Frohe Weihnachten! Part 5: Gingerbread Village Cake

Want a showstopping centre piece, but you're not a fan of traditional Christmas fruit cake? Here I present to you a Gingerbread Village Cake, in our fifth and final installment of my German-style biscuits series.

A delicious and mildly spicy golden syrup sponge, smothered in cream cheese icing, and decorated with gingerbread gables and a little gingerbread house, this is definitely a treat. However, it's not difficult to make: of course, there are a few steps, but none of them is a challenge.

This is a nice bit of fusion cuisine: a golden syrup sponge, of course, is not a very German style confection. Also, this particular style of gingerbread is very English: German gingerbread, known as lebkuchen, has a much much higher proportion of sugar to fat than its English cousin. Some recipes may only contain a few tablespoons of butter to half a pound of flour.

This cake stays beautifully moist for several days, just make sure it's well wrapped and airtight.

INGREDIMENTS

For one eight inch (20 centimetre) round cake

3 medium (US large) eggs

3 ounces (85 grammes) brown sugar

3 ounces (85 grammes) golden syrup

1½ ounces (40 grammes) sunflower oil
1½ ounces (40 grammes) melted butter

3 fluid ounces (85 millilitres) black tea, or warm water

6 ounces (170 grammes) plain white flour: spelt, wheat, or gluten-free

¾ teaspoon (4 millilitres) baking soda

2 teaspoons (10 millitres) ground cinnamon

2 (10 millilitres) ground ginger

Gingerbread Village dough

4 ounces (115 grammes) salted butter

4 ounces (115 grammes) soft brown sugar

2 ounces (55 grammes) golden syrup, warmed

1 medium (US large) egg

8 ounces (225 grammes) plain white flour: spelt, white, or gluten-free
 ½ teaspoon (3 millilitres) baking soda

2 teaspoons (10 millilitres) ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon (5 millilitres) ground ginger

¼ teaspoon (1 millilitre) ground cloves

To decorate

1¼ pounds (570 grammes) cream cheese icing
Sweets
Desiccated coconut
Icing sugar, for dusting

~ ^_^ ~

METHOD

First, make the biscuits

• In a saucepan, melt the golden syrup, sugar, and butter over medium-high while stirring. Once it starts to bubble, take it off the heat and allow to cool.
• Once cool, beat in the egg. Sieve in the dry ingredients with a wooden spoon and stir until there is no more dry flour visible.
• Pour the mixture onto a sheet of cling film, and wrap well. Chill in the fridge for at least 2 hours, preferably overnight.
• When you're ready to cook, preheat the oven to 180°C (350°F, Gas Mk.4) and line two baking trays with non-stick paper.
• On a floured surface, roll the dough out to just under a quarter-inch (4 millimetres) and cut into one small gingerbread house, and using the rest make some gingerbread house-fronts. I freehand all my gingerbread house pieces and house-fronts, but if you have templates, you can use that.
• Bake the biscuits for 8 to 10 minutes, depending on how soft or crunchy you like your gingerbread. Once cooked, cool completely on a wire rack.

Secondly, make the cake

• Preheat the oven to 170C, and grease the bottom of an eight inch (20 centimetre) round tin and line with non-stick baking paper. Leave the sides ungreased to help the cake rise.
• In a jug, melt the butter, golden syrup, and oil in the microwave on Defrost. You don't want it hot, just melted.
• Separate the eggs, putting the whites into a large roomy bowl with a pinch of salt, and mix the yolks into the jug of butter and syrup. 
• Whip the egg whites with an electric mixer on medium speed until the eggs have soft peaks. Gradually whip in the brown sugar, bit by bit, until you have firm peaks.
• Take a spoonful of the meringue and stir into the jug to lighten the mixture. Pour this back into the meringue and fold through gently with a balloon whisk or a metal spoon.
• Sieve in the flour, baking soda, spices, and a pinch of salt in two additions, alternating with the tea (or warm water). Fold the mixture thoroughly until you have a nice, flowing batter.
• Pour into the tin and make on the centre shelf for 45 minutes to an hour, or until nice and springy to the touch, and a skewer poked into the centre of the cake comes out clean.

Now, assemble the masterpiece

• Use some icing to assemble the gingerbread house: I decorated mine with mini Smarties and some desiccated coconut.
• Slice the cake in half, keeping the dome. Sandwich and coat the cake with icing, keeping the dome on top.
• Arrange the gingerbread house-fronts around the edge of the cake and secure with a bit of twine while it sets. Place the house on top of the cake.
• Allow the whole cake to set before serving, about an hour.

Frohe Weihnachten! Part 4: Marzipan Slices

Frohe Weihnachten! I present to you the fourth part in a series on German-style Christmas biscuits: delicious marzipan filled biscuit slices!

From my personal observation, Germany loves Christmas, and Germany loves marzipan. It makes perfect sense, then, that Germans would combine the two to make delicious Christmas marzipan biscuits.

These started off life as a different concept, but evolved. Here, you see they are individually sliced biscuits, in a slice-and-bake style. However, my first attempt at these was based on German recipes that I read online, that instructed the baker to cook the whole filled log and slice it after baking. This technique was unsuccessful; twice. I found that chilling the log entirely then slicing it made for much nicer looking biscuits. Maybe I just wasn't using the right kind of pastry, or the correct oven temperature. Either way, I prefer the slice and bake method.

As you can see on mine, the marzipan isn't entirely in the centre. Be careful when you're wrapping the biscuit pastry around the marzipan log.

INGREDIMENTS

6 ounces (170 grammes) salted butter, at room temperature

6 ounces (170 grammes) caster sugar

1 medium egg

12 ounces (340 grammes) plain white flour: spelt, wheat, or gluten-free

2 tsps vanilla essence

1/2 tsp almond essence

A pinch of salt

1 pound (455 grammes) white marzipan, tinted in different Christmassy colours

METHOD

• In a mixing bowl, cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Beat in the egg yolk and essences until fully incorporated.
• Sieve in the flour and salt and mix in by hand or with a wooden spoon until the dough comes together. It will be slightly dry, but don't worry: that's what gives them such a delicate, sandy texture.
• Flatten into a disc and wrap in cling film, and chill for half an hour, until it's firm to the touch.
• Divide the marzipan into two or more Christmassy colours, and roll into ropes. Use the coloured ropes to make a larger twisted rope about an inch (2.5 centimetres) thick. Just play with it until it's the right thickness.
• On a floured surface, roll the dough to a quarter-inch (5 millimetres) thick, and as wide as the marzipan rope is long, trimming the edges if needed. Brush the marzipan rope with water and place on the edge of the dough sheet. Roll up the marzipan with the dough until is it evenly wrapped; trim the excess. Depending on your shaping and sizing, you might have enough dough leftover to make a few cut-outs.
• Wrap up the whole roll in cling film and chill completely, at least 2 hours or even overnight. 
• Once the dough is chilled, preheat the oven to 160°C (325°F, Gas Mk.2). Line one or two flat baking trays with non-stick baking paper.
• Slice the dough log into half-inch (1 centimetre) slices and place on the baking sheet(s) about an inch (2.5 centimetres) apart.
• Bake for 12 minutes, turning the tray(s) around halfway through cooking. Remove from the oven, and allow the biscuits to cool for 5 minutes before transferring the biscuits to a wire rack: the marzipan filling is very soft and sticky immediately after coming out of the oven, so it will get completely messed up if you try to transfer them immediately.

Frohe Weihnachten! Part 3: Meringue Jam Rings (Butterplӓtzchen mit Baiserringen)

Frohe Weihnachten! I present to you the third part in a series on German-style Christmas biscuits: buttery biscuits, with a delicious filled meringue rings!

I came across this idea when I was surfing the web for different kinds of biscuits. I saw one small picture of these in a sea of Google images. As such, I couldn't really find a good reliable recipe, not even on any German websites (yes; I speak a little German). So, I kinda had to wing it: I added a little more sugar than usual to a basic meringue mixture to get it to crisp faster in the oven, and surprisingly it actually worked.

Sweet and buttery almond-hinted biscuits, crowned with a ring of vanilla meringue, and filled with a variety of jam, lemon curd, chocolate and caramel. What's not to like? Even people who don't really like meringue, including my fiancé, have admitted to liking these when I have fed them with the promise of "I swear it doesn't taste like meringue!" The lemon ones are particularly nice, because it's like single serving of lemon meringue pie.

DIFFICULTY

Intermediate: has a few fiddly steps

INGREDIMENTS

Makes 12 biscuits

For biscuit dough

2 ounces (55 grammes) caster sugar

2 ounces (55 grammes) butter, at room temperature

1 medium egg yolk

4 ounces (115 grammes) plain white flour: spelt, wheat, gluten-free

1/2 tsp vanilla essence

A few drops of almond essence

A pinch of salt

For meringue rings

1 medium egg white

3 ounces (85 grammes) caster sugar

A few drops of lemon juice

A pinch of salt

1/2 tsp vanilla essence

Fillings of your choice: fruit jam, lemon curd, caramel, chocolate ganache, vanilla custard, frangipane etc.

METHOD

First, make the biscuits

• In a mixing bowl, cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Beat in the egg yolk and essences until fully incorporated.
• Sieve in the flour and salt and mix in by hand or with a wooden spoon until the dough comes together. It will be slightly dry, but don't worry: that's what gives them such a delicate, sandy texture.
• Flatten into a disc and wrap in cling film, and chill for half an hour, until it's firm to the touch.
• Preheat the oven to 160°C (325°F, Gas Mk.2). Line one or two flat baking trays with non-stick baking paper.
• On a floured work surface, roll the pastry to just under a quarter-inch (about 4 millimetres) thick and cut out 3-inch (7.5 centimetre) rounds, re-rolling the scraps. You should get about 12 biscuits.
• Bake in the centre of the preheated oven for 10 minutes, turning the trays halfway through. The biscuits should just be starting to turn golden around the edges.
• Remove from the oven and transfer to a wire rack to cool completely before starting the meringues.

To make the meringues

• Lower the oven temperature to 100°C (210°F, Gas Mk.½).
• In a heat proof bowl over a pan of hot water, stir the egg white, sugar, salt, and lemon juice until the sugar has completely dissolved and the mixture is warm to the touch.
• Remove from the heat and whip on high speed with an electric mixer to make a meringue which holds stiff peaks and is cool to the touch. Beat in the vanilla essence
• Fit a piping bag with a star-shaped nozzle and pipe a ring of meringue on the top of every biscuit. Place back on the baking tray and bake for 1 hour on the centre shelf.
• Halfway through cooking, fill the centres with half a teaspoon of filling (except for chocolate ganache, which should be added after cooking, and never cooked in the oven). This will help the filling set a little.
• Remove from oven and cool completely on a wire rack before serving.

STORAGE

Store in an airtight container at room temperature, or in the fridge, for up to a week.

Frohe Weihnachten! Part 2: Pinwheels

Frohe Weihnachten! I present to you this second part in a series on German-style Christmas biscuits: two-tone pinwheels!

Everyone knows how to make biscuit pinwheels, so this isn't a demo; this is merely me sharing one of my creations that I made. These are made using chocolate and vanilla flavoured doughs, but you could use anything you like.

One thing I will say though, is that I think it looks prettier if the outer layer is slightly longer than the inner layer, giving it an enclosed look. Also, having one very thin layer and a thicker layer adds a degree of visual interest.

These are made using the exact same dough as the sandwiches, which is a lovely versatile dough mixture of 6 ounces (170 grammes) each of caster sugar and butter, beaten together, followed by 1 medium egg, and 12 ounces (340 grammes) of plain flour and whatever flavouring you like. The chocolate dough has one eighth of the flour replaced with cocoa powder.

Frohe Weihnachten! Part 1: Sandwich Biscuits

Frohe Weihnachten! I present to you the first part in a series on German-style Christmas biscuits!

Last year I planned on doing a whole series of German-inspired Christmas biscuits, but I never got the opportunity. So, this year I'm gonna put that to rights! I'm kicking off the season of biscuits with a delicious selection of sandwiches.

This is just a show-and-tell because making biscuit sandwiches is something pretty much any home cook can make. You just choose your favourite buttery cut-out biscuit recipe, like shortbread or plain biscuits, make some tiny cut-outs, and fill them with some icing, ganache, caramel, or jam.

As you can see in this picture, I made a variety of shaped tiny biscuits: these are only about an inch (2½ centimetres) or so wide and about quarter of an inch (5 millimetres) thick, and I have hearts, fluted rounds, snowflakes (even though they look like stars), flowers, and bells. I made a small batch of biscuit mixture of 3 ounces (85 grammes) caster sugar, 3 ounces (85 grammes) salted butter at room temperature, half a medium egg, and 6 ounces (170 grammes) plain white spelt flour. I flavoured it with vanilla essence and almond essence. This amount made about 48 biscuits, or 24 pairs. One pair was sacrificed to quality control before filling....

Each shape was supposed to have a different flavour of filling inside, but after a few biscuits that went out the window. I used chocolate buttercream, lemon curd buttercream, vanilla buttercream (using real vanilla pods), some Araquipe dulce de leche (yes, it's still leftover since my brother got back from Ecuador in August), and some good old fashioned strawberry jam.

After a little trip in the fridge, I dipped the tops of every flavour bar the caramel and jam ones in chocolate. I mixed a little sunflower oil into some white and dark chocolate, and some vanilla seeds into the white chocolate. Once I had dipped some of chocolate-filled ones in dark chocolate, and all the vanilla- and lemon filled ones in white chocolate, I marbled the remaining chocolates together to dip the remaining chocolate filled ones. I dusted the lemon ones with edible gold dust just for visual interest.

So there you have it! A special little treat for someone special in your life this Christmas, or even just for the table after dinner. Keep an eye out for the next few creations! :)

Happee Birthdaee Daddee! Coffee Poodle Cake

Looking to make a novelty cake, but have never been very good with fondant? Well, look no further: here is a cute puppy cake, with zero fondant!

My Dad had his birthday on Friday, but actual celebrations with cake and presents were delayed due to all of us having different work commitments. On the Friday night itself, we went to see The Crimes of Grindewald, which was a dull and conflicted piece of cinema.

When we did eventually meet up for cake and presents, I wanted to make a special cake for Dad: he has a pet toy poodle, called Boadecia (well, when I say he has, she dog is actually my mother's but Dad has an extreme fondness for her and carries her around everywhere he goes), so I made a cake in the likeness of a poodle. However, I really dislike working with fondant, and I hate how it tastes.

So, I went with good old fashioned piping.

I made a 9 inch (23 centimetre) deep round coffee cake, and sandwiched and crumb coated it with some coffee buttercream. After a brief trip into the fridge, I spread another thin layer of coffee icing over the top and sides, using a bench knife to get the edges nice and straight. I coated the sides in a dusting of desiccated coconut and piped a scroll design around the top edge. I then popped the cake into the fridge for another 20 or so minutes.

To get the beautiful white surface, I melted 2½ ounces (65 grammes) of white chocolate with 2 teaspoons (10 millilitres) of sunflower oil. I added a pinch of salt to make it taste richer, because sunflower oil is pretty flavourless. I melted them together gently in the microwave and poured it in the top of the cake, where the scroll piping acted as a dam. I gently tilted the cake to get full coverage.

After a half hour rest in the fridge, I piped the features using dark chocolate and pink-tinted glacé icing. I just mixed some icing sugar and milk together to a thick, piping consistency and used pink gel colouring to get a lovely, doggy-tongue shade of pink.

Dad's poodle wears a little baby blue collar, so I thought I'd put a band of paper around the cake, where I would normally pipe a lower border. I think the effect was very pretty, put next time I'll use a ribbon for a better effect.

All in all, I was very pleased with this cake! You could do it with chocolate cake, too, or any flavour you like. Happy baking!

German Witches' Brew: Buttergrog (Contains Alcohol)

Es ist fast Winter! Und für euch, ich habe ein leckeres Wintergetränk: Buttergrog!

The nights are getting darker, the outside world is getting colder and more stark, and inside we're all starting to stock up on our heating fuel and warming, comforting food. In Ireland, winter starts on November 1st, which is a month before the rest of the western world, which marks December 1st as the first day of winter.

The four main Celtic festivals in the year mark the start of a new season. Samhain, the first day of winter, is celebrated on November 1st, which is the day after Oíche Shamhna, which means "Samhain Eve". Oíche Shamhna is our native name for Halloween.

Of course, we don't have the monopoly on wintertime celebrations! In fact, the homeland of our Celtic ancestors is central Europe, who absolutely go to town on autumnal and winter feasting. Germany, Austria, Poland, and many other countries throughout the European heartland have absolutely wonderful arrays of warming food and drinks.

All throughout Germany, Austria, and Poland there are a variety of warm, spiced alcoholic drinks. There's glühwein, which we know in English was mulled wine; there's the strange concoction grzaniec, which is hot spiced beer (which I really want to try so watch this space); and of course this blog's subject, the German delight buttergrog.

The word "grog" conjures an altogether, and much less classy, image of booze swilling pirates, but this drink is a delicious hot cider, flavoured with spices and aromatic citrus, spiked with rum, and finished off with a smooth hit of rich, buttery goodness. This is comfort in a glass.

For anyone who has made mulled wine in the past, you might be put off by the fiddliness of finding raw spices such as cinnamon sticks, whole cloves, and star anise. However, I have a cheat:

Most Polish shops, and various healthfood shops, in Ireland sell spiced teabags. They often have a mixture of cinnamon, cloves, cardamom, ginger, and sometimes orange zest, and are the perfect short-cut to a delicious aromatic spice blend for mulled drinks.

The brand I use is Loyd, but there is also Pukka. Both of these brands sell a variety of spiced teabags, but the one I used for this recipe was Loyd Warming Tea.

DIFFICULTY

Easy!

INGREDIMENTS

For 2 servings

1 can (500 millilitres) dry cider, about 5%

2 shots (60 millilitres) rum: white or spiced. You could also use some homemade spice infused rum

4 teaspoons (20 grammes) unsalted butter, cold

1 spiced teabag

2 slices of lemon or orange

1 or 2 tablespoons (15 to 30 grammes) brown sugar or honey, to taste

HOW-TO

• In a small saucepan, heat the cider with the lemon or orange slices and the teabag. Don't let it boil, but let it get steaming hot. Let the teabag infuse with the cider for about 10 to 15 minutes.
• Stir in the rum, and then add sugar or honey to taste. Allow to come back to temperature. I used some homemade spiced rum, infused with cinnamon, vanilla, and cloves. You could also use shop bought spiced rum.
• Put two teaspoons (10 grammes) of the butter in the bottom of each beer mug.
• Pour half the drink into each mug, stirring constantly to properly incorporate the butter and let it emulsify. 
• Serve hot with sweet or savoury snacks

American Style: Corn Dogs (Wheat Free, with Gluten Free Option)

Fancy an American style party treat? Here's my take on a favourite, whether bought from the freezer section of the 'market or from food-carts in the street: corn dogs!

I was inspired to make this treat because around this time of year, in the short-term run up to Halloween and the long-term run up to Christmas, our local supermarkets will start selling party finger food in the freezer section. One of which, is mini corn dogs, designed to be cooked in the oven for twenty minutes before serving the hungry party guests.

I have never set foot in the U.S.A., but my father and brother have both been to New York City. My brother Patrick loved the hot dog treats sold on the street; he particularly liked the regular hot dogs in a split bun covered in mustard. American style fast food is extremely popular here in Ireland (because we have had a strong relationship with the U.S.A. for generations through migration), but I've always wondered if our Irish palate approximations taste anything like they do in their homeland.

Here in Ireland, you can buy Frankfurters (also known as Wieners) from any supermarket, but they are always the German style sausages. One day I hope to traverse to New York City, not only to visit my cousin who lives there, but to find out what an American hot dog is supposed to taste like....

Now, the concept of a sausage dipped in batter and deep fried isn't foreign to people of these parts: battered sausages are available in most fish-and-chip shops around Ireland and Great Britain. But dipping them in corn batter is something different entirely. I hope that this rendition is faithful to the original American recipe!

DIFFICULTY

Intermediate: HOT OIL!

INGREDIMENTS

For 10 full sized corn dogs, or 20 mini dogs

10 Frankfurters, about 12 ounces (350 grammes)

3 ounces (85 grammes) fine cornmeal

1 ounce (30 grammes) plain flour: spelt, gluten free, or wheat

1 teaspoon (5 millilitres) baking powder

Pinch of salt

2 teaspoons (10 grammes) caster sugar

1 tablespoon (15 grammes) melted butter

1 egg, made up to 5 fluid ounces (140 millilitres) with milk, or milk alternative

Thick wooden skewers for whole dogs, or thick cocktail sticks for mini dogs

HOW-TO

• Set some flavourless oil in a deep fat fryer, or heavy saucepan on a rear hob, to heat to 190°C (375°F), or until the handle of a wooden spoon bubbles quickly when submerged in the hot oil. Make sure you have at least two or three inches (5 to 7 centimetres) of oil in the pan, because if there is too little oil the sausages will sink and stick to the bottom of the pan. While the oil is heating, prepare the corn dogs.
• Leave the Frankfurters whole, or cut each one in half. Dry the sausages with a paper towel, and dust with a little plain flour to help the batter stick. Pop a stick in each piece of sausage, trying to insert the stick as far into the sausage as possible, while leaving a handle.
• Sieve cornmeal, plain flour, baking powder, salt, and sugar into a mixing bowl. Mix egg, milk, and melted butter together in a jug.
• Using a wire whisk or metal spoon, make a well in the dry ingredients. Pour the wet ingredients in a mix with the whisk or spoon. Mix only until the batter is smooth and there is no dry flour.
• Dip the sausages in the batter, coating thoroughly, and let the excess drip off. Cook the battered sausages in the oil for 3 to 4 minutes, flipping halfway, until the batter is puffed and deliciously golden.
• Drain the cooked corn dogs with kitchen paper, and serve immediately with mustard, ketchup, or mayonnaise.

American Style: Deep Pan Pizza (Egg Free with Wheat Free Option)

Looking for a hearty, comforting dinner? Why not try this recipe for deep pan pizza! (It comes with my fiancé's approval, as seen below)

Autumn and Winter are full of party occasions and opportunities: in my family, even without the traditional holiday events, there are three birthdays in October and November. This time of year is a real season of festive eating!

When we were kids, we had normal kids' party food at all these kinds of occasions: sausage rolls, cocktail sausages, chips, and either hamburgers, or pizza. In the 1990s, supermarkets where I lived began to stock cook-from-frozen pizzas, and normally they had big, fluffy bread bases. I didn't see a thin and crispy based pizza until I was in my mid-late teens.

The most commonly eaten brand was Goodfellas, but there were many others, including supermarket own branded pizzas. I have very fond associations with thick based pizzas, even though when I eat shop bought ones now my adult taste buds aren't able to taste what was so amazing to my childhood taste buds....

I've been meaning to try a deep pan pizza for a very long time: I popped it on my list of projects to try about this time last year, I just never had the opportunity to try it. I was reminded to try it when I was watching Chef John's Detroit style pizza video on Youtube earlier last week.

My pizza differs from his, insofar as it's just a regular (well, what I consider regular) pizza with a thicker base. I use a completely different dough recipe to his, and different toppings. But, I was inspired by his idea to rise the bread dough in the tin it will be cooked in, rather than in a bowl.

DIFFICULTY

Intermediate


INGREDIMENTS

For the bread dough

6 fluid ounces (170 millilitres) warm water

One ¼ ounce (7 gramme) sachet of dry active yeast

1 tablespoon (15 grammes) caster sugar

½ teaspoon (3 millilitres) salt

1 ounce (30 grammes) light olive oil, or sunflower oil

12 ounces (340 grammes) plain flour: wheat or spelt

½ teaspoon (3 millilitres) baking powder

For the topping

Roughly 5 or 6 tablespoons (2½ or 3 fluid ounces; 75 or 90 millilitres) tomato pasta sauce, with herbs and garlic

Pinch of sugar

Salt and black pepper

Roughly 4 or 5 ounces (115 to 140 grammes) grated mozzarella cheese

Sliced meat of your choice: pepperoni, salami, ham, chicken, sausage, etc.

Thinly sliced vegetables of your choice: pepper, tomato, mushroom, courgette, etc.

HOW-TO

• Grease a 9 by 7 inch (23 by 18 centimetre) deep baking tin with a tablepoon (15 millilitres) of sunflower or light olive oil. Set aside for later
• In a large mixing bowl, mix the yeast, sugar, oil, and warm water together. Add in about half of the flour and mix into a sticky paste. Cover, and leave to rise in a warm place for about 30 minutes, or until doubled in size and very spongy in appearance.
• Once risen, tap the bowl sharply on the counter top to release the air. Sieve in the half of the remaining flour, the baking powder, and salt and mix together with a wooden spoon until combined.
• Sprinkle some of the remaining flour on the work surface, scrape out the dough in the bowl, and sprinkle some more flour on top. Knead the dough, adding flour only if you need to, until you have a smooth, tacky dough. You may not need all the flour, so don't add it all in at the beginning.
• Knead the dough for a good 10 minutes until smooth and elastic. Press the dough into the bottom of your oiled tin and allow to rise for 30 to 40 minutes, or until doubled in size once more.
• Once it has doubled, press the air out with floured hands and spread the tomato sauce on top, leaving a half-inch (1 centimetre) border around the edge of the pizza. Decorate with your toppings.
• Set the oven to preheat to 190°C (375°F, Gas Mk.5) and allow the pizza to puff slightly while the oven is heating. Once the oven is hot enough, bake the pizza on the centre shelf for 30 to 25 minutes. If the toppings are browning too fast, cover the pizza with a piece of tin foil.
• When fully cooked, remove from the oven and gently transfer the pizza to a wire rack. This will stop the crust from getting soggy with condensation.
• Serve hot from the oven with side salad, or chips.

Vodka Infusions: Hot and Spicy Cinnamon

Looking for a heartwarming autumnal drink? Try this delicious cinnamon infused vodka!

Autumn is really starting to take shape as we begin the descent to winter: the leaves are falling off the trees, there's a nip in the air, and the distinct smell of comfy wood-fueled home fires can be smelled wherever people live. It's at this time of the year people are starting to keep their houses, and themselves, nice and toasty warm. One good way to keep warm to drink a nice warming spirit, and this is such a spirit.

The slow infusion of cinnamon bark stick into the sweetened vodka brings out a beautiful golden colour, like a hearth fire. As you drink it, it warms your throat and then the centre of your body. Enjoyed in a small amount, this really is a delicious treat.

Infusing vodka for other clear strong spirits is a very simple and fun project that has endless possibilities! Vodka can be infused with dried spices, such as cinnamon sticks, whole cloves, star anise, or cardamom, and also vanilla pods. It can also be infused with herbs, like peppermint or basil (don't knock it), citrus zest, and even tea leaves or ground coffee. With all the innumerable flavour sources and combinations therein, you could become a vodka alchemist.

I find, though, that the infused spirits always taste better if you add a little sugar and a pinch of salt. Unseasoned infused vodka can taste very flat. You could use any kind of sugar or sweetener, like brown sugar, golden syrup, honey, or white sugar. I find a ratio of one part sugar, to 5 parts spirit works best, but you can experiment with your own batches. But just remember, you can always add more sugar, but you can't take it away.

This batch of cinnamon vodka was very, very hot and spicy, which I how I like it, and I make mine with just cinnamon sticks and white sugar. However, if you want it to taste more soft and warm, you can use brown sugar or honey instead of white sugar, and you can even add a seeded vanilla pod for a delicious cinnamon roll flavour. The world's your oyster!

~ ^_^ ~

DIFFICULTY

Easy!

~ ^_^ ~

INGREDIMENTS

500 millilitres (2⅛ cups; 17½ UK fluid ounces) vodka, white rum, or other clear spirit (40% ABV; 80 Proof)

100 grammes (3½ ounces; ½ cup) sugar

Pinch of salt

4 or 5 cinnamon sticks

Optional: 1 deseeded vanilla pod

HOW-TO

• Clean a glass 700 or 750 millilitre (1¼ UK pints, 3 cup) bottle, such as a wine bottle, and pour in the sugar, salt, and vodka.
• Put the cinnamon sticks down the neck of the bottle, breaking them if necessary, and close the lid tightly.
• Shake the bottle until the sugar is dissolve completely. Store the bottle in a cool, dark place for 4 to 7 days. Fewer days will yield a much weaker infusion, more days will yield a stronger infusion. I infused mine for 5 or 6 days (I can't quite remember) and it was nice and spicy.
• Once the infusion is as strong as you want it to be, strain the vodka into a large jug and remove the spices. Return the strained vodka to the bottle, close, and keep in a cool dark place.

Variation on a Theme: Chili Double Chocolate Cookies

For my first strange and unusual recipe for October, I offer you chili double chocolate cookies!

As I mentioned in my candied chili recipe, this idea was born out of a conversation I had with my brother's girlfriend, Stefi, who is originally from Ecuador. She was eating a gingernut biscuit, and wondered whether a hot and spicy chocolate variety could be achieved.

She said the main characteristic that she liked in gingernuts was how well the different flavours coalesced in a smooth and harmonious way. She wondered if such a harmony of tastes could be achieved in chilli chocolate cookies, where the cocoa and chilli would come together well, and that the spiciness would be consistent throughout the eating experience, instead of hitting you suddenly at the beginning, or growing on you as you chew.

I found the best way to balance instant heat and gradual heat is to use two different kinds of spiciness: cayenne pepper, for the gradual, burning heat; and white pepper for the insta-burn. I also decorated the tops with little tiny pieces of candied chilli pepper, picked from Stefi's own chilli plant (which were exceedingly hot).

DIFFICULTY

Easy!

~ ^_^ ~

INGREDIMENTS

7½ ounces (210 grammes) plain flour: spelt, wheat, or gluten-free

½ ounce (15 grammes) cocoa powder

½ teaspoon bicarbonate of soda

¾ teaspoon ground cayenne pepper

½ teaspoon ground white pepper

Pinch of salt

4 ounces (115 grammes) caster sugar

4 ounces (115 grammes) light brown sugar

4 ounces (115 grammes) butter, very soft

1 medium egg

8 ounces (225 grammes) chocolate chunks or chips: I use a mixture of equal parts dark and milk chocolate chunks

Optional: 1 tablespoon finely chopped candied chilies

~ ^_^ ~

METHOD

• Preheat the oven to 180°C (350°F, Gas Mk.4) and line one or two flat baking trays with non-stick baking paper.
• In a mixing bowl, cream butter and sugars until creamy with a wooden spoon. Add in egg and beat vigorously until light and fluffy.
• Add in chocolate chunks and mix thoroughly. You can add any combination of milk, dark, or even white chocolate chunks or chips. I buy bars of chocolate and cut them up, but if you want the chocolate to keep its shape use shop-bought chocolate chips.
• Sieve in the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, salt, and spices and mix, continuing with the wooden spoon, until you have a stiff but tacky dough.
• Take roughly 1 ounce (30 gramme) portions of the dough and roll into balls. You can weigh the dough balls, or eyeball it. This mixture will make 30 one-ounce (thirty gramme) dough balls.
• Place dough balls on the tray(s), 2 inches apart from each other and the edge of the tray, and bake for 8 to 9 minutes, turning the trays back to front half-way through baking.
• Remove from the oven and allow to cool for a minute or so before transferring to a wire rack to cool. These cookies are delicious still warm from the oven, or cooled completely.

Crystalised (Candied) Chili Peppers

I said that this October I was going to try some unusual recipes in search of more grown-up, sophisticated Halloween treats. This was one of my first experiments: crystalised (candied) chili peppers!

This idea came out of a conversation that I was having with my brother's girlfriend. She is originally from Ecuador, and has a much, much higher spice threshold than I do. She was eating some ginger nut biscuits and wondered if a chili and chocolate version could exist.

I wondered if you could hide little heat bombs inside the biscuits with some pieces of pepper. However, putting fresh chili into the biscuits would compromise their shelf-life. It was then I thought about candying them.

Candying fruit is a very simple process: essentially, you poach the fruit in simple syrup until fully cooked and tender. The sugar in the syrup permeates the fruit and preserves it from the inside out. It's important to cook the fruit until it's translucent and well soaked in the syrup.

When the fruit is candied, it can be dried and tossed in sugar, as shown here. Or, it can be stored in the delicious leftover spicy syrup. The syrup itself is fantastic in cocktails and--oddly enough--as an extra warmth factor in mulled wine. Don't knock it 'til you've tried it!

This recipe also includes bonus lemon slices, but if you want to properly candy lemon slices you have to blanch them first in boiling water for 1 minute to remove the bitterness.

INGREDIMENTS

Roughly 4 ounces (115 grammes) medium or mild chilli peppers

12 fluid ounces (340 millilitres) water

8 ounces (225 grammes) caster sugar

One 2 inch (5 centimetre) piece of cinnamon stick

3 peppercorns

3 slices of lemon, roughly a ¼ inch (5 millimetres) thick

METHOD

• Cut the chilli peppers in half lengthwise and scoop out the seeds. Cut each half into four pieces.
• Put the chilli pieces in a small saucepan and add in the water, sugar, cinnamon stick, peppercorns, and lemon slices.
• Bring to the boil, stirring to dissolve the sugar. Once boiling, reduce the temperature to a very gentle simmer and cook for about an hour to 90 minutes, until the pieces of chilli are tender and translucent. Make sure the simmer is gentle, otherwise the syrup will thicken too quickly and the peppers won't cook through fully.
• Remove the chilli peppers and lemon slices from the syrup, but don't throw the syrup away. It can be kept in a glass jar and used for cocktails and chilli sauces.
• Lie the pieces on a wire rack and allow to dry for a day if you want to toss in sugar, or you can store the chilli peppers refrigerated in the strained syrup in a glass container.

Whoops! Where Did September Go?!

Wow! September just disappeared!!

For those wondering where I've been, I started a new job on August 27th. I now work as a special needs assistant in a local secondary school. It's where I went to school myself for my final exams and it's a very well respected private school in my city.

I work with young people who have special educational needs, whether behavioural or intellectual, and I also run the after school film making club on Wednesday nights!

Also, my darling fiancé started his university course on September 3rd, studying Liberal Arts in sociology, philosophy, politics, and media.

Coordinating our schedules for the past 5 weeks has been extremely challenging, and settling into a sustainable routine took quite a while. We had to give up a few commitments so that we could even see each other during the week, let alone time for eating and bathing!

But now things have calmed down and we're both in somewhat of a routine, I'm back in the kitchen more frequently.

Throughout September I was baking, of course, but I wasn't baking anything new. I was just baking batches of scones, simple cakes, and chocolate chip cookies for entertaining and bringing to work. However, this month I'm in the search for new and interesting projects!

I'm always struck with a bolt of inspiration in October. Autumn colours, smells, and flavours (and of course Halloween) are my biggest culinary muses, and that's no different this year! I certainly will do my usual spurt of Halloween ideas, but this year I'm trying some new projects: some for an older, more sophisticated palate, and others as a new challenge for my yearly rash of trick or treaters...

I'm looking forward to sharing my kitchen experiments with you this October!

Sweetie xxx

Rich Tea Biscuits (Dairy- and Egg Free, with Wheat Free Option)

Is there anything quite as deliciously dunkable as a rich tea biscuit? Well, now you can make them at home!

Here in Ireland and the British Isles, these biscuits are readily available in every super market as a biscuit barrel staple; supermarkets even have their own brand versions of this crispy, plain treat. Not too fatty, not too sweet, with the perfect level of firm snap to withstand a thorough soaking in a hot cup of tea.

Essentially, a rich tea is a flat, thin, crunchy scone; it was almost exactly the same ingredients, and in nearly exactly the same proportions. If you look at the nutritional information on a pack of rich teas, you'll see that they're generally 15% fat and 20% sugar, and mostly flour. A scone is generally 25% fat and 15% sugar.

I've made this using self-raising wheat flour, and with spelt flour with added raising agents. I've noticed the ones made using shop-bought self-raising flour work the best, because it has just the right proportion of raising agents. However, I've included a recipe for homemade self-raising flour.

~~ ^ _ ^ ~~

DIFFICULTY
Requires a light touch with dough

TIME

About an hour

RECIPE RATING

Intermediate

~~ ^ _ ^ ~~

INGREDIMENTS

Ingredients for about 14 to 16 biscuits, depending on size

5 ounces (140 grammes) self raising flour*

Good pinch of salt

1 ounce (30 grammes) caster sugar

1 ounces (30 grammes) very cold margarine, or butter if you like

Water to bind, about 1 to 2 tablespoons

* - If you want to make your own self-raising flour, sieve 1 teaspoon of baking powder into every 4 ounces (115 grammes) of plain white spelt or wheat flour

~~ ^ _ ^ ~~

METHOD

• Line a one or two baking trays with non-stick baking paper, and preheat the oven to 160°C (325°F, Gas Mk.2).
• In a large mixing bowl, sieve the flour (and baking powder, if using), salt, and sugar. Rub in the margarine, or butter, until you have a very fine mixture.
• Gradually add the water, bringing the dough together with your hand. Add just enough water to bring the dough together into a stiff ball.
• Wrap the dough in cling film, or place in an airtight container, and allow to rest in the fridge for an hour to relax the gluten and set the margarine.
• Roll the dough out as thin as you dare on a floured work surface, making sure the turn the dough frequently as you roll so it doesn't pull back against the rolling pin. Cut 3 inch (7.5 centimetre) circles with a glass or biscuit cutter and prick each biscuit with a fork.
• Lie them gently on the baking trays, about half an inch (1 centimetre) apart, and bake in the centre of the preheated oven for about 15 minutes, or until the biscuits are completely dry and a light golden brown.
• Transfer the biscuits from the tray to a wire rack to cool to room temperature before eating. Store in an airtight container for up to a week.

Red Velvet Cupcakes with "Cream Cheese" Butter Cream

In recent years I have found that the best way to make cream cheese icing is to not use cream cheese at all. Intrigued? Well, read on a to find out how I made these delicious red velvet cakes with "cream cheese" icing!

Here in Ireland, cream cheese can be very inconsistent: some brands are perfectly thick and creamy, but other brands can be watery and thin. Sometimes you can make a cream cheese icing that whips up beautifully, then other times it will turn into a sugary cream cheese sauce.

The issue at play here is the moisture levels in the cream cheese. Sugar absorbs water and goes runny, and the more water there is for the sugar to absorb, the sloppier your mixture becomes. I'd found the best way to avoid this is to make an icing that tastes like cream cheese, without actually using cream cheese.

Creamy cheese is rich and fatty, but it's also slightly tangy from the fermentation process, and salty to preserve its freshness. Understanding this balance between fatty, tangy, and salty is the key to mimicking its flavour.

In my previous foray into non-cream cheese icing, I made a white chocolate and greek yoghurt fudge icing, and it was absolutely fabulous. However, if you don't want to cook up a yoghurt simple syrup, or you don't have any white chocolate, there is a way to make plain old vanilla buttercream taste like cream cheese icing.

To make enough icing for 12 cakes, simply beat together 4 ounces (115 grammes) of unsalted butter with 4 ounces (115 grammes) of condensed milk. Gradually beat in 8 ounces (225 grammes) of sieved icing sugar to make a thick and creamy icing. Add vanilla essence to taste.

And now we get a little bit adventurous: it's time to add small amounts of sea salt and distilled white (or apple cider) vinegar. I think vinegar is the best because it was a fermented sourness that is like cream cheese. However, if you don't want to use vinegar, you can substitute fresh lemon juice.

Add the salt and vinegar, a pinch and a few drops at a time, until you have the right level of "cheesiness". I used just under a quarter teaspoon each of salt and vinegar, but please add slowly and to your taste: you can always add, but you can't take it out!

If you want it to taste like lemon cheesecake icing, you can also add some lemon zest to taste.

To make the cupcakes, I used my newly revised cupcake recipe and substituted a teaspoon of the flour with cocoa powder, and substituted buttermilk for milk. I also added red food colouring.... but I don't think I added enough!

I also added some nice little red and white flowers that I had got in a Halloween cake decoration kit, although sadly one of the red flowers crumbled in the packet and had to start a new life as sprinkles. The kit also had sugar devils and ghosts, which I still haven't found a use for.

I hope you give these delicious cakes a try soon!

Nice and Simple Lemon Cupcakes

As I teased in my previous choco-cinnamint cupcakes, here is another delicious cupcake idea: yellow and purple lemon cupcakes!

When I went to art college, we were taught about colour theory, how each of the primary colours have an opposite and complementary colour: blue goes with orange, red goes with green, and yellow goes with purple. If you're painting a picture and want to dull a colour for a shadow, per se, you don't mix the paint with black, you mix it with its complement.

Of all the complementary colours, my favourite two are yellow and purple. It's such a pretty, floral palette that makes me thing of a pretty summer field. My least favourite is blue and orange: it's extremely hard to get that to look un-garish.

That's why my eye was immediately drawn to these one day a few years ago when I was walking down the homebaking aisle of Tesco....

I saw them and I knew it was fate.

I bought them and thought one day, I'll have a use for these, and that day finally came recently during my cupcake experiments. I thought making some lovely lemon cakes in purple wrappers would be the ideal way to make the best of these decorations.

For these cakes, I made a two-egg quantity of my newly revised cupcakes, adding in a teaspoon of lemon zest along with the vanilla essence. To make the lemon icing for 12 cakes, I mixed together 4 ounces (115 grammes) of room temperature butter with 4 ounces (115 grammes) of shop-bought lemon curd in a bowl with an electric mixer. I then gradually added 8 ounces (225 grammes) of sieved icing sugar and a splash of vanilla essence until I had a lovely soft icing. I then piped this onto the cakes in a swirl using a star-shaped nozzle, and sprinkled with some multicoloured sprinkles before popping a yellow and purple sugar swirl onto each cake.

Lemon cake is a classic, and I have done lemon cupcakes in the past, but I'm very pleased with the revised cake and buttercream recipe!

Choco-Cinnamint Cupcakes: a Flavour Experiment

I am finally back from a week-long summer camp where I taught teenagers how to play the bass guitar! And just before I left I made some delicious little cupcakes, including these fabulous Choco-Cinnamint cakes!

I think I may have mentioned it before, but I really like the combination of cinnamon and mint (I love "cinnamint" tea) and I especially love the combination of chocolate, cinnamon, and mint. I first discovered it when I ordered a hot chocolate from a coffee stand in the train station, and had forgotten that I'd asked for mint syrup and asked for cinnamon sprinkled on top instead of cocoa powder. The accidental discovery of this warm and aromatic flavour combination is one of my best culinary experiences.

I've always wanted to try making a cake using the choco-cinnamint theme, and my recent experimentations with cupcakes seemed like the perfect opportunity! I think cupcakes are a great outlet for flavour curiosities because they are single serving and can be made in small batches. As seen above, I made these with some delicious lemon cupcakes around the same time.

I made these cupcakes by making a two-egg quantity of my most recently revised cupcake recipe and replacing an eighth of the flour with cocoa powder, and adding half a teaspoon of ground cinnamon. I also made some chocolate buttercream with a little pinch of cinnamon, and then half as much buttercream flavoured with peppermint essence and tinted green. I filled a piping bag fitted with a star tip, keeping the minty icing to one side and the chocolate icing to the other, then piped each cake with a swirl. As you can see, I didn't quite get the icings even on either side so some cakes are greener than others!

If you feel like something different, I encourage you to give this interesting flavour combination a try!

Ten Points to Gryffindor! Quidditch Pitch Birthday Cake

This year was my little sister's 21st birthday! She's a proper grown up now.... although she'll always be little in my mind. I think every big sister feels the same way, no matter how old their little sister gets.

So for this very special birthday, I thought I'd do a very special cake. She loves Harry Potter, and so I thought I'd make her a Quidditch pitch cake. For people who aren't Harry Potter fans, Quidditch is a team sport where the players fly broom sticks and try to throw a ball, called a Quaffle, through their opponents hoops to score points. However, they have to avoid being hit by a Bludger, which is a ball that's deliberately hit at players of the opposite team to dismount them from their broomsticks. The winner of the game is the team that has the most points by full time, and if your team catches the third and most important ball, the Golden Snitch, you get an extra 150 points. The Snitch flies around the pitch of its own accord, and can only be caught by a special teammate called a Seeker.

I'm not a big Harry Potter person, I read all the books and watched all the movies once each and that was enough for me, but my sister is mad for it. So much so that by coincidence we all bought Harry Potter themed presents for her without planning it ahead of time.

Her birthday coincided with my parents' 35th wedding anniversary weekend, so we had a big family celebration; all told there were 12 people, including me, at the party, so I needed a big cake! This cake used half a dozen eggs, and three quarters of a pound of flour and sugar. There was cake leftover after dinner, but I always like to make a cake big enough to be enjoyed the next day too.

I made two 10 by 8 inch (25 by 20 centimetre) rectangular cakes, trimmed off the domes (I didn't have much of a dome on either cake), and sandwiched them together with chocolate buttercream. I crumb coated the cake, allowed it to set in the fridge for 30 minutes before proceeding with decorating.

While I was baking the cakes, I also baked some green tinted shortbread and some plain shortbread to crumble later for decoration. I used biscuits instead of coconut because my sister doesn't like coconut, however if that's not an issue you can just colour some and use that instead.

I made an oval shaped stencil out of non-stick baking paper, and I also made one circular and two semicircular masks. I coated the sides of the cake with a sheer layer of icing before packing a mixture of sugar strands and hundred and thousands (which to my American readers are simply tiny ball-shaped sprinkles) onto all four sides.

I coated the top in a sheery coating of icing before setting down my oval stencil. I then placed the circular mask in the centre, and the semicircular masks on either narrow end. I sprinkled on crushed green biscuits even inside the stencil, then removed the masks and filled in the gaps with plain crushed biscuits. I removed the stencil, then piped on some remaining icing into all the un-biscuited areas.

I piped on some simple glacé icing to represent the white grass paint that marks out the different parts of the field.

 To make the golden snitch, I made a cake truffle out of the dome trimmings and some icing, rolled it into a ball, and rolled it round some gold lustre dust. I allowed it to set and crust completely in the fridge.

I made some little white card wings and stuck them in the top, and also used paper straws and loops of white card to make the hoops.

I was extremely pleased with the results of this cake. The cake itself was fluffy and delicious, and the icing was thick and creamy. But my favourite thing about it was the look on my sister's face when she saw it!

Two novelty cake in one year?! I think I might be getting the taste for novelty cakes after all these years....