Easter Shortbread…

I bought some cute Easter Cookie cutters last year and totally forgot to use them! So I was determined not to make the same mistake this year. Themed seasonal baking is my absolute favourite to do, I'm heart broken that I can't be at the Easter Markets selling lots of cute Easter treats for you all. However I can't resist baking some for myself, so thought I would share them here with you!

This is a super simple recipe, perfect to make with the kids, use whatever fun shape cutters you may have or go freehand if you don't have any! If you don't have any mini eggs, chocolate chips or very finely chopped chocolate will do just fine!

Ingredients…

• 75g Caster Sugar

• 150g butter

• 225g plajn flour

• 100g mini eggs- blitzed in a food processor into very small bits

Method…

1. Cream together your butter and sugar in a mixer or with a hand whisk until super light and fluffy.

2. Stir through the flour and the mini egg pieces, until fully combined, then with your hands press together into a dough.

3. On a lightly floured surface, roll out the dough, to roughly ½ cm thick, then use your cutters to cut out each biscuit and place on a greaseproofed baking tray. Repeat with all the dough, then pop onto the fridge to chill for at least 20 minutes.

4. Meanwhile preheat your oven to 180/160 fan.

5. Once chilled, place your biscuit filled trays into the oven and bake for roughly 15 minutes, until the edges are just starting to go golden brown.

6. Leave to cool on the trays and then… enjoy!

2019...

Howdy Strangers! Apologies that is has been a little while! I have been tucked up in a winter cocoon, covered in many blankets, fuelled by perhaps a slightly excessive amount of Christmas chocolates. But I have emerged, finally, with some very exciting news to start off the year of 2019!

  I have finally, after 5 years lacking the self belief needed, decided to dive in at the deep end and put my heart and soul fully into Louise's Cakes! I am now officially a full time independent business owner, making Louise's Cakes my sole job, income and focus! 

  I'm not sure when the exact moment of change came, when I decided I was ready to take the plunge. Perhaps it was not just a moment, but more of a general realisation that no one was going to make this dream come true for me, nobody but me! So I am more than ready to put my all in to my baking, into constantly improving and trying new techniques and ideas and also then sharing all of this with you all! 

  In terms of the blog, and this road to nigellahood we are in together, I now hope to have the time to invest more of myself and share my recipes, my musings and food ramblings with you all. 

  In the mean time, I shall leave you will a few of my cakes and bakes so far this year! Enjoy ... 

Tan Slice...

If you read my last post on New Zealand, then I can only presume you have been waiting impatiently all week for this recipe post, so you yourself can now make Tan Slice. And I can’t blame you,  it is such a simple but delicious treat that I’m sure will become a firm favourite. Tan slice comprises of a shortbread base with a thick caramel middle and topped with shortbread crumble. Pretty simple right? But oh so very delicious!! I have done this recipe with chocolate chips just to make it even more of a treat! It pairs oh so very beautifully with a big cup of tea, enjoy...

Ingredients…

• 200g butter  
• 100g caster sugar  
• 320g plain flour 
• 1tsp vanilla extract 
• 100g dark chocolate chips 
• 1x tin caramel (usually 397g!)  
• Pinch salt    

Method...

1.  Preheat your oven to 180/160 fan and grease and line a square cake tin/baking tray.
2. Cream together the butter, sugar and vanilla until fluffy, then mix through the flour and the chocolate chips.
3. Put roughly 2/3 of the mix into your baking tray and press down evenly to form the base. 
4. Stir a pinch of salt through the caramel and then pour and spread on top of your shortbread base.
5. Crumble the remaining shortbread mix over the caramel, pressing together to form some larger lumps and some fine.
6. Pop into the oven for 20-25 minutes until starting to go golden. 
7. Leave to cool in the tin before setting in the fridge for 1hour+, lift from tin and chop into slices. 
8. Pour yourself a big mug of tea and enjoy...   

Peanut Butter Jelly Flapjack...

Realised, as I begin to write this, that my recipe blogs of late have seemed to accidentally follow a theme... Nuts! I promise I shall attempt to branch into something different for the next one. But for now, it is time for a journey into peanut butter goodness! 

One of my favourite go to treats is flapjack and good flapjack really is hard to beat. One of the best things is its ease and simplicity to make, which is perhaps why my key memory of childhood baking centres around flapjack. My real love for baking did not seem to develop until my late teens, which still feels like a scarily long time ago! Childhood baking comprised mainly of flicking through a very old and worn copy of Delia Smith's Complete Cookery Course, to find one of two recipes. Crumble topping or flapjack! Flapjack was the first recipe I made all by myself and the very first recipe committed to memory. Nowadays my head is swimming with all sorts of cake recipes and ingredient quantities that there is not much room for anything else!

I have made this flapjack extra special and deliciously decadent, indulging both your sweet and savoury teeth! Peanut butter and jelly, or as we in the UK call it, jam, is a flavour combination incredibly close to my heart and stomach!! This flapjack is sweet, sticky, salty, crunchy, chewy and more... enjoy! 

Ingredients...

• 250g salted butter
• 60g crunchy peanut butter
• 140g caster sugar
• 140g golden syrup
• 400g porridge oats
• 80g raspberries, fresh or frozen
• 5tsp raspberry jam

Method...

1.  Pre heat your oven to 180 degrees or 160 fan.
2. Pop the butter, peanut butter, sugar and syrup in a saucepan over a low heat, stirring occasionally, until it has all melted together.
3. Stir through the oats and then pour into a lined brownie tin.
4. Spread the mixture out and flatten lightly before dolloping the jam on top in blobs. Press in the raspberries and for extra crunch you can add some salted peanuts as well!
5. Press everything down firmly and then pop into the oven for 20-25 minutes until bubbly with beautiful golden edges.
6. Leave to cool in the tin and chill before slicing into squares. Enjoy...

Pecan Pie...

During my current love affair with the pistachio, I have highly neglected my other favourite nut, the pecan! So what better thing to bake than a dessert based around the pecan itself, the humble Pecan Pie of course! It must have been years and years since I have even eaten any form of pecan pie and my only memory of ever baking it goes right back to childhood and a highly burnt outcome that neither looked nor tasted like anything resembling a pecan pie! Luckily since then my baking skills have somewhat improved! 

As well as the pecans themselves, for a pie, you of course need pastry. I have somewhat of a love hate relationship with pastry, in that I love nothing more than eating it, but making it always fills me with slight dread. Perhaps justly for the extra effort and mess involved. But also for the lack of cohesion in my pastry skills. Some days I am a pastry pro and can make a picture perfect pie. Other days I seem to opt for a rather more rustic style, with slightly crumbled uneven edges. However, as pie is the quintessential home baked treat, I feel the slight imperfections only add to its charm, and that is the story I shall be sticking with! 

One of my favourite food combinations is maple and pecan. They work together so beautifully and make any dessert irresistible. Pecan Pie as a dessert is so utterly homely and comforting, Deliciously sweet and squidgy and delectably naughty. The scent that will fill your home whilst this is in the oven is just perfection! Enjoy...

Ingredients...

• For the Pastry...
• 300g plain flour
• 150g salted butter
• 100g icing sugar
• 2 egg yolks
• For the Pie...
• 300g Pecan halves
• 75g salted butter
• 100g light brown sugar
• 200g golden syrup
• 150g maple syrup
• 1tsp vanilla extract
• 3 eggs, beaten

Method...

1. Put your flour into a mixing bowl and using the largest holes, grate in the butter and then rub flour and butter together with your fingertips, until the mix resembles breadcrumbs. 
2. Rub in the icing sugar and then add the egg yolks. Mix to form the dough, adding a splash of cold water, if the pastry feels too dry. 
3. Bring the dough together in a ball, wrap in clingfilm and chill for at least an hour. 
4. Roll out the dough, on a floured surface, big enough to line roughly a 9inch loose bottomed tart tin. Prick the base lightly with a fork and pop back into the fridge for 30mins. 
5. Pre heat your oven to 180/160 fan.
6. Line your pastry case with baking paper and then fill with baking beans, if you don't have any, raw pasta will work just fine. Pop into the oven for 15 mins, carefully remove the baking paper and beans and return to the oven for 5 minutes or until lightly golden. 
7. Now, onto the filling, beat together the sugar and softened butter until light and fluffy, then beat in the syrups. Gradually add the beaten eggs and then vanilla, along with a pinch of salt until fully combined. Stir through the pecans and then pour  into the tin. 
8. Increase the oven to 200 or 190 fan. Pop the tart on the middle shelf and bake for 10 minutes. Reduce the temperature to 160 or 140 fan for 35-40 minutes, until the pie is golden brown with just a slight wobble. 
9. Leave the pie to cool and then chill in the fridge, preferably overnight, to fully firm up. 
10. Serve with ice cream, cream, bourbon, what ever your poison and enjoy...

White Chocolate and Pistachio Cheesecake...

I am a sponge girl through and through, sponge cake, sponge pudding, sponge is my go to! Therefore, it seldom happens that cheesecake creeps into my mind. But for all of last week, cheesecake was haunting my every thought! I just could not get it off my brain! There was only one thing to do! Get baking!

To make a cheesecake that was going to fully satisfy these cravings, it was going to have to be exceptionally good! So I threw one of my favourite ingredients at it for luck, the pistachio! The humble pistachio, you may have noticed, creeps its way into a fair few of my baking creations. As does white chocolate. So it may not be a great surprise that I have paired them together again and they work beautifully in this deliciously creamy cheesecake. 

If you have never made a baked cheesecake before, don't worry! They are much easier than you may have been led to believe and take minimal time as well! Just follow this step by step recipe and you can be indulging in sweet creamy nutty heaven in no time at all. Enjoy...

Ingredients...

• 200g rich tea biscuits
• 75g shelled pistachios
• 80g melted butter
• 300ml double cream
• 400g full fat cream cheese
• 4 eggs
• 2 tsp vanilla extract 
• 400g white chocolate 

Method...

1. Pre heat your oven to 180 or 160 fan. Line the base of an 8inch round spring form cake tin with baking parchment and lightly grease the sides. 
2. Put your pistachios, saving a couple for decoration later, and your biscuits into a food processor and blitz until fine crumbs. Mix together with the melted butter then pop into your tin and press down evenly and firmly to form the base. 
3. Pop this into the oven to bake for 10 minutes and then leave to cool. 
4. Heat the double cream gently in a saucepan over low heat, then add in the white chocolate and stir until fully melted. 
5. Leave to cool slightly before blending with the cream cheese, eggs and vanilla. Beat until the mixture is smooth. 
6. Now the only slightly technical part, your cheesecake needs to be baked in a bain-marie, to ensure it is evenly baked. All you need to do is wrap the base and sides of your tin in a layer of clingfilm and then a double layer of foil, to ensure your tin is watertight. Then pop the tin in a deep roasting tin. 
7. Pour your cheesecake mixture over the biscuit base. Then fill the roasting tin with boiling water, going half way up the level of the cake tin. Pop this into a slightly cooler oven, 140 or 120 fan and bake for 1 hour. 
8. Once your hour is up, turn your oven off, leave the cheesecake in, with the oven door slightly open and leave to cool for a couple of hours. This should prevent any cracks forming on the top. 
9. Your cheesecake may still appear to be slightly wobbly, don't worry, it just needs to chill and fully firm up! Leave it in the fridge overnight and the next day it should be firm. Un-clip your tin and pop the cheesecake out and onto a serving plate. Sprinkle some chopped pistachios over the top for a pop of colour. And then dive right in and enjoy the smooth silky creaminess of your cheesecake! 

Sticky Toffee Banana Bread...

You wont find too many recipes in my repertoire which could be classed as healthy! I am a girl who likes her indulgences! But, when a cake still tastes delicious, who am I to complain that it is also pretty much fat free?! It simply means I can eat twice as much with half the amount of guilt! 

The sticky toffee aspect of this particular banana bread come from the very essence of sticky toffee pudding itself, the delicious dates! Dates are one of mother natures kindest gifts to us. Sticky, sweet and splendidly gooey. The taste pairs beautifully with banana and they add moisture and a perfect natural sweetness to the bread. So, if you've got some over ripened bananas to use up, or you simply fancy a sweet treat with your morning coffee then look no further, enjoy...

Ingredients...

• 3x ripe bananas- the riper the better!
• 50g dark brown sugar
• 2x eggs
• 200g self raising flour
• 60g dates
• 1 tsp cinnamon 
• 1 tsp cardamon
• 1 tsp vanilla extract

Method...

1. Pre heat your oven to 180/ 160 degrees fan and grease and line a loaf tin.
2. Soak your dates in a bowl in some boiling water.
3. With an electric whisk, beat together the bananas, sugar and eggs until light and creamy.
4. Fold through the flour, baking powder, vanilla and spices until thoroughly combined.
5. Finally, stir through the soaked dates, with a little bit of their liquid. 
6. Pour into your loaf tin and pop into the oven on a low shelf for around 45-50 minutes until springy to touch. 
7. Leave to cool in the tin and enjoy at your leisure!