Paris

Last weekend I was lucky enough to be taken away for the weekend to celebrate my mum’s 50^th birthday. I first went to Paris when I was 15 and it is difficult for me not to want to go back to a city ridden with large collections of art and beautiful food.

Having visited the main tourists attractions before it was really enjoyable to just wander round the city and peer into shop windows and take it all in. Even watching people park their cars was entertainment in itself. Cars were parked in any space they could find and it was not uncommon to see someone casually crash into another car and then walk away as if it was the most normal thing.

The thing I was most excited for was the food and wine. In my flat we seem to over indulge every weekend but this did not stop me delicately stuffing my face with macarons and croissants. The thing I like about French food is the attention to flavour. Every sauce is made up of the most amazing produce and reduced to something rich and delicious. The pastries are so carefully constructed and displayed in the large glass cases that make them look even more precious. On the Saturday evening we went to a small French bistro that served the best soup I have ever tasted.

I can honestly say that despite the extensiveness of my consumption of food that weekend, I did not go back to university feeling guilty at all! I think it is almost rude to go to Paris and not over indulge. No doubt I will maintain the same mentality every time I go to Paris, ignoring my ever-growing waistline and continuing to taste test every macaron in Paris.

Wine and Cake Night

Despite being 22 years old i continue to act like a 40 year old. An example of this is discouraging my friends to go out and instead asking them to bake and join me for a civilized evening of wine and cake. Although we are exactly a month away from christmas, i littered our flat with christmas decorations and prepared for a ridiculously christmassy themed evening.

 My flat mates truly out did themselves! Cate made a beautiful quiche Lorraine, Katie made hazelnut crescent biscuits from a family recipe, Dev made goats cheesed and caramelised onion muffins and Josh surprised everyone and produced lovely little cupcakes Mary Berry would be proud of!

I decided to serve up my cranberry, orange and cherry cake ( recipe on my blog), but this time added apples to the mixture and a little christmas glitter which seemed to go down well!

After lots of mulled wine and cider everyone was less hesitant to take part in my christmas quiz full off useless questions such as : "What is the height of the tallest christmas tree recorded to date?" The amount of effort everyone put into the evening was great, Ed produced the center piece of our table in the form of a carefully decorated ginger bread house. 

 Overall it was a fantastic evening and it was nice to do something different. I spent all of the next day munching on our left overs, i ate 4 lemon sherbert biscuits made by my friend charlotte. I am already planning the Mad Hatter's Tea party for next term, and in preparation, a few more visits to the gym!

'Pick me up' Baked Chocolate Cheesecake

After a night on the town i was encouraged to bake this cheesecake as my flat mates and i were in serious need of a pick-me-up. I can seriously recommend this alongside watching a disney film in your pyjamas!

For the base:

·       3 packets of Bourbon biscuits

·       50g butter

·       4 chocolate digestive biscuits

For the filling:

·       600g full fat cream cheese

·       3 tbsp plain flour

·       100g demerara sugar

·       100g light brown sugar

·       2 eggs and an extra yolk

·       200g dark chocolate (70% cocoa or more)

·       100g milk chocolate

·       300ml double cream

·       5 tbsp of Kahlúa

1.      To make your base for your cheesecake put all of your biscuits into a sandwich bag, seal and use a rolling pin to crush the biscuits until they resemble fine crumbs and add to a mixing bowl. Melt your butter and combine to your biscuit mixture until all the butter has been mixed in

2.     Add to your cake tin ( once again i have used my 22cm tin) and press the mixture into the bottom of your tin creating an even layer ready for your cheesecake mixture. Place in a preheated oven of 180° 5 minutes.

3.      To make your cheese cake melt your dark and milk chocolate and then add to it your double cream and allow to cool. In another bowl combine your cream cheese, sugar, eggs and mix to a smooth consistency.

4.     Finally mix in your melted chocolate to your cream cheese mixture and lastly the flour and Kahlúa. Pour into your cake tin, over your readily prepared base and smooth the top with a spatula to level topping to your cheesecake.

5.      Cook in the oven at 180° 50 minutes. Once removed from the oven allow to cool for at least half an hour before serving.

Plum and Pistachio Bakewell Tarts

This creates 6 delicious medium sized tarts and is the quantities are enough for one large tart. 

For the Pistachio pastry:

·       200g plain flour

·       pinch of salt

·       100g unsalted butter

·       50g finely chopped pistachios

·       2-3 tbsp of water

For the filling:

·       125g butter

·       125g Golden caster sugar

·       1 egg ,lightly beaten

·       125g semolina

·       ½ tsp of almond extract

·       ½ tsp vanilla paste

·       plum jam

For your topping:

·       3 small plums ( 6 halves)

·       200g golden caster sugar

·       ½ tsp of vanilla paste

·       ½ tsp of cinnamon

·       20g roughly chopped pistachios

1.      To make your pastry combine your ground pistachios and plain flour and to it add your butter and work into the flour using a knife. Mix until it is a crumble like consistency. Keep adding your water until the dough is pliable.

2.     Working the pastry with your hands as little as possible, make it into a ball and cover in cling film and chill in a fridge for 30 minutes.

3.      In the meantime, poach your plums in a pan half full of water with your sugar, vanilla paste and cinnamon on a high heat for 15 minutes. Then place on kitchen roll to remove excess liquid and put to one side.

4.     Once chilled roll pastry onto a lightly floured surface and roll to about ½ cm thick. Grease your tart tins with butter and cut your pastry and line the tins, press pastry into the lines of the tin.

5.      Spoon a thin layer of your plum jam into your tart. You don’t have to use plum jam, I have used my mum’s homemade gooseberry and elderflower jam which is equally delicious!

6.     For your almond filling cream together butter and sugar then add semolina, egg, vanilla paste and almond extract. Pour your mixture into your pastry cases 1/2cm from the top.

7.      Finally place your poached plum half into the center of the tart and put into a preheated oven at 170° for 40 minutes.  Sprinkle over the remaining chopped pistachios to decorate and enjoy!

Orange, Cherry and Cranberry Crumble Cake

This is a great alternative to a Christmas pudding and tastes great warmed with Crème Fraiche!

For my cake i have used a 22cm cake tin which easily cuts into 14 generous slices!

For the Sponge:

·       5 medium eggs

·       300g Light brown sugar

·       330g Stork butter

·       350g self raising flour

·       60g dried cranberries

·       Zest of 3 large oranges

·       120g of red currants

For the crumble:

·       100g unsalted butter

·       100g dark brown sugar

·       2 tsp cinnamon

·       150g plain flour

·       100g toasted and finely chopped hazelnuts

·       1 Pot of cherry compote or delicious cherry jam

1.      Start by making the crumble by melting the unsalted butter and add it to; the dark brown sugar, cinnamon, plain flour and hazelnuts. Mix this with your fingers until crumble consistency, put this aside for later.

2.     Take the red currants and cook on a low heat with 2tbsp of brown sugar for 10 minutes or until softened and leave to cool.

3.      For the sponge mixture cream together the stork and light brown sugar then slowly add 3 tbsp of self raising and 1 egg and gently mix into the butter and sugar. Repeat this process until all the eggs and flour has been used.

4.     Add to this mixture the dried cranberries, 60g of your red currants and the orange zest to your sponge mixture

5.      Grease and line your tin with baking parchment and assemble a layer in the bottom of your tin using 1/3 of your crumble mixture. Then add half of your sponge mixture and another layer of crumble on top of the sponge mixture using another third of your crumble mix. Finally add the rest of your sponge mixture and leave to cook in a preheated oven at 165° for 30 minutes.

6.     After 30 minutes add a layer of the cherry compote, then the remaining crumble mix and return it to the oven for a further 55 minutes. If your crumble topping looks like it is catching cover your tin with a sheet of tin foil.

7.     Once removed from the oven leave to cool and then decorate with remaining red currants.