Irish Barmbrack

A very traditional Irish tea cake, the Barmbrack, is a sweet dough with dried fruit (soaked overnight in tea to plump them up) giving it lots of extra taste and texture. Soft brown sugar gives the brack a rich, dark colour and taste.

Its often eaten in the afternoon, with lots of butter and a hot cup of tea.

Ingredients

• 375g mixed dried fruit (whatever fruits you like best)
• 50ml whiskey
• 250ml cold tea
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 225g plain flour
• 125g brown sugar
• 1/2 tsp mixed spice
• 1 egg

Method

1. Soak the fruit overnight in the tea and whiskey mixture
2. Preheat the oven to 170C. Grease and line a 900g loaf tin
3. Combine the flour, sugar, mixed spice and baking powder and mix well
4. Add the whole egg and mix. Add some of the liquid from the dried fruit and continue to mix to create a dryish batter
5. Stir in the fruit and when everything is thoroughly combined pour into the prepared loaf tin
6. Bake in the middle of the oven for 1 hour
7. Remove from the oven and allow to cool in the tin before transferring to a cooling rack. Best eaten a couple of days after baking, keep wrapped in clingfilm.

Mini croque Madame

Mini croque monsieur

This recipe comes from Rachael Khoo’s Little Paris Kitchen. Its her take on the traditional French bistro favourite Croque Madame (fried ham and cheese sandwich). Here, I’ve left out the cheese. Makes a perfect weekend breakfast!

Ingredients

• Eggs – as many as you need, 2 per person is good
• 1 tbsp flour
• 2 tbsp butter
• 1 tsp Dijon mustard
• 200ml milk
• dash of grated nutmeg
• Sliced white load slices (1 per egg)
• slices of cooked ham
• Salt and pepper

Method

1. Heat the oven to 180˚C
2. Make a roux by melting 1 tbsp of butter in a pot, then add the flour and whisk together and cook for a 2 minutes
3. Slowly whisk in the milk and bring to a boil to thicken the sauce
4. Stir in the mustard, nutmeg, salt and pepper (to taste) and set aside
5. Remove the crusts from the bread and brush with melted butter (using the remaining 1 tbsp). Put a bread slice into each hole in muffin tin, gently pushing the bread to the bottom and folding the bread corners over so that they form 4 points.
6. Add in a piece of ham and the yolk and a bit of egg white (not all of the egg white or it’ll be too soggy), add 1-2 tbsp white sauce. Brush the pints of the bread with melted butter
7. Bake for about 5 minutes to set the egg (1-3 minutes more if you want the yolk to be firmer)

Seville Orange Marmalage

Seville Orange Marmalade on toast

January is the time of year that bitter Seville oranges arrive in the shops. These sour tasting oranges are perfect for marmalade making. They contain lots of pectin, the essential component needed to set a jam, and the bitter taste is a perfect balance all the sugar used to preserve the fruit.

To make marmalade, you can use preserving sugar which has added pectin to help the jam set more easily. Alternatively, you can use normal sugar (which is a lot cheaper) and boil the marmalade for longer. I used unrefined caster sugar and it worked a treat.

Ingredients

• 900g Seville oranges
• 2 lemons
• 1.7l water
• 1.7l unrefined golden caster sugar

Method

1. Scrub the oranges well to clean them. Then, using a sharp knife, cut the peel into quarter segments. These will form the ‘bits’ of orange in the final marmalade
2. Squeeze the juice from the oranges and lemons into a large bowl while keeping the pips separate.
3. Tie up the pips and orange pith in a piece of muslin or a clean J cloth – I used a J cloth and a rubber band keep the top from unravelling. You don’t want the pips to float free as they’re annoying to fish out of the mix later on
4. Cut the orange peel into small pieces as finely as you like – or have a mixture of fine and chunky pieces
5. Add the muslin/J cloth bag to the orange juice with the water and then add the sliced peel on top. The peel will help to keep the bag under the surface of the liquid. Leave to soak for 24 hours to help soften the peel
6. Transfer the mixture to a large saucepan/pot and simmer gently until the peel is soft and translucent – about 20 mins. Meanwhile gently warm the sugar in the oven. Warm sugar will prevent the temperature of the marmalade dropping too much when added
7. Put a small plate into the freezer for testing the set of the marmalade
8. Remove the muslin bag to a sieve and squeeze as much of the liquid as possible back into the saucepan – this contains the pectin that will set the marmalade and you need as much of it as possible. Now add all the sugar and stir to dissolve
9. Boil rapidly for 20 minutes when the sugar has dissolved
10. Remove the pot form the heat and test to see if its set. Add a teaspoon of the mixture to the small plate and pop it back in the freezer for a couple of minutes. If it forms a wrinkled skin when pushed with the spoon its ready
11. Add a knob of butter to dissolve the light coloured deposit that forms on the surface. Transfer to sterilised jar and seal. Leave to cool for 24 hours and label!

Tips:

• if the marmalade isn’t set after 20 minutes just keep boiling it and test again every 5 minutes
• If it still won’t set, try adding the juice of a whole lemon and boil some more

Orange Breakfast Muffins

Orange Breakfast Muffin

Muffins are a lovely sweet treat and simple enough to make first thing in the morning, especially at the weekend when you don’t want to stress about anything. Especially not breakfast!

I came across this recipe in Leith’s Cookery Bible and have adapted it a bit to make it more orangey. The bicarbonate gives the muffins that extra lift and makes them rise. The acid in the orange juice and yoghurt help it to form carbon dioxide that makes them rise.

Makes about 12 smallish muffins or 6 medium-sized ones.

Ingredients

• 340g plain flour
• 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
• zest of 2 oranges grated finely
• 225g caster sugar
• 2 eggs beaten
• 110g unsalted butter melted
• 250ml plain yoghurt
• 40ml orange juice

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 200˚C. Grease muffin tin if you’re using one or line it with paper cases. Here, I’ve used silicone cases which don’t need to be greased
2. Sift the flour and bicarbonate together into a large bowl and add the sugar and orange zest and make a well in the centre where you’ll add the wet ingredients
3. Put the eggs, butter, yoghurt and orange juice into the well and mix to form a smooth batter. For simplicity, I used a measuring jug to mix all the liquids before I added them to the flour and sugar
4. Spoon the mixture into the muffin cases so that they are two thirds full and bake for about 20 minutes or until they are golden brown and spring back into shape when pressed with a finger
5. Put them onto a wire rack to cool. Eat and enjoy!

 

Blueberry Muffins

Blueberry Muffins

Often when I buy muffins they’re dry and not very nice. Here’s an easy to make recipe that’s moist and light and just perfect for breakfast – even on a work day. You can make the muffin mixture the night before and then when you get up, put the muffins on to bake and by the time you’re dressed and ready, so are the muffins!

Ingredients

• 110g plain flour
• 110g butter
• 65g caster sugar
• 2  eggs
• 1½ tsp baking powder
• 125g blueberries (or frozen blueberries)

Method

1. In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugar
2. Slowly add the eggs and mix well.
3. Add the flour, baking powder, nutmeg, and stir to combine then chill in the fridge for at least an hour
4. Stir in the blueberries
5. Add a spoonful of the muffin mixture to each muffin case so that you fill it to just over half way. Decorate each muffin with a few blueberries
6. Bake in an oven set at 200˚C for 20 minutes or until golden on top. Then, let them cool on a wire wrack and eat!