Nigella breakfast bars

So that is it. Lent has begun and so has my abstinence from chocolate. I would not call myself a complete and utter chocoholic, yes I love it and yes, if I am honest I have it most days, however I do not have it multiple times a day and occasionally turn it down (!) so therefore do not feel a complete addict...

The lovely Mark has decided to abstain too which makes both out lives easier, I do not have to watch him chomping it and he does not get biffed on the nose for wafting it in front of me one too many times.

A mini problem arises as I realise that he takes his breakfast to work everyday. His favourite cereal bar. His favourite chocolate cereal bar.

With this thought in my mind I began to think more about the commercial cereal bar. Most of which are full of sugar and not much goodness, and do not keep a man, or woman for that matter, full till lunch time.

I had heard a few people rave about the Nigella breakfast bars so decided to see if I these would be a more nutritious, more filling and chocolate free breakfast.

They are full of good things, oats, plain nuts, mixed plain seeds, dried fruit, a little unsweetened dessicated coconut and condensed milk. These seemed to me a much better thing to eat for breakfast regardless of whether or not they contained chocolate.


The exact recipe can be found here. The beauty of this recipe is that it is adaptable to suit your own tastes. I made a few tweaks myself. Firstly I used light condensed milk, it tastes the same and gives the same baked result. I also altered the amount of nuts and seeds slightly, purely based on the size of the bag the shop sold. Mark also requested prunes instead of apricots.

I had a couple of these myself as snacks before dance classes when tea was going to be late. They really kept me going, are very filling and most importantly delicious.

In the coming weeks these bars will be tweaked a number of ways for new exciting breakfasts and snacks. I have an idea involving apples, raisins and hazelnuts, if they turn out well I will be posting that recipe here very soon.

Apple and mincemeat crumble

When the weather is cold you cannot bet old fashioned comfort food. One of the most comforting has to be crumble and custard.

I had a jar of home-made mincemeat lurking in the cupboard from Christmas and so decided to jazz up a plain apple crumble with it. Result? It was delicious.

Crumble may not necessarily be the prettiest thing to look at but who cares when it tastes this good.

Apple and mincemeat crumble

(serves 4-6)

300g of cooking apples, prepared weight
200g mincemeat
100g butter
110g plain flour
70g caster sugar
30g oats

Preheat the oven to 180C/160C FAN. Prepare the crumble topping first. Rub the butter ito the flour until it ressembles breadcrumbs. Mix in the sugar and oats. 

Peel, core and slice your apples, you will need 300g of prepared apples in total. Mix the apples and mincemeat together and place into you baking dish (I used a casserole dish) in an even layer. I like my crumbles quite tart and so did not add any sugar to my apples, considering the sweetness of this mincemeat, feel free to add extra sugar to cater to your own personal tastes.

Sprinkle the crumble mix over the top of the fruit in a nice even, deep layer. Press down lightly with your hands. 

Bake in the oven for 25-20 minutes util golden and piping hot.

Serve straight away with lashings of custard, cream or ice cream.

Any leftover crumble will keep till the next day. Let it cool completely then cover with foil and put in the fridge. Reheat in the oven for ~10 minutes. Interestingly I found the crumble topping even more crisp the next day.

Marbled chocolate cheesecake biscuits

Sadly one of my last chocolate bakes before lent starts I think. Though I may be able to sneak one more in on Sunday if I put my mind to it!

The reason I call these cheesecake biscuits and not mini cheesecakes is that I believe my recipe has a typo somewhere. The ratio of base to filling is definitely askew. There seems to be lots of base compared to filling and in the end I did not use all the base mix that I made.  I have altered the recipe to account for how much base I did use. In my final version base to filling is 50/50, hence the name.

Saying that they are absolutely delicious and actually I quite like them like this, a cheesecakey biscuit to have with a cup of tea instead of a full on dessert. The recipe below is for the cheesecake biscuits. If you wanted to make mini cheesecakes I would simply suggest doubling the filling recipe. Keep the base recipe the same as below (the original really was too much).

Marbled chocolate cheesecake biscuits

(makes 8) 

You will need a mini cheesecake tin, mini victoria sandwich tin or similar with loose bottoms.

For the base

75g digestives
30g butter

For the topping

75g cream cheese, room temperature
100g caster sugar
seeds from 1/2 vanilla pod
1 medium egg, beaten
35g dark chocolate

Preheat the oven to 180C/160C FAN. Gently warm the butter until it is just melted. Meanwhile pop the biscuits in a bowl and bash with the end of a rolling pin until breadcrumb like. Pour the butter over the biscuit crumbs and combine well. Press the base into the the bottom of the tin. The filling will only make about 8 so it is possible you will not need all the holes in the tin. 

Bake the base in the oven for 10-15 minutes. Check after 10, nobody wants burnt biscuit base. 

Remove from the oven and allow to cool completely. 

Reset the oven to 160C/140C FAN. To make the filling, use a wooden spoon to beat the cream cheese, sugar and vanilla seeds together until smooth. Add the egg slowly, using the wooden spoon to combine well. 

Spoon the filling over the cooled bases. Reserve about a table spoon of the filling. Melt the chocolate with a tablespoon of water in a heatproof bowl set over a pan of barely simmering water. When melted and smooth add to the reserved filling, It needs to be at a drizzling consistency so in all likelihood you will have to let the chocolate mix down with hot water to get to this stage, Just add a little at a time until it drizzles nicely. 

Drizzle the chocolate in a zig zag or blobs, however you wish, over the filling. use the handle of a teaspoon to lightly marble, don't go to mad or the pattern will be lost.

Bake in the oven for 12-15 minutes until the edges puff up but the middle is still a little soft. Leave to cool and then put in the fridge for at least two hours before eating. Gently loosen the edges with a knife and gently push on the base to release the cheesecake.

White chocolate and raspberry cake

When asking Mark what cake he would like for his birthday the answer was 'something with chocolate or something like a Victoria sponge'. I was not sure what to do with such wide scope. Then as luck would have it, just a few days later, this months good food magazine popped through my door.

Inside was a cake recipe by John Whaite, the winner of this years Great British bake off, a sort of Victoria sponge with raspberries in and sandwiched together with white chocolate ganache. Perfect.

Simply it is a Victoria sponge but white chocolate is added, the butter and chocolate are melted first. Raspberries are added to the mix before baking and once cool the whole thing is sandwiched together with white chocolate ganache.

I do appreciate that he won and I should not mess with a master but I made a few tweaks to suit my own personal tastes and because I did not want to waste the leftover raspberries.

With the leftover raspberries I made a quick soft set jam. I used this as well as the ganache to sandwich the cake together. You could use bought jam or leave it out, as per the original recipe.

White chocolate and raspberry cake (adapted from John Whaite and good food magazine)

For the cake

200g butter
100g white chocolate
175g caster sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla paste or extract
4 eggs
200g self raising flour
175g raspberries, fresh or frozen

For the ganache

180ml double cream
200g white chocolate

For the quick jam

leftover raspberries, I had 175g
jam sugar, I used ~30g

Preheat the oven to 180C/160C FAN. Grease and line two 20cm loose bottom cake tins, If like me you only have one half the cake batter and bake one cake at a time.

Melt the butter and chocolate together in a heatproof bowl placed over a saucepan of barely simmering water.

When melted allow to cool for 1-2 minutes the beat in the sugar, vanilla and eggs. Fold in the flour and the raspberries. Spoon into the cake tins and level the top.

Bake in the preheated oven for 20-25 minutes until golden and a skewer comes out clean.

Leave to cool in the tin for 10 minutes and then turn out onto a wire rack to cool.

Meanwhile to make the ganache melt the chocolate and 80ml of the cream in a heatproof bowl over a saucepan of barely simmering water. Oncemelted allow to cool and thicken. Once cool beat the remaining cream into the ganache until light (er).

If you wish to make the quick jam simply put the raspberries into a pan with the sugar (no need for any water) and bring to a simmer. Once simmering boil for 15 minutes, stirring from time to time and then set aside to cool. 

Sandwich the sponges together with the jam and ganache then enjoy!

Chocolate and salted caramel tart

Yesterday I went on a 'Cooking with Chocolate, day at the Edinburgh new town cookery school. It was a fantastic day and I would recommend their Saturday workshops to everyone.

During the day we made sirloin steak with a port and chocolate sauce, chicken mole (chicken in a chilli and chocolate sauce), marbled chocolate cheesecake, brownies and a chocolate and salted caramel tart.

The chicken mole was delicious and it will certainly be made again in my house. The cheesecake and tart were also amazing. Today I will share the tart recipe with you and the cheesecake will make an appearance soon.

Chocolate and salted caramel tart

makes 3-4 individual tarts

For the pastry 

115g plain flour
1 tbsp caster sugar
1 tbsp cocoa powder
50g butter, cubed
1 egg yolk
1 tbsp cold water
1/2 tsp vanilla extract

For the caramel

125g sugar
1/4 tsp cream of tartar
60g butter, cubed
50ml double cream
sea salt to taste

For the chocolate layer

1 tbsp sugar
1 small egg
50g plain chocolate
35g butter, cubed

To make the pastry, put the flour, sugar and cocoa in a processor, add the butter and whiz until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs. Add the egg yolk, water and vanilla and whiz until the dough almost comes together, Tip into a bowl and bring together with your hands. Shape into 3-4 discs, wrap into clingfilm and chill for 30 minutes. 

Meanwhile make the caramel. Dissolve the sugar and and cream of tartar with 21/2 tbsp of water in a saucepan. Do not let it boil until the sugar is dissolved. Once the sugar s fully dissolved bring to the boil and add in the butter. Keep boiling until the mixture is a golden toffee colour. Be patient this whole process can take up to 20 minutes. Remove from the heat and stir in  1/2 the cream, once the bubble subside add the remaining cream. Add a good pinch of sea salt and leave to cool. 

Lightly flour a work surface and roll out the pastry discs fairly thinly and line your tart cases. Chill for 30 minutes. Put the oven on to preheat at 200C/180C FAN. 

Prick the base of the pastry case with a fork and line with baking parchment and baking beans. Bake for 12 minutes, removing the baking parchment and beans for the last couple of minutes. Set aside to cool. 

Turn the oven down to 170C/150C FAN. 

To make the chocolate layer gently melt the butter and chocolate together. Beat the egg and sugar together until thick and pale custard coloured. Pour the chocolate mixture over the egg mixture and bat together until smooth and glossy.

Spread the caramel over the base of the tartlets (if the caramel is too hard it can be warmed VERY gently) and spoon the chocolate layer over the top. Bake for 12 minutes until set then leave to cool in the tin.

Once cool remove from the tin and devour!

These are very richly and simply delicious. The individual tarts we made on the day were in my eyes very big. One easily served the two of us. A little ice cream on the side was a good accompaniment to cut through the sticky caramel.