I love having a big breakfast on weekend mornings. When I was a kid my dad used to make pancakes, waffles, or omelets. It was a nice treat and felt like the ceremonial start to the weekend. Ryan and I try to do the same thing here and we sometimes make poached eggs, French toast and we were even on a short lived kick of making pancakes. And then I decided I wanted something different. I wanted something savory. I wanted something that would be ready all at once, instead of pancakes that are ready one by one. And then after a craving for Mexican food, I decided we should have a Tex-Mex breakfast casserole. 

Now, you might be thinking Tex-Mex for breakfast?! But I promise you, it’s a good idea. I mean, hello huevos rancheros are delicious.  And if I’m being really honest, I was inspired by the fast food restaurant Qdoba. Years ago when I worked at Ford’s Theatre I sometimes had to work on the weekends, and sometimes on those weekends I treated myself to a breakfast burrito from Qdoba. Not the healthiest way to start your day, but it was certainly delicious. Those burritos could have all kinds of things like beans, potatoes, cheese, cheese sauce…swoon. It was a really yummy and really hearty way to start the day. So I thought to myself, can I put all of that together in one casserole, that’s easy to make, and will give us a lot of servings?

I set to work, and the answer is yes, it’s totally possible and very tasty. What’s great about this casserole too is that it’s a protein power house filled with sausage, beans, and eggs. Eat a slice of this and you will be full and satisfied until well passed lunch. I actually took it to lunch a few times and I think it helped me blast through the mid-afternoon funk. You know that I mean, it’s 3pm and you’re snacky and want something sweet and/or caffeinated? We’ve all been there. But this, this is so filling and stating, you won’t need that unhealthy snack.

Anyway, this casserole is also great for serving to a big group for brunch. First, it’s good for a group because you’re making a big tray and everyone can be served together. But second, and possibly most important, you can make a lot of this ahead of time. All you have to do is make the filling the night before and set it in your baking pan. Then that morning, make the seasoned egg mixture, pour it over the filling, do some last bits of assembly, and then bake. How great is that?! Your friends will come over, you’ll be calm and organized,  like “oh yeah, I’m a hosting goddess I have it all together.” Because by making it ahead there won’t be a pile of dishes, or any stress, or any mess.

I used a recipe from Macheesmo as the base and then jacked it up with a lot of other ingredients and stuff.  However, Macheesmo had the idea for cutting up tortillas and letting them crisp on top. This idea is perfection and I wish I had made more. Ryan and I kept stealing pieces from other slices because the texture was so good and perfect for scooping up fallen pieces.  If you have extra tortillas cut them up and bake them along with the casserole. You will not regret it.

Messy level: Mildly messy. You will need one skillet to pre-cook some of the filling, you’ll need a bowl to beat the eggs, and you’ll need the pan to bake everything in. And of course there’s some amount of chopping and measuring to be done. So, there will be a fair amount of dishes but there will also be a ton of delicious food at the end so… win/win I think.

Tex-Mex Breakfast Casserole

 

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Prep time

40 mins

Cook time

35 mins

Total time

1 hour 15 mins

 

Serves: 6 servings

Ingredients

• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 yellow onion, chopped
• 1 big red skinned potato (or 2-3 smaller ones), peeled and cut into bite sized cubes
• 1 pound package of chorizo or your favorite breakfast sausage
• 1 red bell pepper, chopped
• 1 green bell pepper, chopped
• 1 jalapeno, seeded and diced
• 1 400g/14oz can black beans, rinsed and drained
• 4 large corn tortillas (use more or less to fit your taste and flour tortillas work too)
• 6 large eggs
• ½ cup milk
• 1 teaspoon paprika
• ½ teaspoon red pepper flakes
• ½ teaspoon garlic powder
• ½ teaspoon ground cumin
• ½ cup shredded sharp cheddar cheese.
• salt and pepper, to taste

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F/180°C.
2. Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Once the oil is hot add the onion and cook for 3-5 minutes, or until the onion starts to soften.
3. Add the potatoes to the onion. Cook until the potatoes are browned on each side and softer on the exterior, 5-10 minutes. Don't worry though, you're not cooking them all the way through at this step.
4. Put the onions and potatoes into a large bowl and set aside.
5. Wipe out the skillet and put it back on the stove.
6. Remove the sausage meat from the casings. Add the meat to the skillet. Cook over medium to medium-high heat until the sausage is cooked through. Use a wooden spoon to break up the meat as you go. This should take 5-10 minutes.
7. Once the sausage is cooked, pat it with a paper towel to remove excess oil. Transfer the cooked sausage to the bowl with the potatoes and onions. If you have it, use a slotted spoon to make the transfer so you aren't getting so much grease in the bowl.
8. Add the red and green bell peppers, jalapeno, and black beans to the bowl with the potato and sausage. Stir until everything is all mixed up together.
9. Cut up your tortillas into thumb sized strips. Sprinkle about half of them on the bottom of a 9x13" pan.
10. Pour the sausage-potato filling on top of the tortillas. Use your hands or a spoon to spread the filling out and make sure it's evenly coating the pan.
11. In a medium bowl whisk together the eggs, milk, paprika, red pepper flakes, garlic, and cumin. Add salt and pepper if your desire.
12. Pour the egg mixture over the filling. Feel free to tilt your pan back and forth a bit to make sure everything is evenly covered by the egg mixture.
13. Sprinkle cheddar cheese over the top of the egg mixture.
14. Sprinkle the remainder of the tortilla slices over the top of the cheese.
15. Bake in the preheated oven for 30-35 minutes. The eggs should be just set and the tortialls will be crispy.

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Guys, it’s been a big week for me. At work I’ve been training to do a show called Flash! Bang! Wallop! It’s a show where I do experiments, light things on fire, and teach about explosions. Training has been really fun, but learning it all and then gearing up to perform for children has been pretty tiring. And then this weekend, Ryan and I are off to Paris which is awesome, and exciting and keeping me busy. But possibly the biggest thing going on is Star Wars day on Monday. Yeah, May the Fourth be with you. 

Anyone who knows me, knows that I love Star Wars. I became to Star Wars dork in my mid-twenties and all because of Ryan. He had gotten a Christmas bonus from work and he decided to buy me the video game Lego Star Wars for my Wii. I was skeptical I would like it, but then I played and I was hooked. I rented all the movies and now my flat is filled with Star Wars trinkets. I have two aprons, an R2D2 spatula, Legos, and my friends even threw me a Star Wars themed bridal shower. Should I go on? I could, because obviously I’m super cool. But I won’t do that to you.

However, the truth is that as much as I love Star Wars, I’ve never made anything for May the Forth and I thought it was about time I changed that. So, I searched for ideas about what I could make and Pinterest had loads of ideas. Wookie cookies and Obi Wan canapés sounded cool but I didn’t want just a name. The idea I liked best was for green tea shortbread cookies with matcha. I liked it because I’d get that amazing green Yoda color but without food dye. I have decided it’s the grown up way to celebrate May the fourth. Generally you can make these cookies in any shape but if you’re interested in the cookie cutters they came from Williams-Sonoma. Unfortunately they no longer sell them but Amazon does and also so does Lakeland. Also you can find tutorials on Pinterest for how to make Yoda using a spider cookie cutter. 

But back to the recipe. If you’re not familiar with matcha it’s a really finely ground green tea from special tea leaves. And the leaves are de-stemmed and de-veined and so when they are ground it becomes an extra fine powder.

Matcha can be a little bit hard to find, and also sort of expensive. I saw some prices between £16-30! I went to three different stores before I gave up and bought it on Amazon for £10. The search and the cost was worth it because matcha has a really nice flavor.  I decided to add just a bit of lemon zest to brighten it up a bit. And tea and lemon is totally a thing, so why not turn that into a shortbread cookie? Once baked, these Green Tea and Lemon shortbread cookies have a delicate yet somehow creamy, bright and distinct flavor. I brought them to work to share with my coworkers and celebrate my last day of Flash! Bang! Wallop! training and they seemed to be quite a hit. Although, everyone’s favorite bit might have been the cute Yoda shapes.

Messy level: The method is very straightforward and sort of the same thing you’d do for sugar cookies. Mix the flour, mix the butter and sugar, roll them out on the counter, bake them. However the green color makes it a wild card. Once you get green on your hand, everything else you touch will have green fingerprints. Be careful and may the force be with you. 

Adapted from Serious Eats.

Green Tea and Lemon Shortbread Cookies

 

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Prep time

1 hour 15 mins

Cook time

15 mins

Total time

1 hour 30 mins

 

Serves: 24

Ingredients

• ¾ cup powdered sugar
• 1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon matcha powder
• 140g/1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 3 egg yolks
• 1¾ cups all-purpose flour
• zest from ½ lemon
• Pinch salt

Instructions

1. In a medium bowl, mix together the sugar and matcha.
2. Add the butter to the sugar mixture. Using a hand mixer, stand mixer, or your arm and a spoon beat in the butter until all smooth and very green.
3. Add the egg yolks to the butter-sugar mixture. Mix until smooth.
4. In a different medium bowl, mix together the flour, salt and lemon zest.
5. Slowly add the flour to the butter-sugar mixture. Mix the flour in bit by bit until you have a smooth dough. You may need to get in their with your hands or a spoon so you can get any dry bits incorporated into the sticky dough.
6. Gather the dough into a ball, wrap in plastic wrap and put in the fridge for 1 hour or up to overnight.
7. When you're ready to bake preheat the oven to 350°F/180°C.
8. Lightly flour your work surface. Then roll out the dough until it is about ¼" thick. Use your favorite cookie cutters to make the shape.
9. Put the shapes about ½-1" apart. Bake in the oven until just lightly brown on the edges, about 10-15 minutes.

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This past Saturday Ryan and I had my friend Sarah and her boyfriend Ben over for dinner. Since moving here, it was only the second time we’d had people over for dinner, so I was a little nervous. I cleaned the whole flat and planned a menu that I knew how to make. And this is an important tip: you’ll be a better dinner party host if you make dishes you’ve made before. Seriously, don’t make something for the first time when you’re having people over. If you know what you’re doing, you’ll be more confident, less stressed, and you’ll know your guests will like the food. I decided to serve a salad, steamed broccoli, and baked rigatoni. Not fancy, but tasty and allows for big portions.

Since such a big pasta bake can be really heavy, I decided I wanted dessert to be a fruit tart. I decided to try out passion fruit because it would be silky and light. I’ve also never made anything with passion fruit before, so I was curious about using it. And, I was good and did take my own advice. A few days before my dinner party I decided to do a dry run and make a practice passion fruit tart. 

I went to the store and bought a dozen passion fruits. They are such a gorgeous fruit! A beautiful deep purple on the outside, a slight hint of magenta on the outer edge, and vibrant marigold flesh. The problem though with passion fruits, is they are kind of small and have lots of seeds. If you were having a passion fruit straight you can eat the seeds, but for a tart I wanted a clean puree.

So I scooped out the flesh and did my best to strain, press, and pick out all of the seeds. It was exhausting work and took me close to an hour, and still a few seeds got into the tart. It was also really messy and my hands and counter were all sticky. This leads me to my my second piece of advice: buy passion fruit puree from the store. It has got to be less expensive and will be way easier. Save yourself the headache.

This tart is absolutely delicious. It’s tart and juicy, with just a whisper of creaminess. The texture is smooth and luscious. My favorite part though might have been the pastry crust. I’m not usually that into crust, but this pastry was sweet, crumbly, and buttery. Overall, it felt a little decadent without being heavy.

But, if I’m being honest, I have to tell you the rest of the story. It took so much work to create my own passion fruit puree that I was put off from making this recipe again. I didn’t have the time to go to the store to buy puree, so I decided on the day of the party to make a lemon tart instead. I made the same pastry for my lemon tart and that came out perfectly. But I curdled the lemon curd and for some reason I decided maybe baking it would help heal my ruined tart. It didn’t help at all. The tart came out looking really gross and unappetizing. I ended up sending Ryan, one hour before our friends arrived, to the store one hour to buy something for dessert. So you see? My advice is important. Don’t make something new the day of a dinner party. Practice is really important! It helps you know how much work is ahead of you and it will give you confidence. Most importantly, you won’t have to run to the shop.

Adapted from Butter Baking.

Messy level: If you make the passion fruit puree, this is a super messy recipe. But, if you buy the puree it’s not so bad. The pastry has a lot of butter, which means it will stick to your counter a bit as you roll it out and it can be a bit crumbly – but it’s nothing to really worry about. You might end up with crumbs and bits of sugar on your counter, but it’s truly an easy clean up.

Passion Fruit Tart

 

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Cook time

25 mins

Total time

25 mins

 

Original recipe was written in grams. I've done my best to convert the measurements to cups, but they might not be perfect translations.

Author: Butter Baking

Serves: 8

Ingredients

pastry

• 175g/12½ tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
• 100g/1 cup confectioner's sugar, sifted
• pinch salt
• 1 egg yolk
• 250g/ 2½ cups plain flour

Passion fruit filling:

• 150ml/ ½ cup heavy cream
• 105g/ ½ cup caster (superfine) sugar
• 5 eggs
• 165g/ slightly more than ¾ cup passion fruit puree

Instructions

1. In a large bowl, cream the butter, confectioner's sugar and salt with an electric mixer. Mix until light and free of lumps. It is imperative that you sift the confectioner's sugar. I know it's annoying, but this will help make sure everything is smooth.
2. Add the egg to the butter and sugar mixture. Beat until combined. Scrape down the sides as necessary.
3. Add in the flour and mix until just incorporated.
4. Once everything is mixed, use your hands to gather the dough together. When it's in the bowl, it might look a little crumbly, but it will press together. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap, and refrigerate 2 - 3 hours.
5. Once the pastry has rested, remove it from the fridge and well grease a 10 inch tart tin with butter.
6. Put the pastry in between two sheets of parchment paper. Using a rolling pen, roll out the pastry until it is thin, or about 1/16" thick. (You can do this straight on the counter, but using the parchment means you help prevent sticking)
7. Remove one piece of parchment paper. Flip your rolled out dough over and place it dough-side down on the tart tin. Remove the other piece of parchment paper. Press the dough it into the sides and crevices of the case. It's ok if you leave some over hang at this stage.
8. Place the tart shell in the fridge for 20 minutes and preheat the oven to 350°F/180°C.
9. Once it has rested again, line your tart shell with baking paper and fill with pie weights, dry beans, or rice. This is done so when you pre-bake it, the tart won't puff up too much.
10. Place the tart tin on a cookie sheet and bake for 20 minutes. Then remove the weights/beans/rice and cook for another 5 minutes.
11. As the pastry is baking, make your filling. In a large bowl, whisk together the cream, sugar, eggs and passion fruit puree.
12. Once the pastry is done blind baking, slide the tray out slightly, but not all the way, from the oven. While it's all still in the oven, pour the passion fruit mixture into the pastry, filling it right up to the top. You're doing this while it's in the oven so that you don't spill!
13. Bake for 20- 25 minutes, until just set in the center.
14. Allow to cool slightly. Cut off any excess pastry that might be hanging off the edges. This will give you a clean look. Then put the tart in the fridge to cool completely. It tastes best when it's cold!

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When people find out I like to cook and that I write a blog they always ask me what is my favorite thing to cook. And I’m super eloquent and say things like, “um..erm…well… I don’t really know.” Super helpful, right? But when I really think about it, my favorite thing to make is cookies. I love that it’s a bunch of ingredients, and many of them you wouldn’t eat as they are, like flour, eggs, and baking soda; but then all together those ingredients become something delicious. I like that there are fancy looking cookies and simple drop cookies. And don’t get me started on cookie cutters. I would amass an even larger collection if I had the space.

Today’s cookies I really like because they are simple to make and have a really cool crackle look. And the best part is you don’t have to do a lot of work to acheive it. Seriously. You let science and baking do the work for you. In the interest of full disclosure, these cookies were supposed to be red velvet, but as you can see from the pictures they are more brown than red. The cookies didn’t end up red because I followed the recipe too closely and ignored my better judgement. In general, recipes are helpful, but sometimes your eye can tell you something is wrong even if the paper is saying it should be fine. I think most of the time, listen to your eye. That’s a weird sentence, and I hope you know what I mean.

Here’s where I think I lost the red color: first, I bought fancy eggs and their yolks were the deepest, most golden orange I had ever seen. These are the eggs that Brooklyn hipsters, organic farmers, and pro-locavore movement books tell you about. I’m only sorry I didn’t take a picture of how gorgeous the eggs were. Anyway, the recipe called for mixing 1 1/2 teaspoons of food coloring into the egg mixture. I did, and it looked decidedly maroon. I thought the dark eggs may have led to a dark color. But, no matter, I was going to add the flour and lighten things up.

Only, that was a dumb thought because the white flour was mixed with brown cocoa powder, which only made the whole thing darker. Now I was panicked, because it was clear this wasn’t going to be brilliant red like the magazine picture. So I tried throwing on a little more food coloring, but by the time the flour is in the batter, the whole thing is getting thick, and it’s much harder to mix in a liquid. In the end, I think my cookies achieved the burgundy color that only seems to appear in a men’s dress shoe. Appetizing, I know, but I do think that color is nice and special in its own way.

Don’t let my color mistakes dissuade you, these cookies are worth it at any color. They are impossibly moist and cake-like in consistency. The were so delicious I ate three as I was taking pictures of them and then two I was done. If you can get them to be bright red, I think they would be an amazing Valentine’s Day treat.

Adapted, ever so slightly, from Food Network Magazine, December 2014.

Messy level: Two spoons. Like most cookies, you need two bowls, some mixing utensils, and cookie sheets. You will need a third bowl for confectioner’s sugar so you can roll ball of dough in it. That’s the messy part because no matter how careful you are, you’re likely to inhale a confectioner’s sugar cloud.

Crackle Cookies

 

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Prep time

1 hour 20 mins

Cook time

18 mins

Total time

1 hour 38 mins

 

Serves: 24 cookies

Ingredients

• 2 oz white chocolate chips
• 1¼ cup all-purpose flour
• 2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• 2 large eggs
• 3 tablespoons vegetable oil
• red food coloring
• ¾ cup granulated sugar (in the UK I use caster sugar)
• 1 cup confectioner's sugar (you might not need this much)

Instructions

1. Put white chocolate in a small microwaveable bowl. Microwave for 30-second intervals, stirring in between, until smooth. This took me 60 seconds.
2. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt.
3. In a large bowl, whisk together the eggs, vegetable oil, and food coloring. Start with 1½ teaspoons of food coloring and add more until you have the color you like.
4. Whisk the white chocolate and sugar into the egg mixture until smooth.
5. Stir the flour mixture into the egg mixture until it is smooth.
6. Transfer the batter to a large square of plastic wrap. Wrap it all up and pat it into a rectangle. Make sure it is tightly wrapped, then put it in the refrigerator for 1 hour, or up until over night.
7. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Preheat the oven to 300°F/150°C.
8. Put the confectioner's sugar in a bowl. Start with ½ a cup, then add more as needed so you aren't wasting.
9. Roll tablespoon size pieces of dough into a ball. Dip them in the confectioners sugar and coat completely.
10. Flatten the balls slightly, then dip them in the confectioner's sugar again.
11. Arrange the cookies 2 inches apart on your prepared sheet. Note: If you're going to bake 2 sheets at a time, swap the cookie sheets between top an bottom halfway through baking.
12. Bake for 16-18 minutes, or until the cookies are puffed a bit and firm.
13. Let cool, then stuff your face.

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I’m a strong proponent of breakfast. I eat breakfast everyday and without it I am a grump. During the week breakfast is my quiet time. I usually have a bowl of yogurt with granola and I look out the window and watch the people commuting to work and the construction workers making a lot of noise as they work. After breakfast I’m powered up for the day.

But I like breakfast the best on the weekends. On the weekends Ryan and I get to eat together and often we make something special – pancakes with bacon, egg sandwiches, or baked oatmeal, with orange juice and fruit on the side. Recently I made this recipe for breakfast which looks special and is actually simple to make. I was inspired to make this because I’ve been itching to try quail eggs ever since I first wandered through a London grocery store. I’d never seen quail eggs in person before I moved here. And aren’t the eggs charming? Small, speckled, and lovely to look at. That white on in the picture below had two yolks in one egg! I’d never seen that before and it was such a cool surprise.

However, it turns out I don’t like quail eggs. Sigh. They have a higher yolk to white ratio, so they are a bit creamier than chicken eggs. Ryan felt they tasted pretty similar to chicken eggs and liked them. I thought they were gamey and unpleasant. Luckily, this recipe is versatile so if you don’t like or can’t find quail eggs you can use regular eggs (which I did and looks just as cool).

A few notes before instructions. The recipe is written to make 2 servings. If you’d like to make more you need 1 ramekin, 2 potatoes, and 1 chicken egg or 3 quail eggs per person – use this as a guideline to make more. As written, the potatoes will get dark and crunchy on the edges but will be softer in the middle (because it’s a thicker layer). If you want crunchy potatoes all over make the middle thinner or cook for longer (but that could lead to even darker edges). Finally, quail eggs don’t crack and easily or cleanly as chicken eggs. The shell sometimes cracks like a spiderweb but doesn’t actually break enough for the insides to come out. I strongly recommend that you break quail eggs into a separate bowl before putting them in your potato nest. This recipe is from Jo Cooks.

Messy level: The messiest part of the recipe is shredding the potatoes. They get a little liquidy and starchy, which can get a little dirty, but it isn’t so bad. You’ll also need a few bowls for preparing the potatoes, but at the end you should be able to pop all your tools in the dishwasher for an easy clean.

Eggs in a Hash Brown Nest

 

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Prep time

15 mins

Cook time

40 mins

Total time

55 mins

 

Author: Jo Cooks

Serves: 2

Ingredients

• 4 Yukon gold potatoes
• 1-2 tbsp Parmesan cheese (use more or less based on taste)
• 1 egg, beaten (this goes in the potatoes)
• 6 quail eggs or 2 chicken eggs (depends on preference)
• salt and pepper to taste
• 4-5 sprig rosemary, optional

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350°/180°.
2. Shred the potatoes using a box grater or food processor.
3. In a medium sized bowl, add the shredded potatoes, Parmesan, egg and mix.
4. Season with salt and pepper.
5. Divide the mixture between two ramekins. Press down in the middle so you make a nest. If your potatoes are large, or you want the final product crispier, you may not use all of the mixture.
6. Bake in the oven for 30-40 minutes, or until crisp and brown.
7. Remove the ramekins from the oven.
8. If you like the flavor of rosemary, break off a few small pieces from a sprig and scatter them on the potato.
9. Add the eggs to the top of the potato nests. If using quail eggs put 3 in each. If using a chicken egg use one in each.
10. Bake for 5-6 minutes for quail eggs, 6-7 for chicken eggs. (Or until it is done to your liking)
11. Remove from the oven.
12. Arrange the rosemary around the edge of the ramekin for garnish.

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On Saturday night Aaron and Katy (Ryan’s twin brother and his wife) emailed they were going to the hospital. I was jumping up and down in the street with excitement. Then Sunday Ryan and I woke up with an email and a photo of their son Boden! It’s their first kid, and our first nephew. We are an uncle and aunt for the first time!

We were so excited we went straight to the grocery store to buy ingredients to make Boden a celebration birthday cake. I’ve been sort of obsessed with Boden (and spoiling him) since last November. Around Thanksgiving last year we were all getting together and I had a dream that Aaron and Katy were going to announce they were pregnant and that they were going to have a boy named Jeremy. In January, we got a phone call that Katy was pregnant (and I did some jumping up and down in the street). A few months later, we found out the baby was a boy (more jumping). He isn’t named Jeremy, but I can’t win them all.

Ryan came up with the idea of getting the “0” candle. I thought it was so clever!

Anyway, I knew I wanted to make Boden a special cake. A cake that will be Boden’s cake. A cake that in the future, when Boden comes to visit, he will look forward to it and ask for it.  As I told some of my friends, I want to be fun aunt Mariel who always has cake. I’ve been wanting to make ancake with a design on the inside and this seemed like the perfect occasion. After spending a lot of time on the internet searching for a perfect yellow cake recipe (with ingredients I could find in a UK grocery store) I decided to stick with a Victoria Sandwich cake because it is a tasty and versatile.

A Victoria Sandwich is named for Queen Victoria. It’s two layers of yellow sponge cake with raspberry or strawberry jam in the middle. Sometimes there’s cream too, but I’m told that is a 20th century addition. The Victoria Sandwich is often served with tea, but when I went to tea a few weeks ago it wasn’t on the menu. I still haven’t had it outside my own kitchen. I’ll need to get on that. But I made it for myself because I learned about it on my favorite show, the Great British Bake Off, and I’m always eager to try new cakes.

I’m using Mary Berry‘s recipe for Victoria Sandwich. It calls for caster sugar, which in the US is called superfine sugar. In my experience, it isn’t always easy to find super fine sugar in the US. I have read that granulated sugar is finer in the US than in the UK, so if you’re in the US and can’t find superfine sugar then granulated should work just fine. I’m going to post the traditional recipe first and then the checkerboard recipe second. I’ll make it clear when to switch between the two. The frosting recipe in Version #2 comes from BBC Good Food. Enjoy and happy birthday Boden!

Traditional Victoria Sandwich: Version #1

Ingredients:

225g/2 sticks/1 cup butter, softened

225g/1 cup/8 oz caster sugar (superfine sugar), plus extra for sprinkling

225g/2 cups/8 oz self-rising flour

2 tsp baking powder

4 large eggs, room temperature

About 4+ tbsp strawberry or raspberry jam

Directions:

1. One hour before you want to start baking take your butter and eggs out of the fridge. This is important because it helps everything mix together better.

2. Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F.

3. Grease two 8″/20cm cake pans. Line the bottom of the pan with circles of parchment paper. Grease the circles.

4. Place the butter in a large mixing bowl. Then add the caster sugar, flour, baking powder, and eggs.

5. Using the electric mixer on low, beat for 2 minutes until smooth. The mixture will be soft and fall off the beaters easily. Don’t over beat it! You want the cake to be light and fluffy.

6. Divide the mixtures equally between the prepared tins. Use a knife to smooth out the surface. You can eyeball evenness, but for the checkerboard cake it is best if you can weigh the batter so the cake heights will be even. You can see in Step 8 that I didn’t measure. (If you’re doing the checkerboard cake move below to Version #2)

7. Bake in the oven for 20-30 minutes. It took me 25 minutes. The cakes are ready when they are risen and golden.

8. Cool on a wire rack. Make sure you rest the cakes on their flat sides, because you don’t want the ridges to show in your finished product.

9. Put one cake on a plate, rounded side down. Spread the jam over the flat side of that cake.

10. Then place the other layer on top (flat side down, rounded side up). Sprinkle the top with caster sugar.

11. Cut and serve.

Messy level: This is really quite a clean cake recipe! I think it is because it is so straightforward to make. You put all the ingredients in at once, you bake, then spread the jam. The only messy part is sprinkling the caster sugar at the end. Easy peasy.

Boden’s Birthday Cake – Version #2

Ingredients:

Cake:

Same as above

1 tsp vanilla extract (optional)

2 different colors of gel or liquid food coloring

Frosting:

10 oz dark chocolate (I used 2 chocolate bars, and this would work with milk chocolate too)

10 oz heavy cream

(If you need more frosting, just use equal parts chocolate and heavy cream)

Directions:

1. Follow Steps 1-6 above. If using, add in the vanilla extract with the rest of the ingredients.

2. Your batter is now divided into two cake pans. Add one food coloring to each pan. I did one blue and one green. Mix gently! If you over mix your cake will be dense. Add food coloring until you have your desired color (I used a lot).

3. Bake for 20-30 minutes. It took me 25 minutes. The cakes are ready when they are risen and golden.

4. Cool on a wire rack until they are easy to handle. Then put them in the fridge to chill for at least 20 minutes. Having them chill makes them easier to cut for the checkerboard pattern.

5. Meanwhile, start on the frosting. Cut the chocolate into small pieces.

6. In a medium saucepan heat the heavy cream on low-medium heat. You are heating this until small bubbles start to form along the edge of the cream. Alternatively you can check it by sticking your finger in. If you can hold it there for 3-4 seconds, but longer feels like too much, then it is ready. You just want the cream hot enough to melt your chocolate.

7. Pour the hot cream over the chocolate. Stir until it is shiny, gorgeous, and well combined.

8. Cool the frosting. You can do this on the counter, but is much faster in the fridge. If you cool for 20 minutes, it will still be a little drippy but you can use this for the inside of the cake. For frosting the outside of the cake let it cool for at least an hour! By then it will be thick and like frosting you buy from the store. Also thick frosting is better for patching up any mistakes you make (and I’ll tell you about mine in a second).

9. Once the cakes are cool put them on the counter. Find two circles that are smaller than the cake. If you have cake cutters that’s great, but I didn’t. I used a small bowl and a cup. What you are going to do is cut out two smaller circles out of your larger cake.

10. Place your larger cake cutter (or bowl) over the center of the cake. I measured, but you can eyeball it. If you’re using a bowl take a knife and cut straight down into the cake (try not to cut diagonal). Then repeat with the smaller cutter (or cup). Now you have six rings of cake. I cracked the large green layer. If this happens to you, don’t worry. Frosting will cure it.

11. Now take one large ring (let’s say blue). Frost the inside edge. Put a medium ring inside (green). Frost the inside edge. Put the small circle inside (blue). The frosting holds the layers together. Don’t worry if it isn’t neat. So you’ve made one layer that looks like a bulls eye.

12. Frost the top of the bulls eye layer.

13. Put the other large ring on top of the first layer. Then repeat step eleven. So you’ll have bulls eye layer (blue, green, blue), then a frosting layer, then the second bulls eye later (green, blue, green).

14. Frost the exterior of the cake. Use the frosting to mend cracks and hide any unevenness in the layers.Frosting will make it all look smooth and beautiful. I recommend frosting the cake on a cutting board or parchment paper, because if you’re like you’ll get frosting all over. Then when the cake is ready you can remove it to a clean plate and it will look best.

15. Decorate as desired (excuse my frosting penmanship).

16. Sing happy birthday! Cut and eat! Look at that sweet checkerboard.

Messy level: This turned out to be an epic mess. I got cake crumbs all over when I was cutting the circles. But the messiest part was the frosting! My hands melted the chocolate as I was cutting it. Then before it cools, the chocolate is so drippy! I got chocolate everywhere when I was making the bulls eye. The counter was 70% covered in chocolate. Ryan came over and looked at the counter and chuckled. I told him that the blog is called cooking is messy for a reason.

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To figure out how much butter I need, I used my scale. I’ve wanted a digital scale for awhile and I finally bought myself one soon after I moved to London. It was on clearance at a nearby department store and I thought, “this is a sign, I’m finally going to get it.” And it’s been totally worth it! All my UK recipes are in grams and this helps measure them. It also helps me convert my US recipes more easily. For example, I know that 1 tbsp of butter equals about 14g but what the heck does that look like? Now I don’t have to eyeball it, I can measure it! It’s awesome. And yes, I know I’m a bit dorky for getting excited about measurements. 

Anyway, if you like banana bread and want something a little more subtle and less sweet this is the recipe for you! It’s yummy and easy.

Adapted from JamieOliver.com

Ingredients:

250g/2 cups self-rising flour, plus a little bit extra for dusting

3 ripe bananas

2 tbsp apple juice

125g/1 cup butter, softened (plus a little bit for greasing the pan)

2 large eggs

1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

2 tbsp honey

50g/ 1/3 cup chopped pecans (optional)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 180ºC/350ºF.

2. Lightly butter your loaf pan. Then dust the sides of the pan with flour. Tap out any excess flour.

3. In a small bowl, add the bananas and mash with a fork. Mash until it’s a mix of smooth and chunky.

4. Add the apple juice to the bananas and stir.

5. In a different bowl beat the butter until creamy. I recommend doing this with an electric mixer because it will be much easier! It will take 3-4 minutes in the electric mixer.

6. One at a time, add the eggs to the butter. Beat each one well before adding the next.

7. Add in the flour, cinnamon, honey, and banana. Mix until just combined.

8. If using, add the pecans and gently mix them in.

9. Spoon the batter into the loaf pan. Bake for 40 minutes, or until golden and cooked through. Check if it’s done by sticking a toothpick in the center. If it comes out clean the bread is done.

10. Allow the loaf to cool. Cut into slices then serve.

Messy level: This is a one spoon. Even with flour, which usually bumps up the messy for me, this is relatively low maintenance. It’s just dump and stir!

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Meanwhile, back here in Virginia, the one thing I have made were these cookies. The recipe comes from the Momofuku Milk Bar cookbook and was recommended to me by my aunt. These cookies are colorful and festive and I made them for my friend to celebrate that she got a new job. I had been wanting to make these, but it’s taken awhile because the recipe is a bit labor intensive and requires some obscure ingredients. For real, I had to order some ingredients online. This cookie is a labor of love. But, sugary sweet, happy, and worth it.

They are a bit like snicker doodles,which the author, Christina Tosi, says is because of the cream of tartar. In the book, Tosi also wrote that she wanted to create boxed Funfetti cake in a cookie. And I think she nailed it. The cookie is so sweet, indulgent, and so cheerful. Yes, I did just say a cookie could be cheerful. I love the colorful sprinkles – it makes them the perfect celebration cookie.

As I said this recipe is from the Momofuku Milk Bar cookbook. This recipe requires a two step process – first you make “crumb” and then you make the cookie dough. Neither step is super challenging, but I thought you should be forewarned. If you get intimidated, just remember how wonderful and pretty sprinkles are and then you’ll be able to keep going.

Ingredients

Crumb:

1/4 cup granulated sugar

3/4 tbsp brown sugar

3/8 cup cake flour (45 grams)

1/4 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp kosher salt

1 tbsp rainbow sprinkles

1/8 cup grapeseed oil

1/2 tbsp Clear Vanilla Extract (clear or imitation extract is apparently important, makes it taste more like box Funfetti cake)

Cookie Dough:

16 tbsp butter, at room temperature

1 1/2 cups sugar

2 tbsp glucose

2 eggs

2 tsp clear vanilla extract

2 1/2 cups of flour

2/3 cup milk powder

2 tsp cream of tartar

1 tsp baking soda

1 1/4 tsp kosher salt

1/4 rainbow sprinkles

cake crumb recipe

Directions:

1. First we’re making the crumb. Preheat the oven to 300°.

2. Using a stand mixer with a paddle attachment on low speed, mix together the sugars, flour, baking powder, salt, and sprinkles.

3. Add the oil and vanilla. Mix again until evenly mixed and small clusters start to form.

4. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper. Pour the clusters onto the parchment paper. Bake for 15-20 minutes. Break them up occasionally as they cook. The crumbs should still be a bit moist when you take them out of the oven – they will dry out as they cool.

5. Let them cool completely before using them in the cookie dough. (I waited 1 hour)

6. Take the butter out of the fridge. You can let it come to room temperature while you wait for the crumb to cool.

7. Ok, now start on the cookies. In the stand mixer (which you’ve cleaned out from before), combine the butter, sugar, and glucose. Beat on medium-high for 2 minutes.

8. Scrape down the sides of the bowl. Add the eggs and vanilla and beat for 7-8 minutes. (Tosi says this is the key to her cookies being great – the butter is so fluffy and creamy this way).

9. Reduce the mixer speed to low. Add the flour, milk powder, cream of tartar, baking soda, salt, and rainbow sprinkles. Mix until the dough just comes together, no more than 1 minute. You do not want to over mix.

10. Add the crumbs and mix in for 30 seconds.

11. Line a cookie sheet with parchment. Portion out the dough into large-ish balls (about 2-3 tbsp). Flatten the tops a bit with your fingers. Cover tightly with plastic wrap.

12. Put the cookies in the fridge for 1 hour, or up to 1 week.

13. When you’re ready to bake, heat the oven to 350°.

14. Arrange the cookies about 3 inches apart on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper.

15. Bake for 13-18 minutes. They are ready when the edges start to be gold and the center of the cookie is starting to get color. They will seem soft, but they harden as you let them cool.

16. Let cool before serving. Then share them with friends and feel happy!

Messy level: 3 spoons. To make this cookie, you are basically making two recipes and that means a lot of dishes and a lot of chances for flour to fly. Glucose is really sticky and messy, eggs are drippy, and butter is greasy. It’s not the worst mess you’ll ever make but there’s potential. Give yourself time and try to be organized and it won’t be so messy!

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We can finally start decorating because on Saturday, our landlord came and furnished our apartment! Yes, to answer your unspoken question, we’d been living in our apartment for a week without furniture. Now, it’s starting to feel more like a real place to live because we can put things away and actually sit and relax other places besides the air mattress.

While our landlord was furnishing our apartment, Ryan and I got the heck out of there and went to Camden Market. This place blew us away! There were so many stalls and so many ways to explore. I lusted after a hand-made black leather purse. I ooo-ed over a knit baby hat with a double-decker bus pattern, for all the many friends I have back home who are expecting. We saw antique cameras, books, board games, jewelry, scarves. It was glorious. We bought a painting of a Big Ben cityscape to decorate the bare walls of our apartment.

Our new table, chairs, and painting

While the vendor was mounting the painting, we went to have lunch. We were overwhelmed! We stood on a walkway and looked down at the food vendors. There were so many choices and we decided to do a lap before committing. We found Polish, Peruvian, Turkish, Mexican, Spanish, Jamaican, and Argentinian foods just to name a few. Everything looked amazing, nothing looked mediocre. We decided to each get something different and share. I can’t wait to go back and eat some more.

Even though Ryan and I were out an about this weekend, these cookies didn’t make it until the end of the day Sunday. We devoured them! Also, these cookies are gluten-free and tasty! I know more and more people  who are gluten-free, but I have a hard time finding a good gluten-free cookie recipe. These should fit the bill. This might ruin the gluten-free factor, but these are also great when you put a little nutella on them and make a peanut butter nutella cookie sandwich.

Adapted from pbs.org

Ingredients:

1 cup smooth peanut butter

1 cup sugar (the cookies are pretty sweet this way, I think you can go down to 3/4 cup if you want)

1 large egg

1 tbsp vanilla extract

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350°

2. In a small bowl, lightly beat the egg.

3. In a large bowl, mix the peanut butter, sugar, egg, and vanilla extract until smooth and combined.

4. Line cookie sheet with parchment paper. Take about 1-2 tbsp of dough and make it into a rough circle. Place it onto a cookie sheet. Arrange cookies about 1 1/2 inches apart from each other.

5. Use the tines of the fork to make a hash mark pattern on  your cookies. You don’t have to do this, but it seems to be part of every peanut butter cookie recipe.

6. Bake for 10-12 minutes.

7. Let cool.

8. If desired, spread nutella onto a flat side of a cookie and top with another cookie. Peanut butter nutella sandwich cookie!

Messy level: One spoon. Four ingredients and all you have to do is stir, shape cookies, and bake! What could be easier?

The post Flourless Peanut Butter Cookies appeared first on Cooking is Messy.

This weekend Ryan was in his friend Tommy’s wedding in Atlanta. We left on Thursday and stayed overnight with our friends who live in North Carolina.  They just moved into a beautiful new house with the most amazing kitchen. (To digress a bit, their kitchen is truly a dream kitchen with a huge fridge, two ovens, and a beautiful gigantic island. I wish I had taken pictures).  Anyway, it was wonderful to see them, their new home, and to catch up. We parted and I was so sad to leave them. I asked Ryan if when we come back if we could be their neighbors (and so I could have an awesome kitchen too).

Ryan and his oldest friends. The groom is second from the right.

Then we drove on to Atlanta for the wedding and spent the weekend with Ryan’s childhood friends and their girlfriends. It was such a blast hanging out, overdosing on sugary soda at the World of Coke, dancing, and spending time together. They are like family, we spend a week with them every summer at the beach, and it doesn’t matter if we do nothing or something we always have a good time.  And again Ryan and I thought, “why don’t we live closer to them? Let’s be their neighbors.” Sigh. All the people we are going to miss when we move.

So Saturday night after the wedding, I went to bed a bit weepy thinking, “tomorrow is the day things change.” Ryan and I drove straight back to Virginia (10 surprisingly non-painful hours), hung out in the apartment for a bit, and then I drove him to the airport. After such a long travel weekend, Ryan flew to London. He probably needed a cookie himself.

I drove home sad and feeling bad that I wasn’t going with him yet. Then I watched Walking Dead  by myself and after that normal apartment noises started to sound scary. I was feeling tired from the travel, blue about moving away from friends, and stressed about all the packing and prep still to be done.

Me and Ryan in bubbles at the World of Coke

But then I woke up this morning with a snow day, which eased my stress because I had time to clean and pack. The best part though was that I got to talk to Ryan. He looked really happy and in good spirits. He showed me around our flat (tiny but very cute). And it all became real – in a great way. The adventure has begun!! It’s real, exciting, wonderful and I had tons of energy to start packing. I know the nerves and worries will come back, but I’m super excited for my flight in a few days.

So you see, cookies were a must. These cookies are really delicious. I adapted this recipe from the one on the back of the Tollhouse chocolate chip bag. I love these cookies because they are the right amount of chewy and firm. In the oven, the cookies spread a bit but still hold a little height which I think makes for a great bite. They are sweet, tasty, and addicting. So what’s going on in your life? Try to find a way to work some cookies into your day.

Ingredients

3/4 cup whole wheat flour

1 1/2 cup all-purpose flour

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp kosher salt (I did not use table salt)

1 cup of butter (softened)

3/4 cup granulated sugar

3/4 brown sugar (I used light)

1 tsp vanilla extract

2 large eggs

1 12oz package of chocolate chips

Directions:

1. 20-30 minutes before you want to get baking, take the butter out of the fridge and leave it on your counter. Come back to it in 20-30 minutes.

2. Preheat the oven to 375°.

3. In a medium bowl, mix the flour, baking soda, and salt.

4. Using an electric mixer, beat the butter, granulated sugar, and brown sugar for 2 minutes on medium speed. This is going to make the butter really light and fluffy like whipped cream. You might think this is a long time, but I really like what the fluffy butter does to the cookies.

4. Add in the vanilla and mix until incorporated.

5. Add the eggs, one at a time. Don’t add the second one in, until the first is already mixed in. Beat until both are well mixed.

6. Gradually pour the flour mixture into the butter/egg/sugar mixture. I did this in four batches. Pour a bit, mix until that bit is 70% incorporated, then repeat.

7.  Mix in the chocolate chips.

8. Make balls of dough that are about 1.5-2 tablespoon in size. Drop on a cookie sheet and flatten the top just a bit.

9. Bake for 8-10 minutes (I did 8 minutes). You want the cookies to be golden and just a bit brown. Look how many cookies this recipe makes! It’s almost 4 dozen.

10. Dip in milk and be really happy.

Messy Level: One spoon. Cookies are so easy because you only need two bowls and one cookie sheet.

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