Blueberry and Creme Fraiche Waffles

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An Austrian friend of mine recently told me how the forests where he is from in Austria are full of wild blueberries this summer. It had been raining a lot which brought them out en force – he said there are so many that you get blue feet just by walking through the forest! 

I love that idea as I remember those wild blueberry bushes we have in northern Europe well from when I was a child. Sweden especially had lots of them whenever we visited in the summer.

Sadly, those small wild ones don’t seem to grow in England where I am right now but at least you can buy the big blueberries that make a nice compote which is a great accompaniment to waffles.

Sometimes there is no time for making compotes and for days like these I suggest using this receipe where you can add the blueberries straight to the batter, so you can serve the waffles straight up with a bit of extra sweetness from a little dusting of icing sugar.

For 8 waffles you will need:

  • 1 3/4 cups plain flour
  • 2 tbsp sugar 
  • 1 tbsp baking powder
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 8 tbsp melted butter
  • 1 cup milk
  • 1/2 cup creme fraiche
  • 3 eggs
  • 1 cup blueberries
  • oil for the waffle iron

Heat the waffle iron as required in the manufacturer’s directions and lightly brush the grids with oil.

In a large bowl mix the flour, baking powder, sugar and salt and make a well in a the centre of it.

In a jug, whisk the eggs together with the melted butter, milk and creme fraiche then pour the liquid mix into the well of the flour mix.

Lightly combine everything with a balloon whisk, then add the blueberries and mix them under the batter using the balloon whisk. Don’t over mix!

Depending on the size of your waffle iron spoon about 1/4 – 1/2 cup of the batter into the iron and bake the waffles until they are golden brown.

The blueberries will burst and stick to the waffle iron a little so you have to keep re-brushing it with oil in between waffles.

Dust the waffles with a little icing sugar and enjoy!

 

Raspberry and Almond Cake

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My last post was quite healthy so I thought it’s time for something a bit more naughty again!

I had seen this receipe for an almond and raspberry cake at the beginning of the summer and was worried I had missed the raspberry season now but luckily I was wrong. The supermarket here in London still had lots of local raspberries on the shelf, so I brought some back and whipped up this little beauty of a cake here.

It’s quickly baked but needs to fully cool down before the white chocolate cream goes on top. 

The cake will probably go just as well with blackberries if you prefer them to raspberries.

You’ll need:

  • 110g unsalted butter, softened
  • 120g sugar
  • 3 eggs
  • 50g self-raising flour
  • 80g ground almonds
  • 300g raspberries
  • 45g white chocolate
  • 110ml double cream
  • 20g icing sugar

Grease and line an 18cm round tin and preheat the oven to gas mark 4.

Wash the raspberries and let them dry in between paper towels.

Cream the softened butter and sugar with an electric whisk until pale and fluffy. Add one egg at a time, whisking after each egg so they get mixed under evenly and the mix won’t curdle.

Add the flour and almonds and briefly whisk them under. Gently fold 150g of the raspberries in the mixture, taking care not to break them.

Tip the mix in the prepared tin and bake it in the oven for about 30 minutes until a skewer inserted in the middle comes out clean. Then let the cake cool down completely, first in the tin and then in a wire rack.

For the white chocolate cream, melt the white chocolate in bain-marie or a metallic bowl over hot water. Pour and scrape the melted chocolate into another bowl, add the cream and icing sugar and, using an electric whisk, whip everything up until soft peaks form.

Spread the cream on the centre of the cake and top with the rest of the raspberries. Serve yourself a slice and go ‘hmmmm…’

Poached Apricots on Greek Yoghurt

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Apricots… if you ask me, so much better than peaches!

I mean, I enjoy the taste of peaches but the skin just freaks me out.
I know that apricots have a skin not too dissimilar but for some reason they feel totally different to me and my tongue. 

And they’re prettier than peaches too. Their super bright orange just makes me instantly happy. 

If they are perfectly ripe and juicy they are so sweet and perfect that I need to eat them straight away without any further ado.

But when I have a bit more patience or when the apricots are not as ripe as I would have hoped for, I poach them with a bit of vanilla, orange and star anise and serve them on top of greek yoghurt.

The perfect brunch on a sunny balcony on a summer’s day!

For 4 portions you’ll need:

  • 750g fresh apricots
  • 1/2 cup sugar
  • 1 cup water
  • 1 vanilla bean
  • 1 star anise
  • a strip of orange peel
  • 125 g blueberries (optional)
  • greek yoghurt to serve

Wash and de-stone the apricots by cutting them in half and gently taking the stones out.

Add the sugar, water, star anise and orange peel to a wide pot. Using a sharp knife, split the vanilla bean along it’s length and scrape the black seeds out. Add both the vanilla seeds and the vanilla bean to the other ingredients in the pot. Heat over a low heat until the sugar is dissolved.

Place the apricot halves in a single layer in the pan and bring the liquid to a gentle simmer. 

Cook the apricots like this for about 5 minutes, which will soften them. Be careful not to overcook them or they loose their shape!

Take the pot off the heat but leave the orange rind, vanilla bean and star anise in it with the apricots while they cool as the flavours will continue to develop. Add some blueberries if you like and once the apricots and liquid has cooled down spoon some of the fruit along with the liquid over a creamy portion of greek yoghurt.

Redcurrant Swirls

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When I was in NY I brought you the cheat’s way of making cinnamon swirls (see here). Right now, I am in Berlin and I am bringing you a receipe for cheat’s redcurrant swirls.

This kind of fruity and slightly sour swirl suits Berlin a lot more than NY’s cinnamon swirls, especially right now, in the height of summer when you can get great berries at every market (if not pick them yourself in your garden). Redcurrants are such pretty berries with quite a sourness to them. Don’t be worried about their sourness in this receipe though, as they are combined with marzipan and for some extra sweetness, there’s an icing on top as well.

The swirls can again be made with a ready-made dough, making it a super easy and quick breakfast option. If you want to make them from scratch, you could use the receipe for the dough in my apricot marzipan swirls (see here).

But in the heat of the summer, that we have in Berlin right now there is no point in spending any more time than needed in the kitchen…

For 16 swirls you will need:

  • 500g redcurrants
  • 200g marzipan
  • 1 egg
  • 1 pack of ready-to-bake yeast dough
  • 150g icing sugar
  • 3 tbsp of water

Line two baking trays with baking parchment and preheat the oven to gas mark 6.

Gently pull the washed red currants of their stalks – using a fork to separate the fruits from the green stems.

Cut the marzipan in small pieces and add it to a bowl along with the egg and mix everything with an electric whisk until you have a smooth paste.

Unroll the dough onto the sheet of paper, it comes with and spread it with the marzipan paste – leaving a 1cm wide space all around the edges. Now spread the red currants evenly in one layer, over the marzipan.

With the help of the paper that the dough was rolled up with, lift the long side up and start rolling the berry and marzipan topped dough in to one long log.

Cut into 18 even pieces and put the pieces, cut side down, on the baking trays. They should rise, so spread them out over the two baking trays.

Bake for 15-20 minutes at which point they should have got bigger and show a bit of colour too.

Take them out of the oven and, on a wire rack, let them cool down a little. Make the icing by combining the icing sugar and water and drizzle or spread it over the baked swirls, while they are still warm and best eaten at once, when they are cold.

Strawberry Courgette Cupcakes

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June is a strawberry month in England.

You get tasty strawberries in all the shops but sometimes I drive out to a farm to pick them myself. Strawberry picking always reminds me of the summer holidays when my cousin, sisters and I used to do this with our grandmother.

The farm I go to here hasn’t only got the strawberry fields but grows a selection of other fruit and vegetables that can also be picked, such as courgettes.

As you may have seen in one of my previous posts that courgettes make a great cake ingredient – quite like carrots. So to mark the courgette and strawberry season I decided to make some cupcakes featuring both.

Each cupcake hides dollop of strawberry jam inside and I’d suggest using only the best jam here, ideally a home made one as they tend to contain more fruit (if you go for a shop bought variety, I would recommend St Dalfour).

The receipe is actually based on a gluten free receipe I found in my collection, as the small amount of flour in it, can easily be replaced with rice flour. Thanks to the ground almonds and grated courgette the cupcakes will still be light and moist.

For 12 cupcakes you’ll need the following ingredients:

  • 2 eggs
  • 160g caster sugar
  • 200g (after topping, tailing and peeling) grated courgette
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • 100g flour
  • 100g ground almonds
  • 2 tsp baking powder
  • a pinch of salt
  • good quality strawberry jam (you’ll need one taplespoon per cupcake, which works out as less than ¼ cup in total)

For the icing you’ll need:

  • 50g softened butter
  • 50g mascarpone
  • 150g icing sugar
  • 12 medium sized strawberries

Preheat the oven to gas mark 4 and line a muffin tin with paper cases.

Mix the almonds, flour, baking powder and salt together in one bowl until all is well combined.

In another bowl, whisk the eggs and sugar with an electric whisk for at least 3 minutes, until they are pale and fluffy. Add the grated courgette, along with the vanilla extract and whisk them both in.

Add the almond-flour mix to the egg-sugar one and whisk everything together for a well-combined cake mix.

Ladle the mixture in the paper cases, using around 1 ½ tablespoon of cake mix per case. Top each with a teaspoon of strawberry jam and cover the jam with the rest of the cake mix (you should have roughly 1 tablespoon cake mix per case left for this).

Place the tray in the oven and bake for 20 minutes until the cupcakes get a light golden colour. Cool them in the tin for 10 minutes, then continue to let them cool down completely on a wire rack.

For the icing, blend the softened butter with 50g of the icing sugar in one bowl. I find it easiest to do this with a wooden spoon – it can be a bit of a work out but you’ll get there in the end.
In another bowl blend the mascarpone with another 50g of the icing sugar – again using a wooden spoon.

Combine the two, add the remaining 50g of icing sugar and stir again until you have one smooth icing. Spread a tablespoon of icing on each completely cooled down cupcake and place a pretty strawberry on top.

Keep the cakes in the fridge until you eat them.