Spotted Dick: a Traditional English Pudding (Wheat Free, Egg Free, with Dairy Free Option)

Since I made the Christmas pudding in a quarter of the time, I have had an itch for making steamed puddings. So, I've started off my series of experimentation with an English classic, though unfortunately named for nowadays audience, Spotted Dick.

Nobody does stodgy, heavy puddings like the English (well, Indian desserts are also fairly stodgy), and it's something that's kind of lacking in Irish cuisine. In fact, desserts aren't really a feature in Irish cuisine in general, except for the odd bread and butter putting, fruit scone, or "goody", which is a porridge made of white breadcrumbs, milk, sugar, and dried fruit (it's truly disgusting); we like dairy products big time, and most desserts here tend to be milky rather than bready or cakey.

Whereas across the Drink -- the land to which I owe half of my heritage -- desserts and puddings are a national pastime. Whether it's a dense and fruity Chelsea bun (which is a personal favourite of mine) or a steamed suet and syrup pudding, it's all about the stodge; filling every corner of the tummy.

My brother and I often talk about the stark contrast of the cakes section in Dunnes Stores (an Irish supermarket) and Tesco (an English supermarket that has stores in Ireland): the Tesco cakes and desserts section is far more comprehensive, including a whole section dedicated to steamed puddings, ready to eat custard, and evaporated milk.

Steamed puddings are the business, however, they're not truly understood by Irish people of my generation; maybe of the generation before us, but not folk my age. Golden syrup puddings are nice, but nothing is nicer than Spotted Dick.

Yes, you can giggle at the name, but essentially it's a like a plain sponge cake spotted with dried fruit, boiled for a few hours. The long cooking process gives it a beautiful caramelised golden crust, and a lovely dense moist centre. Traditionally, the dried fruit used is currants -- and sometimes citrus peel -- but here currants are expensive so I use chopped raisins.

It's really very simple to make: just flour, raising agent, suet, sugar, milk, and dried fruit. Now, because suet that you buy from the shop is neither vegetarian nor wheat-intolerance friendly, I use grated lard, or grated butter for an extra level of indulgence.

FREE FROM

☑ Soya (check for soya lecithin)
☑ Yeast
☑ Wheat
☑ Nuts
☑ Eggs

CONTAINS
☒ Gluten
☒ Refined sugar products
☒ Dairy

INGREDIMENTS

• 8 ounces (225 grammes) white spelt flour
• 2 teaspoons (10 millilitres) baking powder
• 6 fluid ounces (170 millilitres) milk
• 4 ounces (115 grammes) vegetable lard or block butter, very cold
• 2 ounces (55 grammes) caster sugar
• 3 ounces (85 grammes) raisins, chopped into small pieces

If using unsalted butter, add 2 pinches of salt.

METHOD

• Lightly grease a 2 pint (1 litre) pudding basin with a little butter.
• In a mixing bowl, sieve the flour, baking powder, and caster sugar together until blended. 
• Using a box grater, grate the lard or butter into the dry ingredients, dipping the grated side in the flour between grates. Using the fingertips, slightly break up the strands of lard or butter.
• Stir in the raisins, and then mix in the milk. Mix gently without beating to a thick batter.
• Pour into the pudding basin and smooth off the top with the back of a metal spoon or the tip of a rubber spatula.
• Cover the top of the basin with a sheet of aluminium foil, crumpled underneath the rim, or if your basin has a lid, use that. If you don't have aluminium foil, use a square of greaseproof paper with a pleat in the middle, and secure underneath the rim with some twine. Cook as instructed below.
• After cooling slightly on the rack as instructed, remove the cover and turn out onto a plate for serving.

To cook in a pressure cooker:

• Place the pudding in the cooker's steaming basket, or on an upturned side plate on the bottom of the pan. Fill the pan with boiled water to half way up the side of the pudding basin.
• Cover and lock, and bring to full pressure. If your cooker has pressure options, put it on high pressure.
• Once brought to pressure, reduce the heat to medium and cook for 45 to 55 minutes. After 45 minutes, vent to release the pressure and check the doneness of the pudding with a knife or a skewer: if there is any sticky under cooked mixture stuck to the skewer or knife, cover again and bring to pressure to cook for an additional 5 or 10 minutes.
• When cooked, vent to release the pressure, take the pudding out of the pan with oven mitts, and place on a wire rack to cool slightly.

To cook in a normal saucepan:

• Find a saucepan big enough to accommodate the pudding. Place the pudding in a steaming basket, or on an upturned side plate on the bottom of the pan. Fill the pan with boiled water to half way up the side of the pudding basin.
• Cover and bring to the boil. Reduce to a vigorous simmer, and cook the pudding for 2 to 2½ hours, checking for doneness after 2 hours.
• When cooked, turn off the heat and take the pudding out of the pan with oven mitts, and place on a wire rack to cool slightly.

This pudding is best enjoyed immediately after cooking with heated custard or pouring cream. It doesn't keep very well -- 2 days in the fridge at the most before it goes bendy -- so eat it quick!

Buttermilk Scones (Wheat Free)

There's nothing nicer than a lovely fluffy, freshly baked scone; it's one of life's simple little pleasures.

In North American countries, I believe these are more commonly known as biscuits and are eaten as part of a savoury meal, with stew or sausages and gravy. Here, they're served for breakfast, as a mid-morning snack, or an afternoon tea treat with butter and jam, and in the UK they can be eaten with clotted cream or honey.

Scones are supposed to be light and fluffy, but here in Ireland they tend to be solid and stodgy and sit in your stomach for hours. For years I've been experimenting with different recipes, but they've always been too dense and use a load of ingredients that aren't necessary.

What is necessary, however, is the combination of baking powder and baking soda. These two raising agents work together: the baking powder is a fast acting agent, that begins working as soon as they hit the oven's heat, and once it's finished working, the slow acting effect of the baking soda kicks in to continue the rising process. This is why they're super fluffsome!

Essentially, scones are baby soda breads with the addition of butter and a little sugar. They're lovely and fluffy, and best enjoyed with butter and jam. These are made using a handful of very simple ingredients: flour, raising agent, butter, buttermilk, and a hint of sugar. These are best enjoyed on the day they are baked.

FREE FROM

☑ Soya (check for soya lecithin)
☑ Yeast
☑ Wheat
☑ Nuts
☑ Eggs

CONTAINS
☒ Gluten
☒ Refined sugar products
☒ Dairy

INGREDIMENTS

For eight medium sized scones

• 12 ounces (340 grammes) white spelt flour
• 1 teaspoon (5 millilitres) baking powder
• ½ teaspoon (3 millilitres) bicarbonate of soda (baking soda)
• 8 to 10 fluid ounces (230 to 285 millilitres) buttermilk
• 2 ounces (55 grammes) block butter, cut into cubes
• 1 or 2 tablespoons (15 to 30 millilitres; 15 to 30 grammes) caster sugar

If using unsalted butter, add 2 pinches of salt.

METHOD

• Lightly grease a baking sheet with butter or sunflower oil. Preheat the oven to 220ºC (450ºF, Gas Mk.9).
• In a mixing bowl, sieve the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and sugar together until blended. Grate in the butter, then break it up a little with your fingertips; if you can still see pea-sized pieces of butter, that's enough breaking.
• Add the buttermilk bit by bit until you get a soft workable dough, mixing with a knife. Don't over handle it, or the finished scones will be tough.The dough might be a little uneven, with some bits dry and some bits sticky, but that's how it should be.
• Turn out onto a floured working surface, fold and flatten a few times to even out the consistency a bit. Flatten with your hand to a thickness of about an inch (2.5 centimetres). Using a 3 inch (7 centimetre) cutter or glass dipped in flour, cut out the scones. Do not twist the cutter: just go straight down and straight up. Twisting will make the scones turn out weird. I didn't make the rules here.
• Gently squish together the scraps and flatten out again to cut some more. You should get about eight or nine scones.
• Place the scones on the baking sheet so they're slightly touching. It helps as well to line them in a 3-2-3 pattern, as opposed to two lines of 4. This way, they help each other rise in the oven. Brush the tops with beaten egg or with melted butter.
• Cook them in the centre of the preheated oven for 15 to 20 minutes, or until golden brown and well risen.
• Break apart and cool on a wire rack for at least 10 minutes before eating. They're best straight from the oven, but they do keep well in an airtight box for up to a week.

THIS TIME IN 2015: Low Effort Tray Bake Sponge (Wheat and Dairy Free)

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American Style Chocolate Chip Muffins (Wheat Free)

It's good to be back in this kitchen.

Recently I've been adhering to clean eating principles in my every day diet. Essentially, the adage of clean eating is "Real food doesn't have ingredients, real food is ingredients"; it's overly simplified, but the concept is eating as much whole food as possible, with a few rules:

• Eat as many vegetables complex carbs as you can.
• Eat things with as few ingredients as possible: avoid overly processed food
• All meat must be lean: fish, white meat, lean beef/pork, vegetarian alternatives
• Avoid straight up milk and hard cheese: butter (in moderation), buttermilk, and soft cheeses are allowed.
• Fruit is allowed, but only in conjunction with protein: simple carbohydrate metabolises as complex carbohydrate when combined with protein (and protein doesn't just mean meat, it can be nuts or yoghurt).
• Fat and oil are allowed, but only in pure form: for example, olive oil, coconut oil, butter, etc.
• Refined sugar and artificial sweeteners are a no-no: natural alternatives like honey, maple syrup, coconut sugar, and agave syrup can be used instead.

Now, obviously, these are guidelines: it's impossible for someone with depression to make such radical changes overnight when getting up in the morning and washing your hair more than once a week seem like insurmountable struggles. So, I do my best and try not to give myself a hard time when I slip up. In my opinion, changing one's diet and using natural supplements is better than being sedated with pharmaceuticals.

So recently I've been doing simple things, like swapping white flour produce for wholemeal, making my own sauces, drinking more water, bringing lunch to work with me instead of buying things on the go, and other small changes. Lots of little changes over time turn into big changes.

So I took my cinnamon roll recipe and slightly altered it to make some scones and some muffins. They turned out quite nicely!

Because I had to make them at my mother's house -- on account of my own oven being banjaxed -- I made them in the evening. So, I asked my brother to take some photos of them the next day in daylight. This request was taken quite literally! Now, they look like photographs taken of 'wild chocolate muffins in their natural habitat'...

FREE FROM

☑ Soya (check for soya lecithin)
☑ Yeast
☑ Wheat
☑ Nuts

CONTAINS
☒ Gluten
☒ Refined sugar products
☒ Dairy
☒ Eggs

INGREDIMENTS

For eight medium sized scones

• 8 ounces (225 grammes) white spelt flour
• 1 teaspoon (5 millilitres) baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon (3 millitres) bicarbonate of soda (baking soda)
• 2 ounces (55 grammes) sunflower oil
• 6 fluid ounces (180 millilitres) buttermilk
• 2 medium eggs
• 4 ounces (115 grammes) caster sugar
• 3 or 4 ounces (85 to 115 grammes) chopped chocolate, or chocolate chips

If using unsalted butter, add 2 pinches of salt.

METHOD

• Line a 12 hole muffin tin with large paper cases. Preheat the oven to 180ºC (350ºF, Gas Mk.4).
• In a mixing bowl, sieve together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and sugar together until blended. Using a sieve will get rid of any lumps in the baking soda and baking powder. Add the chocolate and toss to coat the chips in flour.
• In a jug, mix together the oil, buttermilk, and eggs until fully blended. Make a well in the dry ingredients, and add in the liquid.
• Mix gently with a wooden spoon or rubber spatula until it's blended. Don't overmix or the muffins will be tough; if you see the odd patch of flour, it's grand.
• Divide the mixture between the 12 cases, filling about 3/4 full. Bake on the centre shelf of the preheated oven for 15 to 20 minutes.
• After baking, cool on a wire rack for at least 10 minutes before eating. They're best straight from the oven, but they do keep well in an airtight box for up to a week.

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THIS TIME IN 2014: No blog

THIS TIME IN 2013: Black Forest Gateau: a Retro Classic? (Wheat Free)

Depression Is a Terrible, Terrible Thing

Yes: I have been gone for two months. Glad you noticed!

These last two months have been an absolute struggle for me: every morning is a battle. I don't eat, and I don't sleep overly well, and when I eventually sleep I can't get enough of it. I've got to the point where I don't even wash my hair or take the slightest bit of pride in my appearance. The house has descended into chaos, and my oven is still broken.

My oven being broken was fine when I could nip over to my mother's house and use her oven, but then my family suffered a severe communication breakdown where nobody said anything nice to anyone else for a period of a few months, and now one of my siblings and I aren't even on speaking terms. This sibling lives in my mother's house, so now I have to time it so I can use the oven when they're not around.

This sibling also used to do shifts in work that I've had to inherit because he refuses to work with me, meaning I work a six day week, then have another separate role to do on Sunday, meaning I technically have a seven day week.

I had to go to the GP and tell him that I was so depressed I couldn't actually function as a human. There were points in the last two months that I considered ending my own life. Which, luckily I didn't: instead, I asked for a referral to the psychologist, and started doing video logs to improve my demeanour. It seems to be working so far.

In fact, my 25th birthday party was one of the things I did to try an remind myself that life is worth living. The day before the party, I genuinely considered buying a bottle of bleach to drink once everyone had gone home, so at least one of my last experiences of life was being surrounded by people who had traveled from far and wide to celebrate with me. I decided against it, though, fortunately.

It's not all doom and gloom, though: getting a diagnosis for depression has sort of started to get people talking about it, and having it professionally recognised means that I can actually justify it. I know it shouldn't be that way, but it is.

I have been advised by my health care specialists to do this whole eating clean thing, and to reduce my sugar intake remarkably. I've been surviving off chocolate and biscuits for weeks, and even though they have been keeping me alive, they've been wreaking havoc on my energy levels and overall health. This has provided me with the challenge I think I needed in my culinary life, because I had felt for some time that things in this blog had become very samey for me.

To be honest, for ages I resented doing this blog, because I felt like I was achieving absolutely nothing: I felt really bad about not being able to write about baking I wasn't doing because my oven and my brain were banjaxed. But the thing is I never started this blog to achieve anything, I just liked baking. So, I have been trying to learn how to put myself under less pressure to achieve anything, and just go back to enjoying baking for baking's sake.

So many things in my life are framed by this pressure and expectation of achievement. The blog used to be my way of escaping that, but then it became part of it. My previous companion kinda encouraged me to make a thing of the blog, and before long it had stopped being one of my escapes and had become part of the problem.

So, to hell with this scheduled blogging business -- no more pressuring myself to have things for Mondays/Tuesdays and Fridays -- I will just bake and upload when I can until I have some semblance of normality back in my life.

Yesterday I baked some nice scones and some nice muffins, and it was great. Really simple recipes with only a handful of ingredients for easy results. My Canadian friend also donated some of his sourdough starter to me just before Easter, and I'm hoping to do something with that soon.

Watch this space... I cannot guarantee when my next blog will be, but this time I can safely say there will be one.

Thank you all for your understanding!

Sweetie Pie x