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Thursday, 18 July 2013

Poached Apricots with Honeysuckle Syrup and Gluten Free Granola

I was rather disappointed in a punnet of apricots that I bought, they were rather hard and tasteless, so I poached them in a little water and sugar, creating a luscious pan of soft sweet fruit.

I received some Nature's Path, Gluten Free, Nice and Nobbly Granola.  It's a really tasty cereal to eat for breakfast or to use, as I did, in this dessert.  I used the Pumpkin Seeds, almonds, raisins and cinnamon granola and layered up the poached apricots, granola, and Greek Yogurt, finishing with a sprinkle of granola and some Honeysuckle Syrup (see below)

 
There are two different kinds of Nature's Path Nice and Nobbly Gluten Free Granola, the Pumpkin Seeds, almonds, raisins and cinnamon type and another with Blueberries, Raspberries Strawberries and Yogurt Chunks.





You may remember that I reviewed The Foragers Kitchen  by Fiona Bird, back in May.  I was enthusiastic about the book at the time and was eagerly anticipating the different seasons.  One of the foraged ingredients that really intrigued me was Honeysuckle.  I had not idea you could do anything with Honeysuckle although I've always love the smell of it and it grows in abundance in the hedges up the lanes to our farm.  This year with the warm weather, it has been particularly prolific.

Honeysuckle Flowers

Honeysuckle Syrup
Makes 1 small bottle

What to forage and find:
2 large handfuls of honeysuckle (12-15 blossoms)
Scant 1 1/2 cups (350ml) boiling water (50ml will evaporate or soak into the blossom)
1 cup (200g) superfine (caster) sugar

What to do:
1. Allow the honeysuckle blossom to steep in the water for as long as possible (at least 8 hours)
2. Strain the blossom liquid well, and squeeze the blossom to ensue that you have as much liquid as possible.
3. Put the blossom water into a saucepan, and add the sugar.
4. Dissolve the sugar over low heat, then boil rapidly to reduce and thicken the syrup to about 3/4 cup (175ml)


I've been asked what Honeysuckle syrup tastes like, it tastes a little like honey and a bit like the flowers smell, it's a lovely sweet floral flavour.  I did wonder if it was just the sugar, but I also made some Elderflower syrup (more of that in a future post) and it tastes completely different.

Fiona suggests that you drizzle this syrup over ice cream.  If you keep one or two small plastic bottles of the in the freezer you can glaze your Christmas ham in wild summer blossom.

The Forager's Kitchen is published by CICO Books
RRP £16.99
Popular online book store £10.87

Thanks to Fiona Bird and Mark at Cico Books for allowing me to publish this recipe.
I received the Nature's Path Gluten Free Granola for review, I was not paid for this post and all opinions are my own.

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posted by Janice @ 22:27 11 Comments

Sunday, 6 November 2011

Gingerbread Cupcake Sparklers!


When I first spied this recipe in The Great British Bake Off  'How to Bake' book, I knew right away that I had to make them.  I just love gingerbread and these little cakes do not disappoint, they are moist and rich with all the dark spicy flavours you expect from great gingerbread.  It's also an incredibly easy recipe.


The other reason I chose this recipe was because 'ginger and bonfire treats' is the theme for the Teatime Treats challenge run by Karen, who is hosting for November at Lavender and Lovage and Kate at What Kate Baked .  Which might just explain why I called these 'Sparklers'!!!



I have adapted the recipe a little as I didn't have any stem ginger, also the GBBO version is not iced, but I wanted to try a little piping.  Depsite having been cooking and baking for around 40 years I've never really mastered piping, I think this isn't bad for a first attempt but I need to get a bigger piping nozzle to make the squishy sort of toppings that go with cupcakes, any recommendations for which nozzles to get and where to get them, gratefully accepted.

Gingerbread Cupcake Sparklers
Makes 12 (I froze the other six un-iced)

175g plain flour
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon mixed spice
1 teaspoon ginger
pinch of salt
100g butter
2 tbsp golden syrup
2 tbsp treacle
100ml milk
100g muscovado sugar
1 egg beaten

1. Heat the oven to 180C/350F/gas 4.  Sift flour, bicarb, spices and salt into a bowl.
2. Melt the butter with the syrup and treacle in a pan, when melted remove from the heat and allow to cool.
3. Warm the milk and sugar in another pan, stirring until the sugar has disolved. Remove from heat until the milk is lukewarm.
4. Pour the milk mixure onto the flour mixture, followed by the butter mixture and the beaten egg.  
5. Mix well to make a thick, sticky batter.
6. Spoon the mixture into 12 muffin cases.  
7. Bake for 18-20 minutes or until firm to the touch.
8. Remove from the oven and lift the gingerbread cupcakes onto a wire rack and leave to cool.

Butter Icing
Will ice 12 large cupcakes (I halved the quantities for 6 cupcakes)
125g unsalted butter, softened
400g icing sugar
3-4 tablespoons of milk
1 tsp vanilla extract

Edible gold glitter (optional)

1. Put the butter into a mixing bowl and beat with a wooden spoon or an electric mixer until pale and creamy.
2. Sift the icing sugar into the bowl.
3. Add the milk and vanilla extract.
4. Beat until smooth and thick.
5. Fill a piping back with a star nozzle and ice the cupcakes.
6. Sprinkle a little gold glitter over the cupcake before the icing sets.





As this was a recipe I had marked out to make, I am also entering this for Bookmarked Recipes run by Jacqueline at Tinned Tomatoes from an idea by Ruth at Ruth's Kitchen Experiments.




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posted by Janice @ 12:14 18 Comments