Summer 2016 Blondies

I think I have probably made these ten times this summer.  They are perfect as they are really easy, very forgiving, and they always seem to come out great.  I can get these in the oven in about 10 mins.

The original recipe came from a lovely blog, The Little Loaf.

Dark Chocolate Tahini Blondies

• 125g butter
• 175g golden caster sugar
• 85g light brown muscovado sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 150g tahini (peanut butter is a good substitute here)
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 185g plain white flour
• pinch salt
• 150g dark chocolate, chopped

1. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees C/160 C fan. Grease a 20cm square baking tin with butter 
2. Melt the butter then continue cooking until golden and nutty, Remove from the heat and allow to cool (if you have time!).
3. Whisk together the sugar and eggs until pale and smooth.
4. Whisk in the cooled brown butter along with the tahini and vanilla until smooth and combined.
5. Fold the flour and salt into the mixture, followed by the chocolate chunks, then scrape into your prepared tin. Bake for 20 - 25 minutes until a thin crust forms but the blondie is still gooey in the middle. Remove from the oven and allow to cool completely before slicing into squares.

Best eaten slightly warm with the chocolate oozing out!

Prize-winning Chocolate Quinoa Cake

Edited to add: This cake won the Earlsfield Bake-Off!

This cake sounds weird but tastes yummy.  No one knew it had quinoa in it.  I made it as cupcakes, but forgot to take a picture.  Annoyingly it is an american recipe using cups.

Quinoa Chocolate Cake

2 cups cooked quinoa
1/3 cup milk
4 large eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
3/4 cup butter, melted
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 cup cocoa powder
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt

Preheat the oven to 160F and grease two 23 cm round cake pans; line the bottoms of the pans with parchment paper – this cake is very moist, and it will make removing them much safer.

In a food processor, combine the milk, eggs and vanilla; add the cooked quinoa and the melted butter and blend until smooth.  Add the sugar, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt and pulse until well blended.

Divide the batter evenly between the pans and bake for 40-45 minutes or until a knife inserted in the center comes out clean. Remove from the oven and cool completely in the pans before running a thin knife around the edges and inverting them onto plates.

(recipe from Dinner with Julie)

Flourless Chocolate Cake

This recipe is Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall's, and has been made countless times by the Coleman family.  It is brilliant plain, but you can also add things to it.  Raspberries are good in the summer, or this time round I soaked some chopped up prunes in armagnac, which was awesome!

250g dark chocolate (around 70% cocoa solids), broken into chunks
250g unsalted butter, cut into cubes
4 medium eggs, separated
200g caster sugar (or 100g caster mixed with 100g soft light brown sugar)
50g plain flour
50g ground almonds

Preheat the oven to 160C and grease and line a 23cm springform tin

Melt the chocolate and butter together.

Beat the sugar and eggs yolks together, then add the chocolate and butter and the flour and almonds.

Whisk the egg whites until they form stiff peaks, then fold into the chocolate mixture.

Add fruit if desired, then pour into the tin and bake for c. 35 mins until it still just wobbles in the centre.  Leave to cool in the tin.

Delicious with cream.

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Ginger Crunch

The combination of maternity and gardening leave in the Lloyd household has resulted in a lot of cake being consumed.  It has been nice to try some different things, as well as the old favourites.  I couldn't get a good picture of this, and next time I might make half quantities, although it keeps well.  The recipe comes from Good Food magazine, but I can't find it online.

Shortbread
280g plain flour
125g caster sugar
1 tsp baking powder
2 tsp ground ginger
180g cold butter, cubed

Ginger topping
180g butter
100g golden syrup
375g icing sugar
2 tsp ground ginger

Heat oven to 160C fan.  Line the base of a 24x34cm baking tin with baking parchment and grease the sides (or I used a rubber baking tin which didn't need either).

Put the shortbread ingredients into a food processor and blitz until they look like breadcrumbs.  Press firmly into the tin, using a spatula to level out.  Bake for 20 mins, until golden brown.  Allow to cool.

For the topping, put the butter and syrup in a pan and melt on a low heat.  Add to the icing sugar and ginger, and beat with an electric mixer until thick and fudgy-looking.

Pour over the shortbread and spread with a spatula.  Allow to cool before cutting into bars.