This is a quick throw-together as a starter or snack board and can easily be made from ingredients you already have in your refrigerator. If you want to make the hummus from scratch you will find a few recipes with slight variations under my search button if you type in HUMMUS. Quantities are for you to decide and adapt to your taste.
hummus chopped herbs like chives and parsley crumbed feta or ricotta cocktail tomatoes olive oil to drizzle over before serving
Serve the hummus wreath with crackers or melba toast.
This recipe yields about 200ml of dressing and can be kept in the refrigerator for 3 days.
15ml honey 60ml apple cider vinegar 125ml oil 45ml greek yoghurt the juice of half a lemon
Add the honey and vinegar to a small bowl and whisk together. Drizzle in the oil, a little at a time while whisking continuously until all the oil has been incorporated. Add the yoghurt and whisk until amalgamated. Finally add the lemon juice and season the dressing with salt. Keep unused dressing in a glass jar in the refrigerator.
Preheat your oven to 200℃ and line a baking sheet with baking paper. Add the flour, salt and baking powder to a mixing bowl and stir to mix. Add the cubed butter and rub it into the flour mixture with your fingertips until it resembles breadcrumbs. Add the sugar, citrus peel and raisins and lightly mix through. Add the grated zest of the orange and lemon and stir again. Add small quantities of milk, stir and repeat until the mixture comes together as a dough. Flour a work surface and place the dough on it. Flatten with your hands so that it is 5cm thick. Cut out rounds with a biscuit cutter or a glass and place the scone on the prepared baking sheet, spaced apart evenly. Bring the dough together to a 5cm thickness again and cut out some more rounds. Bake in the oven for 15 minutes. Remove the scones and cool on a cooling rack. Dust with icing sugar to serve.
180g butter, room temperature 80ml icing sugar, sifted 310ml flour 15ml custard powder 2ml salt
Lemon filling: 250ml icing sugar, sifted 60g butter, room temperature 5ml finely grated lemon zest 15ml lemon juice
Preheat your oven to 160℃ and line a large baking sheet with baking paper. Add the butter to the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Sift the icing sugar over the butter, turn on the mixer and beat until creamy and fluffy. Add the flour, custard powder and salt and beat until fully incorporated. Spoon the mixture into a piping bag fitted with a 1,5cm nozzle. Pipe rosettes of approximately 4cm in diameter, evenly spaced apart. You should end up with about 28 biscuits. Bake the biscuits in the oven for 17-18 minutes. Remove from the oven, place on a cooling rack and allow the biscuits to cool on the baking sheet.
For the lemon filling: Add all the ingredients to a mixing bowl and mix together until fully incorporated. This is a very stiff icing mixture and will take some effort to mix, but keep going, you will get there.
Spread the icing liberally on one biscuit before sandwiching it together with another. Set the biscuits aside for 30 minutes before storing in a glass container.
1 wheel camembert cheese 1 round bread, slightly larger than the camembert 60g butter 2 cloves of garlic, minced a handful of seeds a handful of nuts syrup from canned green figs or a flavoured honey
Preheat your oven to 180℃ and line a baking sheet with aluminium foil. Place the camembert on the bread and cut out a circle the size of the cheese. Hollow out the bread with your hands so that it is more or less the size of the camembert and place it on the baking sheet. Add the butter to a small bowl and melt it in the microwave oven. Add the garlic to the butter and generously brush the hollow in the bread with it. Place the trimmed camembert in the hollow and brush again with the garlic butter. Slice the edge of the bread, going all around and brush the rest of the garlic butter over the outsides of the bread. Bake in the oven for about 15 minutes – the cheese should be melted and runny. Sprinkle the seeds and nuts over the cheese and drizzle the cheese and bread with the syrup/honey. Serve immediately.
For the lemon syrup: Add the water and sugar to a small saucepan set over medium-high heat. Stir until the sugar has dissolved. Now simmer the mixture for 1 minute without stirring or fiddling with it. Add the lemon peel and juice and simmer for 3 minutes. Remove from the heat, strain through a sieve and set aside to cool.
Pour the cream into a mixing bowl and add the lemon juice, zest, 125ml lemon curd and sugar. Whisk together with electric beaters until soft peaks form. Add the mascarpone and mix on low speed until the mixture is fully incorporated and smooth. Set aside. Pour the cooled lemon syrup and limoncello into a shallow dish. Dip the ladyfingers in the mixture and lay them side-by-side in a 28cm x 22cm ceramic dish to form a compact layer. Spoon half the mascarpone mixture on the biscuits and smooth it out. Now spoon 60ml lemon curd on top and spread it out evenly. Repeat the biscuit and mascarpone layers. Spread the last 125ml lemon curd evenly over the top of the tiramisu. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight.
This is a small batch of rusks and yields about 24 pieces.
250g butter, room temperature 250ml caster sugar 4 eggs 10ml instant coffee dissolved in 30ml hot water 10ml vanilla 10ml baking powder 250ml flour
Preheat your oven to 170℃ and line a 23cm loaf tin with baking paper. Add the butter and sugar to the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Beat together at high speed until creamy – scrape the mixture down once or twice in between mixing. Add the eggs one at a time, waiting for it to be incorporated into the mixture before adding the next one. Add the dissolved coffee and vanilla. Add the baking powder and flour to a bowl and mix through. Turn the mixer to a low speed and add two tablespoons of flour at a time, until you have no flour left. Spoon the batter in to the prepared loaf tin and bake for one hour. Cool the cake on a wire rack.
Slice the cake into rusk sizes: I like 2cm x 3cm. Preheat your oven to 150℃ and line a baking sheet with baking paper. Space the rusks evenly apart and place in the oven for 15 minutes. Flip the rusks over and bake for another 15 minutes. Remove from the oven and cool completely. Store the rusks in a glass container.
400g strawberries, hulled and halved 45ml balsamic vinegar 45ml water 30ml lemon juice 2,5ml ground black pepper 60ml + 60ml icing sugar 500g greek yoghurt grated zest of 1 lemon 60ml mint leaves, chopped
Preheat your oven to 200℃. Add the strawberries to an ovenproof dish. Drizzle the balsamic vinegar and lemon juice over and pour the water into the dish. Now sprinkle over the black pepper, icing sugar and a pinch of salt. Roast in the oven for 20 minutes, tossing after 10 minutes, until soft and bubbling. Allow to cool to room temperature. Pour the roasting liquid into a small bowl. Add the yoghurt and lemon zest to a bowl and mix together. Now drizzle about 45ml of the roasting liquid over the yoghurt and fold through to create a ripple. Spoon the yoghurt on to a serving plate and spoon the strawberries on top. Drizzle over some of the roasting juices and scatter over the mint leaves to serve.
Preheat your oven to 170℃ and line a baking sheet with baking paper. Add the butter to the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Turn the mixer on a high speed and beat the butter for about 3 minutes, until light and fluffy. Pour in the condensed milk and vanilla and beat for another 2 minutes on high speed. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and beat again for another minute or so. Add the flour and baking powder a spoonful at a time, until incorporated. Use a 15ml measuring spoon and scoop up 2 scoops. Roll into a ball with your hands and place on the baking sheet, about 4 cm apart. Bake the cookies for 12 minutes. Remove from the oven and place the baking sheet on a cooling rack for 5-10 minutes. Sift over the icing sugar and allow to cool completely. Store in a glass jar.
1 onion, chopped 250ml dry white wine 750ml water 5ml whole black peppercorns 1 bay leaf 1 lemon, zested and juiced 250g fresh salmon, skin removed 125g smoked salmon, chopped 30ml + 30ml butter, cubed and at room temperature 30ml sour cream 45ml dill/parsley, chopped 15ml capers, finely chopped 15ml olive oil
Add half of the chopped onion, all of the white wine, water and peppercorns to a saucepan. Add the bay leaf and lemon juice and bring the mixture to the boil. Add the fresh salmon to the liquid, reduce the heat and simmer for 10 minutes. Remove the salmon from the liquid and allow it to cool. You may discard the poaching liquid. Gently flake the salmon with your fingers and add it to a bowl. Set aside to cool completely. Add 30ml of the butter to a pan set over medium heat. Add the remaining onion and cook until soft. Now add the lemon zest, smoked salmon, sour cream, dill, capers, olive oil, the remaining 30ml butter and the cooked onion to the flaked salmon. Stir the mixture together to combine evenly but be careful not to mush the salmon. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 2 hours. Take the salmon from the fridge and allow 30 minutes for it to come back to room temperature. Serve on crostini or crackers.
The salmon can be kept in the refrigerator for three days. Spoon it into a glass jar, melt about 50g of butter and pour over before sealing with the lid.
My Whisk and I 