Tag: sweet

Vanilla biscuits

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Delicate and vanilla-scented, these plain biscuits are the ideal vehicle for water icing and a massive pile of sprinkles – the hundreds and the thousands AND those little jelly diamonds.

  • 100g unsalted butter, at room temperature
  • 100g caster sugar
  • 1 egg, beaten
  • ½ tsp vanilla extract
  • 275g plain flour
  • ½ tsp baking powder
  • Pinch of salt
  1. Pre-heat oven to 170C fan (190C) and line a baking tray with baking paper (or one of those silicone mats. I’ve got one and it’s a weird texture but it works brilliantly)
  2. In a big bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until well-combined, light and fluffy
  3. Beat in the egg and vanilla a little at a time until well combined
  4. Add the flour, baking powder and salt. Stir in and then bring together with your hands to form a dough
  5. Lightly flour the work surface and roll the dough out to around 1cm thick
  6. Cut out circles, stars, hearts, people, fish, flowers and hedgehogs
  7. Place your shapes carefully onto the baking tray with a bit of space around them and bake for 8-10 mins until pale golden-brown
  8. Leave on the tray for 2 mins, then remove to cool on a wire rack
  9. Ice when completely cool

For the icing, put some icing sugar in a little cup, add a couple of drops of food colouring and much less water than you think you’ll need. Stir until smooth and then spoon, spread, drizzle and drip all over the biscuits. Add sprinkles while the icing is wet and it’ll set firm in a couple of hours.

Alternatively, if you don’t want to add icing – maybe because they’re going in a lunchbox and you want to reduce the sugar levels in sympathy with the teacher – but still want them to be fun, you could decorate with edible icing pens. I’ve never come across a child who doesn’t love the novelty of drawing on biscuits.

The uncooked dough freezes really well so, if you want to save some for later, wrap it well and pop it in the freezer.

Pasticcini di mandorle

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Gorgeous little Italian almond cookies. Pale and interesting, they are a delight with a cup of coffee or rich hot chocolate. These also happen to be a perfect gluten free treat if you have someone in your life who can’t eat wheat. Makes 16-20.

  • 350g ground almonds
  • 170g icing sugar (up to 200g for large eggs)
  • Zest of 1 lemon (or 7 drops orange oil)
  • 2 eggs, beaten
  1. Preheat the oven to 160C fan (180C) and line a baking tray
  2. In a large bowl, mix together all the ingredients to form a soft, slightly sticky dough.
  3. Pinch a walnut-sized ball of dough with your fingertips. Deftly and quickly roll it between your palms
  4. Repeat for the rest of the mix, placing the balls on the baking tray
  5. Using your thumb, make a little dent in the centre of each one
  6. The top will crack beautifully as they bake. For cookies with a soft marzipan texture, bake for just 11-12 mins. For a firmer, chewier texture, cook for 14-15 mins. Transfer to a wire rack to cool.

Peanut butter cookies

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A harmonious blend of sweet and salty deliciousness in cookie form. Textures are gorgeous too – crunchy on the outside, soft and tender on the inside. I challenge you to eat just one.

  • 150g crunchy peanut butter
  • 110g salted butter, at room temperature
  • 100g granulated sugar
  • 100g light brown soft sugar
  • 1 egg
  • 180g plain flour, plus extra for dusting
  • ½ tsp baking powder
  • ½ tsp bicarbonate of soda
  • ¼ tsp salt 
  1. Preheat the oven to 160C fan (180C) and line a baking tray
  2. Whisk together peanut butter, butter, sugars and egg until well combined
  3. Add the flour, baking powder, bicarb and salt. Stir in with a spoon, forming a stiff dough
  4. With your hands, roll the dough into 3cm balls
  5. Place on baking tray and use the back of a fork to mark and flatten each ball slightly. 
  6. Bake in 2 batches for 10-12 mins until the edges begin to turn golden. Cool on wire rack.

Enid’s bublanina

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A family heirloom recipe for traditional apricot or plum kuchen (cake). I remember tasting this as a child, sitting on the scratchy horsehair sofa in my Granny’s living room and thinking it was the most delicious thing I’d ever eaten. The tart fruit contrasts beautifully with the sweet, light, lemon-scented sponge.

  • 170g unsalted butter at room temperature
  • 170g caster sugar
  • 170g flour
  • 3 eggs
  • Zest and juice of 1 lemon
  • A little milk (if needed)
  • Apricots or plums, pitted and cut in half
  • Granulated sugar to sprinkle on top
  1. Pre-heat the oven to 160C fan (180C). Grease and flour a 9″ square cake tin (although there’s no reason this cake can’t be round, for some reason it was always square in my Granny’s house)
  2. Separate the eggs
  3. Beat the yolks and sugar until pale yellow and thick
  4. Add butter and lemon zest and beat again
  5. Add flour and lemon juice a spoonful at a time, alternately between them (using a little milk if the consistency is too thick – it should be thick, dropping off only spoon reluctantly
  6. In a separate bowl, whisk the egg whites into stiff peaks
  7. Fold the egg whites into the batter
  8. Spoon into the cake tin and place halved fruit, cut side upwards on top of batter
  9. Sprinkle with a little granulated sugar and bake for about 35 mins
  10. Cool thoroughly before cutting into squares to serve

Carrot banana muffins

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Breakfast cake! With not only bananas but carrots too – so healthy! – and spices which give it hints of gingerbread. Just like if a carrot cake and banana bread had a beautiful fluffy child. Makes 9.

  • 1 egg
  • 50g soft light brown sugar
  • 80g plain flour
  • 50g ground almonds
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • Pinch of salt
  • ¼ tsp bicarbonate of soda
  • ½ tsp ground cinnamon
  • ½ tsp mixed spice
  • Couple of gratings (¼ tsp) nutmeg
  • ¼ tsp ground ginger
  • 50ml sunflower oil
  • 1 ripe banana, mashed
  • 60g carrot, peeled and grated
  • Handful of sultanas
  • Handful of sunflower seeds and flax seeds
  1. Pre-heat the oven to 170C fan (190C) and line muffin cases
  2. Whisk together the sugar and egg until well combined and thickened.
  3. Add the flour, ground almonds, baking powder, salt, bicarb, cinnamon, mixed spice and nutmeg
  4. Mix together thoroughly, then add the oil, bananas, grated carrot, sultanas and seeds
  5. Give it a thorough mix then spoon shaggy mounds of the happy mixture into the muffin cases
  6. Bake for 35 mins until golden and then cool on a wire rack
  7. Store in an air tight container at room temperature

These freeze really well if you can’t get through all of them before they go stale

Babovka

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Aka Kugelhopf. This cake is plain, unfussy and delicate, marbled with cocoa and lemon, another morsel of Czech family history. Ideally, use a bundt tin to create the traditional ring shape.

  • 170g butter at room temperature
  • 4 eggs, separated
  • 300g caster sugar
  • 300g plain flour
  • 4 tsp baking powder
  • 150ml milk
  • 2 tbsp cocoa powder
  • Zest of 1 lemon
  1. Grease and flour a babovka/bundt tin
  2. Pre-heat the oven to 170C fan (190C)
  3. Whisk butter till very light
  4. Add the egg yolks, sugar and lemon zest, continuing to beat well
  5. Mix the flour and baking powder together
  6. Stir the milk and flour into the butter/egg mixture a couple of tbsp at a time, alternating between them. Mix gently but thoroughly until well combined
  7. In a separate bowl, whisk the egg whites until very stiff
  8. Fold into the batter with a metal spoon until well mixed
  9. Pour about two thirds of the mixture into the prepared cake tin
  10. Add the sieved cocoa powder and a little milk to the remaining mixture
  11. Pour evenly on top of the plain mixture
  12. Draw a clean tablespoon through the centre of the mixture (going around twice)
  13. Bake in the centre of the oven for 15 mins
  14. Reduce to 160C fan (180C) for a further 30-40 mins or until firm and leaving the sides of the tin
  15. When ready remove from oven and leave in tin for 5 mins before removing to cool on a rack
  16. Once cool, dust with icing sugar and serve with fresh raspberries

Apricot almond blondies

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Not sure if this is a cake, a traybake? Closest thing is a brownie, but this has not a hint of chocolate. These are squidgy and fudgy, fruity and almondy, just a tiny bit boozy with a cracked meringue top. Makes 12.

  • 100ml amaretto
  • 150g dried apricots
  • 75g unsalted butter
  • 3 eggs
  • 150g soft light brown sugar
  • 150g caster sugar
  • ½ tsp vanilla extract
  • 100g plain flour
  • 100g ground almonds
  • ½ tsp baking powder
  • Pinch of salt
  • 35g flaked almonds
  1. Roughly chop the apricots and put into a small bowl. Pour the amaretto and leave for 15 mins
  2. Melt the butter and leave to cool
  3. Preheat the oven to 160C fan (180C)
  4. Line a small square or rectangular roasting tin or ceramic oven dish
  5. Put both sugars and the eggs into a big bowl and beat until thick and smooth.
  6. Mix in the flour, ground almonds, baking powder, melted butter, vanilla and salt
  7. Add the drained apricots and half of the amaretto (save the rest to mix with prosecco later, or just drink on its own) and stir through
  8. Pour the mixture into the prepped roasting tin and sprinkle the top with flaked almonds
  9. Bake for 35-40 mins until the top is golden brown and a skewer comes out with just a few crumbs stuck to it.
  10. Cool in the tin then cut into squares. Tastes even better the next day.

Dried apple rings

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I like making these on a drizzly day. They make the house smell of cosy, appley happiness. Excellent for using up a glut of apples, whether it’s because you have a prolific tree or you just pressed the wrong button on your online grocery shopping

  • Apples (probably no more than 4 unless you have a big oven…)
  1. Peel and core the apples. As much as I don’t advocate for buying unecessary gadgets, this is MUCH easier if you have an apple corer
  2. Slice the apples thinly into rounds about 3-5mm thick
  3. Arrange the apple slices on a baking tray (probably a number of baking trays) in a single layer
  4. Heat the oven to 50C fan (60-70C)
  5. Bake for around 6 hours, turning the slices over every hour or so
  6. They’re done when they’re still bendy but leathery in texture without any spongy, damp bits. Smaller, thinner slices will be done first, so you can take them out as they are done
  7. Cool completely before sticking them smugly in a jar on a prominent shelf because they look so pretty and you just made them yourself

These will last for ages as long as no-one in your house sneakily scoffs them when you’re not looking. An excellent snack on their own or an excellent addition to apple cinnamon muffins.

Nusstorte

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Nut cake. Possibly Swiss in origin? Who knows. I’ve never seen a recipe for this version of it anywhere but my grandmother’s handwritten notes and my typed-up-and-converted-to-metric copy. This is another family tradition that goes back generations. Always my mum’s birthday cake. Incredibly light, moist, and flavourful.

  • 6 eggs
  • 200g caster sugar
  • 200g ground hazelnuts (if poss, grind them yourself from whole – it gives a better texture and moisture)
  • 3 tbsp dry, white breadcrumbs (you can use plain flour instead, or rice flour if you want to keep it gluten free)
  • 1 tsp almond essence
  • Apricot jam
  1. Pre-heat oven to 160C fan (180C). Grease and line 2 round baking tins (or a single springform tin)
  2. Separate the eggs and whisk the whites into stiff peaks
  3. In separate bowl, beat together the sugar, yolks and almond essence until mixture turns pale yellow
  4. Alternating, fold in the breadcrumbs, egg whites and hazelnuts a spoonful at a time
  5. Pour into the tins and bake for about 40 mins. (If making as a single cake, not 2 layers, bake for an hour)
  6. Once baked, risen and golden on top, remove carefully from tin and leave facedown to cool on a rack
  7. Once cool, warm the apricot jam slightly to loosen it and use to sandwich the layers together
  8. Ice with the chocolate glaze below and decorate with toasted almond slivers arranged in flower patterns

Serve with schlagsahne (whipped cream) and a strong coffee

Chocolate glaze

The only chocolate icing recipe you’ll ever need.

  • 3 tbsp sugar
  • 3 tbsp milk
  • 30g butter
  • 80g dark chocolate
  • 3 drops veg oil
  1. Melt together and dissolve all ingredients until smooth (bain marie or careful microwaving equally legit)
  2. Remove from the heat, stir well and add the oil
  3. Cool slightly and spread over the cake – this quantity will do the top and sides

Strawberry mousse

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A retro classic. Cloud-like wafts of pale pink, strawberry-flavoured fluff. Light, summery, the perfect end to a feast. Makes 6

  • 350g strawberries
  • 2 tsp icing sugar
  • 4 egg whites
  • 60g caster sugar
  • 150ml double cream
  1. Puree the strawberries and mix with the icing sugar, then sieve to remove the pips
  2. In a clean bowl, whisk the egg whites to soft peaks and then add the caster sugar a tsp at a time
  3. Continue whisking until you have stiff, glossy peaks
  4. In another bowl, whisk the double cream to soft peaks
  5. Fold the cream gently into the egg whites, then fold in the strawberry puree
  6. Spoon the mousse into individual glasses and chill for at least 2 hours before serving

You can make it with any other soft fruit if you prefer. Recommend raspberries or apricots