Brioche Croissants filled with lemon curd

These brioche croissants were the first thing I made with my new Kenwood mixer the day it arrived.

I had trouble making brioche before as the dough was so wet, it was impossible to knead without adding loads of extra flour which completely changed the texture of the dough.

With the dough hook on the mixer though, it wasn't a problem.

The dough will be really wet, and needs the overnight rising time in the fridge but is wonderfully easy to work with the next day.

Homemade lemon curd is the only way to go on these, if you don't like lemon curd you could do fill these with Nutella or just leave them plain.

Plus you look like a domestic goddess when you casually whip up a batch of soft, fragrant croissants on a Sunday morning!

The recipe makes about 16 croissants.

Ingredients

250ml (1 cup) whole milk
50g (1/4 cup) sugar
4 eggs
875g (3 1/2 cups) bread flour
1 tbsp instant yeast
1 1/2 tsp salt
330g (1 1/2 cups) soft butter
16 tsp lemon curd

Egg wash - 1 egg and 1 tbsp water


Pour milk into a saucepan and heat till lukewarm.

In a large bowl add sugar and warm milk. Add 250g (1 cup) of flour, mix till smooth.

Add lightly beaten eggs and mix completely.

Add in instant yeast and another 250g (1 cup) of flour. Continue to mix. Add in salt and another 250g (1 cup) of flour. Mix till the dough comes together.

If it is still looking really wet (like pancake batter) then add the last 125g (1/2 cup) of flour at this point.

Knead dough for using dough hook on mixer. I kneaded mine with the dough hook for 5 mins until it started to look more like a bread dough. If you don't have a mixer then you can knead this by hand, but be prepared that it is a very wet dough and you don't want to add too much flour or you will ruin the texture. I would add an extra 1/4 cup of flour while kneading *at most*

Place dough back into bowl if kneading by hand.

Add a quarter of the soft butter to the and mix together. Once the butter is completely incorporated add another quarter of butter, continue until all the butter is mixed in.

Cover bowl with plastic wrap and place into fridge for 4 hours or overnight.

The next morning, sprinkle your work surface with flour and divide the dough into two. Roll one half of the dough out into a 15 inch circle and cut into 8 triangular pieces.

Add a tsp of lemon curd to the wide part of each triangle and roll the dough up into a crescent/croissant shape. Start at the wide end and roll towards the tip. Pinch the sides tightly to prevent all the lemon curd escaping.

Repeat with other half of dough and place rolls onto floured baking sheets. Cover and let rise for 40 mins.

At this point you could brush with egg wash if you wanted shiny, golden croissants. I didn't have the extra egg when I did them but I will make sure to do it next time.

Place rolls in pre-heated 350F/170C oven for 15-17 mins until light golden brown.

Allow to cool and then serve with lots of tea!

Lemon Curd

This lemon curd is amazing and so easy! It adapts well to different fruit as well so there is no reason why you couldn't make lime, orange or even grapefruit curd!

It's also suitable for use in baking as well as on toast (or just eaten from a spoon)

The lemon curd comes out tart and not too sweet which is what I look for in a lemon curd, if you want it a bit sweeter you can of course add some more sugar.

Ingredients

3 tablespoons lemon zest (about 2 lemons worth)
1/2 cup fresh lemon juice (2 or 3 lemons)
1 1/2 cups sugar
8 tablespoons butter
2 whole eggs, lightly beaten
3 egg yolks, lightly beaten


In a medium saucepan over medium-high heat, combine lemon zest, lemon juice, and sugar.

Bring just to a boil; reduce heat to medium-low and simmer 5 minutes, you'll notice the yellow colour getting darker at this stage.

Add butter and stir until it has melted and combined. Remove from heat and cool to room temperature.

Beat eggs into cooled lemon mixture until well blended.

Return to heat and cook over medium-low heat, stirring constantly, 10 to 20 minutes or until mixture thickens and coats spoon (it usually takes about 20 mins for me to get the consistency I want, but just keep an eye on it).

Remove from heat.

Pour into prepped, clean jars (I put them in the oven on about 170C/350F while I'm stirring the eggs in as this sterilises the jars and means they don't crack when the hot lemon curd goes into them)

Seal the jars with the lids while hot, and allow to cool before putting into the fridge.

Store in the fridge for up to a month.

Raisin-Oat Cookies

These are Joe's favourite cookies. He requests them a lot! They are chewy, spicy, easy to adapt and consistently delicious.

Hype over with, onto the recipe!

Ingredients

1/2 cup butter, at room temperature
1/2 cup light brown sugar (or any brown sugar will work fine)
1/4 cup white sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
3/4 cup plain flour
1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground mixed spice
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp salt
1 + 1/2 cups porridge oats
1/2 cup raisins

Preheat the oven to 175C (350F)

In a bowl, cream together the butter, brown sugar, white sugar, egg, and vanilla until smooth.

Combine the flour, baking soda, spices, and salt; stir into the sugar mixture. Stir in the oats and raisins. Drop by rounded teaspoonfuls onto ungreased baking sheets

Bake 10 to 12 minutes until light golden.

The cookies will look like they are underdone but this is necessary for them to be chewy.

Leave to cool on the baking sheet for a little while before removing them and be careful when you do as they'll be kind of crumbly.

Recipe makes about 15 cookies.

Cream Cheese Icing

This is a really simple and light icing that you can use for Carrot Cake, Double Chocolate Loaf Cake or any cake or muffin that needs a unobtrusive icing.

It's best if you keep this in the fridge and ice the cake just before serving, but it's ok at room temperature in an airtight container.

This recipe will make enough icing for the top of a loaf cake. It's simple to increase or decrease the amount, just remember to keep the proportions the same.

Ingredients

50g soft cream cheese
25g butter, at room temperature
25g icing sugar

In a bowl, beat all the ingredients together until smooth.

Carrot Cake

This carrot cake (originally from Baking Bites) is amazing. It's easy to make, moist, nicely spiced and just everything you could ever hope for in a carrot cake.

I should know, as carrot cake has always been one of my favourites. It also has enough substance and flavour that you don't need icing but I will publish a recipe for simple cream cheese icing that works really well with this cake.

The recipe is quite flexible if you are missing a couple of ingredients - I've made it with different fruit juice depending on what I've got in the fridge and it's always been tasty.

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups demerara sugar
2 large eggs
1/4 cup butter, melted and left to cool
1/4 cup fresh orange juice
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp mixed spice
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp salt
1 1/2 cups plain flour
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
2 - 3 medium carrots, grated


Preheat the oven to 175C.

In a large mixing bowl, beat together the sugar and eggs with a handwhisk until smooth and the mixture has changed to a lighter colour.

Stir in the melted and cooled butter, orange juice, vanilla, spices and salt. When it's all combined, sift in the flour and bicarbonate of soda. Stir gently until you have a smooth batter with no visible flour.

Stir in the grated carrot and make sure that it's well combined with the rest of the mixture.
Scrape the cake mix into a greased standard loaf tin (but this cake can be baked in a square baking pan or even muffin cases)1

Bake in the oven for 40 minutes, until a skewer inserted in the middle of the cake comes away clean. Be careful when opening the oven to check on the cake as it can sink in the middle!

Remove from the tin and cool.


1. If you are using this recipe for muffins, then you will only need to bake them for 25-30 minutes.

Mexican Soup

This recipe is so quick and tasty and is an excellent veggie alternative to chilli. It's fresh and spicy and lovely served with cornbread or tortilla chips.

It'll serve around four people but heats up fine the next day (leaving off the garnishes).

Ingredients

1 tbsp Olive Oil
2 medium red onions, chopped
6 large cloves garlic, minced
1 can (400g) chopped tomatoes
2 cans of kidney beans, drained
1 1/2 cups (375g) corn kernels (fresh or frozen)
1 vegetable stock cube
2 cups (500ml) water
1 1/4 tsp cumin powder
2 1/2 tsp dried oregano
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 tbsp chopped jalepeno peppers
1 tsp honey
1 1/2 tbsp lime juice
salt and pepper to taste
Coriander, chopped (as garnish)
4 tbsp sour cream

OPTIONAL

1 chorizo sausage, diced
1 avocado, sliced

Heat the oil in a large saucepan over a medium heat. When hot, add the onions, garlic, cumin, oregano, cinnamon and jalepenos. Cover and let cook for around 6-8 minutes, stirring to make sure the onions don't stick.

If you are going to be adding the chorizo, fry this in a little oil in a separate pan and place to the side when crisp and nicely coloured.

Add the remaining ingredients with the exception of the chorizo, avocado, coriander and lime juice to the pan. Bring to the boil then reduce the heat and simmer for 15 - 20 minutes.

Just before serving, stir in the lime juice and season with salt and pepper to taste.

Serve in large bowls, garnished with the coriander and a tbsp of sour cream for each bowl.

If you are adding chorizo and avocado, pile them on top at this point.

Spaghetti Bolognese

I would describe this recipe as just about foolproof.

This recipe will feed about 6 people. I usually make enough for 6 and then freeze excess portions as bolognese keeps really well frozen.

Ingredients

750g (1.6 pounds) steak mince
3 large carrots, grated
1 large red onion, diced
125ml (1/2 cup) olive oil
4 tbsp tomato puree
6 cloves of garlic
2 cans of chopped tomatoes (400ml cans)
250ml (1 cup) red wine
2 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
1 vegetable stock cube
2 tbsp dried oregano
1 tbsp dried basil
1 tbsp garlic powder
2 tsp Tabasco
salt and pepper to taste
250ml (1 cup) milk


Firstly, heat the olive oil in a large saucepan on medium heat. Add the diced onions and grated carrots to the pan and cook for a couple of minutes, making sure they don't stick to the pan.

Push the carrot and onion mixture to the side of the pan and add the steak mince. Brown the mince, stirring everything together. If you have bought lean steak mince, you shouldn't get too much fat from the mince. If you do find that the mixture is looking a bit greasy then you can strain some of the fat away.

Add in the chopped garlic, oregano, basil and the garlic powder and stir thoroughly.

When everything is browned, add in the tomato paste and combine with the contents of the pan.

Now add the red wine. This may seem like a lot of red wine but the alcohol will cook off and it gives it a rich flavour that is hard to get with anything else.

Add the Worcestershire sauce, crumbled stock cube, Tabasco and the cans of chopped tomatoes.

Lastly, add the milk. This is my secret addition to bolognese that I usually don't tell people about!! I promise that it won't make your sauce creamy but just gives it a bit of va-va-voom!

Reduce the heat and simmer for at least 45 mins but the longer you can leave it cooking the better. Make sure and stir occasionally to ensure that the sauce doesn't stick but as it's quite liquid you don't have to worry about going away and doing something else while it's cooking!

Taste and season the bolognese with salt and pepper while it's simmering.

You can serve this with spaghetti or to be honest, any pasta shape that you like. Make sure and sprinkle plenty of grated Parmesan cheese on the spaghetti bolognese before serving.