Nigella’s again. Her recipe says” Dense chocolate loaf cake”, but mine’s not dense at all, in fact it is fairly light and delightful, easy to make and I’m surprised how much I like it- as I’m not known to love chocolate cakes. This one was picked this morning, at breakfast. I couldn’t sleep last night, I never can when the wind blows as if someone hung themselves and the wheelie bins get overturned. It’s still lockdown, it’s cold and grey outside and I’m finding it difficult to find positive things when I wake up in the morning. So today I thought – baking!!!!

Half a portion, small loaf, in order to reduce waste as well as not to fatten us up too much. 112 g of soft unsalted butter, creamed with 165g of brown sugar. 1 whole egg. Some vanilla paste. 50 g of good, dark chocolate, melted and slightly cooled. 100 g of plain flour plus half a tsp of bicarb of soda. 125 ml of boiling water. These ingredients made quite a runny batter, which baked in the lined tin initially for 25 minutes in 190 degrees, then for another 15 minutes in 170. left in the tin to cool completely before turned out.

Lovely recipe. I doubt it will last beyond tomorrow though. 🙂

Santa’s brought me one of Nigella’s books,”How to be a domestic goddess”, a nice new addition to my collection of cook books. This cheesecake looked appealing enough to be made first. I had a table booked at Rick Stein’s in Marlborough for my birthday, but once again Covid made sure the plans were wrecked, so I’m glad at least I had a nice cake, thanks Nige! 🙂

For the base I used 150 g of digestive biscuits, blitzed, then mixed with 75 g of melted butter, pressed into the lined, round tray and quickly baked for a few minutes.

Then 600 g of cream cheese got nicely whipped up in the kitchen aid, 150 g of caster and vanilla sugar added. 3 eggs, 3 yolks, vanilla paste, a good squeeze of lemon juice. Poured onto the biscuit base and into the oven in the water bath, I did secure the tray with alu foil twice, to be sure no water leaked in. It baked for 50 minutes in 180 degrees, then the final layer of soured cream( 150 ml + 1 tbsp of caster sugar and some vanilla paste) poured on the top and 10 more minutes in the oven. Once cooled, it spent a night in the fridge and before serving I finished the rough edges with some flaked almonds. It’s a lovely, moist, indulgent cake. And it was enjoyed!

The photo not exactly amazing, as this was the very last piece left.

This was the most random thing I did today and I ended up with muffins so good, that out of 11 I’ve made in the afternoon, I’m now looking at 2.

I started watching Aussie Masterchef season 10 on Amazon, where a lady called Gina, of Italian origin produced something similar, bundt shape though, which stunned the judges into a delicious silence. Internet has it all and I quickly found the recipe. I had to get my measuring cups out as well, which I hardly ever use. I think I might be making these again before the weekend, as they’re super quick and both Bankses destroyed the lot pretty much on the spot.

So, to my mini kitchen aid processor I threw the flesh of one big orange, just the best stuff, nothing chewy. 85 g of soft, unsalted butter. 1 cup of self raising flour. 1/4 cup of ground almonds.Caster sugar/vanilla sugar, about 1/2 cup, maybe a bit more, the recipe called for 1 cup, I decided it was too much. 1 egg. 1 tsp of baking powder. I also added a generous teaspoon of Mum’s orange rind. I’m going to have to ask her how to make it soon, as this jar she made for me in summer will not last long now.

So, all the ingredients quickly blitzed together, packed into muffin cases, baked for about 15-17 minutes in 160 degrees. Meanwhile, 1/2 cup of freshly squeezed orange juice got reduced on the stove with 3 tsps of caster sugar and turned into a nice syrup, which I then glazed the muffins with, having pierced them quite a lot.

It might be the amount of baking powder on top of the self raising flour, but these things are light as a cloud. I’ll be looking at some recipes involving oranges, I bet there’s lots of Italian cake recipes out there to be tried. These- delicious. Grazie Gina! 🙂

I should avoid cookies. Any cookies, especially those made with 200 g of butter, but making them was such a pleasure on a grey, cold December afternoon! And I know Florek will be at them even before he tastes his dinner. And so will Izzie. So cookies have been made, 4 of them were eaten with a good cup of tea and there are a few packed away for Charlie too.

Recipe is from mojewypieki.com, it works a treat and will be used again. 200 g of soft, unsalted butter was creamed with 0,5 tall glass of muscovado sugar( with a little vanilla sugar too), then 1,5 glass of plain flour added bit by bit. 0,5 glass of ground, toasted hazelnuts. 1 tsp of baking powder. 0,5 tsp of salt. A splash of vanilla paste. Then 3/4 glass of chopped, roasted hazelnuts alongside 2 handfuls of chopped dark and milk chocolate. A thick dough was formed, from which I made little balls, tea spoon sized ones and placed them on a lined tray, slightly flattened. They baked for 15-16 minutes in 160 degrees and filled the kitchen with the most fantastic smell. And even if they give me another centimeter in the waist area, so be it. 🙂

Having watched GBBO final the night before, where custard slice was the first challenge the contestants faced, I felt like having another go at it, but I went with Paul Hollywood’s recipe this time- proper custard, none of the powdered nonsense. Also, I wanted to see how I liked the rough puff pastry, which meant making the entire thing from scratch, non buying French pastry from Polish deli for instance. The pastry worked, wasn’t too difficult and time consuming, I would maybe add just a touch of icing sugar to it next time, to make it less savoury.

225g of plain flour, 1/2 tsp of salt, 200g of cold, unsalted butter, less than 140 ml of water made it all possible, for the butter I used the coarse grater and did the folding method 3 times, like with puff pastry, only the butter all went in in one go. Once folded and rested 3 times for about 15 minutes, I then divided it into 2 and baked under extra trays to keep them flat for roughly 20-25 minutes in 200 degrees, all the time checking and making sure they don’t overbake.

In the meantime the custard got done. 500ml of full fat milk, 100g of caster sugar( some of it vanilla sugar), vanilla paste, 4 egg yolks, 40g of cornflour. Yolks beaten up with sugar, cornflour added towards the end, while the milk was getting heated up with the vanilla. The custard got finished with 40 g of unsalted butter, covered and chilled until needed.

The homemade rough puff seems to be easier to cut with a serrated knife than the shop bought one. The nicer looking sheet of pastry went on top, finished with a little icing- lemon juice and icing sugar and then some feathered pattern of chocolate. Nice cake, much better attempt than the last one. And the next day tastes even better. 🙂

I accidentally made a gluten free cake yesterday. I had some good quality cooking chocolate and decided to have a go at Paul Hollywood’s recipe and while I stirred the melting chocolate I found myself looking at the recipe and realizing there is no flour there. 🙂

Chocolate cakes in our house are produced mainly for Florek. Izzie and I prefer milk chocolate, so I’ve made a small one, half a portion to make it manageable and not to waste too much.

So, to start, 130 g of dark chocolate got melted and slightly cooled. 2 egg yolks and 1 whole egg whipped into thick goodness with 105 g caster sugar. 2 egg whites whipped separately. 125 g of ground almonds. All of those gently combined baked in my smallest, round tin, lined with baking paper for about 30-35 minutes in 180 degrees.

Once cooled, some raspberry jam was smeared all over the cake before the ganache( 60 g of the same chocolate and 60 ml of double cream) was generously applied all over the cake.

It was tasted shortly after Florek’s favourite carbonara. The sounds he was making convinced me it was a good use of time and ingredients. As for me, I’m not blown away, might have a piece later while watching GBBO semifinals.

From Paul Hollywood’s book “How to bake”. A piece of posh, expensive French butter was purchased on Friday specifically for this recipe and I started yesterday after lunch.

Dough nr 1 was made out of 500g of strong bread flour, 10 g of salt, 80 g of caster sugar, 10 g instant yeast ( I even had some!!!!), 2 eggs, 90 ml of water and 125 ml of warm milk. Kitchen aid worked it for about 7 minutes, then it rested in the fridge for an hour.

Posh French butter will be handled more carefully next time- straight from the fridge, otherwise it gets warm too quickly and is messy to handle; also next time I’ll roll in out on the baking paper and save myself some swearing. 🙂

The rolling out and folding the butter stuff is all nicely illustrated in the book, it was fun to make and I enjoyed learning new stuff. Last night there was a lovely block of Danish pastry resting in the fridge, 4 times rolled and folded, loosely wrapped in cling film- loosely, as it did rise quite a lot!

This morning I took it out, rolled out, shaped 3 ways and left to prove once more, while the nicest creme pat ever was cooling in the fridge. Creme from the same book, particularly delicious and creamy. Will be using this method from now onwards. 2 egg yolks, 50 g caster sugar, 20 g cornflour nicely whipped together, while 250 ml of milk and vanilla paste were heating up. Hot milk slowly added to the eggs, then returned to the heat and when thick and beautiful, 20 g of butter added. Yum!!!!!

Pastries, when doubled in size were topped with creme pat and some bluberries, the other ones were rolled with cinnamon, sugar and sultanas and baked in 200 degrees for less than 14 minutes, they did brown quickly.

I waited the whole 2 minutes after taking them out, before stuffing one down my gob with a sigh of pleasure. Butter. Butter makes everything tastes good.

We gave Simon and Keava a plate of pastries, the other ones sit on the island and are pinched every now and then by whoever passes by.

10 out of 10, worth every minute and every effort.

Found a photo of these on mojewypieki.com and made them this morning, but for brunch. Not for breakfast. I’m coping Florek’s effective diet of eating nothing till midday and enjoying lunch then, it seems to be doing good to my waistline ( as I’m writing these words, I’m on my second g&t, munching on some particularly moreish chili and serrano crisps bought 2 weeks ago in Adnams, speaking of dieting!).

For about 8-9 rolls I used 2 tall glasses of strong bread flour, 0,5 tsp of salt, 1 tbsp of melted butter, a small egg, 1 tsp of sugar, 7 g of fresh yeast, 3/4 tall glass of tepid milk. Made the starter first- a bit of that flour,milk and all the yeast, then mixed it all in with the remaining ingredients, leaving butter till the end. The dough proved for about 1,5 hour, then, using a little rolling technique I picked up from Paul Hollywood I formed the rolls, placed them on the baking parchment, dusted with flour and left to double in size again.

I sprinkled them with some water and baked for about 15 minutes in 190 degrees. They were very much enjoyed with a lovely, creamy tomato soup, some pate and some mature cheddar. Recipe going into the book, to be used again!

While sitting through a vegetarian weekend in Suffolk recently I felt like doing a Sunday roast. Ewa’s was available, so was Mariusz, Tommy Banks’s recipe for roast pork belly was looking at me, there were no excuses.

I’ve done that roast today, pork was ok, but not mind blowing. There was quite a lot of leftovers, as Mariusz had to turn around before Oxford, there were issues with gear box. Luckily Ewa made it and she took some food for Sophie, who works on Sundays.

Dessert was a success. I made it yesterday and it went, all of it. Just the way I like it, the plates to the dishwasher, job done.

50g of pecans nuts, toasted, blitzed with 3 tbsps of icing sugar. 150 g of plain flour ( I added a bit more), 75 g of cold, unsalted butter. 1 whole egg. The dough chilled in the fridge for about an hour, then got rolled out and chilled again, then baked blind in 200 degrees for about 20 minutes and a few more without the beans.

For the filling I used a 250 g tub of mascarpone, 150 g of Greek yoghurt, coconut flavoured, unlike the recipe that called for plain, 6 tbsps of maple syrup and some vanilla paste. Really nice indeed. Fresh blueberries and raspberries on top. While the last piece of it was being eaten in the garden I remembered that I was going to drizzle it with extra maple syrup before serving. Next time maybe. And I think I’ll be doing my own shortcrust pastry, the very crumbly one, as those pecans didn’t really bring anything amazing to the dessert. Good, but could be better!

Another good one from Paul Hollywood’s book. I’m enjoying it with a cup of tea on a cold June evening, will be making it again and Wiola just asked for recipe too. I was able to spend a few productive hours in the kitchen today, as Iz had company upstairs. The kids are still not back at school, but Iz and Lili are now seeing each other regularly to play, so today I could cook. And bake. In peace.

For the loaf I used 4 medium sized overripe bananas, mashed them up with 125 g of sugar- which is half of what Hollywood’s recipe recommended, but I thought it was not needed. Bananas are sweet, especially overrripe. To this banana/sugar mixture I added 125 g of very soft unsalted butter, combined it well, then added 2 eggs, 250 g of plain flour, but by bit, while kitchen aid worked, 2 tsps of baking powder, a bit of cinnamon and finally 120 g of chopped pecans, substitute for walnuts. Onto the baking tray, smoothed out and into the oven at 190 degrees for less than 40 minutes, till the skewer came out dry.

Very, very nice indeed. I gave Marcin half, when he came to collect Lili, they are loving it too.

Another culinary success today was a thick sauce I’ve made with 2 duck legs, which accompanied kluski slaskie. My child, not a big meat fan not only had seconds, but specifically asked for “some more of that duck meat”. And Florek, who stirs clear of duck as a rule also said that the sauce was very good indeed.

Duck legs were seasoned well, browned all over, then a large shallot and a red onion chopped went in, a splash of chianti, chicken stock, some lemon thyme ( discovered when making mussels, phenomenal herb!) and some porcini. This all cooked under the lid until the meat was lovely and tender. I then blitzed the sauce till nice and smooth, having removed the thyme stalks first, separated the meat from the bones and added it to the sauce, some green beans, separately cooked and finished with some chopped parsley. I thought it was delicious and I kept on licking it while making the dumplings. My kinda food!