Courgette and lime cake

I would like to start with how ecstatic I am about how well this cake turned out.  It's the first time I have near enough made up a recipe. And it's like nothing else I've ever done, and best of all, it's yummy! 

Tonight I have for you a courgette cake with a lime infused cream cheese topping and crushed pistachio nuts.  

Very similar to a carrot cake. But personally I think it's tastier, and the fact it has a tinge of green is very fun. 

It's something a little different and I'm sure will impress your friends and family when you have them over for tea and cake. 

Ingredients 

250g grated courgette

3 medium eggs 

100g trex (you can use 125 butter)

150g golden caster sugar 

225g self raising flour 

1/2tsp bicarbonate of soda 

1/2tsp baking powder 

Zest of 1 lime 

200g cream cheese 

150g icing sugar 

Juice of 1 lime 

50g chopped pistachio nuts 

1-Heat the oven to 180C/Gas4 and line a cake tin with baking paper. 

2- Add the eggs, sugar and trex (or butter) to a large mixing bowl and whisk until combined and smooth.  

3- Add the sieved flour, baking powder and bicarbonate of soda to the mixture and mix well. It should become quite heavy and sticky. 

4- If you haven't already, grate your courgette with a traditional grater and press between kitchen towel to remove excess moisture and add to your bowl along with the rind of a lime. 

5- Transfer the batter to your cake tin, ensure it is all the way to the bottom by tapping the edge of the tin on the work surface.  

6- Bake in the middle of the oven for 45 minutes or until risen slightly, golden brown, and a skewer comes out clean from the centre. 

7- Turn out to a cooling rack while you prepare the frosting. 

8- Put the cream cheese, icing sugar, and juice of half a lime to begin with into a bowl and using an electric mixer, whisk until smooth and thick. Add more lime depending on your taste. 

9- Pop in the fridge to set slightly.  

10- When the cake is cooled, spread the frosting over the cake and sprinkle on the crushed pistachios and serve immediately. 

This cake will keep in an airtight container for a few days, if it lasts that long. 

I'd love to hear what you think about this recipe and if you have tried it. 

Look forward to any feedback.  

Thank you. 

:) 

Lemon Drizzle Squares.

Evening all.
Tonight's treat, lemon drizzle cake. I don't actually like lemon puddings, so i am not entirely sure why i did. Whatever the reason, i am so glad, they are delicious. If you're looking for something that isn't too technical or doesn't involve a great deal of washing up, then this is the one for you.

Ingredients 
6oz spread for baking (I used trex here, i will write a post about trex shortly)
8oz self raising flour
1tsp baking powder (i actually forgot to add this, oops, but i would recommend to for a lighter cake)
6oz caster sugar
3 eggs
3tbs milk
1 1/2 lemons
6oz granulated sugar

1- Preheat oven to 180C/Gas4

2- Grease and line a tray suitable for your tray bake. I used my brownie tin.

3- Simply add all ingredients apart from the lemon and granulated sugar into a bowl along with the grated rind of lemons, and mix with a hand whisk for 2 minutes or so or until smooth.

4- Pour into prepared tin, smooth down the top.

5- Place in the oven on the middle shelf and bake for 30-40 minutes or until golden, coming away at the edges and springs back when pressed.

6- Combine the juice of the lemons with the granulated sugar and set aside for now.

7- When the cake is baked, place on a cooling rack until completely cooled.

8- Turn out onto a plate, smother in your drizzle, and slice into squares.


I cannot wait to have another one of these tomorrow and share them with my friends.
Give these a go, i would love to see how they turn out.
:)

Fruit scones

Well, I'm starting to feel a bit better and had a bit of time to kill this afternoon, so I thought, what the hell, I'll make some scones. 

I've never made them before so checked online for a basic recepie and went for it. Making small alterations along the way.  

So here we go. 

Ingredients

230g self raising flour

60g cold butter 

3tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

30g caster sugar 

50g sultanas 

150ml milk

1 egg

1-Preheat oven to 205C/Gas6/400F and line a tray with baking paper and grease well. 

2- Sieve the flour into a bowl and add the baking powder, salt and butter and rub between fingertips until the mixture is like breadcrumbs. 

3- Add the sugar and fruit and mix well

4- Make a small well in the middle and add the milk a little at a time, combining it into the mixture with a butter knife until dough is pliable. (If at this stage it is too sticky, add a little more flour)

5- Transfer to a floured board and work the dough a little until smooth. Roll out until 2/3cm thick. 

6- Using a cutter approx 2inches, make rounds and place onto baking tray. 

7- Beat the egg and a little of your milk to make an egg wash and brush over the top. 

8- Plave in top of the oven for 12-15 minutes or until well risen and golden. 

9- Transfer to cooling rack. 

And that's all there is to it. 

I was very surprised not only of how easy they were, but how well they turned out. 

Everyone here loved them, especially with some butter and black cherry jam. 

Yum yum. 

:) 

 

Oat and Raisin cookies.

Hey. Hope everyone's well on this chilly Sunday evening. 

Got a little scrummy treat to share with you all. 

Oat and raisin cookies have always been my favourite and I didn't realise how easy they actually were.  

I took this recipe from Nigella.com. 

It states 'serves 6-8' but as you can see from the pictures, it looks like they can feed more like 60-80! 

Ingredients

¾ cup sugar

¼ cup brown sugar

½ cup softened butter

½ teaspoon vanilla

1 egg

¾ cup all-purpose flour

½ teaspoon baking soda

½ teaspoon cinnamon

¼ teaspoon salt

1 ½ cups rolled oats

½ cup raisins

1- Preheat oven 190C/gas 5/375F and line a baking tray with greaseproof paper.

2- In a large bowl, combine sugars and butter and beat until light and fluffy.

3- Add the vanilla and egg and blend well.

4- Add the flour, baking powder, cinnamon and salt then mix well.

5- Stir in the oats and raisins. 

6- Make balls from the approx 2cm across and place them on a baking tray 2 inches apart.  Press down slightly. 

7- Bake for 7-10 minutes until edges are a light golden brown colour. Cool for 1 minute then remove to a rack and let cool completely.

Nothing more to it than that guys. And they are absolutely delicious.  Going to keep my friends and family happy all week I think.  

:) 

Chocolate Dinobiscuits

Good evening everyone.  Hope you're well. Not feeling too fabulous over here, but I still managed to perk myself up to do a bit of baking. 

Dinosaur biscuits.  

Now, ordinarily I wouldn't make things in shapes, but on this occasion I am, for 2 reasons. My friend has a birthday coming up and he is obsessed with Diplodocus. 'Dippy'. (Google it, you will know what it is when you see it). And secondly to take to my friend Nina's house because I am forcing a love of dinosaurs upon her, her partner and her 12 week old son, my little Olliebob.  

I found a recipe online, which I have to admit is one of the strangest recipes I've ever followed in my life.  As I was putting it all together I was very unsure of what the hell was going to happen, but, they worked a treat and I would like to share with you all. 

Original recipe is from The Smitten Kitchen Cookbook by Deb Perelman

(I made a couple of alterations) 

1 cup (2 sticks/220g) butter or margarine, softened

1 1/2 cups golden caster sugar

2 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla

3 cups s/r flour

2/3 cup unsweetened cocoa, sifted

1- Beat together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add in the eggs and vanilla and beat until smooth. 

2- Add in the four, salt, baking powder and cocoa and mix until incorporated and smooth, with no remaining flour streaks. 

3- Wrap the dough in plastic and chill in the fridge for at least an hour.

4- Roll the dough out to 1/4" for thicker cookies or 1/8" for thinner ones. Cut shapes, transfer to a parchment paper lined baking sheet and bake on 350F/gas 4/180C  for about 10 minutes.

5- Transfer to a wire rack to cool. 

I have to admit, the dough was very sticky and hard to work with, but adding flour to my board and rolling pin, it made my life a lot  easier. 

This mixture also made enough dough for about a million biscuits, but I have popped the remainder in the fridge for quick baking next time the mood takes me.  (Probably tomorrow). 

The original recipe called for plain flour and baking powder.  But I ran out of plain flour, so replaced for self raising. This was a bit of a risk but worked perfectly.  

I made thinner ones with a bit more of a crunch to them,  but I look forward to making thicker gooier ones in the future. 

Another fun thing about the Dinobiscuits is that it called for 'cups' instead of g/oz's. 

This was particularity exciting because I was given a gift, only this week by Nina, of measuring cups. 

They are super cute and let's be honest, much more fun than weighing things out. 

 

And finally the cutters were courtesy of the Natural History Museum.  I think they are plain amazing.  

:) 

 

Simple Homemade Lasagne.

Hello everyone.  Just thought I would share with you a little dinner I put together a couple of days ago.  

I was searching the cupboards and fridge for inspiration as to what to make. And seeing as it's after Christmas, we have half used this and that knocking about.  I decided on a nice simple Lasagne .  

Although the ingredients used perhaps would not be in the quantities I would usually do, it worked very well and was probably one of the most delicious Lasagne's I've made in a long time.  

For this I used...

Half carton passata (approx 150g)  

2 large tomatoes 

1tsp Sea Salt 

1tsp Black Pepper

1tsp Sugar 

1tbs Dried herbs 

Drizzle Olive oil 

Squeeze tomato purée 

Small pack of Turkey mince (500g)

1 clove Garlic 

Drizzle of Olive oil 

Knob of butter 

Plain flour 

3/4 pint whole milk 

2oz strong cheddar cheese 

Lasagne sheets 

Cheese for topping 

1- Preheat the oven to Gas6

2- Chop your tomatoes into small chunks, add to a pan with a little olive oil, and add in the sugar, salt and pepper.  Cook down until the tomatoes have softened and reduced slightly. 

3- While the tomatoes are cooking off, heat a little oil in anther pan and add in the garlic clove, chopped finely, and the turkey mince. Cook until browned slightly.  

4- Add the passata to the tomato reduction and in this instance I added a little tomato purée to thicken and add a richer flavour. 

5- Combine the tomato sauce with the browned mince, add the herbs and simmer for a few minutes and set aside.  

6- For the beautiful cheesy white sauce, melt a knob of butter in a pan on the stove.  

Add plain flour a little at a time, mixing continuously with a whisk, until the butter and flour mixture creates a stiff paste. 

7- Add the milk to the paste mixture, again a little at a time, and whisking continuously.  

Bring up to the boil. 

8- You should notice your white sauce is beginning to thicken as the mixture heats. 

Add in your grated cheese and keep mixing until all cheese has melted and sauce is a nice thick silky consistency and set aside. 

9- Now you are ready to construct your Lasagne.  Layer up in the way you would usually. 

I tend to go for tomato/meat mixture.  Layer of lasagne sheets.  White sauce.  Layer of lasagne sheets. Tomato/meat mixture. Etc etc until your chosen dish is full to the top, ensuring your white sauce is on top. 

10- Sprinkle with remaining cheese and cook in the middle of the oven for 30-40 minutes depending on the the depth of the dish. 

I like it to be served as it is, with a little rocket salad and balsamic vinegar.  

I hope you enjoy this quick and easy recipe as much as I do.  

Happy eating. 

Hannah xx

Hello!

Just a little note to say hello all!
I'm going to get to grips with this blogging business over the weekend and begin my journey next week with a bit of luck.
If there's anything you would like to see my try then please do mention it.  At this point I am welcoming any input or suggestions.

Thankyou all. <3