Peaches & Cream Cupcakes

In the food realm peaches and cream are a pretty iconic duo and rightly so as they compliment each other perfectly, but what's better than a duo? a trio, obviously. So I thought to add cupcakes into the equation, now I haven't ever tried adding moist fruit to cake batter before but I deemed it worth the risk as I'd already envisioned a pretty splendid scenario in my head. 
Involving an almost sound of music-esque scene, think grassy meadow, sunshine and of course peaches and cream cupcakes. Now although I'm very far from Salzburg, sunshine and Julie Andrews, the cupcakes turned out delicious and so it was worth it in the end. They're also perfect for a bank holiday weekend and an ode to spring even if the weather doesn't decide to comply.

In terms of moistness (undisputedly the grossest word ever) I decided to go all out and added peach syrup to the batter in addition to small peach pieces, all in all it was very peachy. The cupcakes themselves turned out so soft and light; I paired with some cream whipped to a ricotta like consistency and topped with a peach piece. I should also own up to the fact that I used canned peaches in fruit juice rather that their fresh counterparts, the reason being that I take easy over complicated when given the choice. However you can use fresh peaches and soak them for a few hours, but snobbery aside canned is preferred in this instance because it also comes with the peach syrup. 
I'm also very (peachy) keen on the recipe itself as its very easy and uses equal quantities of margarine, sugar and flour. 

So to make these peaches & cream cupcakes you will need a few ingredients:

1.   Margarine

2.   Caster sugar

3.   Self-raising flour

4.   Eggs

5.   Canned peach slices in light syrup

6.   Double cream

7.   Icing sugar  

To begin with, cream together 115g of margarine and 115g of caster sugar until light and fluffy, then crack in two medium sized eggs, one at a time beating well after each addition.

Then sift in 115g of self-raising flour and fold into the mixture (ensuring you don't make as much mess as I do).

Take around 250g of canned peach slices and chop them into pieces. Mix this into the batter along with 1 tablespoon of the light peach syrup.

Spoon the mixture into paper cases, about three quarters of the way full (these were actually muffin cases and so the cupcakes were slightly larger than they should be).

Bake in a Gas Mark 4 preheated oven for 25 minutes until golden brown. These cupcakes won't have as much of a rise or a domed appearance but thats expected because of the heavier ingredients.

To make the topping just whip 125ml of double cream and 1 tablespoon of icing sugar until the desired consistency is reached.
You can either either spoon or pipe this onto the cupcakes, then decorate with an additional peach slice.

These cupcakes make a very light fragrant dessert, meaning its so easy to eat more than one.
 😋

Enjoy!

 Q x   

Pomegranate Oat Cookies

I have the tendency of basing my recipes & what I’m going to bake on the ingredients I have to hand. Reminiscent of the challenge portion on the early 2000s show ‘Ready Steady Cook’ where the contestants had to cook a meal from a bag of ingredients (anyone else remember that?), although if I’m honest I’d be completely terrible at that and that’s mostly due to my inability to function too well under pressure.

Anyway, today a rummage through the freezer unearthed a bag of arils from a long finished batch of pomegranates and I really wanted to use them. I’ve previously snacked on them, put them in muesli, ice cream and they’re particularly yum in sweet yellow rice; however this time around I wanted to add them to a bake. Enter the humble oat biscuit, I’ve had this particular recipe in my repertoire for the longest time, in fact it’s the very first recipe in my notebook – my mum’s friend gave it to her years and years ago and I adopted it. Since the early days I’ve made it a great deal of times and I love altering it a little bit every now and then.

This time I added in the pomegranate arils along with some chopped up walnuts and almonds, the combination of crunch from the nuts and tangy bursts from the pomegranate compliment the soft oat cookies quite well. 

In terms of the recipe I've always used cup measurements - it makes it really easy and you can increase or decrease the amount accordingly. 

So to make these oat cookies you will need a few ingredients:

1.   Margarine

2.   Granulated sugar

3.   Oats

4.   Plain flour

5.   Bicarbonate of Soda

6.   Cinnamon

7.   Honey

8.   Pomegranate arils & chopped nuts 

To begin with, combine 2 1/2 cups of regular oats, 1 1/2 cups of plain flour, a pinch of cinnamon and 1 cup of granulated sugar in a bowl - mix it all together and put the dry ingredients aside.

To prepare the raising agent, dissolve 1/2 teaspoon of bicarbonate of soda or baking soda in 2 tablespoons of water (or milk). 

Stir the soda water into melted margarine (1 cup) and to this add 3 tablespoons of honey - golden syrup is also an option but honey adds the right amount of stickiness and sweetness without being unhealthy; this concludes the required wet ingredients.

The final step is to add the liquid to the dry ingredients and mix well to combine, its good to press the ingredients together with your hands to form a dough (add a splash more water or margarine if required).

Then mix in your chopped nuts and pomegranate arils, mine were still quite frozen at this point but that's completely fine.

Make small sized biscuits and flatten in the palm of your hand - place then evenly spread apart on a lined baking tray.

Cook in a Gas Mark 7 oven for around 8-10 minutes, do not over bake if you want a soft chewy biscuit, as these cookies do have a tendency to harden upon cooling. 

Enjoy with a hot drink at tea-time or as a quick but filling breakfast. Either way I hope you give this recipe a try, its highly adaptable i.e substitute the nuts for chocolate chunks or the pomegranate for dried cranberries?

😋

Enjoy!

 Q x 

Lemon Drizzle Loaf

I’m excited because I’m finally back at it, by ‘it’ I mean writing {p.s. apologies for being awol, it was unintentional but life got in the way and I was also procrastinating a little bit, oops}. 

This past weekend the weather was glorious but I still wanted to bake something, resulting in the difficult decision of deciding on whether cake was worth the hassle of turning on the oven – the cake won obviously. But in a bid to justify myself I did opt for a summery flavour; lemon. For me lemons just embody the essence of good weather, maybe because they’re yellow or perhaps I associate lemonade with summer or it could even just be the fresh, zingy flavour – either way I think I made the right choice because I get to end my day with a cuppa and some cake.

I have made this particular version of lemon cake a lot, its my go-to and it comes out great every time, I also like the fact that its super easy and the mixture can be whipped up in no time because the ingredients are always to hand.

So to make my lemon drizzle loaf you will need:

1.   Margarine/butter

2.   Caster sugar

3.   Eggs

4.   Self-raising flour

5.   Baking powder

6.   Lemons

7.   Milk

To start with, beat together 225g of margarine and 225g of caster sugar until light, pale in colour and fluffy - this is enough for one traybake or two loaves so if you want just one then halve all measurements accordingly (also, debut appearance of my new Kitchen Aid, I love it so much).  

Add in four eggs, beating well after each addition - at this point you can add in the zest of one lemon and a generous dash of lemon juice.

In the last step, sift in 275g of self raising flour and 1 teaspoon of baking powder alternating with 4 tablespoons of milk. Mix well until a smooth consistency of batter is achieved.

All that's left to do is spoon the mixture into greaseproof paper lined loaf tins and top with a sprinkle of demerara sugar. Place the tins into an oven preheated to Gas Mark 4 and bake until golden brown (around 30 mins but keep an eye on it as timings may vary).

Nearing the end of the baking time prepare the lemon drizzle, this is just a simple syrup consisting of demerara sugar and fresh lemon juice - I never measure the ratios of the two ingredients but just alter as I see fit. Personally I don't like a lot of drizzle as it creates more of a 'wet' layer on the cake so I add in less lemon juice.
As soon as the loaf comes out of the oven prick it all over with a skewer and pour on the syrup, then let it cool in the tin.

Slice up and serve with a side of sunshine (side note: still tastes great even when its raining, this I can attest to).

😋

Enjoy!

 Q x