Thursday 28 March 2013

Meringue Kisses and Flavoured Meringue Recipe.

I love these little meringue drops!  You can hide chocolate chips in them for a surprise in the bite, and the flavours are endless!  I have made them for wedding favours, party desserts or to go with a cup of tea.  They last great in an airtight container. 

ALSO FAT FREE!!!  (Okay copious amounts of sugar – but officially fat free!!!)


Makes 20-30 meringue kisses


150g caster sugar
3 med egg whites
Pinch salt


First I make a batch of basic meringue:
Pre-heat oven to 200ºC.  Line a baking tray with greaseproof paper.
Put the sugar in a roasting dish, and put in oven until hot about 5 minutes.
Whisk eggs until foaming, add the hot sugar as quickly as possible (I do it in my stand up mixer – and usually make a mess so maybe do it in 2 batches!) and continue to whisk the eggs until very stiff, it should be cold after about 8 minutes whisking.  If still a little warm, continue till cold!

This is your basic meringue.  You could pipe kisses now, but I like to split the batch and make lots of different flavours (usually 3)!

Flavours –

Lime and Coconut - Lime Zest and desiccated coconut
Raspberry and White Chocolate – freeze dried raspberry chopped very fine added to meringue piped on white chocolate chips
Double Chocolate – cocoa powder added to meringue piped on milk or dark Chocolate Drops – Plain meringue piped on a chocolate chip
Strawberry – freeze dried strawberries chopped very fine
Lemon Meringue – Lemon zest or a drop of Lemon extract
Mint Chocolate – cocoa powder and peppermint extract, can double up on a chocolate chip too!
Hazelnut – roasted and chopped finely hazelnuts.
A drop of food colour makes these stand out too!

I have not given quantities, as it depends on how much you are making/split the basic.  It really is to taste too.  To a third of the batch I would add 1tsp of crushed/powdered fruit or cocoa and 2 drops of flavour
Fold in very gently the flavours and powders.  Do not add too much liquid flavour as it will be less light and airy.

For chocolate drops, place the chocolate chips on the lined baking tray – it is best if you do this in straight ordered lines,

Attach your chosen nozzle to a piping bag, and load in the meringues.  NB – if you have added nuts or fruit, then do not use a closed tip or small nozzle as it will all get stuck and very messy!!

Pipe all the kisses about the same size (for perfection you can draw circles on the underside of the paper before lining tray)


You can also pipe names and shapes!

Turn the oven down to 110ºC.
Bake meringues for 30 minutes then turn the oven off, and leave the oven door very slightly ajar – mine rests about 3 inches open – which is perfect!

Tuesday 26 March 2013

Date and Walnut Scones

Earlier this week, I watched Valentine Warner and Ed Baines on the Country Show Cook Off http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01rcrnx  where they attempted and entered Date and Walnut scones at the Nidderdale show.  It was a hillarious show; as we all find amusment in other failings!  So while not particularly inspired by their bakes  (Ed's were too wet and spead while baking and Valentine's were too heavy on the baking powder (- I thought - but I've just searched his recipe and it does not contain any!) they unsuprisingly did not win any prizes!) but I was inspired and therefore made my own (which are yummy). 







Here’s my recipe: 

225g Self-raising Flour
40g unsalted butter
30g caster sugar
Pinch of salt
1 tsp baking powder
40g (approx. 5) chopped dates
30g chopped walnuts
150ml full fat milk
1 tbsp Greek yogurt



In a large mixing bowl, rub the butter into the flour to resemble breadcrumbs.  Stir in the sugar, salt and baking powder.
Add the yogurt and a little milk, mix with a knife.  Continue to mix in the milk a little at a time until the dough has come together, but not wet.  Just before all the crumbs have mixed I lightly use my hands.  Knead as little as possible 2-3 presses should be enough to bring together, if not add a little more milk. 
On a floured board lightly knead a couple more times if the dough is too wet, add a little more flour to the board – but it should not be too dry either.
Pat out the dough with your hand so it is nice and flat, run a rolling pin over the dough once each way getting it about 2.5cm thick.  Lift the dough up and gently put back down to relax the dough.  (You can also check that there is not too much flour under the dough – this will stick to the cutter, and you will get lop-sided scones once cooked)
Using a 68mm cutter cut out rounds (if dough is a little wet, dip cutter in flour between each cut)
Place scones on a greased baking sheet.  Leave to rest for 10 minutes (or if like me just while the oven heats up) brush top with milk or egg wash (beaten egg with a pinch of salt) make sure it does not drip down the side – or it will hinder the rise.
Heat oven to 200ºC (Fan)
Bake for 12 minutes when done cool on cooling rack.


I thought these were perfect, but it is personal taste.  If you want to change the quantity of Walnuts or dates, then do it to taste, it will not affect the overall bake.

The Greek yogurt can be substiuted with Buttermilk, crème fraiche or sour cream it adds a lovely texture to the scones!

These are the perfect size for my brood, but obviously if you use a smaller cutter you will get more!

Saturday 23 March 2013

My First Blog and Custard Cream Biscuits

So my first blog post, and I never thought it would be one involving the kids!  Not that I don’t love my kids – they are just not allowed in the kitchen very often!

Today I feel like there is a ferret running around in my sinuses and having a good claw about on my brain.  So why on earth did I say yes when the kids asked to bake something?  Perhaps their droning and whining was even more painful to bear and I buckled.  We managed to negotiate from full blown ornate cupcakes using all the cutters, pearls and fondants down to custard cream biscuits.  (Of course these have been on my want list for the last couple of weeks!  But they don’t need to know that!)

I started with Nigella’s ‘Feast’ recipe, and then found Jo Wheatly’s ‘A Passion for Baking’ online.  I could not be bothered to move an entire cupboards contents to get to the food processor (necessary for Nigella’s) plus did not think the kids would find that much fun (of course that was a latter thought) so we muddled through by hand.

I managed to wangle making the buttercream filling all by myself, so did get 5 minutes peace with my whisk!  Although having made 1000’s of kilos of BC I managed to mess it up …trying to take a shortcut and make it all in one go!  As I am sure will become apparent as the blog continues, I LOVE custard; I added 5 times more than Nigella said and twice as much as Jo.  I think it tastes rather nice!

Here is the final result which all considering I am rather pleased with – I did not abandon all and leave to burn in the oven and even piped the cream in the middle!

I think I will tweak the recipe between the 2 a little more, roll out thinner and perhaps wait until everyone is at school and I am feeling less zombie like! 
Now I'm hoping to go and snooze on the sofa, fingers crossed no lego pieces will get shoved in my ear or up my nose!

I hope to make these again soon, and get my own recipe which I will then share with you!