Baking

A Game-Changing Hot Drink Plus a Fabulous Give-Away

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A Game-Changing Hot Drink
Plus a Fabulous Give-Away

Very occasionally you stumble across a game-changing new discovery.

For me, in the last 12 months, my foodie discoveries have been Chai tea, which I love to make with hot skimmed milk as a calciumtastic bedtime drink; cauliflower ‘rice’ – a tasty and nutritious carb-free side dish and comforting hot fruit infusions.

I first discovered fruit infusions on a
decadent trip to London to celebrate
my friend Kirstin’s 40th birthday.

Posh Pomelo & Melon fruit infusionWe enjoyed a spectacular ‘fashionista afternoon tea’ in the Berkley Hotel, Knightsbridge. With our fabulous array of goodies Kirstin ordered a Posh Pomelo & Melon fruit infusion as an alternative to ordinary leaf tea.

After a sneaky taste, all three of us were converts – wow. Nothing like the insipid nature of normal fruit teas, this infusion, made with dried fruits, was a revelation.

A while later our friend Gudi tracked fruit infusions down online and sent us a selection of Fr’cinni to enjoy at home.

These award winning Fr’cinnis are made using only the finest natural ingredients: air dried fruits, herbs and spices to create a taste experience like no other. Simply add 2-3 teaspoons to a cup or teapot, add hot water and drink hot or cool then chill. You can even eat the fruit afterwards.

Win-Frcinni-Fruit-Infusions

Spice Way, who produce Fr’cinni have kindly supplied us with a fabulous selection of infusions to give away, these include: Opulent Orange Chilli, Zesty Citrus, Green Tea with Ginger & Cinnamon, Amazing Apple, Fruit Earl Grey.

To be in with a chance of winning these and a gorgeous glass teapot – perfect for one cup click below.

Enter

To find out more about Frcinni click here https://www.spicewayuk.com/store/products/fr-cinni-fruit-infusions

 

And to accompany your fruit infusion why not bake this tasty teabread? Enjoy one or two slices then freeze the rest.

Banana & Sultana Loaf

Banana & Sultana Loaf

  • Servings: 8-10 slices
  • Print

Calories 176 per portion
Fat 0.4g (0g sat) per portion
Suitable for vegetarians
Suitable for freezing

Ingredients

  • Sultanas 225g (8oz)
  • Hot tea 300ml (½ pint)
  • Sunflower oil for brushing
  • Bananas 200g (7oz) weight with skins on
  • Light brown or caster sugar 110g (4oz)
  • Self-raising flour 225g (8oz)
  • Bicarbonate of soda 1 tsp
  • Ground cinnamon 1 tsp

Banana & Sultana Loaf Instructions

  1. Put the sultanas in a bowl and pour over the hot tea. Leave for 1 hour.
  2. Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F/Gas 4. Lightly brush a 900g (2lb) loaf tin with a little oil and line the base with non-stick baking paper.
  3. Peel and mash the bananas in a large bowl. Add the sugar, flour, bicarbonate of soda and cinnamon, then stir in the sultanas and tea and mix thoroughly.
  4. Spoon the mixture into the tin, level the surface and cook for about 1 hour or until well risen and a skewer comes out cleanly when inserted in the cake.

To serve now: Leave the cake to cool in the tin, then loosen the edges and turn out, peel off the paper and slice.

To freeze: When the cake is cold, interleave the slices to be frozen with paper, then put them in a polybag, label and freeze. Use within 3 months.

To serve from the freezer: Thaw as many slices as required at room temperature for about 2 hours or until thoroughly defrosted.

Cook’s tip
You can use luxury mixed fruits in place of the sultanas, if you prefer. It tastes really good spread with a little butter.

Discover more recipes on the Dairy Diary website

 

#tripletested #win #competition

Recipe of the week: Chocolate Fudgey Cake

Chocolate Fudge Cake

Chocolate Fudgey Cake

  • Servings: 16-20 squares
  • Difficulty: easy
  • Print

Calories 202 per portion
Fat 11g (3g sat) per portion
Suitable for vegetarians
Suitable for freezing

Ingredients

  • Cocoa powder 75g (3oz)
  • Eggs 3
  • Light muscovado sugar 250g (9oz)
  • Olive oil or rapeseed oil 125ml (4fl oz)
  • Self-raising flour 150g (5oz)
  • Bicarbonate of soda 1 tsp
  • Dark chocolate 150g (5oz), broken into chunks
  • Butter 25g (1oz)
  • Milk 4 tbsp
  • Golden syrup 1 tbsp
  • Milk chocolate 50g (2oz), broken into pieces and melted in a bowl over a pan of hot water

Instructions

  1. Whisk 50g (2oz) cocoa powder with 100ml (3½fl oz) boiling water in a small bowl until smooth. Leave to cool for a few minutes.
  2. Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F/Gas 4 and line a 33 x 22cm (13 x 9in) tray bake tin with non-stick baking paper.
  3. In a large bowl whisk the eggs, sugar and oil for 3 minutes, until smooth, using an electric whisk.
  4. Mix in the flour, bicarbonate of soda and cocoa paste. Pour into the tin and allow to settle.
  5. Bake for 35-40 minutes until the cake is risen and a skewer inserted comes out clean. Leave for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack to cool.
  6. To make the icing, melt the dark chocolate with the butter in a bowl over a pan of barely simmering water and stir until smooth. At the same time, mix the remaining cocoa powder, milk and syrup in a pan and heat until almost boiling. Whisk it into the chocolate mixture to make a glossy icing.
  7. Smooth the icing over the cake, drizzle with the milk chocolate and leave to set. Cut into squares.

    To serve now: Enjoy the cakes and keep any extras in an airtight container for a few days.

    To freeze: Place in rigid plastic containers in a single layer or between sheets of greaseproof paper. Cover, seal and label. Use within 2 months.

    To serve from the freezer: Thaw at room temperature for about 2 hours or until defrosted.

Look inside the Just For One Or Two cookbookRecipe from the new Just For One Or Two cookbook

Just For One Or Two cookbook

Cooking for one or two? This new cookbook provides lots of inspiration with recipes for all occasions and a super selection of main courses, desserts and bakes you’ll cook again and again. If you want to eat delicious food this is for you!

#tripletested #recipeoftheweek

Win a Year of Designer Flowers at Debenhams

Win a Year of Designer Flowers at Debenhams

To celebrate the launch of Dairy Diary 2016 we are offering you the chance to win a year’s supply of bouquets, one a month for twelve months from the Designer Flowers range at Debenhams Flowers.

Fill your home with fantastic flowers or
share the joy with family and friends
(you can select a recipient for each month).
The choice is yours!

The bouquets are kindly donated by Debenhams who are also offering an exclusive £5 voucher* for everyone who enters the competition.

Take a look at Designer Flowers at Debenhams.

Enter

#baking #competition #Debenhams

Easy Bakes for Fairs and Fetes

Just For One Or Two cookbook

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One of the things I love most about our latest cookbook, Just for One or Two, is the Eat & Freeze section.

It’s just perfect for our busy lives.

This chapter clearly explains how to cook each dish, how to freeze in individual portions and also how to defrost them. These are ideal for our busy lives where the weeks go by in a blur and when we need to access something quick and tasty.

The bakes in the chapter
are just divine and perfect
for fairs and fetes.

It’s our school Christmas fair soon but as we have a hectic week preceding it I have baked two cakes to freeze and defrost the night before the fair.

Not only are these bakes perfect for the freezer – they taste gorgeous too – so lots of brownie points for us as school :0)

Not just for fetes; if you cut the bakes into slices before freezing you can take a couple out at a time and defrost for a couple of hours ready for when friends pop in to visit.

 

 

Fruit Slices

  • Servings: 16–20 squares
  • Difficulty: easy
  • Print

Calories 202 per portion
Fat 11g (3g sat) per portion
Suitable for vegetarians
Suitable for freezing

Ingredients

  • Cocoa powder 75g (3oz)
  • Eggs 3
  • Light muscovado sugar 250g (9oz)
  • Olive oil or rapeseed oil 125ml (4fl oz)
  • Self-raising flour 150g (5oz)
  • Bicarbonate of soda 1 tsp
  • Dark chocolate 150g (5oz), broken into chunks
  • Butter 25g (1oz)
  • Milk 4 tbsp
  • Golden syrup 1 tbsp
  • Milk chocolate 50g (2oz), broken into pieces and melted in a bowl over a pan of hot water

Instructions

  1. Whisk 50g (2oz) cocoa powder with 100ml (3½fl oz) boiling water in a small bowl until smooth. Leave to cool for a few minutes.
  2. Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F/Gas 4 and line a 33 x 22cm (13 x 9in) tray bake tin with non-stick baking paper.
  3. In a large bowl whisk the eggs, sugar and oil for 3 minutes, until smooth, using an electric whisk.
  4. Mix in the flour, bicarbonate of soda and cocoa paste. Pour into the tin and allow to settle.
  5. Bake for 35-40 minutes until the cake is risen and a skewer inserted comes out clean. Leave for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack to cool.
  6. To make the icing, melt the dark chocolate with the butter in a bowl over a pan of barely simmering water and stir until smooth. At the same time, mix the remaining cocoa powder, milk and syrup in a pan and heat until almost boiling. Whisk it into the chocolate mixture to make a glossy icing.
  7. Smooth the icing over the cake, drizzle with the milk chocolate and leave to set. Cut into squares.
  8. To serve now: Enjoy the cakes and keep any extras in an airtight container for a few days.
  9. To freeze: Place in rigid plastic containers in a single layer or between sheets of greaseproof paper. Cover, seal and label. Use within 2 months.
  10. To serve from the freezer: Thaw at room temperature for about 2 hours or until defrosted.

Recipe from the new Just For One Or Two cookbook

 

Chocolate Fudgey Cake

  • Servings: 16 slices
  • Difficulty: easy
  • Print

Calories 165 per portion
Fat 7g (1.5g sat) per portion
Suitable for vegetarians
Suitable for freezing

Ingredients

  • Butter 150g (5oz), softened
  • Caster sugar 150g (5oz)
  • Self-raising flour 175g (6oz)
  • Eggs 2 Orange 1, grated zest
  • Lemon 1, grated zest
  • Milk 2 tbsp
  • Mixed dried fruit 175g (6oz)
  • Demerara sugar 2 tbsp

Instructions

  1. Preheat the oven to 170°C/325°F/Gas 3 and grease and base line a small 18 x 28 x 4 cm (7 x 11 x 1½in) roasting tin with non-stick baking paper.
  2. Put the margarine, caster sugar, flour, eggs, orange and lemon zest and milk into a bowl and beat with a wooden spoon or electric mixer until smooth. Stir in the fruit.
  3. Spoon the mixture into the prepared tin, level the surface and sprinkle with the demerara sugar. Cook for 30 minutes until well risen and golden. The top of the cake will spring back when pressed with fingertips if it is ready.
  4. To serve now: Leave the cake to cool in the tin. When it is cold take it out, peel off the paper and cut it into slices and arrange on a serving plate. The slices will keep in an airtight container for a few days.
  5. To freeze: Carefully place the slices to be frozen in rigid plastic containers in a single layer or between sheets of greaseproof paper. Cover, seal and label. Use within 4 months.
  6. To serve from the freezer: Thaw as many slices as required at room temperature on a wire rack for about 2 hours or until thoroughly defrosted.

Cook’s tips. Choose any combination of dried fruit you like. Use a standard mix, or try something more exotic, such as chopped mango and pineapple.

Recipe from the new Just For One Or Two cookbook

 

Win a Year of Designer Flowers at Debenhams

 

Win a Year of Designer Flowers at Debenhams

To celebrate the launch of Dairy Diary 2016 we are offering you the chance to win a year’s supply of bouquets, one a month for twelve months from the Designer Flowers range at Debenhams Flowers.

Fill your home with fantastic flowers or
share the joy with family and friends
(you can select a recipient for each month).
The choice is yours!

The bouquets are kindly donated by Debenhams who are also offering an exclusive £5 voucher* for everyone who enters the competition.

Take a look at Designer Flowers at Debenhams.

Enter

 

 

 

 

 

#baking #competition #Debenhams

Recipe of the Week: Chocolate, Ginger and Cardamom Tea Bread

Chocolate, Ginger and Cardamom Tea Bread

Chocolate, Ginger and Cardamom Tea Bread

Ingredients

  • Ground cardamom 2 tsp
  • Crystallised stem ginger 250g (9oz)
  • Raisins 110g (4oz)
  • Light muscovado sugar 75g (3oz)
  • Orange 1, zest only
  • Strong Assam tea 200ml (7fl oz)
  • Egg 1, beaten
  • Self-raising flour 200g (7oz)
  • 70% dark chocolate 110g (4oz), chopped into generous chunks

Instructions

  1. Add the cardamom, ginger, raisins, sugar and zest to a large bowl and pour in the hot Assam tea. Cover the bowl with a cloth and leave overnight to soak
  2. When ready to start baking, preheat the oven to 160°C/gas mark 3. Line a loaf tin with baking parchment and set aside
  3. Add the egg to the mix, stir to combine then gradually mix in the flour until smooth and incorporated. Stir in the chocolate chunks then pour the mixture into the lined loaf tin. Bake in the oven for an hour and a half, until a metal skewer inserted into the cake comes out clean
  4. Remove from the oven and leave the cake to cool in the tin. When cool, carefully remove from the tin and wrap in parchment paper, followed by a clean tea towel. Leave the bundle for 24 hours before unwrapping and eating – this will allow the cake to develop a deeper, more rounded flavour.

 

#baking

Gorgeous Bake Club and the most delicious cake ever!

Chocolate, Ginger and Cardamom Tea Bread

My friends and colleagues at Baked & Delicious have recently launched the most fabulous online community called Bake Club.

This stunning site is packed full of the most beautiful recipes and fascinating foodie blogs and vlogs.

While I was having a nose the other day I got very excited about this recipe I stumbled across.

I LOVE tea bread and chocolate,
and ginger – in fact this must be
my perfect cake, so I had to give it a try.

The original recipe actually used ground cardamom but I couldn’t find it so I replaced it with allspice and it was still delicious. Every single member of the family loved it.

 

Chocolate, Ginger and Cardamom Tea Bread

Ingredients

  • Chocolate-&-Ginger-Tea-Bread-AGround cardamom 2 tsp
  • Crystallised stem ginger 250g (9oz)
  • Raisins 110g (4oz)
  • Light muscovado sugar 75g (3oz)
  • Orange 1, zest only
  • Strong Assam tea 200ml (7fl oz)
  • Egg 1, beaten
  • Self-raising flour 200g (7oz)
  • 70% dark chocolate 110g (4oz), chopped into generous chunks

Instructions

  1. Chocolate-&-Ginger-Tea-Bread-BAdd the cardamom, ginger, raisins, sugar and zest to a large bowl and pour in the hot Assam tea. Cover the bowl with a cloth and leave overnight to soak
  2. When ready to start baking, preheat the oven to 160°C/gas mark 3. Line a loaf tin with baking parchment and set aside
  3. Add the egg to the mix, stir to combine then gradually mix in the flour until smooth and incorporated. Stir in the chocolate chunks then pour the mixture into the lined loaf tin. Bake in the oven for an hour and a half, until a metal skewer inserted into the cake comes out clean
  4. Remove from the oven and leave the cake to cool in the tin. When cool, carefully remove from the tin and wrap in parchment paper, followed by a clean tea towel. Leave the bundle for 24 hours before unwrapping and eating – this will allow the cake to develop a deeper, more rounded flavour.

Recipe by Paul A Young for Great British Chefs

 

Bake ClubTake a look at Bake Club for yourself

Bake Club has some absolutely gorgeous recipes.

http://www.baked-and-delicious.com

 

 

 

 

 

#BakeClub #Baked&Delicious #baking

Eat Out, In

Eat Out, In with Just For One Or Two cookbook

Create restaurant-quality food at home with little effort

Stuck for a babysitter again? Create a fabulous date night at home where you can ‘eat out, in’. For a more rewarding and less costly night ‘out’ make restaurant-quality food at home with a just few choice ingredients and little effort.

With inspirational recipes, handy QR code shopping lists and easy-to-follow instructions cooking great food for two needn’t be arduous. In fact, quite the opposite, it can be a real pleasure.

You can rustle up Pan-Fried Sea Bass & Scallops in just 15 minutes, or for meat-lovers cook colourful Lamb with Pesto & Ratatouille or flavourful Stir-Fried Pork.

To finish bake creamy Apricots in Buttermilk Custard or imagine you’re dining in a Parisian café with Crêpes and Brandy Marmalade Sauce

These recipes have been specifically
written for two so there’s no need to
worry about wasted ingredients and
conundrums, such as how to halve an egg!

Continue reading →

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