Niamh Doherty

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Blueberry Scones with a Cinnamon Sugar Topping

In Baking, Breakfast on August 7, 2010 at 17:21

This is a lovely recipe for a lazy Sunday morning – you probably have most of the ingredients in your kitchen already, so just buy some fresh or frozen berries this evening and leisurely throw these together in the morning for a delicious breakfast with a cup of good coffee. To make life even easier, you can rub in the butter the night before , and add the baking powder, milk, eggs and berries the next morning. Voila! Delicious, freshly-baked scones with very little effort.

I made two-thirds of this recipe because I didn’t want to end up eating 20 scones by myself, and although the dough was quite sticky, the scones turned out perfectly. I don’t have a scone cutter so I used a tumbler instead. Next time, I’m going to use an ice-cream scoop for perfect bite-size scones. The recipe stipulates painting the scones with an egg-wash glaze to help the sugar to stick to their tops, but I skipped this step as the sugar stuck easily to the tacky dough. If you feel that the scones do need an egg wash, however, simply beat an egg and brush onto their tops before dipping them into the fragrant sugar. The topping caramelises in the oven to give these scones a delicious crunch. Not only are these fabulous for breakfast, but they are great at teatime, and would be perfect for a coffee morning.

Blueberry Scones with a Cinnamon Sugar Topping (based on a recipe for Sweet White Scones from The Ballymaloe Cookery Course, by Darina Allen)

Makes 18-20 scones using a 7.5cm (3in) cutter

Ingredients:

900g plain white flour

pinch of salt

50g caster sugar

3 heaped tsp baking powder

175g butter

3 organic eggs

425ml milk, to mix

110g blueberries

For the Topping:

1 tsp cinnamon mixed with 50g granulated sugar

Method:

1. Prehat the oven to 250 degrees Celcius. Sieve all the dry ingredients in a wide, large bowl. Cut the butter into cubes, toss in the flour and rub in the butter. Add the berries, stir, and make a well in the centre of the mixture.

2. Whisk the eggs into the milk, add to the dry ingredients and mix to a soft dough. Turn out onto a floured board.

3. Knead lightly, just enough to shape the dough into a round. Roll out to about 2.5cm (1in) thick and cut into scones. Dip the tops in the cinnamon sugar.

4. Put on a baking sheet (no need  to grease) and bake for 10-12 minutes until golden brown on top. Remove from the oven and cool slightly, before slathering in butter and devouring.

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SOMA Garden Market

In Baking, Garden Market, Life on July 31, 2010 at 20:22

Today I had a stall at my first ever farmer’s market, which was a resounding success. By the end of the day, I had one Snickers and peanut butter muffin, and about 10 cookies left over! My sister helped me with the baking last night, and we fell into bed at 2am. I’m so grateful for her help – I would never have gotten everything done otherwise! Many of my friends and family came along to support me and buy my treats, including Candi of The Boho Kitchen - who is going to have a stall there next weekend, so if you enjoyed her baking at the recent Dunmore Food Festival, take note. I had a brilliant day – everyone was so friendly and, most importantly, enjoyed my baking, which was the best thing. I was a bit nervous going into it, but got great feedback which really boosted my confidence. One lady who’d bought some flapjacks came back a couple of hours later to buy all the flapjacks that I had left…apparently her husband told her that they were nicer than the ones she makes!

I was so touched and thriled that so many people turned up to see me – I really appreciated the effort that you all made, so thank you very, very much. I’m booked in to do it again on the 21st August, so I hope to see you there next time! Hopefully my table will look like this by 4pm again…

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Decadent Chocolate Mousse

In Dessert on July 28, 2010 at 20:15

Like any self-respecting girl, I love my chocolate, and this mousse is perfect for any chocoholics that you may know.  I use a mixture of milk and dark chocolate to give this dessert a sweetly creamy, yet intense chocolate flavour. This mousse is quick and easy to make – the only slightly tricksy bit is the adding of the egg whites, and that’s not very difficult at all. This makes a fabulous end to a meal with a cup of good coffee, and needs no embellishment (though some sharp raspberry coulis would be gorgeous). Make this for your next dinner party, and your guests will want to come back again, and again!

Chocolate Mousse (taken from Rachel’s Favourite Food, by Rachel Allen)

Ingredients:

120g good-quality dark chocolate (or use a mixture of milk and dark, as I do)

120ml cream

2 eggs separated

Method:

1. Finely chop the chocolate. In a saucepan, bring the cream up to the boil. Turn off the heat, add the chocolate and stir until the chocolate has melted. Whisk in the egg yolks, and transfer to a large, wide bowl. This will make it easier to fold in the egg whites in the next step.

2. In a separate, clean, dry bowl, whisk the egg whites until just stiff, and then gently stir in a quarter of the egg whites into the chocolate mixture. Gently fold in the rest of the egg whites, being careful not to knock all the air out. It’s the air bubbles that will make your mousse feather-light and airy.

3. Spoon into little bowls, glasses or cups, and leave in the fridge for an hour or two to set. Rachel says that this fills about 10 small glasses, but I half-filled four heart-shaped ramekins instead. This mousse is so tasty that you’ll want to eat lots of it!

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