The New Super Hero in the Kitchen

Recipes by Nadiya Hussain

Nadiya Hussain's Chocolate and Orange Blossom Baklava

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Nadiya Hussain's Choc Chip Pan Cookie

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Nadiya Hussain's Strawberry Milkshake Funnel Cake

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Nadiya Hussain's Baked Bean Falafel

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Nadiya Hussain's Apple Palm Pies

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Nadiya Hussain's Savoury French Toast

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Nadiya Hussain's Chicken Shawarma

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Nadiya Hussain's Egg Rolls

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Nadiya Hussain's Instant Noodles

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Nadiya Hussain's Peanut Butter and Jelly Traybake

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With thanks to The Happy Foodie.

I have just watched Nadiya's Time To Eat on Netflix and this lady is AHHHHMAZING!! What she does with baked beans is just genius.

Beautiful Baguette Saturday

Pretty darn pleased with myself for a first attempt at making baguette. And they taste awesome with a little salted butter on them though more like a sour dough, hard crust, air bubbles and a little chewy. Yum! 

For 4 smaller or 2 large baguette:

1/4 tsp dry active Rapid Rise Yeast

(Note: if you want to use a traditional bread technique, add the whole package of dried yeast or 2 1/4 tsp) 

1 1/2 cups water (325 grams)

1 3/4 tsp salt

18 oz by weight all-purpose flour (500 grams), about 4 cups

- Mix dough and let rise 12-14 hours or until doubled

- Punch down and shape loaves, let rise covered with floured plastic 1 to 1 1/2 hr or until almost doubled

- Bake at 550 F. Place a baking tray of water in oven before heating as steam is important for the process 

- Spray baguettes with water before baking, at 5 minutes, and at 10 minutes during cooking time
- Bake about 15 minutes or until well-browned

Bread making has always been my nemesis even though I'm a pretty decent baker. I have a great bread maker and that worked fabulously with malted grain flour that they 'used' to stock in Sultan Centre but they no longer have it. The normal bread flour as a loaf made in my bread maker became a little boring. So I found this recipe it looked pretty easy and although it is a lengthy procedure, it's well worth it. So prep it the night before, it takes 2-3 minutes and in the morning - punch down, shape, reproof, wait, bake and enjoy.

Wilton Cake Decorating Classes at Tavola

Wilton Method Buttercream Skills Classes

Oh My! Pumpkin Pie Pancakes at My House

Will definitely be making these again. I'm making a Thanksgiving dinner tonight for friends which includes my two American friends who are leaving Kuwait for good so it's a Thanks-For-Being-A-Friend night send-off. I had to do a pecan pie, of course, and decided to do a pumpkin pie too as I had plenty of pie dough left over and all the ingredients plus I'm sure they will love it. As a baker's treat God would have it that I had enough pumpkin pie filling left over to turn into pumpkin pie pancakes and they were delish. See if you do good then good (yumminess) will come back to you.

INGREDIENTS

1 1⁄4 cups all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon baking powder
1⁄2 teaspoon ginger powder
1⁄2 teaspoon nutmeg
1⁄2 teaspoon salt
1 pinch clove/optional
1 cup milk
6 tablespoons canned pumpkin puree
2 tablespoons melted butter
2 eggs

METHOD

Whisk flour, sugar, baking powder, spices and salt in a bowl.
In a separate bowl whisk together milk, pumpkin, melted butter, and egg.
Fold mixture into dry ingredients.
Spray or grease a skillet and heat over medium heat: pour in 1/4 cup batter for each pancake.
Cook pancakes about 3 minutes per side. Serve with butter and maple syrup.
Makes about six 6-inch pancakes.

Heavenly. 

Just read they can be frozen so will be making a big batch soon. Wrap individually in wax paper to stop sticking.

Quick And Easy Afternoon Fruit Bundt Cake

Tastes really good there was a little of the batter left over so I made me a fruit cake pancake because I couldn't possibly wait until 5pm. You know I like to cheat with my recipes so if you need a quick easy delicious fruit cake recipe let me know.

Easy Quick Delicious Cheaper Home Made Granola

I make granola once a week because it tastes great and I know what's in it. 

I'm always horrified to see so much sugar in shop bought ones. 

Give it a go..

Easy, Quick Delicious Home Made Granola

Tin of Al Alali oats 400g

1/2 cup of dried coconut (desiccated or sweetened up to you)

3 tsp of cinnamon powder

1/2 cup of sunflower seeds

1 cup chopped walnuts (On sale at Saveco kd 3.900 per kg buy and freeze)

1 cup of chopped hazlenuts 

(or nuts of your choice ie. pecan, almond, more walnuts)

1/2 cup of honey

1/2 cup of oil (corn, sunflower or canola)

 1 cup of dried cranberries (City Centre has them reasonably priced)

(or raisins, currants)

1/4 cup of water

Method

Mix all together except for the dried cranberries (raisins, currants) as they will get hard if cooked too long. Place in large oven proof dish or tray, put in oven at 300F/170C for 10 mins. Take out and mix well, add dried cranberries return to oven for 10-15 mins. Mix well and let cool.

xoxo

This makes a tasty snack with milk anytime of day or mix with yoghurt and leave in fridge overnight for yummy breakfast.

Keep in an airtight container.

I'm just drying out some apples in the oven which I will try with my yummy granola later.

Enjoy!

Happy Halloween - The Brain Cake

This was so much fun to make and the kids loved it. Truly not that difficult [link]. Happy Halloween. 

Perfect Kids Party Idea

Kids Cookery Lessons at Saveco

Tah Dah....Unicorn Cake

An engineering feat. 

My buddy, Dana, and I made this for birthday girl Michelle last week and it did eventually work out and the ears didn't fall off or flop and the colours didn't run but it was at times rather.... trying. 

Tasted great. 

A coconut sponge cake and raspberry buttercream with marshmallow fondant yumminess. So glad the birthday girl loved it. A number of trees were used in supporting the horn and ears.

Difficulty - medium
Lessons learned - plenty. 

Email me if you need some tips or recipes. LWDLIK@gmail.com. 

Food For The Gods - Heavenly Blondies

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
• 1/4 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 cup butter
• 1 cup dark brown sugar
• 1 cup white sugar
• 3 eggs
• 30ml Karo syrup or honey
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1 cup chopped dates
• 1 cup chopped walnuts
• Optional 1 cup of chopped dried figs or dried apricots 

Instructions

1. Sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Set aside.
2. Beat together butter and the two sugars. 
3. Add the eggs one at a time. Add Karo syrup and vanilla.
4. Add flour to the batter, mix until just combined
5. Fold in dates, walnuts and optional figs or apricots.
6. Pour batter over a lined 9x13 pan and bake at 350F/180C for 40 mins or until done.
7. Cool completely before cutting into bars.

Enjoy! 

Starring My Yummy Tiramisu

Remember 'Life is short, eat dessert first'.

Recipe here.

Short video, too eager to eat it.

Impressive Pavlova Easy Recipe

Pavlova Recipe:

4 large (120 grams) egg whites

1 cup (200 grams) superfine (castor)sugar or powder sugar

1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1 teaspoon white vinegar

1/2 tablespoon cornstarch (corn flour)

Topping:

1 cup (240 ml) heavy whipping cream

1 1/2 tablespoons (20 grams) powder sugar(or to taste)

1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Berries, chocolate sauce.

Preheat oven to 250 degrees F (130 degrees C) and place rack in center of oven. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and draw a 7 inch (18 cm) circle on the paper. Turn the parchment paper over so the circle is on the reverse side.

In the bowl of your electric mixer, with the whisk attachment, beat the egg whites on medium speed until they hold soft peaks. Start adding the sugar, a tablespoon at a time, and continue to beat, on high speed, until the meringue holds very stiff and shiny peaks. (Test to see if the sugar is fully dissolved by rubbing a little of the meringue between your thumb and index finger. The meringue should feel smooth, not gritty. If it feels gritty the sugar has not fully dissolved so keep beating until it feels smooth between your fingers). Beat in the vanilla extract. Sprinkle the vinegar and cornstarch over the top of the meringue and, with a rubber spatula, gently fold in. Spread the meringue inside the circle drawn on the parchment paper, smoothing the edges, making sure the edges of the meringue are slightly higher than the center. (You want a slight well in the center of the meringue to place the whipped cream and fruit.)

Bake for 60 to 75 minutes or until the outside is dry and is a very pale cream color. Turn the oven off, leave the door slightly ajar, and let the meringue cool completely in the oven. (The outside of the meringue will feel firm to the touch, if gently pressed, but as it cools you will get a little cracking and you will see that the inside is soft and marshmallowy.) 

The cooled meringue can be made and stored in a cool dry place, in an airtight container, for a few days. 

Just before serving gently place the meringue onto a serving plate. Whip the cream in your electric mixer, with the whisk attachment, until soft peaks form. Sweeten with the sugar and vanilla and then mound the softly whipped cream into the center of the meringue. Arrange the fruit randomly, or in a decorative pattern, on top of the cream. Serve immediately as this dessert does not hold for more than a few hours.

Serves 6 to 8.

Read more and view on Youtube: http://www.joyofbaking.com/Pavlova.html#ixzz4lr4SaY6t

Top tip: Make sure you feel the pavlova and it has started to harden whilst baking in oven, if it hasn't give it more time. Once done I keep the door closed and leave over night or for as long as possible to cool down slowly in the oven. 

Always a huge hit!

The Best Tiramisu Recipe

Dessert Cuisine: Italian 
Servings: 9 
Calories: 490 kcal 
Author: Chef Dennis Littley 

Ingredients 6 large egg yolks 1 cup sugar (201 gm) 1 1/4 cup mascarpone cheese - room temperature (284 gm) 1 3/4 cup heavy whipping cream (420 ml) 2 -7 oz packages Italian Lady fingers (Savoiardi) 1 cup cold espresso or strong coffee (240 ml) 1/2 cup coffee flavored Liqueur optional (120 ml) 1 ounce cocoa for dusting (30 gm) Instructions 

1. Combine egg yolks and sugar in the top of a double boiler, over boiling water. Reduce heat to low, and cook for about 10 minutes, stirring constantly. This is your sabayon, remove from the heat and whip yolks until thick and lemon colored. Let cool.

2. Add Mascarpone to whipped yolks, beat until combined. 

3. In a separate bowl, whip cream to stiff peaks. 

4. Gently fold the whipped cream in the mascarpone sabayon mixture and set aside. The mascarpone does not have to be at room temperature, but it will help it mix in easier if it is. Take it out of the refrigerator as you gather ingredients to make the recipe. 

5. Mix the cold espresso with the coffee liquor and dip the lady fingers into the mixture just long enough to get them wet, do not soak them! 

6. Arrange the lady fingers in the bottom of a 9 inch square baking dish (or container similarly sized) 

7. Spoon half the mascarpone cream filling over the lady fingers. 

8. Repeat process with another layer of lady fingers and cream. 9. Refrigerate 4 hours or overnight. 

9. Sieve/sprinkle a thin layer of the cocoa powder on top.

Okay now for my twist...

Instead of mascarpone cheese, which is frightfully expensive, you can just double the whipped cream (I use 3 small KDD red whipping cream whip until thick). 
And I use 1 additional small cream heated and then add in 250grms of dark chocolate (Al Seedawi is fine) and a tablespoon of powder sugar this will give you a chocolate sauce which you can pour onto the layer of sponge fingers before you add the cream/sabayon mix. 

I add 1 teaspoon of sugar to my strong black coffee (1 and a 1/2 tsp of instant coffee per cup of boiling water, you may need more than one cup depending on how much your sponge fingers soak up).

1 more box of only whipped cream for piping on the very top or spread it on. Then sprinkle with cocoa powder.

 So that's 1.250 ltrs total of whipping cream. Which is why it's delicious


Top tip: Make sure everything has cooled (coffee, sabayon, chocolate) before using and layering.


Both recipes are fab! Enjoy!

Now you have 6 egg whites left over to make a fab Pavlova see next recipe.

Um Ali The English way

Don't get me wrong I love Um Ali anyway I can get it. The Egyptian way is delicious. But yesterday for iftar with the family I decided on a less moist more fancy bread pudding blend and it was delish.

So we'll call it Um Sheikha :OP

Um Ali'esque Warm Pudding Heaven -  Serves 8.

8 honey croissants - Al Fayasel family pack were good

Custard

1 cup total of chopped nuts, sweetened coconut, yellow raisins, pistachios

Mix into nut mixture a 1/2 tsp powdered cinnamon and 1/2 tsp of powder cardamom

Thick cream 250g 

Powder sugar

Yep that's it. Place in warm oven 10-15 minutes at 180c. Voila! Did I tell you I love easy recipes. 

So mix up your custard - I make a homemade recipe (see below) but you can do it from a tin or buy it in a can. Just put the custard about two inches deep in the pan and rip up your croissants and place into custard. Leave the top of the croissants exposed and not in custard to get crunchy when heated. Sprinkle with 3/4 of the chopped nuts, sweetened coconut, yellow raisins, pistachios. Place in oven. At last 3 mins add the cream just splodge it around as to not cover all the crunchy croissant. Put back in oven for a few more minutes. Remove, sprinkle remaining 1/4 cup of nuts, sweetened coconut, yellow raisins, pistachios. Use a sieve and sprinkle 1 tsp of powder sugar all over the top. Serve warm.

Best and easiest custard recipe ever

In a heavy base sauce pan put 8 tbsp of cornflour, whisk in 900ml of full fat milk slowly, 8 egg yolks, 170g sugar, 2 tsp vanilla, 1/2 tsp salt.

Place on med-high heat and whisk until it starts to boil. Takes around 3-5 minutes but you have to stay with it stirring it or it will burn. You can stop at this stage because you will cook the custard more in the oven for this recipe. 

If using the custard alone or for another recipe then keep cooking until thickened takes a few minutes more.

Enjoy!