Lemon and Blueberry Cookies

Finished cookies

These are a delicious Spring snack; lighter and fresher than their chocolate counterparts, but still a sweet and satisfying treat!

Try serving with greek yoghurt or creme fraiche as a ligher dessert alternative.

Lemon and Blueberry Cookies

Makes 30 cookies

Creamed butter and sugar

Ingredients

250g butter/marg

200g dark brown sugar

250g caster sugar

2 egg

550g self raising flour

small pinch of salt

300g fresh blueberries

zest of 3 lemons
juice of 1 lemon

170oC fan oven/180oC other ovens

With  eggs

Method

1. Cream the butter and sugar in a large mixing bowl until light and fluffy - once you think you've done give it another minute or so of beating to make your cookies as light as possible!

2. Beat in the eggs in two goes until it's all combined. If it curdles don't worry, it'll come back together when you add the flour.

3. Add the salt, lemon zest and lemon juice and beat until combined. Add the flour, mix thoroughly, and then add the blueberries. Mix gently so as not to pop too many of the blueberries; mix until just combined.

With blueberries

4. Put the mix in the freezer for 10 minutes or fridge for an hour just to make it easier to work with - it will be a very very sticky dough!

5. Once the dough is chilled, using two dessert spoons, put a walnut size ball of dough onto a greased or lined baking sheet. (I roll each dough ball quickly between my hands if I want my cookies to have a more uniform finish). Make sure the dough balls have at least 3 inches between them as they will spread whilst baking.

6. Bake in the middle of a preheated oven for 10-12 minutes; they may look raw in the middle still but they'll continue to cook as they cool and you'll end up with a gorgeous, chewy cookie once they've cooled on a wire rack.

Ready for the oven

These can be stored in an airtight container for 4/5 days, and they're equally delicious whether enjoyed with a cup of tea, or a glass of homemade lemonade.

Happy Baking!

The Baking Ginger xx

Lemon Marmalade and Poppy Seed Cookies

I made these on a whim as I had some leftover lemon marmalade that I needed to use up, so adapted a recipe for orange marmalade cookies, and added poppy seeds too. The batter is very easy to work with, and these cookies make a nice change to rich chocolate cookies, you could even pretend they're healthy...

I used oil as an egg substitute, as it only acts as a binding agent, but you could easily sub an egg back into the recipe - or use dairy free butter and make them vegan.

Lemon Marmalade and Poppy Seed Cookies

Makes 36

Ingredients

Wet ingredients

80g butter

140g granulated sugar

0.25 cup vegetable or sunflower oil

350g plain flour

1.5tsp baking powder

4tsp poppy seeds

6tbsp marmalade (of any variety), plus 1tbsp to glaze

190oC oven, 180oC fan

Method

1. Cream butter and sugar together until it’s pale and fluffy

Pre-oven mix

2. Beat in the oil and marmalade

3. Fold in the flour, baking powder and poppy seeds

4. Use two teaspoons to place small piles of dough onto a lined baking sheet, leaving spreading room between them (approx. 3 inches) 

5. Bake in the middle of a preheated oven for 8-10 minutes, or until light brown, then remove to a wire rack 

6. Put the 1tbsp marmalade for the glaze in a bowl, microwave for 30 second intervals until it becomes spreadable 

Before glazing

7. Apply to the cookies as soon as they come out of the oven using a pastry brush and leave to cool

These cookies are lovely and chewy in the middle, with a nice lemony tang - they go well with a cup of coffee. They will keep in an air tight container for 3-4 days.

Happy Baking!

The Baking Ginger xx

Four Shades of Biscotti

Biscotti varieties

Biscotti is something I’ve wanted to make for a while, I’ve read a lot about it and it seems like a really versatile thing, which I decided to put to the test by making 4 varieties at once! These are really crispy biscuits because of their high sugar/low fat content, as well as the fact they're baked twice.

They were all delicious; white chocolate, almond and lemon was my favourite, but play around with what you like to find your favourite combinations. If you want to make all one type of biscotti quadruple the flavourings, or double if you want to make two flavours.

Flavour combinations

4 Shades of Biscotti 

Makes 30 portions (7/8 slices of each)

Ingredients:

12oz plain flour

1.5tsp baking powder

12oz caster sugar

4 eggs (beaten)

Dough coming together

-          Lemon, Almond and White Chocolate

o       zest of 1 lemon

o       2oz whole almonds

o       2oz white chocolate

-          Milk Chocolate and Hazelnut

o       2oz whole hazelnuts

o       2oz milk chocolate

o       1tsp vanilla essence

-          Pistachio, Blackberry and Orange

o       2oz pistachios shelled

o       2oz fresh blackberries

o       zest of 1/3 orange

-          Chocolate and Orange

Dough + flavourings

o       4oz plain chocolate

o       zest of 1 orange

150oC fan oven/160oC all other ovens

Method:

1. Mix together the flour, sugar and baking powder using your hands then add an egg at a time and bring the dough together with your hands. 

2. Divide the dough into four and work on a portion at a time, the dough is very soft and sticky so make sure you’ve got extra flour to hand to keep things moving. 

After first bake

3. For each type of biscotti add the additional ingredients and knead gently to incorporate. Shape into a log, put on a lined baking tray and put into the middle of a preheated oven for 30 minutes. Spread the biscotti out as they’ll spread as they cook. 

4. Repeat for each type of biscotti – you can do them simultaneously if you like; whatever you find easiest! N.B. The blackberry and pistachio flavourings make the dough very wet, so add a few more tbsp of flour to compensate. 

5. Once they’ve been in the oven for 30 minutes cool slightly on a wire rack (for approx. 30 minutes) then slice into 1-2cm thick slices, return to the baking tray and bake for another 5 minutes on each side (another 10 in total), or until golden brown. 

Ready for second bake

6. Cool on a wire rack, then serve with hot chocolate, coffee or tea – they’re perfect for elevenses as they're best dunked! They will keep for 3/4 days in an air tight container.

Versatile, delicious and very cute; they’d make a great present wrapped in shiny wrap paper and tied with ribbon or in a box with tissue paper – perfect!

Happy Baking, 

The Baking Ginger xx

Lemon, Almond and White Chocolate

Pistachio, Blackberry and Orange

Hazelnut and Milk Chocolate

Plain Chocolate and Orange

Lemon Drizzle Bundt Cake with Raspberries and Cream

Ripples from the Bundt Tin

Another variation on the theme of lemon and raspberry - it's a good one!

This was for my brother's birthday, it makes a good celebration cake because it looks as good as it tastes!

Bundt tins are a bit old school, but the cakes they make look really cute, and are perfect for filling with cream on special occasions, what's not to love??

If you haven't got a Bundt tin this would also work as a traybake, with the cream spread on top.

Lemon Drizzle Bundt Cake with Raspberries and Cream

Bundt Tin

Ingredients

Cake:
4oz self raising flour
4oz marg
4oz caster sugar
2 eggs
1tsp baking powder
1tbsp milk

Extras:
zest and juice of 3 lemons

Batters ready to go

3oz sugar
1tsp red/pink food colouring
150ml double cream
2tbsp icing sugar
150g raspberries plus extra to decorate

Bundt tin
170oC fan oven/180oC other ovens

Method

1. Put all the cake ingredients into a bowl and beat into a smooth batter. Add the lemon zest.

Marbling done!

2. Divide the batter equally between two bowls and add the food colouring to one - make it as bright a colour as you'd like, they fade when they're cooked so be bold!

3. Thoroughly grease the Bundt tin with marg (use kitchen roll to apply it, or your fingers) and fill with alternate spoonfuls of each batter to get the marbled pattern. You can also then drag a skewer or knife through your batter to make the marbling even more pronounced.

4. Bake in the centre of a hot oven for 15-20 minutes or until golden and coming away from the edge of the tin.

5. Leave to cool slightly before attempting to remove from the tin - tapping the bottom of the tin and gentle shaking are the best ways I've found to do this! Whilst it's cooling combine the juice from the lemons with the 3oz sugar in a small pan and heat until the sugar has dissolved.

Mid drizzle

6. Once your cake is out of the tin pour over the lemon juice and sugar - this is the drizzle part of the lemon drizzle. Leave the cake to cool completely. You can get to this point a day or so before you need the cake and keep it in an air tight container and then fill with cream just before serving.

7. When you're ready to eat the cake whip the cream to soft peaks, sieve in the icing sugar and smash up the raspberries before adding them too. Fill the centre of the cake with the cream and pile it high! Decorate with raspberries if you want to. (You can do this a couple of hours before eating - just keep it in a cool place afterwards)

Completed cake!

Like I said this cake is great for birthdays or celebrations but it'd make a really special dessert too, it's one of our new family favourites!

Happy Baking!

The Baking Ginger xx

Two Way Lemon and Raspberry Cupcakes

Finished cupcakes

I made these for some new neighbours who've moved in next door, just as a way to say hello; they were much appreciated!

I couldn't decide whether to make lemon cupcakes with raspberry cream or raspberry cupcakes with lemon cream so I decided to do both - if you want to make them all the same way just double the flavouring you use for the cake and the cream, but the basic ingredients stay the same.

Two Way Lemon and Raspberry Cupcakes

Makes 12

Basic batter

Ingredients:

4oz self raising flour

4oz marg/butter

4oz caster sugar

2 eggs

1tsp baking powder

1 or 2tbsp milk

grated zest of 2 lemons

juice of 1 lemon

punnet (approx. 125g) raspberries

300ml double cream

Adding raspberries

2tbsp icing sugar

170oC fan oven/180oC all other ovens

12 hole bun tin, lined with cupcake cases

Method:

1. Combine all of the basic ingredients in a large bowl and beat into a smooth batter. You might need to add a splash of milk to get it to dropping consistency (when the batter drops off the spoon when picked up). 

2. Divide the batter in half. 

Ready for the oven

3. To one half add the zest of one lemon and the juice of half. Leave the other plain as you’ll add whole raspberries to it once it’s in the cases. 

4. Using teaspoons fill each cupcake cases until it’s 2/3 full of either the lemon or plain batters; to each case of plain batter case add a small amount of mixture then add 2 whole raspberries, then top up with the remaining portion of batter. 

5. Repeat until all of the batter is used then place the trays into the middle of a preheated oven for 10/15 minutes until the 

cupcakes are golden brown. 

Baked and cooling

6. Leave the cupcakes to cool completely on a wire rack whilst you make the toppings. 

7. Whip the cream to soft peaks, but ensuring it is firm enough to be shaped on top of the cupcakes. Sieve in the icing sugar and whisk gently until incorporated. 

8. Split the cream into two. To one half add the zest of the other lemon and a splash of lemon juice. In a separate bowl smash the remaining raspberries with a fork, add half of the sweetened cream and fold together so the cream starts to turn pink, whilst leaving some chunks of raspberry intact. 

Cream toppings

9. Once they’re completely cool top the lemon cupcakes with the raspberry icing and the raspberry cupcakes with the lemon icing.

These will keep for a day or two, if it’s warm keep them in the fridge so the cream doesn't melt. 

They're a really simple variation on a classic cupcake,very easy to play around with depending on what your fancy or the occasion you're baking for!

Happy Baking,

The Baking Ginger xx

Cakes on Gran's old cake stand

We're All Going (May Have Already Been...) On a Summer Holiday!

This summer I've been doing some temp office work, got some pennies for my pocket and some fantastic work experience to boot, but I had a week off in the middle of it to go to Mull with the family. We stay in a friend's cottage on the beach, and it's a bit of a tradition to do loads of baking before we go so we're well stocked for elevenses and afternoon tea! (Definitely didn't have cake for breakfast one day...)

Before going I rang my Gran to ask for her Marmalade cake recipe - she's given it to me numerous times but I always seem to misplace it - hence starting a place to keep all of my recipes together!

Marmalade Cake

Like I said, I've made this cake a lot - it gets better after a few days in the tin, but it doesn't always last that long in our house!

Marmalade Cake

Ingredients:

7fl.oz vegetable oil
5 heaped tbsp marmalade
6oz caster sugar
4tbsp milk
3 large eggs (beaten)
6oz self raising flour
6oz wholemeal flour (also self raising if you can find it)
0.5tsp bicarbonate of soda

2 heaped tbsp marmalade
2oz flaked almonds

Greased and lined 8in round tin
Preheated oven (140oC/280oF fan, 160oC/320oF for others)

 Method:

1. In a large bowl beat together the vegetable oil, marmalade, sugar, eggs and milk (use an electric whisk if you have one, if not elbow grease will do!)

2. Add the wholemeal flour (no need to sieve as it's too chunky to get through the gaps).

3. Sieve in the white self raising flour and bicarb, and mix well - you should end up with a fairly runny batter.

4. Pour the mix into your greased and lined tin, taking care to clean and mixture off the sides if it gets a bit messy, so it doesn't burn.

5. Place in the middle of your preheated oven for 45 minutes

6. After 45 minutes check your cake - if it's getting too brown on top make a fashion a little foil cover for it

7. Cook for another 45 minutes (90 in total - this is a long time for a cake, but this is a dense, moist cake so a long slow bake is what it needs)

8. Use a clean, sharp knife or skewer (we use a knitting needle in our house) to test if your cake is ready after 90 minutes; insert it into the middle of your cake, if it comes out clean it's done, if not pop it back in the oven for another 10/15 minutes - repeat this until your skewer comes out clean.

9. Once it's cooked remove from the oven and carefully cover the top with the extra 2tbsp marmalade (the cake tin will also be hot so be careful). Scatter the flaked almonds over the marmalade and put the whole thing back in the oven for 10 minutes to let the marmalade warm through and set the almonds in place.

10. Remove from the oven and leave to cool completely in the tin.

11. Once cool remove from the tin and store in an air tight box - if you can leave it for a few days all the better, if you can't resist a slice for breakfast is perfect!

Other Treats

Ginger, Nut and Chocolate Slice

 Also for this trip I made:

- Ginger, Nut and Chocolate Slice

- Peanut Butter Biscuits

- Lemon Cookies

- Cornflake and Oat Crumble Bakes

The recipes will follow soon hopefully!

I'll leave you with a photo from Mull, it really is a special place.

Happy Baking!

The Baking Ginger xx

A sunset from Mull; perfection!