Chocolate and cashew cookies

Some would call it heresy, but I have to admit to not liking Nutella.  I know that puts me in a minority and there are those who would suggest therapy, but it's just not my thing.  It makes me popular in the Netherton household, as I can be relied on not to raid the offsprings' stash.
However, I recently discovered Tiptree chocolate spread and that's a whole new ball game; richer, darker, less sweet.  For my money it knocks Nutella out of the park.
Last week, I mixed it with ultra strong espresso to sandwich a chocolate and coffee sponge and this week it has been added to a crumbly cookie mix.

120g butter
50g Tiptree chocolate spread
30g tahini paste
70g sugar
1 egg
175g self raising flour
70g salted cashews, roughly chopped

Pre-heat the oven to 175ºC and leave a heavy duty baking sheet or griddle plate in the oven while you prepare the mixture.
If you have a range style cooker, use our specially designed baking sheet.
Cream together the butter, chocolate spread, tahini paste and sugar.
Beat in the egg.
Stir in the flour and cashews to create a stiff dough.
Carefully remove your baking sheet from the oven and place it on a heatproof surface.
Put walnut sized pieces of the dough on to the tray and replace in the oven.
bake for 15 minutes, until nicely browned.
Remove from the oven and slide onto a baking sheet to cool.

www.netherton-foundry.co.uk

Netherton Foundry Shropshire 2018 ©

White chocolate and raspberry cake

No rambling, no proselytising, just a fab new recipe, of which I am extremely proud.

120g sugar

2 eggs, separated

1/2 tsp vanilla paste

120g rice flour

100g white chocolate, melted and cooled

120g stracciatella yogurt, you can get big tubs of this in Lidl 

120g raspberries

Pre heat the oven to 180ºC

Whisk the egg yolks, sugar and vanilla extract until very pale.

Add the yogurt (use plain, vanilla, lemon or coconut if you can't get/don't like stracciatella)

Whisk thoroughly.

Add the cooled, melted chocolate and whisk again - it will feel a little stiffer now as the chocolate cools.
Whisk the egg whites until they form peaks.

Fold the rice flour and the whisked egg whites into the chocolate batter.

Pour into a greased 10" prospector pan or one of our new cake tins

Arrange the raspberries in concentric circles on top of the batter..... or if you are feeling anarchic, just scatter them where they fall!

Bake for 30 minutes until golden and a skewer comes out clean.

Leave to cool, then turn out of the pan.

Serve just warm either on its own or with creme fraiche, Greek yogurt, clotted cream or raspberry sorbet/ raspberry ripple ice cream.

© Netherton Foundry 2017

www.netherton-foundry.co.uk

Not exactly a Jaffa cake

Like millions of other people, I take time out from domestic chores to watch Great British Bake Off, although whether it will be the same when it leaves the BBC remains to be seen.

I thoroughly enjoyed watching the contestants' efforts to create Jaffa cakes and revelled in a reverie of having 1½ hours to myself to do nothing other than bake and then have someone else come along and clear up after me. Well, one can dream................
It was only when I wandered back in to the kitchen that I realised that it was a school  night and there was no cake to put in OH and kids' lunchboxes for the next day.

Sadly the prospect of rustling up a batch of perfect Jaffa cakes was about as likely as Mary Berry turning up dressed as my kitchen fairy godmother, but the classic combination of cake, chocolate and orange was not to be ignored.

This recipe combines all three into a super simple cake, that any baker could make.

Pre heat the oven to 170ºC

Weigh out 2 eggs and then measure out the same weight of butter, orange marmalade and self raising flour.
I used homemade marmalade, but whatever you choose it needs a good strong Seville orange "bite" - Dundee marmalade would be ideal.
Roughly chop around 50g of dark chocolate - I used up the end of a bar I found in the cupboard.

Cream the butter and marmalade until well mixed and fluffy.
Beat in the eggs and then fold in the flour and the chocolate.

Put the mixture into a greased 10" prospector pan or 8½" cake tin and place in the centre of the oven.
Cook for approximately 20 minutes until a skewer inserted in the centre of the cake comes out clean.

Cool in the tin for 10 minutes before turning out onto a rack.

We ate it unadorned, but I reckon a coating of orange glace icing or a simple drizzle of melted chocolate wouldn't go amiss.

© Netherton Foundry Shropshire 2016

www.netherton-foundry.co.uk

Chocolate orange ice cream

"It's not Terry's, it's mine", said Dawn French, referring of course to the irresistible Terry's chocolate orange; a perfect piece of chocolate desirability, whose popularity spans all boundaries.

Chocolate and orange is, of course, a classic combination, so when we were given a bottle of chocolate red wine, it seemed like a good idea to chuck that into the mix as well.... But what to make?

The answer is chocolate orange ice cream and it is the simplest thing to make:

1lb Marmalade, homemade if you've got it

Large tub of double cream

Chocolate - take your pick, I used a 100g bar of milk chocolate, because that's what I had in the cupboard, but I reckon dark chocolate would be even better.

Optional extras - Chocolate red wine, Cointreau, Drambuie

Tip the marmalade into a mixing bowl and stir until it's soft and malleable - warm it slightly if needed.

Chop the chocolate into small chunks.

Whip the cream.

Fold all three ingredients together and stir in a splash of booze.

Pour into a plastic container and place in the freezer.

The great thing about this ice cream is that there is no need to churn it and stir it, just leave it to freeze.

© Netherton Foundry Shropshire 2015

Baking - chocolate and peanut butter cake

I love baking, the simple pleasure of mixing the ingredients, the tantalising smell that fills the kitchen and the anticipation of something to tuck into, be it sweet or savoury, whilst it's still a wee bit warm.

And of course, I am far from alone, as the success of Great British Bake Off testifies.  
We are fortunate to know a host of superb bakers, including fifth generation baker, Robert Swift, Tom Herbert, one half of the Fabulous Baker Brothers, the adorable Luis Troyano, runner up in last year's GBBO and closer to home the lovely Janice, who runs fabulous bread making courses in her own home.

We are also honoured and excited that the Domestic Goddess herself, Nigella Lawson has been using our loaf tins for some of her latest recipes - including one for Breakfast banana Bread with cardamon and cocoa nibs, which will be in her latest book, Simply Nigella, to be published on 8th October 2015.
Only a week away, but if you can't wait - you can find it featured in the pre-publication special in the Mail on Sunday

My chocolate and peanut butter cake may not be in the same league, but I have to admit, it's not half bad and goes down well with a cup of tea.

120g butter

80g crunchy peanut butter

120g soft brown sugar

50g dark chocolate, at least 70% cocoa, melted and left to cool

3 eggs

120g self raising flour

Topping

30g dark chocolate, melted

1 rounded teaspoon butter

2 rounded teaspoons icing sugar

Pre-heat the oven to 170ºC

Grease a 1lb loaf tin or line with a liner, parchment paper or a butter wrapper.

Cream the butter, peanut butter and sugar until fluffy.

Beat in the eggs and chocolate.

Carefully fold in the flour and transfer the mix to the loaf tin

Bake for 40 - 50 minutes, until a skewer comes out clean with no sticky mixture on it.

Allow to cool in the tin for 15 minutes before turning out.

To make the optional topping, stir the butter and icing sugar into the melted chocolate and drizzle over the cooled cake.

Here's the finished cake sitting pretty on my favourite Shelley plate

© Netherton Foundry Shropshire 2015

www.netherton-foundry.co.uk

Vegetarian chilli

The power of a picture.....

I was tweeting some stream of consciousness musings about feeding a houseful of teenagers, along with work in progress photos, when I was asked for the recipe for the chilli I was in the middle of preparing.

I had to cater for a group of teenage boys - all of them significantly bigger than me and each with their own food fad - a vegetarian, one who doesn't like baked potato, another who only eats "dry" food (no sauces, gravy, soup..... but with a distinct liking for beer), so the challenge was to come up with something they could all eat.

I settled on baked potatoes, French bread, grated cheese, baked beans and a veggie chilli, so they could help themselves to whichever components they fancied.

Pudding was a no brainer, everyone loves chocolate mousse.

Here are the recipes for the chilli and the chocolate mousse.

CHILLI

2 tbls rapeseed oil

3 onions, sliced

3 cloves garlic

2 tsp cumin seed

2 tsp salt

2 dried chillis

3 sprigs thyme

2 cartons tomato passata - or 2 tins chopped tomatoes

2 tins kidney beans

150g red lentils

2 tsp cocoa powder

1 red pepper, chopped

1 green pepper, chopped

Heat the oil over a medium heat - the cast iron casserole dish is ideal for this quantity of food.

Add the onions and fry until translucent.

Crush the garlic, cumin seeds, salt and chillis with a pestle and mortar and add to the onions.

Fry gently for 2 minutes.

Add the tomatoes/passata, kidney beans, lentils, thyme and cocoa powder.

Simmer for around 40 minutes or until the lentils are cooked.

Add the chopped peppers and cook for a further 15 minutes.

Serve with baked potato, rice or bread.
Serves 8

CHOCOLATE  MOUSSE
200g dark chocolate
8 eggs, separated

Melt the  chocolate in a bowl over a pan of hot water.
Leave to cool, but not set
Beat the eggs yolks.
At this stage you can add extra flavours if you wish, such as grated orange zest, espresso coffee, brandy or even creme de menthe
Add the yolks to the cooled chocolate and mix thoroughly
Whisk the egg whites to a stiff peak.

Beat 2 tablespoons pf the whites into the chocolate mixture to loosen it.
Fold in the rest of the whites and transfer the mousse to individual serving dishes.
Chill in the fridge for at least 2 hours.



Serves 8 - 10

© Netherton Foundry Shropshire 2015

www.netherton-foundry.co.uk