So Lawrence could barely sit unaided until recently and now all of a sudden it’s action stations. Yesterday I rescued 2 remote controls, a Lego helicopter, a calculator, two mobile phones, a box of tissues, a nappy (unused), another baby, 3 plastic Octonaut toys, a laptop, a Hot Wheels track, a whisk, a rolling pin, 2 wooden spoons and some post from Lawrence. He’s one of ‘those’ babies. He’s wonderfully exhausting.
So what with all this racing about, I need Jaffa Cakes. Homemade ones. With a LOT of dark chocolate. Here we go…
I really wanted to post something hugely traditional like a Simnel cake, some regular hot cross buns or even some kind of lamb dish.
But I couldn’t. I opened the larder door and the chocolate chips called to me. I had some yeast sachets that needed using up, plus some strong white flour that’s almost done for. And I really don’t like waste you see. It bothers me hugely.
The rest is history. But look! They’re very pretty. See:
Well it wouldn’t be Easter without a Cadbury Crème Egg recipe. I’ve given you Cadbury Crème Egg mess and of course Cadbury Crème Egg chocolate flapjack in the past, but this time it’s the turn of the unbaked cheesecake. This is easy, assemble ahead stuff. It’s all the better for longer chilling in the fridge so make the day before if you can.
Have a wonderful Easter!
I made a lovely video with the Scoff folks to show how to make this Crème Egg cheesecake. You can see the vid on my YouTube channel and also the Scoff one. You can watch it below too.
Grease and line a 20cm springform tin with clingfilm – this is important as it makes it much easier to remove later. Mix the biscuits, melted butter and sugar together (you can use a food processor if you wish), stir in the chocolate chips and press into the tin using the back of a metal spoon. Chill in the fridge for 10 minutes.
To make the cheesecake layer, beat the cream cheese, icing sugar and vanilla extract in a stand mixer, with an electric handheld mixer or with a wooden spoon until combined. Then gently fold through the whipped double cream with a large metal spoon. Spoon a third onto your chilled biscuit base, then add half of the crème egg pieces, add another third, then the rest of the crème egg pieces and then the last third of the cheesecake mixture. Smooth until flatish and pop back in the fridge for 1 hour.
Melt the chocolate in short bursts in the microwave or over a bain marie then add the oil, stirring well. Pour over the top of the cheesecake and add the mini crème eggs to the top. Chill for another 2 hours.
To serve gently remove the springform tin and unpeel from the clingfilm. Cut into slices using a knife dipped in hot water for clean cuts, though beware this dessert is messy when served. Gobble it up quickly!
I struggled with what to call these. Sugar free flapjack? Refined sugar free flapjack? Baby flapjack? Or just plain old flapjack? I went for weaning flapjack in the end, but frankly anyone can enjoy these whether they’re 6 months old of 106 years old.
Manage your expectations though if you’re a sugar addict. These are not syrupy sweet like regular flapjack. But they’re still delicious.
Makes about 16, but depends how large you cut them
Ingredients:
1 ripe banana
150g dates
70mls boiling water
85g dried figs
40g dried apricots
160g oats
Preheat the oven to 160C/gas mark 2 and pop the kettle on. Grease and line a 20cm x 20cm tin.
Peel the banana and break into pieces. Place in a jug with the dates and boiling water. Leave for 5 minutes and in the meantime chop the figs and apricots into 1/2 cm chunks using scissors. Use a stick blender to blitz the banana mixture to a fine purée, being careful not to spray yourself with boiling water.
Combine the puree, oats and chopped fruit in a bowl until well mixed then press into the prepared tin. Bake for 30 minutes until the edges are starting to brown and the top feel firm. Remove from the tin and cool on a wire rack then cut with a very sharp knife once cool. Store in a tin for up to 5 days. Freeze, well wrapped for up to a month. Defrost at room temperature before serving.
Now I made a similar pie to this on This Morning and it was easy, oh so easy. You just stirred it on the hob, covered it in raw sliced potatoes, covered it and left it in the oven until your stomach couldn’t stand waiting any longer. It was a week night pie that everyone likes. My 9 month old son especially loved it and started to jump in his high chair when faced with a plate of lamby potatoey pea based goodness.
But I know you lot. I know that although you like fuss free recipes, you’re also the types to like a bit more of a challenge. I know you do buy puff pastry, but also reserve the right to make your own pie coverings when the mood takes you. So this is the weekend version of the one I made on This Morning. The lamb is stewed that little bit longer for depth of flavour. The pie lid isn’t potato, it’s flaky homemade rough puff. The stuff I made on the Bake Off that made Paul Hollywood say something vaguely positive about one of my bakes. I urge you to make it. Go on…
I made this pie using the Kenwood Chef Sense which is available here. The full video of the recipe is below and can also be viewed here, plus some top tips on getting really crisp pastry without a soggy bottom in sight here.
Place the butter (apart from 50g of it) and lard into the freezer an hour before you start making the pastry.
Preheat the oven to 160C/gas mark 3. To make the pie filling toss the lamb in the flour, black pepper and salt. Heat the oil in a pan on a medium heat and fry the lamb in 3 batches to brown, being careful not to overcrowd the pan. Remove from the pan and add to a casserole dish with a fitted lid.
Dice the onion using the Kenwood and fry in the remaining oil until just starting to soften, about 2 minutes. Add the stock, mint, thyme and nutmeg and allow to simmer for 2 minutes before pouring into the casserole dish. Add the lid and oven bake for 2 hours, stirring every 20 minutes or so.
Put your flour into the mixer bowl and add the 50g of room temperature butter , using the K beater, mix the butter into the flour for a couple of minutes until you have a breadcrumb consistency. Remove the frozen butter and lard from the fridge and grate it using the grating attachment into the floury butter mixture. Using the K beater mix again until all the strands of frozen butter and lard are coated in flour – this should only take a few turns. Next add the vinegar and the water very slowly with the K beater at the lowest setting. Just as the pastry comes together into clumps stop.
Flour your work surface well and pull the pastry together with your hands forming a square flat shape. Then flour the top of it and roll into a long rectangle about 4mm thick. Mentally divide the pastry into thirds, then fold the right side over to meet the first third and the left side over to do the same so you have a piece of pastry with three layers. Wrap in clingfilm and chill for 30 minutes. Repeat this step three more times using flour each time, then chill for an hour before rolling to use on the pie.
When the lamb is tender and the sauce has reduced down remove from the oven and add the frozen peas. Stir and leave to cool. Place into a 22cm pie dish (metal preferably) at least 3cm high and chill the pie dish complete with filling.
Roll the pastry out to about 2mm thick onto a well floured work surface and then cut a circle about 2cm larger than the pie dish. Use any off cuts to cut into strips to stick to the pie rim with egg wash. Then egg wash these strips and attach the pie lid to the top of the pie. Cut a cross in the middle for steam to escape and egg wash the top of the pie. Then bake in a preheated oven at 200C/gas mark 7 for about 50 minutes until the pastry is golden brown, puffed up and the pie filling is piping hot.
Leicester is in a state of high excitement; practically a frenzy. The last time this happened was when Sam Bailey won the X Factor. This time it’s an altogether more regal affair. Richard III is being properly buried. The correct name for this is ‘reinterment,’ but no one knows how to say that or indeed exactly what it means. Anyway, I thought I’d make something that good old King Richard might have eaten at a banquet whilst entertaining young ladies.
Now then, the recipe. I have removed the sandalwood and pepper to suit modern tastes a little more, but feel free to add 1/4 tsp of each if you wish. I do not know where you can find sandalwood, I have too many children and a husband who’s rarely here to be searching for it, so you’ll have to be your own google if sandalwood interests you. Oh, I also swapped mace for nutmeg. Mainly because it’s what I had to hand and it’s that bit stronger in flavour.
I have gone for an oven baked option rather than deep frying, however do fry if you can handle the calories and indeed, the stress of dealing with bubbling oil. (Bubbling oil… now that does sound medieval). I often have young children with me in the kitchen, so anything involving deep frying scares the hell out of me. I’ve read too many stories in the Daily Mail to allow me to deep fry without evacuating the house first.
20mls vegetable oil (or other oil you have to hand)
For the filling:
75g chopped dried figs (use scissors to chop)
75g chopped dried dates (use scissors to chop)
25g pine nuts
20g currants/sultanas
2 cloves, ground
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
pinch salt
pinch saffron, ground
Preheat the oven to 220°C/gas mark 8 and line a baking tray with non stick baking parchment. Start by infusing the saffron in the cold water (for the pastry) and setting it aside for 10 minutes. In the meanwhile measure out the flour, sugar and salt into a bowl, mix and set aside.
Mix together all of the filling ingredients and divide into 9 roughly equal amounts and set aside. Make the pastry by adding the water (including saffron bits) to the dry ingredients until it just forms a soft dough, using your hand to pull it together – you will likely not need all the water, though it depends on the brand of flour you use – some flours absorb water more than others. Roll the dough into a sausage, wrap in clingfilm and chill for 1 hour. The chilling makes it much easier to handle, you can miss it out if you wish, but it’s a sticky dough.
Divide the dough sausage into thirds, then cut each third into 3 equal pieces. You should have 9 pieces of dough all of the same size. Roll each piece into a ball, squash the dough to flatten it and then place a heaped teaspoon of the filling in the centre. Fold the dough edges into the centre to completely cover the filling and pinch together, then roll between your palms to ensure the fruit parcel is a sphere shape. Repeat until all the dough is used up. (If the dough is very hard for you to handle then oil your hands first).
Now strictly these should be deep fried but as I am making these for more modern tastes and calorie controlled diets I suggest you place them on your lined baking sheet, brush liberally with oil and bake for 25 minutes until lightly browned. You can of course deep fry them in oil if you feel medievally inclined.
The original recipe says to eat these warm but I prefer them cold with port and cheese.
Mother’s Day looms. I already have my gifts; a little cardboard pot coloured in with felt tips and a card shaped like a tea pot with some letters written backwards. These are my riches and I’ll keep them until they wheel me into a rest home. If you’ve already got the card and have run out of cardboard boxes to colour in then may I suggest this little afternoon tea for your Ma?
I made a lovely video with the Scoff folks to show off how to make this afternoon tea. You can see the vid on my YouTube channel and also the Scoff one. You can watch it below too.
145ml very cold whole or semi-skimmed milk, plus extra for brushing
100g clotted cream
Mix the flour and baking powder together until well distributed. Stir the very cold butter pieces through the flour with a blunt knife until all the pieces are well coated. Wash your hands in cold water and rub the fat into the flour until you have a breadcrumb like consistency. You can also use a pastry cutter for this job if you have one.
Add the milk chocolate chips and stir well.
Zest the orange and add to the milk, then pour over the butter and flour mixture and bring together with a blunt knife, then use your hands to pull it together by squeezing. Wrap in cling film and pop in the fridge for 30 minutes.
Preheat the oven to 220°C/gas mark 7 and check the rack is at the top of the oven. Cover a baking sheet with non-stick greaseproof paper.
Flour your work surface, then pop the scone dough out onto it. Roll to about a 3cm-thickness then use a mini scone cutter dipped in flour to cut straight down, without twisting or turning it. Then place onto a baking sheet. Repeat until all the dough is used, you can re-squidge it but the scones won’t be as tender.
Brush the tops of the scones with a little milk, making sure that none of it runs down the sides as it will stop a good rise. Bake immediately for 10–15 minutes until the tops are golden brown and the scones are well risen. (A good scone has a little split in the middle, ready for breaking in two with your hands.)
Today I attended a Mother’s Day assembly that not one of my sons’ featured in. Not one. No, I was not being a kind soul and sitting in the audience watching a friend’s child whose mother has to work. Nor am I some kind of Mother’s Day service addict; a woman who can only cry through watching emotional clip art on a projected Power Point presentation set to Enya. (Like Helena BC’s character in fight club, though I seem to recall she was addicted to support groups). No, no and no. I am just deeply disorganised, though not in the traditional sense.
One of my very good friends, who I shall call Helena (for that is her name) noticed my strangely efficient style of disorganisation at university and commented that because I display a ruthlessly efficient façade everyone trusts me to know what to do, get them to places on time and generally mother people. But it’s all just smoke and mirrors and today reader, my cover has been blown.
Here is a pudding that is ruthlessly efficient. It uses these fantastic flan cases from Iced Jems. Serve it warm with a scoop of ice cream and perhaps some slices of banana. Or just alone if you’re in a not-very-efficient mood.
Preheat the oven to 180°C/gas mark 4 and pop 8 flan cases onto a baking tray. If you don’t have flan cases like these ones from Iced Jems then you could line a 12 hole cupcake tray with cases but beware that the cakes will take longer to bake – so these will be more like 20 – 25 minute chocolate cake puddings rather than speedy 15 minute ones. Right, logistics over. Ready?
Place all the ingredients into a large bowl and whisk with a hand whisk (or you can do this in a stand mixer or with an electric hand held mixer if you prefer) for 3 minutes. Then divide the mixture between the 8 flan cases equally and bake for 15 minutes. Check them after 10 minutes as all ovens are different and you don’t want a dry chocolate cake.
Either serve immediately with a large scoop of vanilla ice-cream and maybe some chocolate chips for good measure or serve alone. Cream might be nice too. These can of course also be eaten cold, just as a cake.
Mother’s Day is looming. This recipe isn’t a Mother’s Day suggestion. Not that these cookies aren’t delicious and a wonderful gift to bestow on any well behaved mother, but well, they’re not quite formal enough for my liking. I think Mother’s Day needs something a little more old fashioned and restrained.
So, Mother’s Day gifts. I have been contemplating buying some frames, filling them with prints of the children and wrapping them in pretty tissue paper for the family matriarchs. But then it occurred to me that this could well be the worst kind of self absorption. Obviously I would never frame a picture of myself and bestow it to a family member. That would make me seem rather in love with my own reflection, a little bit of a horror frankly. But giving photos of my offspring seems okay, thoughtful even. But is it?
They’re my greatest life’s work, my biggest, most important project. They’re the thing I point at as an excuse for my under eye wrinkles, sagging belly and constant yawning. So to frame photos of them as a gift, is it really a right and proper gift for Mother’s Day? Or is it akin to an ex boyfriend of mine who prided himself on buying his girlfriend’s massage courses for their birthdays. As in ‘how to massage’ courses; not a course of massages. Perhaps these photos are a similar indulgence. A projection of being obsessed with oneself and ones achievements. A silent scream of “Look what I made! Aren’t they just wonderful?”
Preheat the oven to 190°C/gas mark 5 and line 2 baking trays with greaseproof paper. Melt the butter and syrup in a saucepan over a low heat until dissolved. Remove from the heat and add the flour, sugar, and bicarbonate of soda and give it a good mix with a wooden spoon. Leave the mixture to cool for a few minutes before stirring in the chocolate chips.
Using your hands, form handfuls of the warm mixture into balls about 4cm across, you should make about 15. Place them on the lined trays, making sure that there’s plenty of space for them to spread in the oven. I leave a 5cm gap between each. Bake in the oven for 12–15 minutes until the dough has spread into cracked looking biscuits.
If you like your biscuits with a bit of ‘chew’ (more cookie like) then take them out when only the sides are brown. If you like them crunchy then let the whole biscuit get a suntan. Let them cool on the baking tray for a few minutes then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
I may love Easter more than Christmas as Christian school holidays go. I know this might be controversial. Hear me out. (Most reasons are chocolate and present buying related for those wondering if this is a rather unusual Christian themed blog post):
There’s more chocolate about on a volume basis. Okay most of it is plain and shaped like an egg, but that reduces the risk of eating a strawberry crème so frankly, I’m okay with it. Plus excess chocolate eggs, bunnies and the like can be ceremoniously melted down on the last day of the Easter hols to be made into brownies for Mummy to enjoy at elevenses. If you snooze with the egg eating, the bunny gets it).
There is less expectation, so of course less stress. If you burn Christmas dinner the family will talk about it for years (and you will have to smile and laugh light heartedly and pretend you find it funny being the butt of the joke when really you want to cry and hide under the stairs and drink some gin), but if you serve raw lamb/burn dinner to a crisp or forget to make gravy on Easter Sunday no one cares a jot. They really don’t. They just shrug and ask what’s for pudding. Perhaps this is the problem with Christmas Day. Everyone knows what’s for pudding and most people don’t even like it.
No turkey curry to ‘get through’. Food should not be an endurance test.
Present buying is cheap as chips, or, well, Easter eggs. No child expects more than an egg at Easter. (Do they? I hope not…)
Present buying is executable in one shopping trip to the local supermarket. Bung one egg per child in the trolley and done.
Present buying is reserved for people under about 15 only. You do not need to buy your husband or wife or mother or father an egg. Even if Hotel Chocolat do very nice novelty grown up Eastery chocolate gifts. Resist. Just eat the eggs of a small child you own or know.
Present buying uses little imagination. All you have to think is ‘Would Charlie watch Star Wars or Scooby Doo if given the choice?’ Once you know the answer you pick the egg. If you don’t know the child well then buy a Buttons one. Or don’t buy one at all. Personally, I feel if you don’t know what TV programmes the kid likes you clearly don’t know them well enough to spend money on them. What a simple rule for life.
Gifting small inexpensive presents mean there’s less chance of being made to teach small people to ride their new bikes/scooters etc. Yes, what a misery I am but really, I like to save these kind of endeavours for the summer. I feel the cold terribly you know.
Easter weather is unpredictable. One year (I think it was 2013) we had snow at Easter in Leicester. Yes, snow! My sons have never forgotten it. They made a snowman and drank marshmallow spiked hot chocolate and made glittery Easter eggs at my pal Anuszka’s house who is altogether more fun than me and also more tolerant of glitter. Unexpected weather brings out the best in Brits. We love it. Christmas is always grey and a bit rainy.
Less present wrapping (ie/ none) means you can use the time better to make an elaborate pudding like this trifle. I dare you to make it. It’s good.
I made this trifle using the Kenwood Chef Sense which is available here. The full video of the recipe is below and can also be viewed here, plus some top tips from me on separating eggs here plus an easy way to make trifle sponges without lining tins here.
Juice the lemons using the Kenwood attachment and pour into a jug. Make the liquid up to 570mls using cold water then remove 100mls to soak the gelatine in. Once soaked for 10 minutes heat the gelatine and water in a small pan on a low heat until the gelatine has dissolved. Then add to the rest of the liquid along with the dried raspberries. Stir and leave for 30 minutes then strain through a sieve to remove the raspberries. Leave to set in the fridge.
To make the cakes:
Preheat the oven to 170C/gas mark 3. Beat together the flour, castor sugar, butter, egg, baking powder, zest of the lemon and milk in the Kenwood using the K beater for about 4 minutes until light and fluffy. Divide between 4 cupcake cases and bake for 15 – 20 minutes until well risen, golden and a toothpick comes out of the centre clean.
Poke holes in the cupcakes. Heat the lemon juice and icing sugar in a small pan until dissolved and then pour over the cupcakes. Leave to cool.
To make the curd:
Place a pan of simmering water over a medium heat and place a heat proof bowl over the top, being careful that the water doesn’t touch the bowl. Place the butter, sugar, lemon zest and juice into the bowl and whisk. Stir until completely dissolved then add the eggs and whisk intermittently for 10 minutes until the curd has thickened. Chill in the fridge.
To make the custard:
Heat the cream and milk in a large pan until the edges are just beginning to bubble. In the meantime whisk together the rest of the ingredients in a bowl. Once the liquid is ready whisk into the thick egg mixture stirring all the time then transfer back to the pan and heat on the hob, stirring with a wooden spoon until the custard has thickened enough to coat the back of the spoon. Chill with the top covered in clingfilm (touching the custard) to stop a skin developing.
To assemble:
Slice the cakes and layer in a 2.2 litre trifle dish. Pour the Limoncello over the top and then cover with the lemon curd. Add a layer of fresh raspberries then add the almost set jelly. Leave to set in the fridge. Then add the cold custard. Lastly whip the cream to soft peaks with lemon zest using the whisk attachment of the Kenwood and spoon over the custard. Sprinkle freeze dried raspberries to decorate.
I’m a mum of 3 boys, a cookbook writer and also a finalist on the 2011 Great British Bake Off.
I’ve decided to record the recipes I use, partly to save them somewhere and partly in case someone else might like to use them...
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Holly Bell 