A sigh of relief

Today brought many a sigh of relief. Firstly, it is the first Sunday in a long time that I have not been working, and so meant a full day of N's company. It was spent in a very typical manner, him being crafty at the table, me being crafty on the sofa, but even this silent time, spent in mutual contemplation of our tasks, and the cricket, made everything feel aligned again.

Speaking of cricket, a huge exhalation went up when the final ball was lofted over the outfield for four, and England won the series. It was touch and go at the end there, and two people and one cat held their breath as they prayed that it wouldn't be a truly dreadful day for English sport.

Because yes, unless you've managed to blissfully avoid World Cup mania, you're probably aware the England went out of the tournament today. I know it is controversial to admit, but I breathed a sigh of relief at this too. Frankly, now we can stop pretending to believe the hype that England are going to win (which they never were, let's face it), we can all sit down, relax, and enjoy the rest of the competition, whilst watching some teams who actually can play football.

Phew, mini-rant over. Sorry about that!

What I really wanted to tell you about was the sauce I made for our pancakes this morning. I didn't plan the pancakes, but the lack of bread and unwillingness to miss a single moment of any sport today meant that I needed to come up with a breakfast option fast. I used my go to recipe (which I've tweaked a bit over the last six months) and would have added blueberries to them, except I suddenly decided instead to whip up a sauce. I'm so glad I did! It would have produced a sigh of happiness, had it not been for us both stuffing stacks of pancakes and sauce in our mouths!

It's super simple, quick and uber tasty. It goes incredibly well with a subtly flavoured pancake, and a dollop of creme fraiche, so that the sauce is the star of the show. I'm sure it would be equally delicious on waffles, ice cream or French toast.

Blueboozy sauce - serves two for pancakes, liberally.

2 cups blueberries, fresh or frozen.
1 large glug of creme de cassis, or for a non-alcoholic version, a dark berry (or elderflower) cordial
1 tbsp water
3-4 tsp cornflour

Place the blueberries in a small saucepan with the water. Begin to heat gently until they release their juice. Then add the cassis or cordial. Continue to cook gently until the blueberries are bursting and there is a large amount of liquid in the saucepan. Add the cornflour a teaspoon at a time, through a sieve (to avoid lumps forming) mixing as you add. Wait for the mixture to thicken slightly in the heat. You can continue to add cornflour until the sauce reaches your desired texture. I had mine fairly thick so that it sat well on pancakes, but if I was using in on ice cream I'd leave it much thinner.

Pour over hot pancakes, toast or waffles, or scoops of vanilla ice cream. Enjoy!

Ups and downs

Well, it's been quite the time of it here. Bit of a baptism by fire in the new job, lots of hours, lots of things to take in and get to grips with, and lots of things doing battle in my head.

Oddly, I think the biggest thing I've struggled with this week was the fact that I miss being home so much it hurts, and yet I love my job. It's such a strange feeling. If I hated my job I could almost cope with the pining for domestic life, but in fact I don't want to give up my job, because it's great. Weird.
So this weekend I went a little bit mad! I'm just so desperate not to lose the hobbies and interests in the new mess of working life, so I crammed my weekend with all sorts of manic activities. I might have over-compensated a tad. Something I'm trying to learn, with lots of help from N, is that sometimes you just need some time off, and I shouldn't get too het up about time that isn't "productive" as rest is productive too.
And indulgence is definitely something that aids rest, and sometimes you need the simplest dessert to curl up with on the sofa on a Sunday evening, in your dressing gown, whilst watching recorded cookery shows.

The trick with this is to use the best cream you can, and the ripest berries. I add a sprinkling of granola to add a more autumnal feel.

Raspberry "fool" - Serves four (or two, really generously!)

200ml double cream
200g raspberries, so ripe they're almost dripping (I just used two small punnets)
sugar
cinnamon/spice of your choice
Blueberries
Toasted oats/granola

In a medium bowl place a large pinch of caster sugar and one of whatever spice you prefer, I'm a cinnamon lover myself, but I think star anise would go well, or ginger for a hint of warmth. Add the cream and whip lightly. When it just starts holding it's shape stop whipping and add the raspberries, and smush them into the mix. Serve topped with a few berries and toasted oats/granola.

Eat immediately...and relax...

Back on the horse

I love summer. Okay, it doesn't have the crisp bright mornings of autumn, or the cosy evenings of winter, or the fresh new smells of spring. But it does have sunshine (no really, this year England seems to have remembered what summer is all about and conjoured up some proper hot sunshine!) and with that sunshine comes flowers, and after flowers, fruit!

Although the berries in our garden don't seem to be thriving (I'm not sure why, I clearly need to do some more reading up on the matter) the farmer's market has been packed with bright jewels

Look!
I can't tell you how excited I was when I spotted the above. Loganberries! I'd never actually seen a loganberry in real life until this morning, I'd only seen photos and eaten them in jam. My favourite jam ever in fact. Loganberries are like raspberries, but larger, sharper and richer, they make the most divine jam, and I wanted me some of that.

I know, just last week I was complaining at how much jam I had to make and how ridiculous a project preserving is in such hot weather. Well, today I got right back on the horse. I had to, these red babies just called out to be potted for later in the year. The loganberry season is notoriously short and by the time we'd dragged ourselves out of bed and to the farmer's market there were only two punnets left. I pounced on them and couldn't give the man the cash fast enough!

I wasn't sure at that point what I was going to do with them, I just knew they had to be mine. I pondered a fool, or tarts topped with them, or even a compote. But having removed all the stalks I weighed the results and had almost a pound, just enough to produce two little jars of jam.


So now, I can put these pots of goodness away until the winter, and then indulge and be smug that I finally managed to snatch some up for my very own in the summer.

See, no matter how hot or hard the days, I can't be kept out of the kitchen! And don't worry, I have a lovely plan for those gooseberries, which will be coming soon.

Loganberry Jam: Makes 1 2/3 lbs.

450g loganberries (after the stalks have been removed and the berries washed and patted dry)
450g sugar
squeeze of fresh lemon juice

Place the berries in a large pan with the squeeze of lemon juice (this is not for set, as loganberries set really well, I use it for a hint of extra tartness and stop the jam being too sweet), cook over a low heat until the juices are released and the berries become tender. Add the sugar and stir until it has completely dissolved. Then raise the heat and boil rapidly until set (this will probably occur very quickly). Pour into hot sterilised jars and seal.

The jam should keep for a year, but refridgerate after opening.

A berry festive twist

A while ago I made blueberry crumb bars, and they were fantastic. I've been aching to try out new flavours, as I was convinced that they would adapt to any filling I wanted. I had ideas about spiced apple crumble bars, raspberry or rhubarb. Then this week, whilst pondering the fate of the newly arrived fruit box, it hit me: spiked, spiced cranberry bars. Perfect for the festive season, a hint of tartness, under the tender sugary crumble.

So off I went!

As with last time I made a half batch. Unfortunately I didn't really have enough cranberries, I really think I could have done with one cup more, maybe even two. Nor did I have any lemon juice, but with cranberries being both very tart and full of pectin I opted for port instead. A logical switch, as I'm sure you'll agree!

Overall the flavour was good, but on the tart side as I didn't up the sugar. I really like that, but if you have a sweeter tooth I would up the sugar, perhaps even by half a cup. One of the friend who tried this suggested slicing it into thin long bars as a breakfast treat, which is a very fine idea. I think if I was doing that normally I'd switch some of the flour to wholemeal, and maybe add some oats to get some more fibre in there. But it's Christmas and it's not about being good, so go ahead and make these for breakfast next week...


I'm afraid there are no photos of it cut into slices, we ate it too quickly!

Spiked Cranberry crumb bars - makes eight large slices.

1/2 cup caster sugar
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 cups plain flour
4 oz cold butter
1/2 egg
pinch of salt
2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp mixed spice
1 tsp ginger

Filling:
2 tbsp port
2-4 cups of cranberries (I used 2 and next time would probably use 4 to get a deeper fruit layer)
2 tsp cornflour
1/4 cup caster sugar

Preheat the oven to 190C and grease a brownie pan (sorry, I'm not sure of the dimensions of mine).

In a medium bowl stir together the 1/2 cup of caster sugar, flour, baking powder, spices and salt. comine well and then use a fork to cut in the butter and egg. The dough will be crumbly. Pat half of the dough into the base of the pan, pressing to bring it together. Set the rest aside.

In another bowl, stir together the 1/4 cup of sugar with the corn flour, and port. Add the cranberries and stir well. Sprinkle the mixture over the pressed dough in the pan. Crumble the remaining dough over the top.

Bake for 45mins or until the top is slightly golden. Cool in the pan on a wire rack and then cut into slices.

Pie that's not a pie, cos it's a tart

I keep calling this a pie. It's not, it's a tart, but I was going to make a pie and I think that's why I keep getting it wrong.

Whilst at the market I managed to pick up fresh cranberries, something that is difficult to come by here. I was delighted and couldn't wait to try out some great recipe with ones that were fresh, rather than frozen.

So I pored over my recipe cuttings and I found a cranberry and apple pie that had caught my eye about a month ago. It was perfect. Except that it wasn't, because I didn't have all the ingredients. Oops!

So then I decided to take inspiration once more from Smitten Kitchen and bake the cranberry pecan frangipane tart. Not only did this have fresh cranberries and pastry, but a frangipane that N would actually be able to eat. You see, N doesn't like almonds, which is rather a shame considering my love of marzipan and frangipane (then again, it means I don't bake those things, or buy those things, and so am probably indebted to him for saving my waistline!). But here was a recipe that promised all the goodness of spongy frangipane, with the caramelly and festive flavour of pecans, cut through with the tartness of the cranberries. It sounded like just the thing to usurp the place of the pie.

As it happened I baked it for too long, and it came out more toasty than golden, but it still tasted great and retained its softeness. Definitely a winner, and I can't wait to try it with sharp raspberries. It would be a great festive treat over the holidays, and apart from having to wait while you chill the dough and the filling it's not actually that hard.

I won't post the recipe, because for once there was very little adaptation on my part. I did use port instead of brandy (because I used up all our brandy making mincemeat and puddings, oops!), but I think that was it.

It's telling that after one and a half days there is only a tiny slice left...and there's only two of us eating it!

Fixing things

I have been feeling very zen today. It might be because of these:



the nine blackberries I found whilst out walking this morning. I found a back route into the park, and I was kicking myself for having spurned the idea of carrying my camera. It was so wonderful to stumble across a wooded path that could so easily have been in the countryside rather than the city. Along the path were numerous bramble bushes which must have been laden with fat juicy berries a month ago. Alas I only managed to get nine (well ten actually, but in retrospect one wasn't edible). Next year though I shall be staking out that spot with my preserving pan at the ready!

The park too looked beautiful in it's dressing of gold and amber. I will have to go back before the wet winter truly settles in and take some photographs.

The rest of the day has been split between trying to rescue my newest chapter, and trying to rescue the cassoulet, alternating between brandishing a red pen and a red spatula. I think both tasks have been successful. I know this picture doesn't look all that exciting, or appetising for that matter, but believe me the rich spicy smell that was emanating from the pan when I boiled it to soften the beans was just marvelous. I think this, with a glass of the rich red wine that arrived yesterday, is going to be the perfect end to the day. I will post the recipe at some point, but I thought it would be better to at least get mine edible first!


In other random news I have been pondering this, as inspired by this. I was thinking of producing two, one of things to do and a separate thing of baking/cooking challenges. Hmmm. I have a month and a half to sort it out...I'd better get started!

Goodbye will power...hello cheesecake!

I've been trying to be good. Having made a pie, and thus broken-in the new pie dish and resurrected the idea of Baking Day (because as some of you might have noticed I did an awful lot of baking over the summer, playing fast and loose with the idea of only baking very indulgent things once a month) I decided that it would be best if I laid off the baking for a while and concentrated on trying not to stuff my face too much before the decadence of Christmas rolls around.

Then the fruit lady had blueberries for the very last time and I couldn't resist. I could have just added them righteously to the top of my muesli in the morning, but N doesn't tend to eat breakfast, and since he's the bigger fan of blueberries it would be mean to save all the pleasure for myself.

So I baked him a cheesecake.


The excuse I used for this was that we'd invited friends round for dinner and needed a dessert idea, one that would use up the berries that had been sitting in the fridge while I pondered their fate. Truth is, two of N's most favourite things are cheesecake and blueberries, and when it comes to the last berries of the season, a season that hasn't once included a single non-tofu cheesecake, not using the berries to make one would be a crime.

And you know what? It was worth the wait. I made a blueberry streusel cheesecake from a recipe I'd cut out of the Sainsbury's magazine months ago. It seemed to combine all the perfect elements: the fresh berries of summer, the crumbly goodness of autumn and of course the all-round favourite of cheesecake. The other good thing about it was it didn't require a bain-marie, just to be put in the oven for an hour and then cooled.

The recipe called for full-fat cream cheese, and in a desperate attempt to make it a little less calorific I used half-fat. I was worried this might affect how it set (as I've had problems using low-fat cheese in cream cheese frosting before), so I added a little more cornflour than the recipe called for. However I needn't have been concerned as it set perfectly.

The crumble topping is also what is packed for the base, and during the long cooking time this becomes almost caramalised. I slightly missed the more traditional (or traditional to me at least) base of crushed biscuits, especially as that tends to be less sweet. However, since the thing that ranks alongside cheesecake and blueberries in its sweet gastronomic greatness for N is caramel, the base went down a treat!

I think when I make this again (which I will be doing as N loved it) I shall lessen the sugar in the streusel (and make less of it as despite being generous on the base and topping I had leftover) and probably double the volume of berries as I felt they didn't come through as strongly as I would have liked. I think this might be because they were late season berries, but even so, more wouldn't do any harm. I might even omit the topping altogeter and put more berries there instead of the crumble. Who knows. I think the recipe is quite forgiving, so hopefully I'll be able to play around and alter it, using different fruits and flavours. I can see this becoming my go-to recipe for cheesecake. For now at least.

Blueberry Streusel Cheesecake - Serves 8-10 (or two gluttons and a cat!*)

Adapted from Sainsbury's Magazine

Base and topping:

200g plain flour
150g light soft brown sugar
100g cold unsalted butter
1 or 2 tsp ground cinnamon depending on taste

Filling:

225g blueberries
2 tbsp caster sugar
grated zest of two lemons, plus some juice
500g low-fat cream cheese
4 tbsp sour cream
125g icing sugar
15g cornflour
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 medium eggs, lightly beaten

Grease and line a 20cm springform tin and preheat the oven to 180C. Place the flour, sugar and cinnamon into a bowl and mix. Then cut in the cold butter, or rub together, until you get a breadcrumb consistancy. Pour half of the mixture into the tin and press down into an even layer. Bake for 10-15mins, until lightly coloured, then remove and cool. Set the remaining streusel aside.

Put the blueberries in a small saucepan with the caster sugar and 1 tbsp of water and some lemon juice. Simmer over a low heat until the berries just soften and the juices turn syrupy. Cool.

Place the cream cheese in a large bowl and beat until smooth. Then beat in the sour cream, vanilla extract and lemon zest. Sift in the icing sugar and cornflour and combine. Then gently fold in the eggs slowly, using a wooden spoon so as to prevent air bubbles.

Spoon the cooled berries over the base and then pour the cheese mixture over the top, gently evening and smoothing the top. Bake for 30 mintues, then remove from the oven and sprinkle the remaining streusel over the top (I didn't use it all as there was rather a lot there). Return for the over for a further 35mins. Then turn off the oven and leave inside to cool. Once completely cool in the oven, refridgerate overnight.


* Not quite true as our friends did get large portions. But it is amazing how quickly baked goods get eaten in this house and I'm not sure I can blame it entirely on the cat as he's skinnier than both of us!

Blueberry bliss

Last week N and I made a list of all the sweet things I'd baked or cooked and blogged and tried to decide which of them were so good we'd choose to have them again. The results were rather shocking, with only about four or five things making the grade out of over fifty!
This was not because the other things were bad, but because they were "alright" rather than really tasty. I did however find it slightly depressing because although my baking adventures are just that, adventures, rather than just making the things I know to be great and work, I was rather hoping that more of my results would have turned out to be so impressive that we'd be spoilt for choice when making things again. Then again N did point out that I am my own worst critic and loads more things on the list probably would have made the grade for other people.

The good thing about the list though was that it upped the stakes! Now I'd really have to find things to make that were new, different and so fantastic that we'd want them all the time. It seemed like an impossible task based on the previous results. How little I knew of what was to come!

In order to use up a couple of punnets of blueberries in the fridge I decided to make the blueberry crumb bars I'd seen on Smitten Kitchen a while ago. I had never intended for it to take me this long to get around to making them, but work and lack of berries got in my way.
Oh why did I let them? These bars are amazing. I'd make them again in a shot. Not too sweet, packed with fruit with the most deliciously tempting crumble on top. Perfect for a dessert with whipped cream, or breakfast with a coffee, or as an afternoon snack, or anytime really!

I will be making these again, and again, and again! Oh yes. It makes me so pleased that I froze all those boxes of blueberries ready for when they wouldn't be in season. I know now exactly what they'll be used for this winter.

If you have blueberries, or can get some of them before the season finally disappears make these, you won't regret it. I also think you'd be able to do it with raspberries or blackberries, but I haven't had a chance to try it yet.I'm afraid that once again I won't be posting the recipe because I used the same one as on Smitten Kitchen, and it's my favourite food blog and I think you should go there and look at the recipe and her gorgeous pictures. This is the second one of her recipes I have tried and it's the second one of her recipes which without a doubt makes the uber list of "make it again" recipes. I think that says it all.

I've usurped the Queen of Posting!

I didn't mean to usurp her position, it just happened. I wanted to show my Mum a good birthday, so I did the natural thing that any crazy devoted baking obsessed daughter would do. I sent a cake in the post! I mean, it's just not a proper birthday without a cake.

Thing is, I couldn't stop there. I had to send a present too. Now this year I had totally failed to find anything in the shops that I thought she'd like, and having no help whatsoever in the form of hints I had to fall back on the "I promise I'll get you something nice when we're on holiday" promise. Which still didn't help the fact that I didn't have much to give her on the day. Then I came across some blackcurrants. Sconto!

My Mum LOVES blackcurrants, and second to having them in a pie, blackcurrant jam is her favourite way to enjoy them. Now I wasn't about to attempt pie-posting - that really would require some extra special posting skills - but I reckoned that a jar of homemade blackcurrant jam would be do-able, and just the thing.

So I set off on a jam making adventure! It was lots of fun, and the smell in the flat was amazing and more than made up for England's continued inability to play decent football.

I simmered the fruit with some water:
Meanwhile sterilizing the jars:Then added the sugar:
and brought it to a rolling boil:
Then when it reached setting point I but it in the jars and sealed it, adding labels and preparing it for postage!

I packaged it with the cake and sent it off, relieved to hear the next day that it had arrived in one piece. I then had a lovely text this morning saying how pleased Mum was with the presents and cake and how I must now be crowned the Queen of Posting!

Well, I will accept the title for now, but I'm sure it won't be long before the real Queen of Posting (my Mum, who else!) will be back.