Baking not only relaxes me but I also find it a good opportunity to get creative with my friends.Being at my parents' house during my summer break a friend of mine presented me with a challenge. She claimed everything she baked came flat. I couldn't accept it so I encouraged her to bake one of the simplest treats. Cupcakes. I love Hummingbird Cupcake recipes and as her little one loves chocolate we chose the Chocolate Hazelnut Cupcake.She...
Friday, 21 September 2012
Apple Pie
Amongst the things that I am picky with is apple pies.I had some extra apples and was looking forward to baking a traditional one with thin pastry. I had done my research as always and found the perfect recipe when I realised I had almost run out of plain flour. I was left with a package of self raising one. I hate cake type apple pies. Somehow the combination of cake dough and apples doesn't match with my taste. Disappointed I couldn't...
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Friday, 21 September 2012
With the help of a friend...
Baking not only relaxes me but I also find it a good opportunity to get creative with my friends.
Being at my parents' house during my summer break a friend of mine presented me with a challenge. She claimed everything she baked came flat. I couldn't accept it so I encouraged her to bake one of the simplest treats. Cupcakes. I love Hummingbird Cupcake recipes and as her little one loves chocolate we chose the Chocolate Hazelnut Cupcake.
She baked them herself with just a tiny encouragement from me. They were a success :-)
Ingredients
- 100g plain flour
- 20g cocoa powder
- 140g caster sugar
- 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
- a pinch of salt
- 40gr butter, at room temp
- 120ml milk
- 1 egg
- 120gr nutella
- chopped hazelnuts to decorate
For the icing
- 250g icing sugar
- 80g butter, at room temp
- 25 ml milk
- 80g nutella
Method
1. Preheat the oven to 170c
2. Put the flour, cocoa powder, sugar, baking powder, salt and butter in a bowl and mix together. You can use an electric hand whisk for this. It should be a slightly sandy/grainy texture
3. Pour the milk into the mixture and mix. Then add the egg and beat until it's all incorporated.
4. Spoon the mixture into cupcakes cases in a muffin tin, filling to about halfway or 2/3 full. They rise quite a bit. Bake for 15-20 minutes.
5. Leave to cool completely, then cut out a little circle in the cupcake. Pop the loose piece of cake out, insert a dollop of nutella, then put the cake piece back ontop so you have a filled cupcake.
For the icing
Mix all the above ingredients together until incorporated and continue mixing for about 5 minutes. The more mixing, the fluffier the icing! Use a palette knife to ice the cupcakes, then sprinkle with a bit of chopped hazelnut.
http://afeitar.blogspot.co.uk/2009/03/chocolate-and-hazelnut-cupcakes.html
Apple Pie
Amongst the things that I am picky with is apple pies.
I had some extra apples and was looking forward to baking a traditional one with thin pastry. I had done my research as always and found the perfect recipe when I realised I had almost run out of plain flour. I was left with a package of self raising one. I hate cake type apple pies. Somehow the combination of cake dough and apples doesn't match with my taste. Disappointed I couldn't accept my defeat so I was looking for a recipe that used self raising flour but not to make a cake dough.
Luckily I found the following recipe. Loving amaretto I included it in the recipe to give an extra flavour and smell :-)
Ingredients
Pastry
- 300gr self-raising flour
- 180gr butter
- 180gr caster sugar
- 2 eggs lightly beaten
- icing or caster sugar to dust
Filling
- 1kg apples – peeled, corded and sliced
- 2 dsp water
- 1 dsp lemon juice
- 30gr caster sugar
- 2tbsp Amaretto
- Pinch cinnamon or clove – ground
Method:
- Preheat the oven to 190 ˚C. Poach the apples gently in 2 dsp water a 1 dsp of lemon juice. Add sugar and spice to taste. Leave to cool.
- put the butter or margarine and sugar into a saucepan and heat gently until melted. Allow to cool.
- Add the lightly beaten eggs and the Neill’s Flour and bind the mixture into a soft dough. While the dough is still warm press two-thirds of it into the base of a greased 22cm pie dish.
- Spoon the cooled apples over the top. Shape the remaining pastry into 5 or 6 flattened rounds and arrange on top of the apples, ensuring the filling is well covered.
- Bake for 25 minutes until golden brown. Serve warm, dusted with icing or caster sugar.
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