Archive | Sweet Treats

Pinterest challenge: Chickpea flour cookies (not gluten free)

By Rasa Pelham on March 25, 2015 in Pinterest challenge, Recipes, Sweet Treats

Hey everyone and welcome to my Pinterest challenge! Have not had one for a while so I though I will do it today. I picked this recipe for few reasons. One was that I had some chickpea flour left in my cupboard. I was experimenting with different flours to make a gluten free brownie while ago and chickpea did not work quite well there as the flavour of it is quite strong. But I definitely think that chickpea go well in these cookies, although you might find it a bit overpowering. Do you like chickpeas? Now imagine them sweet. Nice thoughts? Then definitely make them! Another reason for going for this challenge is because these cookies seemed so Easter-friendly. I am saying that because Easter do relate with truffles to me. And making these cookies felt a bit like making truffles!

I made a small batch of them as I did not know how successful will they be. Also because I did not have THAT much of chickpea flour! Anyways if you want to make more of them feel free double or triple the recipe.

CHICKPEA FLOUR COOKIES adopted from Give Recipe

(for the dough)

25g chickpea flour
45g whole wheat flour
30g icing sugar
1 egg yolk + some egg white if needed
35 butter
0.5 tsp baking powder

(for coating)

1 egg white, whisked
3 tsp chickpea flour
3 tsp cocoa powder
3 tsp poppy seeds

1. Mix all ingredients of dough and combine them very well with your hand. Add extra egg white if needed to form smooth and soft dough like in the picture bellow. 2. Make mini balls from the dough. Dip them into whisked egg white first and then coat them with cocoa powder, poppy seeds and chickpea flour. Place them into lined baking pan.

3. Keep the cookies in the fridge for an hour before baking.4. Bake them in preheated 180C oven for 10-15 minutes. Let it cool before eating ;-). Enjoy!

Rasa xoxo

Valentine’s day strawberry tart

By Rasa Pelham on February 10, 2015 in Recipes, Sweet Treats

As Valentine’s day is soon approaching I thought I will make a tart full of hearts. Strawberries and cream popped into my mind first (I know I know, that’s not very imaginative of me!). But then I thought how can I twist this classic dessert into something more creative and thats when I thought to add basil to it. Basil? Oh, it totally works! Remember how I made marmalade tart with rosemary crust? Well this one has a very similar concept except more hearts!Care to try?BAKED STRAWBERRY TART WITH BASIL CRUST

200g unsalted butter
6-8 tbsp sugar
2 egg yolks
15-20 tbsp plain flour
1 tsp dried basil
at least 200g strawberries, sliced (+ 2 tbsp sugar if you like them sweet)
icing for dusting
300ml whipping cream
2 tbsp sugar

1. Make the pastry dough by creaming butter with sugar. Gradually add egg yolks, flour and basil. Wrap the dough into cling film and let it rest in the fridge for 15 min or so (it will be easer to handle it later).

2. Roll out the dough and line prepared baking tin with it (lined with baking paper prior that).

3. Fill the tart with sliced strawberries as evenly as you can. Sprinkle some sugar on top if using. I did not use any sugar and I wish I did! However Joni said that he liked the tart’s sweetness as it is. So your choice ;-).4. I tried decorating the top of the tart with the heart shapes, although I was suspecting that it won’t survive the baking. There is always a risk if you bake sweet butter pastry on uneven surface such as sliced strawberries!Therefore I baked some hearts using the same dough separately on baking sheet.5. I baked the tart in preheated 170C oven for 40min (other ovens varies so don’t wait if you see the crust is already golden after 30 min). You see! The hearts came out all wobbly! Exactly what I predicted :-S.So after some dusting……and whipped cream with baked dough heart biscuits. Voila! I think it turned out quite alright :-). 6. To whip the cream all you need to do is mix some sugar with cream and whip away!(be careful and don’t over-beat it though) And have fun celebrating Valentines day ;-)

Rasa xoxo

Evangeline’s birthday cake

By Rasa Pelham on December 17, 2014 in Cake decorating, Errors, Let's Celebrate!, Sweet Treats

This cake that I baked for Evangeline’s birthday almost two weeks ago was received with the “awww…” wow!” and “that’s amazing” praises. Little did the know that this cake did not come out exactly how I imagined! I was experimenting with baking cheesecake on the top of the sponge (something like this). I took two of my favourite recipes and combined, the cheesecake unfortunately went under the sponge. I guess I will have to do more experimenting in the future! CHOCOLATE SPONGE & VANILLA CHEESECAKE WITH THE CRANBERRY TOPPING

(for the sponge)

50g dark chocolate
55g butter
100g golden caster sugar
1 egg
2tbsp milk
2tbsp yogurt
70g plain flour
2tsp baking powder

(for the cheesecake filling)

400g soft cheese
120g caster sugar
1 tsp cornflour
3 eggs
vanilla seeds scraped from one pod
1/4 tsp lemon juice or white vinegar

(for the topping)

200g cranberry sauce
300g fresh cranberries
50g sugar

1. First make a chocolate sponge cake mix. Melt the chocolate in a heatproof bowl set over a pan of simmering water, then remove from the heat and set aside.

2. In Another bowl, cream the butter and sugar together until pale and fluffy. Add the rest of the ingredients gradually (including melted chocolate) and mix to combine. Spoon the mixture into the prepared baking pan.

3. Next, make a cheesecake filling. Place all the ingredients into the bowl or large measuring jug and mix everything well with the hand processor (I find this method the quickest!). 4. Pour in the cheesecake mixture on top of the sponge cake mixture. Pop the baking tin into the preheated 170C oven and leave there to bake for about an hour or hour and half. The cheesecake has to be not too wobbly!5. While cheesecake is baking, prepare the cranberry topping. Put cranberries, sugar and cranberry sauce into the small saucepan. Heat everything and mix until the sugar dissolves and cranberries bruise slightly.

6. Once cheesecake is cooked and cooled top it with the cranberry topping and let it set in the fridge for at least 2 hours.

7. Decorate this cheesecake with biscuits. I used some melted chocolate as a glue!A nice ribbon holds everything in place and it makes the cake look so cute!You can dust the cake with some icing sugar, but be warned! This lovely frosting effect does not last very long time :-( Enjoy cake decorating :-)

Rasa xoxo

Mini passion fruit cheesecakes

By Rasa Pelham on November 3, 2014 in Sweet Treats

I made up this recipe when I was given a sample of passion fruit cheesecake by a restaurant in London. They wanted me to replicate it and deliver it together with other cakes that I baked for them. Although they loved the cheesecake I baked, the whole set up did not work out long term. I realised that doing wholesale baking is not for me. I felt more like a factory rather being a bakery. Doing that for almost a year made me feel like Friendly Nettle lost it’s face. I realised i preferred to create a variety of different bakes instead of the same thing day in day out. I’m currently working on my bakery site to make it more accessible for you guys! But for now, I am pleased to share my passion fruit cheesecake recipe that I have now turned into a mini cheesecake recipe. I think they are super cute and perfect for individual portions at a dinner party. MINI PASSION FRUIT CHEESECAKES makes 12-20 mini cheesecakes (depending on size)

(for the base)

200g digestives, finely crumbled
75g butter, melted

(for the filling)

600g soft cheese
125ml passion fruit syrup (50g sugar+passion fruit juice)
4 eggs
150g caster sugar
2 tbsp corn flour

(for the topping)

170g passion fruit pulp (either from a can or from around 6 passion fruits)
50g caster sugar
1 gelatine leaf (about 1-2g), soaked in cold water

1. Combine biscuit crumbs with melted butter. Divide the mixture into the mini cake tins and press it down with the spoon. I used a silicon muffin baking pan because I don’t have any other baking tins suitable. What I really would like to have is this type of pan!

2. In the food processor mix the filling and pour it on top of the cheesecake bases. Bake the cheesecakes in preheated 180C oven for 45min. I usually bake cheesecakes in the a bath, all you need to do is fill the baking tray below the cheesecakes with some boiling water. 3. Meanwhile, heat the passion fruit pulp with sugar. Melt the gelatine leaf into the mixture and remove then from the heat. Pour the topping over the baked and cooled cheesecakes. Place the cheesecake tray in the fridge to set. Once set, these mini cheesecakes should easily come out of their moulds/tins…. what ever you were baking them in!Enjoy!

Rasa xoxo

Few ideas on how to survive Halloween at home

By Rasa Pelham on October 28, 2014 in Autumn, Budget £, Paper Crafts, Sweet Treats

I don’t want to be a fun spoiler, but I really don’t like Halloween. I think I mentioned my reasons last year, one of them being the difficulty of making Halloween deco pretty. Anyway it’s fun for kids and you don’t want to stop that! Have you ever had one of those awkward moments when group of kids knocks on your door and say “trick or treat” when you have no single sweet treat in the house? To avoid this, here are few tips/ideas on how to avoid these unpleasant moments ;-).

1. Treats! Yes, stock up on treats! The best treats are candies and if you feel like making some here is the recipe that I made last year (it’s vanilla and black pepper BTW!). Or if you prefer, bake this ghost meringue cake. Autumn butternut squash cupcakes is another alternative if you want something sweet yourself while you wait ;-).2. Decorations, at least at the front of the house. Because you don’t want to bother and decorate the whole house! Garlands are grate for this. Here is one for you to try. Just make sure it’s all ready before 6pm this Friday!3. Failed to do no. 1 and 2.? Just pretend you are not home and switch the lights off or something. Close the curtains and light the candle, that should be fun!

Happy Halloween!

Rasa xoxo

Lazy caramel and cranberry bites

By Rasa Pelham on October 23, 2014 in From my childhood, Lithuanian, Sweet Treats

In Lithuanian these lazy bites are called “Tinginys” which essentially means “The Lazy One’ (fancy some history about this? There we go!). Traditionally this easy to make treat is made with crumbled biscuits, coco powder, condensed milk and butter. But when I was little I experimented a lot (because there is no oven needed here) and I came up with this version (read on). I forgot about this for a while until I treated myself with my first cooking book “Cheap as Chips, Better Than Toast” just before my student years began (in year 2004, long time ago!). Oh, I learned so much from it, thanks you soooo much, Miranda Shearer. I probably would not be writing this blog if you have never written this wonderful book! But where art thou? I searched for you in twitter, no luck :(.

Anyway, I came across “Fridge Cake” recipe, which reminded me of my “The Lazy One” recipe. I used Miranda’s recipe to recover my childhood’s recipe and there we go! In all it’s glory!!!! You would be silly not to try it! Even better if you make it with kids (because that’s how simple it is!). LAZY CARAMEL AND CRANBERRY BITES

175g malted milk biscuits
90g butter
30g sugar
60g caramel (I use the one that comes in the tin and can be found in condensed milk department)
60g dried cranberries

1. Crumble the biscuits either by hand or by using food processor. It does not have to be crumbled so finely, roughly will work as fine!2. In the pan melt the butter with sugar and caramel.3. Add the biscuit crumbs and the cranberries into the melted butter. Combine everything well and let it cool slightly. 4. Wrap the mixture into the cling film and baking paper like the sausage. If you want even easer method, then put the mixture into cake tin and press down well. Leave it to harden in the fridge. 5. The cake is ready after few hours! Just unwrap it (or remove it from cake tin) and slice it to serve. Enjoy!!!! This is really yummy!

Rasa xoxo

Pinterest challenge: mini berry clafoutis

By Rasa Pelham on October 18, 2014 in Errors, Pinterest challenge, Sweet Treats

I wanted to try this berry clafoutis recipe for a while now. After counting how many calories it would have (for my diet, you know) I realised it’s not so bad. Only 148.60 calories for one portion (one 10th of the whole bake)! I have decided to go ahead and bake half of the recipe in little tartlet baking tins. The only problem was that only one mini clafoutis survived. The other ones literally leaked out while baking. You see, my tartlet tins have loose bottoms for easy removal. However the clafoutis mix is so thin that it managed to leak out through the small gaps. I am glad I placed the tartlet tins in a baking dish, so my oven did not get messed up by this!!!MINI BERRY CLAFOUTIS adopted from Julia’s Album

(makes 5 mini clafoutis)

2 small eggs
150ml single cream
1tsp vanilla extract
25g flour
0.25 tsp baking powder
65g icing sugar
butter for greasing
caster sugar for dusting
170g mixed berries (I used frozen ones)

1. whisk eggs with cream and vanilla extract until the mixture becomes light and fluffy. Julia says: “Make sure this step is done properly so that in the end your dessert does not come out smelling too much like eggs”. Very true! This desert have a tendency to become ‘eggy’

2. Sift flour, baking powder and icing sugar into the egg mixture and mix to combine well.The batter will be very liquid, ‘thin’ as I mentioned earlier. 3. Grease mini tartlets (or mini ramekins) with butter (or spray oil) and dust them with caster sugar. Don’t make my mistake here, loose bottom tins are not suitable to make this desert!4. Divide the berries between 5 tins.5. pour the batter into the tins. Bake the clafoutis in 180C oven for 30min.Oooops! My mistake… The batter leaked out!! :(At least one survived! :)I enjoyed every bit of it… hmmmHopefully you have learned from my mistakes ;-)

Rasa

Guilt free (almost) chocolate orange cake

By Rasa Pelham on October 11, 2014 in Healthy, Sweet Treats

Since now I am on my diet (second week already!!!) I have decided to treat myself to a healthier cake. I am quite new to calorie counting (ok, ok, not so new… its been a year), so to my understanding if I remove as much as fat as possible and make it gluten free then it would become much much lighter! Oh boy I was wrong! A slice of cake (1/8 of the cake) has 430 calories in it!!!! Turns out that sugar is another major enemy, even in it’s most natural forms. And how can you make a cake with no sugar anyways? Anyhow I made this cake with no added fats. I added whole oranges to make up for the moisture you would otherwise get from the fat and used ground almonds to replace the flour (as you can for a gluten free cake). Joni rated 7 out 10 for this cake, so I guess it does not taste too bad if you are actually avoiding gluten or dairy specifically.GUILT FREE CHOCOLATE ORANGE CAKE makes 8 slices

2 oranges, pealed
6 eggs
250g golden caster sugar
250g ground almonds
50g cocoa powder
1tsp baking powder

1. boil whole oranges for about 1 hour or so until soft. Drain, then puree them with the hand processor.2. Whisk the eggs with the sugar until pale and creamy.

3. Add all of the rest of the ingredients into the egg mixture, including the orange puree. Combine well.

4. Pour the contents into a 20cm round spring baking tin.

5. Bake in 150C for 1hour and half.If you like you can serve it with a dollop of creme fraiche, this is if you don’t mind dairy of course… or added fat ;-). Enjoy!

Rasa xoxo

Apple & berry crumble and ice cream dessert

By Rasa Pelham on September 26, 2014 in Autumn, Sweet Treats, Winter Warmers

This year (especially in the summer) I was really addicted to ice cream! I have made few of my own such as Banoffee ice-cream sandwiches, super easy fresh strawberry ice cream and my favourite goat’s milk and roasted rhubarb ice-cream. While in Italy we both (me & Joni) tried many gelato flavours, on some occasions 5 flavours in one go! Have you ever tried red wine tasting ice-cream? Our newest finding is Kelly’s Clotted Cream & Honeycomb ice cream (actually Joni found it first), you should definitely try it ;-).

Although Ice cream may not be the most suitable dessert for this weather, we have been enjoying this warm crumble and ice cream dessert. You see, I quite like a contrast in food and this combination is definitely contrasting. If you are like me you would understand what I mean!APPLE & BERRY CRUMBLE AND ICE CREAM DESSERT serves 2 generously

2 granny smith apples
1 handful of mixed berries (can be frozen ones)
100g brown sugar
50 ground almonds
20g oats
50g flour
60g coconut oil
60g caster sugar
2 tbsp poppy seeds (optional)
good quality vanilla ice cream (with vanilla seeds if you can find it)

1. First, make an apple and berry filling. Peel, core and chop apples into the saucepan together with berries and brown sugar. Cook it for 5 min until sugar dissolves and the mixture becomes jam-like. Spread the filling into the baking dish. 2. Mix coconut and caster sugar together with almonds, flour and oat. Combine everything well by working it with hands. If using, mix in poppyseed as well (it just makes everything look prettier!).

3. Cover the fruit filling with the crumble. I like the filling overflowing, therefore I make very little amount of topping. If that’s not the case for you, then double the amount of ingredients for the crumble. 4. Bake the apple & berry crumble in 180C oven for 30min until the top is lightly golden. Serve it in the bowls with at least 3 scoops of vanilla ice cream on top of each.Enjoy your weekend ;-)

Rasa xoxo

Pinterest challenge: chocolate caramel and pecan turtle clusters

By Rasa Pelham on September 22, 2014 in Let's Celebrate!, Pinterest challenge, Sweet Treats

I thought these mini sweat treats would be perfect for our house warming party, but never ended up making them. I eventually made them for a different reason, a serious need of chocolate fix! I found the recipe at Inspired Dreamer, but was quite disappointed with the missing instructions. It did not explain how to make the caramel! To be quite honest, I wanted a quick fix, so I was happy not to make any caramel, instead I used a shop bought. The only downside of that is that the shop bought caramel does not harden (unlike the homemade buttery caramel), therefore these clusters did not hold well (chocolate was holding everything). It was still very satisfying to eat, but if you made them with homemade caramel then they would be quite suitable to be wrapped like sweats or placed in the jar as a gift!CHOCOLATE CARAMEL AND PECAN TURTLE CLUSTERS adopted from Inspired Dreamer

100g pecan nuts, toasted (whole)
100g caramel
200g milk chocolate, melted

1. Simply arrange the pecans onto baking paper (although no baking needed here), spoon a small portion of caramel of each and cover it with melted milk chocolate. 2. Place the tray into the fridge (or freezer if you want a quick result) and it is ready in 15 min!Eat them quick, before it’s gone!Have a nice week ;-)

Rasa xoxo

Life in UK

By Rasa Pelham on September 5, 2014 in English, Gardening, Savoury Delights, Sweet Treats, Updates

Love the pic above taken by my friend Jacolien from Stuff to Love! It reminds me of what a great multicultural city I used to live. This is where I lived most of my time while in UK!

Yesterday I passed my life in UK test!!!!! I just thought that I might as well become a british citizen after living here for 14 years and after getting married to my most wonderful english husband. Here are few fundamentals I learned while living in UK.

1. BEEING PART OF COMMUNITY, and this what we are trying to create at Friendly Nettle, a craft community that inspires you to craft :).

2. COOKING. Now, I know Britain is not famous for it’s cuisine, but you would be surprised there are many english dishes you can enjoy! Here are few I have tried: Steak and Ale Pies English Breakfast and Plum Steam Pudding 3. GARDENING. I know that not many of us can enjoy this, but there are plenty of allotments available to rent! Here is how I grew tomatoes this year…Enjoy your weekend!

Rasa xoxo

Pinterest challenge: berry, chocolate and oat cookies

By Rasa Pelham on September 2, 2014 in Pinterest challenge, Sweet Treats

I wanted to bake some cookies to be send to our aunt as a thank you gesture (I really hope she have received them already). This recipe from Lady and Pups have been perfect. I used mixed berries instead of blueberries as I had them. I particularly loved the idea of browning butter for it. This was my first time doing it!! I think it gives a nice rich flavour to any cookie (almost any!). BERRY AND CHOCOLATE OAT COOKIES adopted from Lady and Pups

1/2 cup (1 stick/113 grams) of unsalted butter
1/3 cup (71 grams) of granulated sugar
1/3 cup (63 grams) of dark brown sugar
1 egg
1 tsp of vanilla extract
3/4 cup (101 grams) of all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp of salt
1/2 tsp of ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp of baking soda
1 1/2 cup (136 grams) of quick-cooking oats
1/2 heaping cup (85 grams) of chopped semi-sweet chocolate
1 cup (125 grams) of frozen berries

1. Melt the unsalted butter in a small pot over medium heat, and continue to cook for approx 5 min until the butter has turned clear and the milk solids are browned. Pour the browned butter into a large bowl and let cool slightly for 5 min

2. add the granulated sugar and dark brown sugar into the browned butter and whisk until smoothly combined. Add the egg and vanilla extract, and whisk until thick and velvety. Sift the all-purpose flour, salt, ground cinnamon and baking soda right into the bowl, then whisk again until smooth

3. Switch from the whisk to a spatula, then add the quick-cooking oats and chopped dark chocolate. Fold the mixture until evenly incorporated. 4. Add the frozen blueberries and fold again until even. The cookie-dough will instantly firm-up as the frozen blueberries are mixed in.5. Scoop about 1 1/2 tbsp of cookie-dough onto a parchment-lined baking-sheet, with about 1″ of space in between each. The dough should be firm enough to shape with your hands. Make round dough-ball for a taller/thicker cookie, or press it down into a disk for a thinner cookie6. Bake in the preheated 180C oven for 12-13 min, until the edges are set and the centre is slightly soft. Let it cool for 10 min before transferring onto cooling rack Enjoy!

Rasa xoxo

A healthier plum steamed pudding

By Rasa Pelham on August 20, 2014 in English, Sweet Treats, Winter

After living with an englishman for over a month, I realised that a pudding is an important part of the meal. Joni’s favourites are figgy dowdy, plum duff and spotted dick (yes, that’s right, thats how they call their puddings). All of these puddings are steamed puddings and that’s what I am going to talk about today. Although steamed puddings are meant to be for winter, it is good to make them now to reflect on current weather! I replaced suet (pure animal fat, similar to shortening in america) with coconut oil and caster sugar with molasses sugar so this can be a healthier option. And you don’t need to have all the equipment! Here I demonstrated how to steam your pudding in a regular steamer using cereal bowl. Go on, try it ;-). PLUM STEAMED PUDDING

55g self raising flour
110 mixed dried fruit
2 slices of bread with no crust, soaked in milk and drained
55 molasses sugar
50g coconut oil
1/2tsp mixed spice
115g plums, cored and chopped
half of an apple, pealed, cored and shredded
2 tbsp orange marmalade
2 tbsp vanilla rum (can be any you have, preferably dark rum)
1 egg
60ml milk
custard to serve

1. mix all the ingredients (except the curd) until all well combined.

2. to steam the pudding place the pudding mixture into the greased bowl (1.) and cover it with baking paper (2.). Place the bowl upside down in the steamer (3.). Steam the pudding for three hours (4.), replenish the water level if necessary. 3. Place the pudding bowl upside down in the plate and slowly lift it up to release the pudding. 4. Enjoy it while still warm with custard. It’s comforting food all over, so indulge ;-)

Rasa xoxo

Marmalade tart with rosemary crust

By Rasa Pelham on August 5, 2014 in Preserves, Sweet Treats

Last week Joni asked me to bake a cake for his work so he could celebrate our wedding with his colleagues. As soon as he asked I thought ‘great’! I can use up at least one jar of marmalade that we got in the house (for some reason people think that Joni LOOOOOAAAVES marmalade so we ended up with 5 whole jars!). Don’t get me wrong, I don’t really like marmalade and Joni just likes it. If he loved marmalade that much I suppose we would have one jar of it or two at the max in the house. Luckily one jar of marmalade went straight to the bin (I think it was off as the texture was all sugary/candy like) and another has been used up to bake this tart. So if you are ok with your maths, we now have only three jars of marmalade…. wooohoo!!!!

Ok, I am very sorry to be so negative about the marmalade. After all it makes great tarts! And if you unlike me and like marmalade, then this tart is for you. It’s tastefully combined with rosemary flavour, therefore making it an amazing afternoon treat! How do I know that? Well… although I did not taste it (even if I wanted to have a one slice to see how my experiment turned out), apparently Joni’s colleagues really liked it and wanted more… All I can say ‘Success!!!’

MARMALADE TART WITH ROSEMARY CRUST

200g unsalted butter
6-8 tbsp sugar
2 egg yolks
15-20 tbsp flour
1 rosemary spring, leaves finely chopped (plus 3-4 springs for decoration)
1 jar of marmalade
icing sugar for dusting

1. Make the pastry dough by creaming butter with sugar. Gradually add egg yolks, flour and finely chopped rosemary. Wrap the dough into cling film and let it rest in the fridge for 15 min or so (it will be easer to handle it later). 2. Roll out the dough and line prepared baking tin with it (lined with baking paper prior that).3. Fill the tart with the marmalade