Scottish Shortbread

Justin brought home this antique wooden shortbread mould this week. It was only fair that it got tested out for quality control purposes before going on sale in our shop!

I’d made Scottish shortbread biscuits a couple of times recently and they don’t last very long chez H is for Home!

I normally use Delia Smith’s recipe where she uses semolina for a bit of a crunch, but I thought I’d try the one in the Great Big Cookie Book which uses cornflour, not semolina, and very pretty moulds that make rounds imprinted with a thistle.

There are lots of different variations – wholemeal flour, rice flour, oatmeal flour… you won’t go far wrong so long as you stick to the ratio of one part sugar, two parts butter and three parts flour. If you’d like to try the recipe I used, the instructions are below:

Mmmmmm… shortbread petticoat tails with a mug of tea. I think we may just have to keep the mould!

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Scottish Shortbread

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Ingredients

175 g/6oz/¾ cup plain flour
50 g/2oz/½ cup cornflour
50 g/2oz/¼ caster sugar plus extra for sprinkling
115 g/4oz/½ cup unsalted butter chopped

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 160°C/325°F/Gas mark 3. Lightly flour the mould and line a baking sheet with non-stick baking paper
Sift the flour, cornflour and sugar into a mixing bowl. Rub the butter into the flour & sugar mixture until it binds together and you can knead it into a soft dough
Place the dough into the mould and press to fit neatly (I went over it a couple of times with a rolling pin). Invert the mould on to the baking sheet and tap firmly to release the dough shape (I had to give mine a big old bang on our kitchen table!)
Bake for 35-40 minutes, until pale golden in colour
Sprinkle the top of the shortbread with a little caster sugar and cool on a baking sheet
Cut the larger rounds into ‘petticoat tails’ while still warm

Baked Vanilla Cheesecake

I’ve been making this version of baked vanilla cheesecake since way back in 2004! It’s a Gordon Ramsay recipe that I tore out of a weekend newspaper magazine supplement. Luckily, all these years, the page has been protected inside a plastic punched pocket (that’s the proper word for one of those things, apparently!) otherwise it would have disintegrated by now from all the use it’s seen.

It’s a dessert that I go back to again & again. It’s really easy to make and is simply delicious – especially after it’s had a few hours to cool down. The consistency is light and melt-in-the-mouth; so much better than those recipes that use gelatine – which I don’t eat as I’m vegetarian.

It’s great served with a ginger or summer fruit compote. We had some with a lovely blueberry compote made from frozen blueberries (much cheaper than the fresh ones, and you can get them year-round). Of all the Cakes & Bakes I’ve made over the years, this has long been Justin’s favourite!

Home-made baked vanilla cheesecake with blueberry compote | H is for Home

Gordon Ramsay's vanilla cheesecake

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Prep Time 45

Cook Time 1

Total Time 1 45

Course Dessert

Cuisine American

Servings 8

Ingredients

For the biscuit base

100 g unsalted butter plus a little to grease the tin
200 g digestive biscuits I sometimes use ginger nuts with about half the above quantity of butter
50 g caster sugar Again, I use half this amount if using ginger nuts

For the filling

500 g cream cheese I've used both Philadelphia and mascarpone successfully at room temperature
200 g caster sugar
3 eggs
2 tbsp cornflour
300ml soured cream
1 tsp vanilla essence

Instructions

Lightly grease a 20cm spring-form cake tin
Melt the butter gently in a small pan on a low heat. Roughly break up the biscuits and and place them in a food processor. Process the biscuits for 2-3 minutes until they resemble fine crumbs. Add the sugar, then pour in the melted butter and process for 30 seconds to combine
Put the biscuit mixture into the base of the tin, using the back of a tablespoon to smooth the surface evenly. Place in the fridge for 30 minutes
Rinse out the processor bowl. Place the cream cheese and sugar in the bowl and process for 2-3 minutes. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add the cornflour, sour cream and vanilla essence and process for 30 seconds to combine
Pour the filling into the tin and bake in a low oven at 150°C for 1 hour. When cooked, the cheesecake should be well-risen, with a golden brown top. It should feel slightly firm to the touch - if the mixture still appears wet, continue to bake a little longer. When cooked, turn off the oven and allow the cheesecake to cool in the oven, with the door ajar. When completely cool, place in the fridge. Serve with summer berries and pouring cream

Cooking the cheesecake in a bain marie or using a Wilton Bake-Even Strip stops the top from cracking

Keyword baked cheesecake, cheesecake, cream cheese

Click here or on the image below to pin the recipe for later!

Afternoon Scones

I’ve been meaning to make some scones for a while – in fact, ever since coming back from our holiday in Wells-Next-the-Sea. While we were there, I spent a sunny afternoon at Wiveton Hall Fruit Farm picking strawberries. I filled this massive punnet with sweet, fat, fragrant strawberries – specimens such as I’d never tasted before!

Those that didn’t get eaten there & then returned home with us and made into a massive pan of strawberry conserve. We gave lots away to friends & family and kept a couple of jars for ourselves. We’ve had it on toast & croissants, some was used as sponge cake filling, but you can’t beat it on warm, freshly baked scones!

To make the scones, I once again used a recipe from The Great Big Cookie Book by Hilaire Walden. Here it is:

Home-made scones, home-made strawberry jam and clotted cream | H is for Home #recipe #scones #pastry #afternoontea

Afternoon scones

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Ingredients

225 g/8oz/2 cups plain flour
pinch of salt
2.5 ml/½ tsp bicarbonate of soda
5 ml/1 tsp cream of tartar
25 g/1oz/2 tbs butter
150 ml/¼ pint/? cup milk or buttermilk

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 220°C/425°F/Gas mark 7. Flour a baking sheet. Sift the flour, salt, bicarbonate of soda and cream of tartar into a bowl. Rub in the butter until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs. Gradually stir in just enough milk to make a light, spongy dough.
Turn the dough on to a lightly floured surface and knead until smooth. Roll to 2½cm/1in thick. Cut into rounds with a floured 5cm/2in cutter.
Place the scones on the prepared baking sheet and brush the tops with milk.
Bake for 7-10 minutes until the scones are well risen and golden brown.

Serve with jam and a big dollop of clotted cream!

PS – We usually buy Rodda’s clotted cream which is delicious – but don’t you just love the folk artsy packaging too?!

Banana Parkin

I opened the car’s glove compartment yesterday in search of a CD… but came across a couple of “past their sell by date” bananas instead. They’d been put there a few days earlier as an “on board” snack for a trip we’d made to Penrith. Rather than throw them out (or giving them to Fudge as a treat) I decided to make some banana parkin… with a ginger twist!

Parkin is a cake traditionally eaten in the autumn – and especially on Bonfire Night. It’s very popular, and thought to have originated, in the north of England – probably Yorkshire or Lancashire.

The method I used was taken from The Great Big Cookie Book by Hilaire Walden.

Banana parkin

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Ingredients

200 g/7oz plain flour
10 ml/2tsp bicarbonate of soda
10 ml/2tsp ground ginger
150 g/5oz medium oatmeal
60 ml/4tbs
75 g/3oz margarine
150 g/5oz/ golden syrup
1 egg beaten
3 ripe bananas mashed

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 160°C/325°F/Gas mark 3. Grease & line an 18cm x 28cm / 7” x 11” tin.
Sift together the flour, bicarbonate of soda and ginger, then stir in the oatmeal.
Melt the sugar, margarine and syrup in a saucepan over a low heat, then stir into the flour mixture. Beat in the egg and mashed bananas.
Spoon into the prepared tin and bake for about an hour until firm to the touch.
Leave to cool in the tin, then turn out and cut into squares. (I made mine in a loaf tin, so I cut it into slices).

Parkin improves with age and, if stored in an airtight container, keeps for a couple of months.

Perfect with a mug of strong (Yorkshire… or Lancashire) tea!

H is for Home Harbinger

Category: cookery

Scottish Shortbread

Scottish Shortbread

Ingredients

Instructions

Baked Vanilla Cheesecake

Gordon Ramsay's vanilla cheesecake

Ingredients

For the biscuit base

For the filling

Instructions

Afternoon Scones

Afternoon scones

Ingredients

Instructions