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This is a great time of year – the weather is getting warmer and, while daylight savings took a bit of adjusting to when we lost an hour of sleep, the extra hour in the evening now more than makes up for it. The sunshine we had over the past week has also helped.
This time of year is when I attend the Ideal Home Show in the RDS, which will take place from 11-13 April. It is always great fun and a lovely family day out. It is going to be a busy one as I will be doing three demos and three masterclasses over the three days of the show.
I always enjoy meeting all the people who attend these shows – especially those who enjoy cooking – and I always find those who watch the demos have really interesting questions.
Looking ahead, Bloom is also just around the corner. It will be my 18th year in attendance and this year, the folk at Bord Bia have asked me to do a pop-up restaurant.
I will be working with their catering team and we have some new and exciting plans for the pop-up.
It won’t be like I’m bringing MacNean House to Dublin – we will instead showcase the best of Bloom and our great local producers. This will also be reflected in the meals I plan to cook at my demos. Tickets for Bloom are available at bordbiabloom.com
This week I thought you might like to have some new baking recipes as the kids prepare for their Easter holidays.
These recipes are straightforward and always produce great results, so they are ideal for fun Easter baking projects.
Encouraging young people to get into the kitchen has many benefits for developing minds. Following a recipe requires a lot of different skills including problem solving, maths and reading comprehension, while cooking and baking help inspire creativity, too.
I have always loved the flavour combination of coffee and walnuts – it just works so well.
The sweet coffee icing in these slices combined with the slightly bitter crunch of the walnuts in this wonderfully light sponge cake recipe brings back childhood memories of visits to relatives. I remember the adults would be chatting away while I eyed up the coffee cake sitting on the table.
These slices are a smaller version of a traybake and this is an ideal recipe to try at this time of year with guests calling. They are also a nice treat for people who have given up sweet things for Lent.
Baking skills
The second recipe this week is a real winner – these blondies are not only delicious; they are ideal for children to learn some basic baking skills.
They are similar enough to a brownie, but we use white chocolate instead of dark chocolate, which makes them blonde. Once baked, the blondies should still have a bit of gooeyness, so don’t be tempted to leave them in the oven for extra time. They are especially nice served warm with ice cream.
Chocolate has become expensive in recent months, but it is worth getting the best quality you can – good quality chocolate, even white chocolate, has a higher amount of cocoa butter and cocoa solids. Generally, this also means there is less sugar in it.
If you pour some salted toffee sauce over, it will elevate it to the next level.
What’s For Pudding ? is run by Catriona Flaherty and her son, Rory, in Kilmessan, Co Meath. They have won gold at the Blás na hEireann awards for their sticky toffee pudding.
If you do try your hand at any of our recipes over Easter, we would love you to send some your pictures into icl@farmersjournal.ie.
It would be great to see you showing off your work.
Ingredients: Serves 6-8
180g butter, softened
50g crème fraîche
180g soft light brown sugar
3 medium eggs
180g wholemeal or regular self raising flour
2 tsp instant coffee mixed with 2 tsp hot water and left to cool
½ tsp baking powder
120g shelled walnuts, chopped
For the coffee buttercream:
100g butter, softened
200g icing sugar
1 tsp instant coffee mixed with 1 tsp hot water and left to cool
Method
1 Preheat the oven to 180°C.
2 Line a 20cm square tin with baking parchment.
3 Put the butter and crème fraîche into a bowl, add the sugar, and cream them together using an electric mixer until light and fluffy.
4 Beat in two of the eggs with half of the flour and the baking powder. Add the other egg with the rest of the flour and the coffee mixture, and continue to beat until well combined. Fold in 80g of the walnuts.
5 Tip this mixture into the prepared tin and smooth the top down with the back of a spoon.
6 Bake for 30–35 minutes. To test if it is cooked, insert a skewer into the centre – it should come out clean.
7 Leave to cool down completely in the tin. Once the traybake has cooled down, make the coffee buttercream.
8 Put the butter in a bowl and add the icing sugar, then beat it well until light and fluffy.
9 Add the coffee mixture and beat again until smooth.
10 Using a palette knife, spread the icing all over the traybake.
11 Sprinkle the remaining walnuts on top and cut into slices to serve.
Ingredients: Serves 6-9
150g butter
150g white chocolate, roughly chopped
3 eggs, plus 2 egg yolks
150g light brown sugar
½ tsp vanilla extract
4 tbsp self-raising flour
Pinch of sea salt flakes
100g pecan nuts, chopped
Sea salt toffee sauce and ice cream, to serve
Method
1 Preheat the oven to 190°C and line a 20cm square baking tin with parchment paper.
2 Melt the butter in a pan over a low heat or in the microwave. Add the white chocolate, then remove it from the heat and leave the white chocolate to melt.
3 Put the eggs, egg yolks, sugar and vanilla in a bowl, and whisk with an electric beater until pale and frothy.
4 Add the flour and salt, and gently beat this all together. Then, using a spatula, in the white chocolate and butter mixture with the pecan nuts until well combined.
5 Transfer to the prepared tin. Bake for 22–25 minutes until the blondies are nicely crusted.
6 Once baked, remove from the oven and leave to cool down a little before cutting into six to nine even-sized squares. They will crack as you cut them.
7 Serve warm in bowls with plenty of the sea salt toffee sauce and a scoop of ice cream.
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