Inspiration came from this week’s episode of Great British Bake Off, where the contestants had to make 24 eclairs of 2 kinds, 12 of each. I only made 6, plenty for 2 people who have just had pizza for dinner.

My choux pastry was made of 50 g of butter, 150 ml of water and 2 tbsps of sugar all melted together, 75 g of flour then added, transferred to kitchen aid to nicely work it with 2 eggs added.

They baked in 220 degrees for about 25 minutes.

The filling, a nice, vanilla creme pat; 2 egg yolks whipped with 2 tbsps of sugar, then about 12 g of flour and 100 ml of hot, vanilla infused and sweetened milk poured in and transferred back onto the heat.

The glaze- a random amount of cocoa, icing sugar and water with a touch of butter.

Food porn. 🙂

From the same “mojewypieki.com” website found by Zuzia.  I almost followed the recipe. What I’m eating is lovely and light, might be a touch sweeter, but then English raspberries are not exactly marshmallows. The reviews under the recipe recommend using  any other fruit as well, I’ll be doing it again with strawberries. And soon, cause it’s a lovely cake.

For the sweet shortcrust pastry I used 1,5 of my tall glasses of plain flour, 125 g of butter, 3 egg yolks, 1,5 tbsps of icing sugar and 1 tsp of baking powder. All this bound with a splash of water went into the freezer for 20 minutes, then 60% of the pastry I grated on the coarse grater and slightly flattened for the bottom of the cake.  That baked for 20 minutes in 190 degrees then left to cool.

Onto it went the cream. In the recipe they asked for budyn waniliowy, I only had malinowy, which I thought is a nice alternative. I whipped those 3 egg whites left,slowly adding about half a glass of sugar, some vanilla paste and  dry budyn. Then, slowly poured in about 1/4 of a glass of sunflower oil. When I tasted it, pink marshmallow came to mind.

The cream went onto the base, raspberries in generous amount on top and the remaining pastry, also grated. My little touch were flaked almonds, for the crunch. Again, 190 degrees, 30 minutes. Icing sugar on top, DONE. 🙂

If I were a good, devoted christian, church goer and was used to doing as I’m told, I’d have made a white cake, with white icing, filled with something white and finished with white ribbon. I’m none of the above and I hate doing as I’m told as a general rule, so I’ve made Izzie a cake that I fancied, she wasn’t having any on this occasion anyway. 🙂

I baked a cocoa sponge, a very nice one, I must modestly say, in a christian manner. Whipped 4 egg whites with roughly 8 tbps of sugar, added the egg yolks one by one, then 2 tbsps of plain flour, 2 of cocoa, 1 of potato flour and a touch of baking powder. That baked for about 30 mins on 180 degrees. When cooled, it got sliced in 3 layers. For the filling I used a bagged Delecta product with Advocaat flavour, bought it a while ago and intended to use for a while. Surprisingly nice product, I must say, although I would not win The Great British Bake Off with it, that’s for sure. Some fresh raspberries went in as well, in order to brake the sweetness a notch and then a dusting of cocoa powder and some Maltesers for the top. The cake was eaten to the last slice. Well done. 🙂

While exploring mojewypieki.com I came across a recipe for a carrot cake, advertised as the best ever, super awesome and totally faultless. I made it, underbaked it, dwelled on it for a few minutes and shoved it in the bin.  I still wanted my carrot cake though, so baked another one, the GF recipe used here on the blog before. That worked a treat once again, I did make the icing this time and that from mojewypieki.com’s recipe.  And that’s a keeper; Philadelphia cream cheese whipped with 4 tbsps of very soft butter, 1,5 tbsps of icing sugar and some vanilla paste. Yum. Finished with toasted pecans and a dusting of cinnamon.

Wednesday, the day of the week when BBC1 airs “The Great British Bake Off”, so there must be something freshly baked to munch on, while watching. I made the cookies, which I had at Ewa’s last Sunday. Had them for the second time and found them surprisingly lovely, but- I thought, with a touch of cinnamon and maybe pecans they would rock.

I took Ewa’s basic recipe, which asked for ” a glass of flour” and “half a glass of sugar”, just as if my mum had dictated it( classic Polish way, I suppose, the glasses!), but I measured everything I was putting into the Kitchen Aid, so that the corrections could be taken into account next time.  So I used 2 egg whites, which got whipped with 60 g of sugar. I then added the yolks, 80 g of plain flour, a tsp of baking powder. Also the oats, I used 2 sachets of posh Aspen porridge with apples and raisins, good call, lots of extra flavours. Also in went half a melted butter. The original recipe called for margarine, which I don’t like using, I’m all for the butter when baking. Then in went the pretty bits; about 50 g of chopped pecans, a good handful of sunflower seeds( such a nice crunch and flavour!), 2 tbsps of desiccated coconut, 1 tsp of cinnamon and 2 tbsps of maple syrup. All those quantities are to my taste and liking.

Ewa’s method said nothing of the oven temperature or timing, so I went for the cookie temperature that works for me- 180 degrees, they baked for about 17 minutes.  The house smells like a tasty, posh porridge on Saturday morning. The cookies- a treat. Sweeter than Ewa’s, who’s a diabetic, so must be careful with lashes of maple syrup and stuff like that.  I think hers were also crunchier. And I bet- healthier. Nevertheless, a tea time treat. 🙂

Recipe from Gordon’s wifey, apparently. I must say, a keeper, it’s surprisingly fluffy, light and moreish. And easy to make too.  Kitchen Aid creamed 115 g of soft butter and same amount of sugar for me, I added 2 eggs, a zest of 1 lemon and 2 tbsps of yuzu juice, now available to people who don’t work in Dinings any more- courtesy of Waitrose.  Tiny bottle costs a kidney, of course, but there is no flavour like yuzu, so hey, every now and then one splashes out. 🙂

Err, the cake. Self raising flour in the same amount like sugar and butter went into the mix, all nice and pale, all this to the lined long tin and into the oven for 45 minutes in 180 degrees.  When baked I spiked it all over and poured over the lemon and yuzu syrup, made by simply mixing a juice of 1 lemon, whatever yuzu I had left and lots of sugar,some icing, some caster.

It is sooooo going to be enjoyed this evening with a cup of tea!

Long time ago I bought “Leith’s Cooking Bible”, had a look through it, put it on the shelf and let it sit there, gathering dust. £15 well spent. Last night, when having a cup of tea I longed for something sweet, but there were no biscuits at home, so right before bed I picked the bible off the shelf and found a few nice recipes in terms of cookies,  worth attention and a try.

A certain chocolate fan, that I share my life with, insisted that the cookies must be chocolate ones. I like baking with chocolate, so I obliged.

For the dough I used 115 g of butter that I melted with 100 g of plain chocolate and 1 tsp of instant coffee granules.  When slightly cooled, I added to a bowl, in which I had 140 g of caster sugar, 140 g of light brown sugar, 250 g of plain flour, 1/2 tsp of baking powder, 30 g of cocoa, 2 beaten eggs and a small bag of chocolate chips( Dr.Oetker’s on this occasion). The dough was quite thick, but I used a tea spoon to form little balls, flattened them and placed on a greased baking sheet. They baked for 10 minutes in 180 degrees. When out of the oven they seemed a bit under done, but I followed the recipe and it worked. They’re rich, moorish and lovely.

The dinner I made this evening was a bit of a waste, cause we got stuffed on cookies like silly kids and there was no space for proper food. I should also mention that I’m trying to lose the baby fat around my stomach. Clearly not trying TODAY. 🙂