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Vegan Shortbread

Whenever we start the year, I like to keep the recipes simple. January is usually the month where most people have indulged a little too much, spent most of their wages and want everything simple – so that’s what I’m, doing today.

Keeping things as simple as can be, I’m sharing the best recipe for a batch of vegan shortbread. If you have ever attempted baking at some point in your life, you have probably attempted shortbread… It’s super easy but it’s really easy to get it wrong. That’s why I’m sharing my foolproof vegan shortbread recipe.

It’s going to sound super strange but these shortbread has a very rich ‘buttery’ flavour, this is easy to achieve when you use a good quality plant based vegan spread. I gave these to family members in my social bubble and they didn’t even realise they were vegan.

Anyway, let’s get started, shall we?

Ingredients:

175g plain flour.

Pinch of salt.

120g vegan baking spread.

60g granulated sugar.

Additional granulated/caster sugar.

Method:

Before you get started on the recipe, you’ll want to do some prep work. Weigh all of your ingredients up, line a baking tray with parchment paper and get any equipment you may need ready, such as a a food processor.

Take the bowl of the food processor (or a bowl) and place in the flour and salt, then mix until combined.

Add in the vegan spread (which should be cold) and incorporate this just until its fully incorporated, it may start clumping together but you don’t want it to form a dough – if that happens, scrap the mess and restart again.

Add in the granulated sugar and incorporate it until the mixture starts clumping together, it should still look crumbly – this normal.

Place onto a lightly floured surface and briefly knead it all together, just until a dough forms. You don’t want to over mix the dough as this will result in a touch textured biscuits, which isn’t what you want.

Bring the dough back into a fat sausage shape and wrap in clingfilm, then place it in the fridge and chill for at least an hour (the dough should be firm).

Once the end of the chilling time is approaching, you can go ahead and the

When the dough has chilled, cut the dough into 10-12 rounds and place onto your lined baking tray and then bake in your preheated oven for 13-15 minutes or until golden brown around the edges.

As soon as they are out of the oven, sprinkle over a dash of granulated/caster sugar and then allow to cool fully before you enjoy them.

That’s all for today guys, I hope you enjoyed. If you did, don’t forget to share this recipe with your family and friends and enjoy it. I’ll be back soon with another blog post and YouTube video, so join me then. In the meanwhile, don’t forget to check out my other social’s – Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, TikTok, Twitter and YouTube. The YouTube tutorial will be linked down below.

Chocolate Sticky Toffee Pudding

by bakingwithelliott Leave a Comment

Autumn may be in the dying days but this pudding is the perfect treat to enjoy on a cold evening. Today I’m sharing my recipe for a sticky toffee pudding with salted caramel sauce.

A classic sticky toffee pudding is already good enough but I thought ‘how could I make it better’ and that’s where I come up with idea of making a chocolate version. It may not be for everybody but it’s something a little different and if you’re anything like me, you’ll enjoy a warm and comforting pudding on a chilly autumn/winter evening.

For the sauce, feel free to skip the salt, this is just a little twist I tried and really liked when it came to adding a little something different. The flavour combination will work with just chocolate and caramel or with chocolate and salted caramel.

If this modern twist doesn’t cut it for you, don’t worry. I have a more traditional version in the form of a sticky toffee pudding traybake.

Anyway, let’s get started, shall we?

Ingredients:

Chocolate Sticky Toffee Pudding:

150g Sultanas.

300g Stoned dates, chopped small.

2 tsp Bicarbonate of soda.

50g Butter.

400g Light brown sugar.

4 Eggs.

360g Plain flour.

40g Cocoa powder.

Pinch of salt.

Caramel Sauce:

50g Butter.

350ml Double cream.

400g Light brown sugar.

1 tsp Vanilla extract.

Sea salt (optional).

Method:

Before you get started on any element of the recipe, you’ll want to do some prep work. Weigh up all of your ingredients, bring the kettle to a boil, line a 8 inch square cake tin with parchment paper and grab a hand mixer/stand mixer along with a mixing bowl.

Start by placing the chopped stoned dates, sultanas and bicarbonate of soda into a small/medium bowl, then pour enough boiling water over to cover the contents of the bowl. The bicarbonate helps to soften the skin, making it not so chewy and easier to digest, so it’s an important step – please don’t skip this step.

Place the butter and light brown sugar into a mixing bowl and beat until they are combined. They won’t be light and fluffy; the ratios aren’t correct for this to work.

Once combined, add your eggs one at a time, beating well in-between each addition. You will notice that the consistency of the cake batter becomes much more liquid like, this is completely normal.

Next, it’s time to add the flour, baking powder, cocoa powder and salt, passing them through a sieve first. Some dry ingredients are known for being problematically lumpy.

Mix the dry ingredients in over a medium speed until they are almost fully incorporated. At this stage stop the mixer and add in the fruit, which has been drained, then mix on a medium speed until everything is incorporated and is well distributed throughout the cake batter. Bake in your preheated for 35-40 minutes (or until a tester comes out clean when inserted).

Once the cake has around 5-10 minutes baking remaining, it’s the perfect time to make the caramel sauce.

To start on the sauce, you’ll want to get a small-medium saucepan and place in the butter, double cream, light brown sugar, vanilla extract (and salt, if you’re using it). Place it on the hob over a medium-high heat. Stirring occasionally until everything is melted and started to combine, then you can start stirring continuously until you have a smooth.

Once the cake is out the oven, cut into 9 square portions and pour over the hot caramel sauce. If you don’t intend on eating it straight away, make the caramel prior to serving – the cake can be reheated in the microwave just before serving.

Naan Bread

by bakingwithelliott Leave a Comment

Theres nothing better than homemade bread, thats a fact. Today I’m sharing my recipe for naan breads, they’re super easy and customisable.

While these aren’t quite the traditional version of the flatbread, they’ll do the job perfectly. They are soft and perfect to accompany your favourite curry – the best thing is that these are better when they are homemade as you can make them to the size you’d like and customise the flavours.

So, what’s stopping you giving these a go when you need them? If you don’t want to make large, don’t worry, I’ll also share the weights. The naan’s come in 5 different sizes, starting with (mini – XL). For the mini its 30g, small is 60g, medium is 90g, large is 120g and XL is 150g each.

When it comes to flavouring the bread, you can do it two different ways. The first way would be to add the flavourings directly into the dough or the second method is to add the flavourings to some melted butter or ghee (this is personally my favourite method). Instead of your standard garlic and coriander, feel free to mix it up a bit and add some chilli or spice.

Anyway, let’s get started, shall we?

Ingredients:

Dough:

500g Strong bread flour.

5g Salt.

20g Fresh yeast.

30ml Vegetable oil.

100ml Plain natural yoghurt.

2 Eggs.

120ml Whole Milk.

Coating:

Butter/ghee.

Garlic, chopped.

Coriander, chopped small.

Method:

Before you get into making the naan breads, you’ll want to do some prep work. Start by weighing up all your ingredients, getting any equipment you may need, such as a mixing bowl and baking trays.

To start on the dough, grab yourself a large mixing bowl and place in the bread flour and salt. Mix the two together briefly, just until combined.

Then you can go ahead and add in the remaining ingredients into the mixing bowl, starting with the yeast, vegetable oil, yoghurt, eggs and then the water. Mix everything together until a dough has formed – mix on a low speed to start with, for around 2 minutes, followed by a further 4-5 minutes on a medium-high speed. Once the dough is done, it should be smooth and the bowl will be clean – if not, the dough may need some more time mixing.

Give your work surface a dusting with some bread flour and place the dough on to it. Knead the dough just until its smooth and elastic, then you can place it into a lightly oiled bowl and proof for around 10-20 minutes.

After the proofing period, you can take the dough and place It onto your work surface and knock it back. Once you have knocked the dough back, you can bring it back into a ball and process the dough.

To process the dough, scale it off depending on the size on naan bread you want (that information is just above), scale all of your dough up, keeping it covered so a skin doesn’t form on the dough.

While the dough is resting for 5 minutes, you’ll want to do some prep. Preheat your oven to 230˚c/445˚c and place your baking trays into the oven to get hot.

Lightly flour your work surface using some bread flour, then one at a time, place your ball of dough onto the floured surface and roll it out into a tear drop shape (which is roughly 5-8mm in thickness). Repeat with all of your dough balls, keeping covered.

Brush each side of the rolled out dough using some flavourless/colourless oil.

Once your dough has been oiled and your baking trays are hot, carefully remove your trays from the oven and place the dough onto the hot trays, then place back into the oven which is heated to 230˚c/445˚f. Bake the naan’s for 5-6 minutes, before turning them over and baking for a further 5-6 minutes.

While the naan’s are baking off, you’ll want to make he coating. Simply chop the garlic and coriander small, then add it to the butter/ghee and stir well.

Now the naan’s are baked, take them straight from the trays and place onto a cooling rack. While they are still hot/warm, brush over the butter mix, giving each side a good coating. You can enjoy them while they’re still warm or allow to cool (you can always warm them up later on) or you can freeze them, ready for when you need them.

Milk Rolls

by bakingwithelliott Leave a Comment

If you’re looking for an easy bread roll recipe, look no further, I have you covered. Today I’m sharing my take on a batch of milk rolls.

These milk rolls aren’t only easy but they are the ideal product for a total beginner to try.

You may have noticed that the rolls have been glazed, that’s just an egg wash thats applied prior to baking to give the golden colour on top once baked and best of all, it doesn’t massively effect the softness of the roll. The rolls are still soft and pillowy – the best way to enjoy bread at anytime.

Anyway, let’s get started, shall we?

Ingredients:

500g Strong bread flour.

8g Salt.

10g Dried yeast.

20g White shortening/butter.

40g Milk powder.

290g Water, warm.

Methods:

Before you get started on the recipe, you’re best to do some prep work. Strat by weighing up all of your ingredients, lining a loaf tin with a strip of parchment paper, lightly oiling a large mixing bowl with some flavourless oil and getting any equipment you may need, such as stand mixer.

Into a large mixing bowl, place the bread flour and the salt, then give the two a good whisk together until they are fully incorporated.

You can then go ahead and add in the yeast, shortening, milk powder and water. Start the mixer on a low speed to start (for approx. 2 minutes), then crank the speed up to a medium speed (mix for approx. 4 minutes) – after the roughly 6 minutes mixing time, the dough should be a clear dough (it’s left no traces in the bowl) and easy to work with.

Flour your work surface with some bread flour and give it a good knead until its smooth and elastic.

Once it’s smooth an elastic, place the dough into a lightly oiled bowl and cover with clingfilm. Leave it somewhere warm for about 60 minutes or until its doubled in size.

After the dough has had its first proof, you can go ahead and knock it back. This is simply the process of removing the gasses that have built up in the dough during the first proof (and it shows the yeast was working).

Now that the dough has been knocked back, you can process the dough. To do that, weigh the total ball of dough and then divide that by 12 and you have the required weight for each.

Scale the dough to the required weight, for me it was around 70g each. Round each amount of dough into a smooth ball shape, snaring you keep covered with cling film so a skin doesn’t form on the dough.

Place the dough balls onto a lined baking tray, leaving an equal amount of space in-between each of them and then cover with cling film and leave to proof until they have risen well.

After the second proof, remove the clingfilm from on top of the dough and egg wash the top of the dough, then place into a preheated oven and bake for 15-17 minutes.

Once baked, allow to cool down fully, then enjoy on its own or with butter. These can be frozen once baked, if you don’t intend on using them straight away.

Lemon Cream Buns

by bakingwithelliott Leave a Comment

Today I’m sharing a simple recipe for a batch of lemon cream buns.

These were something new to me until my mom mentioned them to me, so thought why not make a batch and share them with you?

If you don’t know what a lemon cream bun is, it’s basically a sweetened bread roll, filled with freshly whipped cream and lemon curd then topped with a simple icing. They’re super simple but the flavours work really well!

Anyway, let’s get started, shall we?

Ingredients:

Buns:

500g Strong bread flour.

5g Salt.

50g Yeast.

75g Butter.

75g Granulated sugar.

15g Milk powder.

1 Egg.

175ml Water.

Filling:

300ml Double cream.

50-75g Icing sugar.

1/2 tsp Vanilla extract.

Lemon curd.

Icing:

Icing sugar.

Water or lemon juice.

Yellow food colour (optional).

Method:

Buns:

Before you get into making these buns, you’ll want to do some prep. I recommend starting by weighing up all your ingredients, lining your baking tray with some parchment paper, oil a bowl with some flavourless oil and getting any equipment you may need, such as a stand mixer and a silicon spatula.

To start on the dough, grab yourself a large mixing bowl (I used my stand mixer bowl) and place the bread flour and salt into it. Give the two a brief mix until they are incorporated.

Then you can go ahead and add in the yeast, butter, sugar, milk powder, egg and water. Mix the dough on a low speed for 2 minutes, followed by 6 minutes on a medium-high speed. The dough should be smooth and slightly sticky, this is because the dough is enriched.

Flour your work surface with a good amount of bread flour, then place the dough onto the floured surface and knead until the dough is smooth and elastic, bring the dough back into a ball shape.

Take your lightly oiled bowl and place the dough into it, then cover with clingfilm and leave to proof for around hour or until doubled in size.

Once your dough has finished it’s first proof, flour your work surface with a small amount of bread flour. Then place the dough onto the floured surface and knock it back – this is simply the process of removing the gasses that have built up in the dough during the first proof, the bring the dough back into a ball shape.

Take your ball of dough and weigh it, then take that weight and divide it by 12, then you have the weight you need to scale the dough off at. Take your dough and scale the dough off into the required weight, ensuring the dough is covered with clingfilm at all times (otherwise a skin will form on the dough).

Round and smooth the balls of dough until they are all equal looking, then place onto your prepared lined baking tray in the configuration 3 x 4. Cover loosely with clingfilm and leave to proof for a further 45 minutes or until they have doubled in size (they may batch and this is completely fine).

While the dough is proofing, you can preheat your oven to 210˚c/410˚f.

Once the second proof is done, you can then remove the clingfilm from on top of the dough and place the tray straight into the preheated oven and bake for 13-15 minutes (or until the buns are well coloured).

Cream filling:

To make the whipped cream filling, you’ll want to start by grabbing a mixing bowl (I used my stand mixer bowl) and pouring in the double cream, adding in the icing sugar and vanilla and then whisking it up on a medium-high speed util the cream has thickened and it holds it shape well.

Once the cream is done, you can transfer it into a piping bag fitted with your nozzle of choice. Keep refrigerated until needed later on.

Decoration and finishing:

To finished the buns off, you’ll want to start by making the icing that goes on top. For the icing, simply grab a medium sized bowl and place in the icing sugar and a small amount of water or lemon juice. Whisk together until you have a thick yet spreadable consistency – you may need to add more icing sugar or water to achieve the perfect consistency.

Using a small spatula, take a good amount of the icing and dollop it onto the top of the bun and spread it until theres a level and consistent amount of icing on the bun. Spread it out until the top has a good coating – now leave it for a while, just to firm up.

Now that the buns have been iced, feel free to slice them in half.

Take the buns and pipe the cream into them, how you decide to do this is completely up to you. I like to pipe around the edge then pipe a swirl in the centre but you can pipe the cream however you like.

Then you’ll want to pipe in the lemon curd, use as much or as little as you’d like. I went with a fairly generous size but it depends on how much you like the lemon curd flavour.

I recommend making the buns on the day you intend on serving them, the same applies to the filling as fresh cream spoils quickly.

Crusty Sesame Seed Dinner Rolls

by bakingwithelliott Leave a Comment

Today I’ll be showing you how to make a batch of crusty sesame seed rolls, they are super easy to make and only require a handful of ingredients – what’s not to like?

If you have been around since the start of the year, you may remember I started my bread series. This series was going to be showing you how to make all different sorts of bread, progressing onto more complex recipes as the year goes on but with the current coronavirus situation, I have decided to take it back to basics, at least for now. I’ll be showing you how to make the few essentials to get you through this time.

This recipe was actually request by a lovely viewer over on my YouTube channel.

I had been planning to simplify my content and had the perfect request – talk about timing right? Anyway, if you have any requests, feel free to let me know via my blog, my socials or on YouTube – I’d love to hear from you.

Anyway, let’s get started, shall we?

Ingredients:

500g Strong white bread flour.

8g Salt.

18g Fresh yeast/7g dried yeast.

30g White shortening.

300ml Water.

Method:

Before you get into the recipe, you’re best to do some prep work. I recommend you start by weighing up all your ingredients, this will honestly save you making mistakes. You should also get any equipment you intend to use ready, such as a stand mixer and a spatula. You may also wish to line your baking tray, but this is completely optional. You will also want to place a 500ml jug of water into the fridge – I’ll explain why later on.

To start on the recipe, grab your mixing bowl of choice and place the bread flour and the salt into it. Give the two a brief mix, just to incorporate the two (if you don’t, the salt has a tendency to deactivate the yeast if they come into direct contact).

You can then go ahead and add in the white shortening (trex here in the UK but any sort of white vegetable fat will work), yeast and water into the bowl and start to mix the mixture on a medium-low speed to start and mix for 5-7 minutes or until a clean dough forms. By clean dough, I mean it should leave next to nothing in the bowl (just a residual bit of flour towards the top of the bowl).

Once your dough is ready, you can flour your work surface and give the dough a brief knead just until the dough is smooth and elastic.

Then you can take a clean large mixing bowl and lightly oil it with a flavourless oil and place the dough into it and cover with clingfilm and place somewhere warm and allow the dough to proof for around 45-1 hour or until the dough has roughly doubled in size.

Once the first proof is done, you can then go ahead and flour your work surface again. Then knock the dough back – this is simply the process of removing the gases that have built up in the dough during the first proof (also shows the yeast is alive and working). knead the dough back into a ball shape, then cover with the clingfilm while you process it.

So, take the total weigh of the dough and divide that by 12 – this will make 12 perfectly sized dinner rolls. Scale the dough off into the correct portion size, it was 70g per roll for me but yours may be slightly more or less. Round the balls of dough off using your palm, the side of your hand and the work surface, they should be smooth balls of dough.

Now take each of the balls and dip tops of them in sesame seeds (you don’t need a lot of them, 50g-100g goes pretty far), then transfer onto a baking tray (I lined mine but this is optional). Make sure you keep them covered loosely with some clingfilm, mostly so they don’t skin over.

Leave them to proof for a further 45-60 minutes or until they are well risen and are batching together – this is also the perfect time to preheat your oven to 230˚c/445˚f. For these rolls to be crusty, you need to make steam in the oven. Of course, not everybody (including me) has a fancy oven with a steam feature or a small proofer at home but don’t worry. While the oven is preheating, place a small tin (not a loose bottomed one) on the very bottom of the oven, allowing it to get hot in the process.

Once your rolls have finished the second proof, remove the clingfilm that was on-top and place into your preheated oven and bake them off for 25-30 minutes or until the are well coloured – just before you shut the oven door, remove the jug of water from the fridge and carefully pour it into the tin that is hot. This will sizzle but will also create steam while the door is shut, so don’t open the door until they are baked!

Now they are baked, simply transfer the rolls from the baking tray onto a cooling rack. This will stop them baking any further – then if you can resist, leave them to cool fully to enjoy the fully flavour.

There you go, a simple and straight forward recipe for you to make while you’re in quarantine and trust me, by the time this period of time is over, you’ll never go back to buying bread, you’ll get use to freshly made better quality bread.

That’s all for today guys, I hope you enjoyed. If you did, don’t forget to share this recipe with your family and friends and enjoy it. I’ll be back soon with another blog post and YouTube video, so join me then. In the meanwhile, don’t forget to check out my Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. The YouTube video will be linked down below.

Apple Crumble

by bakingwithelliott Leave a Comment

Today I have the perfect recipe for this this time of year. It’s for a simple yet hearty apple crumble.

Although this recipe is perfect for all year round, there is just something about tucking into a bowl of crumble in the cooler months, especially during Autumn.

If you have never tried a crumble before, where have you been?! You get the sweetness and tartness of the apples, which is then topped with a crisp and slightly spiced crumble – the combination is always going to be a winner! IF plain apple isn’t your thing, I have a recipe for apple and blackberry crumble.

Anyway, let’s get started, shall we?

Ingredients:

Apple filling:

600g Cooking apples.

50g Water.

70-100g Granulated sugar (depending on how tart you like the apples).

Crumble:

75g Granulated sugar.

75g Light brown sugar.

60g Porridge Oats.

100g Plain Flour.

1 ½ tsp Ground Cinnamon.

120g Butter.

Method:

Start by doing some prep work. Weigh up the ingredients, preheat your oven to 180˚c/350˚f and get any equipment you may need ready.

To start on the recipe, you’ll want to make the crumble topping.

To start on the crumble, you’ll want to get yourself a food processor and into it you’ll want to place the plain flour, spices, granulated sugar and light brown sugar and pulse them together.

Once they are combined, you can then add the butter, which is in small pieces. Once all the butter has been added, you can pulse until the butter has been incorporated and the mixture has become crumblier looking.

Remove the crumble from the food processor and place into a large bowl, then you can add in the oats and stir to incorporate. If your crumble has lumps that are large, use a silicon spatula to break them down into smaller bits.

Set the crumble aside until its needed later.

To make the apple filling, you’ll want to start by getting yourself a large saucepan. Into the saucepan, place the cooking apples, water and granulated sugar and give it all a good mix, then place it on the hob over a medium-high heat.

Cook the apples on a medium-high heat giving a stir once the mixture starts to warm up. You want the apples to have softened and slightly broken a little, so once the apple mixture is done, it will be a mixture of softened apples in an apple sauce.

Once the apple filling is done, remove from the heat and allow to cool a little.

Take a small size oven proof dish (I used my Pyrex 1.4L dish) and place the apple filling on the bottom, levelling out with a heatproof silicon spatula. Then top the apple filling with the crumble tipping you made earlier on, spreading it out so it’s consistent and press it down a little bit just to compress it down.

Place the finished apple crumble into your preheated oven and bake for around 20-25 minutes or until its golden brown all over the top.

This is best served hot, straight from the oven on its own or it can be served with vanilla ice cream, whipped cream or custard.

That’s all for this week guys, I hope you enjoyed. If you did, don’t forget to share this recipe with your family and friends and enjoy it. I’ll be back next week with another blog post and YouTube video, so join me then. In the meanwhile, don’t forget to check out my Instagram and Twitter. The YouTube video will be linked down below.

How To Make A Battenberg

by bakingwithelliott Leave a Comment

This week’s recipe is a classic, if you’re from the UK, you’ll know it. I’ll be showing you how to make a Battenberg cake.

If you have never tried or heard of a Battenberg, I’ll give you a quick run down. A Battenberg is a vanilla sponge cake, which is coloured pastel pink and yellow. It’s held in place by apricot jam and finished with a layer of marzipan. You should have a check pattern on the inside as you alternate the layers of cake.

Making the cake isn’t at all difficult, you’ll be using the traditional creaming method (this is where you start by creaming the butter and sugar together, adding the eggs and vanilla, incorporating the dry ingredients and then colouring the cake batter.

The marzipan coating/finishing may not be for everybody, but it’s needed on this recipe. Traditionally you would use standard marzipan but I only had golden marzipan left in my cupboard (this was from Christmas and when I didn’t use it, I was going to make a Simnel cake at Easter but that didn’t happen so I needed to use it up and this was the perfect recipe for it).

As with all my recipes, before you get started, you’ll want to do some prep work. Get your ingredients measured/weighed up, prepare your tin (if you want to, I didn’t but you know your tin) and get any equipment you may need ready. Taking these few extra steps can lower the chance of making a mistake.

Ingredients:

175g Butter.

175g Granulated sugar.

3 Eggs.

250g Plain flour.

2 tsp Baking powder.

½ tsp Vanilla extract.

Pink and yellow food gel/pastes.

60-80g Apricot jam.

350g Marzipan.

Method:

Before you get into making the cake, you’ll want to do some prep work. Start by weighing up all of your ingredients, line your tin (if you decide to) and preheat your oven to 180˚c/350˚f and get any equipment you intend on using.

To start on the cake, you’ll want to get yourself a mixing bowl and place the butter and granulated sugar into it. Then beat the two together until they are fully combined.

Once they are combined, you can add the eggs one at a time, beating well in-between each addition. Once all of the eggs have been added and are incorporated, you can add your vanilla in and mix to incorporate (if your mixture scrambled a little at this stage, don’t worry. We will correct it in the next stage).

Next you’ll want to add your dry ingredients, passing through a sieve first, this is just to remove any lumps that may be in the dry mix. Incorporate the dry ingredients over a low speed to start with, working your way up to a medium-high speed (you shouldn’t be able to see a single trace of any ingredient but try to not over-mix the cake batter at this stage).

Divide the cake batter in two and colour one pink and the other yellow. I recommend that you start by adding a little and working in more, it’s easier to add colouring rather then trying to take it away…

Put the cake batter into the tin and level it out as best you can, don’t overlap/combine the colours too much. You can make a little divide using some cardboard wrapped in tin/silver foil but I didn’t do this. Once they are levelled and sorted, place into your preheated oven and allow to bake for 30-35 minutes (or until a tester comes out clean).

Once your cakes are baked, allow to cool completely before you intend on using them. Once they are cool enough, you’ll want to level the top off using a cake leveller or a knife and then trim the sides as well, this is just to remove the caramelised edges. Cut each cake in half so you end with 2 strips of pink and yellow cake.

Place your apricot jam into either a small saucepan or microwaveable bowl and warm your jam until is much more spreadable. While that warms, you can roll out your marzipan on a surface which has been dusted with icing sugar.

Once your jam is warmed, brush each of your cake slices with the apricot jam and with the remaining, brush it over the marzipan. Place the sticks of cake together and then place onto the marzipan, around 1cm away from the edge and then wrap the marzipan around the cake, applying a little pressure to ensure it stays in place.

Trim away the ugly edges and enjoy!

Zero Waste Raisin Oatmeal Cookies | The Clean Kilo

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Today I’ll be showing you how to make my favourite cookies of all time, raisin oatmeal! These are a chunky variation, perfect for dunking in milk.

Today’s post is a little different to my usual as I tried a zero waste supermarket. In the past few months I’ve seen a few documentaries about how our food and plastic waste are at ridiculous levels, so I decided to make a change and cut mine down to the very minimum I can. Since January 1st 2019, I’ve managed to get my waste down by 75% and all done by making changes which were easy to implement. While buying your ingredients in bulk from the supermarket or wholesale may work out more convenient or cheaper, how much of the packaging is recyclable? How many of you are going to put the ingredients into jars/container once you’re

I had seen these zero waste shops before but never really tried one before as it seemed confusing but its far from it. The nearest one for me is in Digbeth, Birmingham and it’s called The Clean Kilo. If you haven’t visited before, you’re missing out. I would recommend taking your own jars and/or containers but if don’t have any, don’t worry, they have some you can purchase in-store.

The Clean Kilo offers a wide range of products from baking ingredients, dried fruit and eggs through to oils and vinegar, locally grown vegetables and nuts & seeds, perfect for when you may need an exact amount – the prices are very competitive.

The aim of zero waste shopping is to lower the amount of packaging wastage as well as food waste. I don’t know about you but I’m guilty of buying a certain ingredient that I may not use every time I bake, then it gets stored (and sometimes forgotten abou) and I may not need it until it’s gone past the use by date and that’s not only annoying but also wasteful. If you’re like that, don’t forget FIFO (first in first out), that’s the one super useful thing I learnt at college.

The one thing I wasn’t sure about was how it all worked I regards to weighing and getting the final price, it’s actually really simple. The day I visited the women working behind the counter was called Dominika and she was really helpful and informative which was great, she couldn’t have been more helpful. When it comes to weighing and measuring your ingredients, you’ll want to start by getting your empty container and placing it onto the scales, then print out the sticker (this sticker is simply for the weight of the container, keep this one on the container if you intend on using it again in the future, you won’t have to print another one off that way), then you go and fill your container with the product you wish, go back to the scales then scan the bar code on the sticker you printed out earlier on and reweigh the container and print out your final sticker which is the price you’ll pay. Finally you can then go and pay and know you’ve saved some packaging waste from going into the bin.

I’d seen some videos and blog posts online where people had tried zero waste recipes and this would normally be fairly hard, unless you have a local shop. If you’d like to see more zero waste recipes from me, let me know by commenting on the blog post. This is something that’s helping to prevent both packaging and food waste.

Making these cookies doesn’t take too long, to make, so you don’t need an awful lot of time to make them.

Ingredients:

100g Butter.

100g Golden Caster Sugar.

100g Light Brown Sugar.

1 Egg.

225g Plain Flour.

1/2 tsp Baking Powder.

150g Oats.

100g Raisins.

Method:

Before you start on these cookies, you’ll want to do some prep work. Weigh up all your ingredients, line a baking tray with greaseproof/parchment paper and preheat your oven to 180˚c/350˚f.
Start your cookies by placing the butter, golden caster sugar and light brown sugar into a bowl and beat on a medium-high speed until they are well combined.
Once they are all combined give your bowl a good scrape down and add in your egg and mix on a medium speed until it’s fully incorporated.
Give your bowl a good scrape down, to incorporate any bits that haven’t been fully worked in.
Sift in your dry ingredients and mix them in on a low-medium speed until almost fully incorporated, then add in the oats and raisins and give a mix until the flour is fully incorporated and the oats and raisins are well distributed within the dough.
The dough doesn’t require being chilled before use, so you can use it straight away.
Take a cookie scoop and scoop up two balls of dough per cookie, roll them together into one and he flatten them slightly before placing onto your baking tray, these cookies don’t spread very much while baking.

Place the baking tray into your preheated oven and bake for 8-10 minutes or until slightly coloured around the edge.

Once out of the oven, an optional finish would be to add a few raisins on top.

Allow to cool on the baking tray until fully cooled, then enjoy them. I had mine with a glass of cold milk!

*These cookies can be frozen before being baked, just make sure that they are flattened before you freeze them or after they are baked, just keep them wrapped in clingfilm/plastic wrap.

Strawberry Tart

by bakingwithelliott Leave a Comment

This tart is the perfect addition for any warm day, its sweet and perfectly balanced for the warmer weather. Get your strawberries and we can get started.

To start on the tart you’ll want to start on the crème pâtissière, this will need time to cool before you use it but feel free to make either the crème pâtissière or pastry first, they both need time before you use them. Like with all my recipes, I recommend you do some prep work first by winging up your ingredients, preheating your oven to 180˚/350˚f and getting any equipment you need ready before you start.

For the crème pâtissière, get your medium saucepan and place your milk and vanilla extract into it and place on the hob over a medium-high heat. Bring the milk to a boil. While you wait for your milk to come to a boil, you can make the other part of the crème pâtissière.

Into a separate bowl add the egg yolks and sugar and whisk them together until well combined, then you can add in your plain flour and whisk that in until fully combined. You will notice that the mixture thickens, don’t worry this is normal. You want this to happen, the flour is the thickening agent in the custard.

So, once your milk has reached a boil, you can then add around 1/4 of the milk mix into your egg mixture and whisk that through, then continue pouring the boiling milk into the egg mixture, whisking continuously until they are well combined. Pour the mixture back into the saucepan and place back on the hob over a medium-high heat, whisking continuously until the mixture has become thicker – make sure you don’t burn the mixture, keep whisking the custard.

Get yourself a shallow sided cake tin and pour the hot custard onto it, spreading it out as thin as possible. This is just to help with the cooling process, cover the mixture with clingfilm/plastic wrap, making sure its touching the top of the custard (this stops a skin from forming on top, which nobody likes). Allow it too cool fully before you intend on using.

The pastry isn’t exactly hard to make, all you need to do is beat the sugar and egg together, then set it aside until later on. Into a bowl or food processor place the flour, salt and butter then combine them together by either rubbing the butter into the flour or pulsing them together in a food processor (I went with the food processor method on this occasion).

Once they are combined, add in the egg/sugar mix and work it into the flour/butter mixture. This will bind the dough together, work them together until almost fully combined then tip out onto a floured surface to knead the pastry together. You’re looking for a clear dough, with no traces of a single ingredient. Wrap in clingfilm/plastic wrap then chill in the fridge for around an hour, this is to allow the butter to firm up and the gluten to relax.

After about an hour in the fridge, the dough should be firm. Take it from the fridge and cut it in half (keep the other half chilled in the fridge), flour your surface well with some plain flour. Place the dough onto the floured surface and roll it out until its slightly bigger than your 8 inch pie dish. Place the pastry over the tart tine and work it into the tin, fix any cracks with the remaining pastry and trim the excess from the edges. You can then dock the pastry with a fork, this is just to stop it from rising while it’s baking, place in the fridge to chill for 30 minutes, then give it a good coat with some egg wash then place in the preheated oven and bake for 23-25 minutes or until golden brown.

Once your pastry case and crème pâtissière are fully cooled down, you can start to assemble your tart. Place the custard into a bowl and whisk it until its smooth and more pliable, once you’ve got it spreadable, add it into the pastry case and level it off as best you can using an offset palette knife or the back of a spoon. Set aside (or in the fridge) while you slice your strawberries.

Next, you’ll want to slice your strawberries, I slice most of mine into 3 or 4’s so there is the right thickness but you do it however you like, you could even place the strawberries on whole, just slice the green bit off the top.

Now you can place the strawberry slices on top of the tart, starting on the outside working your way into the middle of the tart, this is the way that works best for me personally but feel free to change it, I’m just providing the basic information. Once all your strawberries are on, you can then warm up the apricot jam and then brush it over the fruit. This acts as a preservative and adds flavour.

Ingredients:

Crème pâtissière:

500ml Milk.

1-2 tsp Vanilla extract.

120g Egg yolks.

100g Granulated white sugar.

60g Plain flour.

Pastry:

1 Egg.

90g Granulated white sugar.

225g Butter.

375g Plain flour.

Pinch of salt

Finish:

Strawberries, sliced.

Apricot jam, for the glaze.

So that’s all for this week, I hope you enjoyed this recipe. It’s a pretty quick and easy recipe and perfect for this time of year (especially if the weather is decent), so make this and enjoy the weather with your friends and family. I’ll see you again next week guys!

As always, I’ll leave the YouTube video down below if you’re interested in watching it!

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