English Breakfast Muffins

English breakfast muffins should NOT be sour or tangy!  They should not have vinegar in them, and if they do, it should merely be a preservative and should not make your nostril hairs twitch in discomfort from the stink.  Eugh!

Since I have some muffins rings in my cupboard (from my crumpets experiment), I thought I’d whip up a batch. We were not disappointed!  The resulting muffins, were slightly crunchy on the outside, soft on the inside and when prised open, there was just the right amount of nooks and crannies to

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Easy Cherry Jam

I have never made jam until a couple of weeks ago. It’s one of those things that kind of scared me a little. Don’t even ask why. I can make croissants, pasta, puff pastry, and I’ve even tried my hand at making har gau, but I had never made jam. I guess, it was more of the canning process that scared me. Oh, and I find putting seasonal fruits into a pan and boiling the smitherines out of them a little bit of a waste.

What motivated me to make this jam was that A. asked me if I knew how to make cherry danishes. I know how to make danish pastry, but I’ve never made the cherry variety. The ones you see in the stores usually have bright red cherries on them, which looks exceedingly artificial. I know I could have just make cherry danishes with cherries and a glaze, but I wanted to use cherry jam. The recipe for this will follow shortly.

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Dutch Ginger Spice Cake (Gember Kruidkoek)

This delicious loaf is perfect for ginger lovers. It’s not like a traditional cake; it’s more like a chewy bread. It’s dense, lightly sweet, nicely spiced, low in fat and exceptionally gingery, and is perfect for vegan or dairy-free individuals. To serve, the loaf should be sliced thinly and enjoyed with lashings of butter/vegan buttery spread.

J loves this type of ginger cake, as much as the traditional honingkoek. We could purchase

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Perfect Holey Crumpets

Ahhh… crumpets, a traditional British treat. If you’ve tried store-bought crumpets in the UK, and eaten them cold, you would have experienced an unusual taste/texture sensation. They are rubbery and yeasty, and in essence pretty vile. If this is the only way you’ve tried crumpets, you would wonder why the factories make them, and why people eat them. However, something magical happens to the rubbery disc once it is toasted and slathered with butter and/or jam (jelly). The rubbery inedible disc is transformed into a piece of heaven.

I felt a little nostalgic this week, and really felt like some hot buttered crumpets, so I scoured the internet for some recipes. The recipes were more or less the same, however, the end results were not always correct. Crumpets are supposed to have HOLES,

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Oaty Banana and Walnut Waffles

This waffle is just begging to be drenched in syrup… can you hear it?

I created these waffles to use up the ripe bananas that were stashed away in my freezer. It was also an excuse to come up with a new waffle/pancake recipe. I have included vegan options below.

It amazes me how many different types of pre-made packet mixes are available these days. They are essentially a mix of flours, where you still need to beat in the wet ingredients. I guess many people think the packet mixes save time, but I really don’t see that.  The good thing when you make your own batter is that you can control what you put into it, and adjust everything to taste.

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Potato and Onion Frittata

For many years, I really wanted a cast-iron frying pan (skillet). I wanted to start something off on the hob (stove) and then pop the pan into the oven, or under the grill (broiler) to finish off. I finally purchased one a few months ago!

Tarte tatin was one of those dishes I really wanted to make using this pan, but I still have yet to do it. This egg dish however, was the perfect opportunity to try out the pan.

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Dutch Pancakes (Pannekoeken)

 

When I asked J what he wanted for his birthday dinner – he replied “pancakes… we haven’t had them for dinner for ages!” He was right, it was probably 2004 when we had them last.  

The pancakes he was talking about were Dutch pancakes, not Dutch baby pancakes, but real Dutch pancakes. They are large and slightly thicker than a crepe, and are often served with a variety of toppings, including cheese and bacon. We enjoy them for dinner,

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100% Whole Wheat Stollen with Almond Paste

 

The traditional German Christmas bread just got a little healthier! This version is made with 100% whole wheat flour, studded with plump fruit, and stuffed with almond paste. It’s perfect for breakfast or with a cup of tea or coffee.

It was in 2008 that I first tried my hand at stollen. This was because the varieties available in the shops grossed me out. The resulting loaf was a little bit of a disaster. 2009 was my first year of stollen success. This is a great recipe, however I wanted to try out Reinhart’s recipe and he did not disappoint.

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Dutch Honey Cake (Honingkoek)

 

This delicious loaf is also known as breakfast cake. It’s suitable for dairy-free individuals. The texture is somewhat closer to bread than a cake, and is typically enjoyed with lashings of butter. It’s easy to make, chewy, lightly sweet, nicely spiced, low in fat, and the flavor only gets better with time.

It was J (not surprisingly) who introduced me to this cake.

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Quark Stollen with Almond Paste

 

The holidays just aren’t the same without stollen. It’s been like this since I met J, many moons ago. I absolutely love stollen! J’s parents used to visit us in the UK from the Netherlands and would always bring some with them. They even include it in the food parcels they send to us at this time of the year. In 2008, our Christmas parcel went on a detour to Sydney, Australia and we didn’t get it until March… you can imagine how fresh the stuff was then, eek!!! 

We’ve browsed store-bought varieties, but the ingredients make me want to hurl. Yuck! In 2009, I decided to make my own stollen for Christmas. Since I only started honeyandspice in April 2010, I thought it would be better to wait closer to the holiday season to blog about it.

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