Tag Archives: BAL

23/06/2018 · 9:29 pm

Fantastic Bake Along – Maple scones

FantasticBakeAlong

Happy Saturday everyone!

Like every month, I’m participating in the Fantastic Bake Along hosted by Tracy @itsatsweetday. This time, Tracy is also our star baker and she chose an amazing recipe for Maple scones, which you can find on her blog.

It was actually very funny because I had never made scones before this month, but I decided last week to make scones to have with cream and jam, with no idea that scones would also be this month’s bake along recipe. This recipe was quite different from the one I’ve been using though. It was quite a fast recipe to make and I really liked the addition of vanilla extract to the dough, it really gives it a nice flavour.

I followed exactly the recipe, except that I used a cookie cutter to make my scones rather that just cutting them roughly.

Fifteen minutes later, they were perfectly baked and ready to eat. And how yummy were they!

If you are interested in participating, contact Tracy and you can also follow my Pinterest board where I will be adding all the recipes for the Bake Along.

Please also check out the other amazing bakers/cooks normally participating in the Fantastic BAL

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20/05/2018 · 10:21 am

Fantastic Bake Along – Rosemary Muffins

FantasticBakeAlong

Happy Sunday everyone!

Like every month, I’m participating in the Fantastic Bake Along hosted by Tracy @itsatsweetday. This month’s star baker is Brenna from Crochet539 and she chose a delicious recipe for savoury muffins, which you can find on Taste of Home. I’m sorry I’m a bit late for this one, I actually had the muffins made (and eaten) on Friday but I didn’t get around to post yesterday as I was super busy with doing my first ever spinning class! (more about that on Monday)

Anyway, the muffin recipe was super easy to follow, I just made a few modifications. I don’t like the taste of baking soda so I just doubled the quantity of baking powder instead. I also used olive oil instead of canola oil as I always cook and bake with olive oil (I don’t even think I have any canola oil in my cupboard). I also replaced the wheat flour with just plain flour and best of all, I used my special mediterranean herb mustard instead of standard Dijon mustard.

The batter looked amazing, and ever more so with the addition of the goat’s cheese, rosemary and olives. Then it was in the oven for 25-30 minutes and ready to eat!

You may notice that there are not quite 12 muffins in the plate, as hubby and I couldn’t help but have a muffin straight away (before I could even remember to take a picture for you guys)!

Those were hands down the best muffin we’ve had and I’m sure I’ll make them again! Hubby did suggest that next time, I had some bacon bits to them and I think that’s a brilliant idea.

How did your bake turn out?

If you are interested in participating, contact Tracy and you can also follow my Pinterest board where I will be adding all the recipes for the Bake Along.

Please also check out the other amazing bakers/cooks normally participating in the Fantastic BAL

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14/04/2018 · 11:22 am

Fantastic Bake Along – Crazy for Caramel

FantasticBakeAlong

Happy Saturday everyone!

Like every month, I’m participating in the Fantastic Bake Along hosted by Tracy @itsatsweetday. We actually had a break last month due to poor Tracy having wrist surgery but it’s good to be back! This month, AJ from A petite slice of life chose the recipe and I was pretty excited knowing that she is lactose intolerant and coeliac (which meant no dairy and no gluten). Aj chose a recipe for a caramel recipe, which you can find here on Tracy’s blog.

Now, I’ve made caramel before but never without milk or butter so that was certainly a first! And I’m afraid I failed somewhat 🙈

Everything was going well, I had my ingredients together in the pan, leaving them to boil. That’s when I noticed that the mixture was not taking a caramel colour at all. I was a bit worried but decided to leave it for a bit longer. After a while longer though, it still wasn’t changing colour and I was afraid it would split so I decided to pour it into my dish. I’m not sure what I did wrong but it was NOT easy to cut into pieces afterwards. I feel like this wasn’t really a success but it was still edible and I now have some caramel in the fridge so I can’t complain too much! Looking forward to see what other participants thought though.

If you are interested in participating, contact Tracy and you can also follow my Pinterest board where I will be adding all the recipes for the Bake Along.

Please also check out the other amazing bakers/cooks normally participating in the Fantastic BAL

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17/02/2018 · 3:25 pm

Fantastic Bake Along – Ode to chocolate

FantasticBakeAlong

Happy Saturday everyone!

Like every month, I’m participating in the Fantastic Bake Along hosted by Tracy @itsatsweetday. This month’s host is Tammy from TangleWoodKnots and she decided on chocolate recipes, which was perfect with Valentine’s day. Tami made chocolate peppermint patties but we could all choose our own recipe and so I decided to make choux filled with chocolate mousse. Yum!

The choux recipe is as follow:

130 g flour
200 mL of water
75 g of butter
3 eggs
1 pinch of salt
1 tbs of sugar

Boil the water, butter, salt and sugar in a pot

Pour all the flour in one go and mix on the stove on low heat until the dough becomes dry and forms a ball

Remove from the heat, let cool slightly and add the eggs one by one, making sure to stir well to incorporate into the dough (you really need to work those eggs in hard, or the dough won’t be right)

Make the choux using either a table spoon or a piping bag (I used a zip lock back with one of the corners cut)

Bake at 180°C for 25-30 min or until golden

Making choux might sound a bit hard but it is actually simpler than it seems, and I was super pleased with the result.

The chocolate mousse recipe on the other hand is actually so easy and probably fail proof!

You will need:

100 g chocolate (dark or milk, I used dark for my recipe)
3 eggs
1 tbs of sugar

Melt the chocolate (you can do it in a bowl over a pan of boiling water or use the lazy option like I did and melt it in the microwave by using short bursts at max power)

Separate the yolks from the whites

Add the sugar to the yolks and mix with the chocolate

Beat the whites to stiff peaks and incorporate into the chocolate mixture gently as to not make them go down

Put in the fridge for a couple of hours

All that was left to do was to assemble the choux. I used a sharp knife to make little cuts at the bottom of the choux and then I piped the chocolate mousse into the choux using a piping bag and voila!

Delicious chocolate mousse filled choux!

I would love to see your bakes so don’t hesitate to leave a comment if you have participated in this month’s Bake along. I’m already looking forward to next month!

If you are interested in participating, contact Tracy and you can also follow my Pinterest board where I will be adding all the recipes for the Bake Along.

Please also check out the other amazing bakers/cooks normally participating in the Fantastic BAL

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20/01/2018 · 4:22 pm

Fantastic Bake Along – Ginger Snaps

FantasticBakeAlong

Happy Saturday everyone!

Like every month, I’m participating in the Fantastic Bake Along hosted by Tracy @itsatsweetday. This time, we are making Ginger snap cookies, and I’m very excited because I’ve never had them, and also I can use them for 2 of my 18 for 2018 goals 😂 The recipe came from Mary Berry’s cookbook and was chosen by Rebecca from Twinklehook.

First, I have to share something with you! As neither hubby or I have had Ginger snaps before, we googled it. This is what we found 😂

Photo courtesy of Amazon

The funniest/saddest thing is that hubby actually has seen that movie, I was almost pissing myself laughing at that point!

Anyway, back to the Bake Along, I followed the recipe exactly, but my dough was still sticky so I added some extra flour until it was nice and smooth like Rebecca described. I was ridiculously excited that I made exactly 15 of them, I think it’s the first time I follow a recipe and I get the exact number that I should! Then, it was only a matter of baking them, I only left them for 12 minutes instead of 15 as they started to smell great and I was afraid to burn them.

Gingersnaps

And voila! They were delicious, so thanks again Rebecca for sharing this fabulous recipe with us!

If you are interested in participating, contact Tracy and you can also follow my Pinterest board where I will be adding all the recipes for the Bake Along.

Please also check out the other amazing bakers/cooks normally participating in the Fantastic BAL

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16/12/2017 · 10:32 pm

Fantastic Bake Along – Cherry tarts

FantasticBakeAlong

Happy Saturday everyone!

Like every month, I’m participating in the Fantastic Bake Along hosted by Tracy @itsatsweetday.

This month is obviously a bit special as it is almost Christmas! Yay! Because of this, Tracy very kindly chose the recipe so that we didn’t have to think about it. Thanks Tracy! ❤️

The recipe for her cherry tarts can be found on her blog as usual and without further ado, here are mine!

I didn’t have shortenings so I used butter instead and I reduced the amount of water because the butter I used made the dough more moist already. I was worried I would be able to find pie filling but I did find pitted cherries in syrup and I’m pretty sure that’s what it was meant to be. Regardless, the tarts are amazingly good and they have been husband approved too! I hope you guys join us for the bake along, I always love reading your comments on recipes and seeing all your delicious food 😊

If you are interested in participating, contact Tracy and you can also follow my Pinterest board where I will be adding all the recipes for the Bake Along.

Please also check out the other amazing bakers/cooks normally participating in the Fantastic BAL

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21/11/2017 · 9:15 pm

Fantastic Bake Along – Tarte Tatin

FantasticBakeAlong

Happy Tuesday everyone!

Like every month (although pretty late this time I have to say!), I’m participating in the Fantastic Bake Along hosted by Tracy @itsatsweetday. This time, we are having a theme Bake Along, and it’s super exciting! Our theme was apples, and being French, I decided to go with something very french indeed! Tarte Tatin it was!

Tarte Tatin is an upside down pie, with the apples baking underneath the pastry. Crazy? Maybe but it’s delicious!

I made my own shortcrust as well, so I’ll give you the recipe for both.

Sweet Shortcrust Pastry: 100g sugar, 200g butter, 370g flour, 1 egg, 1 tbsp vanilla sugar or extract

Combine all the ingredients, making sure that the butter is softened when you start.
Knead the dough until supple, and refrigerate for 30min to 1h.

That’s it! How easy was that?

Ready to go in the fridge!

Tarte Tatin: 1 shortcrust pastry, 5 apples (I used pink ladies but I reckon green apples would work well too), 150g sugar, 100g butter, 2 tbsp water, 1 tsp cinnamon

Peal and cut the apples in quarters.
Mix the butter, sugar and water in a pot over medium heat and let caramelise.
When the caramel is formed, add the apples and the cinnamon and make sure to completely coat the apples in caramel. Be very careful not to overcook the apples, you still want them to be firm at that point.
Transfer the caramelised apples to a tin or a cake mould. I used a silicone mould, and it seemed to do the trick.
Preheat your oven to 180°C
Very important! Let your apples rest in the tin for at least 15 minutes.
Roll the pastry and place it on top of your apples in the tin. Make sure to slide the pastry on the sides of the tin, all the way to the bottom of your tin.
Bake for 20 min or until the pastry is slightly golden.
Let cool down for 10-20 min, then invert your pie on a plate and serve warm

Voila! You have a Tarte Tatin!

This was honestly was easier than I anticipated, and I just had a bite and it’s so delicious!

If you are interested in participating, contact Tracy and you can also follow my Pinterest board where I will be adding all the recipes for the Bake Along.

Please also check out the other amazing bakers/cooks normally participating in the Fantastic BAL

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21/10/2017 · 9:34 pm

Fantastic Bake-Along – Chilli/Chocolate Bread

FantasticBakeAlong

Happy Saturday!

I have missed last month’s bake along, but I’m back to participate in the Fantastic Bake Along hosted by Tracy @itsatsweetday. This time, Tina from Kristabella’s Hodgepodge chose the recipe, and it is chilli/chocolate bread! 😊 You can find the recipe here on Tracy’s blog. I was very excited about this month’s bake along, as my hubby doesn’t like chilli but I love it, so it meant a slightly more selfish bake with all the resulting bread for myself!

Tina’s recipe uses a bread maker, but I just used my trusty Thermomix to make the dough by combining all the elements, then kneaded it and let it rise a first time. I hit a small snag at that point, because the chocolate chips had started to melt into the bread! But that didn’t discourage me, I knead my dough again and I then put it into a pan and waited again for it to rise some more. After approximately 40 minutes of baking, here it was!

I loved the spiciness of the chilli with the chocolate, it’s just a great combination! 😍 It was actually so good that half the loaf is gone already 😅

If you are interested in participating, contact Tracy and you can also follow my Pinterest board where I will be adding all the recipes for the Bake Along.

Please also check out the other amazing bakers/cooks usually participating in the Fantastic BAL

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14/08/2017 · 5:52 pm

Fantastic Bake Along – Whole grain bread

FantasticBakeAlong

Happy Monday everyone!

Like every month, I’m participating in the Fantastic Bake Along hosted by Tracy @itsatsweetday. This time, Kathy was choosing the recipe, and it was whole grain bread! Yum! You can find the recipe here on Tracy’s blog. As you may know, I am french and of course I love bread!

I didn’t really have access to all the ingredients that Kathy listed, so I kind of improvised! I decided to make my bread using flax flour and white flour, and I added in some sesame and poppy seeds as well. I used my Thermo to mix in my dough, then kneaded it.

It was quite dense so didn’t rise as much as normal bread would but I didn’t really mind. After I baked it, it was really nice, maybe not as fluffy as your usual bread but still super tasty!

It’s really lovely toasted and I am going to enjoy eating it this week for breakfast, with some homemade blackcurrant jam my nana sent!

If you are interested in participating, contact Tracy and you can also follow my Pinterest board where I will be adding all the recipes for the Bake Along.

Please also check out the other amazing bakers/cooks participating in the Fantastic BAL

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15/07/2017 · 11:13 pm

Fantastic Bake Along – Quiche Lorraine

FantasticBakeAlong

Happy Saturday everyone!

Like every month, I’m participating in the Fantastic Bake Along hosted by Tami @tanglewoodknots and Tracy @itsatsweetday. This time, I was the one choosing the recipe! Yay! You can find the recipe on Tracy’s BAL post here or on my blog here.

I’ve already written about the quiche I made last week but I’ve also been making smaller versions to bring to work, using a muffin tray.

Those are delicious and they freeze super well! I was very excited to chose the recipe for this month and I hope that you guys enjoyed my recipe 😊

If you are interested in participating, contact Tami or Tracy and you can also follow my Pinterest board where I will be adding all the recipes for the Bake Along.

Please also check out the other amazing bakers/cooks participating in the Fantastic BAL