All That I'm Eating

Recipe ideas for budget meals, everyday cooking and a little indulgence. Travel inspiration and restaurant reviews too.

Store Cupboard Shortbread

By 16 Comments

Shortbread in tin

I often find that I buy nuts or seeds to make something particular and I get left with a few grams of them here and there. That’s where my store cupboard shortbread comes in. This year I am attempting to use up ingredients in my cupboards and I thought I would start by using the last few dregs of cocoa powder and some leftover hazelnuts; I am so glad I did.

Ingredients

Makes 12 pieces of shortbread:

  • 175g plain flour
  • 1 tbsp cocoa powder
  • 50g caster sugar
  • 150g butter, softened
  • 50g chopped nuts, chocolate or seeds

Method

Grease a loose bottomed tart tin, mine was 20cm. Preheat an oven to 160C.

Add all of the ingredients to a bowl or food mixer and beat together until you get a ball of dough. read more

Mince Pie Crumble Bars

By 20 Comments

Mince Pie Crumble Bars, out of the oven

In my perfect world, a mince pie would be 70% pastry, 30% mincemeat. It’s not that I don’t like mincemeat I just don’t like too much of it. That’s where my mince pie crumble bars come in. A thick layer of buttery shortbread, a spiced mincemeat middle and further crumbly shortbread on the top. Let’s be honest, it’s mostly biscuit with a hint of Christmas. Perfect.

Ingredients

You will need (for 12 mince pie crumble bars):

  • 300g softened butter
  • 100g sugar
  • 400g plain flour
  • 1 small jar mincemeat

Method

Grease and line a baking tray or dish. The one I used was approximately 20cm x 30cm. Preheat an oven to 170C. read more

Strawberry, Basil and Shortbread Mess

By 11 Comments

strawberry and basil mess

When there’s strawberries in the house that’s how I know it’s summer. I never eat them out of season; I feel like it’s worth the wait to abstain from eating strawberries for nine or ten months of the year and then gorge on them from late May until they disappear again. Mostly I just eat them as they are but sometimes I like to make something a little more interesting. This Strawberry, Basil and Shortbread Mess is exactly that. Something that doesn’t take long to make but turns a weekday evening into something a little more special. And it does look rather lovely if I do say so myself.

Ingredients

You will need (for two small puddings):

  • 1 shortbread wedge – see recipe below
  • Handful very ripe strawberries
  • 100ml double cream
  • Few sprigs fresh basil

For the shortbread:

  • 225g salted butter
  • 100g sugar
  • 275g plain flour
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract

Method

There are two ways of making this. The first, and the best in my opinion, is to make your own shortbread. The second is to use some shop bought shortbread or other biscuits.

To make the shortbread grease a 20cm tin with a little butter. I used a round one for this but I have used a square one for the same recipe, it just needs a slightly shorter cooking time.

Beat the butter until pale and creamy then add the sugar and vanilla and beat again until very pale, smooth and creamy.

Add the flour to the bowl and gently mix it in.

Tip the dough into the tin and then press it down with the back of a spoon. Prick the shortbread all over with a fork and mark into wedges.

Bake in a preheated oven at 160C for an hour or so or until the shortbread is golden brown.

Leave to cool and then re-mark the lines for the wedges before leaving to cool completely and then removing from the tin.

Marking and then re-marking the wedges will make it much easier to cut into pieces when you take it out of the tin.

Whip the cream until you have soft peaks. Finely chop three or four big strawberries and some of the basil leaves and then stir this through the whipped cream.

Divide the cream into two glasses or bowls then add some slices strawberries, crumbled shortbread and a little more basil.

Strawberry and basil is one of my favourite flavour combinations; I love the sweetness of the berries with the aromatic flavour of the soft basil. There’s just a small amount of cream in this, it would be a little heavy otherwise. The buttery, crumbly shortbread adds a fantastic texture to this little pudding and it would work really well with other summer fruits too. Trying different biscuits is certainly something I’ll be trying too! And if you’re after some more really easy strawberry recipes you can find some here!

Chocolate, Thyme and Lemon Shortbread

By 10 Comments

chocolate shortbread after the baking

Adding herbs to bakes and drinks is something I really like to do. I like the botanical flavour that herbs can bring to various dishes and I think woody herbs really suit being paired with chocolate. These chocolate, thyme and lemon shortbread biscuits are a delicious combination of flavours if I do say so myself and if you’re unsure about adding herbs to a biscuit you’ll just have to give it a try!

Ingredients

You will need (for 12 squares):

  • 180g plain flour
  • 1 tbsp cocoa powder
  • 50g caster sugar
  • 150g softened butter
  • 50g dark chocolate, finely chopped
  • 1tsp dried thyme
  • Zest 1 lemon

Method

Preheat your oven to 160C and line a baking dish; I used a square one for this batch but round or circular dishes work just as well.

Put all of the ingredients into a large bowl, or mixer, and beat together until they form a dough. Remove from the bowl and knead lightly.

Press the dough into the tin, spreading it out evenly, then prick the top of the shortbread with a fork. Bake for 45 minutes.

Remove from the oven, mark into squares then leave to cool before removing the biscuits from the dish.

You can’t go wrong with a dark chocolate shortbread biscuit, and that’s certainly the case when they’re served warm from the oven. The added thyme gives a little warmth and herbal note which coupled with the fresh, zesty lemon is just the thing with a cup of tea. Dried thyme works well in this as I think the oils in fresh thyme might taint a little as it gets baked in the oven. I have previously tried a similar combination of flavours with my chocolate, rosemary and hazelnut biscuits. I would like to try infusing some bay with a white chocolate mousse or sauce at some point in the future too.

Dark Chocolate Orange and Pistachio Biscuits

By 16 Comments

Decorating chocolate pistachio biscuits

I do love the expression ‘fart-arsing around’. When it came to making and decorating these dark chocolate orange and pistachio biscuits I wasn’t going to be fart-arsing around with any of it. An all in one biscuit dough means it’s easy to mix and haphazard throwing around of melted chocolate makes the decoration a breeze. No dunking of biscuits in chocolate for the perfect edge, no placing of individual caramelised pistachios with tweezers and you know what? I think they taste all the better for it.

Ingredients

To make around 16 biscuits:

For the biscuits:

  • 225g butter, softened
  • 50g dark chocolate with orange, grated
  • 275g plain flour
  • 75g light muscovado sugar

To decorate:

  • 50g dark chocolate with orange
  • Small handful shelled pistachios

Method

Throw all the ingredients for the biscuits into a mixer and beat until you have a smooth dough. You can do this by hand if you don’t have a mixer. Whichever way you do it you need to make sure the butter is very soft.

Preheat an oven to 200C. Lightly grease two baking trays.

Flour your worktop and a rolling pin then tip the dough onto the floured surface and roll it out until it’s about half a centimetre thick.

Using a seven inch biscuit cutter cut out as many biscuits as you can and place onto the prepared trays. Gather up and re-roll the dough to cut again and repeat until all the dough is used up.

Bake in the oven for 10-12 minutes or until lightly golden.

Leave to cool slightly before transferring to a wire rack.

Melt the chocolate; either in a bowl over simmering water (being careful not to let the bowl touch the water) or microwave, whichever is your preference.

Blend the pistachios in a food processor or finely chop them.

Spread, dunk, drizzle and brush the chocolate over the biscuits whichever way you wish and then while the chocolate is still melted sprinkle over the pistachio nuts so they stick.

I really like how the biscuits have a speckled effect through them thanks to the grated chocolate. It also means that if you get a bit impatient with the grating, not naming any names *ahem*, then the larger chocolate chunks are a lovely little treat. The orange is really subtle in these but I like that as it lends a delicate rather than overpowering flavour, you could add a little grated orange zest if you wanted to. Green pistachios are always nice to look at; they stand out really nicely against the dark chocolate background and give a fantastic extra texture. These dark chocolate orange and pistachio biscuits are so simple to make and, I can only speak for three days so far, keep very well in an airtight container.

Spanish Fennel Biscuits with Cream Cheese and Honey

By 27 Comments

Spanish Fennel Biscuits with sherry

When I was in Spain I ordered a dessert on the assumption that there had been a translation error on the menu. They can’t mean cheese ice cream, surely, they must mean cheeseCAKE ice cream, that’ll be delicious. Nope. Along came some cheese ice cream with a massive cracker on the side. What a revelation it was. The ‘cracker’ was actually a slightly sweet, very thin, fennel infused biscuit covered in sticky honey, which when dunked in the cheese ice cream was really rather delicious. I wanted to attempt something similar to this at home, so here are my Spanish fennel biscuits served with cream cheese and honey alongside some cracking fino sherry.

Ingredients

You will need (for 12 shortbread triangles):

  • 180g plain flour
  • 50g caster sugar
  • 150g unsalted butter, soft
  • 2 tbsp fennel seeds

To serve:

  • Full fat cream cheese
  • Honey
  • Sherry

Method

Start by making the shortbread. Lightly grease a baking tray or small baking tin. Preheat your oven to 160C.

Mix all of the shortbread ingredients together in a large bowl or food processor until well combined and you have a dough.

If you’re using a baking tray place the shortbread on to it and then flatten the mix out into a round, about the size of a small dinner plate. If you’re using a baking tin, press the mix into the tin. Prick the dough all over with a fork.

Bake in the oven for 40-45 minutes then remove and mark into 12 portions while still hot. Remove from the tin onto a wire rack and leave to cool completely.

Spoon the cream cheese into a bowl and drizzle with honey. Dip the shortbread in or spread the cream cheese onto the shortbread and serve with well chilled fino sherry.

Serving the sherry chilled is the key to this dessert, fino sherry is quite dry but I think you need it to be to cut through the thick, sweet cheese and buttery shortbread. The fennel is just the perfect finishing touch to this dessert; enough to be perceptible but not so much that you feel like you’re nibbling on pure aniseed. It is a dessert for sharing, everyone can grab a biscuit and have a dunk. However, if you’re worried about any double-dipping (eww) you could serve the cheese in individual bowls, then, when all the crumbs have fallen into the cheese you can scoop out the remainder with a spoon and it’s like you’ve made your own cheesecake. If you are really that concerned about double dipping then I suggest getting some new acquaintances.

Coconut, Sesame and Chocolate Shortbread

By 11 Comments

Coconut Sesame and Chocolate Shortbread - All That I'm Eating

When something just works it’s the best. It could be a combination of flavours you tried by accident or using something perfectly for a different purpose than it was designed for. I made this Coconut, Sesame and Chocolate Shortbread for both of the aforementioned reasons. Recently I was enjoying my chocolate dessert when another coconut and sesame pudding was on the table, and as I like to try everything, I took a scoop of the coconut and sesame and gobbled it down. The flavours were so good together I thought it was well worth a try recreating it at home. Also, I always make shortbread in a cake ‘tin’ rather than on a tray. I have a silicone mould for cakes which I once used for shortbread when I couldn’t find anything else and it works perfectly every time.

You will need (for 12 pieces):

  • 170g plain flour
  • 1 tbsp cocoa powder
  • 50g sugar
  • 150g softened butter
  • 30g desiccated coconut
  • 10g sesame seeds (I used both white and black)

Preheat the oven to 160C.

Sift the flour and cocoa powder together in a bowl then stir in the sugar.

Add the butter and mix it together roughly. Mix in the coconut and sesame and bring everything together to form a dough.

Lightly knead the dough. Press the dough into a greased cake tin (mine is 20cm), or place on a lined baking tray and roll out to make a 20cm round.

Prick the top all over with a fork.

Bake for 40-45 minutes then remove from the oven and mark into wedges while still warm. Wait for the shortbread to cool slightly before removing and leaving to cool completely.

These are the perfect Sunday afternoon bake. They don’t take too long to make and they are good to use up a few ingredients you probably already have as you bought them for something else and never used it all (I know that’s how I ended up with white and black sesame seeds!). The combination of coconut and sesame is so good and the house smells amazing while these bake. All rounded off with a hint of chocolate from the cocoa powder, what more could you want from a simple biscuit?

Fairtrade Coffee Shortbread

By 15 Comments

Fairtrade coffee shortbread

It’s #befair fortnight until 12th October which is all about asking the question, “Are we really as fair as we think?”. The Fairtrade Foundation is working to make us aware of small acts of fairness that can make a big change; like switching your morning coffee to a fair trade coffee. The people at the Fairtrade Foundation sent me a variety of coffees to try and I set about making a fair bake. This recipe for chocolate and coffee shortbread uses fair trade chocolate, sugar and coffee.

Ingredients

You will need (for 12 pieces of shortbread):

  • 180g plain flour
  • 50g caster sugar
  • 150g softened butter
  • 40g dark chocolate, chopped
  • 1 tbsp ground coffee

Method

Preheat an oven to 160C and lightly grease a baking tray.

Put all the ingredients into a bowl and beat together to form a dough.

Knead the dough lightly then form into a rough 20cm circle on the baking tray. Prick the top all over with a fork then put into the oven for around 45 minutes or until golden brown.

Mark into pieces while still hot and leave to cool before cutting up.

I opened the Grumpy Mule coffee to try first as I think it has a great name! I’m looking forward to trying the rest; there’s a style and strength for everyone and all of them are fair trade.

This chocolate and coffee shortbread has a classic combination of flavours and was lovely with a Saturday afternoon cup of coffee. Even better that it was guilt free and, although it’s not much, my small act of fairness made a change. It doesn’t take a lot for me to ensure that the sugar, chocolate, coffee (and more!) that I buy are fair trade and I want to carry on my small acts of fairness.

Find out more about the Fairtrade Foundation by taking a look at their website.

Thank you to the Fairtrade Foundation for the coffee. All opinions and words expressed are my own.

Coffee and Chocolate Shortbread

By 25 Comments

I have been meaning to make some shortbread for a while but things just seem to get in the way and before I know it I’m tucked up in bed thinking, “Tomorrow. Tomorrow will be shortbread day”, it seemed to be a never ending cycle. However many things happen I always try to make time to bake a biscuit; there’s nothing else that can fill the void like making a homemade treat. To bring about my biscuit making I set about creating a coffee chocolate shortbread. read more

Chocolate Shortbread with Rosemary and Hazelnuts

By 30 Comments

A while ago I was having some lunch in a restaurant. For pudding I had some soft, sugar covered dough sticks which were to be dipped in a well known hazelnut chocolate spread. At some point in the kitchen a rogue bit of rosemary had ended up on my dough stick. I imagine there must have been some sort of herb-off going on in the kitchen between the chefs and the remnants of the duel had not been cleared up. Unbeknown to me I submerged it in hazelnutty chocolate and ate it. One of the best accidental mastications I’ve ever made and a combination I have recreated in this shortbread. read more

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