E5 BAKEHOUSE // BREAD MAKING COURSE

On one of the hottest days of the year, I was taken along to a one day bread making course in London Fields, situated in three disused railway arches under the overground railway. The course was at the E5 BAKEHOUSE who have been going since 2011. The course had been given to me as a birthday gift back in April.

Will (the guy above taking the bagels out of the oven) was our tutor for the day and took us through the whole process of working with sourdough. From making a leaven, starter, kneading dough, to some fantastic tips of how to bake a good loaf at home without a proper 'bread' oven.  

There were ten of us on the course, some local and some who'd travelled from further field. After a cup of coffee and some delicious fruit buns, we were set up with our aprons and team mates ready for the four breads we were to make.

Hackney Wild (just prepped the dough, so could be baked at home)
Sourdough Bagels
Rye
Ciabatta

There are two kitchens at the back of E5 Bakehouse, so that whilst the courses take place the actual bakery can continue with creating the never ending supply of delicious loaves. 
Half way through the day we were given a quick tour of the main working kitchen. WOW the speed in which these guys work is impressive! See the quick little video below that I managed to capture on my phone (hope the video works ok). We were all in awe of the speed and preciseness of the bakers. 

We were then taken to the third and most recent arch, that holds the grain store. This is newest addition to the bakery and is currently a working progress. The plan is to mill 'heritage' gains and create their own batches of flours. 
It was fascinating to hear how the old 'heritage' grains have nearly but all disappeared due to preference of fast growing but less nutritious wheats. Their aim is to source the small growers of these more nutritious wheat growers which are notoriously harder to grow. 

After our insightful tour we went back to our kitchen where a delicious lunch of salads, soups and breads had been set out for us.

At the end of the day Ben and I walked out with 7 loaves, 2 prepped doughs and 8 bagels!  good thing we took a couple of massive sacks with us to carry it all home in.
Fortunately we'd previously contacted a few local friends to pop over that evening to try out our creations!

You probably noted that we also took home two balls of proving dough, to bake at home. You'd think that these wouldn't have come out as well as the loaves cooked in the professional bread ovens.. well you guessed wrong! Will, gave us one of the best tips ever for creating a superb loaf (if not better than in a professional bakers oven) and that is to bake the loaf in a large Le Creuset casserole dish. The trick is to heat the empty casserole dish and lid in the oven, until the oven is up too temp (Depending on the loaf and oven, we did it at 220c) Once up to temp carefully take the dish out of the oven and place the proving dough into the dish replacing the lid.
By baking the bread inside the dish, means the outside crust won't dry out and will keep in the moisture and allow the loaf to rise more than if it was baked directly in the oven.

I can't recommend the course enough and look forward to creating a new leaven for my very on sourdough soon! All in all a superb birthday present which I shall enjoy again and again.

E5 Bakehouse

395, Mentmore Terrace, London E8 3PH, United Kingdom

Breakfast, brunch or lunch.

7am until around 7pm every day of the week.

Serving lunch between 12 and 3pm.

www.e5bakehouse.com

ORANGE POPPY SEED BUNDT CAKE

I made this Bundt last year and forgot to blog about it. So as I've been meaning to do a recipe post for some time I thought I'd tell you about it now.

As I've mentioned on previous posts I am part of the Borough Belles and am in charge of making sure there is something to eat at the meetings, whether it be Jamaican Patties or Oreo Brownies! I'm in charge of drumming up interest and excitement in the other Belles to bake for the odd meeting however sometimes people are unable to make it at the last minute, so it always good for me to have an emergency cake in the freezer to prevent lack of cake!

This cake is perfect for such an occasion. It keeps really well in the freezer and if you get it out the night before, it leaves plenty of time to whip up the icing just before serving.

Funny how my emergency freezer cake is also my emergency blog post too!?

ORANGE POPPY SEED BUNDT CAKE

Ingredients:

• Melted butter, to grease
• 125ml (1/2 cup) fresh orange juice
• 130g (1/2 cup) Greek-style natural yoghurt
• 60g (1/4 cup) poppy seeds
• 250g butter, at room temperature, chopped
• 270g (1 1/4 cups) caster sugar
• 2 tbs finely grated orange rind
• 4 eggs
• 340g (2 1/4 cups) plain flour
• 2 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1 orange

For the Icing:

• 150g icing sugar
• Juice & Zest of 1 Orange

Method:

Pre-heat the oven to 180C. Grease and flour your Bundt tin.

Combine the orange juice, yoghurt and poppy seeds in a small bowl.

Use an electric beater to beat the butter, caster sugar and orange rind in a large bowl until pale and creamy. 

Add the eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition until just combined.

Sift the flour and baking powder over the egg mixture. 

Add the yoghurt mixture and use a large metal spoon to fold until just combined. 

Spoon mixture into the prepared pan and smooth the surface. 
Bake in oven for 1 hour or until a skewer inserted into the cake comes out clean. 

Leave to cool for 5 minutes before turning out. 

To make the icing simply beat all the ingredients together until smooth. Then drizzle over the top. Using a proper zester will allow you to get those longer zest stripes that look great on top. Leave for 20minutes to set before serving.

This cake freezes very well (un-iced) and can keep for up to 3-4 days in an air tight container.

Borough Belles Best Baker Award

So I'm not sure if you realise but as well as photography, baking, doing this blog, being part of Hither Green's FUSS, I am also part of the Committee for the Borough Belles WI.
A fabulous London Based WI group that meets up once a month to chat, learn something and eat cake!

After going to just one meeting I jumped to join the actual committee the following month at their AGM. As part of the committee I was given the wonderful job of running the monthly cake rota and ensuring that there was cake readily available at each meeting - preferably homemade!

I soon realised that the cake rota needed 'jjjoozed' up and so began THE BEST BAKER award! 

The homemade cakes were loved at each meeting and are usually eaten with enthusiasim and chat full of questions about recipes, tips and new ideas. 

"Why not make a record of the cakes, bakes and homemade makes from each meeting, correlate the cakes with their recipes and have a vote at the end!?"

All the time and effort that goes into each time a member or guest decides to make something should be recognised and recorded! We decided that at the end of it all it would be wonderful to put together a Borough Belle Recipe Zine with all the recipes with comments, tried and tested!

So far we have had some fabulous things made since the BBB Award began. From Turkish Spinach Cake to Brazilian Carrot Cake and Spicy Samosa to Jamaican Patties! 

The reactions we've been getting is fabulous and we were worried that people would keep making the same recipes, but no! It's amazing at the array of recipes people find or know and the ones that have been a families close guarded secret are even more exciting!! 

Anyone is free to enter, we just ask you let us know the recipe used. So the remaining question is... what are you going to make? ;)

For more info click the link below:

https://www.facebook.com/events/132146310262521/

http://boroughbelleswi.wordpress.com/

Spiced Apple and Banana Bundt Cake Success!

It's taken me quite some time to get this post on the blog. Better late than never.

I found this fabulous recipe on http://www.loveveggiesandyoga.com it is so incredibly moorish and the caramel graze just takes it to the next level! (I nearly didn't do the glaze, big mistake if I hadn't) Plus it's full of fruit, so it's got to be slightly ..healthy?? ;)

I first made this cake for ELF cafe and blinked and it was gone. So if you want to make a winner this is the recipe for you! Oh now I went and got myself a set of 'cups' as I was ending up making so many recipes with that were measured using cups, it just seemed sensible. I have just made it a second time, just now. But instead of using white plain flour I used wholemeal self-raising flour - it's in the oven now, so it'll be interesting to see how it comes out.

Before I go on to tell you the recipe I thought I'd mention a useful piece of equipment you may want to get when baking American style recipes that use 'cups' as a measuring device. To save time working out conversions these set of measuring cups really help. Most catering shops sell them but you can also get them online.

Spiced Apple and Banana Bundt Cake with Vanilla Caramel Glaze

Makes one 12-cup Bundt or tube cake (or can be baked in two 8-by-4-inch loaf pans)

• 1/4 cup unsalted butter, melted
• 1/4 cup canola or vegetable oil
• 5 to 6 ounces vanilla or plain yogurt (one standard-sized small container; Greek yogurt is preferred, sour cream may be substituted)
• 2 large eggs
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1/4 cup light brown sugar, packed
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1/4 teaspoon mixed all spice
• 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1 cup mashed ripe bananas (about 1 1/2 large bananas)
• 1 cup finely diced apples (1 medium apple; I used one unpeeled Gala apple)
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt, optional and to taste

Preheat oven to 350F and spray a 12-cup Bundt cake pan or tube cake pan very well with cooking spray (I use Pam For Baking with Flour and it worked so well for me that this cake literally fell out of the pan while I was beginning to inverting it before I was properly set up to catch the cake on a cutting board) or grease and flour the pan; set aside.

In a large microwave-safe bowl, melt the butter, about 1 minute on high power. To the melted butter, add canola oil, yogurt, eggs, sugars, vanilla, cinnamon, ginger, pumpkin pie spice, nutmeg, cloves (all spices should be added to taste and if you don’t have all of them on hand, not a big deal to omit some) and whisk until batter is smooth and silky, about 1 minute of vigorous whisking. Add the bananas, apples, and stir to combine. Add the flour, baking soda, salt, and stir until just combined, taking care not to over-mix and over-develop the gluten, which would result in a tougher cake. Pour batter into prepared pan and bake for about 39 to 43 minutes, or until a cake tester comes out clean (or insert a sharp long-blade chef’s knife and it should come out clean). Allow cake to cool in pan for at least 15 minutes before inverting it and removing cake.

While cake is cooling, make the caramel sauce. Optionally, while cake is cooling poke approximately 25 holes in the top surface of the cake with a chopstick or popsicle stick. The holes will allow the glaze to seep into the cake’s interior, creating a delicious caramel-apple flavor; the drawback is that it’s not quite as pretty when sliced, but since you’re not likely going to take pictures of the cake’s interior surfaces, I’d poke the holes.

Vanilla Caramel Glaze

• Makes about 1 cup glaze, enough to generously glaze the cake
• 1/4 cup unsalted butter, melted (half of 1 stick)
• 1/3 cup light brown sugar, packed
• 2 tablespoons cream or milk
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 to 2 cups+ confectioners’ sugar, sifted (must be sifted)

Note: This is a fast moving recipe; have everything in place before you begin.

In a small saucepan, melt the butter over medium-high heat. To the melted butter, add the brown sugar and bring to a boil, stirring nearly continuously. Allow the mixture to boil quite rapidly for 2 minutes, stirring nearly continuously. Remove the pan from the burner, allow it to cool for about 1 minute, and add the cream, taking caution because the mixture could bubble vigorously. Whisk aggressively to incorporate the cream and calm the bubbling.

After the bubbling has subsided, add the vanilla and whisk to combine, using caution because the alcohol in the extract could cause the mixture to bubble up again. Add the confectioners’ sugar one-half cup at a time, until desired sauce consistency is reached (I absolutely recommend using sifted sugar so the glaze is whisks up smooth, silky, and free from lumps). Pour glaze over cake and allow it to set up for a few minutes if desired; or slice and serve immediately. Cake will keep for up to 5 days in an airtight container at room temperature. If there is extra unused glaze, it can be stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 1 month; gently reheat it in the microwave prior to glazing another dessert.

I finished this all off with a splattering of melted dark chocolate ;)
Hmm was soo tasty think I shall make another one this weekend!

Moroccan Honey & Mint Bundt Cake

If like me you have loads of left over fresh mint and dozen of eggs in the fridge that  need using up, this is the recipe for you!

I have to say this is the first cake I have ever baked that contains fresh herbs and I like it! Why have I never done this before?! It just shows that is always worth a good google when you have an abundance of particular ingredient. You end up finding unique new recipes.

The original recipe had a lot more coconut and no ground almonds in it. But due to a limited amount of coconut, I improvised and it seemed to work.

Here is the recipe I used:

Moroccan Honey & Mint Bundt Cake

Ingredients

For the cake batter

160g butter, softened

310g sugar

1½  teaspoons dried or fresh chopped mint

6 eggs

100g desiccated coconut

130g ground almonds

210g self-raising flour

10-15 Cup Bundt Tin (or you can use 20cm spring-release cake-tin with baking paper)

Method

Preheat the oven to 150ºC.

Beat the butter, sugar and mint until they begin to change colour. Add small quantities of the egg, coconut, ground almonds and flour, beating well between each addition to prevent the mixture from curdling. Repeat until you have used these ingredients up.

Butter a large Bundt cake-tin and then lightly dust with flour. Pour the batter in. Bake for 1–1½  hours (you can make the Mint Syrup during this time).

Check the cake is baked by inserting a skewer in the centre. If it comes out clean, the cake is ready. Remove from the oven and allow it to cool in the tin for 5–10 minutes.

For the Mint Syrup

200ml water

180g sugar

1½  cups roughly chopped fresh mint

Place the water, sugar and mint in a saucepan. Bring to the boil, stirring occasionally to ensure the sugar is dissolved. Remove from the heat and allow to cool for 30–45 minutes. Strain through a sieve and discard the mint leaves. Use the syrup as directed.

To finish

75g butter

180g honey

180g flaked almonds

Preheat the oven to 170ºC.

With the cake still in the tin, prick 60–70 holes in the top. Pour the Mint Syrup evenly over the cake, allowing it to soak in. Once soaked in fully, turn cake out onto a lipped baking tray.

Place the butter, honey and almonds in a saucepan and melt together, stirring until well combined. Do not allow to boil. Remove from the heat and immediately spread this topping on the cake.

Place the cake back in the oven and bake the topping to a light amber colour, approximately 10-15 minutes. Remove and allow to cool in the tin for 20–30 minutes.

Remove the cake from the tin carefully and remove the baking paper gently while still warm.

Dust with icing sugar before serving warm with a blob of creme fraiche.

Have to say it's great to be back back blogging and I plan to do a lot more this year. Hopefully I stick to this promise this year!

Tap soon....

Cloche Burger & Brioche Bap

Happy New Year All! 

I've started as I mean to carry on 2012 by beginning with some serious savoury cooking. This year the sweet stuff is being put on the back-burner and we begin with one of London's new trends!

In previous posts I've talked about London's 'craze' of pop-up restaurants, well now it's all about the Street Burger! You may have about places such as Lucky Chip, The Meateasy & Honest Burger.
I've had the splendid joy of being to, two of the three above and I have to say, I don't think I'd ever had a proper burger before I had tried one from the above establishments!

The Meateasy also known as The Meatwagon has now moved to the west-end & re-named itself Meat Liquor. I went to the Meatwagon whilst it was still based in New Cross & have to say it was a fabulous experience of trying my first cloche burger!

So here are the two recipes I used to get the creation above in the photograph.

Light Brioche Burger Buns -  Got this recipe from Smitten Kitchen
Adapted from Comme Ça restaurant in Los Angeles, via the New York Times
Go! Make these! What are you waiting for?
Makes 8 4 to 5-inch burger buns
3 tablespoons warm milk
2 teaspoons active dry yeast
2 1/2 tablespoons sugar
2 large eggs
3 cups bread flour
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
2 1/2 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
Sesame seeds (optional)
1. In a glass measuring cup, combine one cup warm water, the milk, yeast and sugar. Let stand until foamy, about five minutes. Meanwhile, beat one egg.
2. In a large bowl, whisk flours with salt. Add butter and rub into flour between your fingers, making crumbs. Using a dough scraper, stir in yeast mixture and beaten egg until a dough forms. Scrape dough onto clean, well-floured counter and knead, scooping dough up, slapping it on counter and turning it, until smooth and elastic, 8 to 10 minutes. The dough will be on the sticky side so it can be a bit messy, but keep in mind that the more flour you knead in, the tougher the buns will get. Try to leave them tackier than you would a round loaf.
3. Shape dough into a ball and return it to bowl. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and let rise in a warm place until doubled in bulk, one to two hours. (In my freaky, warm apartment this only took an hour.)
4. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Using dough scraper, divide dough into 8 equal parts. Gently roll each into a ball and arrange two to three inches apart on baking sheet. Cover loosely with a piece of plastic wrap lightly coated in nonstick spray and let buns rise in a warm place for one to two hours. (Again, this only took one hour in my apartment and I suspect, you’ll also only need an hour for a second rise.)
5. Set a large shallow pan of water on oven floor. Preheat oven to 400 degrees with rack in center. Beat remaining egg with one tablespoon water and brush some on top of buns. Sprinkle with sesame seeds, if using. Bake, turning sheet halfway through baking, until tops are golden brown, about 15 minutes. Transfer to a rack to cool completely.

Cloche Burger - recipe found on The Independent website

1kg coarsely minced chuck steak with about 20 per cent fat (get this from your butcher not the supermarket)
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
A little vegetable oil for grilling
4 slices of cheese
4 soft homemade Brioche buns

Mould the mince into round patties the same size or a little larger than the burger buns. Season the burgers then heat a griddle or heavy frying pan and cook for 3-4 minutes on each side, keeping them nice and pink. When it's almost done, splash a little bit of water into the pan and then puts a cloche over the top to let it steam a little.
If you are using cheese, just place on top of the burger for 30 seconds or so to melt it.
Meanwhile, lightly toast the bun, assemble with your chosen relish and serve immediately.

Dill Relish
Chopped dill
Tommie K
Mayo

 Once you make a cloche burger you'll never do it any other way.

Go on give it a try!!

Sticky Spiced Ginger Cake

Another birthday, another reason to BAKE! :D

So after 'Jamaican Ginger' had being discussed quite a lot in the office in recent months, a sticky ginger cake seemed to be the way forward. 

This recipe did not fail in hitting the spot ;) Good old BBC Good Food website, is where I found the recipe.

Ingredients

250g pack butter

250g dark brown muscovado sugar

250g black treacle

300ml milk

2 eggs

100ml glacé ginger from a jar, finely chopped (or ginger jam!)

375g plain flour

2 tsp bicarbonate of soda

1 tsp allspice

2 tsp ground ginger

1. Butter and line a 23cm square baking tin (or use a shallow roasting tin, approx 30 x 20cm). Heat oven to 160C/fan 140C/gas 3. Put the butter, sugar and treacle into a saucepan and heat gently for about 5 mins until the butter and sugar have melted. Stir in the milk. The mix should be just warm to the touch; if not, leave to cool a little longer, then beat in the eggs.
2. Mix the chopped ginger and dry ingredients together in a large bowl and make a well in the centre. Pour the melted mix into the well, then gradually draw the dry ingredients into the wet with a wooden spoon, until you have a thick, smooth batter.
3. Pour the batter into the prepared tin, then bake for 1 hr until risen and firm to the touch. Resist taking a peek beforehand; the cake will sink if the oven temperature drops too quickly before it's cooked through. Poke a skewer into the centre to check that it's cooked - it should come out clean. If not, give it 10 mins more and check again. Leave the cake to cool in the tin. Once completely cool, turn out of the tin ready for icing, or wrap well in cling film and keep in a cool, dry place for up to a week.
4. To make the icing, sift the icing sugar into a bowl and add the gingery syrup. Beat well until you have a smooth, runny icing. Once the cake has cooled, drizzle with icing and cut into squares. If you're planning to let the cake mature for a while, make the icing on the day you want to cut it. 

Serve warm with a blob off Creme Fraiche & enjoy!

Linzer Biscuits

So even though I made a large batch of Flapjacks for the office, they were all eaten in one day!? So as it's turned out, I did end up baking some more 'Christmas-y' biscuits (Well they have red in them).

I made these last year and I think they went down well, I was too busy eating them myself! They are individual hazelnut shortbreads with raspberry jam in the middle - a posh jammy dodger if you will.

Ooo I do like a jammy dodger and a cuppa tea (yes there is an 80yr inside trying to get out)
Anyway, my Dad very kindly made me some boxes this year - He runs a box company - makes boxes for the Queen, don't you know! ;) It's quite funny actually, recently I was near Green Park with a friend. You know near Buck Palace. It dawned on me that there might be a Buck Palace gift shop near by. So mid conversation, I yelped with excitement (I do make myself laugh)  and proceeded to drag the individual over the park into the shop. It was full to top with all my Dad's boxes!?

Now, even though I've known he's made boxes for them for a while, to see them on display in the shop, in Central London, Outside Buck Palace!!! Well was rather RUDDY exciting! Ha! It was like having a famous box making Dad!! (Took me a while to explain my sudden surge of crazy antics) LOL

(Just had re-read what I had written, cause couldn't remember how I got from biscuits to Buckingham Palace - lol) This will be down to the fact I was up till 1.30am baking last night (got a bit carried away - as I always do).

So yeah, the boxes. My Dad, originally designed me these beautifully fabric coated, bright coloured boxes, that if I wanted could be lined with fabric, so on and so forth. They were truely great! So he was a bit perplexed when I asked for basic basic boxes, just brown, no coating inside or outside. But I do love a classic brown box. There is a true beauty in the simplest of things.

Thanks for the boxes Dad ;)

I gave a couple of Boxes to one of our clients, Tim and his crew (also gave him a box of flapjacks, as he mentioned how much he liked them). A box to the Touch Crew (my work) and another to Anne at FUSS (it's her birthday this weekend).

Get such a buzz from baking these biscuits. I think it's because they look so smart when you put them together. Hmm. It's just such a great feeling that in a short period of time you can create something so delicate and pretty that will consequently be eaten and then gone forever.

Flapjack Cookies revisited

Did you know that the main reason people visit my blog is to read one of my first posts on my Mum's Flapjack Cookies recipe 239 people to be exact!?!

I haven't been home for a while and even though Christmas is on the horizon ( & tempted to make Christmas-y looking biscuits) I felt compelled to make a few home comforts. Ahh my kitchen smelt just like back-home when I was baking them. I grew up on these and will always consider them as proper flapjacks and not the slice variety that everyone else are used too.

This lovely new batch of flapjacks were for my clients and work colleagues.
Half the tin was eaten by midday!?

Victoria's Famous Flapjacks

170g Traditional whole rolled oats
140g Sugar
140g Plain flour
1 tsp bicarb of soda
2 tbsp Boiling hot water
170g block butter
1 tablespoon Syrup
(makes around 34 biscuits)

Preheat oven to 180oc

Mix the oats, sugar and flour together in bowl. In a separate bowl mix the boiling water and bicarb of soda, then mix into the oat mixture.

Melt the butter & syrup in a bowl over boiling water. once melted add to the oat mixture.
Roll into small balls and place on a baking tray covered with baking parchment, press two fingers into each blob. Make sure they are too close together as they will spread. If you're using one tray, do it in three batches.

Pop in the oven for around 12-14 mins, they won't take long.
leave to cool on the tray a bit to crisp-en up, then onto a wire rack to fully cool.
Package up and hand out to people to make yourself smile ;D

A blog called Constellations have blogged about my mum's recipe too, and it looks like they went down well. Lets just hope that the office and my clients like the oaty variety treats to the jammy linzer biscuits I made last year.

Questions is ... how should I package them?
Hmmm will post some photos once I decide.

Ginger Spiced Flapjack Cookies

 As we're nearing spring I thought what a better time to use up ingredients in my baking cupboard - the first one on the list was stem ginger! Black treacle and rice flour to be used up next, so all ideas welcome :)

So these are a slight twist to mum's original recipe for Flapjack Cookies I did previously on the blog. Whilst mentioning my mum's Flapjack recipe, did you know that is one of the main reasons people end up finding / reading my blog!?! It's because they type in 'flapjack cooie' into google and my link shows as the forth one down (yes just below the BBC - Ha!!)

Right sorry went off on a bit of a tangent then, back to the old recipe :))

Ginger Flapjack Cookies

100g Stork or Softened butter
1 tbsp Golden syrup
100g  Caster sugar
1 tsp Bicarbonate of soda
1 tsp Ground ginger
2 tbsp Finely grated stem ginger
100g Plain flour (if you wanna be ubber healthy use wholemeal flour)
125g Porridge oats

Pop the butter, syrup and sugar in a small saucepan and heat gently until just melted. Remove from the heat heat and add the bicarbonate soda, ground ginger and the grated stem ginger.
In a separate large bowl put in your oats and flour, mix. Then pour in the warm ingredients from the saucepan - mix well.
Now at this point I wrapped  the dough in cling and popped it into the freezer for half an hour to an hour, just to make it easier to work with. Roll into small balls and place on prepared and lined baking trays. Pop in an oven preheated at 180oc for around 10mins - I ended having to do this in three batches as only have 2 trays. Leave to cool on the trays once out of the oven for 1-2mins before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.

Oats & ginger? They must be healthy!?! :)

Jammy Valentine's

To bring some Valentine cheer into the office I decided that cakes should be baked! I ddin't bake one of these though http://www.lilyvanilli.com/content/valentines-hearts/ Scary aren't they, but at the same time rather amusing. Imagine if you received this in the post on valentines day!?

Anyway I had a nose in the fridge and saw a huge jar of my chunky homemade strawberry jam, and that's red and it's valentines day!! So after sifting through my many cookbooks I came across a lovely recipe in The River Cottage Every Day cookbook. So with a heart shape muffin tray to hand I went forth and made a few sweet-hearts! (sorry the puns are getting worse!?). I originally called them Jammy Ripple Muffins, but after being misheard and a few rude jokes (the cheek!?) they were named Jammy Valentine's.

Hmm I like that name...
Anyho here is the recipe:

Jammy Valentine Heart Muffins
225g Plain Flour
2 tsp Baking powder
pinch sea salt
100g caster sugar
1 medium egg
125g Plain yogurt
125ml Milk
75g Unsalted butter - melted
150g strawberry jam - chunkier the better!

Grease and line muffins trays & pop the oven on to 180oc

Pop the flour, baking powder, salt and caster sugar in a bowl & aerate....? Aerate, sieve the flour and then you could try whisking it... but I'm sure you'd end up with a very white kitchen and not much left in the bowl... ?
Anyway back to the recipe....
In a jug put the yogurt, egg, milk and melted butter (careful not to cook the egg with the butter) mix it all up. And then add to the flour mixture. stir around eight times so as not to over mix (over mixing will make them dense). Spoon the mixture into your muffin trays and place in the oven for about 30minutes.

If you want to live life to the full... eat one of the muffins whilst it's still warm!!