Pork Pie with Chicken and Apricots

Hey Everyone,

Well, Tudor week of the Great British Bake Off was definitely a surprise, wasn't it?! It was a hard choice of what to make this time as I liked the look of the "jumble biscuits", but as they looked a bit too awkward to make, I decided that it'd be more fun to make the Tudor-inspired pie!
I made Andrew's pie (of which the recipe is available on the BBC Food website) - it looked amazing, didn't it! however it won't be in the shape of cog like Andrew's was, and it is also a much larger pie instead of multiple little ones!

This recipe was actually surprisingly easy to make, and the flavours worked really well together as well! I found that I needed a bit more sausagemeat than the recipe said that you had to have, so if you do end up making this, make sure you've have some extra just in case the same problem happens to you! The pastry was very nice, with quite a lot to spare - if you have another recipe that uses hot water crust pastry then it may be needed!

Pork Pie with Chicken and Apricots - By Andrew From "The Great British Bake Off"

Ingredients -

For the Pastry

• 500g Plain Flour, plus extra for dusting
• 100g Strong White Bread Flour
• 2 1/2 tsp Salt
• 125g Chilled Salted Butter, cubed
• 150g Vegetable Fat (such as Trex), plus extra for greasing
• 325ml Boiling Water
• 1 Egg, beaten

For the Filling

• 1 Large Onion, finely chopped
• 200g Boneless Chicken Thighs, cut into bite-size pieces
• 150g Dried Apricots, thinly sliced
• 4 Springs Lemon Thyme, leaves picked (normal thyme also works)
• 400g Pork Sausages, casings removed
• 1 Baking Potato, peeled and very thinly sliced
• Salt and Pepper

1. Grease a deep 20cm round cake tin with vegetable fat.

2. For the pastry, sift the flours and salt into a large mixing bowl. Add the butter and rub it into the dry ingredients using your fingertips until lose crumbs form and there are no large chunks of butter remaining.

3. Add the vegetable fat and boiling water to a jug and stir until the fat is dissolved. Make a well in the middle of the flour mixture and pour in the fat mixture. Beat using a wooden spoon until the dough comes together in a ball. Knead the dough in a ball in the bowl until smooth and well combined. Wrap in cling film and refrigerate while you make the filling.

4. Preheat the oven to 220 Degrees Centigrade/180 Degrees Centigrade Fan/Gas Mark 6. Place the baking tray in the oven to preheat.

5. For the filling, mix the onion, chicken, apricots and thyme in a bowl. Season generously with salt and pepper.

6. Remove the pastry from the fridge and set aside about a third to make the lid. Briefly knead the remaining dough and place in the bottom of the cake tin. Using your hands, gently push the dough out to cover the base and sides of the tin in an even layer of pastry. (Alternatively, you can roll out the pastry on a floured work surface and line the tin that way.) Make sure there are no cracks in the pastry. Roll out the reserved pastry on a floured surface to make the lid.

7. Fill the pastry case with a layer of sausagemeat, then all the chicken and apricot mixture, a layer of potato slices and finally another layer of sausagemeat. Place the lid on top of the pie and crimp the edges to seal. Using a sharp knife, cut away any excess pastry overhanging the tin and cut a small circle in the middle of the lid for steam to escape while cooking. Brush the lid with beaten egg.

8. Place the pie on the preheated tray (this will help the base crisp up and catch any fat that leaks from the pie) and bake for 1 hour 20 minutes, or until the top is deep golden-brown.

9. Leave to cool completely in the tin, then serve in slices.

Please Enjoy!!!

Black Cherry Swiss Roll

Hey Everyone,

So, it was dessert week of the Great British Bake Off and (obviously!) this is one of my favourite weeks every year!
I've only made a Swiss Roll once before and it was a disaster, so I've decided to have another attempt at making one - though I do know the signature bake was to make a roulade!
This ones a Black Cherry Swiss Roll, a normal Swiss Roll with cream and black cherry jam, but I'm sure that if you don't like the flavour, it's easily changed!
Coincidentally, this recipe is one of Mary Berry's own and it's come from her book "100 Cakes and Bakes". (Every recipe I've ever used from that book has always worked really well!)

It was very nice, and it tasted amazing! (Black Cherry is one of my favourite flavours!) Just please remember that, as this is a fat-less sponge, they don't tend to keep very well, so eat it as quickly as possible!

Black Cherry Swiss Roll - From "100 Cakes and Bakes"

Ingredients -

• 4 Large Eggs, at room temperature
• 100g Caster Sugar
• 100g Self-Raising Flour

For the filling

• About 3 Tbsp Black Cherry Jam
• 300ml Double Cream, whipped
• A Few Fresh Black Cherries (Optional)

1. Preheat the oven to 200 Degrees Centigrade/Gas Mark 6. Cut a rectangle of non-stick baking parchment just larger than the base and sides of your Swiss Roll tin. Grease the tin and then line it with the paper, pushing it neatly into the corners to fit.

2. Put the eggs and sugar in a large bowl and whisk well, until the mixture is light and frothy and the whisk leaves a trail when lifted out.

3. Sift the flour into the mixture, carefully folding it in at the same time with a plastic spatula. Turn the mixture into the prepared tin and gently into the corners. Bake for 10 minutes or until the sponge begins to shrink away from the sides of the tin and is springy to the touch. Watch the cake carefully as it is easy to overbake it.

4. While the cake is cooking, place a piece of non-stick baking parchment a little bigger than the size of the tin on a work surface and sprinkle it with caster sugar.

5. When the cake is cooked, invert it onto the sugared paper. Quickly loosen the lining on the bottom of the cake and peel it away. Trim the edges of the sponge with a sharp knife and make a score mark 2.5cm in from one shorter edge, being careful not to cut right through.

6. Roll the cake up firmly from the shorter, cut end, with the paper inside, and leave to cool. Carefully unroll the cooled cake, remove the paper and spread the cake with jam followed by the whipped cream. Re-roll the cake, sprinkle with a little more caster sugar if you like and, for for a special occasion, decorate with a few fresh black cherries. Keep in the fridge until needed but eat as fresh as possible.

Please Enjoy!!!

Passionfruit Meringue Cupcakes

Hey Everyone,

Well. this week of the Great British Bake Off was unexpected - Botanical Week! However all of it looked delicious, especially the citrus meringue pies, so I'm going to one of them this week, but with a twist on it! If you make this, instead of a pie, you'll have twelve delicious cupcakes instead. Those of you who've read my blog previously may notice I use passionfruit quite regularly in my baking and it's one of my favourite ingredients! If you haven't, check out Passionfruit Viennese Whirls which I've made a couple of weeks ago; they were amazing!

This recipe is a lemon cupcake, in the middle a passionfruit curd with a meringue piped on top before it was blow-torched! (That part was really fun!) The passionfruit curd is also really good just on toast as well, so making that by itself is still delicious if you don't have time to complete the entire recipe. (If not, usually there is some of the curd left over anyway!)

They are definitely better fresh, though they can be stored briefly, and I really wouldn't recommend trying to travel with them, at least not for a long distance, as the meringue tends to droop a bit!

 

I found this recipe in one of my favourite recipe books, "Making Cupcakes with LOLA". It's an entire book dedicated to cupcakes at each of the four stages that stand for LOLA ( A Lighter Side of Decadence, Over The Top, Let's Have a Cuppa! and Always Favourites). This one is from  a lighter side of decadence so you can only imagine what is classed as "over the top"!

Passionfruit Meringue Cupcakes - From "Making Cupcakes with LOLA

Ingredients -

Passionfruit Curd

• 3 Eggs, plus one egg yolk
• 100ml Passionfruit Juice (From about 6 fruits, sifted)
• 175g Caster Sugar, plus 2 Tbsp
• 125g Butter, cubed

Cupcake Mixture

• 125g Self-Raising Flour
• 1 Tsp Baking powder
• 75g Ground Almonds
• 100g Butter
• 150g Caster Sugar
• 1/2 Tsp Vanilla Extract
• 1/2 Lemon Zest
• 2 Eggs
• 75ml Plain Yoghurt

Meringue Topping

• 3 Egg Whites
• 180g Caster Sugar
• 1/4 Cream of Tartar
• 1/2 Vanilla Extract

1. Start by making the passionfruit curd. Mix the whole eggs and egg yolk into a bowl. Put the passionfruit juice and sugar in a saucepan and bring to boil. Boil until the sugar has dissolved. Slowly pour the hot fruit syrup into the eggs, stirring briskly and constantly to prevent the eggs from scrambling. 

2. Bring a small saucepan of water to a gentle simmer and set the bowl of egg mixture on the pan. Heat stirring gently for 20-30 minutes or until thick enough to coat the back of a wooden spoon. Remove from the heat and whisk in the butter, a few pieces at a time. Let cool and refrigerate for at least 4 hours, or overnight if possible.

3. Preheat the oven to 180 Degrees Centigrade/350 Degrees Fahrenheit/Gas Mark 4. Sift together the flour and baking powder into a bowl. Stir in the almonds. Put the butter, sugar and vanilla in a mixing bowl and beat with an electric mixer until pale and fluffy. Stop occasionally to scrape down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula. Add the lemon zest. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.

4. Add the dry ingredients and yoghurt and beat on a low speed until combined. Divide the mixture between the muffin cases. Bake in the preheated oven for 20-25 minutes or until well risen and a skewer inserted in the middle comes out clean. Remove from the oven and let cool completely on a wire rack before decorating.

5. Mix the egg whites, sugar and cream of tartar in a heatproof bowl. Bring a small saucepan of water to a gentle simmer and set the bowl of egg whites on the pan. Heat, whisking with a balloon whisk, until the sugar has dissolved and a sugar thermometer in the mixture reads 60 Degrees Centigrade/140 Degrees Fahrenheit.

6.Remove from the heat and whisk with an electric hand whisk on a low speed and gradually increasing to high speed. Whisk until stiff and glossy (but not dry) peaks have formed. Whisk in the vanilla. Refrigerate for 10-15 minutes or until firm enough to pipe.

7.  When the cupcakes are completely cold, make a hole in the middle of them with a teaspoon and fill with a dollop of curd. Spread the meringue over the cupcakes using a spatula, or spoon the meringue into a piping bag fitted with a star nozzle/tip and pipe it into little peaks on top of the cupcakes. hold a kitchen blow torch about 10 centimeters from the meringue and scorch evenly. Pour passionfruit pips on the top, if desired.

Please Enjoy!!!

Pecan and Maple Pinwheels!!!

Hey everyone,

Firstly, a little bit about what I'm doing in Food Tech GCSE at the moment in school. Most weeks we do practicals such as Jambalaya and Fish Pie (I'd really recommend the Jambalaya!) and we're also studying protein and amino acids, including protein complementation and also vegetarian substitutes for protein, like quorn and tempeh! It's really interesting and fun!

So, pastry week this time and I'm going to do the signature bake, a danish pastry. Anyway, I've decided to do Val's own recipe from the BBC Food website as the pinwheels she made looked really tasty, even though they seemed quite fiddly. Whilst, they did take a long time to make (as it's uff pastry) the final product tasted amazing!

If you make these, ensure that you have plenty of time, as you take a lot of time up in the day waiting for the pastry to chill every turn. This is quite an important process as well, as the butter must be cool so the layers of the pastry are more distinct. For those who don't fancy spending the time making it, you can easily just buy shop-bought puff pastry and only make the filling. (Honestly, I wouldn't blame you!)

Pecan and Maple Pinwheels - By Val From "The Great British Bake Off"

Ingredients -

• 500g Strong White Bread Flour, plus extra for dusting
• 10g Sea Salt
• 50g Caster Sugar
• 9g Yeast
• 1 Egg, plus one yolk, lightly beaten
• 150ml Milk, heated to 43 Degrees Centigrade
• Oil, for greasing
• 250g Unsalted Butter, chilled

Pecan and maple filling

• 150g Pecans
• 85g Light Muscovado Sugar
• 2 Tbsp Maple Syrup
• 30g Unsalted Butter

To Finish

• 1 Egg, beaten with 2 Tbsp Milk
• 50g Apricot Jam
• 2 Tsp Lemon Juice
• 150g Icing Sugar
• 2 Tbsp Boiling Water
• 1/2 Tsp Vanilla Extract

1. For the pastry, put the flour, salt and sugar on one side of a mixing bowl and the yeast on the opposite side. Add the eggs, egg yolk, warm milk and 80 ml water and mix for one minute using a fork until combined. Add a little more water if needed to form a firm dough.

2. Dust a work surface with flour and turn out the dough. Dust with a little flour and knead for 5 minutes, then shape into a ball.

3. Lightly oil a mixing bowl and a large piece of cling film. Put the dough in the bowl and cover with the cling film. Set aside in a warm place to prove for an hour, or until almost doubled in size.

4. For the filling, in a food processor, pulse 100g of the pecans until fine. Transfer to a bowl and stir in the sugar, maple syrup and butter. Cover and leave at room temperature. Roughly chop the remaining pecans to use as a garnish.

5. To make the pastry, sandwich the chilled butter between the open wrapper and a piece of cling film. Using a rolling pin beat the butter until it's flattened to roughly 1.5 cm. Roll out the dough on a floured surface until 1 cm thick and roughly double the size of the butter.

6. Arrange the dough with the short edge nearest to you and put the butter in the middle. Fold the top and the bottom of the pastry over the butter so it's just overlapping. Press all the edges and sides together to ensure the butter is sealed within the pastry. Using a rolling pin, tap the dough from the middle upwards and from the middle downwards. This ensures the butter is evenly distributed.

7. Roll out the pastry to a large rectangle approximately 1 cm thick. Turn dough so you have a long edge nearest to you, then fold the right third into the middle and cover with the left third. Chill in the fridge for 30 minutes. Do this turning, folding and chilling three more times.

8. Preheat the oven to 200 Degrees Centigrade/180 Degrees Fahrenheit/Gas Mark 6. Line two baking trays with non-stick baking parchment.

9.Roll out the dough to a 30x40cm rectangle. Using a pizza cutter or a sharp knife, cut the dough into 12 equal squares.

10. To shape the pastry, cut a line from every corner almost into the middle of the square. Brush the tip of each corner with a little of the egg and milk mixture, and fold the alternate corners into the middle pressing down firmly, creating a pinwheel.

11. Transfer the pastries to the prepared baking trays. Using your finger press down to create a hollow in the middle of the pastry for the filling. Put 1 teaspoon of the ground pecan mixture into the centre of each pastry and scatter with a few chopped pecans to decorate. over the baking trays with cling film and set aside in a warm place to rise for 10 minutes.

12. To finish, brush each pastry with egg wash and bake for 15-20 minutes, or until the pastry is crisp and golden-brown.

13, Meanwhile, for the apricot glaze, combine the apricot jam and lemon juice with two tablespoons water in a small saucepan. Slowly heat the mixture, stirring gently, until runny. Pass through a sieve and set aside. While the pastries are still warm brush them with the apricot glaze.

14. For the icing, mix the icing sugar, boiling water and vanilla extract together until smooth. Transfer to a piping bag fitted with a small plain nozzle and pipe lines across the cooled pastries to finish.

Please Enjoy!!!