Brownie sandwich cookies with salted caramel cream filling

No calories. No butter. No sugar. No real chocolate. No pleasure.

When it comes to brownies I don't compromise. I rather not to bake any than go half way. These are so rich that you probably will get a diabetes only by reading the recipe.

Recipe was found in "Donna Hay" magazine (Spring 2011 issue), but they used peanut butter for the filling. I have to say I was pretty tempted, but as much as I love natural peanut butter I prefer salted caramel when it comes to chocolate cakes combos. If you like it too please check out my chocolate fondant with salted caramel sauce. 

I reduced sugar in the recipe and changed some other quantities as well as method (bain marie is safer than melting chocolate in a pan on the hob).

If you don't like to compromise when it comes to chocolate I am sure you will enjoy these.

Makes about 16

For salted caramel:

¾ cup sugar
5 tbsp water
4 tbsp butter 
¼ cup double cream
½tsp salt

For cookies:

350g plain chocolate, finely chopped (I used 70% cocoa solids)
3 tbsp butter
3 small eggs
½ cup of sugar
1tsp real vanilla extract
 ¼ cup of plain flour
¼ tsp baking powder

For the cream filling:

250g butter, unsalted
1½ cup icing sugar
salted caramel

First prepare salted caramel. Place sugar and water in a pan, keep over medium heat and stir until sugar has dissolved, bring to the boil and as from now do not stir! If any crystals form on the side of the pan brush them with a wet silicone spatula. You can move the mixture from time to time by shaking the pan using handle, but remember - no stirring at this point. after few minutes the mixture will start to change the colour from a light to dark amber. This is the moment when you should take it off the heat and mix salt, cream and butter in. Stir thoroughly, be careful as it bubbles a lot. Set aside to cool down and prepare the cookies.

Place 200g of chocolate in a bowl together with a butter and place onto a pan with boiling water, making sure the bowl does not touch the hot water. Basically melt the chocolate with the butter in bain marie. When melted set aside to cool down and heat the oven to 180C.

Beat the eggs with the sugar until pale and fluffy with a mixer. Add sieved flour, baking powder, mix and then add melted chocolate with butter and the remaining 150g of chopped chocolate. Set aside for 10 minutes.

Line a baking tray with some baking paper and spoon one tbsp of chocolate mixture onto it saving some space, between them, as they will expand little bit.

Bake for 8-10 minutes, not longer! don't be tempted to bake it longer even if you think cookies look too soft. They will continue to cook even outside the oven for little while, so if you bake them for longer than 10 minutes you will end up with hard rock unpleasant cookies. We want soft with melted chocolate bits in. When they are cooling down prepare the filling.

Using a mixer beat the butter with icing sugar until fluffy and then add cool salted caramel. Have to admit - mine was little bit too hard, so I heated it and it was too warm for the butter. It melted the butter when I was mixing it, but I managed to rescue it with placing the mixing bowl in the fridge and mixing every few minutes. The butter incorporated into the caramel eventually.

To assemble the cookies spread a generous amount of cream filling onto one cookie and cover with another one.

Bon appetite!

Bread & butter pudding with rhubarb carpaccio

Do you like recipes using stale bread? I love them. I am sure I don't have to introduce good old bread & butter pudding to anyone. This is so comforting, home cooked pud, perhaps not very good looking but certainly very tasty. I don't mind bread & butter pudding bakes in big dish and scooped out, however this time I wanted to make something looking more elegant.

I usually bake this pudding using some leftover baguette, challah bread or croissant. I like to leave the crust on because it gives pudding another texture and it seems more interesting than pudding made with no crust bread. I don't normally make it using any jam or marmalade but I like to put some brandy or whisky or dark chocolate chips in more posh version.

Today I will show you my recent experiment - I wanted to have one of my favourite puds with rhubarb but not with rhubarb compote. So I found this lovely rhubarb carpaccio in "From Nature to Plate" by Tom Kitchin. It was served with completely different dessert and I have also changed the recipe for the carpaccio slightly because when I first followed it by word it turned out not exactly how I expected (too hard). 

I have to say I was really pleased with the outcome - better looking bread and butter pudding. I served it with some rhubarb syrup, real vanilla ice cream and fresh thyme.

Serves 4 

(I used small tea loaf baking tins, each one a hand size)

Carpaccio:

1 large rhubarb stalk (or two smaller)

about 400ml water
about 250ml caster sugar
juice and zest of half lemon

Chop the rhubarb in about 10cm pieces and then using a mandoline slice it into about 2mm ribbons. 

Place the sugar in a pan together with water and lemon juice and zest. Bring it to the boil and place the rhubarb ribbons in it. Again bring to the boil and remove from the heat immediately. Leave it in the syrup for about 5 minutes. Then very gently remove the ribbons from the syrup and place them on the serving plates. I recommend to boil more ribbons than you actually need, because they are very gentle and can disintegrate easily, so it is better to have spare ones just in case.

Boil the strained syrup until thickens little bit.

Pudding:

about 12-16 slices of baguette, about 0.5cm each

about 30g unsalted butter
handful of dried currants
some brandy  (few tablespoon just to soak the fruit)
2 eggs
2 egg yolks
300ml double cream
200ml milk (at least semi skimmed, but full is better)
40g caster sugar 

Ideally one day ahead soak the currants in the brandy, or at least 2 hour before baking.

Line the baking tray with little butter and butter all the bread slices, then arrange them in the baking trays in few layers. Sprinkle some currants between each layer and if you have some brandy left from soaking drizzle it in the top.

In a mixing bowl mix the eggs withe the egg yolks and the sugar and beat (I used balloon whisker) until fluffy. Add the cream, milk, and mix well. Pour the mixture over the layered bread and leave it to soak for about 20 minutes. you may find out that this is too much of the mixture and the bread will not take everything, depends on the type of bread you use, so either use less of the mixture or you may end up with pudding with some sweet scrambled eggs on the sides. I don't mind this, but I understand this could be an issue to some people. 

Heat the oven to 180 C. Place small tins in one large baking dish and fill it with hot water (about 3/4 of the tins height). Cover with some kitchen foil - this will prevent the top coat from becoming crispy (it will end up at the bottom, as you serve it upside down), unless you want this bit to have crispy texture. Bake for about 40-50 minutes.

Remove from the oven, leave it to cool down little bit and remove the puddings from the tins.
  
To serve:

real vanilla ice cream (I use Brymor) 

some fresh thyme leaves

Place the puddings upside down on the rhubarb carpaccio and if you have any carpaccio left you can trim it and cover the top as well. Next drizzle with some warm rhubarb syrup, using two spoons form good looking ice cream scoop and place it on the top. Sprinkle with some thyme leaves and serve immediately. 

Best scones ever

I have been baking the scones for few years now, but only recently when visited "The Secret Teacup" I felt like I had a kind of scones revelation. They were lighter than any others I had before, more fluffy and plain for a change. Thankfully the hostess shared her recipe with me and now I can enjoy best scones ever. I wonder if I will ever look back. The secret is buttermilk (soda and baking powder react well with sour liquid) and not kneading the dough, just putting it together. Please have a look at this typical British delight.

Scones – best I ever had

Makes 10-12

375g self raising flour

1 tbsp caster sugar

30g butter (I used unsalted)

300ml buttermilk

Heat the oven to 200 C (fan) and line a large baking tray with some baking paper.

Place flour sugar and cubed butter in a food processor and pulse until butter incorporates into the flour. You can also use your fingers and rub the butter in. Next add some buttermilk, little by little, with the lightest touch. Do not overdo the dough, stop when there is no sign of dry flour. The dough should be sticky!

Place the dough onto generously floured surface and press it slightly, until about 2.5cm high.    

Now, I prefer to stick to James’ Martin granny’s tip and cut the scones out without putting any leftover dough together and cutting again – it changes the dough structure and they are not as fluffy anymore. So I try to cut as much scones as possible from one piece, using a round cookie cutter and then when I have some bits left, I put them together to form one odd scone.

Bake then in the hot oven for about 12 minutes, remove from the oven and let them cool down on a wire rack.

Serve with fresh cream and your favourite fruit preserve.

For shiny scones brush the tops with beaten egg before baking.  

Cinnamon & Sultana Swirl Bread

To fight first signs of autumn depression it is good to have something tasty for breakfast on really wet and dull morning. I have made this bread for a first time and it turned out to be too much for two if us, therefore I decided to share this little ray of sunshine with David and his wife who live nearby. They appreciate good food and I thought it would be nice to have a slice of this bread with hot tea when he gets back from a shooting day. I love to share these little nice things with other people.

I found this recipe on The Kitchn website and I have changed it slightly. I used brown sugar instead of the white, sultanas instead of raisins and soaked them in the dessert wine instead of water.

Makes 2 loaves

Dough:

1 cup sultanas
some dessert wine, enough to cover the sultanas 
1 cup warm water
1 tablespoon active dry yeast
1 cup milk
1/4 cup unsalted butter, melted
2 teaspoons salt
6 cups all-purpose flour


Filling:

3/4 cup brown sugar
2 tablespoons cinnamon
1 egg beaten with 2 teaspoons warm water


Put the raisins in a small bowl and cover them with warm wine (or water if you follow the original recipe). Let the raisins plump for at least 10 minutes. Drain and set aside to dry.

Pour a cup of water into the bowl of a standing mixer or large mixing bowl. Sprinkle the yeast over top. Give it a few minutes, then stir to dissolve the yeast into the water. Stir the milk, melted butter, and salt into the water. Gradually add the flour, one tablspoon at time and mi to form a dough. Knead in your mixer on low speed with a dough hook or knead by hand for 8-10 minutes to form a smooth, slightly tacky dough. The dough is ready when it forms a ball without sagging and quickly springs back when poked.

Toss the raisins with a few tablespoons of flour to absorb any residual moisture from when they were plumped. With the mixer on gradually add them to the bowl and continue kneading until they are evenly distributed.

Next cover the dough and let it rise in a warm place until doubled in size, about an hour. Meanwhile, combine the sugar and cinnamon in a small bowl and beat together the egg and water in a second bowl.

Divide the dough into two pieces. Roll each part of the dough out on the working surface. It should be slightly less wide than your baking pan and as long as you can make it. The thinner the dough, the more layers of cinnamon swirl you'll end up with.

Brush the entire surface of the dough with egg wash, leaving about two inches clear at the top. Sprinkle generously with cinnamon and sugar and save little bit for later. Starting at the end closest to you, roll up the dough. When you get to the top, pinch the seam closed. Transfer the loaf to your loaf pan seam-side down.

Let the loaves rise 30-40 minutes, I left mine for 30 minutes and it was slighlty too short, the bread cracked on one side during the baking.

Brush the top with some of the remaining egg wash and sprinkle some of your remaining cinnamon sugar over the tops of the loaves as well. Bake in 180 C (fan) for 40 minutes until golden brown.

Remove the loaves from the pans and allow them to cool completely before slicing. I love to toast it and spred some butter over the bread. Baked loaves can also be frozen for up to three months.

Plum & ginger swirl cheesecake

Today I will take a break from my holiday Italian theme and show you something that I am extremely proud of.  A cheesecake that I have made for Julie's birthday.

First of all I am proud of this cheesecake because I am not the best baker and not all of my desserts, especially cakes turn out as nice and tasty. Secondly I did not use any particular recipe and I based this cheesecake upon recipes that I already tried and this time added an extra twist - the plum sauce. I have seen many recipes for swirl cheesecakes using raspberry preserve, but this time of the year I was really keen to use plums instead. So I made my own plum sauce, spiced by adding little bit of ginger. So here it is - my late summer, delicious, creamy, little bit sharp yet sweet enough (drums!): plum & ginger swirl cheesecake!

Serves 8-10, makes round 25cm springform tin

For the base:

200g dark chocolate Digestive biscuits
80g unsalted butter


For the cheese filing:

600g cream cheese (800g if you prefer higher cake)
170g caster sugar
4 eggs
2 tbps custard powder
2 tbsp lemon juice
200ml creme fraiche

For the plum & ginger sauce*:

4 large plums
100ml of mead (honey wine)
2 tbsp of brown soft dark sugar
4 cubes of crystallised ginger

First prepare the sauce.Quarter and stone plums and place in a small pan with mead, sugar and ginger, then bring to the boil and simmer until the plums are very soft and juices reduced. Next blend with a hand blender until smooth and place on the small heat to reduce little bit more. Set aside. 

Line a springform tin with some kitchen foil, making sure the bottom is protected from water. I bake this cheesecake in bain-marie, which is a type of preparation used for protecting dishes requiring gentle heat from the fierce heat of the oven.

Crush the biscuits in a food processor (or put in a plastic bag and bash with a rolling pin). Mix with the melted butter. Press into springform tin and set aside. 

Preheat the oven to 180C and put a kettle on. 

Beat the cream cheese with the sugar until light and fluffy. Next add eggs – one egg at the time, mix and add next egg when previous is mixed well with the cheese mixture.

Next add lemon juice, custard powder and mix, but make sure you do not overwork it – stop when custard is mixed into the cheese. Add the creme fraiche, mix and pour the mixture into the tin.

Now using a teaspoon dot the top of the cake with the plum sauce and working with a toothpick make movements in eight shape to create swirls, like lady in this film, however I do not recommend using a knife, toothpick makes much nicer effect. 

Place the tin into an ovenproof dish and fill with hot water (about half of the size of the tin), cover with kitchen foil and bake for about 1 hour 20 minutes.  The middle will be a bit wobbly.

Take it out of the oven and let it to cool down in  and then transfer to the fridge and leave it overnight.

To cut this cheesecake use knife previously kept in the hot water - it will make the whole process easier.

* it makes a whole about 250ml jar, and really you need few teaspoons only. This was an experimental recipe, and I did not expect that much of the sauce. However I placed the remaining hot sauce in the sterylised jar, sealed and kept it for winter - it will be lovely with the pancakes.

Chocolate fondant with salted caramel sauce

Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm
mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm
mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm…

Do I really have to write anything or perhaps this time I will let photos and recipe speak for themselves?

If you are not sure about salt in chocolate desserts, let me just point out that salt brings out its chocolatiness.

It is sticky, dark, decadent dessert. For the chocolateholics.

Recipe adapted from "Je veux du chocolat" by Trish Deseine.

For round spring tin 20-22cm (serves 6-8)


For the salted caramel sauce:

100g sugar
2 tbsp water
50g salted butter
7 tbsp crème fraîche
two twists of rock salt grinder – on a setting that salt still should be coarse

Place sugar and water in a pan and bring to boil, do not stir! The sugar will dissolve. Boil until golden, sticky and bubbling; again do not be tempted to stir. Remove from the heat and mix the cube butter in together with a salt. Next add the crème fraîche and mix thoroughly again. Leave it to cool down.



For the fondant:

200g good quality dark chocolate, min. 70% cocoa solids
200g butter
5 eggs
1 tbsp flour
50-60g icing sugar


Heat the oven to 180°C.

Melt chocolate with butter in bain-marie (also known as a water bath), next add sugar, mix well and leave it to cool down.

Slowly mixing add one by one egg, making sure the egg is completely mixed in before adding next one. The mixture should be shiny and smooth.
Next add 150g salted caramel sauce and mix again, before adding the flour.

Transfer the mixture to baking tin (I lined mine with baking paper) and bake for about 15-18 minutes (depends on the tin size and oven type). The fondant should be baked on the edges but still wobbly in the middle.

Remove from the oven immediately and leave it to cool down. Serve with some salted caramel sauce on the top. It tastes better next day, I bake it day ahead.

Coffee & brandy crème brûlée

Do you remember “Le Fabuleux Destin d'Amélie Poulain”? When I saw this film I felt incredibly happy that there is actually someone who likes to put the whole hands in a bag full of pulses, but also the crème brûlée scene put a big smile on my face.

I adore this dessert, mainly because of its crunchy topping. If I could only give you an example of the sound it makes when I pierce it with a spoon! I love the smell of burned sugar and it makes my mouth water but also this lovely creamy centre that melts in my mouth and makes a good contrast to this sweet – bitter topping. For me it is perfection!

So far I was very careful with experimenting with this classic dessert and I only made lemon or lime version, but now I decided to go little bit further and try something new.

The result was very good, especially for coffee lovers, for me – I think the classic vanilla one is still the best one; however I found it very tasty. Next time I will swap instant coffee for a strong espresso and use Demerara sugar.

I have adapted a recipe from "Crème brûlée" by Lou Seibert Pappas – used more brandy, less coffee and golden caster sugar.






Serves 6

3 tsp instant coffee
2 tbsp hot water
500ml double cream
6 large egg yolks
about 150ml golden caster sugar + some more to sprinkle on top
4 tbsp brandy

Heat the oven to 140 C.

Dissolve the coffee in the hot water and mix with brandy and then with cream.

In a separate bowl whisk the sugar with egg yolks until pale and fluffy.

Add the cream with coffee and brandy to the egg yolks and sugar and mix well.

Pour the mixture in 6 ramekins and place them in an ovenproof dish. Fill the dish with hot water, so the ramekins are halfway in water. Bake for about 35 minutes, they should still be bit wobbly in the middle.

Remove from the oven, leave it to cool down and then cool in a fridge for at least 2 hours, up to 2 days.

Before serving sprinkle with little sugar and burn it using a blowtorch.

Christmas cake

I missed last Sunday - the stir-up Sunday, because I was still in Poland. I honestly doubt if I would have made traditional Christmas pudding, however I was really keen to make my own Christmas cake this year. There are hundreds of recipes in internet, cookery books and websites but I decided to use a recipe from "How to be a Domestic Goddess" by Nigella Lawson. I used the basic idea but I have changed the quantities of dried fruits. Click here , for the original recipe. I have made two cakes - one in round 20 cm tin and other in bread tin, based on the third column of quantities.

Today I am going to show baked cake that you have to store in airtight container and feed with brandy every 2-3 days. Traditionally it would be covered with some apricot jam, marzipan and icing just before Christmas, but I am not a big fan of icing so I think I will leave it on its own. Perhaps I will make some icing and decoration for one of them if I decide to give it away. Click here for the decoration ideas.

This cake goes amazingly well with some Real Wensleydale cheese.



500g raisins
600g sultanas
250g mixed peel
200g glace cherries
250g dried cranberries
5-6 pieces of stem ginger, chopped
200ml brandy (or sherry)
300g butter
250g brown sugar
zest of one orange
zest of one lemon
6 big eggs
3 tbsp orange marmalade (I used one with ginger by Tiptree)
500g plain flour
1 1/2 tsp mixed spice
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
1 tsp almond extract
1/4 tsp salt
more brandy to feed the cake over next few weeks

Place all of the fruit in a large bowl and add the brandy. Leave to soak overnight.

Next day preheat the oven to 150C and line baking tin with brown paper.

Cream the butter and sugar, then beat in the orange and lemon zest. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each one and then add the marmalade and almond extract.

Sift the dry ingredients together.

Then mix the fruit alternately with the dry ingredients into the creamed mixture.

Put the cake mix into the prepared tin and bake for about 2 hours.

When the cake is cooked, brush with a couple of tablespoons of extra brandy. Cover immediately in a tin foil – this will trap the heat and form steam, which in turn will keep the cake soft on top. Remove the cake from the tin when it is completety cold. Wrap in a paper, secure with some elastic and if needed and store in airtight container, for at least 3 weeks. Remember to feed it with some more brandy every 2-3 days.

Plum & almond cake

End of the summer and beginning of warm autumn always remind me dinners at my Granny's house - in September she always makes a kind of dough and wrap the prunes in it (knedle ze śliwkami in Polish - it is little bit like Italian gnocchi but filled with fruits, clik here to see what it looks like). It tastes great, but I can get hold of this particular type of plums she uses. It is similar to damson, but bigger and sweeter. Although I love plums I do not fancy making my Granny's dish as I think it would not be as good as that one back home... Instead I indulge myself with plum cake, especially that my boss gave me some plums from his garden.

It is easy and quick to make and it makes a great treat for your afternoon tea.

Makes 25cm round tin

250g unsalted butter
200g caster sugar ( I used golden)
5 eggs
tsp vanilla extract
250g plain flour
level tsp baking powder
handful of almond flakes
about 600g plums, halved, weight after removing stones

Preheat the oven to 180 C.

Mix sugar with butter until fluffy. Next add eggs - one by one mixing all the time. Add vanilla extract, sieved flour with baking powder and mix. Place the mixture in round cake tin lined with baking paper.

Sprinkle half of the almonds on the top, place halved plums and sprinkle with the remaining almond flakes. Bake for about 30 minutes, remove from the oven and let it cool down in the tin.

Banana bread

I like Sophie Dahl. She is pleasant to look at and even if her BBC2 series was not brilliant I have to say I was still watching it because she was there. Never mind the cooking skills that shown her being behind some other celebrity chefs. Never mind the recipes that where not surprising or refreshing. I simply like her.

Do you wonder why? As most women I was always concerned about my weight and way I look. She helped me realised that skinny does not mean pretty and there are normal women that can be a part of the fashion industry. And take great pictures like this one. I was blown away by this picture and after few years still think this is an iconic fashion photo.

Even she is skinnier today I still like to look at her. Perhaps her series was not the best one I have seen and her cooking skills showed that cooking is not the best of her abilities. However I was still watching it with a pleasure. Having some toasted banana bread with butter, relaxing and thinking at the same time: screw skinny! Screw this pressure to fit in small sizes! Enjoy eating. Enjoy life.


Makes 23x13x7cm loaf tin

4 very ripe bananas, peeled
150g brown sugar
1 egg, beaten
75g butter, melted
1 tsp vanilla extract
170g all purpose flour
pinch of salt
pinch of cinnamon
1 tsp baking soda


Preheat the oven to 175°C. Grease the loaf tin with some butter and dust with homemade fine bread crumbs or flour.

Mash the bananas with a fork and add sugar, egg, butter and vanilla extract. In a separate bowl mix the flour with baking soda and cinnamon. Add the flour, mix only until everything is combined - use the fork or spoon rather using a mixer. The batter should not be perfectly smooth - do not over mix it. Pour the batter into the loaf tin and bake for about 60minutes. Remove from the oven, leave it to cool slightly for few minutes, remove from the tin and leave it to cool down on a rack.

Apple & blackberry kuchen

Or cake for butchers. Where do I start where do I begin... It is important to have decent butchers locally. Never mind the usual stuff, but when you are in good relationship with you butchers, they can also supply you with some stuff that they do not normally sell such as pork fat or marrow bones for beef stock. My local butchers are decent lads and they do not charge me anything for some random orders and this is what I have made for them to thank them for their recent help.

This sort of yeast cake with not too sweet base is very popular in Poland (and in Germany as far as I am concerned - Kuchen = cake) all year round using different seasonal fruits. I was bit concerned using Nigella’s recipe, rather than my Granny’s but the outcome was very satisfying.



From "Nigella Bites", makes 20 x 30 Swiss roll tin

For the cake base:

350–400g strong white flour
half tsp salt
50g caster sugar
half packet easy-blend yeast (about 3g)
2 eggs
half tsp vanilla extract
zest of half a lemon
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
125ml lukewarm milk
50g butter, softened

I have placed all of the above in a bread machine and used "dough" programme. At first I used 350g of flour and was adding some more when I noticed that the dough is too sticky. You can use a stand mixer or you hands, adding mixed wet ingredients to dry ones and mixing until you have medium soft dough, then kneading with your hands. Next place the dough into a bowl, cover and leave in warm draft-free place until doubled in size. Or you can leave in a fridge overnight.

Then punch down to release the air and press to line a Swiss roll tin (I lined mine with baking paper) –it needs some stretching. Next leave it for about 15-20 minutes to rest and prove little bit.

Meanwhile prepare the fruits.


Fruits for topping:

1 small Bramley apple
300g blackberries
zest of half lemon

Peel, deseed and chop the apple and toss in a bowl with lemon zest and blackberries. Set aside and prepare the crumble toping.


Crumble topping:

50g self-raising flour
25g ground almonds
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
50g cold unsalted butter, diced
2 tbsp caster sugar
2 tbsp demerara sugar
25g flaked almonds


Put the flour, cinnamon and ground almonds in a bowl, stir to combine and add the cold, diced butter. Using your finger tips rub the butter into the dry ingredients, work quickly – you do not want the butter become too soft. Stop when mixture resembles clumpy porridge oats. Fork in the sugars and flaked almonds.

Now prepare mixture that will keep the juices from the fruits soaking into the dough when baking.

1 egg, beaten
1 tbsp of cream
pinch of ground cinnamon

Mix all of the above together and brush over the dough.

Next tumble the fruits over the egg washed dough and then sprinkle with crumble topping. Put in the preheated (200C) oven and bake for 15 minutes, then turn the heat down to 180C and cook for further 20 minutes or so, until the dough is swelling and golden and the crumble is set.

Remove from the oven and wait about 5 minutes before cutting into portions. Serve warm or cold.

Yorkshire Lavender - does it sound weird?

When you think “lavender” the next thing you would possibly think is “Tuscany” or “Provence”. Would you think “Yorkshire”? I doubt it.

I was rather surprised when I found a leaflet of “Yorkshire Lavender” spot and I knew I was going to visit it as soon as possible. I am little bit obsessed with a lavender - I have got lots of lavender bags all over the cottage, lavender oil in burner and obviously some candles. One of our rooms is painted lavender, I use lavender and camomile bedroom spray to relax before sleeping, I love lavender soaps and shower gels. Not mentioning lavender plants in the pots on our patio. There was no other option than visiting this place at our earliest convenience.

Yorkshire Lavender is situated in beautiful surroundings, outside Terrington, which is 3 miles west of Castle Howard, 14 miles north east of York and 8 miles west of Malton in North Yorkshire. It is not far away from charming Rievaulx Abbey - a former Cistercian abbey which is definitely worth visiting too.





Yorkshire Lavender is a family project and it has only started from few rows of lavender but now you can enjoy many different varieties of lavender, amazing array of different colours in the summer. If you fancy having some at home, you can buy plants in a specialist plant nursery, where you can also find all the usual culinary herbs of different varieties. Very tasty Moroccan mint and golden marjoram plants which I bough are now growing nicely on my patio and I am using them with many different dishes. Huge bushes of different herbs in the garden amazed me with their smell when I was passing by.







Also there is a award-winning tea room, restaurant and gift shop where you can buy lavender related items – oils, soaps, candles, lavender bags, scented sticks, lavender honey, biscuits, dried culinary lavender and many others. Obviously I bought some culinary lavender and I made my own shortbread inspired by latest Olive magazine recipe. It is scrumptious!

Another attraction is a sculpture park named “The Spirit of Yorkshire” where you can find eleven metal fielding cricketers taking a cricket match and you should also be able to see some deer that were only few steps away from the gardens.




It is definitely must see if you are a lavender lover. And do not forget when visiting the Yorkshire Lavender that you are very welcome to weed as it says a sign on the shop door into the garden.

Not bored with lavender yet? Try this recipe for the lavender shortbread. It is truly delicious.





Lavender shortbread


200g unsalted butter
300g plain flour
100g caster sugar and extra for dusting
1 cheaped tsp of dried lavender buds for culinary use
1 tbsp ice cold water

Mix the butter and the sieved flour in a bowl. Using peste and mortar or food processor, blend the lavender and sugar. When they are quite fine sieve and add to the bowl and mix. Discard any lavender left in the sieve. If the dough does not wanto to come together add tbsp of very cold water. Turn out the dough onto some baking paper, wrap and chill for about 30 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 140 C (fan). Roll out the dough and cut into rectangular biscuits or slice rolled dough into round ones. Sprinkle with little sugar and bake for about 12 minutes. Cool on a wire rack.

Makes about 20 biscuits that keep for a week. I keep them in a biscuit tin, but they never last more than 3 days anyway because they are so delicious.

Blueberry cheescake

There are some typically Polish food specialities that I miss a lot. Perhaps you will think – she lives in UK and there are plenty of Polish delis. Yes, there are, but I have to travel a lot to the nearest one and it does not give me a wide and interesting selection of my favourites, never mind the unprofessional staff.

I miss a curd cheese (twaróg) a lot. I figured out to make my own; it tastes good but different from what I know from Poland. Every time I make my own curd cheese it ends up on homemade bread or I mix it with some fresh herbs, yogurt and vegetables such as cucumber or radishes. This is the reason why I bake cheesecakes using cream cheese rather than a traditional Polish curd cheese. I am not bothered about getting Philadephia, because cream cheese from any supermarkets brands is cheaper and good enough.

I also miss bilberries that grow in Polish woods. I live few miles from a wood but I have never seen any berries in it. So in the summer I try to comfort myself with some blueberries instead. They are very tasty, but not as tasty as bilberries. If I do not have what I love, I have to love what I have.

This cheesecake comforts me when I miss my Polish traditional cheesecake with bilberries. You can use fresh raspberries instead - it also tastes good.

Blueberry cheesecake

Makes round 25cm springform tin


200g Digestive biscuits
80g unsalted butter
800g cream cheese
200g caster sugar
4 eggs
2 tbps custard powder
tsp vanilla extract
juice of half lemon
250g blueberries

Line a springform tin with some kitchen foil, making sure the bottom is protected from water. I bake this cheesecake in bain-marie, which is a type of preparation used for protecting dishes requiring gentle heat from the fierce heat of the oven.

Crush the biscuits in a food processor (or put in a plastic bag and bash with a rolling pin). Mix with the melted butter. Press into springform tin and place in the fridge.

Preheat the oven to 180C.

Beat the cream cheese with the sugar, vanilla extract and lemon juice until light and fluffy. Next add eggs – one egg at the time, mix and add next egg when previous is mixed well with the cheese mixture.

Next add custard powder and mix, but make sure you do not overwork it – stop when custard is mixed into the cheese. Add the blueberries and mix gently with a spatula and pour the mixture into the tin.

Place the tin into an ovenproof dish and fill with hot water (about half of the size of the tin), cover with kitchen foil and bake for about 1 hour. Uncover for last 10 minutes. The middle will be a bit wobbly.

Let it to cool down in the open oven and then transfer to the fridge and leave it overnight.

I serve it with some fresh blueberries on top garnished with fresh mint leaves.

Challah bread

Challah bread is know as a traditional Jewish bread eaten on Shabbat, but also a traditional bread in numerous European countries, such as Poland among local non-Jewish peasant populations. It is quite popular in Poland and we call it chałka, plecionka, or kukiełka. It goes very well with homemade jams such as this rhubarb jam, which I have made few days ago. Perhaps you will be surprised but it actually tastes really nice with some dry cured ham such as Parma or Serrano ham.

This is a compilation of few recipes that I have used before and none of them was perfect (according to my taste) so I created my own.

Challah bread

Makes 2

600g plain flour + about 100g extra
80g caster sugar
80g unsalted butter
300ml milk
3 eggs
tsp of vanilla extract
level tsp of salt
7g dried fast action yeast
sesame seeds or poppy seeds for decoration


Warm the milk together with the butter until it is melted. Set aside to cool down slightly.

Lightly beat two eggs and one egg yolk saving one egg white for later. Add beaten eggs, vanilla extract to the milk with butter and place in the bread machine or artisan mixer. If using your hand add it to a large bowl.

Next add to the machine/mixer/bowl 600g of flour mixed with all sugar and salt and add the yeast. I used bread machine so only pressed the dough programme, if using mixer or hands mix until dough is ball shaped and for few minutes afterwards and if it is too sticky you have to add some more flour. The dough should be not too sticky and quite flexible.

Place in a bowl cover with clean tea towel and leave it to rise until doubled in size. (45-90 minutes, depends on temperature). If using a bread machine you do not have to do anything until the programme ends.

Remove from a bowl, place on a lightly floured surface and by punching release the air out of the dough. Divide into two equal balls, and each into 6 pieces. Now, you have to watch this tutorial– is shows clearly how to braid 6 strand challah.

Place both bread on the baking tray lined with baking paper, cover with clean cloth and leave it for about 20 minutes. Meanwhile preheat the oven to 180 C.

Gentle brush the bread with the egg white and sprinkle with poppy or sesame seeds, or using you fingers press some seeds to each section of bread, like shown in the tutorial.

Bake for about 30 minutes and cover with some kitchen foil if it goes too brown during the baking.

Torta/Tarta de Santiago (Light lemon & almond tart)

Makes 25cm round loose bottom tart dish (you can use round 25cm spring form)

250g ground almonds
180-200g caster sugar
4 eggs
zest of one lemon
pinch of salt
icing sugar to dust
little unsalted butter to brush the dish

Preheat the oven to 180 C.

Separate egg yolks from whites and using a hand mixer beat the whites with a pinch of salt – they should not be too stiff.

In a separate bowl beat the egg yolks together with a sugar and lemon zest until pale.

Gently add the whites to beaten yolks and mix them using a spatula. Try not to overwork this, because it should stay fluffy. You want as little air to be released from the whites as possible.

Next gently mix the ground almonds into the eggs and pour into a buttered dish. Bake for 25-30 minutes. If the top is getting darker, cover with a piece of tin foil.

Let it cool down for about 15 minutes and dust with some icing sugar.

This cake does not rise at all, so do not worry if it is little bit flat.

Rhubarb cake with cinnamon topping

For 25cm round spring form

For the topping

50g brown sugar
100g plain flour
60g melted unsalted butter
handful of almond flakes
15g cinnamon sugar (you can make your own by putting whole cinnamon into a jar of sugar and keep closed for few weeks, instead you can use half tsp of ground cinnamon)

Mix all the above and keep refrigerated.

For the rhubarb filling

600g rhubarb, peeled and sliced into 1cm pieces
1/4 cup of brown sugar
2 tbsp of potato starch (potato flour)
1/4 tsp ground ginger

Mix all the above.

For the base

140g plain flour
1 egg
1 egg yolk
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp bicarbonate soda
1/4 tsp salt
90g softened, unsalted buttr
80ml crème fraîche

In a bowl mix all dry ingredients and in a separate one all wet ingredients (eggs, crème fraîche and butter). Add wet mixture to the dry ones and mix using a hand mixer. Dough is quite sticky.

Spread some butter over a spring form and place the dough in it. Flatten it little bit by pressing down using your damp hands. Place the whole rhubarb mixture on it and finish with the topping.

Bake for 75 minutes in 170 C.

Baileys Pound Cake

1 cup caster sugar (I use golden)
5 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup Baileys
1 cup sunflower oil
2 cups plain flour
2 tsp baking powder
2 tsp cocoa
icing sugar, for dusting


Using an electric hand mixer mix the eggs together with the sugar until white and milk shake like. Add the oil and Baileys mixing all the time, then add the flour mixed with the baking powder but not all at once.

Place about 3/4 of mixture in a buttered 25cm round baking tube pan, and mix the remaining mixture with cocoa. Then place it over a previous one in the pan.

Bake in preheated oven (fan 170C) for about 60 minutes. Leave it to cool down, remove from a pan and dust with icing sugar.

Simple chocolate brownies

Inspired by BBC "Good Food" magazine.

Makes 12-16

185g dark chocolate, broken into pieces (I use 70% cocoa solids)
185g unsalted butter, cut into small cubes
3 eggs
200g golden caster sugar
85g plain flour, sieved
40g cocoa powder, sieved
100g white chocolate, roughly chopped (you can use milk chocolate or mix both)


Place the butter and dark chocolate in a bowl, and place it over a pan with simmering water. Put over a low heat until the butter and chocolate have melted, stirring occasionally. Leave it to cool down.

Break the eggs into a large bowl and tip in the sugar. Whisk the eggs and sugar with an electric mixer for about 5 minutes, until they look thick, creamy, and milky.

Pour the cooled chocolate mixture over the mixed eggs and gently fold together with a spatula in a figure of eight, moving the bowl round after each folding so you can get at it from all sides. Do not be tempted to use a mixer – the idea of putting them together gently and slowly is to not knock out the air from the mixture.

Next in the same way add flour and cocoa powder. It is better to sieve them evenly on the top of the chocolate mixture and then mix in a figure of eight until it looks fudgy.

Add chopped white chocolate into your mixture and stir gently. Pour the mixture into a square 20x20cm tin lined with a baking paper and bake in preheated oven (fan 160C) for about 25 minutes.

The top of your brownie should look like a paper, and middle should not be too wobbly. Turn off the heat, open the oven and leave it to cool down in it. Brownie will continue to cook for few minutes, so it is important to not overcook it in the oven – 25 minutes is enough.

Leave it to cool completely, cut into squares and serve. It tastes better next day.

Parsnip & maple syrup cake

From BBC "Good Food" magazine.

Serves 8

175g unsalted butter
250g demerara sugar
100ml maple syrup
3 large eggs
250g selfraising flour
2 tsp baking powder
2 tsp mixed spice
250g parsnips, peeled and grated
1 medium eating apple, peeled, cored and grated
50g pecans, roughly chopped (if you can get hold of them use walnuts)
zest and juice 1 small orange
icing sugar, to serve (optional - I spread the filling on the top)

The filling:

250g tub mascarpone
3-4 tbsp maple syrup


Heat oven to 180 C. If you want to have a round sandwich cake with the filling you have to use two 20cm round tins and line them with baking paper. I used rectangular 32x19x2cm baking tray lined with paper.

Melt butter, sugar and maple syrup in a pan over gentle heat, then cool slightly. Whisk the eggs into this mixture, then stir in the flour, baking powder and mixed spice. Then add grated parsnip, apple, chopped pecans, orange zest and juice.

Divide between the tins, then bake for 25-30 mins until the tops spring back when pressed lightly. If you use rectangular tray, transfer all mixture into it and bake for approx. 30 minutes. I use wooden toothpick and stick it into a centre of the cake - if it come out dry and clean it means that cake is ready.

Cool the cake slightly in the tin before turning out onto wire racks to cool completely. Just before serving, mix together the mascarpone and maple syrup. Spread over one cake and sandwich with the other. Dust with icing sugar just before serving. Rather than making a sandwich cake I spread the mixture over cooled cake.

Baked chocolate mousse with candied fennel root

From James Martin "Desserts".

Serves 6-8

1/2 fennel bulb, finely sliced
300g dark chocolate, minimum 60% cocoa fat (I used 70%)
150g unsalted butter
6 eggs, separated
50g caster sugar ( I used golden)
150ml whipped double cream, to serve (optional - we tried this with real vanilla ice - cream and it tasted good, but you can also skip cream)

Melt the chocolate and butter in a metal or glass bowl placed over a pan of simmering water.

Whisk the egg yolks together with 2 tbsp of the sugar for 30 seconds and stir in the melted chocolate. Mix well.

Beat the egg whites with the remaining sugar until very stiff, then quickly fold one-third of the whites into the chocolate mix. Gently fold in the remainder and pour the mix into a 20cm loose bottom cake tin lined with baking paper and sliced fennel.

Place in the middle shelf of the preheated oven (180C), bake for 20 minutes. Remove from the oven and allow to cool before serving. It must be eaten in room temperature, as it firms up too much when in the fridge.

For candied fennel

1 fennel bulb
100g caster sugar (again I used golden)
100ml water

Slice the fennel bulb and add to a pan with the sugar and water, bring to the boil and simmer for 20-30 minutes. Allow to cool.