Apricot Tea Bread

I haven't made a tea bread for some time and always find them to be really good value, as they get better after several days wrapped in foil.  Dried apricots are once of my favourite things and as I was looking for an 'A' bake for AlphaBakes AND a bake suitable for a  Village Fair, Fete or Show for the Calendar Cakes challenge,  it was just the excuse I needed to make this loaf.  It certainly turned out well, it's fruity, moisty and chewy, it really doesn't need any butter but you could spread some on if that's your thing.  There wasn't any strong taste from the Whittards WhiteTea with Pomegranate that I used for soaking just an overall fruity flavour.

Apricot Tea Bread

350g/12oz mixture of apricots and mixed dried fruit (you can use all apricots but I wanted to use up some ends of bags of raisins and sultanas)225g/8oz mix of light and dark muscovado sugar
300ml/1/2 pt hot Whittards White Tea with Pomegranate (any tea will do, but I used this as I had just reviewed it.)
275g/10oz self-raising flour
zest of an orange
1 large egg, beaten

1. Put the dried fruit and sugar in a bowl and pour over the hot tea.
2. Leave it overnight to soak up the tea, but I didn't have time, so mine got 2 hours and was still pretty wet.
3. Heat the oven to 150C/130C fan/gas 2
4. Line a 900g/2lb loaf tin with baking parchment or one of those clever loaf tin liners.
5. Add the flour, lemon zest and beaten egg and stir iwth a spoon till mixed through.
6. Bake for 11/4 to 11/2 hrs or until it is well risen, firm to the touch and a skewer inserted in the centre comes out clean
7. Leave to cool in the tin for 10 minutes then turn out onto a wire rack to cool.
Peel of the baking paper or liner and serve sliced with or without butter.




Alphabakes is run by Ros at The more than occasional baker and Caroline at Caroline Makes and  Calendar Cakes is hosted by Rachel at Dolly Bakes and Laura at Laura Loves Cakes.

Labels: AlphaBakes, Apricot, baking, Calendar Cakes, Teabread

posted by Janice @ 19:39 11 Comments

Easter Nest Cupcakes

Happy Easter to you.  I know it is nearly all over, but we still have Easter Monday Bank Holiday ahead of us and, I'm certainly glad of that additional day to get over the clock change and recover from the over-eating.
It wouldn't be Easter without some Easter baking.  I've been away on holiday in the run up to Easter so there has been nothing to show.  But as I had family coming round today, I whipped up some basic cupcakes/fairy cakes/ buns using Jo Wheatley's recipe in 'A Passion for Baking'.  It's a rich cake mixture with 200g of butter, flour and sugar and three eggs.  The bigger cakes turned out well, but some of the mini cakes went a bit oily which was a shame.  I would probably go back to my Mary Berry - Fast Cakes recipe in future when doing the little buns. 

I used Mary's recipe for chocolate buttercream, a simple one of butter, icing sugar and cocoa powder whipped up together in my Kenwood Chef.   A bit of swirly piping with a Wilton 1M nozzle and some mini eggs for decoration.

I'm entering this for Calendar Cakes the baking challenge run by Dolly Bakes and Laura Loves Cakes
the theme for March is Easter Bakes.

Labels: A Passion for Baking, baking, cakes, Calendar Cakes, cupcakes, Dolly Bakes, Easter, Jo Wheatley, Kenwood Chef, Laura Loves Cakes, Wilton 1M

posted by Janice @ 19:29 6 Comments

Chocolate Cherry Energy Bars for Breakfast Week

I know that lots of people find it difficult to find time for breakfast and grab a cereal bar in preference to sitting down to eat.  There's nothing wrong with that especially if you make your own so you know exactly what you are getting.  These particular energy bars were created to meet the rather exacting requirements of this month's We Should Cocoa challenge over at Chocolate Log Blog.  We should Cocoa is hosted alternately by Choclette at Chocolate Log Blog and Chele at Chocolate Teapot.



Choclette has challenged us to make something, using chocolate of course, but without any cane sugar.  Honey and other sweeteners are allowed.  It also gave me a chance to use some of the Sugar and Crumbs cherry flavoured cocoa powder which has really natural cherry flavour and really enhanced the energy bars.

Chocolate Cherry Energy Bars

100g butter
200g clear honey
150g rolled oats
50g cocoa powder (I used Sugar and Crumbs, Cherry flavoured cocoa powder)
130g mixed seeds
10g Chia Bia Powder (optional)*
10g Baobab Superfruit powder (optional)*
100g chopped nuts (I used walnuts)
100g dried cherries (alternatively sultanas or cranberries)
50g ground almonds

*If not using the Chia or Bilbao powders then add an additional 20g mixed seeds.



1. Heat the oven to 180C
2. Melt the butter and honey in a saucepan


3. Stir in the remaining ingredients and press into a 22cm square baking tin

4. Bake for 15 minutes
5. Allow to cool slightly before cutting into bars
6. Leave to cool completely before removing.


This is also another recipe for Breakfast Club 'Cooked or Baked' open until 24th February.

And fits nicely with the 'Healthy' bakes theme for Calendar Cakes hosted this month by Laura Loves Bakes and in alternate months by Dolly Bakes

Labels: Baobab Superfruit Powder, Breakfast Club, Calendar Cakes, Chia seeds, Farmhouse Breakfast Week, Sugar and Crumbs, We should Cocoa

posted by Janice @ 06:00 10 Comments

Gold Medal Muffins with Elizabeth Shaw

Gold Medal Muffins

The opening ceremony last night was outstanding and, today, I've had one eye of the telly for the road race, the swimming and the tennis.  I'm not a sports fan but somehow, this is different!

There was another celebration last week when I opened up a hamper sent to me my the lovely people at Elizabeth Shaw.  Oh my goodness so much chocolate!  As well as a couple of boxes of the well known Elizabeth Shaw, Dark Chocolate Mint Crisp, there are some new flavours to try and some different ways to enjoy Elizabeth Shaw chocolates.

Like this bar of Milk Chocolate Butterscotch Crisp.  It's a very mild chocolate at 31% Cocoa Solids, personally I prefer chocolate with higher cocoa solids, the butterscotch crisp has pleasant, if slightly burnt flavour, if you like a mild milk chocolate and cinder toffee, you will like this bar!

Also new in the Elizabeth Shaw range are a variety of 'Flutes', Orange, Amaretto, Latte and Mint.  These are ideal for nibbling and would make great stocking fillers or little hostess gifts.

Now a review is all very well, but if you are a regular reader you will know that I like to try to make something with the products I'm sent to review.

I looked at this selection of Elizabeth Shaw Butterscotch Crisp, Caramel Crisp, Cocoa Crunch and Honeycomb Crisp and thought 'Muffins'.  Finding a couple of blackening bananas in the fruit bowl and it was clear that some kind of banana and chocolate chip muffin was in order.

When I weighed out the chocolates, I thought how like medals they looked with their shiny foil covers and decided to make Gold Medal Muffins.

I found a recipe for Banana and Chocolate Chip Muffins at Muffin Heaven  I pretty much followed this recipe but, as I only had 2 bananas, I cooked up two eating apples and added those with the bananas.

I used a combination of the Elizabeth Shaw chocolates and chopped them to add to the mixture. I baked the muffins in gold muffin cases which I had picked up in a sale some time ago.


To decorate the Gold Medal Muffins, I made the little flags by scanning a Union Flag that came with Simply Homemade Magazine for the Diamond Jubilee Celebrations.  Using Photoshop Elements I put the flags side by side and printed them out.  So basically, you cut out two flags side by side and then fold them round the cocktail stick using a little glue to hold them together. I love it when my crafting and baking hobbies come together.

The 'gold medal' is, of course, an Elizabeth Shaw Butterscotch Crisp. I printed out the Olympic rings and stuck that onto the 'medal', cut a ribbon and taped it to the back of the chocolate.

I melted half a dozen of the chocolates in a bowl over a pan of hot water and placed a spoonful on the top of the muffin, then stuck the 'gold medal' onto the chocolate, stuck the flag into the muffin behind the chocolate and you are done!

If you would like to win a hamper of Elizabeth Shaw chocolates then they are running a competition on their website:  Win Chocolates to Celebrate

I entering this into the Calendar Cakes challenge. As July's challenge is The Olympic Games.  Calendar Cakes is run by Laura Loves Cakes and Dolly Bakes

I'm also entering this for Sporting Snacks run by Ren at Fabulicious Food

 

 I can't wait for Team GB's first Gold Medal, good luck to all the competitors.

Labels: Banana and Chocolate Chip Muffins, Calendar Cakes, chocolates, Elizabeth Shaw, Gold, Gold medal, Muffins, Olympics, Simply Homemade

posted by Janice @ 19:52 11 Comments