Tanya Peasgood

Tag: recipe

  • Easy Scone Recipe

    This is my mum’s failsafe scone recipe – works perfectly for creating plain, fruit, or cheese scones. The basic recipe makes 12 scones

    Ingredients

    • 450g self-raising flour
    • Good pinch of salt (preferably seasalt)
    • 110g butter (chilled and cut into small cubes)
    • 50g golden caster sugar
    • 300ml milk (and a little extra for a glaze)

    Process

    1. Preheat your oven to 220C/425F or Gas mark 7
    2. Lightly grease a flat baking sheet (or line with baking parchment)
    3. Sift flour & salt into a large bowl
    4. Add the butter, rubbing it into the flour with your fingertips. If you lift your hands whilst doing this you’ll get more air into the mixture to help it rise. The ingredients are combined when the mix looks like fine breadcrumbs
    5. Stir the sugar into the mix
    6. Add enough milk to make a soft dough (not too sticky) drawing the mixture together using a palette knife rather than your hands
    7. Flour your worksurface and also dust your hands with flour and then turn the dough onto it. Knead it lightly and then wrap in clingfilm and chill in the fridge for at least 15 minutes
    8. Get the dough out of the fridge and flatten with your hand (no need to roll) on a floured surface until the dough is about 1.5 inch thick (you can make them thinner – about an inch – but I like scones that are taller than they are round!)
    9. Cut out scones with a 2 inch (5cm) cutter – don’t twist as you press cutter down as this makes them rise unevenly
    10. Re-roll the trimmings and cut out the remaining scones
    11. Arrange on the prepared baking tray and lightly brush with a little milk
    12. Bake in the preheated oven for 12-15 minutes. They’re ready when they’re well risen, the top is golden and the bottom sounds hollow when tapped
    13. Cool on the tray for a couple of minutes and then transfer to a wire rack

    They’re great eaten still warm with butter and jam, adding clotted cream for a treat. They’re still OK the next day – but better if warmed for a couple of minutes

    Variations

    You can vary the plain scone mix – here’s a couple of options:

    • Add 50g of dried fruit to the mix before adding the milk. Raisins are good as they’re smaller and don’t cause the scone to crumble when cut
    • Leave out the sugar and add 75g of grated cheese (mature cheddar or Red Leicester work well). Add in a touch of mustard powder or cayenne pepper too for some extra flavour. You can also sprinkle a little cheese on top before cooking. Cheese scones are very nice toasted the next day

  • A recipe for Coconut & Jam Cookies

    A popular cookie recipe made for the guys at work – promised I’d share it before I left.

     

    Ingredients (makes about 30 cookies)

    280g / 10oz plain flour

    225g / 8oz softened butter (salted)

    140g / 5oz caster sugar (golden caster gives the biscuits a nice colour)

    100g / 3.5oz desiccated coconut (unsweetened)

    1 lightly beaten egg yolk

    4 tbsp jam

    1-2tsp flavouring

     

    The jam & flavouring is your choice. I like raspberry jam and use framboise (raspberry liquer) for flavour. Strawberry, apricot or cherry would work well too.

     

    Recipe

    1. Preheat oven to 190C / 375F / Gas Mark 5.
    2. Line 2 flat baking sheets with parchment
    3. Put butter & sugar in a bowl an mix with a wooden spoon until creamy and pale coloured.
    4. Beat in egg yolk and flavouring
    5. Sift flour into the mixture, add coconut and stir until thoroughly combine
    6. Scoop heaped dessert spoons of the mix and roll into a ball. Put on the trays spaced well apart.
    7. Make a hollow in the centre of each ball (end of a wooden spoon works) and fill the hollows with jam
    8. Bake for 12-15 minutes. Remove from oven and leave to cool on the trays for another 5-10 minutes. Remove from trays to cool on wire racks

     

    Enjoy! They are very yummy 🙂

  • No-cook chocolate biscuit cake recipe

    Ingredients

    • 125g unsalted butter
    • 85g golden syrup
    • 200g dark chocolate
    • 1 egg
    • 55g digestive biscuits
    • 55g nuts (hazelnuts, walnuts or any you prefer)
    • 55g sultanas
    • 55g glacé cherries (reserve some for decoration)

    Instructions

    1. Line the tin that you’re going to use with baking parchment. The mixture is enough to fill a 2lb loaf tin making 10 fairly deep, large slices. A tin of any similar size (round or square) could be used instead. If you double the ingredients you can make enough for a large traybake.
    2. Melt the butter and syrup together in a saucepan over a gentle heat until they begin to boil
    3. Melt the chocolate over a saucepan of simmering water, then add the egg and the butter & syrup. Mix together well
    4. In a bowl, break the biscuits into large chunks and then add the nuts, sultanas and most of the cherries
    5. Pour the chocolate mix onto the dry ingredients and stir until well combined
    6. Press the mixture into the prepared tin and decorate with the reserved cherries
    7. Leave to set in the fridge for at least 4 hours