Bakewell Cheesecake

24th August 2015

For dessert week I went for a bakewell cheesecake. I found what looks like an amazing recipe on BBC Goodfood and had to try it. I've only made one baked cheesecake before and this one looked a hell of a lot easier to make than the first one.

To start, the best bit: bashing the gluten free biscuits and toasted almonds to smithereens to make the base. These were mixed into melted butter and pressed into the base of a 20cm spring tin and baked for 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, the soft cheese was whisked until fluffy, and then the caster sugar, vanilla paste and eggs were whisked in until smooth and finally the sour cream was added.

This was poured into the the tin, with cherry jam dolloped intermittently throughout. I think the mixture was a little too runny as the jam appeared to sink a bit too much. And there was quite a lot of mixture leftover once I reached the top of the tin. The cheesecake was baked for 10 minutes on a high temperature and then another 45 minutes on low with almonds scattered on the top once the top had begin to stiffen.

Finally it was allowed to cool in the oven for a while, and then with the door open for a bit longer. I was a little worried at how much it still wobbled after its time, but the internet assures me this is fine and prevents the cracking on the top.

After some cooling in the oven with the door shut, and then some more with the door open, and then out at room temperature and finally a night in the fridge...it still cracked! But otherwise it turned out pretty good.

I walked it 3 miles to the Bake Off party where even more dessert was waiting! Be right back - sugar coma ~

Purple Sprouting Broccoli with Rice Noodles

23rd August 2015

This recipe had instructions for making my own Thai paste, but it also suggested that cheating and buying Thai paste was also acceptable. I decided to cheat a bit, mostly because I was hungry. I couldn't find any green paste (Blue Dragon's is not vegetarian as it turns out) so I got yellow paste, and I think its done a fair job.

So skipping the first paragraph of instructions, I started by sautéing the red onion whilst chopping the broccoli into smaller florets. I used a regular broccoli because I already had one in. So the title of this post is not accurate. But I'm not sure it alters the taste that much, and that's all that matters.

I threw in a few mushrooms and some courgette into the frying pan also because they needed using up. Once the onions were transparent I added the Thai yellow curry paste and fried for another couple of minutes.

Next went in a teaspoon of sugar and salt and the coconut milk, bringing this to the boil and leaving to simmer. Meanwhile the rice noodles were heated up in boiling water - I think I left these too long as they were a little stodgy, but nothing I couldn't get over.

The noodles and broccoli were rinsed and then tossed with some toasted sesame oil and some lemon juice. The noodles were divided into a few portions and the Thai sauce was served on top. I got a little excited and forgot to take a picture when it was finished, so here's half way through my lunch!

This was actually really delicious and filling and quite easy to make using the paste cheat.

Garlic Dough Balls

19th August 2015

Bread week this week. I enjoy having a go at bread. I chose to do garlic dough balls because I wasn't confident enough to do a whole loaf with gluten free flour. I figured smaller bakes would be less dense and dry in the middle.

Rather than following this recipe from Crumb completely, I sort of added a few things differently for a bit of experimentation. So to start with I melted some margarine in a pan and stirred in some garlic paste to make what tasted like a very strong garlicky mixture. In a separate bowl I weighed out plain gluten free flour, yeast, herbs and salt and poured in the garlic butter and some water. I used the mixture and dough hook to start mixing this into a dough. I think due to the density of the flour not all the liquid was being incorporated with the mixer so I got my hands dirty a little and kneaded the remaining liquid into a squishy dough. I covered this with cling film and a towel and left this to prove for an hour.

After an hour, I knocked the air out by hand and used a tablespoon measure to divide the doughs into small balls. I was running short on time so I just left these for 15 minutes for a second prove whilst the oven heated up.

These were baked for 12 minutes while I ran around clearing up and getting ready for the Bake Off party. When I came back the kitchen smelt amazingly garlicky and they were done! They did look rather anaemic but they were soft and squishy inside and tasted great.

They definitely tasted a lot better warm, as the gluten free-ness made then quite dry once they'd cooled down. Overall I was very pleased with how they turned out, especially for gluten free and not using proper bread flour.

Broccolini and Sweet Sesame Salad

17th August 2015

And we're back on the cooking healthily as well! Its been a long time and my body is definitely in need of some vegetable goodness. And this was a perfectly easy place to start and get back into the swing of things. I swear it took me all of 15 minutes from start to finish.

First I started withe the dressing, by mixing sesame oil (in place of the incredibly elusive tahini paste), garlic paste, soy sauce, honey, cider vinegar and salt.

Next, I trimmed the tenderstem broccoli and blanched it in boiling water. Next in went the green beans and then the mange tout. This was well drained and rinsed in a colander. 

The vegetables were tipped into a mixing bowl along with the sesame seeds and the dressing. I prepared some couscous to have with it and voila. A delicious green and filling tea.

Cardamom and Vanilla Cookies

11th August 2015

I made another batch of cookies just to prove that crunchy biscuits were as great as chewy ones and because I wanted a variety.

First, the butter and sugar were creamed until light and fluffy. The vanilla paste and ground cardamom were mixed in next, again using a makeshift pestle and mortar.

Next to be added was the flour. The recipe called for a mix of plain flour, semolina and wholemeal flour. I just used gluten free flour again. This was mixed into a firm paste and kneaded until it made a dough.

Using a teaspoon I made small balls of dough and pressed them into the lined trays, leaving small gaps between them. The dough became quite crumbly and had to be pressed back together in places.

They were baked for just a short time and until the dough looked like it was cracking too much. They weren't quite the crunchy cookies I was expecting but they were pretty nice homemade biscuits. I suspect the flour, again, made these a less than perfect bake. Both were well received by friends.

Orange Lemon Coconut Biscuits

11th August 2015

Bake Off week 2: biscuits. Biscuits have never been my strong suit, as you can see from earlier posts, but I'm not skimping out on a challenge, and one made even tougher by baking for my gluten free friend. I chose this recipe because my housemates requested chewy biscuits and these sounded delicious.

First the oven was preheated and two baking trays lined with parchment. I had to melt the butter a little to cream with the sugar as I forgot to take it out of the fridge earlier... But this seemed to work ok. Into this the egg was beaten and then the zest from the orange and lemon mixed in.

In a separate bowl the (gluten free) flour, bicarbonate of soda, salt and ground cardamom were mixed together. I lost my pestle and mortar in the move so I had to improvise with a cup and a heavy jar. Not quite the same really... The dry ingredients were folded into the wets ones and finally the desiccated coconut went in.

Using two spoons I made small balls of dough on the tray, leaving space between them. This perhaps wasn't quite enough space with hindsight. These were baked in the oven and I rotated the shelves to make sure they baked evenly.

They came out very spread out and they had to be very carefully separated off the parchment. They ended up being very thin and I wonder if this was to do with the flour type or just my terrible biscuit skills! Nonetheless, they tasted wonderful, even in pieces. I'll definitely try this one again.

Sour Cream Madeira Cake

4th August 2015

Back on it! With all the moving and mini-life crisis nonsense going on this cooking and baking has really slipped. Let's change that.

Whilst away I did dabble in another toffee brownie from Good Food Bakes and Cakes which has never yet failed to be the most delicious brownie, even made with gluten free flour this time. I remade the banana bread from Crumb also, but adding in chocolate chips this time which made it something rather special.

Another bake I made for friends was the stout gingerbread from Crumb, again made with gluten free flour and with the stout replaced with milk and this too turned out very well.

But today is a special day because its the night before The Great British Bake Off returns! So this week is Cake Week, and having had a sneaky peak at what's coming up I decided to get back into routine with something simple from this week. The choices of themes included black forest gateau, walnut cake and madeira cake. I chose the latter for ease. And also to get to know my kitchen.

To start I had to melt the butter a bit because it was still cold and solid from the shop. This was beaten thoroughly into the sugar until it was all dissolved, light and fluffy. Next the eggs, lemon zest and sour cream was stirred in and beaten well.

In a separate bowl, the flour, baking powder and salt were mixed together before being mixed into the wet ingredients, but without beating them together too much in order to prevent the cake becoming chewy. Apparently. Who knew! 

Finally this was all poured into the prepared loaf tin and baked for 45 minutes. It smelt very lemony whilst baking!

And after the allocated time it was a perfect colour and a perfect fluffy consistency inside. I've still got it!