2010

Although December and the end of 2010 was rather quiet on Teen Baker, 2010  had been a good year. And just before we get properly into the grand heights of 2011 and all the new, exciting things I hope it has to offer, I thought it was time for a reflection. Month by month, my highlights of 2010. Hope you all had a very Merry Christmas and have a brilliant New Year and I wish you the best for 2011!
January – Glazed Fruit Rolls
Sticky, irresistible, crunchy on the outside, melting and soft on the inside. 2010 opened with a classic and sometimes it just doesn’t get much better.
 February – Cheese Straws
A rare savoury appearance on the blog, perfect for parties but pretty hard to stop yourself munching on any time.
March – Rhubarb Tart
This tart was the first delicious taste of summer, even though made when still in spring. The colours and flavours wake you out any winter stupor and truly brighten the day.
April – White Chocolate Cookies
A surprise top-blog hit, made with a great friend, celebrating the end of a No Chocolate month and dangerously moreish. Four months in to the year and a great cookie was found. And now, I think it is definitely time the cookie is repeated…Up for it, P?
May – Vanilla Pannacotta with Strawberries
Reaching the summer season and it is time to create something silky smooth, fruity, and make something I had previously thought I didn’t like. Turns out as a success!
June – Roasted Tomato&Thyme Soup with Twice Baked Potatoes
A mouthful of a title but a scrumptious savoury mouthful cooked up in June with my sister. It may have been the summer but a hearty soup always wins.
July – Brunch with Alice Hart at La Fromagerie
Not a recipe for July, but a chance to meet the author of a delicious cookbook, sample delicious food cooked by her and hear her tell my Dad about the wonders of food styling v. being a lawyer.
August – Blueberry Muffins
My Dad’s favourite, inspired by a great summer holiday and enjoyed back home really rather quickly…
September – Celebration Chocolate Log
I celebrated my blogoversary a little late but with something truly amazing, rich, decadent and above all – tasty. You cannot beat a chocolate overload. Fab.
October – Banana Cake
The controversial banana (in my house) was used in my baking for the first time with colourful and tasty results :)
November – Ricciarelli
Got to finish the year on a high, which for me means something addictive, delicious, perfectly flavoured and textured and just all round ‘mmm’.

December – Nutmeg Custard Creams
Perhaps there is not the largest selection here, but these were still a lovely bake and finishing the year on the Biscuit Challenge seemed like a yummy enough idea to me.

Nutmeg Custard Creams

When I began my Biscuit Challenge here on the blog, a long time ago, I constantly refrained from attempting the infamous custard cream. Bourbons, digestives, snickerdoodles and most recently ricciarelli, amongst others, have all been made as part of the Biscuit Challenge and have all been tasty. They haven’t been exact replicas of the shop bought original, but when baked with regular ingredients and care – plus with delicious results – does this really matter? When I finally attempted custard creams, I decided to step a little bit further away from the original.Marcus Wareing, a Gordon Ramsay trained and Michelin-starred top chef, is renowned for his nutmeg custard tart, which has been served to the Queen. Taking this success and running with it, he’s adapted his recipe to create what he calls Nutmeg Custard Cream Yo-yo’s. The biscuits were easy to make, and the final product was ultra rewarding. The nutmeg makes the final cookies spicier and warmer than your standard custard cream and when I make these next (which I definitely shall do) I think I’ll add even more. The biscuit itself had the best texture – sandy yet crisp and very moreish.  When I made bourbons I missed the firm square of chocolate cream filling – which I think now you can only properly get with shop bought biscuits which can use preservatives and E-numbers – but with these the soft and creamy custard filling was delicious and perfectly flavoured. Mmm. Just right to fill that 4pm biscuit craving :) The only change I made to the recipe was that instead of forming a log of cookie dough and slicing it up, I found the dough much easier to roll out and cut with a cookie cutter. I also added more custard powder to the biscuit dough, as I wanted to be sure the flavour would clearly some through which, happily, it did. You can find the recipe here, and I hope you do attempt the British biscuit tin favourite – and enjoy!

Ricciarelli

In the Biscuit Challenge so far, I have tackled widely known biscuit tin favourites. This time, I wanted to try something different – just as irresistible, just as moreish, still something I have regularly bought from a supermarket, but just a little bit different. The most famous Italian biscuits would probably be amaretti, biscotti and cantuccini. Whilst all these are delicious, I think my favourite now has to be this – the ricciarelli. A soft and chewy macaroon, with a truly intense almond flavour and a tiny touch of lemon. Also slightly addictive.  You have been warned! These are not particularly complicated, but you do need to start the day before so they have plenty of time to dry out which will lead to their scrumptious chewy texture later on. Whilst I am not a hugely patient person and the no instant gratification was different, I think the wait just makes the reward even more tasty. And you end up with freshly baked ricciarelli for breakfast through no effort! Splendid.

You can find the recipe here (scroll down!) – I hope you enjoy :)

Plum and Marzipan Galette

I made this galette a good few weeks ago now – just as the weather changed from Summer to Autumn. Now, we are deep in Winter but the galette has still been made repeatedly. The first time, the galette was a chance to begin making good use of the fabulous Autumn produce that Britain does so well: plums, apples, pears – our climate is so much more suited to these than endless supplies of summer berries. Since then, I have made it simply because I loved it and it is so easy! Just 4 ingredients: puff pastry, plums, marzipan, sugar. Easy as pie…The key ingredient in the galette is the marzipan. Other than Christmas cake every year and the odd new recipe, marzipan’s presence in my kitchen is rare…mainly because I know I will just eat it all. :) The plums I used here aren’t very sweet – instead quite sharp and therefore the marzipan combination doesn’t become too sickly. The marzipan also soaks up the plum juices and ensures the pastry stays crisp. Plus, the demerara sugar sprinkled on top balances out the melting marzipan and soft juicy plums. Tempted yet? I didn’t use a specific recipe each time to make this, it can be easily scaled up or down depending on the ingredients you have to hand, the fruit you have and the amount of people you have to serve. For around 6-8 people, these amounts will do…

Ingredients: 500g plums
450g puff pastry
400g marzipan
2 tablespoons milk
4-5 tablespoons demerara sugar

1. Roll the puff pastry out until it is a large circle and around 3mm thick. Place onto a large baking tray that has been lined with parchment paper.
2. Roll the marzipan to a circle which is 5mm thick, or 1cm smaller than the pastry. Gently lay this on top of the pastry.
3. Halve and stone the plums. Cut each half into four slices, and carefully arrange on top of the marzipan.
4. Bring up the excess pastry from the edges and fold over the marzipan and plums. Sprinkle the plums with some of the demerara sugar. Brush the pastry with the milk, and sprinkle with the remaining sugar.
5. Bake in a 170’C/Gas Mark 3/325’F oven for 20 minutes until the pastry is risen and golden and the plums are soft. Enjoy whilst warm!

Granada!

Towards the end of October, my Spanish class and I went on a week long trip to the beautiful city of Granada, in Andalucia, Spain. I have been here very briefly two years ago, but this was a proper chance to get to know the city. And it was great – gorgeous city, gorgeous food, gorgeous summer weather. Lovely.

A central street in GranadaA view over the city from the top of the Albaicin, Granada’s old district.A fountain pond in one of the Alhambra’s palaces A view of the Alhambra from the Albaicin

Inside the San Jeronimo monastery

Apple and Cranberry Flapjacks

In London, we never seem to ‘suffer’ from seasonal gluts of strawberries and raspberries. My family is not presented with the problem of a complete summer overflow of nectarines, blueberries or peaches. We manage to grow the odd bunch of raspberries or loganberries – enough to be picked and eaten, there and then, warm in the sun. But certainly not enough produce to find that even after baking a cake, a crumble, eating gallons raw, and finishing off with some cookies that our stash is still languishing in the garden. This all changes round about this time of year. The English climate is much much better at producing Autumn gluts – apples, plums, pears. Lots and lots of apples. Our cottage in Suffolk has a massive apple tree in the centre of the garden, and its constantly full of fruit all season. Every time we visit, we fill bags and bags of fruit and cart them back to London. And once back in London, there’s two more (way smaller but still plentiful) trees to harvest. And so the baking must begin…I didn’t want to repeat another apple cake (fab as they are) and wanted to try something a little different. I hadn’t made flapjacks before but these weren’t the traditional version. The addition of a huge grated apple keeps the mixture moist and makes the flapjacks last, whilst the handfuls of dried cranberries gave the flapjacks a little extra tang which I definitely liked. I considered adding a chocolate drizzle to the top – and whilst this might be nice I decided to keep these as they were – fruity, oaty, delicious. The recipe is from Hannah’s book and is one which I highly recommend :)