Rainbow Rippled Meringues

It's crunch time in the Bake Off tent this week, which means that the bakers need to pull off something spectacular if they want to impress the judges, and become series champion. According to reports, the final will feature a 'royal' challenge,  and will also see the return of meringues; a dessert which can often trip up the bakers.

To tie-in with this week's challenge, we've decided to feature this eye catching meringue recipe, taken from the brilliant Good Food website. This particular recipe was created by Cassie Best, a senior food editor for BBC Good Food. Cassie has created so many great recipes for BBC Good Food over the years, and her latest recipe - Toffee Apple Bread & Butter Pudding - is no exception.

You can find out how to make to make these Rainbow Rippled Meringues below, but be sure to visit BBC Good Food for the full details, and nutritional break-downs.

Ingredients:

  • 4 Large Egg Whites
  • 225g White Caster Sugar 

Choose three of the following flavours:

For Lemon Meringues

  • Very Finely Grated zest of 1 Lemon 
  • Yellow Food Colouring Paste 

Orange Meringues

  • Very Finely Grated Zest of 1 Orange
  • Orange Food Colouring

Pistachio Meringues

  • 2tbsp Finely Chopped Shelled Pistachio 
  • Green Food Colouring

Blueberry Meringues

  • 2 tbsp Freeze-Dried Blueberry, pounded to a dust using a pestle and mortar
  • Blue Food Colouring Paste

Lavender Meringues 

  • 1/2 tbsp Dried Lavender, pounded to a dust using a pestle and mortar
  • Purple Food Colouring Paste 

Raspberry Meringues 

  • 2 tbsp Freeze-Dried Raspberries, pounded to a dust using a pestle and mortar 
  • Pink Food Colouring

You will also need:

  • Disposable Piping Bags
  • Small Paintbrush
  • Extra-Large Round Piping Nozzle

Makes 21 meringues (7 each of 3 different flavours).

Method:

Step 1 - Begin by heating the oven to 140°C/120°C fan/gas 1, and then lining 2 large baking sheets with baking parchment.

Step 2 - Next, set up your piping bags. You will need 3 disposable piping bags for the three flavours. Using a wet paintbrush, paint lines of undiluted food colouring along the inside of the piping bags. Be generous, because you want the colours to be bold and wash the brush well between each colour so they don't mix.

Step 3 - Snip off the end of 1 bag and add your piping nozzle to each bag and put them to one side.

Step 4 - Tip the egg whites into a large mixing bowl or table-top mixer - ensure it is grease free before starting. Whisk the eggs with an electric hand mixer or in your mixer, until they hold soft peaks.

Step 5 - Begin adding the sugar 1 tbsp at a time, whisking continuously, until you have a thick glossy meringue, which will hold up in a stiff peak at the end of the whisk. 

Step 6 - Divide the meringue between three bowls and swirl through your chosen flavours that correspond with the piping bag colours. You would want to achieve a marbled effect rather than thoroughly mixing it all in. 

Step 7 - Put the the piping bag that has your nozzle fitted into a tall glass or jug, and roll the piping bag down over the lip of the jug or glass, to hold it in place. Fill the bag with the flavour meringue that matches the colour in the bag. Lift up and twist the end to seal.

Step 8 - Hold the piping bag about 2cm vertically above the baking tray. Apply an even pressure to the bag, slowly lifting the bag as you squeezed, to make a smooth round meringue approximately 6cm wide. To finish with a nice peak at the top, push down a little on the mixture then quickly pull the nozzle away.

Step 9 - Continue until all the mixture in the bag is used up but make sure you've left enough room for the meringues to spread.

Step 10 - Remove the nozzle; wash it and dry well, then place the next bag in. repeat until you have two trays covered with three meringues.

Step 11 - Bake for 1hr, turning the heat down to 120°C/100°C fan/gas 1/2 for the final 30 mins. Remove from the oven an cool on wire racks.

Step 12 - Once cooled, there ready for you to enjoy!

 

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Vanilla Chick Biscuit Pops

The Easter weekend is here and what better way to enjoy the time by making some sweet treats for your family and friends!

If you are looking to bake something this Easter weekend that the children can help out with, these Vanilla Chick Biscuit Pops from BBC Good Food are perfect! You can get the whole family involved in decorating these little biscuit pops and even run a mini competition to see who makes the best Easter vanilla chick biscuit pop! All you need to get started with these biscuit pops is some butter, sugar, flour, an egg, vanilla extract, desiccated coconut and icing sugar! These not only look fantastic but they will taste delicious as well thanks to the ingredients you use. These vanilla chick biscuit pops are an excellent Easter weekend activity, so why not try out this brilliant BBC Good Food recipe at home. Happy Easter everyone!

 

Ingredients:

  • 200g of unsalted butter
  • 100g of golden caster sugar
  • 200g of plain flour
  • 200g of icing sugar
  • 1 medium egg
  • 1 tsp of vanilla extract
  • 75g of desiccated coconut, unsweetened
  • 2 tbsp of milk
  • 50 of chocolate chips
  • 25g of orange or white fondant icing
  • Yellow food colouring
  • 15 to 18 lollypop sticks
  • Ribbon to decorate, optional

Instructions:

Step 1- Place half of the 200g of unsalted butter and the 100g of golden caster sugar in to a mixing bowl. Beat together by hand or using an electric mixer until it turns smooth. Then add in the egg and 1 tsp of vanilla extract before beating together again.

Step 2- Add in the 200g of plain flour to the mixture and combine until it forms a dough. Shape the dough in to a ball, cover with cling film and place in the refrigerator to chill for around 20 minutes.

Step 3- Preheat your oven to 180 degrees celcius/gas mark 4/160 degrees celcius for a fan oven before lining two large baking trays with baking paper. Take the dough out of the refrigerator. Dust a kitchen surface with flour before rolling out the dough until it is around 5mm thick. Cut the shapes for the biscuit using a 6cm cutter.

Step 4-Once you have done this, move the biscuits on to the baking trays and add a lollypop stick to each one, about a quarter of the way through. Bake the biscuits for no more than 7 minutes until they start to turn a delicious golden brown colour around the edge. Place on a cooling rack to allow them to cool down.

Step 5-Now the biscuits are cooling, you can make some frosting for decorating. Place the other 100g of unsalted butter in to a bowl and beat with a wooden spoon. Add in the 200g of icing sugar slowly, around 1 tbsp at a time until the mixture is well combined and has turned creamy. Add a small bit of milk and the leftover vanilla extract along with a few drops of the yellow food colouring. Let this frosting chill in the refrigerator for a few minutes.

Step 6-Take the 75g of desiccated coconut and add it to a small bowl. Add a few more drops of the yellow food colouring to the coconut and mix it together.

Step 7-Take the frosting out of the refrigerator and spread it on one side of the biscuit. Then put some of the desiccated coconut on top of the frosting before adding two chocolate chips to represent the chicks eyes. Finish by adding a tiny bit of orange icing to represent the chicks beak and decorating each biscuit pop with a ribbon.

Step 8-Now you can enjoy these fantastic Vanilla Chick Biscuit Pops as part of the Easter weekend celebrations!

Source: BBC Good Food 

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Gluten Free Coffee Cake with Dark Chocolate

Coffee Cake

Today is the start of UK Coffee Week and what better way to mark the start of this brilliant week than baking this delicious gluten free coffee cake with dark chocolate.

Gluten Free cakes are now becoming more popular as people start to realise how fantastic the gluten free alternatives are, and this gluten free coffee cake is no different. This cake is very easy to bake and requires just 6 ingredients. The tastes of the espresso and dark chocolate complement each other perfectly, and the almonds add a nice crunch to it. So why not celebrate UK Coffee Week 2015 by making this delicious gluten free coffee cake with dark chocolate!

Photo by Apostoloff (view original here)

 

Ingredients:

For the Cake

  • 20ml of espresso
  • 70g of caster sugar
  • 4 eggs
  • 175g of unsalted butter
  • 200g of dark chocolate
  • 200g of almonds

Instructions:

Step 1-Preheat your oven to 170 degrees and grease/line a 20cm loose base cake tin with baking paper.

Step 2-Add the 200g of almonds to a food processor and blend until they are finely ground. Be sure not to overdo them as they will become sticky.

Step 3-Add the 200g of dark chocolate and 175g of unsalted butter to a bowl and melt over a pan of hot water. Ensure the bowl doesn’t come in to contact with the water.

Step 4-Separate the eggs and whisk the 4 egg yolks and 70g of caster sugar until it forms a thick paste, this should take no more than 5 minutes with an electric whisk.

Step 5-Fold the chocolate mixture along with the ground almonds in to the sugar and egg mixture.

Step 6-In another bowl, whisk the egg whites until they are stiff and add these to the cake mixture as well.

Step 7-Pour the mixture in to your 20cm loose base cake tin and bake for 25 to 30 minutes to cook well. You can adjust this depending how well you like your cake cooked. Allow the cake to cool for 5 minutes before removing from the tin.

Step 8-All there is left to do is enjoy a slice of this Gluten Free Coffee Cake with Dark Chocolate to celebrate UK Coffee Week!

Source: Jamie Oliver 

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Nigella Hot Cross Buns Recipe

Hot Cross Buns

As it is the Easter weekend, we thought we would share with you one of the classic Easter Sunday treats, and we aren’t talking about easter eggs! Hot Cross Buns are a fantastic tradition in Britain, and this scrumptious recipe from Nigella Lawson is the great way to get the family baking this weekend! Happy Easter everyone!

This Nigella hot cross buns recipe is, if you haven’t already guessed, courtesy of the brilliant Nigella Lawson! If you are looking to try something slightly different for Easter 2015, this recipe provides a fantastic twist on perhaps a more traditional hot cross buns recipe. Including cardamom pods and a clove, these ingredients are used to infuse the milk for the dough, adding a really intense but delicious flavour to these hot cross buns!

 

Ingredients:

For the Dough

  • 400g of bread flour
  • 150ml of milk
  • 50g of butter
  • Zest of 1 large orange
  • 125g of dried fruit
  • 1 clove
  • 2 cardamom pods
  • 1 seven gram packet of easy blend yeast
  • 1 tsp of ground cinnamon
  • Half a tsp of ground nutmeg
  • Quarter of tsp of ground ginger
  • 1 large egg

For the cross on the buns

  • 3 tbsp of plain flour
  • 2 tbsp of water
  • Half a tbsp. of caster sugar

For the sugar glaze

  • 1 tbsp of caster sugar
  • 1 tbsp of boiling water

For the egg wash

  • 1 large egg, beaten

Instructions:

Step 1-In a saucepan, heat the 150ml of milk, 50g of butter, orange zest, clove and the two cardamom pods until the butter is fully melted. Once this has happened, allow the mixture to infuse which will add fantastic flavour to the hot cross buns.

Step 2-To a mixing bowl, add the bread flour, yeast and 125g of dried fruit along with the spices (cinnamon, nutmeg and ginger). Once the milk has been completely infused by the cardamom and clove, remove both of these items and beat in the large egg. Once this is done, pour the mixture in to the bowl of dry ingredients.

Step 3-Knead the dough by hand or using a machine. You should continue to knead it until the dough turns quite elastic. If you find the dough is a bit dry, add more warm milk to help resolve this. Once you are happy with the dough, shape it in to a ball and place it in a buttered mixing bowl and cover with clingfilm. Allow it to rest overnight in the fridge.

Step 4-Preheat your oven to 220 degrees celcius/425 degrees Fahrenheit/gas mark 7, and take the dough out of the fridge to allow it to reach room temperature.

Step 5-Knead the dough again until it regains its elastic consistency. Split the dough in to roughly 16 balls, just keep halving the dough until you get the magic 16 pieces.

Step 6-Place the pieces of dough on to a baking tray or baking sheet that is lined with baking paper. Score the tops of each piece of dough with the shape of a cross, cover with kitchen towel and leave to prove again for 45 minutes, they should rise during this time.

Step 7-Brush the dough with the egg wash and mix the flour, sugar and water into a paste. Using a teaspoon, drizzle the paste mixture over the cross shape on each piece of dough. Bake for no more than 20 minutes in the oven.

Step 8-Once the hot cross buns are out of the oven, make the sugar glaze using the sugar and boiling water and brush each hot cross bun with it.

Step 9-That’s it all done, now you can sit back with a cup of tea and enjoy one of your delicious homemade hot cross buns!

Source: Nigella Lawson 

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Strawberry Cheesecake Tart Recipe

Treat your mum to something special this Mother’s Day in the form of this delicious Strawberry Cheesecake Tart recipe!

We need to give credit to the fantastic people over at Tesco Real Food for this mouth-watering recipe! This Strawberry Cheesecake Tart is very easy to make and can be prepared on Sunday morning ready for your mum to enjoy with a cup of tea on Sunday afternoon! The ginger biscuit base combined with the zest of a lemon and the sweetness of the strawberries will provide a tantalising combination of flavours when you have your first bite!

 

Ingredients:

  • 200g of ginger biscuits
  • 50g of butter (melted)

For the Filling

  • 300g of light soft cheese
  • 50g caster sugar
  • 150g Greek yoghurt
  • 227g strawberries
  • 3 tbsp of strawberry jam
  • Zest of 1 lemon
  • 3 tbsp of lemon juice

Instructions:

Step 1-Take the ginger biscuits and place them in a food bag. Crush them until they are in fine pieces. Once you are happy that the biscuits have been crushed in to fine pieces, add them to a mixing bowl along with the 50g of butter which should have been melted. Stir well until the biscuits and butter have combined.

Step 2-Add the biscuit mixture to a fluted flan tin and ensure the biscuit mixture is firmly pressed down against the base of the tin. You can do this by using a palette knife or a spoon. Once this is done, place it in the fridge to chill while you prepare the rest of the ingredients.

Step 3-In another mixing bowl, add the light soft cheese, the greek yoghurt, caster sugar, lemon zest and lemon juice and whisk until they are well combined and the mixture looks creamy. Add this on to the biscuit base which has been chilling in the fridge and smooth the top. Ensure it rests in the fridge for at least 1 hour.

Step 4-Add the strawberry jam to a saucepan and heat until it turns to a liquid consistency. Allow the mixture to cool for a bit.

Step 5-If you are using a loose base fluted flan tin, remove the base of the tin and the strawberry cheesecake tart will easily slide out. If not, carefully remove the tart from the edge of the tin using a palette knife and gradually ease it out of the cake tin. Cut the tops off the strawberrys and slice in to quarters. Place the strawberrys on top of this delicious Strawberry cheesecake tart before coating the top of the tart with the strawberry jam from earlier!

Step 6-That’s all the work done, now you can serve your mum this delicious treat this Mother’s Day, and we’re sure she will love this fantastic Strawberry cheesecake tart recipe!

Source: Tesco Real Food 

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