Para-Para-Paradise

Summer time in England usually means rain, rain and more rain. But lately, beautiful sunshine and warmth has kindly graced the country! This has meant lots of BBQs, finally dusting off the summer shorts and plenty of ice cream. The tropical flavours of refreshing pineapple, coconut and lime are visible in all the summer recipes. 

One loved recipe of mine has been passed down by a neighbour of mine years ago. Whenever it has been baked, it goes down a treat! So here's the recipe for you to give a go:

8oz butter

6oz caster sugar

4 eggs

4oz ground almond

4oz glacier cherries, chopped

4oz desiccated coconut

4oz sultanas

2tblsp self-raising flour

1. Preheat the oven to 180C (350F, gas mark 4). Grease and line a 8 inch round tin.
2. Cream the butter and sugar until light, them gradually beat in the eggs. Fold in the remaining ingredients. Spoon into the tin.
3. Bake for 35-40 minutes, until golden brown and a skewer comes out clean.
4. Cool in the tin for few minutes then turn out to cool completely on a wire rack.
5. Dust with icing sugar before serving

Little tip for you, if you find the sultanas and cherries sink to the bottom whilst baking; dust with flour before combining into the batter. This should prevent them from sinking whilst baking. The recipe is very flexible so try it out with different combinations of fruit and nuts, but just ensure the weights measure out the same.

Give this recipe a go, and comment what flavours you use. 

Enjoy!

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Sweet Tooth

If you're anything like me, every now and again you'll love a good sweet treat. If, however, you're watching your weight and calorie counting... Stop reading here. This recipe is full of sugar and a definite crowd pleaser for any occasion! 

Rocky road is a simple and loved treat. The simplicity of it means you can make it hours before. So if you've got a work picnic say, which was the case for me, a quicktrip to the supermarket for the ingredients and less than half an hour preparing, you'll be good to go! Here's the recipe:

250g soft unsalted butter

600g dark chocolate

5 tbsp golden syrup

rich tea biscuits

mini/chopped marshmallows

any other chocolate bars, fruits or nuts

1. Simply melt the butter, chocolate and golden syrup over a double boiler. Once completely melted remove from heat.
2. Add the biscuits, marshmallows and other filling to the chocolate and mix well.
3. Transfer into a foil lined baking tin and refrigerate for at least 2 hours, preferably over night. Cut into pieces before serving, either before chilling or a few hours in.

You can add any other fillings to this recipe, and as many as you like. I personally like to add honeycomb and raisins to add different textures to the rocky road. Go crazy with different chocolate bars, dried fruits and nuts to add a variety of flavours and textures to your fridge cake. 

If you do make this, let me know what combinations of ingredients you use!

Enjoy!

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National Nutella Day

HAPPY NUTELLA DAY!

One of the best things to celebrate and use that as a excuse to eat copious amounts of it. Nutella an amazing chocolate spread that more and more people are creating recipes for. In light of national nutella day on Saturday, it was only right that I baked something using nutella. Nowadays there are loads of simple recipes using this tasty treat, so I'm going to share with you the one I used.

Nutella Cookies. So in the recipe you would usually split the mixture into the cookie sized portions and bake them into multiple cookies. Instead, we decided to make one giant cookie so that there was a gooey-er centre.

Here's what you'll need and the different timings:

1 cup plain flour

1 cup nutella

1 egg

Dash of milk

1. Preheat the oven to 180C. For cookies, line a baking tray with parchment paper, otherwise you'll need a small oven-proof dish.
2. Mix all the ingredients together, adding a dash of milk if needed.
3. Either spoon into the oven proof dish and bake for 20 minutes, or using two teaspoons, portion out cookies onto the baking tray and bake for 6-8 minutes.
4. Serve warm with whipped cream.

These simple cookies require very few ingredients and will take minutes to prepare. What more do you want? Nutella. Cookies. Simple.

Let me know any other recipes, nutella or otherwise, you would like to see.

Enjoy!

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Miles of Meringue

A dessert that is sure to go down a treat at any party is a meringue. They are sweet and tasty and can be tailored to fit with the season or occasion. The fruit you pair with the meringue allows for colour and decoration that'll look spectacular! 

Recently, at a Burn's Night party, a 'mile of meringue' was served. As I was helping with the catering (my friend's parents were the stars of that) I thought I would share what was created for the centre piece.

A meringue is simple to make, but can be hard to master. Here's a recipe for one:

4 egg whites

225g/8oz caster sugar

1. Preheat the oven to 120C. Line a baking tray with non-stick baking parchment.
2. Place the egg whites in a spotlessly clean bowl and whisk with an electric whisk until they form stiff peaks when the whisk is removed from the bowl. 
3. Continue whisking as you add the sugar, one teaspoonful at a time, until all the sugar is incorporated. The meringue will then become shiny and will hold stiff peaks when the whisk is lifted from the bowl.
4. Pipe or spoon onto the baking tray in the desired shape. 
5. Bake for 1½-2 hours, or until the meringue can be lifted easily off the paper without sticking. Turn off the oven, leave the door ajar and leave until the meringues are cold.

Give it a go, it might need a little practice to get it perfect.

For this dessert, the meringues were filled with a cream mixture, of half double cream and half plain greek yoghurt. The addition of the yoghurt gave a lighter and fresher taste. They were then topped off with fresh fruit; we used strawberries, blueberries and grapes, but you could use any fruit that you want to.

Enjoy!

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