Blackberry White Chocolate Crumble Bars

Recipe from Dallas News

Blackberry White Chocolate Crumble Bars

Ingredients:

100g (¼ cup plus 3tbsp) unsalted butter

106g (½ cup) light brown soft sugar

156g (1 cup) plain flour, sifted

¼ tsp salt

¼ tsp bicarbonate of soda

90g (1 cup) quick cook oats

255g (1 ½ cups) white chocolate, chopped

170g (½ cup) blackberry jam

100g blackberries, fresh or frozen

     

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 170C/325F/mark 3. Grease and line an 8x8 inch pan.

2. Cream together the butter and sugar until pale and fluffy. Mix in the flour, salt and bicarbonate of soda, then stir in the oats.

3. Press two-thirds of the crumb mixture into the base of the prepared pan. Sprinkle the white chocolate pieces over the base and spread the jam on top. Sprinkle over the blackberries, and then the remaining crumble mixture. Press the crumb mixture down firmly, then bake for 30 minutes before cooling and slicing into 24 pieces.

Brown Butter Tea Cakes

These can be made with various combinations of fillings and toppings- I made some with blackberry filling with pistachios, cherry filling with almonds and apricot filling with almonds and pistachios.

Recipe from Always With Butter

Brown Butter Tea Cakes
Makes 12

Ingredients:
225g unsalted butter, browned and re-solidified
300g caster sugar
4 eggs, separated
470g plain flour
1tsp baking powder
½ tsp salt
120ml milk
jam
225g icing sugar, sifted
few tablespoons milk

Method:
1. Preheat the oven to 180C/350F/mark 4. Line a muffin pan with 12 paper cases.

2. Cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy and mix in the egg yolks, one by one.

3. In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder and salt.

4. In alternating thirds, mix the flour mixture and the milk into the butter mixture.

5. In another bowl, whip the egg whites to soft peaks. Carefully fold into the rest of the batter.

6. Fill the muffin cases with two tablespoons each of the batter, followed by one tablespoon of jam and then another two tablespoons of batter. Ensure that the jam is completely covered.

7. Bake for about 30 minutes, or until set and a skewer comes away clean from being inserted in the cake (not the jam).

8. Leave to cool on a wire rack. To glaze, mix together the icing sugar with enough milk to achieve a pourable icing and drizzle over the cakes.

Almond, Cherry & White Chocolate Cake

I made this cake for a family weekend- I had had my eye on the recipe from this blog for quite some time. Thankfully, the weather brightened up and this cake is perfect for a sunny day

Almond, Cherry & White Chocolate Cake

Serves 4

Ingredients:

For the Cake

240g plain flour (2cups)

2tsp baking powder

¼ tsp salt

2tsp almond extract

6 egg whites

180ml milk

 170g unsalted butter (1 ½ sticks)

sugar (1 ½ cups)

For the cherry frosting

225g unsalted butter

255g cherry preserves (3/4 cup)

225g icing sugar (2 cups)

For the white chocolate frosting

225g unsalted butter

170g white chocolate, melted and cooled

170g marshmallow fluff (or 170g melted marshmallows + 5tbsp liquid glucose) (2 cups)

¾ tsp vanilla extract

6tbsp icing sugar

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 180C/350F/mark 4 and butter and flour two 8-inch cake pans.

2. Sift together the flour, baking powder and salt and set aside.

3. Lightly whisk together the almond extract, egg whites and milk and set aside.

4. In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugar. In alternating thirds, mix in the flour mixture and egg white mixture until all of the ingredients have been incorporated. Pour the batter into the prepared pans. Bake for around 30 minutes, or until a skewer comes out of the centre of the cakes clean. Allow to cool completely before removing from the pans.

5. For the cherry frosting, beat together the butter and cherry preserves. Mix in the icing sugar and beat until smooth and fluffy.

6. For the white chocolate frosting, beat together the butter and chocolate. Mix in the marshmallow fluff and vanilla extract. Mix in the icing sugar.

7. To assemble, slice the two cake layers in half to make four layers in total. Stack up the layers by sandwiching them together with the cherry frosting. Cover the outside of the cake with the white chocolate frosting.

Bakewell Tartlettes

I have been waiting to make these tartlets for a really long time. I got some 3" chef's rings just over a month ago to be able to make them. I think that almonds and cherries go together so well, and have always been a fan of the Bakewell tart. But these tartlets are adorable.

I must say, however, that they weren't especially easy. They aren't too time consuming, but having had no past experience of lining a bottomless ring with pastry, I faced a challenge. I found that the easiest way to line them was to cut out a disc for the base, a rectangular strip for the sides and a thin strip to fuse the base and sides.

I also found that the first few tartlettes I put in the oven baked too quickly, so I turned the oven down to 180C/350F/mark 4 which was just right.

Bakewell Tartlettes

Makes 10 3-inch tartlettes

Ingredients:
For the pastry

225g plain flour

30g sugar

½ tsp salt

110g cold/frozen unsalted butter

2 egg yolks

½ tsp almond extract

1-2 tbsp cold water

For the frangipane

125g soft unsalted butter

125g icing sugar

3 eggs

½ tsp almond extract

125g ground almonds

30g plain flour

Jam or preserves (Bonne Maman Black Cherry Preserves favoured)

Method:
1. For the pastry, sift together the flour, sugar and salt. Grate the butter (on the larger hole-side of a  a grater) into the flour mixture and, using your fingertips, quickly incorporate by rubbing the butter into the flour. In a separate bowl, mix together the eggs yolks and almond extract and add this to the butter-flour mixture. Keep mixing and gradually add in enough water to create a slightly sticky dough. Mould the dough into a ball, wrap in cling film and place in the fridge for at least  30 minutes.

2. Remove the dough from the fridge and roll out to a 5mm thickness. Line the pastry rings with the dough and place on baking sheets lined with baking paper. Freeze the baking sheets for 15 minutes and preheat the oven to 160C/350F/mark 4.

3. For the frangipane, cream together the butter and sugar and, once very pale and fluffy, beat in the eggs, one at a time. Do not worry if the mixture curdles. Mix in the almond extract, ground almonds and flour.

4. Remove the baking sheets from the freezer and fill the pastry cases with baking paper and rice/baking beans. Bake for about 5 minutes in the middle of the oven. Remove the rice and baking paper inside the cases and bake for a further 5 minutes.

5. Allow the pastry to cool for about 10 minutes before spreading an even layer of jam in each case and filling with frangipane. Carefully smooth the tops and bake for about 20 minutes, or until the filling has risen and is light golden brown.

6. Allow to cool a little before dusting with icing sugar and serving with cream.

Cherry Morning Rolls

I actually made these a couple of weeks back, but it took me a little while to get round to doing this post. Unfortunately, it may be difficult for me to sustain my rate of a post per week... blame the homework/essays/coursework/revision. I did, of course do a little Mother's Day Creation, but haven't quite finished with the photos yet, so I will try to get that done over the next couple of days.

These rolls could be adapted by changing the preserves or nuts- you could even replace the preserves with chocolate chips (and the almonds with hazelnuts or pecans). A Christmas version of these could also be done by adding a dusting of nutmeg or perhaps using a jam complimented by sherry. They are great while still warm from the oven, but will stay fresh for a couple of days- and freeze well, too. I found the recipe from Always With Butter's blog, but the recipe for the dough was found on Food Network.

When you roll up the dough, after having spread it with the butter, preserves, cherries and almonds, some of the filling will ooze from the roll, creating a disturbingly red-splattered counter top. This is fine- you can just scrape up the filling and push it into the folds, but make sure you have cleared enough space on your work surface for this.

Remember to start preparing the dough the night before, as it needs to rest in the fridge overnight pre-baking.

If you can't find frozen cherries on their own, they can usually be found in bags of mixed frozen berries (I used some from Tesco which consist of 25% cherries).

Cherry Morning Rolls

Makes 8-10

Ingredients:
4 egg yolks

1 egg
50g (1/4 cup) caster sugar
85g (6tbsp) butter, melted
180ml (3/4 cup) buttermilk- if you don't have buttermilk, add about 1tsp of lemon juice to 180ml water

480g plain flour

2¼tsp yeast

1¼tsp salt

Filling:
40g (3tbsp) butter
85g (3/4 cup) frozen cherries, thawed and halved
370g (13oz)cherry preserves

55g (1/2 cup) slivered almonds

Frosting:
225g (2 cups) icing sugar, sifted
2tsp vanilla extract

Method:
1. Whisk the egg yolks, egg, sugar, butter and buttermilk in a freestanding mixer, and add half the flour, the yeast and the salt. Knead the mixture together with a dough hook and add a further three quarters of the remaining flour. Continue adding the flour until the dough stops being sticky, but is still moist and smooth, then continue to knead lightly for 5 minutes.

2. Turn out the dough onto a lightly floured surface and knead by hand for 30 seconds before placing into a large, lightly oiled bowl. Cover the bowl and leave for 2 hours, or until doubled in size.

3. Butter a 9x13 inch casserole dish. Turn out the dough onto a lightly floured surface and roll out into a rectangle measuring 18x12 inches.

4. Spread the butter and cherry preserves onto the dough and sprinkle the cherry halves and almonds on top.

5. Roll up the dough into a log and slice into 12 equally-sized rounds (1 inch- thick each)- bear in mind that a fair bit of the filling will ooze out of the sides, but this can simply be stuffed back in through the folds. Arrange the rounds into the casserole dish, so the spiral of filling in each piece is facing up. Cover the dish in cling film and refrigerate overnight.

6. Fill a roasting tin two-thirds full with water and place on the bottom rack of the oven (while it is off) Uncover the casserole dish and place on the middle rack of the oven. Leave for 30 minutes before removing both pans and preheating the oven to 350F/180◦C/mark 4. Place the casserole dish in the middle of the oven for 30 minutes, or until golden brown.

7. Add a couple of tablespoons of milk or water to the icing sugar in a medium-small bowl until evenly incorporated. Add the vanilla extract more milk/water as required to reach a runny, but not too thin consistency. Drizzle the frosting over the rolls once they have cooled, then slice out each roll and serve.