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      

Fluffy Banana Pancakes

This has been the most hectic of months; a lot of preparation, planning, excitement, disappointment, acceptance, happiness. It's been a bit of rollercoaster, but I suppose that's adult life (in truth I'm only just getting to grips with it, but I'm remaining hopeful). Well, mama always said life is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you're going to get. 

Just kidding, my mama never said that, it was Forrest Gump's and in truth I don't know if I agree with the analogy, I only get the chocolate selections that I like and so I know exactly what I'm going to get/enjoy.

However if we look at the complete other end of the health spectrum.. fruit, I am far more indecisive. For example, I sometimes like melon and other times I hate the taste of it, I prefer oranges in the evenings (crazy, I know), I don't eat fresh blueberries but love them in food and when it comes to bananas, I'm very conflicted. Its the texture of raw banana that's a no-go but I do have a few banana recipes that I adore.

This being one of them - fluffy banana pancakes, one of my favourite and most requested breakfast items. And so apt considering its actually pancake day!

These pancakes are so easy to make, but have a beautifully delicate flavour and they're actually quite filling; so great for a long work day or lazy weekend brunch or pancake day (or any day in-between).

To make these pancakes you will need a few ingredients: 

1. Plain flour
2. Banana
3. Vanilla essence
4. Eggs
5. Baking powder
6. Brown sugar
7. Cinnamon
8. Milk

To start with grab your selected banana, mine is less ripe than I would have liked but I was a bit impatient. Then you just want to mash it with a fork until it is a smooth creamy consistency with minimal lumps.

To this, add in two whisked eggs and give everything a good mix.

Whisk in a generous dash of vanilla flavouring and half a teaspoon of cinnamon.

Follow up with a three tablespoons of brown sugar, I prefer this as it lends a subtle almost caramel tasting sweetness to the pancakes.

Now to thin down the batter to create the right consistency, whisk in one cup of milk - use whatever type you prefer.

And finally, whisk in one and a half cups of plain flour and one tsp of baking powder.

Give the batter and good mix, although it is likely that some lumps may remain. 

To a heated non-stick pan drop on a ladleful of the mixture and let it cook until you see little bubbles and the bottom is golden brown.

Then flip (no acrobat skills required) and cook for a few more minutes til the other side is also well cooked.

Repeat the process for the remaining batter and serve your pancakes warm with a selection of toppings - banana slices, golden syrup, cinnamon, powdered sugar, or nutella.

😋

Enjoy!

 Q x 

Brown Butter Fruit Bars

Here's a fun fact that you didn't know about me, I'm actually a recipe hoarder. 

In truth, I only came to this realisation quite recently after it was pointed out to me that I have one too many notebooks with a bizarre amalgamation of 'recipes' i.e. scribbled ingredients with notes in the margins that make little to no sense even to me. But what the lovely aforementioned individual did not know is that I also have a collection of magazine/paper clippings of recipes that I know I'm never going to make like 'Golden Snitch Cake Pops' (I hate cake pops, why would I make a cake only to crush it to smithereens and mix with icing/coat with chocolate/put it on a stick?!). My camera roll also has a worrying number of screenshots of random recipes I've found online and my computer is similarly plagued (a whole dedicated folder). 

My point being that I try a lot of recipes, some turn out not so great, some are decent, some are one hit wonders (great but too much effort/not enjoyable to make) and very few make it into my cooking repertoire. Those that do I notice have a few things in common, they're relatively easy to make, use no fuss ingredients and they're delicious. These 'brown butter fruit bars' tick all the boxes and no lie, I make these very often!

These bars are a combination of wonderful flavours and are somewhat adaptable! Let me explain.. the base is golden buttery shortbread topped with a generous scattering of chopped fruit encased in a brown butter cake batter. 
All of which sounds incredible right? as for the resilience to adaptability, the fruit you use depends on what you like, you could also experiment with the biscuit base and tinkle with the batter topping. However I should tell you that this combination is gold and I would highly recommend that you give it a go!

To make these brown butter fruit bars you will need a few ingredients:

1. Butter/margarine
2. Caster sugar
3. Vanilla essence
4. Plain flour
5. Fleshy fruit
6. Eggs

To start with preheat your oven to Gas Mark 5, then we can make the base by mixing together 115g of melted butter/margarine, 85g sugar and 1 tsp of vanilla (or more!)

To this add 190g of plain flour and stir together until well combined, the 'dough' will stick together and should leave a clean bowl when inverted.

Press the resulting mixture into a greaseproof paper lined tray, you can use the back of a spoon to ensure that it is all smooth. Also if you want a thicker base, double up the mixture or just use a smaller tray (but you will get less bars, compromise). Pop this into the oven and bake for around 15 minutes.

Meanwhile chop up your fleshy fruit, I've used a variety of fruits in the past including cherries, plums, nectarines. You could experiment with other berries, citrus fruit or even mango, whatever you have to hand.  

For the brown butter batter (say that five times really quickly!), on medium heat slowly melt 115g butter in a pan, keep heating/stirring until it starts to get frothy and takes on a golden brown colour, you'll also notice a warm nutty smell. Leave this to cool before you use it.

For the remainder of the batter you need to whisk together 115g caster sugar and 2 large eggs.

To this add 55g plain flour, 1 tsp vanilla and then slowly stir in the browned butter.

Now to combine everything together - onto the shortbread base, scatter on the fruit, then pour on the brown butter batter.

Bake this for 40 minutes in a Gas Mark 5 oven until everything is golden brown.

Slice into bars or squares and serve. Hope you give this recipe a go, its one my all time favourites.

😋

Enjoy!

 Q x