Pear, Apple and Tomato Chutney

I made this a few weeks ago as our stock of chutney was quickly dwindling! I don’t think I have ever tried a chutney with pear in so the combination of flavours was really interesting. As always the recipe came from my trusty DK Jams & Chutneys.

Pear, Apple and Tomato Chutney

• 675g ripe cherry tomatoes (I used cherry tomatoes so that I wouldn’t have to remove the skins)
• 450g onions
• 1.25kg cooking apples
• 500g firm pears
• 4-6 garlic cloves
• 100g fresh root ginger
• 1-2 tsp chilli flakes
• 450g raisins
• 1 tbsp salt
• 900ml white wine vinegar
• 750g Demerara sugar

Chop the tomatoes and onions. Peel, core and chop the apples and pears. Crush the garlic, and grate the ginger. (I actually used a blender for all of the chopping because I was pressed for time).

Put all the ingredients in a preserving pan and bring slowly to the boil, stirring until the sugar has dissolved. Increase the heat to medium and simmer the chutney for 1 1/4 hours or until thick.

Pot in hot sterilised jars, cover with vinegar-proof seals, and label.

Keeps for up to one year and makes 2.5kg.

 

GBBO January’s Recipe: Chewy Almond Cookies

For Christmas I got another Great British Bake Off calendar which I was really pleased about because I really enjoy baking from it. The recipe for January is for Chewy Apricot Cookies (but I think that might be a typo because the only apricot ingredient is optional and a lot of the ingredients are almond-based) and I changed the recipe slightly because I was being a little bit lazy and couldn’t be bothered to make the butter cream icing. These little biscuits are absolutely delicious and too easy to eat!

Chewy Almond Cookies

• 125g self-raising flour
• 50g ground almonds
• 100g caster sugar
• 100g unsalted butter, chilled and diced
• 1 egg
• 3-4 drops almond extract
• icing sugar, for dusting

Baking sheets, lined with baking paper

Heat your oven to 160C. To make the dough put the flour, ground almonds and sugar into the food processor bowl and pulse 3 or 4 times to combine the ingredients. Add the pieces of butter and process until the mixture looks sandy. Beat the egg with the almond extract in a small bowl using a fork, then add to the processor through the feed tube while the machine is running. Stop the machine as soon as the dough comes together.

Tip the dough on to the worktop. Lightly dust your hands with flour, then roll the mixture into 16 balls. Arrange the balls on the prepared baking sheets, spaced well apart to allow for spreading. Press very gently. Place in the oven and bake for 14-17 minutes until golden and just firm when gently pressed.

Remove from the oven and leave the cookies to cool on the baking sheets before placing onto a cooling rack. At this point you could sandwich the biscuits together with jam or butter cream icing or both. Dust with icing sugar.

Cinnamon Swirls!

My sister and I had been wanting to make cinnamon swirls for sooo long but wanted to use the perfect recipe which I found on the blog Spoon Fork Bacon. I would highly highly recommend using this recipe, I was a bit apprehensive because it was American and used cups but the dough turned out really well. The only changes I made was to use a lot less flour because my sister and I felt the dough didn’t need 6 cups and we also swapped the vanilla extract for orange extract (this was a mistake as I picked up the wrong bottle in the shop but it actually worked really well).

 

Ruby Tandoh’s Chocolate Fudge Cake

This is a super indulgent chocolate cake from my current favourite food write, Ruby Tandoh. Although very chocolatey I found it wasn’t too sickly so having a giant slice of it wasn’t out of the question!

Chocolate Fudge Cake

For the cakes

• 200g dark chocolate
• 200g butter, cubed and at room temperature
• 4 large eggs
• 200ml milk
• 100g soft dark brown sugar
• 160g caster sugar
• 50g cocoa powder
• 200g plain flour
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
• 1/4 tsp salt

Preheat the oven to 180C. Grease and line 2 20cm round cake tins with baking parchment.

Melt the chocolate in a bowl suspended over simmering water in a pan. Take off the heat then stir in the butter until melted. Whisk in the eggs, milk and both types of sugar.

In another bowl, combine the cocoa powder, flour, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda and salt. Add all this to the wet ingredients, gently whisking in for just as long as it takes to combine.

Divide the mixture between the prepared tins and bake for 25-30 minutes.

Let the cakes cool for a few minutes in their tins before turning them out onto wire racks to finish cooling to room temperature. Sandwich and ice with the ganache below.

 

For the ganache

• 200g dark chocolate
• 200ml double cream
• 100g soft dark brown sugar
• pinch of salt
• 4 tbsp golden syrup

Finely chop the chocolate and set aside in a large bowl. Heat the cream, sugar and salt in a pan over a low heat until scalding but not boiling. Pour it slowly over the chopped chocolate, let the mixture sit for a minute, then stir to combine. The chocolate should have melted into the cream, leaving a smooth, shiny ganache mixture. Stir in the golden syrup. Let the ganache cool to room temperature before using some to sandwich the cake layers together. Then spread the rest on the top and sides.

Beyonce-Themed Cross Stitch

My sister came across the patterns for these two amazing Beyonce-themed cross stitches. They were incredibly quick to stitch up and I think they are so cool. I love when cross stitch patterns are given modern updates.

Vegan Butternut Squash and Orange Cake

I made this for my friend’s birthday as part of a vegan pot luck. I had wanted to try out the recipe for ages and the pot luck seemed a perfect occasion as the cake is 100% vegan. You can find the recipe here!

Ruby Tandoh’s Chorizo and Kale Flatbread

Sorry for the abundance of recipes from Ruby Tandoh’s Crumb but it has some amazing recipes in it. I made this as a starter to go with an artichoke and white bean dip and they went together perfectly.

Chorizo and Kale Flatbread

• 250g strong white bread flour
• 1 tsp dried instant yeast
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 175ml lukewarm water
• 5 tbsp olive oil
• 100g chorizo diced
• 125g kale, stalks removed and finely shredded (I put shredded mine in a food processor)

Combine the flour and yeast in a large bowl, stir in the salt and add the water along with one tbsp of the olive oil. Mix with your hands until well combined then tip out onto a clean surface and knead for about 10 minutes, or until the dough is elastic and less sticky. Let it rise for an hour until doubled in size.

While waiting for the dough to rise, bring a pan of water to the boil and add the kale. Boil for just one minute then drain and run through with cold water. Once cool, squeeze out any excess water from the greens.

Knead just under half of the kale into the risen dough. Preheat the oven to 190C.

On a floured surface, roll out the dough to around 20cm in diameter. Use your hands to stretch the dough the remaining distance. Grease the bottom of the tin with 2 tbsp of the remaining olive oil and lay down the dough down.

Let the bread prove at room temperature for 15 minutes then sprinkle over the remaining kale and then the chorizo. Gently pat the toppings down then dimple the dough using your fingertips.

Let prove for a further 5 minutes then drizzle with remaining olive oil and bake for 20 minutes.

Nigel Slater’s Soda Bread

I whipped up this little loaf to go with Tom Kerridge’s proper baked beans my boyfriend had made for tea. It was the perfect accompaniment especially hot out of the oven!

Flourless Banana, Cinnamon, Dark Chocolate Muffins

Just a quick post on some delicious muffins I whipped up using this recipe from My Darling Lemon Thyme. A healthy-ish recipe since they are gluten-free but the best thing about these muffins is that they are so delicious! The balance of the ingredients is on point and the combination of chocolate and banana is soooo good.

Pecan Pie

This is November’s recipe from my Great British Bake Off calendar. I haven’t made anything from the calendar for months due to being away and not particularly wanting to try out some of the recipes. However, this pecan pie sounded too good to pass up the chance to make. I have tried my hand at pastry a couple of times before this so was keen to give it another go.