Tiffin

The word 'tiffin' has caused some debate among friends and family lately. When my friend Emma mentioned her love for tiffin, a special treat from a Sheffield deli, I looked blank and said I had never heard of it. It sounded like a very Yorkshire word to me, like 'snap' (steelworker's lunch) or 'clarty' (muddy or sticky) but when I asked my dad - the only native Yorkshireman in my immediate family - he said he thought it was a light meal, or "summat to tide thi ovver 'til tea". 

When Emma kindly bought me a piece of tiffin from this deli to further my education, my first thought on tasting it was 'this is my nan's Chocolate Digestive Crunch!' And so with a few alterations to that family recipe, I now bring you my recipe for tiffin. This particular batch was made for Emma's birthday, to see whether it stands up to the deli version. I'm also informed that Cadbury do a version of tiffin. Good excuse to track some down and test it out if you ask me. 

You will need:

5oz butter

2 tablespoons sugar

2 tablespoons golden syrup 

4 teaspoons cocoa 

8oz Rich Tea biscuits, crushed (I always use digestives for the 'crunch' recipe, but Rich Tea seem to give tiffin a more cakey flavour.)

A handful of raisins (this is the big difference between the recipes)

8oz chocolate - milk or dark, whichever you prefer. I used half of each.

This recipe is easy peasy and speedy. Melt the butter, syrup, sugar and cocoa in a pan. Stir to combine well, and don't let it boil.

Then add the biscuits and raisins to the liquid, and mix well together.

Take a greased and lined tin, and press the mixture into it. Be firm here so the finished tiffin doesn't go all crumbly.

Lastly, melt your chocolate, pour over the top, and once the tiffin is down to room temperature pop it in the fridge to set. Lick the bowl. Remove from the fridge once set and store in your best vintage tin. 

Have you heard of tiffin?

Gingerbread Cake

Here's a philosophical question for your Tuesday: 'What is Gingerbread?' Mention gingerbread to me and an image of a gingerbread man in his gingerbread house springs to mind. Said gingerbread man running away as fast as he can, being pursued by all manner of hungry beings. 

But gingerbread can also be... well, cake! Do you have a different name for this? I call both versions gingerbread, and think they are equally Christmassy. There's just something so festive about the flavour of ginger. 

The following recipe works particularly well if frozen - perfect if you want to get ahead on your festive baking, or just like to have something tasty in store in case your great aunt Agatha should drop round for tea. Or Christmas, in which case, you have my full sympathy. 

You will need:

4 oz butter

2 oz sugar

2 tbsp golden syrup

2 eggs, beaten

8 oz self raising flour

2 -3 level tsp ground ginger

Heat the oven to 160C. Grease a loaf tin and line the bottom with greaseproof paper. Cream together the butter, sugar and syrup, then gradually beat in the eggs.

Sift together the flour and ginger, then fold into the creamed mixture. Pour into the tin and bake in the oven for 1 1/4 hours, until golden and springy to the touch.

If you want to take the festive spirit further you could add icing to the top of your cake and decorate with pieces of crystalised ginger. 

It seems that my work colleagues' diets have slipped somewhat now we're on the home straight to Christmas, and I've finally been given permission to take in baked produce (but only on a Thursday when two determined colleagues aren't in!) so I have no doubt I'll be knocking up a batch of gingerbread to take them instead of Christmas cards this year. I love taking a naughty slice with me in my lunchbox!






PS: I'd just like to say a whopping thank you for all your lovely comments, tweets, Facebook likes and emails since I opened my Etsy shop last Thursday. The encouragement, feedback, sharing and support has been fantastic, and made me even more excited about this new project. Thank you! x

Lavender Shortbread Recipe

If you're keen to hang onto the memories of summer (eh? what summer?) or just fancy making use of the last of your lavender flowers from the garden, lavender shortbread always goes down well, I find. It's not at all flowery or over-powering, in fact it's more like a delicate after-taste, and this buttery recipe is the one that convinced me that shortbread is far from dry and boring.

You will need:

125g caster sugar

350g butter, room temp.

4 tablespoons icing sugar, sifted

4g fresh chopped lavender

325g plain flour

Pinch of salt

65g cornflour

Cream together the butter, caster sugar and icing sugar until light and fluffy (this is always my favourite bit because the transformation is magical!) Next, mix in the lavender. 

Mix the flour, cornflour and salt, add into the butter mixture and combine together. Wrap the dough in clingfilm and pop in the fridge to firm up for around an hour. 

Preheat the oven to 180C. Forget the rolling pin - pop your dough onto a greased flat baking tray and flatten it using your fingers so it forms a round, about 5-7mm thick. Use a fork or a finger to mark round the edges, or make any pattern you wish.

Pop in the oven for 15-20 minutes, or until your shortbread is beginning to look golden. 

Leave it to cool for half an hour before cutting into individual biscuits. You could sprinkle some caster sugar and extra lavender on for decoration.

These biscuits make a great offering for an afternoon tea party, posh snack with a cuppa in front of the telly, or a present for someone lovely.

Have a sweet day,

Rhubarb and Apple Autumn Pastries

I'm a huge fan of pastry but must admit I'm a little lazy when it comes to making it myself. For the cost of a packet of puff pastry from the supermarket (£1 in this case - hurrah!) and some grown or gifted late summer fruit if you're lucky, you can knock up a batch of these seriously tasty breakfast or afternoon tea treats in minutes. Perfect if you become tempted while watching The Great British Bake Off!

You will need:

5 sticks rhubarb

2 apples

1/2 handful sultanas

1 pack of shop bought puff pastry

A little milk

1 tsp brown sugar

Chop your rhubarb and pop it in one bowl, and chop the apples and place those in another. Sprinkle both bowls with a little sugar - or add some sweet cecily - and stew in the microwave for a couple of minutes until softened, but not too soft.

Roll out (or unroll) your packet of puff pastry, and cut it into squares depending on how large you want your pastries to be. Pop a spoonful of your rhubarb into the middle of half your squares, and apple on the other half, adding a few sultanas over the apple ones.

Brush round the edges of your squares with milk. I folded the rhubarb squares in half to make triangles and the edges of the apple ones up to make squares so I could tell the difference, but the shape you choose is entirely up to you! Sprinkle a little brown sugar on top of each.

Now just bake in the oven according to the instructions on your pasty packet, then once cool dust icing sugar on top.

I'm extremely impressed if any of you have mastered homemade puff pastry, I just never seem to manage it. I am excellent at eating it, though! 

Happy Monday!

Chocolate Tea Cake

"What's that?" I hear you say, "a chocolate cake with tea in it?" 

Oh yes. This cake makes a fantastic tea-tastic afternoon tea treat. Here's how to make it:

Ingredients

4 eggs separated

4oz butter, room temperature

12oz sugar

1/2 pt brewed tea, cooled

17oz plain flour

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

3oz breadcrumbs

3oz cocoa powder

8oz nuts - chopped hazelnuts or walnuts 

A 9ins bundt or ringed tin

Preheat oven to 360F or 180C

Cream the egg yolks, butter and sugar together until light and fluffy, then gradually beat in the tea. (Tea!)

In a separate bowl combine the flour, baking powder, breadcrumbs, cocoa and nuts, then fold gently into the tea mixture.

Whip the egg whites into stiff peaks then fold into the tea batter. Pour into your tin, then bake for 60-70 mins until a skewer comes out clean.

Leave to cool for 20 mins before turning out... and enjoy!

Ah, a chocolate cake with tea in it. Doesn't get any better than that.

Are you planning any baking this bank holiday weekend?

Rhubarb and Custard Cake

My garden continues to provide me with gifts in the shape of rhubarb, so on Saturday I decided to give making a rhubarb and custard cake a bash.

It's a recipe I'd dug up on the BBC website, which you can find here. 

Despite it taking around half an hour extra to bake than suggested, it's one of the tastiest cakes I've made in a long time! You can really taste the custard, which gives the cake a gooey consistency, and it works brilliantly with the sharpness of the rhubarb. The brown sugar made the crust dark and taste almost like treacle. 

I think I'm going to have to declare this cake a new annual tradition for rhubarb season!

Chocolate Digestive Crunch

This recipe's been in my family for a few generations now, and nobody seems to know where it came from. All I know is that if it got any easier to make...well, it can't. The only thing easier than this is bunging some chocolate digestive biscuits on a plate and having done. And where's the fun in that?!

You will need:

4oz/113g butter
8oz/225g plain digestive biscuits
2 tbsp drinking chocolate
1 tbsp syrup
1 tbsp caster sugar
8oz/225g plain or milk chocolate

Grease a shallow tin or dish, then pop your biscuits in a sandwich bag and bash them with a rolling pin until you have fine crumbs. Alternatively you can use a food processor, but that won't let you unleash the stress of the day, now, will it?



Pop everything but your chocolate and crumbs in a pan and heat until the butter has melted and you have some syrupy goodness - don't allow your mixture to boil. Remove from the heat, pour in your crumbs and mix well together.

Now all you have to do is press your mixture firmly into your tin or dish, leave to cool, then pop in your fridge for an hour to set...

And finally melt your chocolate, pour over the top, and leave to set.

Enjoy! That's my Monday chocolate fix sorted.

Quick and Easy Coffee & Walnut Cake

A lovely afternoon tea treat today. This cake is so easy to make, and bakes in just 25 minutes.

I can't take the credit for it, though. I discovered it here on the blog Knitting on Trains, which has a very similar ethic to my own blog and is full of vintage, crafty and recipe goodness.

What I really, REALLY love about the recipe is the method. All you do is weigh your eggs (I used 3) and then weigh out the same amount in sugar, butter and flour. So you can't go wrong! Genius. I'm definitely going to be trying this way of measuring for other cake recipes.

What's your favourite loaf cake recipe? I think I'm going to be making a fair few more!