Bark the Herald Angels Sing

    If anyone else out there has recently had the "Oh no, I forgot to get something for...." as I recently did with my hairdresser, here's a quick and easy last minute token of appreciation perfect for those people you want to give something small. It's a little bit more personal than a bottle of wine, and for me way more budget friendly (we ALL know how much a bottle of Naked Grape costs, you can't fool anyone with that). 

    Cranberry Almond Bark

  1 c semi sweet chocolate chips

 2.5 oz white chocolate

 1/2 c toasted chopped almonds

 1/3 c dried cranberries

-Melt both chocolates separately using either the microwave or stovetop (or combination of both).
-Stir 3/4 of the nuts and most of the cranberries into the semi sweet chocolate.
-Evenly spread the mixture onto a wax (or grease proof) paper covered baking tray.
-Drizzle the white chocolate overtop and use the tip of a knife to swirl it in.
-Sprinkle remaining nuts and cranberries overtop, pressing them into the soft chocolate.
-Place in fridge to cool and harden then break into pieces.

You can really use any nut and/or fruit combination, I just happened to have almonds and cranberries on hand. 

My New Year's resolution this year is going to be to figure out how to take better pictures because this poor blog is looking ghetto. 

-Holly

Bring your hand to the Nanaimo Bar...

  I feel the way about my KitchenAid mixer that most people feel about their pets. Probably because I'm not allowed to have a pet and I form emotional attachments easily but nonetheless, I was incredibly excited to get back in a proper kitchen filled with my gadgets and ingredients I didn't have to pay for myself! It eased the pain of leaving London (even temporarily) enough that I did not embarrass myself in Heathrow. Much.

  My mum had already done a fair amount of baking before I arrived so I couldn't go as crazy as I would've liked, but the annual Christmas Nanaimo Bar had yet to be done and I jumped at the chance to prove my belief that everything tastes better when made with digestive biscuits instead of graham crackers. The recipe is simple and requires no actual baking, just time between layers to let them chill and set. Really the best part is crushing the digestive biscuits. You could put them in a food processor but I prefer the old Ziploc bag and meat mallet technique as it is both efficient and helps to relieve pent up aggression and stress. Also it's quiet and whilst I was doing all this my sister was still in bed and you know what they say about poking a sleeping bear and whatnot.

Nanaimo Bars

Base:

1/2 c. butter

1/4 c sugar

1/3 c cocoa

1 tsp vanilla

1 egg, beaten

1 1/2 c digestive biscuit crumbs

1 c shredded coconut

1/2 c finely chopped walnuts (I like mine roughly chopped, it's rustic)

Grease the bottom and sides of a 9x9 pan. Cook butter, sugar, cocoa and vanilla over low heat, stirring until smooth. Add the beaten egg and heat just until thickened. Remove from the heat, stire in the crumbs, coconut and walnuts. Mix well. Press into the bottom of the pan, cover and chill for 30 minutes. 

Filling:

1/4 c butter

3 tbsp custard powder

3 tbsp milk

1 tsp vanilla

2 c icing sugar

Cream butter, custard powder, milk and vanilla until blended. Add icing sugar. Beat until smooth, then whip until light and creamy adding more milk if needed. Spread evenly over first layer, cover and chill for 30 minutes.

Top:

4 oz semi sweet chocolate

11/2 tsp butter

Heat chocolate and butter on low heat, stirring until smooth. Spread evenly over filling. Let sit at room temperature until set. Score with a knife then refrigerate and cut into bars. 

I forgot to score mine before I chilled it, so the chocolate cracked when I cut it, but what can you do?

For those who are unfamiliar with Nanaimo Bar it's basically diabetes on a plate, but it's also the most delicious thing ever. To my Canadians; digestive biscuits can be found at Thrifty's and London Drugs I am told.

Happy Holiday sugar comas!

-Holly

This Bread is Bananas

I have discovered the mother of all banana breads which is very poetical as the plethora of bananas I used to make it came from my mother. At the end of her visit in London she found herself loaded with very ripe bananas destined for the bin. Not one to waste anything and being an avid baker herself she bestowed them upon me to freeze and use for later baking endeavours. As my time in this particular flat in London is coming to an end I needed to use them up stat. I'm having trouble as it is finding storage for the things I'm not willing to lug back and forth without adding a small corner of the freezer for five overly ripe bananas to the list of requests. I searched my beloved Pinterest for banana bread recipes and was, of course, drawn to the one with cinnamon and sugar. Also I was too cheap to go buy chocolate chips. 

It turned out so moist, and delicious that I ended up using the remaining bananas originally allocated to try a different recipe to make a second batch weeks later. It was a huge hit with all who tried it. One friend even exclaimed that it was so good she felt she should've paid £5 for it. I informed her she was welcome to, but sadly it never came to be. 

Cinnamon Swirl Banana Bread
Original Recipe courtesy of Shari Blogs

3 medium or 2 large overripe bananas, smashed

(if you freeze and thaw them before smashing it makes the bread nice and moist)

1/3 cup melted butter

1/4 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup white sugar

1 egg, beaten

2 tsp milk or almond milk

1 tsp vanilla

1 tsp baking soda

dash of salt

1/2 cup all purpose flour

1 cup bread flour

CINNAMON SUGAR

1/4 cup white sugar

2 tsp cinnamon

1. Preheat oven to 350ºF (180ºC)
2. Line a 9x5 inch loaf pan with grease proof (parchment) paper
3. Melt the butter and let stand while you mix the bananas, egg, sugar, milk and vanilla. Mix in melted butter.
4. Gently stir in baking soda, salt and flour just until combined. If you over mix it will lose it's fluffiness. 
5. In a separate dish combine cinnamon and sugar.
6. Pour half the banana batter into your loaf pan and sprinkle it with half your cinnamon mix.
7. Add the remaining banana batter topping with the rest of the cinnamon sugar.
8. Bake for 40-50 minutes depending on your oven. It should be just to the point where a toothpick inserted into the centre comes out clean for optimal texture. 

-Holly

Great British Baking: Ginger Cake

  So Bonfire Night is upon us. Being as I am not from the UK (though, am allowed to vote in local elections being part of the commonwealth as a nice gentleman who rang my doorbell informed me this evening) this is all new to me. I didn't realize that there are certain foods that are associated with the festivities of the evening. A ginger cake known as "Parkin" is one such food and when I stumbled upon a recipe for a Bonfire Night ginger cake, though not specifically Parkin, I decided to once again brave the third world baking conditions of my flat's kitchen and attempt to make some for the boyfriend. I had mentioned the other day that I like to bake things for people to thank them and he was upset that he had not yet received any baking, I jokingly responded that I had nothing to thank him for which apparently carried more weight than I had intended as the comment was brought up several times over the next few days. To be fair, I have plenty to thank him for as he's a lovely human being though he would never want anybody to know that.

  As baking in the ghetto does not come without complications I discovered quickly that this place doesn't have a micro plane, nor a cheese grater, or really any sort of grater which was going to prove a challenge for my "grated ginger" that was required. I resorted to a fine chop which took ages and left me with far bigger pieces than I would've liked but needs must. I also realised that I had bought whole cloves instead of ground cloves and was forced to "grind" some by hand. This whole baking expedition was quickly becoming rather labour intensive and this after a day of performance. Minor speed bumps aside the rest of the recipe seemed to go off without a hitch, there was a bit too much batter for the pan, so I ended up making a small leftover cake for myself, which is of course all gone by now.

It's not much to look at. Also my photography needs work.

  The resulting cake was deliciously moist, and full of (chunky) ginger flavour. It's basically what one would imagine gingerbread would taste like as a cake and even though I've never been much of a fan of gingerbread, I actually quite enjoyed it. It will definitely go into the rotation for future bonfire nights. The response from the boyfriend when I bestowed this great gift upon him? "Well it's not my Gran's, but I'll let you know how it measures up." This is why I don't bake for him.

The recipe: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/foodanddrink/cake-recipes/11201610/Ginger-cake-recipe.html

Holly

Wherefore art thou, Sconeo?

  A couple of weeks ago I got a hankering for a cinnamon raisin scone. Such cravings are not strange for me, but the thing about my cravings is that they are very specific and the standard for satisfying them is very high. Thus, I spent weeks searching high and low for the perfect cinnamon raisin scone to pacify me. Being in London, I thought I'd have no trouble, but alas, a grocery store scone was not going to cut it, and I couldn't find a bakery that carried them. I even went to afternoon tea at a hotel hoping they would be there, but alas, it was not to be. I soon realized that if I was going to find the scone of my dreams, I was going to have to get over my anxiety of baking in my unfamiliar London kitchen, buy some ingredients and do it myself.

   I didn't have a recipe in mind so I did what all Martha's in the making do and turned to Pinterest. My criteria were simple; fewest number of ingredients I had to purchase, ease of execution. I managed to save a few pounds, and storage space by turning a roasting pan upside down instead of purchasing a baking tray. Necessity is the mother of invention, as is being cheap. I found the one and after enjoying the fruits of my long labour I am convinced that it is, in fact, The One. The results were everything I had hoped for, crumbly, warm, delicious cinnamony goodness. So good, I ate three and had to immediately bag up the rest and pop them in the freezer or else I would've been going back to them every hour on the hour until they were finished!

   You can find the recipe below, I followed it pretty much to the letter with the exception of substituting soy milk for milk (I can only handle so much dairy). I also added an extra 1/4 tsp of cinnamon and skipped the chocolate chips. I'm a big believer in keeping things simple and classic and adding anything to the already delectable combination of cinnamon and raisin seems unnecessary to me, but hey, that's just me, you do you.

The recipe:

http://www.crunchycreamysweet.com/2013/10/08/brown-sugar-cinnamon-raisin-scones-recipe/

-Holly

Holly

                                                  Holly

A coffee and tea junkie, baker, actor, theatre lover and walking sweet tooth I've packed up all my obsessions and moved to London from Vancouver, BC to study drama and do amazing things. To me baking, like theatre, is a way of expressing yourself. Shakespeare's plays have been translated and performed in many different languages across the globe (no pun intended) and food is a universal language. I bake to say "please," "thank you," "I'm sorry," and "I love you." This blog allows me to share my musings, adventures, misadventures and recipes involving all the things I love with the world; it is my stage for my culinary performances and the plate's the thing!

Happy Reading!

Holly

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