Baking

Turmeric cake – variations on a theme
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Turmeric cake – variations on a theme

Cake is delicious with natural yoghurt and a cup of tea or coffee!A T-cake, with a difference.

I really amazed myself with this one. Honestly didn’t think it would work.

Combining a recent penchant for all things turmeric and my inveterate tendency to adapt recipes this cake at the outset possibly had a 50/50 chance of success.

Having just made another batch of Jamu (turmeric health tonic), I couldn’t bear to throw out the mulch of turmeric, ginger and lemon. I recalled a recipe JB had given me for ‘turmeric tea cake’ but could not find it, so another adaptation of the ‘Cut & Come Again’ cake has emerged.

I will say upfront that I think almond meal might be better than flour, but that experiment will have to wait for another day.

First up – make the Jamu.

This is a wonderful ‘tea’ that dear friend Annie introduced me to, and which is known in Indonesia as a daily, trusted, health tonic – best drunk first thing in the morning on an empty stomach.

Turmeric has been used for centuries in foods and many believe it has a multitude of health benefits (e.g. anti cancer due to its anti-inflammatory, detox and anti-bacterial properties); some of which have been evidenced in medical research. Curcumin is the active ingredient but by using the whole natural form, you gain from the other properties too. Google it!

I like the idea of drinking this as an anti-inflammatory treatment, instead of taking ibuprofen regularly – I think it works, but possibly in a placebo sense?

Waiver: I have taken to throwing this together (measuring by eye and adjusted to my taste), so these quantities are rough estimates – you will find plenty other recipes that differ from my version, online. It really is delicious; not ghastly as you might expect. Adapt to your own tastes and make it as sweet as you like.

Ingredients

  • 1 cup fresh organic turmeric root – roughly chopped
  • 2 inches fresh ginger, preferably organic – grated
  • half a lemon – the zest and the juice (alt. lime is good too, but stronger flavour)
  • 1 tablespoon raw honey
  • 2 cups water

Method:

I have done this in two different ways. Both seem to work equally well, but result in a different consistency of ‘tonic’. I’m not sure which is better for retaining the healthy properties.  A) By simmering the fresh ingredients first and then mulching them results in a creamy paste. B) By mulching the fresh ingredients first and then simmering, you will have a more liquid concentrate.

Here’s the A version.

  1. Place all the ingredients in a saucepan and bring to a simmer for about 20 minutes.
  2. Then use a hand blender or place everything in your blitzer/food processor, until as smooth as you can get it.
  3. Pour the mixture through a sieve or a cloth bag into a jug or jar, to remove all the fibres. (Don’t throw these away, you need them for the cake!)
  4. Store in the fridge for up to a week. (This should be just enough for one cup of tea, every day for a week).
  5. To make your refreshing wake-up tea – simply stir a tablespoon of the ‘tonic’ in a cup of hot water. Add extra honey to taste.

Wee note: turmeric stains everything yellow – just saying.

Turmeric Cake (variations on a theme)

Heat oven to 170 degrees centigrade. Grease and line a regular cake or loaf tin.

Mix together dry ingredients:

  • 140g wholemeal flour
  • 50g coconut flour
  • 50g caster sugar
  • 2 tsp baking powder
  • a pinch of salt

Mix together the wet ingredients:

  • the leftover turmeric, ginger, lemon mulch
  • 1 tbsp honey
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 cup of milk
  • 175ml light olive oil or vegetable oil

Combine the wet & the dry ingredients. Pour into the cake or loaf tin. Decorate with raw almonds and bake for 30-35 minutes.

I enjoyed this with natural yoghurt but I’m guessing it would be good with cream or ricotta too with a drizzle of honey.

Note: The cake is delicious eaten warm from the oven; equally the next day, when it will be more moist.

Variations:

  • If you substitute the flour for almond meal, use 3 eggs, separated. Mix the yolks with the wet ingredients and then into the dry ones. Whisk the eggs whites until stiff and fold into the mixture.
  • Warm lemon and honey together and drizzle over the cake.

Please let me know if you try this and how it worked out for you. Comments very very welcome.

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Footnote

In homage to Pamela and Ross: both adored ginger, particularly Ross who felt it was good for the heart and arthuritis. Pamela also enjoyed a bit of turmeric in her scrambled egg, courtesy of Patrick’s insistence, in her last days. Pamela always advocated for organic, fresh ingredients, free range eggs, wild honey and fresh-from-the-cow dairy.

Cut and Come Again – easy and flexible cake recipe
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Cut and Come Again – easy and flexible cake recipe

I try, but don’t always manage it, to make a cake on a Sunday for afternoon tea but also to pad out the school lunch boxes during the week. I think this recipe may have come out of a Country Living magazine way back when. It’s so easy to remember (175g is the main amount) and is super quick to make. It’s not a gourmet cake by any means – just an everyday cake!

The basic recipe is for a plain cake using olive oil with some lemon zest & juice for flavouring. You could use a regular sunflower oil if you prefer. I have adapted the recipe many times – adding cocoa, seasonal fruit, coconut, muesli, bananas – whatever takes my fancy really or whatever needs using up. Recently I’ve taken to making it as an upside down cake. Yes, it’s more butter and sugar – but this adds an extra richness – and makes the cake a perfect pudding too.

I call this cake ‘Cut and come again’ – just because it’s easy to keep cutting another slice to have with another cup of tea, but also because it’s so quick and easy to make. Traditionally it may have been the name of a fruit cake – but I also like to think of The Magic Pudding – who really was a cut-and-come-again puddingy cake of a fellow!

Olive Oil Cut and Come Again Cake

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For the basic recipe…

Whizz together:
3 large eggs
175ml light olive oil
175g caster sugar
(1 tsp vanilla)

Mix in:
175g plain flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt

Juice + zest of a lemon.

Pour batter into a greased 9 inch round cake tin and bake in the oven for 40 minutes at 180 degrees C.

When warm you could  pour a mixture of dissolved sugar in lemon on top (as per a regular lemon cake) or just sprinkle with icing sugar.

Adaptations I have tried (& which actually worked out ok!):

  • Fruit: simple cut some fruit (I’ve used apples, cherres, plums, tinned peaches) and place on top of the batter before putting in oven.
  • Upside down version: cream together approx 75g butter and half a cup of brown sugar and spread this on the bottom of your already greased tin. Place cut fruit on top (I’ve used plums, apples, pineapple). And then pour the batter over the top. In the picture above left, I have also added 2 tbsp cocoa powder as part of the 175g flour. If you want a deeper toffee-type topping, just cream more butter and sugar!
  • Banana & Muesli: I usually have quite a lot of black bananas piling up in the freezer, so I add 4 squishy bananas to the wet mixture and after adding the usual dry ingredients, I add about a cup of muesli, which absorbs the extra moisture from the bananas. If this isn’t enough, I add a handful of shredded coconut or half a cup of coconut flour. (NB coconut flour is amazingly absorbent and will densify any pudding or cake, or so I’ve found anyway.)
  • Coconut: I haven’t tried this yet – using coconut oil instead of olive oil or maybe half and half.

Please let me know how your experiments go with this recipe. Comment below and post your photos too 🙂

[Health warning: many of the recipes on this site contain flour & sugar. I always recommend organic, single origin ingredients, preferably unbleached, and will endeavour to offer alternatives. As we so very painfully know, cancer cells love sugar – so please moderate your sweet treats.]

Colin’s pudding
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Colin’s pudding

Lynne Lowrie from Blegbie in Humbie has sent through this recipe for a quick pudding option.

Quite often Pamela and Ross would team up for casual dinner with neighbours Colin and Lynne. There were always plenty of cooking apples from the small garden orchard to be used up and Pamela liked to indulge Colin’s penchant for puddings. A hard working farmer can certainly be allowed to partake in as much cake and pudding as he likes!

The derivation of this recipe is a bit iffy, but our guess is that it is another Ida Wilkie / Pamela Flockhart ‘throw it altogether and bung it in the oven’ type of affair.

Apple and Almond Cake
Serves 4

12oz apples, peeled and chopped
6oz sugar
5oz butter or marg
2 eggs
½ tsp almond essence
8oz S.R flour
1 ½ tsp baking powder
Milk for consistency (Lynne to confirm?)
Sprinkling of flaked almonds, brown sugar and cinnamon

Turn on the oven and heat to 325°F or 160°C. Grease a 9 inch tin.

You pretty much mix everything together, but I find this sequence the most efficient unless of course you have a super dooper food mixer.

  1. Cream the sugar and butter (or margarine).
  2. Beat in the eggs and the almond essence.
  3. Add the dry ingredients (flour and BP) spoon by spoon and mix,
  4. Add some milk until the mixture is a heavy batter. (Is that right, Lynne? Other
    wise the mixture is very thick.)

Place half the mixture in a 9 inch tin or baking dish, cover with apples and top with remaining mixture. Sprinkle with the almond, cinnamon and sugar topping.

Bake for 1 ½ hours at 325°F or 160°C. Serve with ice-cream or natural Greek yoghurt.

To make this recipe for 6 people just use one and a half times the ingredients.

My photos aren’t the best but hopefully you get the giste.

[Health warning: many of the recipes on this site contain flour & sugar. I always recommend organic, single origin ingredients, preferably unbleached, and will endeavour to offer alternatives. As we so very painfully know, cancer cells love sugar – so please moderate your sweet treats.]

Quick Apple and Almond Cake in a bowl

Colin’s Pudding

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The Lowrie Family

Thank you Lynne!

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Pam Flockhart’s Carrot Cake

It was great to hear from the Bolton family this week (both here in Perth and in Humbie).

Nicola has sent through one of Mum’s recipes which she says is, “Fantastic! A firm favourite with our family.” Indeed, it could be the recipe that was used for our wedding cake!

I haven’t had a chance to bake it yet in order to take photos for this post. If you do – please send me your photos.

It’s traditional to top a carrot cake with sweet lemony cheese topping, however we usually eat it without. If you are making this for guests, the local fete or school fundraiser, it’s probably nicer to add the topping. (Make sure you label the cake with the ingredients, so folks with food allergies are forewarned – you could leave out the nuts and add sultanas instead).

The method looks super easy – all the best!

Prep: Heat oven to 350 F (180 C) and line 2 x 8” square or  2 x 9” round or 2 x 2lb loaf tins with greaseproof baking paper.

Method: Cream sugar and oil. Beat in eggs. Add dry ingredients, then carrots and nuts. Bake 350 F (180 C) for about 50 mins.

Ingredients:
12 oz (350g) soft brown sugar
12 oz (400 mls) corn oil
4 eggs
1 lb (454g) sifted plain flour
2 tsp baking powder
2 tsp baking soda
2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp salt
12 oz (350g) grated carrots
8 oz (227g) chopped walnuts or pecans or mixed nuts.

Topping:
8 oz (227g) cream cheese ( e.g. Light Philly)
4 oz (115g) unsalted butter
1 lb (454g) sifted icing sugar
½ tsp vanilla
2 tsp lemon juice.

Method: Cream together cream cheese and butter.  Beat in sugar. Add vanilla and lemon juice. Spread over cooled cake.

I’d love to hear if you have made this and how it worked out for you. Please use the comments box below.

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Healthy Chocolate Cake

Here are two different and super easy versions – one gluten free and the other gluten AND nut free – of my son’s favourite cake.
Pamela delighted in treating him to these, as well as ‘wibbs’ (aka barbecue spare ribs, soon to be posted).

1. FLOURLESS CHOCOLATE CAKE (based on Donna Hay’s)

200g dark chocolate
140g butter
5 separated eggs
1/2 cup caster sugar (4oz / 125g)
1 1/2 cups ground almonds (12oz)
icing sugar for dusting

Heat oven to 160 degrees. Grease a cake tin and line base with greaseproof paper. (I use a 9 inch or 23cm diameter round.)
In a large mixing bowl, melt chocolate and butter together, either in a bowl above hot water or (I do it) in the microwave bit by bit (see note below.) Cool slightly.
Stir in the egg yolks, sugar and almonds to the chocolate mix; and put aside.
Beat egg whites until stiff and glossy.
Gently fold egg whites into the mixture.
Spoon into tin and bake for approximately 45 mins or until cooked through (see note below).
Cool and turn out onto your favourite cake plate or stand and dust with icing sugar. A few berries on top would be nice too.

NOTES:

  1. If melting chocolate and butter in microwave do it a little by little, taking care not to burn; e.g. 30 secs, stir with a small whisk, 30 secs, stir, until smooth.
  2. Pierce cake with  a wooden skewer to test if cake is ready. If it comes out clean, it is; if not cook for a little longer.
  3. The cooking time is based on my fan-forced oven. Other ovens may take a bit longer or in the top oven of an Aga the cake may be cooked after 40 minutes.
  4. This tastes best the day after baking.
  5. If having difficulties understanding Australian measurements – check here: https://www.donnahay.com.au/recipes/conversion

2. HEALTHIEST CHOCOLATE CAKE EVER (based on Teresa Cutter’s)

200g dark chocolate, melted
60ml melted butter or coconut oil
1/4 cup coconut flour (2 oz / 60g)
1 and 1/2  teaspoon gluten free baking powder
A grind or two of sea salt
4 eggs whisked
3 tablespoons organic honey or maple syrup
1 teaspoon vanilla

Heat oven to 160 degrees. Grease a cake tin and line base with greaseproof paper. (I use a 9 inch or 23cm diameter round.)
In a large mixing bowl, melt chocolate, butter and honey together, either in a bowl above hot water or (I do it) in the microwave bit by bit (note above.) Cool slightly.
Stir in the dry ingredients: coconut flour, baking powder and a grind of sea salt, until well combined.
Whisk the eggs and vanilla and stir into the rest of the mixture.
Spoon into cake tin and cook for around 40 minutes.
Cool and turn out onto your favourite cake plate or stand.  Serve with natural yoghurt, shaved dark chocolate and fresh berries. (A swirl of lavender syrup is super addition too.)

NOTES:

  1. This recipe is super quick  – if you want, just fling all the ingredients into a bowl and mix together with a hand whisk.
  2. This cake will rise well but not enormously, for a lighter cake, reduce baking powder to 1/2 teaspoon and separate your eggs as per recipe no.1. (stir in the yolks, whisk the whites and fold them into the mixture.)
  3. If you can’t find coconut flour and you don’t have to be nut-free, use 1 1/2 cups of almond or hazelnut meal instead.
  4. This cake is not super sweet, if you prefer sweeter then I suggest using maple syrup instead of honey and dust with icing sugar.
  5. If baking this recipe as cup cakes, only bake for 20 minutes.

Enjoy! ..and don’t forget to tell me how it works out for you. I’ll add some photos soon.

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Rhubarb crumble, scones and banana oat bites (bobs)

Hi! It’s been another long pause between drinks (or posting). Please be assured, I hadn’t gone troppo; just life took the rev out of my extra-curricular activities. So let’s crack along before I’m distracted again.

Good Housekeeping 1960

Wonderful colour of GH in 1960. A treasure trove of daily recipes.

There has been talk of the family’s appalling scone making record; no-one seems to be able to emulate Mum’s ‘quick as a flash’ scone making prowess. It may be that ‘speed’ is the critical element. So – this may help: I came across a 1960 Good Housekeeping pamphlet in the rabbit warren of Pamela’s hand-built cookbook.  Please let me know if the recipe below works for you, as I haven’t had another go recently.

I’m on a bit of a health kick at the moment and so the white sugar and white flour packets have been banished from the pantry. This also means that many of Mum’s recipes for puddings, pies and cakes are out of the question at the moment. HOWEVER – you can substitute with wholemeal, organic ingredients – she’d always support that.

Crumble was a big favourite round our family table; mainly due to an abundance of seasonal fruit from the garden and also it was quick. It’s a healthy dessert, as long as you don’t load up with too much brown sugar, and simply delicious as the crunch of the crumble meets the soft tart fruit and the silky touch of a dollop of fresh organic cream or ice-cream. Yum!

In her own hand - notice fromage frais (not easy to find in Oz but easier in UK)

In her own hand – notice fromage frais (not easy to find in Oz but easier in UK)

Mum’s recipe adds a bit of zest to your usual crumble, making it seem like you’ve created something deluxe without the effort. If you don’t grow your own fruit, I suggest a visit to your local farmers’ market to pick up whatever is in glut – the traders may have reject fruit that you can pick up for a song too – no harm in asking.

My last mini-ultra-quick-and-healthy recipe today is the Banana Oat Bites (aka Bobs) – these pop in the mouth lifesavers have diverted me from far worse indulgences and stopped a gap in a late afternoon hunger emergency. Ticking all the boxes, these little babies (sorry for the Jamie Oliverism) couldn’t be faster, particularly if you are a hoarder of black bananas in the freezer, as I am.

BOBS

Banana oat cookies

Quick, easy, healthy, sweet treats

Heat oven to 180C (approx 350F). Whizz 2 cups of porridge oats in your food processor, til they resemble a rough flour. Squeeze in 3 large bananas and whizz again. Grease a baking sheet or layer with baking paper. Dollop teaspoons of the mixture onto the tray and bake in oven for 15 mins. It should make approx. 24 bites – each bite being about 50 calories.

Additions: Today I’ve added a teaspoon of vanilla essence, a small handful of dark chocolate bits and a tablespoon of shredded coconut. You could add sultanas, other dried fruit like cranberries, peanut butter, nuts – whatever you fancy, but of course they’ll up the calories a wee bit.

RHUBARB CRUMBLE
The instructions are a bit slim but here goes:
Heat oven to 180C (approx 350F).
Chop about 4-6 big sticks of rhubarb and put in a saucepan. Grate in a thumb of ginger and add the zest and juice of an orange and a lemon. Simmer lightly til the rhubarb just begins to soften. Don’t boil it or you’ll have mush.
Spread out into a pudding/baking dish or into ramekins ( I like to do small individual ones, as they look good to serve up at a dinner party and keeping a few extra in the fridge are great for the kids’ after school tea.)
For the crumble: whizz together in a food processor 1 cup of wholemeal plain flour (white may taste better but this is healthier!) with 1 cup of your favourite muesli (failing that a cup of porridge oats are good), a tablespoon of ground or slivered almonds and 1 teaspoon of cinnamon. Then add in 1 cup of fair trade dark brown sugar and chopped up cubes of 6oz organic unsalted butter. Whizz until mixture looks like hefty breadcrumbs. Spread across your fruit and bake in oven for 15-20 mins.

PLAIN OVEN SCONES (Good Housekeeping Breads and Buns, 1960)
Heat oven to 230C (approx 450F).
8oz flour (try half white, half wholemeal), ½ tsp salt, 1½ oz butter, 2 tsp cream of tartar, 1 tsp bicarb of soda, ¼ pint of milk + egg or milk to glaze. (If using baking powder instead of tartar and soda, use 2½tsp).
Sieve all dry ingredients and rub in the butter. Add all the milk at once – mix lightly and quickly (Mum used a knife) to a spongy dough and then knead slightly. Roll out to ¾ inch thick, cut out, brush with egg or milk and bake in a hot oven for about 10 mins til well risen and golden.

To make these sweeter, you can add a tablespoon of sugar and/or a large handful of dry fruit, e.g. sultanas, currants. I also like to make herby ones, by throwing in a large handful of parsley, chives and maybe basil or coriander. Grated cheddar cheese or small cubes of feta with a sprinkle of dry chilli flakes are good too!

Good luck everyone – please comment, post or email me with how your scones, crumble or bobs turned out!

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Squidgy (gluten-free) chocolate wrap cake thing

I had forgotten how easy, and quick to make, this ruinous dessert is. It was a regular favourite in the 80s after someone brought one over for a dinner party. I’m not sure of the origin but it could be Delia Smith or Miss Bell. I made it this week for Zoe’s going away dinner – my gorgeous girl is off to university already. We were all amazed at how good it was! There is no flour included but it’s pretty high on the fats and sugars – you can’t have everything I guess when you want your cake and to eat it too! It’s not as formal as a roulade and certainly I like the casual way it is folded.

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Squidgy chocolate wrap cake thing

Cake: 6 eggs (preferably room temp & free range of course!), 5oz caster sugar, 2oz fair trade cocoa (sifted);

Filling: 8oz double cream, block of dark chocolate and/or chocolate cream.

Turn on oven to 180 C degrees (350 F). Oil and line with baking paper a rectangular cake tin or roasting tin. (I used a baking tin with a 12 x 8 inch base).

Separate the eggs and whisk the whites until soft peaks form but not stiff. Then, in a separate bowl, whisk the yolks lightly and add the sugar. When creamy add the sifted cocoa. Fold the whites into the cocoa mixture.

Fold in the whites lightly.

Fold in the whites lightly.

When mixed, pour into the tin and spread evenly. Bake for 15-20 minutes. When it’s cooling, it will contract a bit so don’t be alarmed!

Stretch out a length of baking/greaseproof paper and sprinkle it with icing sugar. When the cake is still warm, tip it out onto the paper.

For the filling you can spread layers of chocolate cream or mouse (see below) and whipped cream; this time I whipped the cream and folded melted dark chocolate into the cream which, as it cooled in the cream, created crackly chocolate striations. I then added a layer of mixed berries.

After spreading on your filling, to make the loose roll, lift the end of the baking paper and roll it over (as per photo). To finish, sprinkle with sifted icing sugar. (Tip: I think it’s easier to fold over when it’s still a little warm, i.e. pliable.)

Chocolate Cream

1/2 cup of butter (100g -ish), 1 egg yolk, 6oz dark 70% chocolate (fair trade, melted and cooled), 1 tbsp cognac or sherry, 1/2 tsp vanilla essence.

Cream the butter, beat in the chocolate, egg yolk, cognac/sherry and vanilla.

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Scones!

I’ve never been very good at scones, I don’t make them very often (that’s probably why), mainly because I don’t think I’ll ever be able to achieve the ease of throwing together an awesome scone like Pam. So it was with trepidation that I attempted scones this morning. The incentive –  so Hugo had something to take along to friends for morning tea (that’s what we call mid morning snack in Australia) and also because I promised Mike Small that I would post Pam’s Scone recipe!

Mum grew up in Australia and, as in Scotland, the Country Women’s Association or Women’s Rural Institute is famous for its scone making prowess. The simplest of recipes can be the most challenging and floor even the most accomplished chefs (as a recent MasterChef episode illustrated). Mum learnt to make scones with ‘Gravy’ (aka Ms Graves) – the most resourceful cook and dressmaker I have ever come across and who supported my grandmother in raising her 4 children alone in Sydney in the 1940s. Both Gravy and Mum loved the CWA and Australian Women’s Weekly recipe books.

Pamela’s scone tips:

  • don’t over work the dough (when a scone recipe says to knead the dough, all you are doing is pushing the mixture together and bringing it to a relative uni form). Mum made scones in a block on a baking tray, not cookie cutter scones, which probably accounts for the rougher texture of her scones. (They wouldn’t have won prizes at the local county show! She did win prizes for all sorts of other things though ….:-)
  • use a knife to mix in the milk
  • preferably use milk that’s gone off
  • to keep warm and soft, wrap in or cover with a clean tea-towel
  • eat them fresh out of the oven, warm with real butter and home made jam
  • a hot oven (at Longwood, the Aga top oven)
  • and generally I’m pretty sure that speed actually helps the lightness of a scone’s being…
Basic Scone

Basic Scone

BASIC SCONES a la PAMELA (makes about 12)

Heat your oven to 220 degrees. Oil and flour a small baking tray.
Use a knife to stir a dessert spoon of caster sugar (optional*) into 3 cups of SR flour (or plain flour + 3 tsp baking powder). Add a pinch of salt. Make a well in the centre, and with the knife, mix in 1 cup of milk (room temp is best) until you create a soft dough (you might have to add another tablespoon of milk; don’t add too much though or it will become too sticky). Use your hands to grab all the dough from the bowl into one large ball. (Do not knead as your scone will become heavy.) Press out the dough onto the tray to make a rectangle about 1.5cm thick and score into approx 12 squares. Brush the top with milk. Pop in the oven on the top shelf for about 12 minutes. Turn out onto a wire rack for a short cooling and cover with a clean tea towel.
Serve warm with just butter or decadent cream and jam.

[For a richer flavour, you can rub 25g of butter or marg into the SR flour with your fingertips til the mixture resembles breadcrumbs or I like to use half milk, half cream.]

* Mostly sugar was not added into the main mixture (kids probably would prefer it), because the jam usually adds enough sugar.

DIVERSIFYING YOUR SCONES

At the  sugar stage you could add chopped dates, sultanas, cheese etc. At the Longwood Bakehouse organic flour was always used, but usually white for scones. For a wholemeal scone that tastes okay and is not like a brick, I recommend using 1 cup wholemeal, 1 cup white. I haven’t tried scones with quinoa, pumpkin and sunflower seeds etc but I think that would enter the ‘muffin’ genre of scone-making. Please comment and share your favourite scone variations.

This morning I experimented with ricotta and dark chocolate ….

Chocolate Ricotta Scones

Chocolate Ricotta Scones

Chocolate Ricotta Scones

I replaced the 1 cup of milk with 1/2 cup of Ricotta + 1/2 cup milk. I broke up 2 pieces of Lindt 85% dark chocolate into shards and stirred these in with the knife before adding the last bit of milk. Also, after brushing with milk, I sprinkled the surface with sugar ( I used caster but brown would have been better). Hugo will let us know if they were palatable……?