Fennel and pistachio cookies

If you read my blog regularly, you'll know that I love creating recipes. Sometimes they work and other times they don't. I usually start with ingredients that I want to use and make it up as I go along. This month's AlphaBakes letter is F. One of the ideas I brainstormed was fennel so I started thinking about flavour combinations that would work. I had some pistachio nuts left over from making my first AlphaBakes entry so I knew I definitely wanted to use those. One of my colleagues at work can't eat sugar but is ok with honey or agave so I started thinking about a healthy-ish, no sugar recipe that incorporates fennel and pistachio and came up with this. There was a bit of experimenting in the kitchen but I think I finally got it right. 

It's quite a soft, crunchy cookie which seems a little dry when you first bite into it but the flavours slowly come alive in your mouth and you are left wanting more. The fennel complements the pistachio very well and the honey added a very subtle fragrance and pleasant sweetness. The wholemeal and spelt flour made it feel healthy with a satisfying crunch. 

As mentioned, I am entering this to AlphaBakes as F is for fennel. It's hosted by Caroline from Caroline Makes this month and co-hosted by myself on alternate months. 

I'm also entering this to Made with love Mondays hosted by Javelin Warrior where the idea is to make everything from scratch. 

As fennel is a herb, I'm also entering it to Cooking with Herbs/Herbs on Saturday hosted by Karen from Lavender and Lovage. 

 olive oil, fennel seeds, honey, wholemeal flour, pistachios

 blitz the pistachios briefly until it's coarsely ground. Add all the other ingredients and mix well. 

 top with a sprinkling of chopped pistachios

 

An original recipe by bakingaddict

Makes 26 cookies

200g wholemeal flour
50g spelt flour
80mls honey
60mls olive oil
1.5 tablespoons water
1 heaped teaspoon fennel seeds
70g pistachios
1 egg

• Preheat the oven to 170C.
• Place the pistachios in a food processor and blitz in 10 second bursts until it's coarsely ground. 
• Set aside approximately 2 tablespoons to sprinkle on top of cookies before baking.
• Add the remaining ingredients into the processor and blitz until you get a dough like consistency - the dough will be quite sticky. 
• Place a small scoopful of cookie dough spaced apart on a lined baking sheet. 
• Sprinkle some of the reserved chopped pistachios on top of each cookie and bake for approximately 8 - 10 minutes until it's golden brown at the edges. 
• Allow to cool on the tray for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely. 

Rosemary and walnut biscuits

This is a really simple recipe with great results. When I was brainstorming ideas for AlphaBakes 'R', I thought of raspberries, rhubarb and rosemary. I've already baked something with the first 2 ingredients so I started looking for recipes with rosemary. I had previously bookmarked a rosemary and parmesan biscuit but came across this on BBC Good Food and decided to give it a go. I'm so glad I did as it turned out beautifully. The rosemary was really fragrant although a lot of people could not guess what it was initially. The taste is subtle but definitely present and complemented the walnuts. This is a lovely, buttery shortbread with the distinct aroma and flavour of rosemary and crunch of walnuts. 

As mentioned, I am entering this to AlphaBakes which I am hosting this month. This challenge is co-hosted by Caroline from Caroline Makes. The letter for June 2013 is 'R' for rosemary. 

I very rarely get a chance to join in Herbs on Saturday hosted by Karen from Lavender and Lovage as I don't often bake with herbs so I'm really excited to participate this month. 

 rosemary & walnuts 

 cookie dough

knead in the chopped nuts 

 shape into a log and refrigerate

 slice and bake 

 delicious! 

Recipe from BBC Good Food 

325g plain flour
200g salted butter
125g caster sugar
2 egg yolks
2 tsp rosemary, finely chopped
60g walnuts, chopped

• Put the flour and butter in a food processor and whizz until the mixture looks like breadcrumbs. 
• Add the sugar, egg yolks and rosemary and whizz to a dough. 
• Tip onto a lightly floured work surface and knead in the walnuts. 
• Shape into a log about 5cm across. 
• Wrap in plastic and chill for an hour.
• Heat the oven to 180C/fan 160/gas 4. 
• Slice the dough into biscuits and arrange on a buttered baking sheet. 
• Bake for 20 minutes then cool.

Strawberry Basil Cake

I had some leftover strawberry puree from making my neapolitan cake and initially decided to make a strawberry cake as it was my favourite layer of the cake. I then got to thinking about what would pair well with strawberries and thought of my favourite herb basil. It's basically a sponge cake with pureed strawberry and basil mixed in. It was really aromatic and tasted amazing. It has a banana bread like texture and you can definitely taste the basil. Not too exciting to look at but absolutely delicious! I imagine it would be great served warm with a strawberry puree! 

I'm entering this to Javelin Warrior's Made with love Mondays where the idea is to make something from scratch. This is about as fresh as you can get. No artificial flavours or colours!

I'm also entering it to Herbs on Saturday hosted by Karen from Lavender and Lovage. Basil is my favourite herb and I've baked with it a few times now.

 blend fresh strawberries and basil leaves... 

... into a puree 

 bundt cakes always look good :) 

 You can just about see the flecks of strawberry and basil in the cake

An original recipe by bakingaddict

250g butter

270g sugar (I added a little bit more as strawberries are out of season and are slightly sour)

400g self raising flour

225g fresh strawberries

large handful of basil leaves

2 eggs

• Preheat the oven to 180C.
• Wash, hull and dry the strawberries.
• Blitz the strawberries with the fresh basil leaves into a puree. 
• Cream the butter and sugar.
• Add the eggs one at a time.
• Mix in the flour.
• Add the strawberry basil puree and mix until well incorporated.
• Pour into a bundt tin ( or any cake tin) and bake for approximately 40-45 minutes or until well risen, golden brown and a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. 

Sage, Thyme and Emmental Madeleines

My regular readers will know that I love entering blogging challenges. I think I've mentioned previously that sometimes I happen to bake something or I've already planned a bake that will fit. Other times, I will create a recipe specially for the challenge. I really enjoy creating my own recipes which are usually based around the ingredients I want to use. 

Karen from Lavender and Lovage hosts Herbs on Saturday where you can submit any recipe with herbs. I love this challenge as it gets me thinking how I can incorporate herbs into my baking. Last month, I submitted lemon, lime and basil cookies so this month I decided I'd get out of my comfort zone and bake something savoury. I had a few ideas but in the end I decided to bake savoury madeleines. Yes madeleines which are not sweet!! They were a real hit with everyone particularly those without a sweet tooth (I get a few regular requests for savoury bakes!). 

Sage was the predominant flavour here and I may have been a little generous with my herbs so they were quite strong but not overpowering. I chose emmental cheese as it's one of my favourites but the flavour was quite mild. The madeleines smelt amazing whilst baking and they tasted like light cornbread with herby notes. The recipe is based loosely on a Martha Stewart recipe and I am already thinking about different combinations of herbs/spices and cheese to use. They were lovely on their own but would also make a great side dish to your main meal or provide an alternative bread accompaniment.  

As these were made from scratch and with lots of love, I'm entering them to Made with Love Mondays hosted by Javelin Warrior where the theme is to cook from scratch. 

I'm also entering them to Simple and in Season started by Ren from Fabulicious Food and guest hosted this month by Laura from How to Cook Good Food as sage is in season.

 simple recipe with few ingredients = cornmeal, cheese, sage and thyme 

 brown the butter - important for the flavour, do not skip this step! 

 lovely chopped , fresh herbs - a generous portion as you can see!  

 dry ingredients and wet ingredients- mix!

 adding the herbs and cheese 

 ready to go in the oven 

 fresh from the oven 

 I also made some muffins with tomatoes for breakfast. I found these teeny, tiny tomatoes called tomberries at the supermarket - really sweet and juicy!

 I actually preferred them with the tomatoes as the acid helped to lift the flavours. 

 with herbs and cheese 

Recipe adapted from Martha Stewart

(Makes ~36 madeleines and 8 muffins I think - I can't remember now but it makes a lot of madeleines!! Would recommend halving the recipe if you only want a small batch) 

113g butter

250g plain flour

160g cornmeal (polenta)

50g sugar

2 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda

2 teaspoon salt

4 eggs

2 cups milk

3.5 tablespoons of chopped sage

1 tablespoon thyme

100g cheese, grated 

• Preheat the oven to 170C.
• Grease and flour a madeleine pan.  
• Melt the butter in a small saucepan until lightly browned. 
• In a large bowl, whisk together the cornmeal, sugar, bicarbonate of soda and salt.
• In a separate bowl, which the eggs, milk and slightly cooled browned butter (you don't want to cook the eggs!).
• Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and mix. 
• Finally stir in the chopped herbs and cheese. 
• Pour into a madeleine pan and bake for 8 - 10 minutes. 

Lemon, Lime and Basil Cookies

Time for something different from all the fancy cupcakes and Jubilee baking. Back to basics with fresh, simple ingredients. I saw these on Chasing Delicious and bookmarked them immediately. You have to click through to see the awesome pictures and read the beautiful post. I'm so pleased I finally got round to making these as they are delicious!! I love citrus and the addition of basil is inspired. You can really taste the freshness of the citrus and the smell and taste of the basil is lovely. Everyone really enjoyed this at work and I had a few requests for the recipe. 

I made very minor modifications to the recipe as it's such a good one. I decided to add in some lemon and lime juice for extra citrus zing! The batter was not too liquid but required a few extra minutes of cooking time. I also used plain flour as I didn't have bread flour as specified in the original recipe and it worked fine. 

I'm entering this to multiple challenges as I am a bakingaddict and a challenge-addict. Plus I love killing many birds with one stone (no animals were harmed in the making of these!)

First up I am going to enter this to Simple and in Season as basil is currently in season as are lemons. Simple and in Season is run by Ren from Fabulicious Food and hosted this month by Urvashi from The Botanical Baker. 

Next I am entering this to Herbs on a Saturday hosted by Karen from Lavender and Lovage.

As this recipe uses fresh ingredients I'm also entering it to Made with love Mondays hosted by Javelin Warrior's Cookin' w/ Luv where the idea is to make foods from scratch. 

I am also entering it to Bookmarked Recipes hosted by Jacqueline from Tinned Tomatoes as I've had this recipe bookmarked for ages! 

Finally I am entering it to One Ingredient Challenge where the theme is Lemons. This is a monthly family friendly cooking challenge hosted by Laura from How to Cook Good Food and Nazima from Working London Mummy.

 my lovely fresh ingredients - basil, lime and lemon

 adding chopped basil to the batter 

 lovely cookie dough

 

 How many would you like? :) 

Recipe adapted from Chasing Delicious - published with kind permission from the author

Makes approximately 24 cookies of the size shown

(My modifications are highlighted in blue)

113g butter, at room temperature
170g caster sugar
1 egg
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
Zest from 1 lemon
Zest from 1 lime
2 tablespoons basil leaves, finely chopped
200g plain flour
1/2 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
1/2 teaspoon salt

Optional:
2 tablespoons lemon juice 

1 tablespoon lime juice 
Note - if adding juice, the cookies need to be cooked for a few minutes longer

• Preheat an oven to 190°C. 
• Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
• Cream the sugar and butter together until it is light and fluffy.
• Add the egg, vanilla, zests and basil and mix in well.
• Add in the lemon and lime juice if using.
• Add the flour, bicarbonate of soda and salt. 
• Mix well.
• Spoon the dough onto the lined baking sheets. I used an ice-cream scoop. 
• Bake in a preheated oven for 10 to 12 minutes - you may need 15 minutes with the addition of the juice. 
• Allow to cool for a couple minutes before removing from the baking sheet.

Cheese, tomato and herb twists

Following the success of my chocolate and cheese twists, I decided to make some more traditional cheese, tomato and herb twists. They are really easy to make and are quite addictive to eat! They are great as party foods or a snack. Best eaten fresh from the oven but still tasted good the next day. The smell of the cheese and herbs are amazing. You can make so many different variations - bacon and cheese, bacon cheese & tomato, ham and cheese, tomato and basil ..... whatever you fancy! 

If you live in the UK, Jus Rol pastry are offering a free Le Creuset stoneware dish with 4 tokens (1 pack = 1 token) plus p&p. A pretty good deal so I thought I'd share it with you (I have not been paid by them in any way, I just wanted to share the news in case you were interested) So this is my second roll of puff pastry, look out for at least 2 more recipes featuring puff or shortcrust pastry! 

I am entering these to Herbs on Saturday hosted by Karen from Lavender and Lovage. 

 roll out a sheet of puff pastry. Brush beaten egg on one side, turn it over and spread tomato puree on top as shown. 

 sprinkle liberally with grated cheese 

 add dried herbs and a little bit of cracked black pepper 

 slice into strips 

 twist and bake according to the packet instructions 

 enjoy!