baking | What Emily Did Next

January 24, 2013
by Emily 3 Comments

Cake in Cafés and Biscotti in Bed

Three months living in a (shared) ~~bedsit~~ studio apartment with no oven will really make you want to bake. And not just the old classics that would be impossible to mess up, but new things that might burn or explode or fuse themselves to the baking tray, because the whole ‘shared room’ aspect of the situation would make baking these things truly awkward even if you did have access to an oven.

Thankfully, while I was bereft of oven I consumed enough delicious cake and bread and other glorious baked things acquired from markets and friends and cafés that I managed to get by. Since my return from Slovakia (two months ago, wow) I have been eating far less café cake and made some lovely things for myself.

Biscotti fell under the heading of ‘new things that might explode in the oven’ and, amazingly, they turned out really good. I made these for a Christmas gift, but the recipe I followed made about a million biscuits and that is why, as the title of this post suggests, I am currently curled up on my bed eating one. I found the process of making these quite alarming at first, as I was expecting the mix to come together to form some sort of dough, although on a second reading of the recipe I realised the word ‘batter’ was actually quite apt. They taste quite similar to most biscotti I have had in coffee shops, went over well with the recipient of the gift, and have also been complimented by everyone I’ve forced them on so far. Success!

Also, giving presents of homemade food and drink was great fun and much more satisfying than buying any old tat from a shop. So my gift-giving strategy from now on is to get really good at making a small repertoire of food and drink items and try to get away without ever having to give thoughtless unnecessary presents ever again. My other gifts include dark chocolate sea salt truffles, red onion marmalade, and limoncello. All delicious, in my humble opinion. I urge everyone to make the marmalade. I followed this recipe and it was seriously good, and made enough for one gift and a tub that I could sit and eat using a hunk of cheese as a utensil. (Ahem.) Go forth, make red onion marmalade, and be happy.

May 10, 2012
by Emily 9 Comments

The Tale of the Breakfast Muffins

I’m not one of those people who doesn’t eat breakfast. Not because ‘it’s the most important meal of the day’ or because I’m better than you, but because I’m greedy. At university I learnt that eating a decent breakfast was essential if I didn’t want to waste money on crappy food on campus. I love breakfast and I love not being hungry and I love not having to spend money on bad food. A conversation a couple of months ago led me to think about making healthy muffins for busy mornings.

I eventually decided on courgette and cheese muffins. I added carrot and used half the amount of cheese in the recipe, and added some mustard powder. They turned out a little too eggy, but they’ll do for a handy breakfast with a bit of chilli jam. (Smoky chilli jam, buy it. Eat it on everything. Be merry.) If you make these, my advice is to not put the tomatoes on top if you’re planning on keeping them in the fridge for a few days. I still have a few left and had to perform an emergency tomato-ectomy today because they do not fare well in the fridge.

Then, a bunch of overripe bananas in the kitchen inspired me to make a sweet breakfast muffin. That’s basically like eating cake for breakfast. And in my eyes, eating cake for breakfast is the very essence of winning at life. I went with this recipe and changed a few things, as usual. I used applesauce instead of oil, left out the sugar, added more vanilla and some cinnamon and chopped walnuts. Oh and I used wholemeal flour. (Can you tell I’m trying to lose a bit of chub?) I really like the way these turned out. They’re not very sweet so if you make them and you have a sweet tooth, make sure to add in the sugar or use a sweetener.

The verdict: I like them both, but making muffins really isn’t my forte. The texture is never quite right. Neither of these are going to be my signature dish, but they’re both useful to have in the repertoire.

April 16, 2012
by Emily 12 Comments

Beetroot Brownies

For a while I’ve been hearing whispers through the grapevine of using vegetables in baked goods to make them lower in fat and more nutritious. I have to keep telling myself that using beetroot in brownies is no more peculiar than a carrot cake, or the sweet courgette bread I made last time.

Beetroot in brownies is not weird. Beetroot in brownies is not weird. Beetroot in brownies is not weird.

If I repeat it to myself enough times, I’ll start to believe it. If anyone is going to love a brownie with vegetables in it, to be perfectly honest, it will be me. I’m quite open minded about food and I’m happy to try most things once. (As my friend Holly knows all too well, as she was horrified the other day at me suggesting that if it was offered to me, I would try headcheese.) I’m also more than happy to find new ways to eat vegetables.

Funnily enough, the idea to make beetroot brownies did not come from a desire to ‘healthify’ chocolate brownies. I’m such a baking novice that I’m still mastering the old-fashioned full-fat recipes, let alone trying to experiment with different ingredients and so on. Today’s beetroot brownies were borne from the same concept as most of the food I make: to use something up. The beetroots that have been lingering in the fridge for more time than I care to admit* were starting to irritate me. Measures had to be taken.

Would anyone be surprised if I said I used the recipe from BBC Good Food? Probably not. I used pre-packed cooked beetroot, which is fine, but I had to carefully check there was no vinegar. I don’t think the world is ready for that flavour combination just yet. Also bear in mind, if you use beetroot that’s already cooked, that the butter and chocolate will not melt like they are supposed to, and you may have to microwave it for 30 seconds or so to save your food processor from taking off into outer space. (I learnt this the hard way.) Another thing I learnt is that as you mix the sugar and egg mixture into the warm beetroot chocolate and butter mixture, you will ponder how utterly disgusting it looks and if the recipe itself was all a cruel joke.

It will all come good in the end. Trust me. Mine came out a little bit more cake-like than your average brownie but I still think they’re pretty delicious. There’s a subtle earthy beetroot flavour in there, but it’s not overpowering.

* Don’t worry, they weren’t rotten. I’m not that disgusting, or that determined not to waste food.

Have you ever baked with vegetables?

Would you be intrigued or terrified if someone offered you a beetroot brownie?

March 14, 2012
by Emily 10 Comments

Cookies, courgettes and cheese

Please rest assured that the aforementioned cookies, courgettes and cheese are not involved in the same dish.

In my possibly never-ending quest to perfect one signature dish and strike a line of victory through one of my self-set 30 before 30 challenges, I have been baking quite often as of late. I’ve got pretty good at cheese scones, tried my hand at oatmeal biscuits, dreamt up some heavenly white chocolate, cranberry and almond cookies, and dabbled in a loaf of courgette bread.

The verdict: The cheese scones, while very good, might not cut it as a signature dish just yet. Oatmeal biscuits are pleasant enough but it’s unlikely that I’ll bother making them again. White chocolate, cranberry and almond cookies are divine. Courgette bread is a source of confusion but very enjoyable served with a cup of tea and a good book. (That said, most things can be improved by the addition of hot beverages and literature.)

I must confess that these cookies pictured aren’t actually the ones I personally baked. The first batch went down so well (read: was demolished within a day) that my sister baked some more the next day.

If you invited someone to a party and they said they’d bring something they had baked, what would you hope it was?
If someone invited you to a party and asked you to take something you had baked, what would you take?

January 12, 2012
by Emily 7 Comments

Ricotta & Chocolate Muffins

I’ve been at it again. Baking, that is. It didn’t go too badly last time, so I thought I might try again. As with most things that I make, this was simply an effort to use up something in the fridge that wasn’t going to get eaten otherwise. The ingredient in question: ricotta. There was talk of pasta, but it was the evening, everybody had already eaten, and the cogs of my brain were already set in motion. After a dash around the internet, I came back with the idea of chocolate ricotta muffins. Here is the basic recipe I was working from:

240g ricotta / 2 large eggs / 320ml milk / 1 tbsp vanilla extract / 4tbsp butter / 260g flour / 250g white sugar / 2tsp baking powder / half a tsp salt / 60g cocoa powder / 180g chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 180C. Combine cheese and eggs, mix well. Add milk, vanilla, and butter. Set aside.

Whisk flour, sugar, baking powder, cocoa powder and salt. Combine both mixtures, add chocolate chips. Bake for 20 minutes.

Except I didn’t follow this exact recipe because I seem to have a mental inability to do as I’m told. I used 260g of ricotta because that’s how much was in the tub, added more flour to compensate for that, less sugar because I ran out, cream of tartar instead of baking powder because I don’t know the difference, and missed out the chocolate chips because, well, because I forgot. If you want to make them, perhaps you should follow the recipe. I think mine turned out perfectly well, though. They’re not very sweet, but to be honest that feels like the perfect antidote to the festive season’s excesses. As they’re not too chocolatey, it feels acceptable to eat them for breakfast, which makes them a winner in my eyes.

Now for some pretentious pictures of the muffins. Don’t tell me you didn’t know this was coming.

November 18, 2011
by Emily 8 Comments

Cheese Scones & Fairy Cakes

I generally don’t bake. When people say things like ‘if cooking is an art, baking is a science’ I get scared and decide to cook instead. I’m arty, I’m creative! I can’t do science and I definitely can’t do maths. One time I tried to make this recipe and it was still liquid after being in the oven for about three hours. The mixture burnt before it set. I spent almost an entire week trying to wash the dish I had made it in.

However, one of my 30 before 30 goals is to learn how to bake on signature dish. Here it is in writing. It would seem that I like to set myself ridiculous challenges in the hope that over the next nine years I will become a successful, Masters degree possessing, jetsetting, student loan free lady who will turn up to your shindig carrying my signature dish. Then I will drive to the airport in my own car, hop on a plane to New Zealand, write my diary on the way there and my first novel on the way back.

That’s the dream, folks. Apparently.

Today I decided to start on the road to being such a person, and baked. I got out the trusty Be-Ro book and I made not only some cheese scones, but also some fairy cakes. I not only made normal cheese scones, but I made them with a mix of cheddar, gruyere and parmesan, and I glazed one with Marmite and studded one with green olives. I not only made regular iced fairy cakes but I made three varieties of flavoured icing: vanilla, cinnamon and coffee.

Then I covered them with ridiculous Christmas themed decorations. Because I’m a ridiculous person.

Have I found my signature dish? No, not really. Were they delicious? Yes, and they taste like accomplishment. Now let’s hope I don’t eat them all before my boyfriend arrives.

Both recipes come from the Be-Ro book. If you don’t own one you’re kind of missing out.

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