Delicious Danish Pastries!

Danish pastries have always been a favourite of mine when browsing the bakery aisle in the local supermarkets - always a dangerous location if you've not had breakfast! Finally, last weekend, I decided to give it my own go. If you want to do the same make sure you give yourself plenty of time, this isn't a quick bake!

I used Paul Hollywood's recipe which you can find here.

Ingredients:

• 500g strong white bread flour
• 80g caster sugar 
• 10g salt 
• 10g instant yeast 
• 2 medium eggs 
• 90ml cool water 
• 125ml lukewarm (not hot) full-fat milk 
• 250g chilled unsalted butter (use a high quality butter)

1. In your mixer bowl add the flour, sugar, salt and yeast - ensuring that the yeast and salt don't touch. Then add in the eggs, water and milk and begin to mix on a medium speed until combined (about 2 minutes) then increase to high speed for 6-7 minutes.
   
2. Shape into a ball, dust very lightly with flour and either pop into a clean plastic bag or wrap loosely in cling film to allow it to raise. Pop it into the fridge for an hour.

   

   High quality french butter is what you need!

3. Roll out the dough to a rectangle 50cm x 20cm. Bash the butter between two pieces of cling film until it is 33cm x 19cm. Then place the butter on top of your rolled out dough. Fold the dough with no butter on over the top of the butter. This should leave some butter exposed. Cut off this exposed butter and place it on top of the dough that you've just folded across. Then fold the remaining bit of dough (that used to have the butter on) on top of the butter. Seal around the butter and place in the fridge for an hour.
   
4. Remove from the fridge and roll out to 50cm by 20cm again. Again, fold over a third of the dough and fold the remaining third back over the dough. Put back into the fridge for an hour. Repeat this twice more.
   
5. Once this is finished leave it in the fridge for 8 hours/overnight. It is then ready to use and can be used in a range of different danish pastries. You can see my dough raised a little more than hoped but you can see lots of layers!
   
6. Preheat your oven to 200c.
7. I rolled out half my dough to 45cm x 15cm and cut into 7.5 squares and formed them into pinwheels - this is video is the simplest to show the technique. I then popped a dollop of creme patisserie on top and a raspberry before coating it in an egg wash.
   
8. Bake for 15 - 20 minutes until a beautiful golden brown colour. I used the remainder of the dough to make lemon and lime pastries, chocolate pinwheels and pain au chocolats.
   

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Tangy Hummingbird Bakery Lemon Bars

Living and working in London, I'm lucky enough to be able to walk to one of the Hummingbird Bakery's in my lunch hour. Despite this I've only been in once and even then I didn't buy something for myself; instead I opted for a slice of cake to gift to a friend. This is partly because I can't bring myself to spent upwards of £3 on something I can cook myself and partly because I've got the Hummingbird Bakery cookbook at home.

I can't say I've been bowled over by their book some of the recipes (chocolate cheesecake) are amazing but others have left me feeling really disappointed, but not as disappointed as I would have been if I'd paid £30 for the cake! Given this, it was a bit of a gamble when I decide to make lemon bars and opted for the Hummingbird Bakery Recipe - there are a few things I'd tweak next time; less biscuit, more topping but overall they turned out tangy and gooey.

Ingredients:

Base

• 290g plain flour
• 70g icing sugar (plus extra for dusting)
• pinch of salt
• zest from 2 lemons
• 230g unsalted butter

Topping

• 210g caster sugar
• 100ml lemon juice
• zest from 3 lemons
• 3 eggs

1. First of all line and grease your tin and preheat your oven to 170c.
2. Put all the ingredients for the base in a large bowl, using the paddle attachment (or your hands) mix until it begins to all stick together.
   
3. Push the base ingredients into the tin and smooth over to form an even layer. Pop into the oven for about 20-25 minutes until it is pale golden.
   
4. Remove it from the oven and leave to cool for around 15 minutes (leave your oven on). Meanwhile put all the ingredients for the topping in a large bowl and whisk until all incorporated fully.
   
5. Pour the the topping on top of the biscuit base and put it back in the oven for another 20 minutes until it's slightly brown around the edges. 
   
6. Remove and leave to cool before refrigerating them overnight - sadly patience is required!
7. Dust with icing sugar and cut into slices to serve.
   

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Turkey and Dill Meatballs

The Book People come into my workplace one every month or so and although they don't bring a massive range of book with them they always have some decent cookery books. Since we are trying to be Clean & Lean (apart from when we're stuffing our faces with teacakes) The Superfood Diet book caught my eye so I went for it.

The book is lovely with plenty of great recipes and photographs so I'd recommend it. This is the first recipe we've made from it so far and it's great - just don't expect it to taste like your regular meatballs! The only thing odd is that this recipe says it make 15 meatballs but unless you're after balls the size of your face you can make them much smaller and I managed to get 24 meatballs, two nights worth of dinner.

Ingredients:

• 500g turkey mince
• 1 chopped medium onion
• 1 egg
• 2 tablespoons of chopped dill
• 100g sushi rice, cooked and chilled
• 500ml Pasata
• 2 Garlic Cloves, chopped
• 1 teaspoon oil
• Salt and Pepper to season

1. Preheat the oven to 200c
2. Put the mince, onion, egg, dill, seasoning and sushi rice into a large bowl and mix together using your hands - don't be shy.
   
3. Roll into 24 meatballs and place into two casserole dishes. Cover one with cling film and leave in the fridge for the next evening. 
   
   
   
4. Heat the oil in a saucepan and add the garlic, fry until light brown.
5. Add the passata and bring to a simmer, season to taste.
6. Pour half of the tomato mix on top of the meatballs and place into the oven for 45 minutes. Decant the other half into a container for the following day.
   
7. Remove from oven, serve up over wholemeal pasta.

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Chocolate Marshmallow Teacakes

Lakeland recently had a 40% sale on bakeware, much to my delight. I've being eyeing up a few things in the store and after 15 minutes of being indecisive I finally settled on the Chocolate Teacake Mould. Given my love of making marshmallows it really should have been an obvious choice.

You'll notice throughout the recipe that I've cheated in some places (I didn't make my own biscuits), but it is possible to make these completely from scratch if you've got a whole afternoon to spare.

Ingredients:

• 300g chocolate - I used a mix of Bournville & Dairy Milk
• 6 chocolate digestives (normal digestives are too big)
• 3 egg whites
• 100g caster sugar
• 1 tablespoon golden syrup
• 0.5 teaspoon vanilla extract

1. In a microwave melt 200g of the chocolate - zap it in short bursts of 15 seconds, stirring in between, as it's easy to burn. Leave it to cool a little before using.
2. Use about half of the melted chocolate to coat the chocolate digestives.
   
3. Spoon about a tablespoon of chocolate into each mould and spread it up the sides - try to keep it of even thickness and ensure all the mould is covered.
   
4. Over a pan of simmering water place a mixing bowl with the egg whites, sugar, golden syrup and vanilla extract in. Use an electric whisk for 5-10 minutes over the heat until the marshmallow mixture becomes thick and gloss, the whisks should leave a trail and the mix form stiff peaks. Leave to cool.
   
5. Spoon the marshmallow mix into the moulds but leave enough space to place the biscuits on top. 
6. Melt the remaining 100g of chocolate and spoon it into a piping bag. Leave it to cool for just a few minutes.
7. Pipe a small amount of chocolate around the biscuit and the top of the mould and then sandwich the biscuit on top of the marshmallow.
   
8. Leave to set before slowly peeling the silicon mould off, then enjoy!

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One Giant Crumpet

Whilst flicking through Gordon Ramsay's Ultimate Cookery Course book, given to us for Christmas, this recipe immediately caught my eye. Surely the only thing better than crumpets is a giant crumpet!

Reading through the recipe I was pleased that they seemed to simple to make - had we known this months ago we would have made them from scratch from the start as they taste a million times better.

Ingredients:
175g strong white flour
.25 teaspoon of salt
Small pinch of caster sugar
.5 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
1 teaspoon dried yeast
125ml warm milk (not too hot)
150ml warm water (not too hot
Butter

Method:

1. Sift the flour, salt, sugar and bicarbonate of soda into a bowl. Make a small well in the centre and add the yeast. Gently pour in the warm milk and water, ensure it is not too hot or you'll kill the yeast.
2. Bring the flour from the outside of the bowl into the liquid and mix until you have a batter. It is quite thick  but if too thick you can add upto another 100ml of warm water. Cover and leave to rise in a warm place for about an hour - it will have almost doubled in size.
   
   

   

   The batter

3. Heat a non-stick frying pan (I use a pancake pan) over a medium heat and add a little butter. Stir the batter and then pour into the pan. Turn down the heat and cook for 10-15 minutes. 

   

   After 10 minutes - almost dry

4. Once the batter is dry on top place a little butter around the edges of the crumpet and then flip over and cook for another 1-2 minutes.

   

   Cooking the other side

5. Finally serve up with your favourite topping. Ours has to be butter and jam.

   

   The giant crumpet in all its glory!

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Summer Fruit Pavlova

Sunday was cheat day. It was also a belated housewarming party for us so we held a BBQ. I was tasked with providing the dessert. There was only one suitable dessert in my eyes; pavlova.

For me there is no better summer dessert than a pavlova. The crisp outer shell of meringue combined with the chewy centre and cool cream balanced by fresh fruit is unbeatable in hot weather. It also take minimal effort and serves a crowd easily. There are a couple of ingredients which may seem a bit strange, such as vinegar, but trust me that this is essential to get the nice chewy centre of the meringue. 

Ingredients:

4 egg whites

250g caster sugar

1tsp vanilla extract

1tsp cornflour

1tsp vinegar (I tend to use white wine or cider vinegar)

Carton of double cream

Fresh fruit (your choice), chopped

1. On a piece of greaseproof paper draw around a large plate. Place this on a flat baking tray and pre-heat your oven to 150c.
2. Beat your egg whites until they form stiff peaks. This can be done with a handheld mixer or a stand mixer, unfortunately you just won't get the best results using sheer human effort with a whisk.
3. Add the caster sugar teaspoonful at a time whilst still beating. The egg whites will increase in volume and become beautifully glossy.
4. In separate bowl mix the vanilla, cornflour and vinegar together. Add the mix to the egg whites and sugar. Beat until incorporated. 
5. Spoon the mix onto your greaseproof paper and push it out to the edges of your circle template. Build the meringue up at the edges to create a 'nest'.
6. Pop it in the oven for an hour. Turn off the oven and allow the meringue to cool whilst in the oven. (I do mine overnight)
7. Whip the double cream and mix in the fruit. Spoon it into the centre of the meringue. Decorate with more fruit.

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Clean & Lean - Roasted Butternut & Broccoli

Well we've made it to day 5 of the Clean & Lean diet. How are we feeling? Not quite full of energy as hoped but I think we've both lost a bit of weight our sugar cravings are now subsiding. We did, however, treat ourselves to a bit of dark chocolate today which tasted phenomenal.

Tonight's dinner was surprisingly easy and tasty. We did modify the recipe from James Duigan's Clean & Lean Cook Book as it called for 1.25 cups of feta cheese! OK, we get some fat is good for us but just couldn't justify that much of it. We also cut back on the seeds too as we'd snacked on them throughout the day. We have to confess that since our butternut squash was quite small we gobbled down the whole meal which was supposedly for four....

Ingredients

1 butternut squash, cut into wedges

2 tablespoons of olive oil

1 teaspoon of cumin seeds

1 teaspoon of chili flakes

1 large handful of broccoli

1 handful of seeds

Feta, salt and pepper to taste

Method

1. Toss the butternut wedges in the oil, cumin seeds and chili flakes. Place in an oven pre-heated to 200c for 35-45 minutes.
2. Boil the broccoli until al dente, about five minutes, and then add to the roasting dish with the butternut. 
3. Add the seeds, feta and season. Serve immediately. 

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