Baking with Elliott

Biscoff Rice Krispie Treats

This weeks recipe, is a bit of a cheat as it’s a no-bake treat. Today I’m showing you how to make a batch of my Biscoff rice krispie treats – these could easily become your new favourites.

I’m trying my best to use up all the ingredients I have in the house, mostly so I don’t have to go out and risk catching anything. There was a night where I really wanted some thing sweet but easy and just plain old rice krispie treats came to mind but then I had the genius idea of making them biscoff… So that’s how I came up with these. The rice krispie treat is perfect and with the Biscoff, it just adds something special.

By making these, I was killing two birds with one stone – using what I had in the house and satisfying my sweet tooth. It’s a win-win to me!

Anyway, let’s get started, shall we?

Ingredients:

45g Butter.

300g Marshmallows (I used the pink and white variety, use whatever you can get).

180g Rice Krispies.

50g Biscoff spread.

50g Biscoff biscuits, roughly chopped.

8 Biscoff biscuits.

Method:

Before you get into making these treats, you’re best to do some prep work. Line a 8×8 inch square tin with greaseproof/parchment, weigh up all your ingredients and get yourself a large saucepan and silicon spatula.

To start, grab yourself a large saucepan and place the butter, marshmallows and biscoff spread. Place on the hob over a medium heat and allow to melt, then stir continuously until everything is well melted and smooth. This doesn’t take too long, don’t be tempted to use a high heat, as the mixture may catch on the bottom of the pan.

Once melted, take the saucepan off the heat and pour directly over the rice krispies.

Give it all a good mix together, try not to make a mess! it may be difficult to start with but as everything starts to get coated, it will get easier.

Once you’re about half way done with the mixing, you can now add in the roughly chopped biscoff biscuits, continue mixing until everything is incorporated and well mixed.

Now you can take your lined 8×8 inch square cake tin and place all of the rice krispie mixture into it. It may look like a lot but once its been compressed down, it will look better. Take a spatula or something similar and start to press the mixture down, levelling it off as best you can. It can be done pretty easily but I found to get it super level, using a cake decorating smoother really helps to get it level and compressing it.

Place in the fridge to firm up a bit, while you warm up the topping.

For the topping, take around 150-200g biscoff spread and melt it. I found placing the jar into some warm/hot water works really well. It should be much more liquid and easier to work with – pour directly on top of the treats and spread best you can, then place biscoff biscuits on top, if you’d like.

I like to then place the finished treats into the fridge, mostly just to firm up. As they are easier to slice when firm – it’s just a heck of a lot less messy.

Now it’s time to slice them up, cut into 8 generous portions, each slice should have a good ambit of biscoff spread and a whole biscoff biscuit. Feel free to cut them into smaller portions, so instead of 8 you get 16, it’s up to you!

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.

Homemade Wholemeal Bread | Whole Wheat Bread

by bakingwithelliott Leave a Comment

Today’s recipe is a super simple one, which is perfect for all of you who are getting into baking – especially bread baking.

I know that bread baking can initially seem like a long and rigorous process but it’s actually pretty straight forward. You only need a handful of ingredients and a bit of time (let’s be honest, considering that most of us are staying home) you can take the time and give this loaf a bash.

From my experience, wholemeal bread can feel heavy and quite stodgy but this recipe makes for quite a soft and light loaf, which is 100% better than the commercially available stuff.

If you have the time, you should certainly look into making bread from scratch. It’s worth the time you put in and is by far more cost effective compared to something at a bakery – use your time wisely and get baking!

Anyway, let’s get started, shall we?

Ingredients:

500g Wholemeal bread flour.

40g Fresh yeast.

8g Salt.

30g Shortening (Trex or Crisco will work well).

10g Granulated sugar.

310ml Water, warmed.

Method:

Start by doing some prep work. Weigh up all the ingredients, prepare your loaf tin (if needed) and get any equipment you may need ready, such as a mixing bowl.

To start on the dough, take your mixing bowl and place in the wholemeal flour along with the salt and give the two a brief mix, just to incorporate the two.

You can then go ahead and add in the white shortening, granulated sugar, fresh yeast and water.

If you’re using a stand mixer like me, I recommend using a low speed to start with, for roughly 2 minutes, then crank the speed up to a medium low and mix for a further 6 minutes – that’s 8 minutes in total.

By this point, the dough should be well formed and the bowl should be pretty clean (just a bit of residual flour at the top of the bowl).

Give the dough a brief knead on a floured surface, then place the dough into a lightly oiled mixing bowl, cover with clingfilm and leave somewhere warm to proof for around hour or until the dough has roughly doubled in size.

Once the dough has had time to proof and is ready, you can remove it from the bowl and place it onto a 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 and shows that the yeast is working.

You can then bring the dough back into a ball shape by folding it in on itself. Then you can go ahead and roll the ball into a fat sausage shape, roll it out large enough so it fits into your loaf tin lengthwise.

Place the dough into your loaf tin and loosely cover with clingfilm and leave to proof for a second time for about 30-45 minutes or until the dough has doubled in size again.

While the dough is proofing, you can preheat your oven to 230˚/445˚f.

Once the second proof is done, you can go ahead and remove the clingfilm from on top of the dough and place the loaf into the preheated oven and bake for 30-35 minuses or until the crust has become well coloured.

If I remember anything from college is that to test if the bread is baked, you simply remove it from the tin and tin it upside and tap the bottom. You’re looking for a hollow sound, that means it’s fully baked.

3 Ingredient Strawberry Jam

by bakingwithelliott Leave a Comment

If you’re looking for a quick and easy strawberry jam recipe, look no further. Today’s recipe is for my 3 ingredient strawberry jam – you read that right, only 3 ingredients.

Ever since I started my YouTube channel and blog, I have asked multiple times whether people would be interested in a recipe for my jam and only now have I finally got around to sharing it with you.

When it comes to jam making, people assume its hard to do or you need more ingredients but this really isn’t the case. You need three simple ingredients; strawberries, sugar and water – that’s it. Making jam is seriously easy and doesn’t take too long either – this is the ideal recipe to make while you’re staying in. You can use other fruits, I recommend sticking to berries (I’ve used raspberries, blueberries and strawberries previously).

Anyway, let’s get started, shall we?

Ingredients:

350g Fresh strawberries, hulled and chopped.

200g Granulated sugar (any sort of white sugar will work well here).

Water (just splash to help the consistency).

Method:

Before you get into making the jam, you’ll want to do some prep work. Weigh up all your ingredients, grab a medium/large saucepan and wooden spoon and a sterilised jar (I used a Kilner jar but feel free to use whatever jar you have, as long as its clean and has been sterilised).

Take your saucepan and place the strawberries and sugar into it.

Give the two a good mix until they are fully combined, it will look syrupy but this is completely normal.

Before you place it on the hob, you’ll want to add some water to the strawberry and sugar mixture. When it comes to how much water you will need, that really depends on how ripe your fruit is, so start with a little and add more if it’s needed – don’t worry if you add too much water, it will evaporate from the jam as it thickens on the hob (it may take a little longer if you add a lot of water).

Now that all the ingredients have been combined, you can place the saucepan on the hob over a medium-high heat.

It may look like the jam isn’t thickening to start but give it some time. As you notice the mixture starts to get hot and bubbles, keep giving it the occasional stir, just to prevent it from sticking to the bottom of the saucepan.

Once it comes to almost a boil, lower the heat and leave it to simmer over a medium-low heat, until the mixture thickens. Make sure you don’t let the mixture sit for too long as it may catch the bottom of the pan and burn – this will ruin the jam (just be careful).

Now the jam is getting there, you will notice that the mixture has gone from quite a runny consistency to a much thicker one – this is what you’re looking for. Once it becomes a more ‘gloopy’ consistency or falls more chunky from the spoon, you’re done. Remove from the heat.

Go ahead and grab your sterilised jar and pour the jam directly into it (try your best not to get the jam onto your skin, it’s extremely hot and will burn you. Also, try and get it all into the jar the first time, not like me haha).

Place the lid on the jar and allow the jam to cool down completely before you place it into the fridge and use within 4-6 weeks.

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.

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.

Raspberry & White Chocolate Cookies

by bakingwithelliott Leave a Comment

Today I’ll be showing you how to make these super simple but very tasty raspberry and white chocolate cookies.

If you’re wanting something quick, sweet and easy – this is the recipe for you. You get the classic sweetness from the cookies on its own but with the welcome addition of white chocolate, it just adds a little creaminess to it. The raspberries add the perfect amount of tartness, which is ideal for these cookies – it makes for the perfect balance.

If you’re self isolating and want something sweet, these cookies are for you. If you make the cookie dough and don’t fancy baking them off straight away, scoop up the dough, flatten and round them off then place onto a greaseproof paper line baking tray and freeze them until you want to make them.

I know that with the current situation you may find it hard to get the ingredients but remember, where theres a will, theres a way. Like the brown sugar, I ra out and have been making my own DIY version, it works perfectly – have a quick search before giving up all hope on a recipe.

Anyway, let’s get started, shall we?

Ingredients:

75g Butter.

75g Granulated sugar.

75g Light brown sugar.

1 Egg.

1 tsp Vanilla extract.

175g Plain flour.

1/2 tsp Baking powder.

75g White chocolate (chips or a bar, roughly chopped).

50g Raspberries, frozen.

Additional raspberries and white chocolate for the decoration.

Methods:

Before you get started on the cookies, you’ll want to do some prep work. Start by weighing up all your ingredients, lining your baking tray with greaseproof paper and preheat your oven to 180˚c/350˚. Get any equipment you may need ready, such as a mixing bowl and spatula.

Into your mixing bowl, place your butter, granulated sugar and light brown sugar and beat on a medium-high speed until the mixture is lighter and fluffier in colour and consistency. This normally takes around 4-5 minutes – you’ll notice a difference.

Then you can give the bowl a good scraping down, just to incorporate any bits that may not have been fully incorporated.

Now you can go ahead and add in the egg and vanilla extract, then incorporate them into the mix over a medium-high speed until they have been fully incorporated. It doesn’t take long for them to work into the mixture, you will notice the consistency has changed and became looser, this is completely normal.

Give the bowl another good scraping down, just to work in any bits that haven’t been fully worked in .

Then you can go ahead and add in the dry ingredients, passing them through a sieve first, just to remove any lumps that may be in the dry mix.

Add in raspberries and white chocolate and give it all a good mix until a cookie dough has formed.

Once your cookie dough has formed, take your cookie scoop and scoop up two balls of dough and roll them into one. Place onto your lined baking tray, then place into the preheated oven and bae for 10-12 minutes (or until they have spread well and they’re golden brown around the edge).

Now they have baked, remove from the oven and top each of them with some more frozen raspberries and white chocolate pieces, then allow to cool fully.

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.

Lardy Cake | Lardy Bread Recipe

by bakingwithelliott Leave a Comment

Today I’m bringing you a recipe which you’ll either love or hate, there is honestly no in-between on it. Today I’m showing you how to make lardy cake (or you may know it as lardy bread).

If you haven’t ever heard of lardy cake, well I’ll tell you what it is. It’s a layered bread which has a sweet lard and dried fruit filling. If you like the smell/taste of lard, then this is the treat for you. I personally don’t like it, as the smell and taste is just not for me, but if you like consistency and ‘sticks to the roof of your mouth’ feel to it, then feel free to make yourself a batch.

As mentioned above, this is made with lard, which for me personally is a big no-no. This is quite a traditional recipe, it’s not so popular here in the Midlands but in the south and south west it’s still pretty popular and can be purchased from shops there.

If lard isn’t you thing, you can make this with butter but it isn’t really then a lardy cake, it’s a butter version.

Anyway, let’s get started, shall we?

Ingredients:

Dough:

500g Strong white bread flour.

8g Salt.

55g Fresh yeast.

50g Light brown sugar.

50g Lard.

275ml Water, warmed.

Filling:

250g Lard.

250g Light brown sugar.

200g Mixed dried fruit.

Glaze:

200g Granulated sugar.

200ml Water.

Methods:

Before you get into the recipe, you should do some prep work. Start by weighing up all your ingredients, lining your 8×8 inch square tin with some parchment and getting any equipment you may need ready, such as a stand mixer and spatula.

To start on the dough, grab your mixing bowl and place in the strong white bread flour, along with the salt and give it a mi until they are fully incorporated.

Then you can go ahead and add in the yeast, light brown sugar, lard and water and mix on a medium-low speed until a clear dough forms, this will normally be achieved after about 5-6 minutes of mixing (using a dough hook).

Flour your work surface with a small amount of bread flour and give the dough a brief knead, just until its smooth and elastic.

Now you can take the dough and place it into a lightly oiled bowl and cover with clingfilm. Leave it somewhere to proof for around 60 minutes or until well proofed up.

While your dough is proofing, you can make the sweet lardy filling.

Grab a clean mixing bowl and into it place the lard and light brown sugar, then beat them together until they are lighter and fluffier in colour and consistency.

Once you’ve achieved that, you can give the bowl a good scraping down, just to incorporate any bits that haven’t been fully worked in.

Once your dough is ready, you can knock it back. This is simply the processor removing the gases that have built up in the dough during the first proof. Once knocked back bring back into a ball of dough.

Next, you can roll the dough out to be 30cm x 18cm, it’ should be rectangular in shape. You may notice that the dough keeps springing back to its original shape while you’re rolling it out – this is normal and shows that the gluten has developed. Be persistent and you’ll achieve it in the end, use a little more force if you’re struggling.

Now you can add all of your lard mixture on top of the dough and spread it out to get as consistent level as possible, I find using a small cranked/offset palette knife works really well. Then you can scatter the mixed dried fruit on top of the dough.

This is where it gets interesting. You’ll want to give the dough a book fold, rotate it 90˚ so the middle fold has gone from vertical to horizontal and give it 1 half turn.

Pin the dough so it fits your 8×8 inch cake tin, which has been lined. you may need to pin it into the corners but it should fit pretty snugly.

Cut into the dough using a scotch scraper so you end up with 16 equally sized squares.

Cover the lardy cake and leave to proof up for around 30-45 minutes or until well proofed up. Now is the ideal time to make the glaze that goes on top of the cake once it’s baked.

To make the syrup, place the sugar and water into a saucepan and place on the hob over a medium-high heat and allow it to come to a boil, once thats achieved and the mixture has achieved a thicker consistency, you can take it off the heat and leave it until its needed later on – also preheat your oven to 210˚c/410˚f.

Once the second proof is done, you can then remove the cling film and lace straight into your preheated oven and bake for 15-20 minuets or until it’s a golden brown colour.

Now its out of the oven, grab your syrup you made earlier on and generously brush it over the top of the lardy cake.

Then scatter over some granulated sugar.

That’s all you can do until later. Once cooled down fully, you can go ahead and cut it up, where the lard has soaked through it’s quite dense and sticks to the roof of your mouth.

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.

Hot Cross Bun Bread Pudding

by bakingwithelliott Leave a Comment

Do you have left over hot cross buns you bought or made that have gone slightly stale? Don’t throw them out – you can use them in a simple hot cross bun bread pudding!

This recipe is a slight twist on my traditional bread pudding but it’s all equally as tasty – I promise. I’ve made this recipe quite lot, especially around Easter each year but this year is slightly different as ingredient availability has been terrible. That’s why I have made some changes and they work well, so you can make suitable changes to work with what you have.

I had no light brown sugar so used coconut sugar, added more spices (but use as much or as little spice as you like) and a little more fruit – honestly it makes a tasty bread pudding – work with what you have, if you can.

I have recipes for both traditional bread pudding and traditional hot cross buns, if you’re interested.

Anyway, let’s get started, shall we?

Ingredients:

1,000g Hot cross buns, roughly chopped.

1,200ml Whole milk.

200g Dried mixed fruit.

Ground spices (I used a mix of cinnamon, ginger, mixed spice, all spice and nutmeg) as much or as little as you’d like.

4 Egg.

150g Coconut sugar (plus additional for sprinkling on top before baking).

100g Granulated sugar.

1 tsp Vanilla extract.

Method:

Before you get into making the bread pudding, you’re best to do some prep. Weigh up all your ingredients, line a 9×13 cake tin and preheat your oven to 180˚c/350˚f.

To start, grab your jug or bowl of whole milk and place the eggs and ground spices into it and give it all a good whisk until everything is combined.

Take your bowl of roughly chopped hot cross buns and pour over the liquid mix all over.

Then you can add in the sugars, dried fruit and vanilla extract and start to combined everything using your hands. This is he best way to make this pudding, if you can’t mix by hand, feel free to use a stand mixer.

After a couple of minutes of mixing, there should be no big lumps of bread and everything should be fully incorporated.

Now you can take your lined 9×13 inch cake tin, and pour in the bread pudding mixture.

You will need to level this off as best you can, using either a small cranked palette knife or a silicon spatula – either work pretty well.

Just before you place into the oven, you will want to sprinkle over some sugar (whichever you have, I had a small amount of brown sugar left over from another bake), this will help create a crunchy texture on top, as well as a touch of sweetness.

You can then go ahead and bake in your preheated oven for 40-50 minutes. You will know when its done, as it will look perfectly crunchy and be firm to the touch.

Allow to cool down completely before slicing up, its best enjoyed cold on its own. Well, that’s how I choose to enjoy it personally.

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.

Crumpets

by bakingwithelliott Leave a Comment

Today, I’ll be showing you how to make a batch of crumpets – they’re really easy to make and having all the time in the world, why not knock a batch up?

I was hungry the other day and really wanted crumpets, but it’s not an essential is it? So, I found my old college work books and looked for a recipe. Low and behold, there was a recipe for crumpets! I hadn’t made these since I was in maybe first or second year of college… You’re looking a 6 or 7 years ago (yikes).

Anyway, if you’re not sure what a crumpet is, are you alright? Crumpets (or sometimes known as pikelets. I think this is a regional thing, here in the West Midlands, they are known by both names) are a small yeasted breakfast bread, which is baked on a hot plate (or frying pan). They are instantly recognisable as they have holes all over the top of them, this allows whatever you spread on them to permeate through – salted butter is the way to go with these, it’s a classic.

These are normally pretty readily available in the supermarkets but with the current Covid-19 situation, finding anything is still pretty difficult. That’s why making your own is the best thing to do – plus that way, you know what’s going into your food and it tastes a lot better!

Anyway, let’s get started, shall we?

Ingredients:

500g Strong bread flour.

530ml Water, at 37˚c/99˚f.

25g Fresh yeast.

8g Salt.

25g Sugar.

155ml Water, at 37˚c/99˚f.

Method:

Before you get into making these crumpets, you’re best to do some prep work. Start by weighing up your ingredients and getting any equipment you may need, such as a whisk and mixing bowl.

To start own the crumpets, grab yourself a large mixing bowl and into it place the flour and salt. Then give them a good mix until they are combined.

Then you can go ahead and add in the yeast, sugar and 530ml of water. Whisk until a smooth batter forms, this isn’t like other breads as it’s a loose consistency but it’s completely normal.

Once smooth, you can go ahead and cover the bowl with some clingfilm (or like I have, a plastic food bag because I ran out of clingfilm) and leave somewhere warm to ferment for 40-50 minutes.

You will notice that the mixture will have risen well and look a little messy, that’s perfect. The fermenting time is done.

Go ahead and add in the second weight of water, which is 155ml and whisk until the water has been fully incorporated and the batter is perfectly smooth.

The mixture needs between 5-10 minutes to rest, so just leave uncovered on the side while you prepare the frying pan.

Grab yourself a small/medium frying pan and a 10cm/4 inch egg ring/bottomless cake tin. My egg rings weren’t deep sided enough, so made a slightly bigger crumpet using my 4 inch cake tin.

Lightly grease your frying pan and the ring you’re using and place the ring in the drying pan over a medium heat on the hob..

Once the frying pan is preheated, you can go ahead and pour the batter in, filling the ring about 1/3 of the way full as these do rise a little while baking.

You will think nothing is happening at first but as they start to bake, you’ll notice bubbles start to form all on top of the crumpet, thats perfect. This happens over a few minutes, once they are almost done, you should be able to burst a bubble in the centre and it won’t fill back in, if it does, it needs longe.

Once they have done on the one side, remove the ring and flip onto the other side just to colour and finish them off.

Now that it’s done, transfer onto a cooling rack. Although these can be enjoyed while fresh, I preferred to let mine cool fully and then reheat them in the toaster and slather in butter.

From this amount of batter, you should be able to make around 10 generously size crumpets. These are way better than the ones you can buy from the supermarket – let me tell you.

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.

Cadbury Mini Egg Cookies

by bakingwithelliott Leave a Comment

Easter is juts a few weeks away, so why not get ahead with your Easter baking and make these Cadbury Mini Egg cookies? These will go down a treat with everybody!

The cookie dough is a simple vanilla one, but when you add in the mini eggs you not only get the chocolate and vanilla combination but you also get a pop of colour from the mini eggs – it’s a win win in my opinion. If you make these cookies, you should get around 12 cookies!

Now,I’m not sure if Cadbury mini eggs are available all over the world but in the UK they are one of the treats that show Easter is near (even if that is in January… Yes, I found mini eggs in January), I use Cadbury mini eggs, mostly because they’re a classic but also the colour doesn’t fade while they are in the oven. Feel free to use whichever mini eggs you can get a hold of.

I just wanted to let people know that this recipe like the next few was recorded before the coronavirus really impacted the UK, so I was able to buy ingredients pretty freely. I didn’t want people to think I wasn’t considering the current situation, stay in and keep safe!

Anyway, let’s get started, shall we?

Ingredients:

75g Butter.

75g Light brown sugar.

75g Granulated sugar.

1 Egg.

1 tsp Vanilla extract.

175g Plain flour.

1/2 tsp baking powder

Pinch of salt.

100-120g Cadbury mini eggs (plus extra to decorate).

Method:

Before you get into making these cookies, I recommend you do some prep work. Start by weighing up all your ingredients, lining a baking tray with parchment paper and preheating your oven to 180˚c/350˚f.

To start, take a large mixing bowl and place the butter, light brown sugar and granulated sugar and beat them together on a medium-high speed until the mixture is lighter and fluffier in colour and consistency.

Once lighter and fluffier, you can go ahead and give the mixing bowl a good scraping down, just to incorporate any bits that may not have been fully worked in while mixing.

Go ahead and add in the egg and vanilla, then mix until they have been fully worked in. You may notice a change in consistency, this is normal, don’t worry.

Now you can go ahead and give the bowl a good scraping down, this is again just to incorporate any bits that may not have been fully worked in while mixing.

Grab your sieve and place it not the mixing bowl and pass the plain flour, baking powder and salt through it. This is just to remove any lumps that may be in the dry mix. You can also go ahead and add the mini eggs into the bowl as well.

Then mix on a medium speed until the dry ingredients have been incorporated and the mini eggs are equally distributed in the cookie dough.

Give the bowl another good scraping down, just to incorporate any bits that may not have been fully worked in.

Take your lined baking tray, a cookie scoop and the cookie dough and start to tray up!

For each cookie, take two scoops of cookie dough and roll them together and place onto the baking tray. This next step is optional but it helps the cookies bake a little more uniform. Grab a large circular cookie cutter and just round off the balls of dough a little.

Once you have a tray full of cookie dough, place into your preheated oven and bake for 10-12 minutes or until golden brown round the edges.

Once the baking time is finished, you can take them from the oven and finish them off with some more mini eggs (because is it possible to have too much chocolate?).

Now that they’re baked, you can allow them to cool on the baking tray or transfer onto a cooling rack, either will be fine. Once cooled, enjoy or you can freeze them, whichever works best for you.

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.

Cheese and Bacon Hot Cross Buns

by bakingwithelliott Leave a Comment

Easter is only a few weeks away and with the country being on lockdown due to the coronavirus, why not stay in and make a batch of hot cross buns? I promise, they’re pretty easy and don’t require a lot of ingredients.

How is the self-isolating going? Family or friends driving you nuts yet? Why don’t you get in the kitchen and make a batch of these hot cross buns up! They are different to the traditional hot cross bun, as they are savoury. A ‘traditional’ hot cross bun is made with mixed dried fruit and spices, where as this one has cheese and bacon – quite the difference, huh?

The flavours are simple, mostly because you can add too many flavours to a bread and it simply ruins it but feel free to add whatever you like to the dough.

There is one thing I wanted to say about this recipe and the next few coming up. They were recorded before the coronavirus really started to impact everyday life and when you could go to the supermarket and buy whatever you needed (hope you panic buyers are happy with what you’ve got). I didn’t want anyone to think I was being insensitive with what I was making, especially now that ingredients are getting harder and harder to find.

Anyway, let’s get started, shall we?

Ingredients:

500g Strong bread flour.

5g Salt.

50g Fresh yeast.

75g Butter.

50g Granulated sugar.

1 Egg.

175ml Water, warm.

100g Cheddar cheese.

75g Bacon, cooked and chopped small.

Cross paste:

Bread flour.

Water.

Method:

Before you get into making the buns, you’re best to do some prep work. Weigh up all your ingredients, lightly oil a large mixing bowl and get any equipment you may need ready, such as a stand mixer and a spatula.

Into a large mixing bowl, place the flour and salt and give it all a good whisk together, just until the two ingredients are fully incorporated.

Go ahead and add the remaining ingredients, except for the cheese and bacon into the bowl and then start to mix it on a low speed (the second or third lowest is ideal) and mix for 5-6 minutes or until a clear dough forms.

Then you can go ahead and add the cheese and bacon and mix for a further 1-2 minutes, or until they are fairly distributed within the dough.

Flour your work surface with some bread flour and then place the dough on top of it. Give the dough a brief knead, just until the dough is smooth and elastic. Bring it into a ball shape.

You can then transfer the dough into your lightly oiled bowl and cover with cling film and leave it somewhere warm to proof for roughly an hour or until doubled in size.

Once the dough has doubled in size, you’ll want to knock the dough back. Start by lightly flouring your work surface with some bread flour and place the dough onto it and press down the dough to remove the gases that have built up in the dough during the first proof.

Now it’s been knocked back, you can bring it back into a ball shape and cover with cling film to prevent a skin forming on the dough.

Take the weight of the dough and divide it by 12, then scale the dough up into 12 equal portions and round the balls of dough up into a smooth and well shaped ball then place onto a lined baking tray.

On the tray, you should be able to place 12 buns easily, stick to using the 3 across by 4 down layout. Leave an equal amount of space between the buns as they will batch while proofing and baking.

Now if the ideal time to preheat your oven to 200˚c/390˚f and to make the cross paste. To make the paste, simple add a small amount of flour into a bowl and add as much water as required. Mixing well in between, make sure the paste is thick enough to hold its shape but is loose enough to pipe easily.

Cover with clingfilm and leave somewhere warm for roughly 45-60 minutes or until they are well risen (if they’re batching, thats a good thing).

Place the hot cross buns into the oven and bake for 12-15 minutes or until well coloured (not like mine, which caught a little due to having a grocery order delivered. I timed it perfectly but the delivery driver came early fgs!).

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.

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