theordinarycook

The Ordinary Cook loves to cook. If I am not cooking or baking then the chances are I am thinking about cooking and baking. I love sharing recipes and ideas and my website is my space to do this.

Herman – The Friendship Cake

13 Comments / The Ordinary Cook /

I have been handed Herman!

Herman is a friendship cake – well actually it’s the starter for a cake. A bit like a sour dough starter but sweet.

Herman was handed to me at the school gates today by my friend Sarah.  When she sent me a text last week asking if I would like to try doing a Herman Friendship Cake I wondered if she had spent the afternoon drinking and whether I should pick her children up from school for her. But then I googled it and it turns out that this is a cake with its origins in the Amish community when a starter would be handed around the community to feed others (and Sarah hadn’t been drinking).

I love the idea of the starter making its way through the community, friend by friend by friend.

My Herman has been decanted from his lunch box and is sitting in a large bowl covered with a tea towel.  I have to stir him and feed him a couple of times in the next ten days and then I get to make the cake and spread the love that is Herman.

I will keep you posted.

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Wholemeal, nut and apple loaf

14 Comments / bread /

I make three or four loaves a week these days.  It is usually a white loaf or a spelt loaf.  Sometimes , if time is short, then it’s soda bread.  I felt like making something a bit different this week.  I had cashews loitering and apple juice open in the fridge and so this loaf was born.  You could make it with normal wholemeal flour and omit the yeast and make a soda bread if you are short of time.

I liked it so much that I have made it twice, once with the addition of ground almonds, replacing some of the flour, which makes it really lovely and nutty.

It’s a tasty and easy loaf to make.  It’s good with cheese (grilled or not, it’s up to you), with strawberry jam and with honey, or dipped into soup. It’s a substantial loaf that you can really get your teeth into.

400g strong wholemeal flour (or 300g flour and 100g ground almonds)
100g porridge oats
50g cashew nuts, bashed in a food bag with a rolling pin until nubbly
2 tsp fine sea salt
2 tsp easy bake yeast
1 tsp runny honey
150ml apple juice
150ml water

Method

Butter a 2lb loaf tin.

Place the flour, ground almonds (if using), oats and cashews in a large bowl or freestanding mixer.  Add the yeast, the salt and the honey. Warm the apple juice and water until hand hot. Pour into the flour and mix well until combined.  You may need a spot more water, as it will depend on the flour you are using.  The dough wants to be slightly sticky. Roughly shape into the size of the tin and place in the tin.  Cover with a large plastic bag, making a tent shape so that the loaf has room to rise.  Leave in a warm place for about an hour until the loaf has risen almost to the top of the tin. Wholemeal loaves do not rise as much as white loaves.

Place in a preheated oven at 200°c, gas mark 6 or on the floor of the roasting oven of the Aga for about 35-40 minutes until the loaf is well browned and sounds hollow when tapped on the bottom.  You may want to return it to the oven for another five minutes out of its tin to let the base crisp up. When cooked place it on a wire rack to cool completely.

 

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Whisky and honey cheesecake with a raspberry sauce

18 Comments / pudding /

Well, now we have got Christmas and New Year out of the way, I thought I would share a recipe that would be very good for Burns’ Night.  Burns Night is a Scottish celebration on January 25th to mark the contribution of Robert Burns to Scottish culture.

We are not Scottish, we don’t live anywhere near Scotland, but any excuse for a party. My parents are having a Burns’ Night bash on the Saturday after the 25th and I came up with this cheesecake for that night. Obviously, I had to have a test-run first.

It is a celebration of Scottish food. The Scots are famed for their whisky, their honey and their raspberries. I have also used Scottish oatcakes in the base, as a Scot needs their oats.

It’s a lovely combination, and obviously at this time of year you will need to use frozen raspberries if you are in the same hemisphere as me, but I am going to try it in the summer with a layer of fresh raspberries in the place of the raspberry sauce.  Even if you aren’t celebrating Burns’ Night, I urge you to give this a go. But, it is perfect after your haggis and tatties and neeps.

For the biscuit base:
150g Scottish Oatcakes
100g digestives
150g unsalted butter, melted
2 tsp runny honey (local or Scottish)

For the cheesecake filling:
250g mascarpone (at room temperature)
250g cream cheese (at room temperature)
300ml double cream
3tsp runny honey
5-7 tbsp Scottish whisky (amount needed will depend on your taste)

For the raspberry sauce:
250g raspberries (frozen at this time of year)
3 tsp runny honey
2 tsp raspberry vinegar (optional)
½ tsp arrowroot powder mixed with 1 tsp cold water

Method

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees C, or gas mark 4

To make the base, place the oatcakes and digestives into a food bag and bash with a rolling pin until they are fine crumbs (or you could use a food processor).  Place into a bowl and add the honey and the melted butter and mix well.  Press into a 23cm springform cake tin using a metal spoon until firmly levelled.  Place in the oven for 6 minutes until golden. Leave to cool thoroughly.

To make the cheesecake filling, place the mascarpone, cream cheese and honey into a large bowl and mix well together.  Softly whip the cream in another bowl.  Then carefully fold the cream into the cheese mixture.  Add the whisky to your taste. To do this begin by  adding four tablespoons of whisky and taste, then add a tablespoon at a time until it tastes right to you. Spoon the mixture onto the cool base and level the top with a metal spoon.  Place in the fridge until you are ready to serve.

Make the sauce by placing the frozen raspberries into a saucepan over a medium heat.  Add the honey and the raspberry vinegar (if you are using it) and cook the raspberries until they have become pulpy (about five minutes of cooking).  Sieve over a large bowl, pressing the raspberries through with a spoon so that you only have seeds left in the sieve and a seedless sauce in the bowl. Pour the sauce back into the pan and add the arrowroot and water mixture.  Bring to the boil and cook until slightly thickened. Pour into a jug and cool completely.  Place in the fridge until you are ready to serve.

Just before serving, remove the sides of the cake tin and place the cheesecake onto a serving plate.  Pour the sauce over the top of the cheesecake, spreading evenly.  Serve in thick slices with extra cream.

 

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Chocolate and orange bundt cakes

10 Comments / cake, chocolate, The Ordinary Cook /

I am ridiculously pleased with an early Christmas present from my parents. A Nordicware bundt pan.

I made vanilla bundt cakes immediately but today was time for a bundt cake that can be shared with We Should Cocoa, this month hosted by Choclette.  She chose orange for this month’s challenge and I love the combination of chocolate and orange.

The chocolate bundt cakes have orange zest and juice added and are beautiful drizzled with the orange flavoured icing. Delicious.

110g butter, softened
150g caster sugar
3 eggs
150g plain flour
25g cocoa powder
¼ tsp bicarbonate of soda
2 tablespoons of yoghurt ( I use Total 2%)
Zest of a large orange
Juice of half a large orange

For the icing
75g icing sugar
juice of half a large orange

Method

Preheat the oven to 180°c, gas mark 4 or use the Baking Oven of the Aga. Butter or oil the bundt pan.  Although, I did run a test on mine and the non stick coating worked a treat without greasing beforehand.

Making sure that the butter is really soft (I left mine out of the fridge for two days and it still wasn’t soft enough – a testament to our chilly kitchen), place all of the ingredients into a large bowl and whisk with an electric whisk until you have a smooth batter.

Pour a teaspoon of the batter into each hole of the bundt pan and place in the oven. Cook for about twenty minutes until they look cooked and if you lightly touch them the cake will spring back.

Leave them in the tin for a few minutes and then turn onto a wire rack to cool completely.

Make the icing by mixing the icing sugar with the orange juice.  If you think it’s too runny then add a little more icing sugar as it will depend on the juiciness of your orange.

Place the little cakes on a serving plate and drizzle with the icing.

You could make this in a large bundt pan, in which case you will need to double the recipe and cook for about 45 minutes. Test the cake with a skewer which should come out clean after being pushed to the centre of the cake.

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Ginger and marzipan cake

18 Comments / The Ordinary Cook /

This cake was born during a night out with friends.  It was one of those nights when we threw caution to the wind and drank cocktails!  Crazy, I know! (We don’t get out much these days).

I indulged in an Amaretto and Ginger Ale.  Goodness, it was good.  My friend, let’s call her Tallulah, (that’s the name she wanted to be known by if I ever wrote this post) said it would make a good cake.  Ginger topped with a layer of marzipan.

I got to it that very week. The ginger cake topped with marzipan was good but not great.  A couple of weeks later and I felt inspired enough to try again.  Adding the marzipan into the batter makes for a deliciously moist cake and the combination of pieces of chewy, zingy crystallised ginger and soft, comforting marzipan is a winner.

This cake is perfect for this time of year because it just shouts Christmas to you. It’s also a good way to use up your marzipan trimmings from the Christmas cake.   This cake will last at least a week.  So it’s a good cake to have around at Christmas to share with visitors. Thank you Tallulah, for the inspiration (and for a great night out).

150g butter
125g dark muscovado sugar
2 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp ground cinnamon
¼ tsp ground cloves
200g black treacle
200g golden syrup
250ml milk
2 eggs
2 tsp baking powder
300g plain flour
60g crystallised ginger, chopped into small chunks
150g marzipan (made like the recipe here with 1 tbsp Amaretto added in place of the lemon juice and almond extract, or shop bought), chopped into chunks

Method
Preheat the oven to 170°c, gas mark 3 or use the baking oven of the Aga. Line a tray that measures 30cm x 20cm x 5 cm (the Aga half roaster) with foil or silicon liner. If you are using foil, butter well.

Place the butter, sugar, spices, syrup and treacle in a pan and heat until melted.  Take off the heat and stir to combine.  Beat the eggs lightly.  Add the eggs and the milk to the syrup mixture and stir well to combine. Sift the flour and baking powder into a large bowl and add the liquid to the flour. Mix well.  Add the chopped crystallised ginger and the marzipan and pour the mixture into the tin.

Bake in the preheated oven for 45 minutes to an hour until lightly springy to the touch.  Be careful not to overcook it. Leave to cool in the tin.  Wrap in fresh foil and eat a slice whenever you feel the need to indulge.

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Painted Christmas Biscuits

14 Comments / biscuits /

My girls both love our local library.  They get very excited.  The eldest chooses her books very quickly.  The youngest can never make a decision.  In the end, the only way she that will reluctantly make a decision is if you tell her (for the fifth time) that you (really) are leaving in five seconds. Anyway, the eldest chose The Usborne Little Book of Christmas Cooking (the youngest chose a story about Christmas Unicorns, eventually).  This book is really lovely.  It is full of biscuit and cake recipes with a Christmas theme.  Each step of the recipe is illustrated with a drawing to help children understand each stage.

On our first read-through both girls were taken with the Painted Biscuits recipe. They each wanted to make them for everyone in their class.  That is sixty biscuits, yes, sixty biscuits. All of which need stamping out, and all of which need painting.

Actually, it wasn’t as stressful as I thought it would be.  The girls helped stamp out half the dough and then (even more helpfully) painted those whilst I stamped out the rest.  We got a bit of a production line going.

They were appreciated by everyone in their class I understand, and why not? They are light and buttery and they look lovely with their festive shapes and colours.

This recipe makes enough to make 60 small biscuits.  It can easily be halved if you don’t have two classes of children to feed.

150g softened butter
100g icing sugar
2 egg yolks
1 tsp vanilla extract
300g plain flour

To decorate:
1 egg white
food colouring
clean new paintbrushes

Method

Preheat the oven to 180°c, gas mark 4.

Cream the butter and icing sugar together until light and fluffy.  Add the egg yolks, one at a time, beating well between each addition.  Add the vanilla extract and mix well. Sift the flour into the bowl and mix until it comes together in a ball of dough. Place in the fridge to chill for twenty minutes.

To make the paint, lightly whisk the egg white and divide between as many cups as you want colours.  Add a few drops of your chosen food colour to each cup.

Grease baking trays with butter ( I needed four to make 60 biscuits, but you could do this is rotation, cooking one batch at a time).

Lightly flour the work surface and roll out the dough to about 5mm thick. Stamp out shapes and place them onto the greased tray.  Paint away to your heart’s content with the coloured egg white.

Bake in a preheated oven for 10 minutes until lightly golden.

Use a palette knife to place them onto a wire rack to cool.

 

 

 

 

 

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Roasted butternut, grapes and apple

20 Comments / The Ordinary Cook /

This is based on a recipe from the book I reviewed recently, Molly Stevens’ All About Roasting.  I have been intrigued by roasted grapes since I saw them on Michele’s blog back in April.  Then I saw them in Molly Stevens’ book  and then again on Michele’s blog just last week.  I knew I had to try them.

There is a recipe in Stevens’ book which calls for slow roasting of grapes for a couple of hours.  I really want to try these but haven’t had the organisational ability needed for this yet. The combination of squash and grapes grabbed me though.  I made them last week with pumpkin, apple and grape and it was delicious, but we had tucked in before I remembered to take a photograph. So I made it again last night, this time with a butternut squash we had grown in the garden and some apples off one of the trees. We had it with roast chicken both times. But it would be good with anything, especially pork. Mr OC has taken the left-overs to enjoy at work today.

Molly Stevens’ suggests that you use either grapes or apple with the squash but I really like using both.  The tartness of the apple works well with the sweetness of the grapes and the squash.

Stevens’ suggests that you could use marjoram, rosemary, thyme or sage.  But my herb of choice would always be sage, as it is my favourite and it works well with the grapes and apple.

This makes enough for 3-4 as a side dish

20g butter, melted
1 tablespoon olive oil
5-6 sage leaves chopped finely
1-2 tablespoon of maple syrup
½ butternut squash
1 green apple
3-4 handfuls of grapes
salt and pepper

Method

Chop the butternut squash into cubes and the apple into 8 slices. Place the squash, apple and grapes into a bowl and toss with the butter, oil, maple syrup, sage and salt and pepper. Spread into a single layer on a roasting tray and place in a preheated oven at 200°c, gas mark 6, or in the middle of the roasting oven of the Aga. Roast for about 40 minutes until the squash, apples and grapes are nicely caramelised and tender. Serve hot or at room temperature.

Please try it, it is delicious. Michele’s recipe for grapes and sausages looks worth a try too.  That is next on my list now I know how lovely roasted grapes are.

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Soul cake – A Shropshire Recipe

21 Comments / Shropshire recipes /

Today is All Soul’s Day.  I didn’t know about All Souls Day until I read about it in my Shropshire recipe books in the summer and I have been waiting ever since to make these Soul Cakes.

All Souls Day is a Christian festival and these days some churches hold special services for people to attend to remember those that are no longer with us.

In ye olden days it was a tradition that the poor would go a-souling and offer up prayers of remembrance for the relatives of their wealthier neighbours in return for money or food.  Then, in more recent years, it was the children who would sing “A soul-cake, a soul-cake, please good missus, a soul-cake.  One for Peter, one for Paul, three for Him who saved us all” and would receive a soul cake in return. A bit like trick or treating (in the nicer parts of town).

It was/is believed that All Souls Day was/is the day when the spirits of the dead will visit loved ones. I like that idea very much.  I am not at all religious but would love to think that loved ones who are no longer with us are still able to visit and see how we are getting on with the ups and downs that this life throws at us. So in celebration of all the memories of loved ones no longer with us I have made these Soul Cakes.

Three of the Shropshire recipe books that I have all use the same recipe, which is credited to Mrs Mary Ward. She is known to be the last person to keep up the tradition of giving out Soul Cakes at her home in Pulverbatch.  She died in 1853 at the ripe old age of 101.  Rather amazingly, to celebrate her 100th birthday she wore her wedding dress of yellow satin and received Holy Communion with her friends and neighbours.  I wish I could squeeze into my wedding dress now! The story goes that she never suffered from a day of illness in all her long life. She must have been some kind of lady Mrs Ward. I wonder if she is looking down on us today?  I hope she is and I hope she is proud that her recipe is still being used 200 years on.

The problem with old recipes though is that they can take a bit of interpreting. Here it is as it appears in the books I have.

“Three pounds flour, quarter pound butter (or half pound if the cakes are to be extra rich), half pound sugar, two spoonsful of yeast, two eggs, allspice to taste, and sufficient new milk to make it into a light paste.  Put the mixture (without the sugar or spice) to rise before the fire for half an hour, then add the sugar, and allspice, enough to flavour it well; make into rather flat buns and bake.”

Right, where do I start?  How big are your spoonfuls of yeast? Teaspoon or dessert spoon? How much allspice should I use? A pinch or two teaspoonfuls?
How much milk will be needed? Rather flat buns? Should I cut them out like scones? Or shape them like bread rolls? What temperature should I cook them? I appreciate Mrs Mary Ward would have cooked them on her fire, but should I treat them like bread and scones and use high heat for a short period, or like a cake and so cook them at a moderate heat for longer?

So the soul cakes you see here might not be anything like the good cakes made by Mrs Mary Ward.

These days I think we might have a sweeter tooth than we used to and I must say these are rather dull eaten on their own. However, with a bit of butter and jam, they wash down a treat with a cup of tea.

This is how I made them (with thanks, and maybe apologies, to Mrs Mary Ward).  I halved the original recipe as I doubt I will be swamped with singing children later.

750g plain flour
100g butter
1 teaspoon yeast
1 egg
350ml milk
100g caster sugar
1½ tsp allspice

Method

Preheat the oven to 220°c, gas mark 7.

Place the flour and yeast into a large bowl.  Melt the butter and warm the milk.  Beat the egg in a mug or small bowl.  Add the butter, milk and egg to the flour. Mix together well until smooth. Make into a ball.  Cover with a large plastic bag or oiled clingfilm. Place in a warm spot and leave to rise for half an hour. Add the sugar and allspice to the dough and knead until well combined.  Place onto a lightly floured board and roll rather flat!  Now I admit to having no idea how flat you should roll these.  I tried about 2 cm and these are a bit too biscuity.  I also tried about 4 cm and these work well as a scone.  I also tried the last one like a bread roll and that worked well too.

Place in the hot oven and bake for about 20 minutes until golden. They taste good warm with butter and strawberry jam.

I am glad I tried these, but perhaps there is a reason they aren’t made so much these days.  They are a bit dull and I have tasted better scones/ sweet bread. I like the ideas associated with them though.

 

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Chilli chocolate truffles

20 Comments / chocolate /

Eek!  This is my late entry to this month’s We Should Cocoa Challenge, hosted this month by Choclette. She came up with the great idea of combining chocolate with chilli this month. I was up for the challenge but unfortunately time ran away with me.  So at the very last hour I made these.  They are very moreish.  At first bite they taste like a normal chocolate but then it hits you with a great big spicy kick.

These particular truffles have a secret ingredient.  Should I tell you? Oh, go on then.

My mum bought these for us when she was on holiday earlier this year.  They are a little pod of espresso with added cocoa.  You drink the contents with the attached straw and after that you whir around like the Tasmanian Devil for the next ten minutes. They are fab! Unfortunately they don’t seem to be available in the UK, so if you want to add the espresso element, which is there to boost the chocolate flavour of these truffles then just add 20ml of strong espresso.

I had various theories about how to get the chilli flavour – dried or fresh?  Minced or sliced? Should there be a bite of actual chilli in there? In the end I decided that I should use fresh and infuse the cream with slices of said chilli, seeds et al, and then sieve these out.  I thought it would need to infuse for an hour or so.  Let me tell you here and now it doesn’t!  Thankfully I checked after five minutes and that was enough to give the cream a sufficient chilli kick ( read definitely enough, any longer and it will blow your head off).

100g good quality 70% chocolate
200ml double cream
1 red chilli, sliced with seeds
20ml espresso
chocolate flakes for rolling ( I used chilli flavoured chocolate flakes)

Method

Place the sliced chilli and seeds with the cream into a pan and heat until just below boiling point.  In the meantime chop the chocolate finely, you can do this by whizzing it in a food processor, should you have one. Remove the cream from the heat and let it infuse.  Try it after a few minutes and if it seems to have enough of a chilli kick then sieve the cream over a basin to remove the chilli.  Return the cream to the pan and briefly heat just to warm through.  Add the chopped chocolate and the espresso and stir gently until smooth.  Place this in a bowl in the fridge to firm up.  Take teaspoonfuls and roll into chocolate flakes or cocoa powder.

The beauty of this ganache is that it also makes a mighty fine and warming hot chocolate for bedtime.

Just heat a cup of milk in a pan until warm.  Add a tablespoon of the ganache or about three of the truffles and whisk until well combined.  Heat to the desired temperature and enjoy.

Thank you Choclette, and I am sorry for being so rubbish at organising myself.

 

 

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