Banana, walnut & chocolate chip loaf

Well 2013 is nearly at an end. I would like to wish all my readers a very happy new year. 2013 was the year I started writing this blog and I have really enjoyed recording all my baking adventures. I hope everyone had a lovely Christmas. I was very lucky to receive a personalised 'Little Birdie Baking Blog' apron from my brother and sister-in-law (thanks Ian and Steph!) as one of my presents. It has already been used to make today's post!

Christmas is a time to catch up with family. Yesterday we went to a gathering of Mr Birdie's family and I of course offered to take a cake along. As usual I had some bananas that were beyond their best so decided to make a banana loaf. Now usually I would opt for my Wholewheat Banana Nut Loaf, which I have featured before but decided I would try something new. After some research I found this Paul Hollywood recipe on the BBC Good Food website. The beauty of this recipe is that it only requires one bowl. Apologies for the photos - I was at home at Devon and only had my mobile phone to take the photos with.

Ingredients:

4 ripe bananas (peeled)
250g caster sugar (I used golden)
2 eggs
140g butter (softened)
2 teaspoons baking powder
100g walnut pieces
100g chocolate chips

Method:
1) Heat oven 190C/170C (Fan)/Gas 5. Line a 900g/2lb load tin with baking parchment.
2) In a large bowl, mash together the bananas and the sugar with the back of a fork.

3) Add the eggs and mix well with an electric hand whisk until fully incorporated, then add the butter for a couple of minutes more to blend everything together (it won't completely blend together but don't worry - it will be fine).

4) Sieve in the flour and baking powder and fold together with a spatula.

5) Then add the walnuts and chocolate chips (I used chunks of chocolate instead as I had a spare bar). Give everything a final mix before tipping into the lined loaf tin.

6) Bake for 1 hour & 5 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the middle comes out clean (I personally think Paul is being a little bit ambitious here. Mine took at least 1 1/2 hours! I covered mine over with foil towards the end as I didn't want it to catch too much. What I didn't realise was because I was using my Dad's gas oven instead of my electric one at home is that I should have turned it around so it was browner on one side than the other - oops!)
7) Leave to cool slightly in the tin, then turn out and serve cut into thick slices. Any uneaten cake will keep in an airtight container for up to 3 days.

8) Enjoy!

Christmas Is Coming Part 3 - Lemon and Cranberry Cookies

These were a BIG hit at work today. I have made them once before this time last year when they were very popular so I decided it was time to try them again. Although they are called cookies they are a cross between a cookie, a cake, a scone and a rock cake. They taste fresh , melt in your mouth and are perfect for this time of year. This is an American recipe from one of my favourite blogs 'What's Megan Making'. You can find the recipe here. As it's an American recipe you will need some cups (or use a conversion website - I used one from the Delia Online website that you can find here). I made 15 cookies although I could have made them slightly smaller.

Ingredients: 

Cookies:
2 1/4 cups plain flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 caster sugar
2 tablespoons lemon zest (approx. 1 lemon)
1 cup (225g) unsalted butter (room temperature)
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups fresh cranberries (diced)

Lemon Glaze:
1/2 cup icing sugar
1 tablespoon lemon juice

Method: 
1) In a medium sized bowl combine the flour, baking powder and salt in a bowl and set aside.

2) In a large bowl rub the lemon zest into the sugar until moist and fragrant. Add the butter to the lemon sugar and beat until light and fluffy (this will take 3-5 minutes).

3) Add the egg and vanilla and mix until smooth.

4) Add in the flour mixture and mix until just incorporated (the mixture will look and feel slightly sandy at this point).

5) Chop the cranberries and then fold in by hand. Cover and chill for at least 30 minutes.

6) Whilst the mixture is chilling preheat your oven to 180C/350F. Line 2 baking trays with baking paper.
7) Gently form the dough into balls and bake for 13-15 minutes. Allow the cookies to cool slightly before moving them to a rack to cool completely.

8) To make the glaze mix the icing sugar and lemon juice together and drizzle over the cooled cookies.

9) Enjoy!

Toffee Pecan Roulade

Christmas is a time for catching up with your favourite people which is just what we did yesterday afternoon. We went for a pre-Christmas lunch at our friends Simon and Louisa's yesterday and I offered to make dessert. After much trawling the Internet I decided upon a toffee pecan roulade. It's a popular dessert at this time of year - if you Google it you will find all the major supermarkets offer their own version.This is a recipe by Ruth Clemens that you can find on her Pink Whisk website here.

I've only ever made a roulade once before (this chocolate and cranberry one) so I'm not really an expert. I was in a bit of a rush yesterday and didn't have a big enough tin so it ended up as more of a flat rather than circular roulade. The meringue was also quite chewy - I don't think I cooked it for long enough. It did taste good though - you can't really go wrong with toffee and cream can you? I would definitely make this again and would highly recommend it for your Christmas festivities. A bonus is that it is also suitable for freezing.

Ingredients:

Meringue:
5 egg whites (large)
2 teaspoons cornflour
225g light muscavado sugar
40g pecans (chopped)

Filling:
250ml double cream
2 tablespoons icing sugar (plus extra for dusting)
1/2 tin Carnation Caramel

Method:
1) Preheat the oven to 150C/130C (Fan)/Gas 2 and line a baking tray with shallow sides (approx. 25 x 36cm) with baking paper.
2) Put the egg whites in a clean bowl and add the cornflour.

3) Place the light muscovado sugar in a bowl and using a fork check there aren't any lumps. Chop the pecans ready to add to the meringue later. 

4) Begin to whisk the egg whites until they start to look foamy. Once they reach this stage keep whisking whilst adding the sugar one spoonful at a time until it is fully incorporated.

5) Keep whisking until the meringue is firm (you will need to be patient!) and you could hold it over your head without it falling out!

6) Gently fold the pecans into the meringue, until they are just worked through.

7) Spoon the meringue onto the lined tray and gently spread it out using a palette knife or spatula. Make sure it reached to all of the corners and is fairly flat (this is where I went wrong).

8) Bake it in the oven for 1 hour - 1 1/2 hours. You will need to keep checking it. It should not be sticky to the touch but should feel slightly squidgy. Once cooked take it out of the oven and leave it in its tin to cool completely. 

9) Whilst the meringue is cooling prepare your filling. Whip the double cream with two tablespoons of icing sugar until it reaches soft peaks. Put the caramel in a bowl and beat it with a spoon to loosen it.

10) Set out a large piece of  baking paper on your work surface and liberally dust it with icing sugar. 

11) Flip the cooled meringue onto the paper and carefully release the paper around the edges before peeling it away completely.

12) Spread the surface with the caramel followed be the whipped cream.

13) With a sharp knife cut through the meringue 2cm in from one end, all the way along. Fold this directly over the rest of the meringue. Take the edge of your baking paper and lift it to start rolling your roulade. Keep rolling it until you get to the end. 

14) Turn the roulade so that the seam is underneath and dust with icing sugar ready to serve. 

Toffee Apple Pudding

We are big Aldi fans in the Little Birdie household. Their fruit and vegetables are cheap and good quality. So when Mr Birdie spotted some bargainous Bramley apples over the weekend (4 for 99p) I decided it was time to make an apple-based pudding. After some investigation work I found this BBC Good Food recipe for toffee apple pudding which looked easy enough and I had all the ingredients for. I did consider making this treacle apple pudding, especially as I have pudding basin that I have used yet but opted for ease instead! Although this dessert isn't a 'looker' it was tasty and went down well after dinner on Sunday.

Ingredients:

For the pudding:
85g butter (melted)
140g self-raising flour
100g golden caster sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
200ml milk
1 egg (beaten)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 Bramley apples

For the topping:
140g dark brown sugar
50g pecans (roughly chopped)

Method:
1) Heat oven to 180C/160C Fan/Gas 4. Grease a 2-litre (3 1/2 pint) ovenproof dish lightly with butter.
2) Tip the flour, sugar and baking powder, along with a pinch of salt, into a large bowl.

3) Mix together the milk, butter, egg and vanilla extract.

4) Stir the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients until you get a smooth batter.

5) Peel, core and slice the apples and arrange into the bottom of your ovenproof dish. Spoon the batter on top and smooth with a knife until the apples are covered.

6) For the topping, pour 250ml of boiling water over the sugar and stir together until smooth.

7) Pour the liquid over the pudding mixture (it will look pretty bad at this point but don't worry the liquid starts to sink to the bottom) and then scatter over the pecans.

8) Bake for about 40 minutes until the pudding has risen and is golden. 

9) Use a large spoon to serve the pudding (to make sure you get the caramel sauce at the bottom) and serve with cream, custard or ice cream.

10) Enjoy!

Happy baking :-)