Flour, Butter, Eggs, Sugar Baking Podcast

Episode 59: Honey Cakes are the Bee’s Knees

Honey Loaf Cake with Sweet Dukkah

I forgot to get a picture of this one – sorry!! I wasn’t actually intending to use it on the podcast, but it was so good I had to include it.

I’m always on the look out for dairy-free cakes since I have a close friend who a) appreciates my baking (he has excellent taste!!!) and b) is allergic to the proteins in cows’ milk. He is also allergic to sesame, so I changed up the dukkah. Follow the link to find the original which I’m sure is absolutely delicious. This went down very well with some very discerning birthday guests.

Recipe adapted from this one in Benjamina Ebuehi’s The New Way to Cake.

For the cake:
300g plain / all purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
Pinch of salt
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
160ml/ 170g vegetable oil
240ml/ 250g blossom honey
100g caster/ superfine sugar (though I’m sure granulated would work fine too)
100g soft light brown sugar
2 UK large / US XL eggs (c. 130-140g egg in their shells)
1 tsp vanilla extract or bean paste
200ml strong-brewed English breakfast tea

For the syrup:
3 tbsp / 45 ml honey
60ml water

For the dukkah (Kate’s non-sesame version):
90g blanched almonds, chopped roughly or buy them already flaked
1 tsp caraway seeds
1/2 tsp rose petals
Scant 1/2 tsp cardamom
2 tsp poppy seeds

1. Preheat the oven to 180C / 160C fan / 350F. Grease and line a loaf tin. The original recipe calls for a long loaf tin, which I do not own, so I just used a regular 1lb / 900g loaf tin. (The original recipe bakes at a higher temperature due to the tin being longer as well, so I baked this lower and slower and it worked out just fine!

2. Whisk together the flour, baking powder, bicarb/ baking soda, salt and cinnamon. Pour in the oil, honey, sugars and eggs and whisk until there are no lumps in the batter. Pour in the vanilla and tea. Stir until smooth. Pour into the cake pan and bake for around an hour, or until it passes the skewer test.

3. Heat the water and honey in a pan to make the syrup. Stir until the honey dissolves.

4. Blitz the dukkah ingredients in a food processor or spice grinder until you have a rough mixture.

5. Mix the dukkah with the syrup. Spread on top of the warm cake. Leave to cool completely before slicing.

Fig and Honey Sponge Pudding

I followed this recipe from Miriam Nice. My recipe notes below!

If you are baking in another country, large eggs in the UK and EU are around 63-73g, or a US XL.
Instead of self-raising flour (which I don’t use even though I’m British!) just use 2 slightly generous teaspoons of baking powder.
To mix the sponge, you can use the creaming method, all-in-one, or even whisk the eggs and sugar and mix in melted butter with a tablespoon of flour. All work! You may, however, want to add a tablespoon or two of milk so it is a “dropping” consistency.
So long as you use metric weights in your baking the rest should be easy to follow! This is a great dinner party dessert when figs are in season.

Bienenstich / Bee Sting Cake

Recipe from Classic German Baking by Luisa Weiss, or found here in cup measurements.

I found that the yeasted cake layer is quite thin, and also goes stale really quickly, so is best eaten on the same day. Next time I’m going to make a bit more of it, and possibly alter the cake layer recipe a bit, but I’ll serve it the day it’s made. Not including custard in the middle seems to be controversial among my German friends, but this still differs from a Swedish toscakaka in that it’s yeasted rather than made with chemical raising agents such as baking powder.

For the cake layer:
200g plain/ all purpose flour
1 tsp fast-action/ instant yeast
50g granulated or superfine/caster sugar
3 tbsp/ 45g/ 45ml whole milk
1 egg
50g European-style high-fat butter

For the topping:
130g good butter
100g light brown sugar (or just use granulated)
100g honey (I used blossom honey)
50g double/ heavy cream
1/4 tsp salt
200g blanched sliced/ flaked almonds

For the cake, stir together the flour, yeast, sugar together. Then stir in the salt. Stir in the milk, and egg and knead together. Then knead in the butter. The dough should still be soft. Leave to rise for about an hour. It won’t double but it will get a bit puffy.

Press the dough into the pan. Preheat the oven to 180C/ 160C fan/ 350F. Line a 23cm x 33cm / 9in x 13 in tin with baking paper.

To make the topping. place everything except the almonds in the pan and bring to the boil, then simmer for 3-5 minutes, stirring. Stir in the almonds and remove from the heat. Cool for 10 minutes.

Spread the topping evenly over the dough. Bake for 20-25 minutes until golden brown and crisping. (Mine took 25 minutes.)

Let cool on the rack for 20 minutes. Cut into squares before serving.

Burnt Honey Cake / Russian Honey Cake

I followed this recipe from Edd Kimber, and consulted the 20th Century Cafe’s version on NYT Cooking.

Episode 58: Basque Bakes

In August, I was lucky enough to be able to go to the Spanish side of the Basque country, primarily Bilbao but with day trips to San Sebastian, Guernica and Bermeo.

Here are some things we ate!!!

On to our bakes for this week!

Basque Cake/ Tart

Is it a pie? Is it a cake? Does it matter? It’s delicious!

Adapted from this recipe by Nicola Lamb.

For the cake/tart layers

Cream 140g room temperature butter, 110g sugar and 1 tsp vanilla sugar (optional). Add 2 egg whites, the zest of a lemon (optionally) and 10g lemon juice and combine the best you can. Add 150g plain/ AP flour, 75g ground almonds, a pinch of salt, 1/2 tsp baking powder and a scant 1/2 tsp baking soda / bicarbonate of soda. Refrigerate for 3+ hours.

Heat 300g milk with 2 tsp vanilla extract or bean paste. Meanwhile, whisk 2 egg yolks and 1 egg white with 90g sugar and 25g cornflour/ cornstarch. While whisking slowly, drizzle the hot milk down the side of the mixing bowl. When all combined, return the mixture to the pan and heat gently, stirring, until it bubbles and thickens. Stir really well. Transfer to a bowl or jug, place cling film directly on the top of the liquid to prevent a skin forming.

To assemble, portion off 150g dough. Roll this out between two floured sheets of parchment paper to an 8inch circle and put in the freezer while you work on the rest. Grease an 8 inch/20cm tart tin or springform pan really well. You may also want a parchment paper circle at the bottom. Pat the remaining dough into the base of the tin and then top with the custard, before laying the circle you rolled out over the top.

Put back in the fridge while you preheat the oven to 190C. Pop it on a baking tray then when the oven has come to temperature, bake for around 40 minutes until golden brown on top. Cool for a couple of hours before slicing to allow the crumb to set – but it is best served warm!

Basque Cheesecake

Adapted to metric from Molly Baz’s recipe.

Preheat the oven to 200C / 400F.

Beat 900g cream cheese and 300g sugar. Beat in 6 US large/ UK medium (or 5 UK large) eggs in gradually, one egg at a time. Then add 480g double/ heavy cream and whisk to combine. Finally, beat in 6 US large/ UK medium or 5 US XL/ UK large eggs.

Grease a 10 inch springform pan really well. Pop it on a baking tray. Bake for about an hour, it will still be a bit wobbly but shouldn’t be liquid. It will be puffed up and will fall – not to worry, that’s just what it does!!

Episode 57: Seeds Everywhere, on Everything: Crunchy and Chewy Seedy Breads

Koulouri – Cypriot Village Bread

7g fast-action/ instant yeast
1.5 tbsp sugar
1 piece of mastic
2 pieces of mehlepi/mahleb
1 tsp fine sea salt
500g strong white bread flour
3/4 tsp ground cinnamon
2 tbsp olive oil, plus more for greasing
4 tbsp sesame seeds
1 tbsp nigella/ black onion seeds
1/2 tsp aniseed

Grind the mahlepi/mahleb finely with 1 tsp flour. Do the same with the mastic. Mix the salt, mahlepi/mahleb, mastic, cinnamon and 1 tbsp sugar into the remaining flour (minus 1 tbsp). Mix in the yeast. Mix in 330ml warm water and the olive oil. Add more water if you need to to bring the dough together. Rest for 10-30 minutes (just 10 if your kitchen is warm). Knead in a mixer or by hand until it passes the ‘windowpane test’. Leave to rise until doubled.

Roll into a long sausage, around 30cm / 12 inches. Place onto a lined or oiled baking sheet. Cut the dough into 20 and gently pull them apart so there is a small gap between each piece (2mm/ 0.01inches). Mix the remaining tbsp flour with 2 tbsp warm water. Brush the dough all over with this. Mix the sesame seeds, nigella seeds and aniseed together and pat all over the dough, including underneath. Cover loosely and prove again until roughly double.

Preheat the oven to 200C / 180C fan / 400F. Add a dish of boiling water to the oven to create steam (I have a gas oven which produces steam anyway so I skipped this.) Bake for at least 22 minutes then check, it will probably need more time but it’s good to check It wants to be golden brown. Mine took about 30.

Covrigi – Salty Poppy Seed Twists

1 tbsp sugar
7g fast-action/ instant yeast
500g strong white bread flour
1 tsp fine salt
3 tbsp olive or sunflower oil
2 tbsp baking soda / bicarbonate of soda
1 tbsp poppy seeds
1 tbsp sesame seeds
3/4 tsp flaked salt
1 tbsp onion flakes or Nigella/ black onion seeds

Mix the sugar and salt into the flour. Mix in the yeast. Mix in 260ml warm water and 2 tbsp oil. Rest for 10-30 minutes (no more than 10 if your kitchen is pretty warm). Knead in a mixer or by hand until it passes the ‘windowpane’ test. Cover and leave to rise until doubled.

Divide into eight pieces. Roll each piece into a long sausage and cross over the ends for a pretzel shape. Transfer to an oiled or lined baking sheet , cover and leave to prove until doubled in size.

Preheat the oven to 220C / 200C fan / 420F. Bring a large pan of water to the boil and add the bicarb/ baking soda. Mix together the poppy seeds, sesame seeds, flaky sea salt and onion seeds/flakes. Lower the pretzels in the water for 30 seconds a side or submerge the whole thing for 30 seconds using a mesh strainer. Return to the trays. Brush with the remaining oil and sprinkle liberally with the seeds. Bake for 18-20 minutes.

Lagana – Clean Monday Bread

7g fast-action/ instant yeast
1 tbsp sugar
500g strong white bread flour
3/4 tsp fine salt, plus extra for sprinkling
2 tbsp olive oil, plus extra for greasing
3 tbsp sesame seeds

Mix the half the sugar and salt into the flour. Mix in the yeast. Mix in 275ml of body temperature water and the olive oil. Mix to a shaggy dough. Rest for 10-30 minutes (no more than 10 if your kitchen is pretty warm). Knead in a mixer or by hand until it passes the ‘windowpane’ test. Cover and leave to rise until doubled.

Stretch or roll out the dough to fit a 30 x 25cm / 12 x 10 inch lined or greased tin. Cover loosely and leave to rise again until roughly doubled in size. Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 220C / fan 200C / 420F. Dissolve the remaining sugar in 2 tbsp of just-boiled water.

Press the dough to make indents all over, a bit like a focaccia. Brush with the sugar water. Sprinkle over the sesame seeds and a good pinch or crumble of salt. Bake for 20-22 minutes.

Rye, Caraway and Poppy Seed Bagels/Beigels

Adapted from Ruby Tandoh’s Crumb

For the tangzhong:

115ml/ g water or milk, 25g strong white flour

For the dough:

The tangzhong you made
300g strong white flour
125g dark/wholemeal rye flour
1 tsp fine salt
1 tbsp sugar
8g diastatic malt powder (optional)
1 tbsp flavourless oil
2 tbsp caraway seeds
Flour or polenta, to dust
2 tbsp bicarbonate of soda/ baking soda
2 tbsp barley malt extract/ syrup (optional)
1/2 tsp flaky salt, crumbled up
30g poppy seeds
Oil, to grease

Make the tangzhong by putting the liquid and flour in a pan. Heat and stir until you get a gloopy mass. Transfer to another bowl if you like so it cools more quickly.

Once your tangzhong is warm but not hot, or room temperature is fine also, get on with the dough. Mix the salt, sugar and flours. Mix the yeast in. Mix in 250ml warm water, tangzhong and the oil. Mix to a shaggy dough. Rest for 10-30 minutes (just 10 if your kitchen is warm). Knead until it passes the ‘windowpane test’ then knead in the caraway seeds. Cover and leave to rise until doubled.

Turn out, divide into 8 and shape into bagels by rolling into a ball, push your finger through and twirl around a bit. Prove again until puffy and 1.5x in size. Preheat the oven to 200C / 180C fan / 400F.

Put a large pan of water on to boil, add the baking soda/bicarb and malt extract, if using, to the pan and stir to combine. Lower the bagels in and boil for 60 seconds per side then transfer to a greased or lined baking sheet. Sprinkle over the poppy seeds, if using.

Bake for about 25 minutes.

Herby Sesame Twists

Adapted from Benjamina Ebuehi’s A Good Day to Bake

450g strong white flour
1 tsp fine salt
9g instant/ fast-action yeast
6-9 tbsp finely chopped herbs (Benjamina suggests tarragon, chives and dill)
40g olive oil
1 tbsp honey
80-100g sesame seeds

Mix the salt into the flour. Mix in the yeast into the flour. Mix in the herbs. Mix in 240ml lukewarm water and oil to form a shaggy dough. Rest for 10-30 minutes (just 10 if your kitchen is warm). Knead until smooth and elastic. Prove until doubled in size.

Divide the dough into 6. Split each piece in half and roll each into a long sausage. Twist the strands together and bring together to make a loop, pinching to seal. Line a baking tray.

Mix the honey and 100ml lukewarm water. Dip each twist in the honey water and then into the sesame seeds. Place on a prepared baking tray. Loosely cover and prove until around 1.5x the size. Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 200C / 180C fan / 400F.

Once proven and the oven is at temperatue, bake for 18-22 minutes until golden.

Episode 56: Summer Essentials

We’ve had some hot days (by London standards) and the fruit and veg has changed… hence inspiring this episode!

Cold Brew

I’m a complete coffee fiend. I don’t mind drinking hot drinks in the summer (I drink English-style tea several times a day all-year-round). I’ve never quite gotten why some people are so against it – people in hot countries still drink hot drinks. But I do like to have a bottle of cold brew on the go alongside sometimes having my pour-overs. As well as being delicious, great black or with milk, cold brew is great for throwing in a cake batter without having to wait for the coffee to cool down. It’s the easiest type of coffee to make, so long as you can wait 24 hours. You need some sort of funnel (I just use my pour over thing), filter paper and a bottle.

50g coarsely ground coffee, 400-500ml/g cold water (I prefer still but by all means use sparkling if you like). Ice and/or milk of your choice to serve.

Use the funnel to put the coffee in a 1 litre/ 1 quart bottle. Add the water. Shake. Put in the fridge. Leave for 24 hours. Strain. It may take a while, so I tend to strain while I’m doing other jobs like washing up or cooking. That’s it! It’s good for about a week in the fridge I think.

It’s STRONG! So do water it down or add milk and ice, to your wish.

Banana Choc Ices

Errr. So this really couldn’t be any easier. You peel and halve some ripe bananas, stick a skewer or lolly stick in them and freeze them. If using skewers warn your guests so they don’t pierce the roofs of their mouths.

Once frozen, you dip them in melted chocolate – use a spoon to coat evenly. My chocolate preference is 50-50 dark and milk. Then you roll them in roasted nuts of your choice. My favourite is roasted pecans, broken up into small pieces. Hazelnuts and salted roasted peanuts are also good. That’s it!

You obviously have to like banana. These aren’t a good replacement for a normal chocolate ice lolly for people who don’t actually like banana. But they are wonderful!

No-Churn Ice Creams

These aren’t winning any awards for health but they are so easy and delicious. If you don’t have an ice cream churn they’re particularly fab.

The base is 300ml/ 10 fl oz heavy/ double cream and 397g/ 14 oz (sweetened) condensed milk.

Simply whisk these two up together to stiff peaks – perhaps with a pinch of salt, then gently stir or whisk in your mix-ins.

These work even better if you add a little alcohol for a softer serve, but this isn’t essential. Despite having lived in Scotland, I don’t really like whiskey of any kind (sorry). No Bourbon, single malt Scotch or anything else for me, thanks. But Nigella uses it. I like to use Grand Marnier (orange liqueur), Chambord (raspberry liqueur), Kahlua (fruit cream), Baileys (coffee cream), spiced rum and creme de cassis (blackberry liqueur).

Depending on what kind of ice cream you’re making, consider adding vanilla as well.

Another variation: use a tin of caramel/ dulce de leche instead of the condensed milk. It will be sweeter, so do balance with more salt and use smaller servings.

I just had this genius idea: you could steep a flavouring such as earl grey tea or chai spices or tarragon in hot cream, let the cream cool down fully again, refrigerate it, then treat it as before.

Blitz-and-Churn Fruit Sorbets

I covered this last summer, but The River Cafe’s strawberry sorbet is absolutely magnificent. It’s rightly on Food 52’s Genius Recipes. Honestly one of the best ices I’ve ever made or tried. Unless you have an enormous ice cream churner, halve the recipe. The balance between the sugar and the lemon pith catapults this into being so much more than a basic strawberry ice.

This summer I plan on trying out the peach and lemon sorbet as well (also on Food 52), using whatever stone fruit I can get my hands on that looks good. Please do let me know of any other blitz-and-churn recipes I should try out!

My Mother’s Chocolate Sauce

Ready in minutes, this goes sticky on ice cream but has a gloriously bitter edge from the cocoa. Someone I was seeing once jokingly proposed to me based on this sauce. Please do adjust the quantities to your liking, I don’t usually actually measure this sauce but I figured I have to give a rough guide! It tastes 1000 x better than anything you get in a bottle from the shop.

Serves 4 allegedly but I’ve been known to eat at least half of this in one sitting….

50g butter or margarine (growing up in the 90s, my mum used marge but I now use butter). It does work with vegan blocks as well, but maybe use a little less. If you want a richer sauce that doesn’t go as sticky, use 75g butter.
100g golden syrup – I’m informed that corn syrup is a reliable replacement
25g cocoa

Stick all of them in a pan. Gently heat to melt the butter. Once combined, boil it furiously for about a minute or more gently for a couple of minutes – this reduces it to make it more sticky.

Serve with: vanilla ice cream and possibly some raspberries.

Topped Ice Cream and Sundae Ideas

My Slovenian recipe book suggests putting pumpkin seed oil on vanilla ice cream and finishing with a little crumbled flaky salt. I will and will report back. I may add a few toasted pumpkin seeds on top, too (IMO a highly underrated ingredient.) I quickly depleted the small bottle we brought back in salad dressings, but pumpkin seed oil is common across central Europe, I think. I have a couple of Hungarian shops near me so I’m hopeful.

People on TikTok (an app I’m definitely too old for) suggest putting soy sauce on vanilla ice cream. Apparently it has salted caramel vibes. I’ve also seen sesame oil on ice cream, with more mixed reviews.

Affogato. Summer is affogato season as far as I’m concerned. Not everyone in Britain knows what this is. It’s more common in London but not so common in sleepy seaside towns. So I’ve been known to order an espresso and a scoop of vanilla ice cream and then pouring the espresso over the ice cream to the bemusement of wait staff and mild embarrassment of my partner. Phenomenal.

My opinions on Sundaes.

Sundae is a wonderful vehicle for balance and texture, yet all-too-often we just get sweet on sweet on sweet and gloop on gloop on gloop.

For grown-up sundaes, we’re going to need the following.

More fruit compotes. Imagine vanilla ice cream, crumbled ginger biscuits/cookies, rhubarb compote . DIVINE.
Well balanced sauces. Steer away from the squeezy bottled trash in the supermarket and make your own. My mother’s chocolate sauce (above) is a good start. Make a ganache! Or use products that are actually good, like condensed milk, dulce de leche, honey or maple syrup. How about sweetening up some nut butter even?
Crispy and crunchy elements that actually taste of something. Bland wafers are out. Spiced biscuits, salty oaty biscuits (a good UK example is Hobnobs), dark chocolate digestives etc are in. Tuiles/ cat’s tongue biscuits are in. Stroopwaffles are in. Granola is in! Sesame seed brittle is in!
Consider adding nuts or seeds. Toasted flaked almonds. Roasted pecans, hazelnuts or walnuts. PISTACHIOS. Toasted pumpkin seeds. These will all add a slightly savoury note, roasty-toastiness and CRONCH.

Episode 55: Next-Level Caramel Shortbreads

Very Good Millionaire’s Shortbread

This is my base recipe for you to make your own riffs or just follow to get a classic caramel shortbread with a gooey salted caramel, bittersweet chocolate topping and melt-in-the-mouth shortbread. Arguably, there’s no need to change this timeless classic! I used the hazelnut Millionaire’s Shortbread in Benjamina Ebuehi’s A Good Day to Bake, and James Morton’s recipe from How Baking Works, as my starting points.

Use bars of chocolate, or at least some chocolate from bars, in order to temper the chocolate using the seeding method.

To make gluten free, replace both the plain flours and cornflour with 150g gluten free flour blend (I used Doves Freee plain white flour).

Makes 12-16 squares

Shortbread layer

120g plain/ AP flour
30g cornflour/ cornstarch
100g unsalted butter and a good pinch of salt
50g icing sugar

Salted caramel layer

A 397g/ 140z can (sweetened) condensed milk
125g unsalted butter
1/4 tsp flaky salt such as Maldon
100g light brown sugar

Dark milk chocolate layer

150g milk chocolate (around 33% cocoa solids)
50g dark chocolate (around 70% cocoa solids)
A few sea salt flakes to decorate (optional)

Preheat the oven to 350F / 180C / 160C fan. Grease and line an 20cm x 20cm / 8×8 in pan.
Make the shortbread: mix the flour, cornflour and salt. Rub in the butter until it resembles breadcrumbs (I use a pastry blender). Stir in the icing sugar. Pour the crumbs into the pan and press down to get an even spread of filling – I use the back of a dessert spoon and my knuckles to do this. Bake for 25 minutes, or until golden around the edges. Leave to cool in the tin, ideally for about an hour.
Make the caramel: tip the condensed milk, butter, salt and brown sugar into a pan. Melt then bring to a soft boil, bubbling, stirring continuously, for about 8 minutes. It will thicken a bit, but not too much – it will thicken and harden while it cools as well. Crumble and stir in the salt. Pour the lot on the shortbread. Allow to cool.
Once the caramel is cool, melt 3/4 of the chocolate in a bain marie or gently in the microwave. Chop the remaining chocolate into small pieces. Stir the melted chocolate to ensure it’s evenly melted, then stir in the chopped chocolate vigorously. This helps the melted chocolate to “copy” the molecular structure of the chopped chocolate, which was tempered. Crumble over a few sea salt flakes, if you want. Use a large sharp knife to cut, you could also heat the blade as well to get a cleaner cut. You could also chill the shortbread for a cleaner cut, but I think it tastes better at room temperature.

Thyme and Hazelnut Millionaire’s Shortbread

This is really lovely – just a slight, aromatic twist on the classic. I tried infusing the butter with thyme but it got way too strong, so happily this easier method was better!

You need to use already tempered chocolate, in nice bars, if you want to have tempered chocolate on the top! If only some of your chocolate is tempered, melt the un-tempered stuff and chop the tempered stuff.

Makes 12-16 squares

To make gluten free, replace both the plain flour and cornflour with a gluten free flour blend (I used Doves Freee plain white flour).

Thyme Shortbread

120g plain/ AP flour
30g cornflour/ cornstarch
100g unsalted butter and a good pinch of salt
50g icing sugar
A few sprigs of thyme, leaves chopped unless they are already very small. Mine measured 3g on the scale

Hazelnut Salted Caramel

A 397g/ 140z can (sweetened) condensed milk
125g unsalted butter
1/4 tsp flaky salt such as Maldon
100g light brown sugar
160g hazelnuts, plus a few more to decorate the top, if you like

Dark Milk Chocolate Layer

150g milk chocolate (around 33% cocoa solids)
50g dark chocolate (around 70% cocoa solids)

Preheat the oven to 350F / 180C / 160C fan. Grease and line an 20cm x 20cm / 8×8 in pan.
Make the shortbread: mix the flour, cornflour and salt. Rub in the butter until it resembles breadcrumbs (I use a pastry blender). Stir in the icing sugar and most of thyme leaves. Pour the crumbs into the pan and press down to get an even spread of filling – I use the back of a dessert spoon and my knuckles to do this. Bake for 25 minutes, or until golden around the edges. Leave to cool in the tin, ideally for about an hour.
Remove the shortbread out of the oven but leave the oven on. Roast the hazelnuts for 10 minutes. Remove and cool. Switch off the oven. Once the hazelnuts have cooled, roughly chop them.
Make the caramel: tip the condensed milk, butter, salt and brown sugar into a pan. Melt then bring to a soft boil, bubbling, stirring continuously, for about 8 minutes. It will thicken a bit, but not too much – it will thicken and harden while it cools as well. Crumble and stir in the salt.
Mix 160g of the hazelnuts into the caramel then pour the lot on the shortbread. Allow to cool.
Once the caramel is cool, melt 3/4 of the chocolate in a bain marie or gently in the microwave. Chop the remaining chocolate into small pieces. Stir the melted chocolate to ensure it’s evenly melted, then stir in the chopped chocolate vigorously. This helps the melted chocolate to “copy” the molecular structure of the chopped chocolate, which was tempered. Sprinkle over the remaining hazelnuts and thyme leaves and leave to cool completely before slicing. Use a large sharp knife to cut, you could also heat the blade as well to get a cleaner cut. You could also chill the shortbread for a cleaner cut, but I think it tastes better at room temperature.

Sour Cherry and Pistachio Caramel Shortbread

Pistachio caramel is my new favourite thing and plumping up the sour cherries in hot water transforms them from hard bullets to an unctuous soft topping. If sour cherries are difficult to get hold of, you could try another dried fruit – but the sourness really works against the nuttiness, richness and sweetness of the rest of the bake. I found mahleb to taste quite a lot like cinnamon so it’s no stress if you can’t get hold of it. But if you can, it’s definitely worth trying.

Makes 12-16 squares

To make gluten free, replace the plain flour and cornflour with a gluten free flour blend. I used Doves Freee plain white flour.

Spiced brown sugar shortbread

120g plain flour
30g cornflour
1 tsp ground mahleb/mahlepi OR a drop of almond extract and 1/2 tsp cinnamon
100g unsalted butter and a good pinch of salt
50g soft light brown sugar

Pistachio caramel

200g pistachios
397g/ 14oz can (sweetened) condensed milk
125g unsalted butter
1/4 tsp flaky salt, such as Maldon

Cherry topping

100g dried sour cherries
Very hot water from a kettle

Preheat the oven to 350F / 180C / 160C fan. Grease and line an 20cm x 20cm / 8×8 in pan.
Make the shortbread: mix the flour, cornflour, salt and spices. Rub in the butter until it resembles breadcrumbs (I use a pastry blender). Crumble in the brown sugar with your hands to remove any lumps then stir it into the mixture. Pour the crumbs into the pan and press down to get an even spread of filling – I use the back of a dessert spoon and my knuckles to do this. Bake for 25 minutes, or until golden. Leave to cool in the tin, ideally for about an hour.
Remove the shortbread out of the oven but leave the oven on. Roast the pistachios for 7 minutes. Remove and cool. Switch off the oven. Once the nuts have cooled, roughly chop them.
Make the caramel: tip the condensed milk, butter, salt and brown sugar into a pan. Melt then bring to a soft boil, stirring continuously, for about 8 minutes. It will thicken a bit, but not too much – it will thicken and harden while it cools as well. Crumble and stir in the salt. Mix 180g of the pistachios into the caramel then pour the lot on the shortbread. Allow to cool.
Pop the dried cherries into a bowl. Pour over enough just-boiled water to cover them. Leave to plump up until the water is cool. Pop into a sieve to drain the liquid off. Scatter the cherries on the caramel, followed by the remaining pistachios.

Middle Eastern Millionaire’s Shortbread

This recipe is truly delightful. Outrageously addictive. But I was unhappy with the ratio of halva to the other layers, so I have used a bigger pan and made a larger amount of the halva layer.

To make gluten free, replace the plain flour and cornflour with a gluten free flour blend. I used Doves Freee plain white flour.

Serves 16-20

Shortbread layer:

250g plain/ AP flour
35g cornflour/ cornstarch
175g unsalted butter
40g icing sugar
40g caster sugar
1/8 tsp salt
½ tsp vanilla extract

Halva layer:

300g halva, roughly crumbled into small pieces
120g tahini

Tahini caramel layer:

200g caster sugar
120ml water
100g unsalted butter, at room temperature, cubed
80ml double cream
150g tahini
¼ tsp flaky sea salt

Preheat the oven to 350F/ 180C/ 160C fan. Grease and line a 9×13 / 23x33cm tin.
Make the shortbread: Tip the flours into a large bowl. Rub in the butter using your favourite method – I use a dough blender and twist until I get a breadcrumb-like texture. Stir in the sugars, salt, and vanilla. Pour into the tin and pat down. Bake for 25 minutes or until golden brown. Remove from the oven and set aside until completely cool, which takes about an hour.
Mix together the tahini and halva. Spread over the shortbread.
Heat the water and sugar in a small saucepan and stir until the sugar has dissolved. Bring to a boil and cook for 12 minutes, stirring often. Remove from the heat and whisk in the butter and cream, then the tahini and salt.
Refrigerate for 4 hours to set before cutting up. Decorate with a little more flaked salt, if you like.

Episode 54: ‘Gluten Free Sourdough is Easier’?! with Mary Thompson

Listen to the latest episode on most podcast platforms!! Mary’s book, ‘Gluten Free Sourdough Baking’ is out now. You can find her on Instagram at ACoupleofCoeliacs.

In this episode I also recommend subscribing to the following newsletters:

Kitchen Projects, by Nicola Lamb
Hot Dish, by Sohla El-Waylly
Dorie Greenspan’s bulletin
Vittles

I ate at Little Georgia, Islington, N1 and talk about what I ate!

And I mention the new book Breadsong by Kitty and Al Tait.

You’ll have to listen in to find out what you SHOULDN’T eat when you come to London!!!

See you in two weeks, Kate ❤

Episode 53: Care Package Cookies

At the top of the episode I talk about a few things I’ve been listening to recently, and a few things I ate on holiday in Slovenia.

Whether you want to send biscuits to family or friends, or to raise money like I’ve been doing, these are three recipes I’ve found reliable and delicious!

My rather obvious tip is to use the smallest parcels you can so they don’t bounce around too much in transit. My more practically-minded partner showed me that just cutting straight down each corner with a pair of scissors can help create a shallower parcel. I’ve refined the sending process as well by using sealable compostable sandwich bags, which I can write on with Sharpie, and honeycomb paper, which is fully recyclable and doesn’t use a load of space to store as it goes quite a long way.

I’ve included my huge quantities so you don’t have to do the maths yourself if you want to send loads, but you may need to bring together the dough by hand towards the end of the mixing, unless you have a very large stand mixer!

The other biscuit I’ve been sending to people I’ve covered before. It’s an all-butter Black Cocoa Chocolate Sablé with Freeze-Dried Raspberries, from episode 50.

Olia Hercules’s Ukrainian ‘Berlin’ Curd Cheese Biscuits

There’s a recipe here, which takes liberties in my view by using ‘minor’ adaptations of adding orange zest and vanilla, which I feel is totally unnecessary. The key flavour is the curd cheese, which is milky, light, slightly acidic and rich all at the same time. The only adaptations I’ve made are to make it slightly easier for my clumsy self to get an even coating of sugar. I even used an eastern European margarine, so as not to cloud the flavour of the cheese.

KEEPING QUALITIES: Obviously this is very important when sending biscuits in the post! Olia says they keep for a week, but I beg to differ. I reckon they keep well for a few days. After a few days they aren’t so good, so I’d recommend refreshing them in a moderate oven (350F/ 180C / 160C fan) for a few minutes. I send them first class so the recipient should get them the next day or, at the latest, the day after. Another trick you could try (though I admit I haven’t) is freezing them and sending them frozen so they thaw out en route).

To make around 18-20:

80g margarine
200g fresh acid-set curd cheese: syr, sir, twaróg, tvorog, quarg, farmer’s cheese. (Ricotta isn’t quite the same I’m afraid, it’s wetter and less acidic and most quark is a bit too acidic.)
200g plain/ all purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
A pinch of salt
50g-75gish granulated sugar, or as much as you need for an even coating on three sides (all will be explained)
A small splash of milk or water, for brushing – say about a tablespoon

To make around 45-50:

200g margarine
500g fresh acid-set curd cheese (see above)
500g plain/ all purpose flour
A couple of pinches of salt
2 1/2 tsp baking powder
150-200gish granulated sugar, or as much as you need for an even coating

Mix the margarine and cheese together in a bowl. Add the flour, salt and baking powder and mix together.
Knead the dough briefly, wrap or cover and chill for 30 minutes or up to a few hours. This is primarily to allow the flour to absorb the moisture evenly. It will also make them slightly easier to roll out. If you live in a hot climate this is particularly important to stop the margarine melting.
Preheat the oven to 180C/ 350F / 160C fan. Line a large baking sheet/ cookie sheet.
Flour the work surface well. Roll the dough thinly to about 1/8 inch / 2mm. Stamp out 4 inch/ 10cm circles. Offcuts can be re-rolled and stamped.
Pour the sugar into a shallow plate. Put the milk or water into a small bowl and get a pastry brush at the ready. Brush a semi-circle of dough with the milk or water, then dip into the sugar, then fold the dipped side into the middle. Repeat with one side of the folded dough. Finally, brush one side of the dough (which is not in a quarter-fold) and dip again. Place, dipped side-up, on the baking tray. Pop them in the fridge for 20 minutes if your kitchen is warm.
Space the biscuits out a little, they spread a bit but not loads. Bake for around 30-35 minutes until golden all over.

Soft Cocoa and Vanilla Abbracci

These abbracci are a hybrid in more than one way. It’s two doughs ‘hugging’ each other. But it’s also a take on my favourite shop-bought Mulino Bianco abbracci, but with a texture more like the delicate, melt-in-the-mouth Austrian/German vanillekipferl (vanilla crescents) thanks to the ground almonds and icing sugar. These aren’t really sweet and have a subtle texture and flavour, which I think is sometimes nicer than a massive hit of richness.

For the very large quantity, I’ve found I need to do a little bit of mixing by hand. Kelly the Kitchen Aid struggles to get it even.

KEEPING QUALITIES: These last fantastically well. They’re good for at least 10 days!

Makes about 30

250g plain/ all purpose flour
A pinch of salt
230g butter, softened
90g icing/ confectioner’s sugar
200g ground almonds/ almond flour
2 tsp vanilla bean paste
1 tsp vanilla sugar (if you can get it – I particularly recommend Tosleffs)
30g Dutch-processed cocoa (This is the norm in the UK. Natural would work, but would be a bit too light in flavour as we’re using a small amount)
1 tbsp milk

Makes about 45-50

375g plain/ all purpose flour
2 pinches of salt
345g butter, softened
135g icing sugar
300g ground almonds / almond flour
3 tsp vanilla bean paste
1 1/2 tsp vanilla sugar (I particularly recommend Torsleffs)
45g Dutch-processed cocoa (This is the norm in the UK. Natural would work, but would be a bit too light in flavour as we’re using a small amount.)
1 1/2 tbsp milk

Cream together the butter and sugar until combined.
Add the rest of the ingredients, except the cocoa and milk. Combine.
Split the dough. Remove about 420g or 630g for the very large batch. Mix the cocoa and milk together, add to the remaining dough and combine.
Refrigerate for an hour or up to several hours.
Split dough into little balls, about 14-16g, keeping the two flavours separate. Roll into crescents. Now press together the ends of each crescent to join them.
Chill again for at least ten minutes. Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 180C / 350F / 160C fan.
Bake for 14 minutes. They may not look ‘done’ but we are going for a soft texture here.

Ravneet Gill’s Vegan Chocolate Sablé with Freeze-Dried Raspberries

I trialled these with black cocoa, but without dairy butter to mellow it, they were too powerfully flavoured. They’re great with ordinary Dutch-processed cocoa. I wouldn’t go with natural cocoa here because they have quite a lot of baking soda/ bicarbonate of soda (this is to make them very short in texture). This would react with the acidity of natural cocoa and make them spread a lot.

KEEPING QUALITIES: They last for ages – at least a week in an airtight container or bag.

Makes around 12

75g neutral oil (I use grapeseed/ ‘vegetable oil’ as we often call it here)
1 tbsp/ 15g golden syrup (another thick syrup is good if you can’t get this – try barley malt extract or perhaps dark corn syrup)
70g light brown sugar
4g / scant tsp bicarbonate of soda/ baking soda
Small pinch sea salt flakes
20g Dutch-processed cocoa powder
110g plain / all purpose flour
20g 70% cocoa content dark chocolate (check it’s vegan if necessary)
12g freeze dried raspberries

Makes around 24

150g neutral oil (I use grapeseed/ ‘vegetable oil’ as we often call it here)
2 tbsp/ 30g golden syrup (another thick syrup is good if you can’t get this – try barley malt extract or perhaps dark corn syrup)
140g light brown sugar
8g / 2 scant tsps baking soda/ bicarbonate of soda
Large pinch sea salt flakes
220g plain / all purpose flour
40g 70% cocoa content dark chocolate (check it’s vegan if necessary)
24g freeze dried raspberries

Mix together the oil and golden syrup in a small bowl.
Sift the brown sugar, flour and cocoa into a large bowl. (I’m not normally a sifter, but brown sugar and cocoa get clumpy and I’ve found it absolutely necessary here.) Crumble in the salt. Combine with a spoon or fork. Add the oil and golden syrup and mix together to combine. Finally, chop the chocolate really small, crumble in the freeze-dried raspberries and combine into the dough.
Roll the dough the best you can into a cylinder shape, or two cylinders if you’re making a larger batch. It doesn’t behave that well but you’ll get there, don’t worry! Refrigerate for 4 hours. Freeze for 2 hours. (If you need to, you can take out of the freezer, slice then re-freeze and bake from frozen when you’re ready.)
Pre-heat the oven to 180C/ 350F / 160C fan. Slice the biscuit dough into 5mm / 1/4 inch slices. It’ll be crumbly and hard to work with. Don’t panic, just press it back together where necessary – it’ll come together in the oven. Leave space between them. Bake for 15 minutes.

Episode 52: Challenging Sourdough Orthodoxy – Interview with Elaine Boddy

In this episode, the wonderful Elaine Boddy talks to me about her experiences baking sourdough, the blog and community she has created as well as her new book, The Sourdough Whisperer. You can find Elaine at foodbodsourdough.com or on Instagram and Facebook.

Episode 51: Loafly Loaf Cakes

Ravneet Gill’s Carrot Loaf Cake (Dairy Free)

This recipe is in Rav’s first book, The Pastry Chef’s Guide, but she also published it on her Instagram a while ago.

3 large eggs (I used 3 UK large but UK/EU medium or US/Aus large is actually what the original recipe calls for)
150g dark brown sugar
113g vegetable / grapeseed oil
300g grated carrot (from about 4 medium carrots)
225g plain wholemeal flour (sub in 75g dried shredded/ dessicated coconut, if you like)
15g/ 3 tsp baking powder
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
15g raisins, if you want them (I didn’t), or a similarly sized dried fruit (chopped dates might be nice?)
1/2 tsp salt

Preheat the oven to 350F/ 180C / 160C fan / gas 4. Grease and line a 2lb/ 900g loaf tin.
Whisk the egg and sugar until combined. Add the oil and combine.
Stir in the carrot and raisins, if using.
Fork together the flour, baking powder, salt and spices. (Sift if lumpy.) Stir in.
Transfer to the loaf pan and bake for 45-50 minutes until a skewer comes out clean.

Malted Milk Loaf with Malt Cream

Very loosely based on the vanilla and bay loaf in Rukmini Iyer’s The Sweet Roasting Tin.

50g milk
50g malt drink e.g. Horlicks
170g butter
170g caster sugar
2 tsp vanilla bean paste
3 UK medium/ US large eggs (170g)
175g plain flour
55g ground almonds
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt (less if your butter is salted)

For the malted cream: 50g malt drink powder (e.g. Horlicks), 300ml/ 10 fl oz double/heavy cream

Preheat oven to 180C / 350F. Grease and line a 2lb / 900g loaf tin.
Heat the milk in a small saucepan with the Horlicks until dissolved. Set aside.
Cream the butter and sugar with the vanilla extract. Beat in the eggs, one at a time, combining well between each.
Add the flour, ground almonds, baking powder and salt and combine well. Stir in the milk.
Transfer the batter to the tin. Bake for 45-50 minutes, until it passes the skewer test.
To make the malted cream, heat the cream and Horlicks together, stirring until the Horlicks has dissolved. Cool then refrigerate until totally cold. Whisk to soft peaks before serving the cake.

Benjamina Ebuehi’s Honey and Tahini Loaf

Recipe in the Guardian. I think it is also in her new book, A Good Day to Bake.

I talk in more detail in the podcast, but if your loaf pan is a dark colour and/or a poorer conductor of heat such as glass or ceramic, I’d recommend baking at a slightly lower temperature. Also, pull it out early and check how it’s doing – I didn’t do this the first time I made it and it dried out a little from overbaking. For me, it needed 5 minutes less than the specified baking time. I also doubled the glaze!!!

Melissa Clark’s Marmalade Loaf Cake

Fabulous texture and flavour: marmalade loaf cake

Adapted, very barely, from here.

220g thick cut, bitter Seville orange marmalade (I used Duerr’s)
170g butter + 1 tbsp for glaze
150g caster/ superfine sugar or granulated sugar
The zest of 1 lime
The zest of 1 orange
2 tbsp orange juice
2 eggs + 1 yolk – UK/EU large or US/Aus extra large. Alternatively, just use 3 US/Aus large or UK/EU medium
190g plain flour
1.5 tsp baking powder (7g)
3/4 tsp salt, or less if your butter is salted
30g icing sugar, for glaze

Preheat oven to 180C/ 350F. Grease and line a 2lb/900g loaf pan, leaving overhang on the long edges so it can be more easily lifted out later. Coarsley chop any really big chunks of peel in the marmalade. This wasn’t necessary for me.
Beat the butter, sugar (not the icing sugar) and zests together until fluffy and light. Add the eggs, one by one, beating to combine. Don’t worry hugely if it splits a bit, you could add a little of the flour to try to prevent this.
Sift the flour and baking powder and mix with the salt. Add this to the cake mixture and combine.
Add 110g of the marmalade and the orange juice.
Transfer to the loaf tin. Bake for about 50-55 minutes until it passes the skewer test.
Heat the remaining 110g marmalade with the icing sugar and the tablespoon of butter. Heat together until combined. The heat loosens up the marmalade to make it more of a pouring consistency.
Pour and slather on top of the cake. I preferred to do this while the cake was still in the tin. I could lift the cake out using the parchment paper overhang.
Leave to cool completely before eating.

Episode 50: Black Cocoa Bakes

Edd Kimber’s Chocolate Sablé Biscuits

Adapted, barely, from here. These are EXTREMELY well balanced. I liked them with just good quality white chocolate. Makes about 25 in my experience

140g plain/ all purpose flour
140g wholemeal rye flour
40g black cocoa (or Dutch-processed)
3/4 baking soda/ bicarbonate of soda
1/2 tsp flaky salt
220g unsalted butter, room temperature
125g caster/ granulated sugar
125g light brown sugar
2 tsp vanilla extract/ bean paste
200g white chocolate or caramelised white chocolate, chopped

Sieve the flours, cocoa, bicarb into a bowl. Add salt and whisk together.
In a large bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer, cream the butter and sugar until smooth.
Add the flour mixture and combine. Add the chopped chocolate. It will be difficult to bring together, but you’ll be rewarded in the shortness of the finished biscuit.
Press and roll into two logs about 3 inches across as best you can.
Refrigerate until very firm, 4 hours or more I found.
Preheat oven to 160C convection/ 325F/ 140C fan. Cut chunky slices about 1/2 inch / 1.3 cm thick. Leave some space around for spread.
Bake for 13 minutes. There aren’t any good visual cues, due to the colour and shortness of these biscuits, but just trust they will be done.

River Cottage Pear Cake

Adapted (very slightly) from here.

4 pears (I like conference pears)
185g butter: 150g for the cake and 35g butter for the pears
2 tbsp soft light brown sugar
The zest of an orange (optional)
100g ground almonds
100g plain / all purpose flour
25g cocoa powder
2 large eggs, c. 120-140g in their shells
150g caster sugar
2 tbsp milk
1 tsp baking powder

Peel the pears, remove their stalks, cut them into quarters and remove the seeds. Roast pears in 35g butter, light brown sugar and orange zest, if using, at 180C / 350F / 160C fan for about 25-30 minutes until soft.
Leave the oven on the same temperature. Grease with butter and line a 23cm / 9 inch springform cake pan.
Sift then whisk together the ground almonds, flour, cocoa powder and baking powder.
In a different bowl, cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add the dry ingredients and mix until combined. Finally, mix in the milk to achieve a “dropping” consistency.
Transfer the chocolate cake mixture to the cake tin. Top with the pears and top with roasting juices.
Place the cake tin on a large baking tray (as an insurance policy in case of any leaking). Bake for about an hour – check at 50 minutes.

Chocolate Tahini Shortbread

I love the drama of the black cocoa biscuit and the white sesame seeds

These I adapted from a lemon and tahini biscuit in Ruby Tandoh’s Crumb. If you want to convert them back (I recommend trying both to be honest!!!!) then omit the cocoa and sesame seeds, use 240g AP/ plain flour and add the zest of 2 lemons into the butter mixture.

120g butter
120g tahini
120g caster or granulated sugar
205g plain / all purpose flour
35g black or Dutch processed/alikinised cocoa
1 tsp baking powder
around 50g sesame seeds, for rolling

Preheat the oven to 180C/ 350F (160C fan). Line a baking tray or two with baking parchment.
Cream the butter, tahini and sugar together until light and fluffy.
Whisk together the flour, cocoa and baking powder.
Add this to the wet mixture in two stages (this is partly for even mixing, but moreso to prevent your kitchen being covered in cocoa and flour!).
Roll into balls of about 25g. Roll in the sesame seeds. Space out a little on the baking sheet(s) – they don’t spread much though. Bake for 12 minutes. Because of the size of my oven and baking sheets I do this in two stages.

Dorie Greenspan’s World Peace Cookies with Freeze Dried Raspberries

Adapted (just a little) from here and here.

Makes around 20-24

170g all purpose/ plain flour
28g cocoa
1/2 tsp baking soda/ bicarb
155g butter, softened
50g caster (superfine) or granulated sugar
134g light brown sugar
1/2 tsp flaky salt (less if your butter is salted)
1 tsp vanilla extract or bean paste
150g good milk chocolate (mine was 37% cocoa solids), chopped into smallish pieces
15-20g freeze dried raspberries, chopped into small pieces

Cream the butter, vanilla and sugar together.
Sift the cocoa, baking soda and flour and mix gently.
Add to the butter mixture and combine.
Add the chopped chocolate and raspberries and combine.
Shape into two or three logs, around 1.5 inches/ 3.8cm diameter.
Refrigerate thoroughly – about 4 hours.
Preheat the oven to 325F/ 170C (150C fan).
Cut into 1/2 inch / 1.3cm thick rounds. If they fall apart a bit, press them back together and they’ll cohere together in the oven.
Bake, spaced a little apart – they’ll spread a bit but not loads – for 12 minutes. They won’t look “done”, but trust the process.
Cool and enjoy. They keep for about 3-4 days in an airtight container or ziploc bag.