Chocolate & Pistachio Biscotti

This month Chele from Chocolate Teapot has chosen something 'green' for the We Should Cocoa Challenge.  I'm not a big fan of making food a deliberate colour, especially a shade as bright as green, so that ruled that option out.  I considered making something chocolately while wearing my birkenstocks but closer inspection of the rules showed that we weren't talking eco credentials for this challenge.  So after a little deliberation I decided to make something containing pistachio nuts - the greenest ingredient that came to mind.  After some Google research I came across this recipe for Chocolate and Pistachio Biscotti from the Martha Stewart website.  


I've never made biscotti before but was surprised firstly how quick they were to make and secondly how nicely they turned out.  Mr CB maintains that they had a strange aftertaste but I really wasn't getting it. I then made a friend try one and she said they just tasted of chocolate and pistachio. They are still quite soft in the middle for biscotti but this is apparently how this version should be - not as dry as the true traditional Italian ones. I didn't have quite as many pistachios as the recipe stated hence why they could be slightly greener.  The original recipe can be found here.

Mediterranean Style Tart

This tart is based on one I saw in a copy of Jamie magazine last summer. The flavour combinations are delicious - the thick tomatoey sauce against the salty feta and anchovies.  I know a lot of people have a marmite reaction to anchovies - I'm definitely in the love category to the point that I ask for extra ones on my pizza. If you don't share the anchovy love then you could easily not include them and substitute for something else.  I think the original recipe used a shortcrust pastry but I used my usual spelt pizza dough pastry whose recipe can be found here.  I love this pastry as it doesn't contain any butter and you don't need to blind bake it.  The tart is lovely served warm with a nice green salad. 


The Recipe


olive oil
1 red onion, sliced
2 cloves of garlic, sliced
1 tin plum tomatoes
a sprinkle of thyme (preferably fresh but I had to use dried)
1 tbspn tomato puree
around half a block of feta
around 100g kalamata olives, stoned
tin of anchovy fillets


1.  Preheat the oven to 200c.  Make the spelt pastry and line a round or rectangular loose bottomed flan tin with it.  
2.  Fry the onion and garlic in some olive oil until softened.  Add the tomatoes, thyme and puree and season with pepper.  Don't add salt unless you really want to as the anchovies and feta are very salty.  Simmer for around 20-30 mins until the sauce has reduced down. Leave to cool slightly.
3. Place the tomato sauce over the base of the pastry. Crumble the feta over the tomatoes and then scatter over the olives. Finally place the anchovies over them.  Finally drizzle with olive oil before baking for around 30 minutes.

Orange Drizzle Cake

I tend to send anything I bake at the weekend off to Mr CB's workplace on a Monday morning.  I would like to say this is because I'm a generous soul but it's mainly to stop me scoffing lots of cake come Monday night. They are also a great bunch at giving honest feedback and now it seems requests!  While having a drink with them all on Friday night it was requested that I make an orange, as opposed to lemon, drizzle cake.  That is fine with me as I quite like being given ideas for things to make.  I have used a recipe I found in BBC Good Food magazine for a 'Lighter lemon drizzle cake' but substituted orange for its more bitter sister.  This cake came under the healthy recipes section as it uses rapeseed oil instead of butter.  It is a lovely light cake and the orange flavour has come through nicely.


The Recipe


75ml rapeseed oil
175g self raising flour
1 1/2 tspn baking powder
50g ground almonds
50g polenta
zest of 2 oranges
140g caster sugar
2 eggs
225g natural yoghurt


For the orange syrup
85g caster sugar
juice of 2 oranges


1. Preheat the oven to 180c/gas mark 4. Grease a 20cm springform tin and line the base.
2. Put the flour, baking powder, almonds, polenta, zest and sugar in a large bowl. Mix together and make a well in the centre.
3. In a separate bowl whisk together the eggs and natural yoghurt and add to the well in the dry ingredients. Add the rapeseed oil and mix together lightly until just combined.  
4. Pour the mixture into the cake tin and bake for around 40 minutes until an inserted skewer comes out clean. Remove from oven and after the cake has cooled a little allow to cool on a wire rack. 
5. While the cake is baking make the syrup by putting the sugar and orange juice in a small saucepan with a little water. Heat  until the sugar is dissolved and then bring to the boil to thicken up the syrup.
6. Before the cake fully cools make several holes in it with a skewer and pour over the orange syrup.

Chocolate Pudding Cake with Raspberries

For the one year anniversary of Belleau Kitchen's brilliant Random Recipes Challenge, Dom asked us to think back and return to the first book from which we chose a random recipe.  The first time I entered this challenge I made scones from Eat Drink Live by Fran Warde. On going back to it I had to 'randomly' hunt around a little for a baking recipe amongst the salads and other savoury options and finally came to this one for Chocolate Pudding Cake with Raspberries.  It's one of those recipes that's tucked away a little in the bottom left hand corner of the page near the crease, with no photograph - the poor relation to the other recipes on the page with their artfully styled pictures.  But I randomly made this one and what can I say but thank you Dom! Without this challenge this little beauty would probably have never seen the light of day and that would have been such a shame as it is absolutely bloody delicious.


The Recipe


250g dark chocolate (70% cocoa)
200g butter
1 tspn instant coffee, dissolved in 1 tbspn hot water
5 eggs
100g caster sugar
75g plain flour
150g raspberries (I used less than this)


1. Grease and line a 20cm springform tin. Preheat oven to 170c/gas mark 3.
2. Put the chocolate, butter and instant coffee in a small saucepan and heat gently until melted, smooth and glossy.  Set aside.
3. Beat the eggs and sugar until pale and fluffy.  Then add the flour and chocolate mixture and combine lightly.
4. Pour the batter into the tin. Stud the top with the raspberries and bake for around 40 mins or until the cake feels firm and is starting to shrink from the sides.


Lovely eaten warm or cold!

Rob Ryan Inspired but Amended Valentine's Cake

This is my rather belated Valentine's Cake for Mr CB.  I love my silicon heart shaped cake mould but I hardly ever use it so this was a good excuse. I made a chocolate cake using my Mum's tried and tested recipe with a simple vanilla buttercream frosting. The icing was meant to be inspired by the whimsical Rob Ryan.  I just LOVE his designs and am saving up for one of his screen prints.  I think each of his pictures is like looking at a modern day fairytale - the sentiments are just so beautiful.  So I did a sketch in the spirit of his artwork but I soon realised that Silver Spoon's Designer Red Icing Tube was just not going to cut the mustard. The tube comes with 3 different nozzles and they just weren't fine enough. A bad workman can't always blame his tools either -  my icing skills are not very good by any means.  So the icing was amended and it hopefully doesn't look too bad.   I'm going to invest in some good icing equipment and practice, practice practice.  I will then do a cake one day which is a homage to Rob Ryan!


This is also my entry for this month's Tea Time Treats Challenge hosted as ever by the lovely Kate from What Kate Baked and Karen from Lavender and Lovage. The theme this month is of course 'Romance'. 


The Recipe


Apologies but this is in ounces which is how I always do my basic sponge mix.


6oz butter
6oz sugar
3 eggs
5oz self raising flour
1oz cocoa powder


For the frosting see here.


1. Preheat the oven to 180c.  Grease your cake tin.
2. Cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs then add the flour and cocoa.
3. Bake for around 20 minutes or until an inserted skewer comes out clean.

Apple Muffins

My sister-in-law recently bought me, for my birthday, a tin of 'Grandma's Recipe Cards'.  The Grandma in question must be a great cook as there is everything there from roasted leg of lamb to tray bake recipes.  These apple muffins are the first recipe I've tried making myself.  The only change I made to the recipe was to substitute spelt flour for the plain on the original and using cinnamon instead of mixed spice.  They are very tasty and I like the fact the apple is still in chunks. The topping is quite sweet so if I made them again I would probably leave it off and finish with mixed seeds only making them perfect for breakfast.


The Recipe


30g butter
30g demerara sugar
30g ground almonds
60g  sunflower seeds
225g spelt flour
2 tspn baking powder
75g brown sugar
1 tsp mixed spice 
2 apples, cored and cubed
1 egg
150ml soured cream
50g butter melted


1.  Preheat the oven to 190c/gas mark 5.  Line a 12 hole muffin tin with paper cases.  
2. Rub the butter into the flour, sugar and almonds until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs.  Stir in the sunflower seeds. Leave to one side as this is for the topping.
3.  Sift the flour and baking powder together in a large bowl.  Stir in the sugar, mixed spice and apple.
4.  In another bowl mix together the wet ingredients then mix them into the bowl containing the flour. Stir together - the mixture will be quite thick and lumpy.
5.  Divide between the paper cases. Sprinkle the topping over each muffin. Bake for around 20 minutes, until an inserted skewer comes out clean.

Honey-roast Parsnip, Carrot & Shallot Tart

This tart is just perfect for a cold winter's day like the one most of the country is currently experiencing. I'm spending the best part of the day tucked up on the sofa watching The Killing 2 and eating comfort food. I really like the fact this tart, from one of my favourite books, the Popina Book of Baking, is wholesome and pretty healthy.  The case is made with spelt flour and I used 0% Total Greek Yoghurt in the filling but it still completely hits the spot. If you haven't got this book I really recommend you do - every recipe is a winner.


The recipe for the spelt flour can be found here. 


I basically made the tart filling by roasting some carrots, parsnips and shallots with a little honey and olive oil.  Once they were roasted I stirred in a good handful of grated strong cheddar.  I lined a tart tin with the spelt pastry dough and mixed in another handful of grated cheddar to a small pot of greek yoghurt. I spread this mixture over the base before topping with the roasted vegetables. It was then baked for about 30 minutes at 200c. Quick, easy and delicious!