Cakes & Bakes: Almond and blueberry sponge pudding

I’ve had a slow-cooker for ages and, like most people, don’t make use of it nearly enough. It sits lonely in my kitchenette waiting patiently for its opportunity to shine. Last week, I saw a slow-cooker recipe for a cherry Bakewell pudding and decided to convert it into and almond and blueberry sponge pudding.

It’s a real no fuss, straightforward recipe. I swapped cherries for blueberries; however raspberries, strawberries, redcurrants or blackcurrants would work just as well.

I highly recommend these reusable silicone pot covers as a green alternative to cling film. They come in six graduated sizes from 3-8 inches so fit containers ranging from ramekins to medium-sized mixing bowls. I use them all the time for storing food in the fridge and heating things in the microwave. I’ve now discovered that they’re perfect as a slow-steaming pudding lid!

If like me you like a bit of a crispy texture, you can stick the pudding under the grill for a couple of minutes at the end of its cooking time.

We served our almond and blueberry sponge pudding with custard. The flavour combination of almond sponge and vanilla custard with a touch of fruity sharpness from the blueberries is a real winner.

Click here to save the recipe to Pinterest!

Almond and blueberry sponge pudding

2018-02-14 08:14:18

Serves 4

Cook Time

4 hr

Cook Time

4 hr

Ingredients

150g/5¼oz blueberries, frozen and thawed
115g/4oz sugar, plus 3 tablespoons
110g/4oz butter, softened
2 eggs
½ tsp almond extract
75g/2⅔oz self-raising flour
75g/2⅔oz ground almonds
2 tbsp milk

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Instructions

Grease a 1.2-litre pudding basin, including the lid if it has one In a small saucepan, heat the blueberrries and the 3 tablespoons of sugar until the sugar dissolves and the fruit begins to burst and the juice is released. Remove from the heat before the fruit collapses. Set aside
Cream the butter and the remaining sugar together until light and fluffy
Beat in the eggs one at a time until the mixture is loose and airy
Add the almond extract and combine
Fold in the flour and ground almonds
Add in the milk and combine gently. The batter should have a light texture
Put 100g of the blueberries in the bottom of the basin and pour the batter over the top of them. It won't fill the basin, but don't worry as this will give it space to expand as it cooks. Reserve the remaining cherries until later
Cover the basin securely with the lid and set it into the slow-cooker crock
Pour boiling water into the crock to come halfway up the side of the basin
Put the lid on the slow cooker and steam on high for about 4 hours. It will rise, becoming a light, fluffy sponge
Turn the pudding out onto a plate, piling the reserved cherries on top, and allow the blueberry juice to drizzle down the sides of the pudding before spooning into servings

Notes

Serve warm with hot custard

By Miss South

Adapted from Slow Cooked

H is for Home Harbinger https://hisforhomeblog.com/

Cakes & Bakes: Tear and share garlic bread

We both love pasta and very often the simplest dishes are the best. Spaghetti with tomato sauce, which we cooked today, is one such example. Fresh basil leaves, cracked black pepper and a few shavings of Parmesan are all that’s required to finish to perfection!

We love some form of crusty bread served on the side of our pasta dishes.

Justin spotted a delicious looking tear and share garlic bread on one of his recent Pinterest browsing tea breaks.

The method was quick and easy – and the results delicious.

It’s a very flexible recipe in terms of potential ingredients. Ours was flavoured predominantly with garlic & oregano, but many other herbs such as parsley, rosemary or chives could also be used. Olives, sun-dried tomatoes or small cubes of cheese would also be perfect additions.

The perfect bread to wipe that plate clean! Click here to save the recipe to Pinterest.

Tear and share garlic bread

2018-02-06 12:45:18

Cook Time

30 min

Cook Time

30 min

For the dough

120ml/4¼ fl oz warm water
1tbsp caster sugar
1tsp active dry yeast
15g/4½oz butter, softened
120ml/4¼ fl oz milk
1tsp salt
400g/14oz bread flour

For the garlic butter

60g/2oz butter, melted
1tbsp fresh oregano or ½tsp dried oregano
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1tsp coarse salt

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For the dough

In a small measuring jug, stir the yeast and sugar into the warm water until dissolved. Allow to stand for 5-10 minutes
In the bowl of a stand mixer, quickly mix the salt and flour using your fingers
Make a well in the centre and add the butter, milk and yeast mixture
Using the dough hook, knead for 7-10 minutes. The dough should stick to the bottom of the bowl but clears sides. It will be soft and slightly sticky. Kneading can also be done by hand but will take around 10-12 minutes

For the garlic butter

In a small bowl, combine the butter, oregano and minced garlic. Set aside

To bring it all together

Cut the dough into equal pieces and roll into balls **I made twelve 57g balls**
Dip the balls, one by one, into the garlic butter mixture (make sure you leave a little aside)
Lay the buttery dough balls into a greased 20cm x 10cm (8" x 4") loaf tin **I used 2 smaller tins**
Cover the loaf and allow it to rise in a warm place until doubled in size - about an hour
After around 45 minutes, preheat the oven to 175ºC/350°F/Gas mark 4
Brush the tops lightly with more of the garlic butter (still making sure a little is left)
Bake for 30 minutes or until golden brown
Brush with the last of the garlic butter to glaze, sprinkle with the coarse salt and serve immediately

Notes

Instead of oregano, you could use basil, parsley or rosemary
You could also add a few halved olives, chopped sun-dried tomatoes or small cubes of cheese to the dough

By Melanie Kathryn

Adapted from Gather for Bread

H is for Home Harbinger https://hisforhomeblog.com/

Cakes & Bakes: Honey almond brittle biscuits

As with many of you out there, there’s been severe lurgy in the H is for Home household this week. Well to be honest, we’ve contracted a succession of bugs stretching back 2 months at least – one after another, sometimes overlapping. And that’s after not having had a sniff of a cold for the previous 5 years. It’s certainly been quite a grim winter. When you’re feeling under the weather, any baking has to be quick and easy. These honey almond brittle biscuits seemed like the perfect answer today.

The preparation was literally a ten minute job – and they then less than ten minutes to bake. A small price to pay for some delicious home-baked biscuits.

And they were indeed delicious. The almonds and honey were a very good combination. There are lots of other potential ingredients to experiment with – peanuts, hazelnuts, pecans and coconut to name but a few. The biscuits were a lovely blend of soft gooey centres and crisp, crunchy edges. A little treat is always nice when your feeling sorry for yourself !

Click here to save the recipe to Pinterest!

Honey almond brittle biscuits

2018-01-24 14:40:50

Ingredients

15g/½oz butter
15g/½oz double cream
75g/2⅔oz honey
35g/1oz caster sugar
⅛ tsp salt
½tsp lemon juice
25g/⅗oz plain flour
100g/3½oz flaked almonds

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Instructions

Melt the butter in a small saucepan on a low heat
Stir in the cream, honey, sugar, salt, lemon juice and flour, until combined
Add the almonds and stir to combine
Spoon teaspoonfuls of the mix on to a parchment-lined baking sheet. Give each one lots of room as they spread out quite a bit while cooking
Flatten slightly with the back of a wet spoon
Bake at 180ºC/350ºF/Gas mark 4 for seven minutes
Cool on a wire rack before eating

By Tamal Ray

Adapted from The Guardian Food & Drink

H is for Home Harbinger https://hisforhomeblog.com/

Cakes & Bakes: Vegan lemon meringue pie

We’re more than halfway through January – did you make (or break) any new year’s resolutions? We’ve been having a ‘Dry January’ and other people may be having a ‘Veganuary’. I’ve been vegetarian for 30 years (and vegan at one point) so I thought that the former would be much more of a goal. Nevertheless, I thought I should try a vegan Cakes & Bakes dish to say that I got into the whole January swing!

This lemon meringue pie is surprisingly completely vegan. No butter in the pastry, no eggs or gelatine in the filling and no eggs in the meringue. Brilliant!

Despite being veggie for most of my life, I’ve only recently heard about aquafaba. It’s a versatile egg substitute that was ‘discovered’ by a French chef in 2014. It’s the cooking liquor from (usually) white beans such as butter beans, chickpeas or cannellini beans. If you’re using tinned, buy ones that are unsalted. If you’re making your own, it’s not the water that you soak dried beans in – that contains toxins and gets discarded – you use the water in which the beans have been boiled. I made my own and used the ‘discarded’ chickpeas to make a batch of hummus.

Many of the vegan lemon meringue pie recipes I found on the ‘net included a pinch of turmeric; I obliged but found the resulting filling to be on the orange side and resembled pumpkin pie. It didn’t affect the flavour, however. If preferred, you could use a tiny amount of yellow food colouring.

Making the meringue was a bit tricky. I think I under-whipped my first batch as the lovely peaks softened and sank in the oven. Some people prefer to pipe the mixture on to a lined baking sheet and cooking it separately. I did this with some of the leftover mixture and I couldn’t tell the difference from egg white meringue! It was soft and gooey and cracked when I broke into it.

I quickly & carefully blow-torched the top before it went into the oven on the lowest setting for at least 2 hours. This seemed to help it keep its shape. If you go with latter cooking method, The meringue doesn’t get as cooked thoroughly and will sink and begin to liquefy. It will be best eaten on the day you make it.

Click here to save the recipe to Pinterest for later!

Vegan lemon meringue pie

2018-01-18 09:23:07

Yields 1

For the pastry

200g/7oz plain flour
70g/2½oz 'tant pour tant' (35g/1¼oz icing sugar + 35g/1¼oz ground almonds)
pinch of salt
100g/3½oz very cold vegetable spread (e.g. soya, olive) or coconut oil

For the lemon pie filling

550ml/19fl oz milk substitute (e.g. soya, almond, hazelnut, cashew, coconut, oat, rice)
80g/2¾oz custard powder (Bird's is vegan)
zest of 1 unwaxed lemon
125ml lemon juice
100g/3½oz caster sugar
small pinch of turmeric

For the meringue

125ml/4⅓fl oz aquafaba
1 tsp cream of tartar
110g/3¾oz caster sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract

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For the pastry

Put the flour, icing sugar, ground almonds and salt in a food processor. Pulse a couple of times to combine
Add the butter and pulse again until the mixture begins to get lumpy - like dry scrambled eggs
Empty the pastry on to 2 lengths of cling film layered one over the other at right angles
Bring the dough together into a ball by lifting & bringing together the 4 ends of the cling film. Flatten and chill in the fridge for an hour
Preheat the oven to 200°C/400°F/Gas Mark 6
Once chilled, generously flour a work surface and roll out the dough to ½cm thick
Line the pie dish with the pastry so that it has some overlap all the way around.
Put a length of parchment paper on top of the pastry and fill the pie dish with baking beans
Blind bake for 15-20 minutes, until the edges begin to turn golden brown
Remove from the oven, remove the beans and parchment paper and allow the pie case to cool

For the lemon pie filling

Combine ⅓ of the milk with the custard powder, sugar and turmeric
Whisk to remove any lumps
Pour into a saucepan with the remaining milk and lemon zest
Heat, stirring constantly, until the custard begins to thicken
Add the lemon juice, and continue to stir until it thickens further
Pour the lemon mixture into the pastry case and allow to cool and solidify while you make the meringue

For the meringue

Preheat the oven to 90ºC/200ºF/gas mark ¼
Using a stand mixer with the balloon whisk attachment or an electric hand whisk (on a high setting), beat the aquafaba for 5 minutes
Add the cream of tartar and beat again until soft peaks begin to form
Add the vanilla extract and continue beating for a few seconds
Add the sugar, in stages, one tablespoon at a time, continuing to whisk on the high setting
Continue whisking until you reach the stiff peak stage - this could take 10-20 minutes
Spoon or pipe the meringue evenly over the top of the pie filling
At this stage, you can (if you have one) carefully blowtorch the top of the meringue to get attractive brown bits
Bake in the oven for 2 hours
Allow to cool completely before slicing & serving

H is for Home Harbinger https://hisforhomeblog.com/