Sucre Et Epice

If you cant tell already from the other recipes I love to take recipes and give them a little twist something delicate and unexpected. You may think this recipe is a little strange but trust me you’ll love it especially if you find dark chocolate a little bitter.

Ingredients:
100g/4oz good-quality dark chocolate
1 Earl Grey Tea Bag
3 tbsp of boiling water
1 tbsp clear honey
Cocoa powder

Directions
Cut open the earl grey tea bag and empty it into a small cup pour in 6tbsp of boiling water and leave to stew.

Melt the chocolate in a bowl over a pan of simmering water.

Gently pour in the earl grey tea leaves and all. Slowly mix in until the consistency thickens. The texture of the chocolate will start to seize and this might seem scary but don’t worry.

Add drizzle in the honey mixing gently until the mixture becomes silky again and is well combined

Chill in the fridge for 30 minutes or until the mixture is almost solid.

Scoop a teaspoonful of the mixture on to the plate and roll the truffle around until cover. repeat until all the mixture is used up.

Put the truffles on a clean dish and put back in the fridge until you are ready to serve them

Sift some cocoa onto a small plate

For more conventional truffles replace the early grey tea with equal quantities of Coffee, Champagne or brandy

I love this recipe I stole it from Waitrose a UK supermarket but it was a free recipe and I’ve changed it by using frozen summer fruits instead of fresh raspberries and blueberries.

This cake is a great picnic cake, Its moist, light and very easy to transport.

Ingredients for the Cake
175g/7oz butter
175g/7oz caster sugar
3 medium eggs
150g/6oz Polenta /Corn Meal
100g/4oz Ground Almonds
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 tsp gluten-free baking powder (you can use regular baking powder)
350g/14oz Frozen Summer Berries
The zest of 1 Lemon

For the Syrup
The juice of ½ a Lemon
50g/2oz Sugar

Optional
Fresh berries (for decoration)
Icing Sugar (for dusting dusting
Half Fat Crème Fresh

Directions
Line a 24cm square or 27cm round shallow cake tin with baking parchment/waxed paper.
Mix the butter and 175g of the sugar with a wooden spoon until pale and fluffy.

Add the beaten eggs and polenta and mix until well combined. Stir in the ground almonds, vanilla extract and baking powder. Using a metal spoon, fold in berries with the lemon zest.

Spoon mixture into the tin and level with the back of the spoon. Bake in an oven pre heated to gas mark 4/180C/420F for 30-35 minutes or until golden and when a skewer inserted into the cake comes out clean.

When the cake has cooled slightly, make the syrup by heating the lemon juice with the sugar, either in a microwave on high for 2-3 minutes or by boiling in a small saucepan for 1-2 minutes until syrupy. Make small holes over the surface of the cake with a skewer and pour the warm syrup evenly over while the top of the cake whilst still hot.

Feeds up to 16 People.

I’m a bit of a sucker for Japanese food, and I’ve suffered some appalling western brands of lemon flavoured green tea and even worse iced versions. Yuck! I made up this alternative during one unusually hot summer and I think it works pretty well.

I usually only add 75gram/3oz sugar and a bit more water, but I’ve included the normal amount so you can add the sugar/water to taste.

Ingredients
3 Large Lemons Unwaxed if you can get them.
100g/4oz Sugar (add to taste)
1 Litre of Just Boiled water
4 Green Tea Bags

Directions
Take the Zest of two of the lemons and the Juice of all three and place in a large heat proof bowl.
Pour in the sugar and the water and stir until all the sugar has dissolved. Drop in the Teabags stir again and cover. Leave the mixture to stew for no more than Ten Minutes, remove the tea bags and chill in the fridge.

This recipe makes just over two litres and should make about 3-4 glasses.

This recipe is adapted from a Nigella Lawson Recipe from her Domestic Goddess Book. She calls them Rosebud Madeleines but her recipe is needlessly fussy and I think they work just as well with Orange Flower water as Rose water and If such a thing as Violet water exists they work beautifully with that too.

Ingredients
50g/2oz Butter (you can use margarine but don’t use low fat)
50g/2oz Sugar
1 Large Egg
50g Flour
Half a tsp of baking powder
1 tbsp Orange Flower or Rose water

Directions
Melt the butter in a pan, and leave too cool.

Using an electric whisk beat the egg and sugar together for about five minutes. The mixture will become really thick, pale and will expand in volume.

Sift the flour and baking powder together a spoonful at a time into the mixture while gently folding it in. When all the flour has been mixed in gently fold in the melted butter and Rose or Orange Flower Water.

Put the mixture in the Fridge 15mins and pre heat the oven to gas mark 7/220C/420F and if you’re using a metal mould grease each mould with a little butter.

Spoon a teaspoonful into each mould don’t worry if this looks like too little they will rise. I find that this makes about nine Madeleines.

Bake the Madeleines for 5 minutes and leave to cool on a wire rack and when cool dust with Icing sugar.

As these have a very subtle flavour I wouldn’t recommend that you eat these with a tea with a strong flavour like Earl Grey or Lapsang Souchong