Posts Tagged ‘Sweet’
Monday, May 28th, 2012
It’s been roasting in London for the last week or so, but as Brits, we all know that the blazing orb in the sky’s days are numbered. But while it is doing us the honour of hanging around, I’ve been trying to make the most of it. An when it is hot, I like to eat simple stuff that’s easy to make. I can’t be bothered to fanny around in a hot kitchen preparing fancy stuff, so this Alphonso Mango frozen yoghurt is right up my strasse.
The Alphonso Mango season is short and almost at an end, and if you’ve not tried them before, it really is worth making the effort and tracking some down. Almost incomparable to a regular mango, they are sweeter, richer, and intensely perfumed. Truly amazing. Over the season from April to May, the streets of Tooting are sponsored by that sweet, almost sickly smell. They’re not cheap though (a box of 6 will set you back around £9), but I probably only eat them a couple of times a year, so it’s no biggie.
I used to eat this simply as the Cristal Champagne of yoghurts, but having seen a similar recipe on Jamie’s 30 Minute Meals, I thought I’d give it a freeze to see how it turned out. Very well is the answer. The mangoes are really sweet, so you don’t need to add any sugar, in fact the opposite. I add the juice of a lime to sharpen it up a bit and really bring out the mango’s flavour.
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Tags: Alphonso, Desert, Frozen Yoghurt, greek, India, Lime, Low Fat, mango, Mint, Natural, perfumed, Sweet, Yoghurt
Posted in Dinner, Sweet Stuff | 2 Comments »
Friday, December 2nd, 2011
Like Hot Cross Buns at Easter, one of the things that make Christmas for me are mince pies. I love them. So when my mate Luke who co-runs clothing label Percival asked if I fancied making some for late night shopping evenings at their new pop up in Covent Garden, I was all over it like a cheap suit.
This recipe is a bit of a remix. Inspired by and finished like the mighty Eccles Cakes of St John, the filling is simpler than traditional mincemeat, but the spices, currants, muscavado sugar and rum pack a treacle-like punch, and instead of beef suet, or that horrible veg substitute, I use frozen, grated butter, so the veggies can chow too. I’d recommend making the filling a good couple of weeks before you make your pies. Over time the flavour gets better and better, and if you keep it cool it will last for ages.
This recipe will make 24 or more mincers. I make them in muffin trays with 6 x 3 dimples which gives them a meat pie like appearance after they’re baked.
Ingredients
For the pastry
480g Plain white (pastry) flour
25g Caster sugar
10g Salt
340g Unsalted butter, cold
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Tags: Allspice, Butter, Christmas, Clothing, Currants, eccles Cake, Mince Pie, Nutmeg, Pastry, Percival, Pop Up, St John, Sweet, Treat
Posted in Recipes, Snack, Sweet Stuff | 2 Comments »
Saturday, November 12th, 2011
The classic French fruit tart has to be one of my favourite deserts. The combination of the sweet, crumbly pastry, the vanilla spiked crème pâtissière and the sharp fruit tick all the boxes for me. I know it’s more of a Summer dish, but I got hold of some late season British raspberries the other day, and decided to make it as part of a ‘welcome home’ lunch at my folk’s house.
The other great thing about this recipe is that once all the elements are made, it’s an assembly job. So you can make everything in advance, then throw it all together a the last minute and lap up the applause like it ain’t no thang. NB. As with most pastry, it’s good to let the pâte sucrée rest in a fridge for at least a few hours, both after making it and after lining the tart mold as this should stop the case shrinking when it’s being baked off.
Ingredients (makes 27cm tart / 8 slices)
For the pâte sucrée
145g All purpose flour
60g Icing sugar
65g Unsalted butter
50g Egg yolks
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Tags: Bake, case, Classic, crème pâtissière, Custard, Desert, French, Pastry, pâte sucrée, Raspberries, Sweet, Tart, Tarte aux framboises, tin, Vanilla
Posted in Recipes, Sweet Stuff | 2 Comments »
Wednesday, November 2nd, 2011
That’s right, Hand To Mouth is back. Despite missing San Francisco like crazy, and Home Sweet Home not really feeling that sweet right now, it is good to be home. Kind of.
We got back to London a week ago, and its been a hectic. Along with flat hunting and catching up with friends & family, I’ve been lining up a bunch of interviews, meetings and trial shifts at bakeries across London. I had my first trial on Monday and have two more lined up this week, along with a couple of meetings. And I’m also meeting up with an old work colleague who wants to get me involved with a food based iPhone / iPad app he’s developing. Exciting times.
I’ve also got a bunch of posts to write when I get the chance, including a round-up of our New York eatathon, a couple of great finds from the city that never sleeps, and a killer rasberry tart recipe, amongst others.
So I promise I’ll pull my finger out and will be back here very soon.
Until then.
Tags: App, Apple, Back, Bakeries, Blogging, Home, iPad, iPhone, New York, Posts, San Francisco, Sweet, Travels
Posted in News, Travel | 1 Comment »
Thursday, June 30th, 2011
A couple of weeks ago it was East 17, and now blam! I’m hitting you with an Ultravox reference. High brow shizzle I think you’ll agree. And why did up this 80s relic? Because last week we started the Viennoiserie section of our course.
Viennoiserie is the name given to all kinds of yeasted, enriched doughs. From croissants, to Danish pastries, sticky buns to brioche, we’re talking about doughs enriched with sugar, eggs, milk and butter. Lots of butter. I’ve never seen so much of the stuff than in the past week.
We’re going to be getting in to lamination next week, the technique for making croissants amongst other things, but the breads we made last week were mixed in a similar way to what we’ve become familiar with, even if the formulas were in some cases a lot more complicated.
We started off the week slowly, making a range of products based around brioche and sweet roll doughs. With most of these we had to adjust our mixing to incorporate the sugar and butter after the dough had developed in strength in the mixer. The reason for this is that both inhibit the development of gluten, and if added at the beginning you end up mixing for bloody ages and your dough comes off the mixer too warm, which in turn effects fermentation. Best avoided in other words.
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Tags: Bakewell tart, Bostock, Brioche, Buns, Butter, Columba Di Pasqua, Croissants, Danish, Dough, Enriched, Gibassier, Hot Cross Buns, Kugelhopf, Pain au lait, Pan D'oro, Pannetone, Roll, Sticky, Sticky Buns, Stollen, Sugar, Sweet, Viennoiserie
Posted in Reviews, Sweet Stuff, Travel, Uncategorized | 1 Comment »
Saturday, December 4th, 2010
It may make me less of a man, but when it gets a bit cold and festive like it is now, I’ve got to admit I’m pretty partial to a drop of Baileys.
So when the lovely people over at Baileys HQ offered to send me over a bottle of their new hazelnut flavour earlier this week, I couldn’t really say no. Like regular Baileys it’s sweet, creamy and warming, but with an added hint of nuts and caramel. It’s good stuff.
Unlike Old Gregg, I don’t drink my Baileys out of a shoe, I drink it out of a glass like decent folk, but I’ve also discovered you can use it make a really tasty accompaniment to mince pies.
Mix equal quantities of Crème fraiche and Baileys together (either hazelnut or regular), and then dollop a good teaspoon full of the mixture on top of warmed up pies.
Simple and delicious.
Tags: Baileys, Caramel, Christmas, Drink, Festive, hazelnut, Mince Pie, Nutty, Old Gregg, Sweet, The Mighty Boosh
Posted in Reviews, Snack, Sweet Stuff | No Comments »
Wednesday, March 10th, 2010
I’m going to be away for Easter in Australia visiting the future in-laws, so am going to miss out on the traditional treats that I’d be indulging in with the family down in Cornwall.
Food wise, the main thing I’m going to miss is the Hot Cross Buns. I love them. Toasted, slathered in melting butter and a good dollop of course bitter sweet orange marmalade. Anyway, I told myself that I wasn’t going to miss out, so decided to make my own for the first time. This recipe is lifted pretty much lock, stock and barrel from here on the BBC Food website, and the results went down a storm.
Ingredients
625g strong white flour, plus extra for dusting
1 tsp salt
2 tsp ground mixed spice
45g unsalted butter, cut into cubes, plus extra for greasing
85g sugar
1 lemon, zest only
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Tags: Baking, BBC Food, Bread, Butter, Easter, Hot Cross Buns, Marmalade, Sweet, Treat
Posted in Recipes, Sweet Stuff | 5 Comments »
