dispatch #2 the baked goods edition

all kinds of cake!

Hello again! I wasn’t expecting to be writing again so soon, but here we are.

I found myself doing quite a lot of baking at the tail end of January and at the start of February, so I thought I best split up the February dispatch to avoid overwhelm.

This time around I’ve gone for simple, more comforting and warm flavours. There are not a lot of fruit to be seen in this dispatch, but on the other hand we *are* in the tail end of winter (IT WAS -2 degrees celsius outdoors when I started writing this), so I’m sure more berries and fruit will start making an appearance once they become seasonal in the UK and hence actually taste of something and not cost a kidney’s worth of cash.

Miso Cookies

flavour profile: buttery, caramel, sweet ‘n salty, umami, nutty, cocoa

texture profile: crunchy, crisp, chewy, soft and melty

Makes approximately 16 medium sized, thin cookies.

Drop everything and make these now (please). I promise, they will not disappoint. After seeing a pal mention them like a bazillion times on Instagram, I succumbed and had a shot at the recipe.

The recipe is by Jeremy Chan, published in the Nearness Project, and is called ‘The Perfect Cookie’. I *LOVE* the collage artwork by Alia Wilhelm and the website’s aesthetic appeals to me greatly. In a rare show of dedication I followed this recipe to the dot; thankfully, the authors were kind enough to provide us with metric units.

Notes on the process:

• The recipe yields an ample amount of cookie dough and allows you to freeze a batch for later use. However, these particular cookies tend to spread so make sure you have a large enough baking tray so that they don’t fuse. When the author says you’ll be cooking 2-3 cookies at a time, they are not joshing around!

• Cooking time is between 12-15 minutes and is an elaborate and careful juggle between too well done and done just enough. You need to know your oven well for this one. I heat up my oven at gas mark six, then lower it to 4.5 for baking and find that 13 minutes does it for me. I prefer mine a little lighter in colour than the author’s. They still come out very nice and crispy on the edges, chewy in the middle and soft at the centre.

• Once out of long freezer storage, let the dough soften a bit before cutting or you might damage the cooking utensil you’re using to cut it!

Banana Tarte Tatin with Malai Ice Cream

I know I promised no fruit earlier, but I hate wasting food and I had 3 large black bananas kicking about in my fruit bowl, looking sad and accusatory – and I was tired of banana bread. So I reached out to my bookshelf and scouted for alternative recipes.

This one brought me a lot of joy because not only did I learn how to make a tarte tatin, but I also learned that you can make delicious, creamy ice cream at home with just 2 ingredients and a hand held blender. No fancy gear required.

flavour profile: buttery, caramel, nutty, banana

texture profile: gooey, warm, flaky, crunchy and creamy

Makes enough for 6 portions, or 4 if you are greedy like us.

I have been a big fan of Nadiya Hussain since she first appeared on The Great British Bake Off. She is just such a joyous, fun, candid and resourceful human being. I loved watching her Time to Eat documentary and was very inspired by her efficient and creative approach to making tasty, nutritious and interesting meals whilst catering for a busy life (and a big family) and a specifically UK grocery list. So of course I picked up the book.

I like that Nadiya’s recipes are both filling, mostly easy and time accessible and at times quite whacky and inventive. One of the big pleasers for me is that you won’t find anything in it that isn’t readily accessible in a regular UK supermarket, and if it is out of reach, she often provides substitute alternatives. I live in central Scotland and I’m glad to have an Aldi nearby and a wee Polish grocer. I dream of a asian grocery store, but that is all I get, dreams.

The recipe.

Notes on the process:

• A ‘tatin’ is a style of French pastry usually made with thinly sliced apples. I reckon any fruit with not an overly high water content would do a good job here. I would love to try and make this with apricots and nectarines when those become available.

• Use an oven friendly pan. I used my cast iron skillet and it worked like a treat.

• When instructed to add hazelnuts, avoid the temptation to stir them through the caramel as they will stick to the bottom of the pan and stay there when you flip it over, turning into nice, but hard to remove, caramel nut brittle.

• How do I remove hardened caramel from the pan? Avoid trying to chip away at it like I did with kitchen utensils. Instead, add some hot water to the pan and set it over a low heat. It will dissolve pretty quickly and can be drained away with the water.

• On the day you make the ice-cream (providing it is in the fridge no longer than 5 hours), it will be smooth and soft when you dig in to portion it out. Once it is stored overnight, it will harden and before serving it the next day you will need to keep it out of the freezer for 10-15 minutes in order to soften it up enough to scoop and serve. Don’t worry, the texture will remain lush once it softens up a bit!

• You can also add rosewater to the ice cream, it compliments cardamom very well. I think next time I will be a little more generous with my cardamom. Not a fan on those ingredients? A generous quantity of vanilla extract/bean paste will make for a delicious ice cream.

• If you find the sweetness overwhelming, I reckon it is a safe bet to reduce the amount of condensed milk and replace it with an equal amount of double cream.

Nigella Lawson’s New York Cheesecake

This was an absolute BOMB.

It requires a full day's time commitment to get the best out of the flavour and texture but is pretty simple to put together and is 100% worth it if you’re looking to recreate a lush, light and creamy cheesecake. It reminded me a lot of the furufuru Japanese cheesecake but with quite a bit less hassle to it!

I used this recipe here and am looking forward to purchasing some of Nigella’s books in the future and trying out more of her baking recipes.

A few important notes:

1. Do make sure the tin is 24 inches in circumference, I used a smaller size and the cheesecake was overflowing!

2. Line the base and sides with baking paper before creating the base and pouring in the mix. You will thank me later.

3. Procure high quality, strong vanilla essence/paste for this recipe. It will make all the difference here. Trust me.

What have you tried and enjoyed recently? What has made your tummy sing? What are yous craving?

In the next dispatch I’ll be raving about my bread machine, a fabulously simple pancake recipe formulation (I ken I am a little behind), trying out another Nadiya recipe (a zesty cake) and attempting Cream Egg brownies.

That’s a wrap folks!

- N