Mini Doughnuts.

Donuts...Doughnuts...CRONUTS??? I think Americans would call these ones doughnut holes, which I thhhhiiink are the result of when the doughnut fairies make the rings and the friendly ones keep the middles for those of us that have been good (correct me if I'm wrong).

To be honest, I just made these little because I hate the idea of using vat-fulls of oil and then having to deal with it after. But lets stick with the fairies thing yeah?

I've been meaning to make doughnuts for aaages. Ever since my local farm shop started selling them fresh from the pan on weekend mornings. Theirs are big and knobbly and heavy and are meant to be rings but have got so fat that there is no longer a hole, just a little channel of crispyness and they are heaven. And so I decided that if the fancy farm shop could sell super rustic style doughnuts for actual money then I could have a crack and not be too embarrassed if they were a bit wonky.

Turns out though, I needn't have worried because, if you make them mini, doughnuts are easypeasy aaaaand have the perfect ratio of crispy outside to doughy inside. DO give them a go. With Love and Cake.

Mini Doughnuts.

A few notes:

• Making doughnut is making bread really...check my post on white bread for lots of hints and tips.
• You could definitely make these into larger doughnuts....I couldn't advise you on cooking times though because I haven't tried that yet.
• These are perfect for just poppong straight into the mouth any which way, but if you want to make them fancier and more desserty they would be fabbo served with a chocolate sauce for dipping.

Makes 12....serves 2-4 depending on how you serve them

You will need

For the dough

2 tsp dried yeast

75ml warm water

125g strong white bread flour

pinch salt

25g soft brown sugar

1 tbsp flavourless oil

For frying and finishing

enough flavourless oil to fill a small frying pan 3/4 full, I used about 750ml rapeseed oil

50g granulated sugar

2 tsp cinnamon

• Stir the yeast into the water.
• Into a large bowl mix together the flour, salt, sugar and oil.
• Stir the yeasty water into the flour mix and get your hands in there to bring it all together to a shiny dough.
• Knead for 5-10.
• Set the dough back in the bowl and put somewhere cosy for an hour or 2 or until doubles in size (the time this takes can vary hugely depending on the temperature and other factors so if you think it needs another hour give it another hour).
• Divide the dough into 12 and form each piece into nice smooth ball.
• Set the balls on an oiled baking sheet and leave in the cosy place for another 30 minutes.
• Meanwhile mix together the granulated sugar and cinnamon on a plate ready for dipping for your doughnuts.
• Heat the oil in a small saucepan until it reaches 150˚c or until you can pop a small piece of bread in there and it gently sizzles immediately.
• Add the doughnuts to the oil in batches so they aren't crowded and cook for 3-4 minutes, turning over a few times. 
• When the doughnuts are bronzed, remove them from the oil with a slotted spoon and leave to drain on some kitchen paper for a moment before transferring to the plate of cinnamon sugar, rolling them around to give them a good sugary coating.
• EAT. EateatEAT. 

Peanut Butter Cinnamon Swirls.

I don't really have anything much to say today, apart from OH MY GOOD GRACIOUS ME DROP EVERYTHING (unless maybe you're holding a baby or something) AND MAKE THESE IMMMMEDIATELY. 

Unless you're a peanut butter hater, in which case, I think you've taken a wrong turn somewhere, there is NOTHING to not LOVE about these swirly chaps. It might sound a bit weird having PB IN your bread, but oh no, weird is so far wrong.

But maybe you've never made anything bready or yeasty before and you're thinking, 'hang on now, this all looks a bit too extreme for me'. Well it's a good job I'm here to tell you...WRONG, you're WRONG. They're easy as long as you follow along, step by step, and you don't really need anything (HA, geddit, KNEAD joke), no loaf pans or extract of parrot or whatever some actual hard and extreme recipes require.

So pleaseplease make these, if only so that you can actually see how incredibly off the charts yumsters they are in real life and you'll realise that I'm really not a raving loony, they are just that good. Please. With Love and Cake.

Peanut Butter Cinnamon Whirls.

Adapted from my Skillingsboller recipe

A few notes:

• For lots of handy tips which apply to pretty much all things bready and yeasty, check out my White Bread post from last year.
• You don't neeeeed to ice these, but when has need ever come into it?
• My favourite ever peanut butter in this one. So good.

Makes about 10

You will need

2 tsp dried, fast acting, yeast

200ml milk, luke warm

350g strong white bread flour

2 tbsp caster sugar

pinch salt

1 egg, lightly whisked

1 tbsp smooth peanut butter

For the filling

2 tsp cinnamon

2 tbsp caster sugar

2 tbsp smooth peanut butter

For the icing

1 tbsp cream cheese

1 tbsp smooth peanut butter

150g icing sugar

2 tbsp milk

• Firstly, mix together the yeast and the milk and let them get acquainted for 5 minutes or so.
• In a large mixing bowl combine the flour, sugar and salt and make a well in the centre.
• Add the egg and peanut butter to the well, followed for about 3/4 of the milk/yeast mix.
• Time to get your hands in there and bring everything together to a soft dough, adding more of the milk if you need.
• Turn out onto an oiled surface and knead for 5 minutes, or until the dough is shiny and springy.
• Pop the dough back in his bowl and leave somewhere cosy for an hour or until just about doubled in size.
• Meanwhile make the filling by mixing the cinnamon and sugar together.
• Turn the dough out onto a clean floured surface and roll or press out to a rectangle of about 40 x 25 cm.
• Spread peanut butter over the rectangle and roll up from one of the long ends, like a Swiss roll.
• Cut, with a nice sharp bread knife, every 2.5 cm and lay each bun, swirl side up/down onto the baking tray with a couple of cm gap between each one.
• Now leave them to rise back in the cosy place for another 30-45 minutes while you preheat the oven to 200°c.
• When the buns have puffed up a bit, pop them in the oven for 15 minutes, until they look golden and beautiful.
• Allow to cool completely while you make the icing.
• Beat together the cream cheese and peanut butter until well combined and smooth.
• Add the icing sugar and beat gently so that when everything's well mixed, you have a fairly loose and oh so delicious paste.
• Slather over your buns and thank me after devouring. 

PB&J French Toast.

So how was your bank holiday weekend? I'm guessing it went something like "oo SUN, lets play outside, lets have a picnic, lets go to the beach, lets go to the fair, lets take loads of of pictures and put them all over the internet and share the joy that summer is HERE".

Well I am very happy for you and hope you had a lovely time and basked and baked in the warmth that we've been missing for so long. The only sliiiiiight problem is that mine didn't quite go like that...it went more like "Oh this is a lot of snow, haha, Scotland you're funny and very beautiful, oh no, it's raining a lot, oh no it's REALLY windy, oh no our tent is broken, mmm is wearing 76 layers too much, nope, I'm still cold.....whhhhy is everyone talking about how summery it is???"

Yep. I decided to accompany the Mr and his pals on a little dive trip to Skye (I don't dive let's be clear, I was just along for the views), and while the views were really very wonderful, I would have enjoyed them more if I wasn't concentrating quite hard on keep both feet on the floor and being sad that I wouldn't get to sleep in an actual bed later that night.

On the plus side however, the terrible weather caused an early homecoming (thank the LORD) and therefore excess supplies of PB&J sarnies which I had lovingly packed, imagining I would enjoy them snuggled on a beach after a bracing run around (reality = devoured in a car being buffeted by the wind with my socks and gloves draped over the heaters). And how better to enjoy stale PB&Js than dunked in vanilla-ey egg, fried in butter and curled up on a squishy sofa on a day when I am clean and dry and there is even actual sun. You don't need to suffer an epic trip to enjoy them, though it does make you more appreciative.

PB&J French Toast.

A few notes:

• This is easy; make a sandwich and fry it, and therefore lends itself well to many variations....Nutella and PB perhaps?
• If you're not using a sandwich that has been carted across the country for days, it would work best if you were able to use quite stale bread.

Serves 1

You will need

2 x slices white bread

1 tbsp your fav peanut butter

1 tbsp your fav jam, I went for black cherry

1 egg

1 tsp vanilla extract

2 tsp caster sugar

1 big knob butter

icing sugar for dusting

• Make a generous sandwich out of the bread, peanut butter and jam.
• Whisk the egg, vanilla and caster sugar in a wide, shallow bowl or plate and dunk the sandwich in it.
• Leave it to soak up the egg for a minute or two before flipping the sandwich over to let the other side soak up the rest.
• Meanwhile melt the butter in a frying pan until just starting to bubble and brown.
• Fry the sandwich for a few minutes a side until bronzed and firm.
• Remove from the pan, cut in half and sprinkle with lots of icing sugar.
• Mmmm thank heavens for duvets.

Banana Bread French Toast and Peanut Butter Caramel.

So remember last, time when I was all like "here have something norrrrrmal and traditional, let's take a holiday from crazy-town cake fun"? Well, yeah, it was fun while it lasted and I do promise it really is very lovely banana bread, but ya knoooow, it's fun to have fun....so here it is again...just a little more mixed up.

As you may have assumed, I tottttally am ok with cake for breakfast. I mean, not everyday of course, and probably not the kind with 17 layers of buttercream, but at the weekend maybe, or as a celebration of the fact that you, I don't know, managed to get a load of washing on, I am fully supportive of cake at the breakfast table.

Banana bread if perfect breakfast cake because you can kid yourself into thinking that it's one of your five a day and that because it's brown, it deffo counts as some sort of health food.....but here's a way to make cake into ACTUAL breakfast that you don't even neeeeeed to justify....just make it into French Toast.

See, French toast has 'actual breakfast status' and therefore is not questioned....who cares that it's drizzled in peanut butter caramel....it still counts. So slice it, dunk it in egg and fry it in butter, drizzle it in the good stuff and serve yourself cake for breakfast...cake becomes an actually breakfasty breakfast. Thank me when you're plate's clean. With Love and Cake.

Peanut Butter Banana Bread French Toast.

Inspired by this recipe by Bake at 350

A few notes:

• You could actually use any sort of fruity, dense loaf cake here...but I do think banana bread feels most appropriate somehow.
• Serve with fresh banana and you're winning even mooooore....I just had used all mine in the actual cake part.
• You will have some peanut butter caramel left over....ice cream syrup anyone?

Serves 2

You will need

For the peanut butter syrup

1 tbsp smooth peanut butter

2 tbsp golden syrup

For the French toast

1 egg

1 tsp vanilla extract

pinch salt

2 x slices peanut butter banana bread

butter for frying

• First, let's make the syrup. Pop the peanut butter and golden syrup in a small saucepan, heat gently and whisk to a smooth and fairly pour-able syrup.
• Now get your fav frying pan on a medium heat ready for the 'toast'.
• In a shallow dish, gently whisk together the egg, vanilla and salt.
• Dunk the banana bread slices into the egg, leaving each side to soak for a minute or two.
• Now fry each side, just like normal French toast, of the banana bread in butter in your hot frying pan until golden and tinged.
• Serve with creme fraiche and a drizzle of the syrup.

Peanut Butter Banana Bread.

It has come to my attention that in my last few posts I have been ranting on like a raving luny...it's ok, I do that most days, it's just that I WANT you to visit here. Usually the people that I am a raving luny around, have no choice....my parents made me after all, they can't very put the phone down on me, sister HAS to read a blog basically dedicated to her, we're bound by genetics...and the Mr, well he must even LIKE me being a crazy because he chose me. But you chaps...well you can click away in an instant

So here is a nice and soothing and normal banana bread recipe to distract you from my crazy-pants and to remind you that there is more to my repertoire than chocolate based spreads. I already have one banana bread recipe tucked away in the archives for you, but I think it's the sort of cake that you can't have too many recipes for and this one is particularly simple and speedy.

Of course I am MEEEE so can't just give you another plain banana bread, there has to be sooomething about it to make it fun...and that thing comes in the form of peanut butter chips. But that's not too mental....just good sense.

So let's all light some scented candles, run a hot bath, take a big deep relaxing breath and cut ourselves a fat slice of good old, traditional-ish banana bread and ready ourselves for the next crazy cake craze around the corner. With Love and Cake.

Peanut Butter Banana Bread.

Adapted from a recipe in one of my most loved cookbooks; Miss Dahl's Voluptuous Delights by Sophie Dahl

A few notes:

• So yeah, I'm afraid peanut butter chips are not exactly UK friendly, you can get them online and in American caaaaandy stores but they are fairly expensive. The best thing to do though, I say, is to get a friend who is half Canadian and does the transatlantic trip especially to pick up goodies for you (and see family), but do substitute chocolate chips if you can't find one of those, or just leave them out entirely.

Makes 1 large loaf

You will need

1 large (2 pound) loaf tin, greased and lined

4 x very ripe bananas

75g soft butter

200g soft brown sugar

1 egg, lightly beaten

1 tbsp vanilla extract

1 tsp bicarbonate of soda

pinch salt

170g wholemeal flour

100g peanut butter chips

• Preheat the oven to 180°c.
• Mash your bananas, in a big mixing bowl using a fork to as fine a paste as you can manage.
• Now easypeasily, just throw in the butter, sugar, egg and vanilla and give everything a good beat with a wooden spoon to get it all combined.
• Add the bicarb, salt and flour and fold in gently.
• Pour into your prepared loaf tin and bake in the centre of the oven for 1 hour until bronze and firm.
• Leave to cool in the tin for a good 10 minutes before turning out and allowing to cool completely on a wire rack.

Nutella Swirl Bread.

 

If you 'like' me over on FaceyB (I'm guessing you've heard of it? It's a place, a blue place, where you can spy on all the people you went to school with and upload pictures to pretend to all your hundreds of 'friends' that your life is just sooooo much prettier and more brilliant than all the other lives and you can show allll the people alllll the pictures of your baby even though noone asked to see 1 let alone 150) you may have noticed me issuing rather strict sounding 'advice' to make Nutella NOWWWWW 1. because it's just so damn wonderful, and 2. because I would soon be hitting you with some superspesh recipes that make it the star....I mean you can't eat the whoooole jar off a spoon (haha...I jest of course).

 

So I hope, for all our sakes, that you heeded my sound and wise guidance and Nutella-ed yourself right up, because here is a little gem of a fancy looking, but easy to execute, recipe that means breakfast will never be the same again.....you get your Nutella fix without eeeeeven needing to spread; the knife can stay in the drawer...well unless you want butter, which, of course, you absolutely do.

And oh gosh, I just had the most magical idea....WHY DIDN'T I THINK OF IT SOONER....I need to make a pain au chocolate with homemade Nutella....drop everything, that is what I'm off to do right this second....because the texture you get from Nutella baked into bread (bears repeating I think....Nutella....baked into bread) is similar to that in pain au chocolate...it goes from being drippy and spreadable to more of a paste....in the most scrumptious, chocolatey way.

So if you haven't done the 'likey' thing over on Facebook...you probably should, I'm not sure how you'll get on with the rest of your life if you miss such important nuggets and instructions as I enforce upon you there, you know 'make Nutella NOW' is pretty life or death...and if you're a star student and have a big jar of Nutella ready and waiting....ready, steady, BAKE. With Love and Cake.

Chocolate Swirl Bread.

A few notes:

• This is basically my regular white bread recipe with the added lovelyness of Nutella, but if you wanted something a bit richer, you could use a sweetened bread dough like the one I used for the Cinnamon Swirl Bread, just leaving out the cinnamon and sultanas.
• Do refer to my original bread post for all the tricks for yeasted success I've learnt along the way.

Makes 1 large loaf

You will need

A large-ish loaf tin or baking sheet, greased and lined 

500g strong white bread flour 

½ tsp fine salt 

2 tsps ‘Easy-Blend’ or ‘Active’ dried yeast 

300ml-ish of warm water 

Splosh flavourless oil (olive or veg or groundnut, whatever) 

2-3 tbsp Nutella

• First job...weigh out the flour into a big bowl and sprinkle over the salt. 
• Next, add the yeast to the water and give it a mix around to let the yeast dissolve a little. 
• Now pour around 2/3 of the yeasty water over the dough and with a spread out hand, start to churn it up and mix it in. Then keep adding the rest of the water, or even a little more if you need, until it all comes together and you have a ball of soft dough and a mostly clean bowl. It’s best to err on the ‘too sticky’ side, rather than the ‘too dry’ if you’re in doubt. 
• Put a fairly big blob of oil on a clean, dry surface and spread it out a bit with your hands. 
• Turn the dough out on top of the oil and fold the dough around in it so it is covered all over. 
• Knead for around 5 minutes; pushing and pulling it around and folding it on top of itself until it looks shiny and feels stretchy. Don’t worry if it sticks to the surface you are working on, it probably will a bit, just keep going and it will recollect any bits it leaves behind. 
• Now time to pop your ball of shiny dough back into the bowl and cover with a tea towel or clingfilm...or you could put a plastic bag over the top of the bowl like I do...or use a shower cap like the Hairy Bakers do. 
• Leave it in a cosy place for 1 to 1.5 hours; until it looks big and airy. 
• When risen and proud, scrape the dough out of the bowl with a big metal spoon, and flop it onto a floured surface. Fold it up a few times to knock the air out.
• Now, just using your hand, press  the dough out into a rectangle, about 35 x 23 cm.
• Spread Nutella all over the surface of the rectangle and then roll up like a Swiss roll from one of the short ends.
• Tuck the ends under to stop any Nutella leakage and then gently pop the dough into your tin or onto your baking sheet and leave for about 1 more hour, until it puffs up and about doubles in height. Do NOT forget about it at this point, I have, and what happens is that it gets big enough to burst, and then does and then siiiiiiiiinks. Booooo. 

• Preheat the oven to 220˚c. 
• Now you’re ready to bake. Pop your lovely loaf in the middle of the oven and leave for around 20-25 mins, until nice and golden and crusty looking.

• It’s ready when knocking it on its bottom, like knocking on a door, makes it sound nice and hollow.

• Cool on a wire rack, slice and toast. 

Cinnamon Swirl Bread.

OMGeeeee spring is here....well maybe not spring quite yet but weather that means you can walk the 10 metres to the car without a coat, hat, scarf and gloves without perishing of hypothermia. I am SO excited I feel like running up and down these pretty little streets, squealing, skipping and doing cartwheels.

It's ok though, i won't. And I will try and remind myself that this one lovely day swiftly follows a day of inches of snow and that more doomy gloomy greyness is probably round the corner.

 In the meantime though, I am going to relish frolicking in the sunshine and pretending that it's ok to wear little shoes and no socks and that 'no it's fiiiiiiine...of course I can still feel my toes'.

That's why this bread is so perfect for this sort of time. It's got the lovely squishy cinnamonyness of pastries that helps you pretend you're on a veranda somewhere continental...squeezing your home grown oranges as the sun comes up. But it also has the heft you need when you get reminded that hey, it is still February in Scotland and, well, thermals are still probably a good idea. With Love and Cake.

Cinnamon Swirl Bread.

Adapted from a Martha Stewart recipe, via Honey and Jam.

A few notes:

• Feel free to leave out the sultanas if you fancy.
• If the top of the loaf starts to brown before the cooking time is up, just cover it with foil and pop it back in the oven.
• My fav way to eat this is toasted with lots of butter.

Makes 1 loaf

You will need

1x2lb load tin

2 tsp dried yeast

240ml milk, hand hot

420g strong white bread flour

55g butter, melted

50g caster sugar

1 egg, lightly beaten

pinch salt

2 tsp cinnamon

90g sultanas

For the filling

100g caster sugar

1 tbsp cinnamon

1 egg, lightly beaten

• Mix together the yeast and milk and set aside so the yeast has a few minutes to dissolve and start getting busy.
• In a large bowl, combine the flour, butter, sugar, egg, salt and cinnamon.
• Pour in the yeast mixture and, using your hands, bring everything together to form what will be a fairly sticky dough.
• Turn the dough out onto a clean, floured surface and knead for around 5 minutes. Don't worry about it sticking to the surface at first, it will get shinier and less sticky the more you knead.
• Knead in the sultanas in about 3 batches so well combined and easily distributed amongst the dough.
• Put a spot of oil in the bottom of the mixing bowl you just used, pop the dough back in the bowl and rub a little oil over the dough.
• Cover the bowl with clingfilm or a tea towel and put somewhere cosy for an hour or until it has about doubled in size...this may take much longer than an hour as there are lots of variable factors so don't worry (see this post for lots of my hard learned tips on bread making).
• To make the filling, simply stir the sugar and cinnamon together with 1 tbsp of water to form a paste.
• When the dough is ready, tip it out onto a floured surface and use your hands to press it into a rectangle; the short side of which should be about the length or your loaf tin.
• Brush the dough all over with some of the egg and spread over the cinnamon sugar.
• Roll up like a Swiss roll from the short side of the rectangle and tuck the ends under so you have what looks like an uncooked loaf of bread.
• Transfer to your loaf tin and put back in the cosy place for another hour or so.
• Preheat the oven to 200°c.
• Bake the loaf for 45 minutes.
• It will probably split and spill out some of its cinnamony filling which means you should remove it from the loaf tin as soon as poss and that you might need the help of several implements as it'll be fairly delicate.
• Leave to cool completely on a wire rack before doing the toasty butter thing.

Muffins...for Added English.

I've just read the most lovelylovely blog post over at the wonderous space that is Tea and Cookies and do you know, it is sooooo complementary about all things England. Tea, of Tea and Cookies, is American; she lives in Seattle, but says she has always felt at home with Englishness.

Don't you just love it that we, as those who share nationality with the likes of Enid Blyton, Audrey Hepburn and Delia Smith, project an image to outsiders of Vitorian railways, afternoon tea and lace gloves? I do. And while I assume you are most decidedly not reading this as you nibble on crust-less cucumber sandwishes with your little finger sticking out, I think we should definielty keep up the ruse.

That's why I made muffins. Firstly to help with the stereotype that us English folk are all sat around a roaring fire with a split muffin toasting on a stick, but also because I kind of got swept up in the whole 'themepark-England' notion and wanted to actually get invovled. Muffins (reffered to as English Muffins in the states, and increasingly so here too) remind me of Mr Tumnus and the toasty tea he served Lucy. I don't know if muffins were actually described by C.S.Lewis but I feel they must have been included either way. Same with the Famous Five...they must have got through mountains of muffins.

So I hope you hop on over to Tea and Cookies and, if you are English, feel inspired to become a bit more so, and if you are not, can be persuaded that we really do stack our toast in toast racks and spread it with marmalde, and either way, make muffins. Ow and P.S. sorry Scotland...I love you too, just with less nostalgia at the moment. With Love and Cake.

English Muffins

from Cakes, Pastries and Bread by Jennie Reekie

A few notes:

• I used a cutter (actually a glass) to make my rounds but I think if I did it again I'd just pick off blobs off dough and flatten them into rounds by hand for a more rustic look...you do as you see fit.
• I think these are the type of things that you need to make to eat...right there and then. Of course they're delicious the next day toasted, but they stale quickly so I'm kind of kicking myself that I didn't rip one open fresh from the oven and just slather it in butter and eat over the hob. Of course, if you happen to find yourself at Mr Tumnus' for tea, then just follow his lead.

Makes 7-9

You will need

1 baking sheet, greased

1/2 tsp caster sugar

1 tsp dried yeast

125ml warm water

200g plain flour

good pinch salt

15g butter, melted

• Mix together the sugar, yeast and water and set aside for 5 minutes.
• Pop the flour, salt and butter in a big bowl.
• Pour over the yeast mixture and mix everything together to form a dough, adding a splash more water if you need.
• Turn out the dough onto a clean, floured surface and knead for around 10 minutes, until the dough is shiny, smooth and springy.
• Roll the dough into a tight ball, put it back in it's bowl, and cover with clingfilm or a damp tea towel.
• Set the bowl aside in the warmest spot of your house, and leave for at least an hour; until doubled in size.
• After the dough has risen, roll it out on a floured surface to just less than 1cm thickness.
• Cut out rounds with an 8cm cutter (see notes) and put them on your prepared baking sheet.
• Cover the rounds with the clingfilm or tea towel you were using before and put the baking sheet back in the warm spot.
• Leave to rise for around 1 hour.
• In the meantime preheat the oven to 230°c.
• Bake the muffins in the hot oven for 5 minutes, then flip them all over and bake them for 5 more.
• Leave the muffins to cool on a wire wrack...or don't wait, split them open and butterbutterbutter.

Panettone and Blood Orange French Toast.

It’s that weird time of year when people start lots of talk about extra special oranges being ‘in season’. Now I’m not sure about you but I have never ever seen a nice round orange tree bursting to life in January’s dankness; boughs heavy with fruit. And I haven’t always lived north of the border, where the snow is currently falling...this didn’t even happen in the balmy climes of Somerset when I lived there.

Ok yes....I knooooow that’s not what these chatty orange folk mean. They mean somewhere beautiful and Spanish, where it isn’t dark for 19 hour stretches and summer holidays are never soggy, those lovely fruit are ripe and ready. It is just kind of a bit odd. We don’t go ‘hey...I hear the asparagus is ready for picking in Chile, quick we must get it over here immediately’. People who eat asparagus in January are frowned upon by foodie folk, plus are disappointed by skinny, tasteless spears.

I guess Spain is a tad closer than Chile though, and we’ve been doing the marmalade thing for gazzillions of years...the tradition and oranges even made it all the way up to Dundee! I guess we need all the vitamins we can get our hands on up here. 

So who am I to argue with the citrus based excitement, especially considering how well it suits being paired with by ‘big as a dog’ leftover panettone. This really is a lovely breakfast...not heavy at all, and sweet and sour like fizzy sweets. Now I'm off to make marmalade. With Love and Cake. 

Panettone and Blood Orange French Toast.

A few notes:

• Of course you could absolutely use a normal orange for this, in which case leave out the sugar from the syrup, but maybe replace with a spoonful of marmalade.
• Equally, you could happily use normal bread...a few days stale.
• If you were feeling extra Italian, you could use mascarpone in the place of the double cream...I would have but didn't have any. It will just need a good and proper whisk to be fully incorporated into the egg, but don't stress too much.

Serves 2

You will need

1 eggs

zest and juice of 1 blood orange

2 tbsp double cream

2 slices panettone

1 tbsp caster sugar

1 tbsp butter

• Whisk together the egg, orange zest and cream in a shallow dish.
• Dunk the panettone slices in the mixture, leaving each slice to soak up the eggyness for around 1 minute a side.
• Pop a frying pan on the heat and mix together the orange juice and sugar in a small saucepan.
• Heat the juice and sugar and let it bubble to a syrup; let it reduce by about half.
• Melt the butter in the frying pan and fry the panettone slices for a few minutes a side, until dabbled bronze.
• Serve drizzled with the orange syrup and a dusting of icing sugar.

Stollen: A Christmas Twinkle for a Dreary Day.

It is DARK, it is COLD, it is BLOWY and just generally rather horrid up here in the frozen wastelands of the north. It’s ok really, I don’t have to go anywhere, and yesterday, when I did, it was a beaut of day. But I just thought we should try extra hard to shine some light into this dreeeeary Friday...and what better light is there than sparkly, twinkly, oh so heart warming CHRISTMAS LIGHT.

Yesyes, I admit it, I’m there now, I’ve unleashed the Christmas beast and it’s all the way down the glitter hill from here. I am going to spend the next week crafting my socks off. There will be lanterns, there will be bunting, there will be cards and there will be lights, even mooore lights than usual and it will smell GREAT.

However, here I should calm down, slow down and clarify that I am indeed aware that it is still too early for some and that glitter is excluded from some peoples’ agenda, eeeeven at Christmas (though I’d keep that to yourself around here if you don’t want to be struck off numerous Christmas card lists).

So yes, I started gently, no gold or stars or fairy lights. Just a lovely understated loaf with a surprise treat inside; something that looks and feels wholly impressive without being showy and without tantrum inducing effort. You can buy them sure, you can even eat little slices for free at your local German market (probably) but homemade will taste better and look better...and you can avoid marzipan stinginess....everybody wins. With Love and Cake.

Stollen.

From Delia's Complete Cookery Collection

A few notes:

• You don'y have to do the glaze thing if you don't fancy.....how about a giant avalanche of icing sugar instead?
• Feel free to chop and change the types and quantities of the dried fruit...keep the overall quantity about equal but do tweak proportions according to your taste. 
• When the stollen has gotten a bit old and stale, it if WONderful toasted and spread with butter.

Makes 1 large loaf

You will need

150ml milk, warm

50g caster sugar

2 tsp yeast

300g strong white bread flour

pinch salt

110g soft butter

1 egg, beaten

40g currants

50g sultanas

50g glacé cherries, rinsed, dried and quartered

25g candied peel

25g almonds, chopped

zest 1/2 lemon

175g marzipan

110g icing sugar

juice 1/2 lemon

• Mix the milk with 1 tsp of the caster sugar and the 2 tsps of yeast and set aside.
• Combine the flour and salt in a large bowl and rub in the butter with your fingertips until it is only present in fine grains.
• Stir in the egg and the milk mixture and bring it all togther to form a dough.
• Knead until stretchy and shiny and then form it into a tight ball and pop it back in its bowl.
• Leave somewhere cosy to rise for around 1 hour.
• Work the dried fruit, almonds and lemon zest into the dough until evenly distributed.
• Roll out the dough to a 25x20cm rectangle.
• Using your hands, roll the marzipan into a sausage shape, about the length of the rectangle of dough.
• Place the marzian in the centre of the dough and fold it over the marzipan so it gets wrapped and transfer your log to a baking sheet; flipping it over so the join is underneath.
• Leave to rise again for another hour.
• Preheat the oven to 190°c.
• Bake your stollen for 35-40 minutes until golden and filled out.
• Remove to a wire rack to cool.
• Meanwhile, mix up the glaze be sifting the icing sugar into a bowl and stirring in as much lemon juice as it takes, starting off with 1 tablespoon, to make a smooth, fairly stiff paste.
• While the stollen is still warm, pour the glaze over the log and let it dribble down the side as it pleases.
• CLose the curtains, light some candles and tuck in.