Its true Spring is with us: the first wild Wood Anemone are out on Torhill today.
Showing posts with label Short and Sweet. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Short and Sweet. Show all posts
Thursday, 18 March 2021
Winter is over - Spring has begun
Monday, 18 August 2014
Pecan Butter Biscuits
On Friday I made biscuits. I had just gone through my stash of nuts, and realised I had a large packet of one of my favourites: Pecan Nuts, which I wanted to use. From one of my books which I have not really used at all; Exceptional Cakes by Dan Lepard and Richard Whittington, I found Pecan Butter Cookies. Reading through the recipe, I thought it was fairly low on sugar: 350g plain flour, 300g butter, and only 60g sugar. I scanned the internet for errata, or for anyone else who had made these but nothing came up.
I then turned to Short and Sweet, and again using the useful index from Pecan Nuts arrived at the Orange almond butter biscuits. I made half the quantity with his suggestion of substituting pecans for the almonds. I made then 20g each, but as they are fairly rich, well very rich and tasty and more the petitfour type of nibble to go with after dinner coffee, two needed...I would make then 15g each next time.
I love these and the orange zest works well too. I think this would be a great treat to take to dinner at friends, or for Christmas. I love the tossing in icing sugar as they cooled..a bit messy, but hey no one was looking! And it was a reason to wash down everything on the counter afterwards.
I then turned to Short and Sweet, and again using the useful index from Pecan Nuts arrived at the Orange almond butter biscuits. I made half the quantity with his suggestion of substituting pecans for the almonds. I made then 20g each, but as they are fairly rich, well very rich and tasty and more the petitfour type of nibble to go with after dinner coffee, two needed...I would make then 15g each next time.
I love these and the orange zest works well too. I think this would be a great treat to take to dinner at friends, or for Christmas. I love the tossing in icing sugar as they cooled..a bit messy, but hey no one was looking! And it was a reason to wash down everything on the counter afterwards.
Tuesday, 12 August 2014
Cherry and Polenta Pudding
When Vicki called this morning I mentioned the dessert I made yesterday. We have been without dessert for some time now..a real desert that is, not just fruit or yogurt!
I've been reading through the recipes in Short & Sweet, so had a few ideas in my head, so when I wondered what to do with a very large bag of cherries I quickly made up my mind. I had bought the cherries last week to send back for Matthew on Friday but I had missed putting them by the front door, so they got forgotten in the kitchen until too late!
I would really recommend this as a great summer treat. The recipe is available on line too from the Guardian. What I like about this book is the way that ingredients are listed in the Index. Even if you don't know what you want to make, and have some ingredients you want to use, its easy to find the recipes which include it.
This is the mixture before the surface almonds were added. Next time I would reduce the sugar to 150g in the mixture, and add 50g demerara sugar after the almonds.
Dan just says butter and flour the inside of the cake tin. I lined the bottom on my springform tin with baking parchment, which I think is an absolute must, if you don't wish to scratch the bottom on the tin with your serving knife, and it also makes it easy to move the 'tart' to a serving dish.
As there were about twice the amount of cherries, I cooked the whole lot, pitted first, and used some of my garden plum cheese, as I had no cherry jam, and then some alcohol other than grappa. Half the cherries went into the cake, the other half to serve alongside.
I've been reading through the recipes in Short & Sweet, so had a few ideas in my head, so when I wondered what to do with a very large bag of cherries I quickly made up my mind. I had bought the cherries last week to send back for Matthew on Friday but I had missed putting them by the front door, so they got forgotten in the kitchen until too late!
I would really recommend this as a great summer treat. The recipe is available on line too from the Guardian. What I like about this book is the way that ingredients are listed in the Index. Even if you don't know what you want to make, and have some ingredients you want to use, its easy to find the recipes which include it.
This is the mixture before the surface almonds were added. Next time I would reduce the sugar to 150g in the mixture, and add 50g demerara sugar after the almonds.
Dan just says butter and flour the inside of the cake tin. I lined the bottom on my springform tin with baking parchment, which I think is an absolute must, if you don't wish to scratch the bottom on the tin with your serving knife, and it also makes it easy to move the 'tart' to a serving dish.
As there were about twice the amount of cherries, I cooked the whole lot, pitted first, and used some of my garden plum cheese, as I had no cherry jam, and then some alcohol other than grappa. Half the cherries went into the cake, the other half to serve alongside.
Monday, 11 August 2014
Rye and Raisin Cookies
Except for bread making, I don't use rye flour that much...but from now on this biscuit will be high on my list. I used the light rye from Shipton Mill, but next time I shall use a wholegrain one for a change. I made these a week ago, on the day our fence was being replaced, in readiness for visitors that day, and family coming the next day. There were also sufficient to be able to take a goodie bag next door to say thank you for having access to their garden for the work.
Another yes recipe from Dan Lepard Book Short and Sweet, and also available online from the Guardian. Strangely each tray's biscuits looked a little different. I made the biscuits smaller: 20g each as I would rather have two smaller biscuits than one large one. I watched them carefully towards the end of the cooking time, and watched for the swelling of the raisins, and caught all of them perfectly...no scorching.
With the cocoa, they biscuits give the chocolate lovers their fix, and the raisins of course good quality ones to start off with, give a chewy rich note. They kept well, I had thought they may have gone softer with the raisins but they were perfect and we even had a couple left each for Friday, with a drink after dinner. As I had baked bread and also sugar buns, only four of those, I had not made pudding.
Another yes recipe from Dan Lepard Book Short and Sweet, and also available online from the Guardian. Strangely each tray's biscuits looked a little different. I made the biscuits smaller: 20g each as I would rather have two smaller biscuits than one large one. I watched them carefully towards the end of the cooking time, and watched for the swelling of the raisins, and caught all of them perfectly...no scorching.
With the cocoa, they biscuits give the chocolate lovers their fix, and the raisins of course good quality ones to start off with, give a chewy rich note. They kept well, I had thought they may have gone softer with the raisins but they were perfect and we even had a couple left each for Friday, with a drink after dinner. As I had baked bread and also sugar buns, only four of those, I had not made pudding.
Sunday, 3 March 2013
Lemon Curd Cookies
I was leafing through my copy of Dan Lepard's Short & Sweet, when my eye caught: lemon curd cookies......with my own home made lemon curd waiting to be used I thought I would give this a try.
I planned to make this recipe in stages, making up the main cookie dough during a brief spell when I came home for lunch, then finishing them off later that day, ready to have when hubby arrived home or for a sort of sweetmeat in the place of dessert!
It is Sunday now and we have had a couple or so each day and they are still really fresh. They are really very different from any other biscuits I have tasted before.
The biscuit is crisp at the edges and underneath, soft and chewy in the middle, and the lemony tang reminds me of lemon meringue pie. Sadly Lemon Meringue pie is best the day it is made, but these biscuits last a few days....so, great for a lasting lemony fix. This will become a favourite to be baked many times.
One of my favourite biscuits when I was little were lemon puffs, they were oblong with flaky biscuits and lemon filling. They seem to be round they days, so I'm not even sure if the lemon puffs of my youth are still around.
I found it impossible to get the cookie dough to stick together, even though I had left the butter to soften really well during the morning in the sunny conservatory....then I thought if I made ten biscuits they would be far too big, and there were was really too much topping to use up with only the one teaspoon on each disc of dough...
My answer to the dough problem was to add egg. This allowed the dough to stick together well and it was easy to wrap it into a sausage shape to chill in the fridge for a couple of hours or so. I cut the dough into 1 cm thick disks rather than the 2 cm disk, and 20 biscuits used up the topping.
Topping
50g rolled oats
50ml double cream
100g lemon curd
Combine the topping ingredients and put back in the fridge for use later
For the dough
1egg
100g butter softened, I used delamere goat's butter rather than the unsalted butter asked for
100g golden caster sugar
finely grated zest of 1 unwaxed lemon
150g plain flour
2 tbps ground rice
The butter and sugar is creamed together well with the zest until light and fluffy. Incorporate the flour and ground rice with a fork, add sufficient egg to bind to a stiff dough. Roll the dough on a piece of clingfilm, then roll the clingfilm around the sausage of dough, massage into a long cylinder about 5 cm diameter. Twist the ends, and tamper the ends on the work surface to 'square' off . Put the dough into the fridge.
Preheat the oven to gas Mark 4, 180C, just before cutting the dough.
When firm, unwrap the sausage shaped dough, and cut with a sharp knife. Make sure the round shape is retained - if necessary use a knife to push the dough into shape.
Place well apart on trays covered with baking parchment, and carefully place a spoonful of the topping mixture on each biscuit, and spread carefully to near to the edges. Place the tins in the oven, and watch carefully, swapping the position of the tins half way during baking.
They are ready when they are a nice golden colour. Start checking after 20 minutes, mine took 30 minutes to be just right. They will still be soft, so wait a few minutes before transferring them to a cooling rack. They keep well for a few days in a sealed container.
I planned to make this recipe in stages, making up the main cookie dough during a brief spell when I came home for lunch, then finishing them off later that day, ready to have when hubby arrived home or for a sort of sweetmeat in the place of dessert!
It is Sunday now and we have had a couple or so each day and they are still really fresh. They are really very different from any other biscuits I have tasted before.
The biscuit is crisp at the edges and underneath, soft and chewy in the middle, and the lemony tang reminds me of lemon meringue pie. Sadly Lemon Meringue pie is best the day it is made, but these biscuits last a few days....so, great for a lasting lemony fix. This will become a favourite to be baked many times.
One of my favourite biscuits when I was little were lemon puffs, they were oblong with flaky biscuits and lemon filling. They seem to be round they days, so I'm not even sure if the lemon puffs of my youth are still around.
I found it impossible to get the cookie dough to stick together, even though I had left the butter to soften really well during the morning in the sunny conservatory....then I thought if I made ten biscuits they would be far too big, and there were was really too much topping to use up with only the one teaspoon on each disc of dough...
My answer to the dough problem was to add egg. This allowed the dough to stick together well and it was easy to wrap it into a sausage shape to chill in the fridge for a couple of hours or so. I cut the dough into 1 cm thick disks rather than the 2 cm disk, and 20 biscuits used up the topping.
Topping
50g rolled oats
50ml double cream
100g lemon curd
Combine the topping ingredients and put back in the fridge for use later
For the dough
1egg
100g butter softened, I used delamere goat's butter rather than the unsalted butter asked for
100g golden caster sugar
finely grated zest of 1 unwaxed lemon
150g plain flour
2 tbps ground rice
The butter and sugar is creamed together well with the zest until light and fluffy. Incorporate the flour and ground rice with a fork, add sufficient egg to bind to a stiff dough. Roll the dough on a piece of clingfilm, then roll the clingfilm around the sausage of dough, massage into a long cylinder about 5 cm diameter. Twist the ends, and tamper the ends on the work surface to 'square' off . Put the dough into the fridge.
Preheat the oven to gas Mark 4, 180C, just before cutting the dough.
When firm, unwrap the sausage shaped dough, and cut with a sharp knife. Make sure the round shape is retained - if necessary use a knife to push the dough into shape.
Place well apart on trays covered with baking parchment, and carefully place a spoonful of the topping mixture on each biscuit, and spread carefully to near to the edges. Place the tins in the oven, and watch carefully, swapping the position of the tins half way during baking.
They are ready when they are a nice golden colour. Start checking after 20 minutes, mine took 30 minutes to be just right. They will still be soft, so wait a few minutes before transferring them to a cooling rack. They keep well for a few days in a sealed container.
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