use), then lightly (fake) buttered one side, then added veg + herb filling, seasoned with salt and pepper, closed sandwich and sliced into quarters.
The tealoaf was excellent - really simple and really moist / excellent flavour. Definitely a keeper.
I was really pleased with the green tea cupcakes / buns too - when I opened what I thought was a packet of green tea powder I found it was actually leaves, so decided to risk grinding them in my spice grinder to make powder. It worked quite well, to my surprise, and I think the amount of green tea was about right - definite taste and colour without being too much. The frosting was pretty good too - colour was a bit icky without the food colouring, but with it was fine. And they looked pretty cute in the end I thought.
The semolina cake was alright. I liked the semolina and orange / orange blossom, but it was a very dense, almost rubbery texture. The syrup was really a lot when I added it - it was drowning in it. But after I left it to cool there didn't seem to be any problems with that. Perhaps using the wrong container to cook it didn't help? I was relieved that it came out of the container quite easily though. I kind of like this as a vegan cake recipe, and like the use of semolina - worth playing around with?
The scones were awful. The sweet ones were edible with the addition of jam or curd, but didn't rise or colour properly. Was the oven temp too high? The savoury ones were overpowered by the gram flavour and texture (better to use half and half gram and cornmeal?)... Beth's were much better!
The sandwiches were surprisingly good, esp the cucumber and mint. Seb had a pretzel embarrassment - he was very disappointed.
Sunday, December 12, 2010
Christmas Baking
Christmas Cake
(based on Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall's one from the Guardian website)
200g sultanas (I used golden raisins - sultanas are hard to find in the US)
200g currants (used raisins - currants also hard to find here)
150g dried apricots, chopped (used mixture of figs, peaches, raisins)
150g prunes, diced (used mixture of dates and cranberries)
150g raisins (used cranberries)
60g candied peel (see below for recipe)
60g dried cherries or cranberries (used glace cherries)
Grated zest and juice of 1 orange (used 2 clementines)
Grated zest of 1 lemon
200ml Somerset apple brandy (used 150ml Pimms)
110g hazelnuts, roasted and roughly chopped
200g unsalted butter (used vegan margarine)
100g light muscovado sugar (used golden sugar)
80g dark muscovado sugar (used dark brown sugar)
4 eggs, lightly beaten (used flax eggs)
250g plain flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 heaped tsp mixed spice (ginger / cinnamon / allspice)
1/4 of a nutmeg, grated
1/4 tsp salt
90g stem ginger, finely chopped
Recipe said to soak first nine ingredients in a bowl, add the brandy, stir, cover and leave for 48 hours - I didn't do this and added the booze when I mixed up the ingredients instead.
Preheat the oven to 140C/275F/gas mark 1. Grease a round 22-24cm x 9cm, loose-bottomed cake tin, and line with parchment to come 4cm above the sides. Pulse half the hazelnuts until very fine. Beat the butter and sugars till fluffy, then beat in the 'eggs' one by one (if it begins to curdle, add a little flour). Sieve the flour, baking powder, spices and salt, then stir gently into the batter. Fold in the fruit, nuts, pimms and ginger, spoon into the tin, smooth and bake for two to two and a quarter hours (took more like 3 1/4 - think I would increase cooking temperature if I made it again, just to like 300F or so), until a skewer (or knitting needle) comes out clean. (If it browns before it's done, cover with parchment.) Leave to cool in the tin, then remove and wrap in a double layer of foil. Store in a cool, dry place, feeding it with a slug of brandy every two weeks.
For decorating:
300g whole dried fruits, such as figs, apricots, apple slices, cherries
120g nuts, such as hazelnuts, walnuts, Brazil nuts, almonds
150g warm apricot jam, strained
A day or so before the big day, brush with warm apricot glaze, lay the fruit and nuts on top, and glaze again. Store in an airtight container.
Took a long time to cook. Perhaps 160C / 320F would have been better? I made it 2 weeks before Christmas so that is how long it'll have to mature I guess - will have to see how it tastes then.
Edit: Fed once with more Pimms a week after making, then it was Christmas a week later so I decorated it on Christmas Eve. Warmed a little strawberry jam (didn't have apricot) and brushed it on top, then rolled out about half a pound (maybe more) of marzipan from Polcari's in Little Italy to about 0.5cm thick and pressed it around the cake. Brushed a little more jam on top (used about 5 tbsp jam total I guess) and then arranged sliced dried figs, walnut halves, halved glace cherries and hazelnut on top and glazed with a little more jam. Would have tied ribbon around the outside if I had some (perfect stuff left over from happy hour is sitting at work, oh well. It was fun to mix in the good bits of cake decoration - I don't like royal icing much, but I have a guilty love for glace cherries. It tastes really good! A bit sticky, perhaps because of the smoke alarm going off and me therefore curtailing the cooking time a little, but it's yummy. The candied ginger addition really made it, I think - definitely try and use ginger in future xmas cakes.
Candied Peel
Wash and chop peel (say 1 cup - any mixture of lemon, orange, clementine, grapefruit etc). Put in pan with water. Bring to the boil for 10-15min then drain. Repeat 3 times. Then make sugar water syrup (1 cup of each) and boil with peel until evaporated. Spread on a baking sheet and put in switched-off oven overnight to dry out.
Mincemeat
(do about several weeks in advance of use)
-adapted from a recipe I found somewhere in the internets and forgot where (sorry).
3/4 pint cider
1 lb / 450g soft dark brown sugar
1 lb cooking apple (cored and chopped finely / not peeled - any kind of apple will do if can't find cooking apples - they are hard to find in the US)
1 tsp mixed spice (cinnamon / nutmeg / allspice / ginger / cloves)
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp ginger
pinch ground cloves
12 oz currants (used golden raisins)
12 oz raisins
8 oz sultanas (used cranberries)
4oz glace cherries (used dried cherries)
4oz candied peel
4 oz chopped almonds (used flaked)
1 orange, juice and zest (used 2 clementines)
1 lemon, juice and zest
1/4 pint brandy or rum (used double amount of Pimms)
1) put cider and sugar in a pan, heat til dissolved
2) add rest except alcohol and boil (stir constantly)
3) lower heat and partially cover. simmer ~45min to thicken
4) cool completely. add alcohol. put in sterile jars (pack down carefully to avoid air bubbles).
5) Add discs of greaseproof or waxed paper to tops of jars, then lid and store.
deffo fine after 2 weeks. not sure how long it'll last - no suet as preservative, is it enough booze? a less thick texture than using fat, but still tastes really good.
Mince Pies
Traditional Pastry
4oz (~100g) plain flour
2oz (~50g) vegan margarine
(for sweet pastry add 1oz sugar)
Rub fat into flour. Add a little water to combine. Rest in the fridge for 30min.
Seed / nut / pulse pastry (vegan / gluten free)
50g ground almonds
60g cooked chickpeas, mashed to a stiff paste (organic tinned are fine)
100g Doves Farm gluten-free plain flour (or 50g gram flour, 50g rice flour)
2 tbsp sesame seeds
40g sunflower margarine (or cold-pressed plain sesame or safflower oil)
sparkling water, to bind
Combine seeds, ground almonds, flour (used normal flour) and ground chickpeas. Rub in fat and mix with a fork. Add a little water to combine. Rest in the fridge 30min.
For any pastry:
Roll out and cut into rounds for pie bases (deep fill used tall plastic measure beaker / normal size used Coke glass). Put bases into bun tin (or muffin tin - that's all I had and it was OK). Fill with mincemeat or a mixture of mincemeat and cooked apple (or pear, or nashi pear - I cooked with a little sugar and a little cinnamon). Cut out stars and put them on the tops. Bake at 400F/200C for ~20min, til golden brown and crisp. Leave to cool before trying to remove from trays.
Both types of pastry came out better than I expected. We liked the seedy one - more interesting. Seedy stuff made 11 deep fill mince pies; classic stuff in total made 14 normal size ones - I guess the quantities are intended to do about 12?
Also managed to set off the fire alarm (good to test it I guess?) through overspill from xmas cake onto bottom of oven where it burned. We wafted it and it was OK.
(based on Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall's one from the Guardian website)
200g sultanas (I used golden raisins - sultanas are hard to find in the US)
200g currants (used raisins - currants also hard to find here)
150g prunes, diced (used mixture of dates and cranberries)
150g raisins (used cranberries)
60g candied peel (see below for recipe)
60g dried cherries or cranberries (used glace cherries)
Grated zest and juice of 1 orange (used 2 clementines)
Grated zest of 1 lemon
200ml Somerset apple brandy (used 150ml Pimms)
110g hazelnuts, roasted and roughly chopped
200g unsalted butter (used vegan margarine)
100g light muscovado sugar (used golden sugar)
80g dark muscovado sugar (used dark brown sugar)
4 eggs, lightly beaten (used flax eggs)
250g plain flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 heaped tsp mixed spice (ginger / cinnamon / allspice)
1/4 of a nutmeg, grated
1/4 tsp salt
90g stem ginger, finely chopped
Recipe said to soak first nine ingredients in a bowl, add the brandy, stir, cover and leave for 48 hours - I didn't do this and added the booze when I mixed up the ingredients instead.
Preheat the oven to 140C/275F/gas mark 1. Grease a round 22-24cm x 9cm, loose-bottomed cake tin, and line with parchment to come 4cm above the sides. Pulse half the hazelnuts until very fine. Beat the butter and sugars till fluffy, then beat in the 'eggs' one by one (if it begins to curdle, add a little flour). Sieve the flour, baking powder, spices and salt, then stir gently into the batter. Fold in the fruit, nuts, pimms and ginger, spoon into the tin, smooth and bake for two to two and a quarter hours (took more like 3 1/4 - think I would increase cooking temperature if I made it again, just to like 300F or so), until a skewer (or knitting needle) comes out clean. (If it browns before it's done, cover with parchment.) Leave to cool in the tin, then remove and wrap in a double layer of foil. Store in a cool, dry place, feeding it with a slug of brandy every two weeks.
For decorating:
300g whole dried fruits, such as figs, apricots, apple slices, cherries
120g nuts, such as hazelnuts, walnuts, Brazil nuts, almonds
150g warm apricot jam, strained
A day or so before the big day, brush with warm apricot glaze, lay the fruit and nuts on top, and glaze again. Store in an airtight container.
Took a long time to cook. Perhaps 160C / 320F would have been better? I made it 2 weeks before Christmas so that is how long it'll have to mature I guess - will have to see how it tastes then.
Edit: Fed once with more Pimms a week after making, then it was Christmas a week later so I decorated it on Christmas Eve. Warmed a little strawberry jam (didn't have apricot) and brushed it on top, then rolled out about half a pound (maybe more) of marzipan from Polcari's in Little Italy to about 0.5cm thick and pressed it around the cake. Brushed a little more jam on top (used about 5 tbsp jam total I guess) and then arranged sliced dried figs, walnut halves, halved glace cherries and hazelnut on top and glazed with a little more jam. Would have tied ribbon around the outside if I had some (perfect stuff left over from happy hour is sitting at work, oh well. It was fun to mix in the good bits of cake decoration - I don't like royal icing much, but I have a guilty love for glace cherries. It tastes really good! A bit sticky, perhaps because of the smoke alarm going off and me therefore curtailing the cooking time a little, but it's yummy. The candied ginger addition really made it, I think - definitely try and use ginger in future xmas cakes.
Candied Peel
Wash and chop peel (say 1 cup - any mixture of lemon, orange, clementine, grapefruit etc). Put in pan with water. Bring to the boil for 10-15min then drain. Repeat 3 times. Then make sugar water syrup (1 cup of each) and boil with peel until evaporated. Spread on a baking sheet and put in switched-off oven overnight to dry out.
Mincemeat
(do about several weeks in advance of use)
-adapted from a recipe I found somewhere in the internets and forgot where (sorry).
3/4 pint cider
1 lb / 450g soft dark brown sugar
1 lb cooking apple (cored and chopped finely / not peeled - any kind of apple will do if can't find cooking apples - they are hard to find in the US)
1 tsp mixed spice (cinnamon / nutmeg / allspice / ginger / cloves)
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp ginger
pinch ground cloves
12 oz currants (used golden raisins)
12 oz raisins
8 oz sultanas (used cranberries)
4oz glace cherries (used dried cherries)
4oz candied peel
4 oz chopped almonds (used flaked)
1 orange, juice and zest (used 2 clementines)
1 lemon, juice and zest
1/4 pint brandy or rum (used double amount of Pimms)
1) put cider and sugar in a pan, heat til dissolved
2) add rest except alcohol and boil (stir constantly)
3) lower heat and partially cover. simmer ~45min to thicken
4) cool completely. add alcohol. put in sterile jars (pack down carefully to avoid air bubbles).
5) Add discs of greaseproof or waxed paper to tops of jars, then lid and store.
deffo fine after 2 weeks. not sure how long it'll last - no suet as preservative, is it enough booze? a less thick texture than using fat, but still tastes really good.
Mince Pies
Traditional Pastry
4oz (~100g) plain flour
2oz (~50g) vegan margarine
(for sweet pastry add 1oz sugar)
Rub fat into flour. Add a little water to combine. Rest in the fridge for 30min.
Seed / nut / pulse pastry (vegan / gluten free)
50g ground almonds
60g cooked chickpeas, mashed to a stiff paste (organic tinned are fine)
100g Doves Farm gluten-free plain flour (or 50g gram flour, 50g rice flour)
2 tbsp sesame seeds
40g sunflower margarine (or cold-pressed plain sesame or safflower oil)
sparkling water, to bind
Combine seeds, ground almonds, flour (used normal flour) and ground chickpeas. Rub in fat and mix with a fork. Add a little water to combine. Rest in the fridge 30min.
For any pastry:
Roll out and cut into rounds for pie bases (deep fill used tall plastic measure beaker / normal size used Coke glass). Put bases into bun tin (or muffin tin - that's all I had and it was OK). Fill with mincemeat or a mixture of mincemeat and cooked apple (or pear, or nashi pear - I cooked with a little sugar and a little cinnamon). Cut out stars and put them on the tops. Bake at 400F/200C for ~20min, til golden brown and crisp. Leave to cool before trying to remove from trays.
Both types of pastry came out better than I expected. We liked the seedy one - more interesting. Seedy stuff made 11 deep fill mince pies; classic stuff in total made 14 normal size ones - I guess the quantities are intended to do about 12?
Also managed to set off the fire alarm (good to test it I guess?) through overspill from xmas cake onto bottom of oven where it burned. We wafted it and it was OK.
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