Great British Bake Along: Hazelnut and Chocolate Orange-filled Biscuits

I am sure you are all watching the Great British Bake Off as religiously as I am, tuning in to BBC One each Wednesday at 8pm to see Mary and Paul crush the dreams of amateur bakers like biscuits under buffaloes.

The standard is incredibly high this year - I can't help but think that I've missed my chance to be on the Bake Off, so I'll have to settle for continuing to surreptitiously stalk Paul around BBC studios (see my post from April 2013) and food shows.

This week was biscuits, which inspired me to get my bake on and make some biscuits myself. I had some hazelnuts left over from my Nutella cupcakes, so I decided to incorporate them in the recipe.

So I flicked through a recipe book, heavily adapted a recipe and these were the end result:

They're almost like a grown up version of these, which you'll probably remember if, like me, you grew up in the 90s:

Although of course my biscuits are much superior and flavoured with hazelnut and orange. 

If you bake much, you'll probably sometimes use ground almonds, either completely or partially replacing the flour in the recipe. You can use nearly any kind of nut in the same way, but you need to be aware of the oils in the nuts. For instance, the recipe I adapted this from originally used ground almonds, but as the ground hazelnuts seemed oilier to me than the almonds, I mixed in the egg yolks one by one, seeing how they affected the biscuit dough.

In the end I used one less egg yolk than the original recipe and I think I made the right call. The biscuits were still rich, but also crisp and had a good snap in them, as Mary would say.

You will need a blender if you want to use hazelnuts - if you don't have some maybe just use ground almonds.

This makes between 12-15 biscuits, but some of mine had an accident. I'd advise you don't try to lift the biscuits off your baking sheets by lifting the greaseproof paper they're on, because you may well tip them onto the floor:

You will need:

For the biscuits:

100g hazelnuts (blanched if possible, but I'll show you how to skin them)

1 tbsp baking powder (but only if the hazelnuts aren't blanched)

200g plain flour

80g icing sugar

125g butter, cut into cubes

2 large egg yolks

2 lined baking sheets

biscuit cutters - preferably 1 round with crimped edges and 1 much smaller heart, star or similarly exciting shape 

For the ganache filling:

200g dark chocolate

200ml double cream

zest of one orange

2 tsp orange flavouring or liqueur such as Cointreau

1. If your hazelnuts aren't blanched, boil a pan of water and add the baking powder when it comes to the boil. The water will fizz up - add the hazelnuts quickly and boil for 3-4 minutes.

2. Drain the water and rub the hazelnuts with a piece of kitchen towel to remove the skins. I had the help of Mike, my glamorous assistant and housemate, to do this and it still took ages so I really would recommend you get blanched hazelnuts if possible.  

3. Put the hazelnuts, icing sugar and flour in a blender and process until the hazelnuts resemble coarse grains of sand. Tip into a large mixing bowl and use your fingertips to rub the butter into the mixture.

4. Add the egg yolks to the mixture and work in with your hands until the dough is firm enough to be rolled into a ball. Flatten slightly, wrap in clingfilm and chill in the fridge for 15 minutes.

5. Meanwhile, set the cream and chocolate in a bowl over a pan of barely simmering water, adding the orange flavouring or liqueur and zest. The water mus not touch the bottom of the bowl, or the chocolate will seize up.

6. Keep an eye on the chocolate and cream and stir every now and then. Take it off the heat when the chocolate and cream are combined and the mixture is thick and glossy. Set aside to cool.

7. Preheat the oven to 180C and use a clean, well-floured work surface roll out the dough to the thickness of a pound coin. Use the round cutter to cut out as many biscuits as possible and put them on the baking sheets - you may have to slide a knife under them to be able to lift them. Once they are on the sheets cut hearts or other shapes into the centre of half of the biscuits and, using the cut out hearts and other offcuts, roll out dough again and cut more biscuits until the dough is all used up. Chill for 15 minutes in the fridge.

8. Put the biscuits in the oven and bake for 10-12 minutes until lightly coloured. Leave to cool.

9. When the biscuits are cool and the ganache is starting to set, spread ganache on the biscuits that don't have holes in using a knife or the back of a spoon. Then put a biscuit with a heart shaped hole on top of each and press together lightly. Leave until the ganache sets properly, then eat!

You could serve these with a little piped swirl of whipped cream and a whole hazelnut on the top. You could even (forgive me, Mary and Paul), use squirty cream, but I certainly didn't and I shudder to think of that abomination sitting on my lovely, delicately flavoured biccies.

I hope my colleagues will enjoy these on Monday, or those that I and my housemates haven't yet scoffed. They were very appreciative of my crumble bars last week.

Happy baking,

Ellie

xxx 

Go Nuts for Nutella Cupcakes

This is just a quick blog to show you the results of my first dip into the Hummingbird Bakery Cookbook, which I believe I received for my last birthday.

Birthdays are always very exciting for me, but this year I was faced with a number of moral dilemmas, such as: when should I start lying about my age? Should I start using anti-ageing cream yet? Is it ethical to continue not to wear foundation at the age of 23 and blithely inflict my naked face on unsuspecting members of the public?

Someone obviously knew I was going to find turning 23 hard, because they bought me this book, which contains recipes that just make everything better.

As a child, Nutella for breakfast was one of the best things about going abroad, because it's somehow more acceptable in the rest of Europe than it is in Britain. I have no idea why this is.

So these cupcakes, packed with gooey Nutella, are a real treat and make me feel about 10 again. They should probably be enjoyed only occasionally (they are very rich) and with a good cup of tea.

You will need:

For the cakes:
100g plain flour
20g cocoa powder
140g caster sugar
1½ tsp baking powder

40g butter

120ml milk, semi skimmed or whole

1 egg

120g chocolate and hazelnut spread (such as Nutella, although I hasten to add other brands of spread are available)

a 12-hole cupcake tray, lined with paper cases

For the topping:

250g icing sugar

80g butter

25ml milk

80g hazelnut and chocolate spread

36 whole hazelnuts (optional)

1. Preheat the oven to 170 C and beat the butter and caster sugar together until light and fluffy.

  

2. Beat in the milk and sugar, adding a little of the flour and cocoa to stop the mixture curdling.

3. Beat in the rest of the flour, cocoa and baking powder. 

4. Spoon the mixture into the paper cases and bake for 20 minutes.

5. Meanwhile, beat together the icing sugar and butter for the topping.

6. Beat in the milk and Nutella and mix until evenly coloured throughout.

7. When the cupcakes are well risen and smelling chocolatey, take them out of the oven and leave to cool. Once cooled, use a sharp knife to cut out a small section of each.

8. Put a little dollop of Nutella into each hole.

9. Spread the frosting over the cupcakes with the back of a spoon and top each with 3 hazelnuts.

And you're done. If, like me, you are someone who occasionally needs chocolate like they need oxygen, these cakes are for you.

Enjoy responsibly. I will not be held to account for your cake headache if you eat 3 of these on the trot.

Thanks to the good people at the Hummingbird Bakery for this great recipe.

Until next time,

Ellie

xxx

Blackberry and Apple Crumble, Jam and Bars

I have just done so much baking that I kind of want to lie down in a dark room, cry for a prolonged period and never bake again.

However, it is Bake Off season, so do to something of that kind would be high treason against Mary Bezza and the silver fox (Mary Berry and Paul Hollywood), so instead I shall regale you with my tales of a weekend very heavy on baking.

Due to the wonder that is global warming, blackberry season is upon us already. So two of my housemates and I decided this weekend would be a great opportunity for a picnic/blackberry picking expedition.

We bought a load of goodies from Sainsbury's, Matt baked some apple and cheese bread, I baked cupcakes, Mike contributed cider, we loaded up my picnic hamper and set off for a local park.

I had strategically packed many of our foodstuffs into tupperwares, so after a picnic accompanied by lashings of homemade lemonade and cider and a bit of frisbee, we found a patch of brambles and started picking.

It was an idyllic afternoon, despite our hands getting completely ripped to shreds by briars, the boys getting bitten by insects and me having to go for not one but two "alfresco" toilet breaks behind trees.

We brought back around 3kg of blackberries - so all in all a very successful afternoon's foraging.

 

But what was I going to do with all the blackberries? We froze about 1kg, but we didn't have room to store any more without the berries going bad. Jam was one option - but we already had a half eaten jar of damson jam I made last year in the fridge, so I didn't want to make more than one jar.

There was only one option - crumble. Pretty much the easiest baked dessert ever - tasty stewed fruit topped in a buttery crunchy crumb mixture. Amazing.

I've never measured out the ingredients for a crumble before, so this was quite difficult and I hope you appreciate the effort I went to. I learnt to make crumble watching my mum do it, so I've always make crumble by eye. This time I measured out what I thought looked right and it turned out pretty good - in fact "the best crumble I've ever tasted" according to my housemate Matt.

So here it is - will serve around 6 normal people or 4 very greedy people:

You will need:

For the filling:

2 sliced Bramley apples or other cooking apple variety

600g blackberries

150g caster sugar

For the topping:

250g plain flour

150g butter, cubed

75g caster sugar

1. Put aside a large handful of the blackberries and put the rest of the fruit in a large, heavy bottomed pan. Mix in the caster sugar and cook over a medium heat until the slices of apple are soft. 

2. Put the fruit in a fairly deep baking dish and scatter over the blackberries you set aside earlier. Preheat the oven to around 200 C.

3. Put the flour, butter and sugar in a large mixing bowl and use your fingertips to rub the butter into the flour and sugar, making a crumb-like mixture. Spread evenly over the fruit and bake for around 30-45 minutes until the topping is golden brown and fruit juice is bubbling up around the edges. Serve with single cream.

For a little added flavour or texture you could mix cinnamon, oats or granulated sugar into the topping.

I know you're already speechless with gratitude at me bestowing this crumble recipe on you. But wait. I'm not done yet. After all, I still had over 1kg of blackberries left and no more freezer space. 

So I did make jam. It's an essential skill that goes with baking - that's why Mary and Paul are always torturing their bakers by getting them to make jam.

A lot of people have problems with jam not setting. It's all about pectin and setting temperature - if you're using a low-pectin fruit like blackberries you'll have to add something like apple, which has high levels of pectin. You also will need to heat the jam to around 104 C to ensure it sets, so you may need a jam or sugar thermometer.

I call this "Bramble Patch Jam" and I made up the recipe all by myself and tested it today. It's pretty good.

You will need:

1kg blackberries

1 Bramley apple, grated

400g sugar

juice of 1 lemon 

1 jam or sugar thermometer

a sterilised jam jar (you can sterilise jars by putting them in the dishwasher or boiling them but be careful not to scald yourself!)

1. Strain the blackberries through a sieve, forcing them through with the back of a spoon so that only the seeds and skins are left in the sieve. Add the ingredients to a large pan and bring to the boil.

2. Boil the fruit for a good 15-20 minutes, skimming off any froth and bringing the temperature up until it reaches 104 C.

3. Putting a funnel in the mouth of the jam jar and being very very careful (that jam is HOT) pick up the pan and pour the jam into the jar.

4. Put a small disc of greaseproof paper on top of the jam whilst still hot and seal tightly.

  

If you manage to seal the jam so it's airtight, it should last for months like this, even if you don't have such a pretty cover on it.

This must be it, you're thinking. The gifted, beautiful Ellie is going to wrap up this blog post and leave us, bereft, until her next post. 

WOAH THERE. I'm not done with you get, buddy. This last recipe is inspired by crumble and completely fabricated by me. But I'm pleased with the results.

I call these "Crumble Bars" - two layers of buttery, crumbly pastry sandwiched together with my Bramble Patch Jam:

You will need:

250g butter 

500g plain flour

75g caster sugar

half a jar of "Bramble Patch Jam"

1. Preheat the oven to 200 C and rub the butter, flour and caster sugar together with your fingertips to make a crumbly mixture.

2. Press half the mixture into the bottom of a lined, greased baking tin and spread with the jam. Don't spread it right to the edges or it will ooze out while the bars are baking.

3. Spread the rest of the crumbly mixture over the top and press down lightly to firm it up.

4. Bake for 45 minutes to an hour before leaving to cool and cutting into squares of crumbly deliciousness.

And that is, I'm afraid, really is the end of my blackberry adventure, for now at least.

Goodbye for now, don't forget to watch the Great British Bake Off at 8pm on Wednesday aaaand keep baking.

Ellie

xxx

Vanilla Glazed and Cinnamon Dusted Doughnuts

Cautionary notice: these are BAKED doughnuts. If you are looking for fried doughnuts you will need to look elsewhere, sorry!

Today is my last day in my job as a banking journalist.

Yes, that's right, I am moving on from my first "proper" job, moving up a rung on the career ladder, seeking new pastures etc etc ad nauseum.

I am actually feeling a little nauseous right now after the huge celebratory/commiseratory lunch I just had with some colleagues.

But moving swiftly on - I decided to do one last bake for my colleagues. I'd been dying to make baked doughnuts again, so this time I experimented a little bit and used strong white bread flour instead of plain.

The results were variable - the doughnuts had a great texture - airy, light, yet chewy. But the dough was really hard to work, so they came out all kinds of shapes. 

Don't even try to talk to me about the ring doughnuts, I don't want to talk about them.

I think next time I might try a cake doughnut that can be piped, because that way I will be certain to produce something that will work with my doughnut pan.

Last time I made mini glazed ring doughnuts they were perfect, but I can't remember which recipe I used and I'm afraid I suspect it may have been an "Ellie special" i.e. completely made up.

Never mind.

Here is what I did make:

apple-sauce-filled-cinnamon-dusted doughnuts and;

custard-filled-vanilla-glazed doughnuts.

This recipe makes 24, 12 of each flavour. Don't panic if it looks like your dough is much smaller than mine - I was making 48 doughnuts - there are a lot of people in my office!

You will need:

For the doughnuts:

320g strong white bread flour
35g caster sugar

125ml semi skimmed milk
15g butter plus extra to grease
1 egg, beaten
1½ tsp instant dried yeast

Small amount of cooking oil - I used rapeseed

1 icing syringe

1 pastry brush

For the cinnamon doughnuts:

35g butter

60g caster sugar

1½ tsp freshly ground cinnamon
1 small jar apple sauce or apple pureé (if you want to make your own there's an easy recipe here)

For the vanilla doughnuts:

1 quantity vanilla creme patisserie (recipe here)

70g icing sugar

1-2 tbsp milk

½ tsp vanilla bean paste/vanilla extract/vanilla seeds

1. Sift the flour, 35g of the sugar and the yeast into a mixing bowl. Put half of the cinnamon and the sugar for the cinnamon doughnuts in a shallow bowl and set aside. 

2. Put the milk and 15g of the butter in a pan and gently heat until butter is completed melted. Stir the dry ingredients until combined and make a well in the middle of the mixing bowl.

3. Pour in the milk, butter and beaten egg and mix with a spatula until it comes together into a loose, sticky ball. Lightly oil a clean surface and your hands and tip the dough onto the surface, then knead for 10 minutes until smooth and elastic. Put in a covered bowl and leave for 1 hour to rise until doubled in size.

4. When the dough has risen it will feel light and spongy. Punch it down and knead for 5 minutes. Grease a baking tray/your doughnut pan and roll the dough into 24 balls. Cover and leave for half an hour to an hour to prove, preheating the oven to 200C (180C if you have a fan oven) before they are ready to go in.

5. Bake the doughnuts for 8-10 minutes until golden brown. Cut a small hole in the side of each doughnut, then insert the (empty) icing syringe and wiggle it about a bit to make a cavity inside. Leave all doughnuts to cool, then set aside half of the doughnuts, preferably in an airtight box.

6. Fill the syringe with the creme patisserie and pipe the doughnuts full of it, then place these doughnuts on a cooling rack. Beat together the milk, vanilla icing sugar and brush this mixture over the doughnuts and leave to set.   

7. Wash the syringe and brush, then take the doughnuts you set aside earlier. Beat the remaining cinnamon into the apple sauce, then fill the syringe with it and pipe doughnuts full of apple sauce. Melt the 35g butter in a small pan and brush over the doughnuts, then roll them in the cinnamon and sugar you set aside earlier.

8. Store in an airtight box in a cool place and eat as soon as possible.

I still haven't got these quite right. Don't get me wrong - they're delicious. But they're also oddly shaped and very very hard to fill. Yesterday I was wondering if there was a way I could create a cavity in the doughnuts more successfully before I fill them.

Does anyone have any suggestions? How do you fill your doughnuts?

Ellie
xxx

Roti Flatbreads for Curry

Strictly speaking, this isn't baking. It doesn't go in the oven at any point, so it doesn't actually bake.

But it is a bread, they do flatbreads on the Great British Bake Off and it makes the perfect accompaniment to a curry. So there.

This is a quick, easy recipe that produces a lovely, fluffy bread that is just begging to be used to scoop up hot, fragrant dal or any other tasty Indian dish.

You need so few ingredients and they are all really things that anyone who bakes on occasion should have anyway. This recipe makes six.

You will need:
225g self raising flour
140ml water
1/2 tsp salt
1 tbsp olive oil, plus extra for brushing and frying

1. Sift the flour and salt into a bowl and sprinkle over the oil.

2. Add the water a little at a time, stirring with your hands as you do. You want a soft dough that is not too sticky, so you may not need to use all the water.

3. When the dough has come together, tip it onto a lightly floured work surface and knead. I'm sure I don't need to tell you how to do that, but just in case I do:

4. You will knead to need (haha, get it?) for about ten minutes, until the dough is soft, stretchy and easily malleable. When you stretch it you should be able to see long strands developing - these are the gluten strands. When the dough reaches this stage cover it and leave to rest for 30 minutes. You can have a rest too if you like.

5. Divide the dough into six equal pieces. Roll a piece out until it is about the size of a small plate and the thickness of a 20 pence piece. Brush both sides with oil and fold into thirds, then into thirds again. Set aside and repeat with other 5 pieces. Rest for 10 minutes.

6. Heat a little oil in a large pan and roll out the rotis to the same size and thickness as before. Fry each one on each side for a couple of minutes - when the underside is speckled brown it's ready to be flipped. You may need to re-oil the pan in between rotis.

7. Serve with your favourite homemade curry or dal. And probably a beer.

You may be able to see that my friend Alice, who I was cooking for, took a bite out of her roti before I'd taken a picture of it or even given her any curry. That's how good they are.

And that's it. Tasty, quick bread without all that faffing around waiting for it to rise. I'm not even convinced the second rest is necessary so I would leave that out if I was in a hurry.

Keep baking, begrudgingly or otherwise,

Ellie
xxx

Lemon and Poppyseed Cupcakes

I know, I know. I'm a terrible person. I haven't blogged for over a month and the irony is, I've been baking like a mad thing.

Mostly brioche. Industrial quantities of it. Don't ask.

So by way of appeasement I am offering you this lemon and poppyseed cupcake recipe.

This was yet another recipe where I opened a trusted recipe book, looked at the recipe and thought: Nah, I'm not going to do it like that. Having been an obsessive baker for going on three years now, I often think I know better than the meticulously researched books I look to for inspiration.

I'm not always right, but you win some, you lose some and with cakes, you can usually eat the evidence.

So I decided that a blend of light brown soft sugar and caster sugar would make these cakes more interesting, as would poppyseeds, some natural yoghurt and more lemon juice than the recipe dictated.

This recipe makes 16-18 small cupcakes, 12 muffins. Here you go, enjoy:

You will need:
1 tsp crushed cardamom seeds, pods removed
200g butter
3 eggs
50g plain flour
200g self raising flour
100g light brown soft sugar
100g caster sugar
1 tsp baking powder
2 tbsp lemon juice
2 tbsp natural yoghurt
2 tbsp poppyseeds
zest of one lemon

To glaze:
125g icing sugar
2-3 tbsp lemon juice
handful of mixed candied peel (optional)

1. Preheat the oven to 180C and line a muffin tray with paper cases.

2. Beat together the butter, caster sugar and brown sugar, then beat in the eggs one by one, adding a little of the plain flour with each to prevent the mixture curdling.

3. Beat in the lemon juice, zest, poppyseeds, yoghurt, cardamom and then sift and fold in the self raising flour.

4. Distribute evenly between cases and bake for 20 minutes or until golden brown and the tops spring back when pressed lightly.

5. Set aside to cool. When completely cooled, beat together the lemon juice and icing sugar and drizzle over the cakes, then scatter over the mixed peel before the icing sets.

6. Devour.

These were very much appreciated in the office and in fact the boss had two and said he'd buy me a coffee.

He never did and now has to suffer me radiating silent resentment whenever he passes.

Judging by his complete lack of a reaction, he hasn't noticed.

I'll write again sooner this time, I promise.

Bye bye bakelings,

Ellie
xxx

Tangy Cheese Scones

Last week I had a friend over at short notice, so, like the domestic goddess I aspire to be, I quickly knocked up a batch of cheese scones and some pumpkin and lentil soup.

The great thing about cheese scones is that they can make a great savoury meal and are so quick to make you can be eating them, warm from the oven and slathered in butter, just half an hour after you get your mixing bowl out.

It was really hot when I made these and if I had been thinking about it I might have made a chilled soup - but I wasn't thinking about it. But I think these scones would go perfectly with a nice cold summer soup - maybe gazpacho or pea and mint.

You will need:
225g self raising flour
55g butter, cubed
50g mature cheddar or red Leicester (the colour looks great)
pinch of salt
½ tsp cayenne pepper
½ tsp paprika 
60ml milk
1 egg

1. Preheat the oven to 220C and lightly grease and flour a baking tray. Mix the flour and the salt, then add the butter and rub in with your fingertips to make a crumbly mixture.

2. Mix in the spices, 25g of the cheese and make a well in the middle of the dry ingredients.

3.  Add most of the beaten egg and milk. Stir together until the mixture comes together into a dough.

4. Roll the dough out to 2cm thick and use a 2 inch cutter with a crimped edge to stamp out as many scones as possible. Knead the offcuts together and repeat until all the dough is used up.

5. Brush the tops of the scones with the reserved egg and milk and dust with flour, then sprinkle the remaining cheese over the scones.

6. Bake for 12-15 minutes until well risen and golden.

6. Split and eat with butter and soup!

This is an easy, straightforward bake, even for a hot day. Rather than serving with soup, you could serve these scones with cream cheese and chopped chives, or just butter them.

Happy baking!

Ellie
xxx