Blueberries and Thyme

Scones are a thing of beauty. Buttery, flaky and oh so satisfying. What a pity that most cafes in Auckland sell only either cheese scones or date scones. Occasionally lemon and blueberry, if they are adventurous.

Thinking outside the scone-box is in order. This recipe is my attempt to explore flavours beyond the well-known crowd-pleasing favourites. The result is a lightly sweet scone with a hint of cinnamon. The praline adds depth to the flavour while surprisingly intense bursts of freshness are coming through from the pear. An absolute delight with a cup of tea or coffee.

Pear and Hazelnut Praline Scones

makes 8 small or 6 large scones

Praline

50g caster sugar

0.5 tbsp water

0.5 tsp lemon juice

25g hazelnuts, roughly chopped

Scones

225g all purpose flour

3 tsp baking powder

a generous pinch of salt

30g brown sugar

0.25 tsp cinnamon

60g butter, cold

120ml buttermilk

75g Packham pear, peeled and cut into small chunks

a splash of milk

Preheat the oven to 220ºC (200ºC fan).

Make the praline: Line a baking tray with baking paper or a silicone mat. In a small thick bottomed saucepan combine sugar, water and lemon juice. Swirl the pot around until all the sugar crystals are covered with liquid. Cook over medium low heat until the sugar is dissolved and starting to colour. Boil for about 5-6 minutes without stirring. Gently swirl around the pan every now and then to stop the sugar from burning in places. Watch closely, the colour changes quite quickly. When golden, add hazelnuts and quickly pour onto the lined baking tray. Pick up the tray and tilt to spread out the praline.

Let cool completely. Break into small pieces and grind into a very coarse 'powder' in a food processor.

Make the scones:

Line a baking tray with baking paper or a silicone mat.

In a bowl, combine flour, baking powder, salt cinnamon and brown sugar. Cut the butter in to small cubes. In a food processor combine flour mix and cubed butter. Pulse a few times until it resembles small crumbs. In a bowl combine the flour and butter mix with the praline powder and pear chunks and mix until the pear is distributed evenly.

Make a well in the centre and pour in the buttermilk. Using a knife, mix until the ingredients are just starting to come together. Turn out onto a lightly floured surface and knead gently into a smooth-ish dough. It should be slightly sticky, add a little more flour if it is too sticky. Avoid overworking the dough.

Pat the dough into a 3cm thick disc. Using a 6cm round cutter, cut out scones or cut the dough into wedges. Freeze for 30 minutes to allow the gluten to relax and chill the butter for a flakier texture.

Place them on the lined baking tray. Brush the tops with milk. Bake for 20-25 minutes until golden.

Serve with cream or greek yoghurt - or simply a pat of butter.

Pear and Hazelnut Praline Scones

Scones are a thing of beauty. Buttery, flaky and oh so satisfying. What a pity that most cafes in Auckland sell only either cheese scones or...

This is my favourite granola recipe. Freeze dried raspberry adds a fruity flavour and freshness, setting it apart from your regular store bought option. The subtle sweetness of honey and orange juice make it the perfect sweet, yet healthy breakfast option.

I have made a fair bit of granola during the last lockdown (and before) and experimented with quite a few flavour combinations. This particular one, however, is my favourite. I prefer granola that is crispy and light, not clumpy or so sweet it makes your teeth stick together.

Many granolas contain either too much nuts and seeds, which makes them tasty, I agree, but also calorie dense or contain large amounts of sugar. Not this granola. The sweetness comes from a little honey, freshly squeezed orange juice and freeze dried berries. The addition of various types of seeds gives it more flavour and the crunchy texture we all love in a good granola.

Oats - the base: I used rolled jumbo oats which I buy from our local bulk food shop. I prefer these to regular rolled oats, which don't have enough body to make this granola the crispy delight it should be.

Rice flakes - the extra crunch: Rice flakes are pretty sturdy flakes. They give the extra crunch in this granola. Do not use rice puffs!

Almonds: Packed with vitamins, minerals, healthy fat and protein, they are the perfect addition to your morning meal. Not to mention how very tasty they are. I used already dry roasted almonds. The double roasting results in an ever so slightly burned flavour. If you don't like that, raw almonds are the way to go.

Seeds: I chose pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds and hemp seeds. I recently discovered hemp seeds, also called hemp hearts, as a fantastic alternative to flax seed. Hemp seeds are rich in fibre and apparently a natural appetite suppressant, which can help keep you full for longer.

Coconut flakes: Coconut instantly transports you to a tropical island and adds to the fruity flavour. Don't substitute the coconut flakes for shredded coconut. Shredded coconut is too fine and might burn faster than the granola can crisp up. If you want to add shredded coconut, I suggest toasting it separately in a pan on the stovetop and adding it to the cooked granola at the end.

Chia seeds: Apart from being considered a 'super food', chia seeds add even more crunch. You can also substitute chia seeds for sesame seeds, if you prefer. However, this will alter the taste quite significantly and give the granola a slightly middle eastern vibe.

It doesn't need much more than fresh fruit and a large dollop of smooth greek yoghurt or coconut yoghurt.

Variations

Hazelnut: Try chopped hazelnuts instead of almonds or a mix of nuts
Choc and Coco: Add 2-3 tablespoons of dark chocolate chips along with the freeze dried berries
Protein Powder: add max one scoop of chocolate protein powder into the mix to give it some extra nutritional benefit
Other spices/spice mix such as cardamom, chai or gingerbread spice mix

Fruity granola with nuts and seeds

1.5 cups rolled jumbo oats

0.5 cup rice flakes

0.5 cup almonds, roughly chopped

0.5 cup mixed seeds (I used pumpkin, sunflower, hemp seeds)

0.5 cup coconut flakes

2-3 tbsp black chia seeds

0.5-1 tsp cinnamon

0.25 tsp sea salt

0.25 cup coconut oil, melted

0.25 cup runny honey

freshly squeezed juice of 1 orange

0.5-1 tsp vanilla essence

a handful of crumbled freeze dried raspberries (or other freeze dried berries)

Preheat the oven to 150ºC. You will need a deep baking tray lined with baking paper or a large baking pan. Alternatively, use one of those aluminium grill pans from the DIY store like I do.

Melt the coconut oil over a low heat until runny.

In the meantime, combine all dry ingredients except the freeze dried berries in a large bowl. Mix wet ingredients including oil and orange juice in a small bowl and whisk to combine. Pour the wet mixture over the dry ingredients and mix everything with a spatula until well combined.

Pour the mix onto your baking tray or pan and distribute evenly. The layer shouldn't be too thick, or the granola won't turn crispy.

Total baking time is about 30-45 minutes. Bake for 10 minutes. Stir the granola with a spatula and distribute evenly again. Bake for another 10 minutes, stir again. Repeat this process until it has the desired crispness, but is not burnt.

Test after 30 minutes, don't bake for more than 50 minutes. It might become too dark and turn bitter.

Once it has the desired crispness, take it out of the oven and let it cool to room temperature. Once cool, add the freeze dried berry crumbs and mix well.

Let cool completely before storing in an airtight container.

Fruity granola with nuts and seeds

This is my favourite granola recipe. Freeze dried raspberry adds a fruity flavour and freshness, setting it apart from your regular store bo...

Soft, chewy, delicious - packed with healthy ingredients and that little bit of sugar which makes them a real treat. Gran Cereale biscuits are a type of breakfast biscuit from Italy. My husband loved them when he was a child and the taste brings up fond memories of summers spent in Italy.

The Italian's have an interesting relationship with breakfast. While the rest of the world is getting more and more inventive with smashed avocado and ways to prepare eggs, in Italy, it's a much simpler - and sweeter - affair. Always coffee, of course, but also biscuits! Yes, you read that correctly. This just tells me that they know how to live la dolce vita every moment of the day.

I don't want to pretend that these biscuits are super healthy, but on top of being sweet, these Gran Cereale biscuits are packed with healthy ingredients like oats, wholemeal flour, nuts and seeds. They are satisfying to eat and easily adapted. And they are vegan too.

Tips and tricks

The dough is quite crumbly. Add enough water so that it comes together and knead it for a while to get a soft, relatively pliable dough.

In order to get the nice chewy texture, the biscuits need a good height and size. Don't roll them out too thinly. Aim for a dough thickness of about 4-5mm. For the biscuits pictured above, I used a 6.5cm round cookie cutter.

The tricky part is to get the cooking time just right. The already golden brown colour of the dough makes it hard to tell when they are done. Start with 15 minutes at 160ºC, test with your fingertip. If they are still very soft in the middle, bake 5 more minutes and test again. Depending on the oven I was baking them in, it took anywhere between 15-25 minutes to get a nice even golden brown colour on the biscuits.

Let them cool completely before storing them in an airtight container.

This recipe is adapted from a recipe I found years ago on Valentina Solfrini's Hortus Cuisine Blog, which unfortunately is no longer online.

Healthy Gran Cereale Biscuits

makes 20-22 large biscuits

150 g rolled oats

120 g wholewheat flour
25 g LSA (ground linseed, sunflower seed and almonds) or ground linseed

25 g ground hemp seeds

50 g ground almonds or nuts

50g brown sugar

2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp cinnamon

1 pinch of salt

80 g vegetable oils (I used 60 g coconut oil, 20 g mild olive oil)

3 heaping tbsp honey

1 tsp vanilla extract (optional)

water

Preheat the oven to 160ºC. You will need two baking trays lined with baking paper.

Process oats until they turn into a flour. Lightly heat coconut oil and honey to achieve a runny consistency.

Mix all dry ingredients together in a medium size bowl. Mix all wet ingredients except water together in a separate bowl. Pour the wet mixture into the dry mix and use your hands to bring it together.

Add just enough water to bring the dough together. Start with 1 tablespoon, add small amounts until it's just enough. If you added too much and the dough has become too soft, simply add a little bit more flour.

Turn the dough out on a clean surface and knead for a few minutes to bring the dough together. Shape into a ball, cover with cling film and rest in the fridge for 30 minutes.

Take the dough out of the fridge. Cut in half and cover one half with cling film.

Roll out the dough between two sheets of baking paper to about 5mm thickness. Cut out the biscuits and place on a baking tray lined with baking paper. Scrape the dough together, knead into a ball, roll out and cut out biscuits until there is no more dough left. Repeat with the second half.

Bake for 8 minutes at 160ºC. Turn the baking trays and bake another 8 minutes. Test the centre with your fingertip. If it is still very soft, bake for another 5 minutes, test again. Repeat until they have an even golden brown colour, but are still slightly soft in the middle.

Transfer to a wire rack and cool completely. Store in an airtight container.

Variations

Hazelnut: Try ground hazelnuts instead of almonds
Choc and Coco: Add 2-3 tablespoons of dark chocolate chips and 50g shredded coconut instead of the seeds
Different types of wholemeal flours: Replace 20g of the wholewheat flour with other whole flours such as rye or spelt

Healthy Gran Cereale Biscuits

Soft, chewy, delicious - packed with healthy ingredients and that little bit of sugar which makes them a real treat. Gran Cereale biscu...

Cantucci (or Biscotti, as they are called here in New Zealand) are one of the easiest treats to make and will turn your afternoon coffee break into a sophisticated dolce vita moment.

I love Sicilian flavours - lemon, pistachio, almonds. If I could, I'd put them into every dish ... and to be perfectly honest, I put lemon in most things I cook anyway ;). Cantucci originate in Prato, a town in northern Italy. This recipe combines the best of the Italian north and south in my opinion. They are super easy and fast to make.

Cantucci ai gusti Siciliani

makes 12 large or 18 small biscuits

140 g all purpose flour

1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp baking powder

75 g caster sugar

1 large egg

zest of 1 lemon, finely grated

1 pinch of salt

30 g toasted almonds, whole with skin on

25 g toasted pistachios, whole

20 g very dark chocolate (min 75%), coarsely chopped

Preheat the oven to 180ºC top and bottom heat (160ºC fan).

In a medium bowl, sift flour, cinnamon and baking powder together. Set aside.

In another bowl, whisk together the egg, sugar, salt and lemon zest until lightly foamy.

Pour the wet mixture into the bowl with the dry ingredients and combine just until you have a smooth dough. Add a little bit of flour if the dough is sticking to your fingers too much. Don't overwork the dough, you want the biscuits to be crumbly.

Lightly flour the kitchen bench, pat the dough out into a small rectangle and evenly distribute the nuts and chocolate over the dough. Roll into a sausage and knead very briefly to distribute the filling.

Shape the dough into an about 25-30 cm long thick roll. Shorter and wider for bigger biscuits, longer and smaller for smaller biscuits. Don't pat it flat, as some recipes suggest. It should be nice and round.

Bake on a tray lined with baking paper for 15-20 minutes until lightly golden.

Take out of the oven and let cool for a few minutes. With a serrated knife, slice the roll at an angle into diagonal pieces around 2 cm wide. Put the pieces back on the baking tray, cut side up, and bake for 8-10 minutes, turning them over half way through. Transfer to a wire rack and cool completely. Store in an airtight container.

Enjoy!

You can vary the amount of almonds and pistachios to your liking, but keep the overall weight about the same.

Cantucci ai gusti Siciliani - Biscotti with Sicilian flavours

Cantucci (or Biscotti, as they are called here in New Zealand) are one of the easiest treats to make and will turn your afternoon coffe...

Pandoro, which literally means "golden bread", is a traditional Italian Christmas sweet bread, originally from Verona in northern Italy. It is similar to Panettone, another sweet bread eaten at Christmas time, but much less rich and usually unfilled. It is incredibly fluffy and soft and smells deliciously of honey, vanilla and citrus zest - irresistible, if you ask me!

In Italy, no one in their right mind would make this bread at home, because it's readily available in supermarkets and bakeries for a good price. Here in Auckland on the other hand, one could spend a fortune on these overseas delicacies. So I decided to make it myself.

I've tried to make Panettone in the past, twice, and failed, twice. Someone told me that Pandoro is much easier to make and I have to agree. For this recipe, I merged two recipes from Bake Street and Tavolartegusto together and adjusted them to my liking. The result is a perfectly golden bread with the typical soft and chewy interior.

The process is a bit lengthy - it takes two to three days to make this bread. Don't try to rush it, the slow rise builds up the flavour gives the dough its characteristic structure. Make sure that you have the right type of flour, which is Manitoba flour, or at least very strong bread flour. I would prefer to have made this bread with fresh yeast, but couldn't get any on short notice. However, I found that active dry yeast worked well enough.

Also, I didn't have the typical star shaped Pandoro baking mould, which are available on Amazon or AliExpress. Luckily, my crown bundt tin worked a treat. The important thing is that you chose a baking mould that is tall and leaves enough room for the dough to rise. You don't want anything narrow as you want as much fluffy interior as possible.

Lastly, I don't recommend to attempt this without a sturdy stand mixer. In order to build up the gluten in this enriched dough, it requires a lot of kneading - 15-20 minutes after all the ingredients are added. I don't know how long it would take to knead this dough by hand.

The process has three "stages" of dough:

- the lievito, a wet pre-dough.
- the first dough in which you add flour, butter and egg to the lievito
- the second dough in which you add more flour, egg and the spice mix

After that butter is folded in, very much like when making puff pastry, and a series of folds are performed. I've added a few pictures of the dough at various stages before and after rising to give you an indication on what to expect. Happy baking!

Pandoro - Italian Sweet Christmas Bread

dough quantity is for a 1 kg Pandoro mould

Spice mix

2 tbsp runny honey

2 tsp vanilla essence (or seeds of 1 vanilla pod)

zest of 2 lemons or oranges or a mix (finely grated)

For the lievito

5 g active dry yeast

60 g water at room temperature

15g sugar

50 g Manitoba flour

1 large egg yolk (ca 20g)

For the 1st dough

200 g Manitoba flour

1g active dry yeast

25 g sugar

30 g unsalted butter at room temperature

10 g water

1 large egg

For the 2nd dough

200 g Manitoba flour

100 g sugar

2 large eggs

5 g salt

To fold in

140g soft butter at room temperature

Prepare the spice mix: Mix the ingredients for the spice mix in a small bowl the day before baking and let stand at room temperature.

Make the lievito: In the bowl of a stand mixer, combine water, sugar and yeast and let stand for a few minutes until the yeast has bloomed. Add the flour and egg yolk and mix until well combined. This will be a very wet mixture (see picture on the left below). Cover with cling film and let rise at room temperature until doubled in size. For me, at 26C, it took 1 hour, but depending on how warm it is in your house, it could be 1-2 hours. It's ready when you see lots of little bubbles appear on the surface.

Make the first dough: To the lievito in the stand mixer bowl, add sugar, yeast and egg and mix on low speed until you've got a fairly even dough. Add flour little by little. After the flour is well incorporated, add the butter in small pieces, waiting for each piece to be incorporated. Knead on medium speed for a few more minutes until the dough is smooth (see picture on the right below). Cover the bowl again with cling film and let rise until doubled in size, about 2-3 hours, at 25 C, but watch the dough. Mine took less time because it was warmer in my house.

Make the second dough: Again, in the bowl of the stand mixer with the first dough, add flour, sugar and spice mix to the dough and start mixing at medium speed. Add the eggs, one after the other, waiting for them to be incorporated before adding the next. Once they are well incorporated into the dough, add the salt. Keep kneading the dough at medium speed until the gluten is well developed, about 15-20 minutes. The dough should be slightly sticky, but leave the bowl clean.

You want to avoid the dough getting too warm. If necessary, cover the bowl with cling film and put the dough in the fridge for 10 minutes before continuing to knead it to keep it at room temperature.

With oiled hands shape the dough into a ball and put it into a large, slightly oiled bowl. Cover with cling film and let rise until almost doubled in size, about 2 hours at 25C. Again, watch the dough! For me it took only 1.5 hours.

Once risen, knock back the dough, give it a few kneads by hand and shape into a ball again. Put it back in the bowl, cover with cling film and two tea towels and put it in the fridge to rise for 12-24 hours. (See pics below after having knocked back the second dough and once out of the fridge after 16 hours)

Fold in the butter: Take the dough out of the fridge and let it come up to room temperature, about 1 hour. Lightly flour a surface and your rolling pin and roll out the dough into a 30 x 30 cm square. Distribute butter in the middle of the dough and smooth it with a blunt knife or cake spatula. Leave about 5 cm on each side of the square unbuttered.

Now fold the corners into the middle so that the butter is covered and it looks like an envelope. Make sure that you press down the edges to seal in the butter and that the butter doesn't leak out. Now carefully roll it out into a larger square, about 40 x 40 cm again. Fold in half, cover in cling film and put in the fridge for 45 minutes to rest. Repeat this process another 3 times, 4 in total. Always start with rolling the dough out in a square, then an envelope fold and rolling it out again, then fold in half and back in the fridge.

After the round of folds, tuck in the edges and shape the dough into a tight ball and put it in the cake mould. I had to make a hole in the middle, which you would normally not do if you had a proper Pandoro mould. Let rise at room temperature until it reaches the top of the cake tin, maybe a bit higher. This should take anywhere between 8 - 12 hours. If your dough is rising too fast, put it in the fridge after the first few hours and let it rise in the fridge.

Bake: About an hour before the cake is proofed, preheat the oven to 170C. Butter your cake mould really, really well. If the dough was rising in the fridge, take it out of the fridge 30 to 60 minutes prior to baking to give it another boost in rising. Bake for 15 minutes, then lower the temperature to 160C and bake for another 30-40 minutes. Cover with aluminium foil half way through to prevent it from browning too much. It rises still significantly while baking, so I recommend baking it on the lowest shelf. The bread is done when the interior temperature reaches 90C.

Let cool for 5 minutes in the tin, then invert and let cool completely. It dries out easily, so I suggest to stick it in a zip lock bag or large Tupperware dish as soon as it is cool. Dust with icing sugar before serving. Enjoy!

Pandoro - Italian Sweet Christmas Bread

Pandoro, which literally means "golden bread", is a traditional Italian Christmas sweet bread, originally from Verona in northern ...

I am a huge fan of J.R.R. Tolkien's "Lord of the Rings" and "The Hobbit". Naturally, I couldn't resist when I found a recipe for Beorn's twice baked honey cakes, which I adapted to my taste. The honey cakes mentioned in The Lord of the Rings are a travel food and keep for long. Not convinced that this is the case for these, however, I doubt they'll last longer than a couple of days in your house anyway.

When I started googling Beorn's honey cakes, a million and one different takes on the recipe showed up. This is one of the few that didn't have any refined sugar in it, which I loved (and which I think Beorn would approve of too ;)).

When I first looked at the recipe, I thought they would be overwhelmingly sweet and sticky. With the addition of lemon juice and zest to the glaze used before the second baking, however, they are utterly delicious. Sweet and satisfying, with a slight honey taste. In addition to the vanilla and nutmeg, I added a teaspoon of ground cinnamon to give the cakes even more warmth.

Next time I make them I will whip up some vanilla custard to go with it. The combination already makes my mouth water. I might have to pause writing this blog and make another batch of these right now!

Since the honey is the star ingredient, I advise you to use a good high quality honey as this will ultimately define the taste of the honey cakes. I used clover honey for the cakes and bush honey for the glaze as well as Meyer lemon zest and juice.

I am planning to try out these with orange zest and juice instead of lemon. I imagine this would be a fantastic variation for Christmas time.

Twice baked honey cakes

makes 12 small cakes

250 g all purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
scant 1/2 tsp sea salt

scant 1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg

2 eggs at room temperature

180 ml whole milk, slightly heated

120 g butter, room temperature + extra to grease the muffin tins

250 g runny honey

zest of 1 lemon

1 tsp vanilla essence

For the glaze

50 g runny honey

zest and juice of 1/2 lemon

A handful of sliced almonds as topping

Preheat the oven to 180C. Grease your muffin tins generously with butter. I used silicone ones and still greased them as you will need to take the cakes out of the tin after the first bake.

In a medium bowl, mix all dry ingredients including salt and spices together and add the lemon zest. Cut the butter into small cubes and work it into the flour mixture with your hands or a fork until it resembles grainy sand. Set aside.

In a small bowl, whisk together the slightly heated milk, eggs, vanilla and honey. Mix well until the ingredients are really well combined.

Pour the wet ingredient into the bowl with the flour mix and mix until just combined. Spoon the batter in the prepared muffin tins and bake for about 15-16 minutes until very light golden.

In the meantime, heat the honey over low heat until really runny. Whisk in the zest and juice of half a lemon to make the glaze. Let sit until the first bake of the muffins is complete.

When the first baking time is up, take the muffins out of the oven and out of the muffin tins. Put on a baking tray lined with a silicone mat or baking paper and brush liberally with the honey lemon glaze. Stick some sliced almonds on top of each cake. Let sit for about 10 minutes to allow the cakes to absorb the glaze.

Put the muffins back in the oven and bake for another 8-10 minutes until they are golden brown and slightly crisp on the outside.

Enjoy fresh out of the oven. The still taste amazing the day after.

Twice baked honey cakes

I am a huge fan of J.R.R. Tolkien's "Lord of the Rings" and "The Hobbit". Naturally, I couldn't resist when I fo...