Tag: bake

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Pomegranate Scones

by Karen ClaassenLeave a Comment on Pomegranate Scones
Pomegranate Scones

280g cake flour
8ml baking powder
2,5ml salt
100g butter, ice cold
25g sugar
62ml cream
62ml yoghurt
1 egg
45ml pomegranate seeds
egg wash: 1 egg + 15ml water whisked together

Preheat your oven to 180℃ and line a baking sheet with baking paper.
Sift together the flour, baking powder and salt.
Grate the butter into the flour.
Now rub the butter into the flour with your fingers.
Add the sugar, cream, yoghurt, egg and pomegranate seeds to a mixing bowl and whisk together to blend.
Cut the mixture with a palette knife to mix together, i.e. cut straight down into the ingredients and turn the bowl. Keep on cutting and turning until the mixture comes together.
Lightly dust a work surface and turn the dough out onto it.
Push the dough together even if there are bits that look dry.
Shape the dough into a rectangle by rolling it out on the surface.
Now turn up a third of the length and then turn over a third of the top part.
Roll this out to a thickness of 3,5cm and then shape the dough into a circle with your hands.
Place the disc on the prepared baking sheet and cut it into 8 wedges.
Brush the top of the scones with the egg wash and bake for 15 minutes.
Remove from the oven and cool on a cooling rack for another 15 minutes before serving.

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Honey Baked Quince

by Karen ClaassenLeave a Comment on Honey Baked Quince
Honey Baked Quince

600ml water
100g honey
250g brown sugar
1 lemon
4 quince

Preheat your oven to 150℃.
Add the water, honey and brown sugar to a small saucepan.
Cut the zest from the lemon, add the strips and place the saucepan over a gentle heat.
Stir until the sugar has dissolved, bring to a boil and simmer for two minutes.
Take the syrup from the heat and set aside.
Wash the quince under running water and cut each into quarters. Remove the core but keep the skin on.
Slice the lemon (from which you took the zest) in half and rub it over the sliced quince to prevent it from turning brown.
Arrange the fruit in an ovenproof dish (they should sit snugly) and pour the honey-syrup over.
Place a piece of baking paper directly on the quince and then cover the dish with aluminium foil.
Bake in the oven for 3 hours.
Remove the foil and baking paper and spoon the syrup over the fruit.
Turn your oven to 180℃ and roast uncovered for 25 minutes.
Serve warm with roasted meat or with a scoop of ice-cream as dessert. Cold quince is delicious on top of cooked oats as breakfast.

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Most Basic Chocolate Cake

by Karen ClaassenLeave a Comment on Most Basic Chocolate Cake
Most Basic Chocolate Cake

330g butter, room temperature
550g sugar
5 eggs
5ml vanilla
620g flour
120g cocoa powder, sifted
3,7ml baking powder
1,2ml salt
250ml milk

Preheat your oven to 180℃ and line two 22cm cake tins with baking paper.
(If you want a cake with three layers, double the batter and divide between three baking tins.)
Add the butter and sugar to the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment and beat on high speed until soft and creamy, scraping the mixture down once or twice during the mixing.
Add the eggs one at a time with the mixer running and then add the vanilla.
Add the flour, baking powder, salt and cocoa powder to a bowl and mix through.
Add two spoonfuls of the dry ingredients and follow it up with a splash of milk, while the mixer runs on slow speed. Keep going until all is incorporated.
Divide the batter between the baking tins and bake for one hour.
Remove and allow the cakes to cool in the tins before removing and cooling on a wire rack.
Frost as desired.

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Puff Stuffed Pears

by Karen ClaassenLeave a Comment on Puff Stuffed Pears
Puff Stuffed Pears

3 pears
100g blue cheese
50g walnuts
1 x 400g roll of puff pastry
egg wash: 1 egg yolk + 15ml water whisked together
60ml mixed fruit jam
45ml boiling water
a handful of basil leaves, chopped

Preheat your oven to 200℃ and line a baking sheet with baking paper.
Wash the pears and dry them.
Cut a slice from the bottom of each pear so that you have a stable, flat surface.
Scoop out the core with a melon baller and set aside.
Cut the blue cheese into small pieces and add it to a bowl with the walnuts.
Mix together until you have a sticky, messy consistency!
Divide the mixture in 3 and stuff it into the pears.
Place the pastry on a work surface and cut 3 rounds, more or less the size of the bottom of the pears.
Place the pastry over the stuffed opening and then place the pears on the prepared baking sheet.
Cut 1cm wide strips from the pastry.
Start at the stalk of the pear and wrap the fruit in the pastry strips.
Brush with egg wash and bake in the oven until golden – about 20 minutes.
Add the fruit jam, boiling water and chopped basil to a small bowl and stir until the jam breaks up into a thin sauce.
Serve the pears warm with the sauce on the side.

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Dressed-up Chicken Pie

by Karen ClaassenLeave a Comment on Dressed-up Chicken Pie
Dressed-up Chicken Pie

6-9 chicken breasts, skin removed
1 litre chicken stock
1 onion, chopped
3 cloves of garlic, minced
15ml turmeric
15ml chicken spice
15ml salt
10ml thyme leaves
250ml greek yoghurt
1 x 400g roll puff pastry
egg wash: 1 egg yolk + 15ml water whisked together

Cut the chicken into chunks and add it to a large saucepan.
Pour in the stock and add enough additional water to cover the chicken.
Bring to a simmer and cook for one hour.
Turn off the heat and allow the chicken to cool in the liquid. (This will ensure you have juicy, tender chicken for your pie!)
When it is cool enough to handle comfortably: drain and discard the liquid and pull the chicken meat into shreds.
Preheat your oven to 200℃.
Put a saucepan over medium-high heat and add a splash of oil.
Add the onion and cook until soft.
Add the garlic and stir-fry for one minute.
Now add the turmeric, chicken spice, salt, thyme, yoghurt and shredded chicken and simmer for 20 minutes.
Spoon the mixture into a 20cm x 28cm ovenproof dish and allow to cool.
Lay the pastry flat on a work surface and cut long strips from it that is 2cm wide.
Lay two strips over the cooled chicken, forming an X. Lay another two strips 3mm to the outsides of the X-shape. Keep going until the chicken is covered in a non-weave lattice pattern.
Use a flower shaped cookie cutter to cut multiple pastry flowers and stick them onto the lattice by wetting only with water.
Brush the decorated pastry with egg wash and bake in the oven for 20 minutes, until golden.
Serve warm with a salad.

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PaneScone

by Karen ClaassenLeave a Comment on PaneScone
PaneScone

450g flour
2,5ml salt
10ml baking powder
150g butter, cubed
120g sugar
120g candied citrus peel
120g raisins
1 orange, zested
1 lemon, zested
250ml milk

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.

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Coffee Rusks

by Karen Claassen1 Comment on Coffee Rusks
Coffee Rusks

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.

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Romany Creams

by Karen ClaassenLeave a Comment on Romany Creams
Romany Creams

This recipe yields about 30 sandwiched romany creams.

250g butter
250ml caster sugar
2 eggs
500ml flour
60ml cocoa powder, sifted
5ml baking powder
2ml salt
375ml desiccated coconut

Filling:
60ml sugar
15ml butter
80ml cream
30ml milk
5ml vanilla
625ml icing sugar, sifted
30ml cocoa powder, sifted

Preheat your oven to 180℃ and line a baking sheet with baking paper.
Add the butter and sugar to the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment and cream together.
Add the eggs one at a time while beating and wait for it to be incorporated.
Sift the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder and salt into a bowl.
Add the coconut and stir to mix.
Turn the mixer to a low speed and add the flour mixture a spoonful at a time, allowing time for it to be incorporated.
Scrape the bowl down and mix on high speed for 1 minute.
Scoop a teaspoonful of the dough in your hands, roll into a ball and space it evenly on the baking sheet.
Flatten the dough balls slightly by pressing down on them with the tines of a fork.
Bake for 12 minutes and allow to cool on the baking sheet.

For the filling:
Place a small saucepan over MEDIUM heat and add the sugar and butter.
Stir until the sugar has melted.
Add the cream and milk and remove from the heat.
Add the vanilla and stir through.
Sift the icing sugar and cocoa powder into the saucepan and mix until the filling has a spreadable consistency.
Sandwich the biscuits together. (You may re-heat the filling over a low heat if it becomes un spreadable)
Store the romany creams in a glass container.

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Greek Shortbread

by Karen ClaassenLeave a Comment on Greek Shortbread
Greek Shortbread

Yields about 35 biscuits.

200g butter, room temperature
250ml + 80ml icing sugar, sifted
1 egg
1 egg yolk
625ml flour
7,5ml baking powder
5ml ground cinnamon
420ml ground almonds/almond meal

Preheat your oven to 160℃ and line two large baking sheets with baking paper.
Add the butter and icing sugar to the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment and beat until light and fluffy.
Add the egg and egg yolk and mix again. Scrape down.
Add the flour, baking powder, cinnamon and almonds to the bowl and mix together until incorporated.
Scoop about 15ml of the mixture into your hands and shape it into crescents. (Roll a ball, roll it in to a 3-4cm log and slope the ends downwards. Drape it over your finger to form a crescent)
Space the cookies evenly on the baking sheets and bake for 15 minutes.
Remove from the oven and allow to stand on the baking sheets for 5 minutes.
Sift the 80ml icing sugar over the biscuits and leave to cool completely.
Hint: Hide some of the biscuits……they fly away on their own!

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Biltong Quickbread

by Karen ClaassenLeave a Comment on Biltong Quickbread
Biltong Quickbread

500ml flour
15ml sugar
7,5ml baking powder
2,5ml bicarbonate of soda
2,5ml salt
250ml buttermilk
1 egg
62ml vegetable oil
200g mature cheddar cheese, grated
150g biltong, sliced and chopped

Preheat your oven to 180℃ and line a 22cm x 12cm loaf tin with baking paper.
Add the flour, sugar, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda and salt to a large mixing bowl and whisk together.
Add the buttermilk, egg and vegetable oil to a jug and whisk together.
Pour the liquid ingredients into the dry ingredients.
Stir with a spatula until you can’t see any dry flour.
Add the cheddar and biltong and stir really well so that the ingredients are distributed evenly.
Spoon into the prepared loaf tin and level out the top.
Bake in the oven for 50 minutes.
Cool the bread in the baking tin for 15 minutes.
Remove from the tin and cool completely on a cooling rack before slicing.