N is for Nutella

Nutella.

Other chocolate spreads are available.

Mmm.

Like Homer in The Simpsons; Mmmmmm.

 

It is the forbidden jar of spreadable yumminess that, when I was a child, was never allowed by my Mother to go in the shopping trolley. And to be honest, now I have children it rarely makes it into the shopping basket as I see it more as a luxury rather than a must have and (if we are being totally honest) The Two Monkeys barely get a look in as they don't have toast for breakfast...Mummy does!

Now I thought about writing about cooking without certain items...like No Wheat or No Gluten or No Fat (not sure I agree with that concept any way) but these topics didn't really strike a chord with me. And whilst I have made the odd gluten free bake, it was always at the request of someone else and not something that I would go for myself. 

In fact for a while this letter of the alphabet had me stumped, I had to turn to my friend (and super duper blogger) Lucy over at The Pie Patch to sound off ideas. In doing so I was reminded of Nutella and to be fair that took less than 5 minutes.  I had (once upon a not so very long ago) baked some delicious cupcakes using this must delicious of ingredients, and as this blog seems to be full of the more chocolatey side of cooking it seemed like a fitting thing to write about. 

But first a confession about why I really don't buy Nutella.

It isn't because of the sugar content or that it is a luxury that I can really do without. It is because I cannot resist it, especially around about 3pm in the afternoon when there is still two hours before my dear husband comes home and I need a little sugar hit to go with my cup of tea. I grab a tea spoon out of the cutlery drawer, open the cupboard where the jar of chocolatey goodness resides, remove the lid and dig out a heaped spoonful before licking the spoon clean.

And its not just my own cupboard either. I will do this when I go to my parents house too...although I just want to say I find the fact they now have chocolate spread hugely unfair. How is it ok for grandchildren to eat but not your own? Anyway, before any of you go eeeewwww, i am never having chocolate spread when I visit your house again. I never go for a second dip with the same spoon! On the rare occasion that one spoon isn't enough, I do actually get a clean spoon and take the jar back out of the cupboard and indulge for a second time.

So there you have it, the truth is out, I am a secret Nutella spread stealer. To my parents I can only apologise, maybe you need to hide the jar when I am around.  To my sister I can say don't worry I have never done this at your house and to my sons...well you're both still too young to understand but I will try and stop so we can have a jar that actually lasts longer.

So back to the cupcakes I mentioned earlier, this was one of the many bakes that I had the where with all to photograph as I went. And looking at the date on the image (March 2012) it can only have been a session of what I like to call naptime baking.  Please excuse the photos aren't as clear as I would like but they were taken on my old HTC sensation and are not a dot on what my Samsung Galaxy now takes.

This recipe uses a very basic chocolate sponge which I haven't copied out here because that is against the rules.

As with all cupcakes I use an scoop to make sure that a) all my cupcakes are the same size which means I wont have to alter the bake time for bigger/smaller ones, and b) that no mess is made on the side of the cases which prevents an even rise.

I always aim to make the amount that the recipe says, if you still have a bit of cake batter left at the end, either use a teaspoon to top up each case or discard it. Don't be tempted to make one extra large cupcake!

 Leave to cool in your tin for about 5 minutes before removing, this will allow any batter that has gone over your case and onto the tin to slightly shrink back and not get stuck. I use a stone muffin pan by Pampered Chef (more about them when I get to P) and it really does produce great results.

 Now here comes the fun bit. Once your cupcakes are completely cooled, cut out a hole in the middle much as you would for fairy cakes, if not a bit smaller. Fill with a chocolate hazelnut spread. Then over the top of the cake and spread filling, add a  chocolate butter cream icing and whole hazelnuts (your own preference as to if they are blanched or not).

As to what to do with the cake bits you cut out...completely your call. I would suggest eating them before someone else does! Or make mini trifles in ramekins for pudding later

So there you are, a tray of  Hazelnut and Chocolate Cupcakes from The Hummingbird Bakery Cookbook, my most favourite cupcake book and it also has the best banana bread recipe too.

A little bit about the Hummingbird Bakery itself; I first discovered their perfectly iced morsels whilst working in South Kensington and fell in love with their red velvets and black bottoms. I even wrote about over here way back in 2009 at my other blog.. In fact, it was the Mary Poppins of cake shops; practically perfect in every way...the only downside was that the venue in question could get quite crowded if you were eating in. When I went on maternity leave and became a stay-at-home-mum it was one of the things I really missed, and now we have moved out of London I miss it even more.

'H' is for Hot Pie

OK, so I have kinda skewed the title of this post to make it fit the topic that I want but who can blame me? After all it is British Pie Week and therefore it is most appropriate to write about the British passion for pastry encased yumminess.

I mean, who ever came up with the idea for pies deserves an award for services to humanity and doing the world a huge favour. I mean there are chunky meat pies, then potato topped pies, little tarts and then fruity pies, cobblers and hot crust pies.

It makes my mouth water just thinking of it.

The alternative for 'H' is homemade, which is also (in part) what this post is about. I can honestly say that making a pie from scratch beats a store bought one of the same flavour (and I can say this as I bought one at the weekend) because you stir in that extra ingredient...love. (Smell the cheese of that last sentence there) But seriously, it does taste a whole lot better and you know exactly what goes into it. And most people will shrug off looking at the label but when it comes to feeding The Two Monkeys, it really does matter to me how much salt is in something and what additives it may have.

Having been inspired by the Hairy Bikers cookbook I was given for Christmas 2012 (as mentioned in an earlier post), I made my dear husband pick out a recipe for me to have a bash at for dinner one night.  My only previous pie attempts have been a fruit filled pies or a very lovely and sweet "Pumpkin Pie" from the Hummingbird Bakery cookbook, this would be my first foray into the world of savoury pies and I was a little nervous.

However, I want to make it perfectly clear that making pies really does take baking to a whole new level. It's more than just a mixture in a cupcake case, it is a process that leads to combining filling and pastry and doing your best to avoid a "soggy bottom"

So today I set about creating the "Creamy Chicken, Ham and Leek Pie" that my dear husband had selected, if you're interested in trying it you can find it here. The prep for the filling took me just under an hour, which was good as I could fit it in whilst my Little Giant had an afternoon nap and The Bug played in the room next door.  From there on in it was just a case of making the pie prior to cooking.

Interestingly enough, the shortcrust pastry for this recipe differs from others that I have previously made in that it uses an egg rather than just water.  If anything it created a smoother dough that I could use instantly rather than needing to let it rest.  I also made a point of using cold and cubed butter to make the pastry which I haven't  done in the past and it worked much better.

So we sat down to a very lovely hot pie for dinner tonight and enjoyed every last bite.  There was even some pastry left over for me to make some mini chocolate tortes for pudding.

'C' is for...

....lots of yummy things such as carrots and courgettes and chocolate and cake or even chocolate cake.

But for today, 'C' is for creativity.

And no, being creative does not mean you have to be good at arts and crafts...I am talking about being creative in the kitchen.

Research carried out a few years ago showed that whilst we have a great interest in food and umpteen cookery shows on telly...the majority of us stick to making nine different dishes with 1 in 4 families cooking the same meal on the same day of the week!

I could not believe it.

But then I sat down and worked out what I had cooked over the past two weeks and realised that they were right! Shock!  Horror!

So I made a vow to try out a new dish each month (I thought each week could be pushing it) and to really do my best to not fall into a routine of cooking the same dishes week in and week out. 

But where to start?

Other research also showed that most families have about seven cookbooks stashed somewhere in their house - most of which are christmas presents. Taking this one step further, if the average cookbook has about 100 recipes (many have more) thats at least 700 different dishes that are just waiting to be tasted.

Yet many of these books sit in a corner or on a shelf and are barely ever opened.

I know I can sometimes be guilty of doing exactly that. I have at least six general recipe books with a further three dedicated to cakes.  Despite this I tend to stick to the same recipes that I have always done but no more...my new method to try and cook new things is to give the book to my dear husband and ask him to pick something for me to cook - the first one he picked was a Grasshopper cake which turned out alright but certainly nothing like the picture!

I have actually just been giving a belated birthday present of  the Hairy Bikers book "Perfect Pies" as my family know that I enjoy making pastry yet it is something I am still fairly new too and it has really given me the courage to try some very new things.

And this leads me on to one final point...cookbooks have three 'i's, two of which are great and one which must be ignored

• information - I love my Mary Berry's Complete Cookbook as it has step by step photo-guides on how to prepare different cuts of meat which I find REALLY helpful when trying new things
• inspiration - whilst recipes are great they may not result in a dish that is perfectly to your liking...so add your own twist and make it yours.
• intimidation - the pictures of the immaculately presented finished dish can be very daunting, especially if you are using a new cut of meat or fish. Best thing is to use them as a guideline but don't panic if your dish is not an exact match....it's more important that it tastes good!

EDIT: Two years on from originally writing this in 2012, and I have to confess that I am very guilty of doing this. And I have had at least 3 more cookbooks given to me since this was posted (all Christmas gifts) and I think I have maybe used one recipe from each of them. Admittedly when I do find the time to trial a new recipe it may make it into my repertoire for a few weeks before being replaced by something else as I don't want to make it or have gotten bored with eating it. That said, I am trying to introduce a wider range of foods into our diet and therefore that is forcing me to try out new recipes. I have also decided to edit and repost my original posts D to J and put them into the context of my life as it now stands.