and just tuck in
Cherry Chocolate Cheesecake Brownies.
Now that’s a mouthful! These brownies are much lighter than most other brownie recipes this means that just one piece isn’t enough- even more than usual! You could substitute cherries for nuts if you prefered, or even other fruit, but I think cherries work the best.
This recipe is basically the same as the cinnamon and raisin scones that I posted last month, except using cheese and tomatoes it gives it such a differnet flavour. I think I actually prefer savoury scones to the sweet ones- apart from if the sweet ones have dolops of clotted cream on them!
Serves 4
Ingredients
3 ripe pears, peeled and cored
2 tbls fresh lemon juice
1 tbls caster sugar
1 tbls amaretto liqueur
50g icing sugar
1 tbls cocoa powder
25g ground almonds
1 egg white
1. Preheat the oven to 160C/ 325F/ Gas 3
2. Cut pears in 1cm cubes. Place in saucepan with lemon juice and caster sugar and cook over a medium heat for 12 minutes, stirring occasionally.
3. When they are cooked pour the amaretto over the pears, then spoons the pears with the juices into 4 x 150ml ramekins.
4. To prepare the topping sift the icing sugar and the cocoa powder into a bowl. Stir in the ground almonds.
5. In a separate bowl which the egg white until stiff. Gently fold the egg white into the dry ingredients.
6. Spoon the chocolate meringue mix over the pears and shake the ramekins to level it. Bake in the middle of the oven for 20 mins until the topping is firm to the touch. Serve warm and enjoy.
This was my first attempt at this recipe (taken from BBC Good Food Website). I think it went pretty well for a first time. Tasted really nice, though I think I would prefer to have more chocolate on top, about 1 1/2 times the amount as it didn’t quite cover the pears as much as I would have liked. I would also like to try soaking the pears in the amaretto overnight so that more of the flavour was captured by them. Overall though very yummy, a good mix of fruit and chocolate. And quite quick to make.
This recipe was adapted from my Pooh’s Cook Book. The original recipe was honey and raisin, but I didn’t have any honey in the house.
Makes 9-12 Scones
8oz self-raising flour
1/2 level teaspoon salt
1oz butter
1 level tablespoon castor sugar
2 tablespoons seedless raisins
1 egg
4 tablespoons milk
cinnamon
Pre heat the oven to 400F/ Gas 6
1. Sift flour and salt and then rub in the butter.
2. Add the sugar, raisins, cinnamon, mix well and make a hollow in the centre.
3. In a measuring jug break the egg and add enough milk to make the liquid up to 1/4 pint. Mix well with a fork.
4. Pour the liquid into the centre of the four, and with a fork mix to a rough dough.
5. Turn out onto a floured working surface and knead lightly.
6. Roll out to about 1/2″ in thickness, cut out using a round cutter and place onto a lightly floured baking tray.
7. Dust lightly with flour and place in the over for 12 minutes.
I really enjoy making scones- they are very easy, but also very quick to cook. These cheese ones are great as it satisfies the savoury palette as well as being a baked good. Great served with butter.
Ingredients
225g/ 8oz self-raising flour
pinch of salt
55g/ 2oz butter
1 egg
50g/ 1 3/4oz blue Stilton
1 tbsp chopped fresh parsley
5 tbsp milk
1. Preheat the oven to 220C/ 425F/ Gas 7
2. Lightly grease a baking sheet with butter
3. Rub together the flour, salt and butter until it resembles breadcrumbs
4. Add the chopped Stilton, parsley and eggs
5. Gradually add the milk to form a thick dough
6. Roll on a floured surface, and then cut into squares using pastry cutter
7. Bake in the over for 8-10 minutes, or until golden brown
This was my first attempt at making a tart- and it tasted
pretty good even if I do say so myself. I found this recipe in one
of my files- I had torn it out of a Good Homes magazine from May
2007, and thought I would give it a whirl. I found it easy to
follow, easy to make, and it tasted delicious. I used big beef
tomatoes, and found I didn’t actually use the whole 500g but that’s
up to personal preference. I used a 20cm cake tin rather than a
baking sheet- but this made it a little too thick so I would
recommend either using a larger cake tin or just a flat tray. 
Serves 4
Ready in 50 minutes
1 medium potato, peeled and chopped
1 onion, finely chopped
85g/3oz cold butter chopped
7 sprigs fresh thyme or 1 tsp dried
140g/5oz plain flour
500g/ 1lb 2oz tomatoes thickly sliced
1 tbsp red wine vinegar
100g/4oz soft goat’s cheese
Olive oil for drizzling
1. Turn theoven to 200°C (180°C fan)/390°F/Gas 6. Boil the potato for 12
minutes then drain.
2. Fry the onion in 25g/1oz of butter for five minutes until it starts to brown. Strip the leaves from four sprigs
of thyme and add to the pan, or add half the dried thyme.
3. Rub the remaining butter into the flour. Mash the potato, add to the
mixture with seasoning and the onion and any pan juices. Mix to a
soft dough, then press into a 23cm round on a greased baking sheet.
4. Arrange the tomatoes on the dough and drizzle over the vinegar.
Sprinkle over the remaining thyme and season. Crumble over the
cheese, drizzle with oil, then bake for 35 minutes until the base
is golden.
Abandon Spoon! 