Caramel Kiss Brownies with Dr. Oetker

Friday 27 March 2015
I've definitely got much more of a savoury tooth than a sweet. Crisps, nibbly bits, salted nuts and popcorn are my downfall. However from time to time only chocolate will do and ideally it should include nuts, caramel or preferably both. This is exactly what I was looking for when it came to choosing a recipe to bake from the Chocolate Indulgence section of the Dr. Oetker website. I swithered over Very Dark Chocolate and Pistachio Bark and pondered about Pistachio Marzipan Chocolates but it was their Caramel Kiss Brownies that inspired me the most. How could anyone not be tempted by this mouthwatering photo?


A bundle of chocolatey goodness arrived in the post along with a supermarket voucher to get me started on my bake. Alas my daughter has given up both Chocolate and Sweets for Lent so her face was tripping her when she saw the contents of my parcel. I'm sure there will be plenty of goodies left for her after Easter. I was impressed with the silver and gold chocolate pearls. Much more edible than the usual rock hard shiny balls. The milk and white chocolate hearts were also really cute. I'll definitely find a use for them at a later date.

Caramel Kiss Brownies with Dr. Oetker #evenbetterbaking

The first part of the recipe for Caramel Kiss Brownies is the making of the caramel. Only once it was made and chilling in the freezer did I notice the top tip. "To save time use 200g dairy toffees instead of making your own caramel, just unwrap and use without freezing". This would certainly have sped up the whole baking process. I wish I'd thought at this point to add some salt to my caramel. Having spotted Alexa Chung baking salted caramel brownies on The Great Comic Relief Bake Off was one of the reasons I chose this bake. If she could successfully make some after claiming that she hadn’t switched on her oven in three years and instead used it for shoe storage, surely it would be a piece of cake for me?!

Caramel Kiss Brownies with Dr. Oetker #evenbetterbaking

No matter what I go to bake I never seem to have the correct size of baking tray. This recipe was no exception. Alas no deep 18cm square cake tin but my trusty 34cm x 20cm traybake tin did the trick. The process of partially cooking half the mix, then adding the caramel kisses and topping with the remainder of the mixture was a wee bit fiddly. My caramel didn't end up quite as in the middle of the mixture as I would of liked and some of it bubbled up somewhat volcano-esque through to the surface.

Caramel Kiss Brownies with Dr. Oetker #evenbetterbaking
Caramel Kiss Brownies with Dr. Oetker #evenbetterbaking

I brought my batch of Caramel Kiss Brownies along to share at a friend's 50th Birthday Party. The brownies were fully cooled before being eaten and I think for ultimate gooeyness they would be better served slightly warm. Ideally in larger squares with plenty of vanilla ice cream. Saying that there were none left in the tupperware box when it was time to head home so I'm still going to award myself star baker. 

Caramel Kiss Brownies with Dr. Oetker #evenbetterbaking
Caramel Kiss Brownies with Dr. Oetker #evenbetterbaking

If you're in the mood for Brownies that are GF do check out this recipe from Elizabeth for Chocolate Gluten Free Brownies


Disclosure : Dr. Oetker provided a chocolate hamper and a supermarket voucher for ingredients to make and share a recipe from their website. All opinions expressed are my own. This is not a paid post.



8

Hot Cross Bun French Toast

Wednesday 25 March 2015
Can you believe that Easter is just around the corner? I really don't know where the first quarter of 2015 has gone to. Time is just whizzing past. My 10 year old daughter has given up both sweets and chocolate for Lent. Day one was hard when I told her that yes, Nutella did indeed count as chocolate. That came as a bit of a shock to her. She's done really well bar a wee inadvertent slip up with a crunch corner yoghurt and a cube of fudge in a restaurant which was in her mouth before her brain had time to engage! A parcel of Easter treats in the post from Marks & Spencer didn't go down too well with her but the jelly carrots and chocolate bunny have been stashed away for her to enjoy at a later date. Her attempt at the carrots being one of her 5 a day didn't wash with me. I particularly loved the M&S Easter Biscuits which are delicious and very moreish - butter, spices, cranberries and currants. Like a hot cross bun in cookie form.


Easter Eggs don't necessarily have to be of the chocolate variety. Regular readers will know how much I love cute and quirky foodie creations. How about this one of mine for a novelty breakfast? An Easter Bunny Egg created from a fried free range egg, black olive eyes, string cheese whiskers and streaky bacon ears.

Foodie Quine -  Easter Foodie Treats - Fried Egg Bunny

I did give fair warning that my Tunnock's Teacake Sheep who last made an outing to celebrate Chinese New Year would be brought out to pasture again as Easter Lambs. Instructions how to make these can be found here. It's always lovely to hear when someone makes something after seeing it on the blog, I was chuffed to be sent photos of a whole herd made to celebrate the year of the sheep. Do tweet/facebook me if you try your hand at Easter lambs.

Foodie Quine -  Easter Foodie Treats - Tunnock's Teacake Lambs

I've always known of the existence of Simnel Cake and its significance in relation to Easter but am somewhat embarrassed to admit that I have never actually tried it. Thanks Marks and Spencer for coming to my rescue. A gorgeous light fruit cake with a layer of marzipan inside and toasted marzipan on the top. The 11 marzipan balls represent Jesus disciples minus Judas. Their biscuit bunnies are pretty tasty too!

Foodie Quine -  Easter Foodie Treats - Simnel Cake & Bunny Biscuits

There are plenty of non traditional hot cross bun flavours on the shelves this year. These are another thing that I feel I really should try my hand at baking at some point. Ah well, there's always next year. For now I tried three M&S varieties. Berries & Cherries, Toffee Fudge & Belgian Chocolate and Bramley Apple. I'm clearly a traditionalist as the toffee and chocolate weren't for me. The fruity ones were the best and it was those that I used to make a breakfast/brunch dish of Hot Cross French Toast.

Foodie Quine -  Easter Foodie Treats - Hot Cross Bun French Toast

HOT CROSS BUN FRENCH TOAST
Serves 4

4 Hot Cross Buns
3 Free Range Eggs
Oil for frying
Bacon & Maple Syrup to serve

Crack the eggs into a bowl and beat with a fork.
Split the Hot Cross Buns in half and soak them in the egg mixture until fully absorbed.
Heat a frying/griddle pan and add a splash of oil.
Fry the eggy hot cross buns for a couple of minutes on each side until nicely browned.
Serve with crispy bacon and lashings of maple syrup.

Foodie Quine -  Easter Foodie Treats - Hot Cross Bun French Toast

Who can resist a dippy egg? Not me that's for sure, especially when served up in these oh so cute bunny eggcups. There was a whole lot of love for these on my social media channels. The wooden spoon comes courtesy of Scotland's Rugby team...

Foodie Quine -  Easter Foodie Treats - Rabbit Egg Cups



After my success with stamped biscuits for The Great Comic Relief Bake Off, I was keen try try out the set of three Easter cookie cutters. When it came to it I didn't get a look in as foodie boy baked up a storm with them using a Gingerbread Man recipe. They spread a wee bit when baking so the eggs were slightly wonky in shape but the bunny, flower and butterfly imprints came out successfully. The perfect homemade foodie treat for a Hoppy Easter and a Springy Spring! 


Foodie Quine -  Easter Foodie Treats - Gingerbread Easter Egg Biscuits
Foodie Quine -  Easter Foodie Treats - Gingerbread Easter Egg Biscuits


Disclaimer : M&S provided me with a selection of Easter products for the purpose of this post.. All views expressed are my own. This is not a paid post.

14

"Singing Swede" The Humble Neep, Swede or Turnip Sings for its Supper

Monday 23 March 2015
A short and swede post today (groan!) about the humble neep, swede or turnip. It seems to have different names depending on what part of the country you are in. As a child to me in the north of Scotland it was always a turnip and it was what we used at Halloween to carve lanterns. If you think carving a pumpkin is hard work you should try a turnip. Simplistic carving is the order of the day where neep lanterns are concerned. It takes time and dedication to carve one and the smell of a stubby candle burning the inside of a neep is a childhood memory I would rather forget.



The problem with Neeps is that they are an absolute nightmare to prepare, particularly if you get a large one from a farm shop. Sometimes an axe is the only answer and always best to keep a pack of plasters handy for any near misses. The only tool I've had real success with is the Pampered Chef Crinkle Cutter which works much better than a standard knife. The concept of microwaving a whole neep seems a somewhat strange one. When I posted about it on my Facebook Page the photos were viewed by over 15,000 people and the comments and shares went crazy. Some folk said they've been doing it for years (why didn't they tell me?!) whilst for others it was a revelation. 


SINGING SWEDE
1 whole Neep/Turnip/Swede
1 Microwave

Wash the neep and place it on a plate as it will produce a sticky superglue like residue as it cooks - I learned this the hard way!
Put the whole neep into the microwave - no need to prick or score - and cook it on full power.
Give it 15 minutes, turn it over and cook for a further 15 minutes. 30 minutes in total. 
You may need to adjust the time depending on the power of your microwave and the size of your neep.
Insert a skewer to test if it is soft all the way through. 
Once cooked it slices like a knife through butter and the flesh can be scooped out. Cutting the top off and scooping out the flesh is another option.

Some additional top tips from readers who have left comments...

  • If you wrap them in wet paper towel before microwaving, the wax will get absorbed into the paper towel and then you don't have to worry about the 'super sticky glue type substance'
  • Wrap it in paper towel (couple of layers) to absorb the sticky. Puncture it several times with a long skewer to help with the exploding part.


The singing refers to the sound it apparently makes when cooking. Alas my swede didn't sing, scream or even hiss. Perhaps I should have had ABBA playing in the background to encourage it. Next time. 



♥ Pin me for later...

Foodie Quine Lifehack : Microwaving a whole turnip, neep, swede. The Singing Swede. The Screaming Swede.

16

Cream Cracker Fish Goujons

Friday 20 March 2015
By my own confession I'm a bit of a social media junkie. I started on Facebook but it was when I discovered Twitter that I was really smitten. I knew about Instagram but never really "got" it however in the last six months or so I've fallen completely in love with it. My own feed is a mixture of colour, vintage, gin, Scotland, quirky and of course food. Sometimes my posts are random but I also love taking part in Instagram challenges. My favourite is the weekly #capturingcolour run by Capture by Lucy, however in March I've also been doing English Mum Dot Com's #foodiephotoaday This blog post shares some of my recent favourites and also includes an Instagram pic and accompanying recipe for one of my favourite ways of cooking fish. Cream Crackers beat Ruskoline hands down.

#capturingcolour #red

#capturingcolour #silver

#foodiephotoaday #spicy

#foodiephotoaday #coffee

#foodiephotoaday #spoon

#foodiephotoaday #international

#foodiephotoaday #crumbs

#foodiephotoaday #dinner

#capturingcolour #blackandwhite


#foodiephotoaday #frozen


#foodiephotoaday #bubbles


#capturingcolour #silver


#capturingcolour #patternandprint


CREAM CRACKER FISH GOUJONS

4 Fillets of Fish

125g Cream Crackers
Zest of a Lemon
Clove of Garlic
Small Bunch of Parsley
Seasoned Flour (Plain Flour with Salt & Pepper)
Beaten Egg
Scottish Rapeseed Oil to fry

Cut fish into strips and set aside
Blitz together cream crackers, lemon zest, garlic and parsley in a food processor (or bash with a rolling pin)
Prepare three bowls of seasoned flour, beaten egg and cracker mix.
Dip each piece of fish in the flour, then the egg, then the crackers.
Fry in rapeseed oil until lightly browned.

#fish #coastandglen #fishbox #coley #seafood #lemon #creamcrackers #garlic #parsley #rocket #fishknife 

I've got over 4000 followers on twitter and 3000+ on facebook. Because I'm late to the Instagram party I'm lagging behind but would I'd love to reach the milestone of 1000 followers... www.instagram.com/foodiequine
Do please leave your Instagram name in the comments below and I'll check out your feed. Happy snapping! 


Cooking with Herbs Lavender and Lovage
#CookBlogShare
Casa Costello

Link up your recipe of the week
14

Caramelised Cauliflower and a Cock & Bull Feast with

Monday 16 March 2015
Yesterday was Mothers Day. It started with Foodie Loon bringing me a cup of tea in bed. The kids were still fast asleep. Eventually there were some rumblings downstairs followed by the smoke alarm going off. Breakfast in bed was clearly on its way. Pancakes, Bacon, Maple Syrup and assorted sauces were duly served up along with pressies, cards and flowers. I was really rather spoiled.


But the treats didn't stop there as a table had been booked for Mother's Day Lunch at The Cock and Bull in Balmedie. It would have been rude not to start with a glass of fizz. This was followed by Grilled & tempura purple sprouting broccoli with chorizo & goats curd. Main course was Peterhead cod fillet, potato dumplings, Shetland mussels, spiced courgettes and for desert baked ginger parkin, poached rhubarb & custard. The rest of the family enjoyed haggis, Cullen Skink and salmon scotch egg followed by roast beef and roast chicken and finally sticky toffee pudding, cheesecake and sorbet. All absolutely delicious. Hats off to all the staff both in and out of the kitchen on what was a very busy service with four sittings throughout the day.


We'd also enjoyed a fantastic evening at The Cock and Bull last month having a sneak preview and giving feedback on their new feast sharing platter concept. The food was as absolutely amazing as it looks, lots of it and great company. We were totally stuffed by the end of the evening. Check out the Meat, Chicken, Scottish and Shellfish options on their Feasts! page. 

Chicken liver pate, fruit chutney, Stornoway black pudding scotch egg, smoked salmon & prawns, marie rose sauce, Great Glen Game Charcuterie, home cured goose ham

Chicken liver pate, fruit chutney, Stornoway black pudding scotch egg, smoked salmon & prawns, marie rose sauce, Great Glen Game Charcuterie, home cured goose ham


Whole roast free range chicken and 35 day aged picanha steak Served with skirlie, caramelised cauliflower, roast bone marrow, chantenay carrots, winter greens, chips and gravy
Whole roast free range chicken and 35 day aged picanha steak
Served with skirlie, caramelised cauliflower, roast bone marrow, chantenay carrots, winter greens, chips and gravy

Cock & Bull Balmedie Classic custard tart, Yorkshire rhubarb
Classic custard tart, Yorkshire rhubarb

Cock & Bull Balmedie Lincolnshire Poacher and Cropwell Bishop Stilton served with fly cakes
Lincolnshire Poacher and Cropwell Bishop Stilton served with fly cakes

Whilst we thoroughly enjoyed the whole Cock & Bull feast, the two stand out items for me were the caramelised cauliflower and the eccles cake eaten alongside blue cheese. Sounds weird but trust me it really works. Cauliflower seems to be the vegetable of the moment with Diana Henry in the Telegraph and Yotam Ottolenghi in the Guardian extolling its virtues. I recreated the caramelised cauliflower for Sunday lunch and it was a hit with the whole family. Give it a try, it raises the humble Cauli to a whole new level.

Cock & Bull Balmedie Feast

CARAMELISED CAULIFLOWER

1 Cauliflower
Scottish Rapeseed Oil
Salt & Pepper
Ridged Griddle Pan

Remove the leaves from the cauliflower and cut into approx 1.5-2 cm thick slices.
Steam the slices over boiling water for approx 5 minutes until just tender. Test with the tip of a sharp knife.
Remove from the pan and brush each side of each slice with rapeseed oil and season with salt and pepper.
Preheat a ridged griddle pan and cook the cauliflower until it has caramelised stripes on each side.

Caramelised Cauliflower with Scottish Rapeseed Oil Recipe

Disclaimer : We dined as guests of The Cock & Bull at the Feast Night. The Mother's Day meal was at our own expense. Feast Night photos courtesy of The Cock & Bull. All views expressed are my own.

Tasty Tuesdays on HonestMum.com
14

Ecosse-oulet - A Scottish Cassoulet

Sunday 8 March 2015
I've previously extolled the virtues of Sunnyside Home Farm which is only a few miles away from me in Maryculter, Aberdeenshire. I was delighted to spot on their Facebook page a couple of weeks ago that they had both Goose Eggs and fresh Mangalitza pork sausages on sale. We procured three packs of the beautiful meaty, moist, gluten-free, free range sausages and the only three remaining goose eggs.
The goose eggs were huge and oh so pretty. I'm a fan of duck eggs but this was my first try of goose. Lager eggcups and huge soldiers required for these bad boys. Sometimes things are just meant to be and on a charity shop rummage I came across the hugest egg coddler I have ever seen. It had to be purchased to add to my kitchenalia collection. £8 for all three was a fantastic bargain. Egg number one was duly coddled.
The shells of the goose eggs are much harder than those of hens and require a pretty hefty thump to crack. The outside may not be the proverbial golden goose egg but the yolk contained within is most definitely pure gold.. They have a noticeably higher yolk-to-white ratio than chicken eggs and the overall flavour is rich, creamy and unctuous. Egg two filled the whole frying pan whilst egg three was scrambled to perfection.
Goose Egg
Fried Goose Egg
Now for the sausages. The first pack was simply grilled and devoured alongside egg and chips. Comfort food at its best. I decided to do something in the slow cooker with the second pack and was inspired by the Spicy theme of the Slow Cooked Challenge for March. This isn't a full on hot hot hot recipe by any means but the subtle smokiness of the paprika is truly wonderful and works really well with the pork and beans. Some jovial twitter chat about a name for the dish led to the Ecosse-oulet moniker.
Ecosse-oulet - A Slow Cooked Scottish Cassoulet

Ecosse-oulet - A Scottish Cassoulet

Ingredients
6 Large and Meaty Pork Sausages
200g Streaky Bacon
400g Tin of Fava Beans (I used Hodmedod's British Fava Beans)
395g Tin Red Kidney Beans in Chilli Sauce
1 Pork Stock Cube made up to 250ml
1 Tsp Smoked Paprika
3 Garlic Cloves, peeled and crushed.
1 Tsp Saison "All in a Stew" Slowcook Seasoning (or mixed herbs)

Method
Wrap the sausages, kilted style, in 6 rashers of the streaky bacon and place in the bottom of the slow cooker crock pot. 
Drain the fava beans and add to the slow cooker along with the kidney beans in chilli sauce, smoked paprika, crushed garlic and herbs.
Chop up the remaining bacon and add along with the stock. 
Put the lid on the slow cooker and cook on low for 8 hours.
Serve with crusty bread to soak up the juices and soured cream sprinkled with smoked paprika.

The saying goes that "you can eat all of a pig except the squeal". I was about to put this to the test. A friend had mentioned a fantastic recipe utilising pigs cheeks. These aren't the kind of thing you see in the supermarket so I asked Sharon and Kevin at Sunnyside if I could get some from their piggies. They looked absolutely amazing when I prepped them ready to be marinated and slow cooked. The fantastic marbling was a clear sign of how melt in the mouth they would ultimately be.
Pork Cheeks, Pig Cheeks
The recipe I'd been recommended was for Chinese Style Pig Cheek Baps. This came with high praise from my friend and Foodie Quine branding guru Mimi Hammill. My end dish was a rather loose interpretation of the recipe as I modified it to what I had to hand. I did however follow the advice not to scrimp on the marinating and cooking times. The quantities and ingredients and timings I used are listed below.
Slow Cooked Oriental Pork Cheeks

ORIENTAL PULLED PIGS CHEEKS 

750g Pork Cheeks (that was the weight of my 12 cheeks)
3 Tsp Lazy Ginger
1 Red Chilli, seeds removed and finely diced
2 Star Anise
5 Cloves
2 Tsp Cinnamon
2 Tbsp Soy Sauce (I used an awesome premium dark soya sauce from KWH inSingapore)
4 Tbsp Gin (Sacrilege I know but I had neither Shaoxing Wine nor Sherry!)
50g Demerara Sugar

Slow Cooked Oriental Pork Cheeks

I let my cheeks marinate overnight and they had close to 24 hours in total, cooking time was almost 5 hours and the smell emitting from the oven throughout was amazing. The meat completely fell to pieces when it came to pulling the cheeks apart. I omitted to properly read the second part of the recipe on North 19 so missed the trick of reducing the sauce. The meat was dark, sticky, melt in the mouth tender and oh so tasty. I reckon pretty much any combination of oriental spices would work well for this dish. I'll definitely be first in line for Pig Cheeks next time there are some available at Sunnyside. 

Slow Cooked Oriental Pork Cheeks


16
Foodie Quine. Design by Mimi Hammill. Powered by Blogger.