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Fruit Mince Crumble Slice

Posted on March 4, 2021 by The quirk and the cool


This is a recipe for an Aussie crumble slice, or traybake if you’re making it in the UK!  The filling is fruit mince, from a jar of beautiful dried fruit and spices preserved in brandy that I was using over Christmas.

If you don’t have any on hand – and I guess if it’s not Christmas you may not – just soak 150g of sultanas and raisins in two tablespoons of brandy for a few hours or over night, with a 1/2 teaspoon each of cinnamon and nutmeg. 

The basic slice is pretty versatile, so you could even substitute some berries for the fruit mince too.

Ingredients 

Shortbread base

250g softened butter

100g raw sugar or golden caster sugar

100g self raising flour

50g plain flour

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Filling

150g or to taste of homemade or good quality bought fruit mince

Crumble topping

1/4 of the shortbread mix

50g plain flour

Method

Preheat oven to 160 degrees C fan forced, 180 degrees C non fan forced.

In a food processor, cream the butter and sugar and vanilla extract, just until well mixed. You’re not looking for a fluffy creamed mixture. Pulse in the flour and mix until incorporated into the butter/sugar mixture.

Spread 3/4 of the shortbread mix in a rectangular baking tin. I used 9” x 13” tin. I   Leave the remaining 1/4 in the food processor. Place in the preheated oven and bake for 10 minutes until the base has risen slightly and is a pale golden colour. It will still be very soft.

Remove from the oven and place spoonfuls of the fruit mince on top, spreading evenly and being careful not to squash the base too much.

For the crumble, to the remaining 1/4 shortbread mix in the food processor, add 50g plain flour. Pulse a few times to just incorporate the flour. Use your judgement about the flour. You may need to add a little more after you’ve done pulsing in order to get a good crumble consistency.

Scatter the crumble in lumps over the top of the fruit mince.

Return to the oven and bake for 20-25 minutes or until the crumble topping is golden brown.

Remove from the oven and leave to cool in the tin completely before cutting into slices.

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Bread and Butter Pudding Traybake

Posted on May 26, 2019 by The quirk and the cool

I love bread, in particular sourdough. I also love traybakes, or slices as we know them in the Antipodes. I make a lot of bread, so it’s inevitable that I will have some leftover sourdough slices. What to do with leftover bread? I freeze it of course, but you can end up with too much bread in the freezer.

So I got to thinking about bread and butter pudding which uses leftover bread. And then I thought of making a traybake based on bread and butter pudding. Using sourdough, I thought the bread would absorb the liquid well, and make a traybake that you could cut into pieces. I also cooked it long and slow, to ensure that the custard set firm enough to slice. The sourdough worked well, the slightly tougher bread giving texture and firmness to the slice.

You serve this, like any traybake, at room temperature. But you could also warm through and serve more like a traditional bread and butter pudding. Either way, it’s nice with custard and caramel sauce!

Ingredients
250g sourdough bread
200ml full fat milk
150ml cream
2 free-range eggs, beaten
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
70g raw sugar
Zest of a lemon (optional)
300g dried fruit – any fruit will do. I used sultanas, raisins and sour cherries.
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
3/4 teaspoon freshly ground nutmeg
50g butter, melted
2 tablespoons flaked almonds
1 tablespoon demerara sugar

Method
Tear the bread into a large bowl and add the milk and cream. Mix with a spoon, and then scrunch through your fingers to completely break up the bread. Add the eggs, vanilla extract and sugar and lemon zest if using. Stir in the fruit and spices. Mix well, then set aside for at least 15 mins in order for the bread to soak up the liquid.

Heat oven to 180 degrees C or 160 degrees C fan-forced. Butter and line the base of a 18cm non-stick square cake tin. Stir the melted butter into the mixture, then pour into the tin. Scatter the flaked almonds over the mixture, and then top with demerara sugar.

Bake for 1 hour until set and golden. Cover with foil if the bake is browning too quickly. Cool in the tin, and when quite cold, turn out of the tin and remove the baking paper. Slice into squares. Serve at room temperature, or you could warm gently in a microwave.

They’re nice on their own or with the aforementioned custard or caramel sauce.

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Cherry and Almond Traybake

Posted on October 27, 2017 by The quirk and the cool

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I’m a huge fan of the Great British Bake-off. I have watched every episode of every season…a few times!

Kimberley Wilson was a contestant on GBBO in 2013, and I loved her bakes on the program. Her Very Cherry and Almond Traybake really caught my eye  – and tastebuds. The link to the recipe on Kimberley’s website is here.

Here is Kimberley’s recipe, with any tweakings that I made.

Ingredients

For the base:

90g unsalted butter, softened
90g caster sugar
1 large free-range egg, beaten
110g plain flour
20g self-raising flour
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
Pinch of salt

For the filling:

6-8 tablespoons of morello cherry jam (I left this out)
40g dried sour cherries, chopped
5 maraschino cherries chopped

Frangipane:

90g unsalted butter, softened
80g caster sugar
2 large free-range eggs, beaten
180g ground almonds
30g plain flour
A few drops almond extract
Zest of a lemon
Pinch of salt

Topping:

60g unsalted butter
60g caster sugar
1tbsp runny honey
60g flaked almonds (I used macadamias)
40g dried sour cherries, chopped
30g glacé cherries, chopped

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Method

Heat the oven to 180 C degrees or 160 C degrees fan-forced. Line a 18cm x 27cm x 3cm baking tray with baking paper leaving 5cm excess on all sides.

Combine the ingredients for the base in a bowl and mix. Dollop the mixture into the lined tray and using the back of a spoon, smooth out the batter to create an even base.

Combine the ingredients for the filling and spoon across the base.

Combine the ingredients for the frangipane and mix until smooth. Put spoonfuls of the frangipane  over the cherry layer and then, with a fork, push the batter across to create a smooth layer. Even the surface with the back of a spoon.

Place in the centre of the oven and bake for 20-23minutes until the top is puffed and golden.

About 15 minutes into the cooking time, put all of the ingredients for the topping into a saucepan. Place over a low heat and stir gently until the butter and sugar has melted. Turn up the heat and simmer for three minutes.

Remove the traybake from the oven and pour the topping over the surface. Using the back of a metal spoon, spread and smooth the topping all over the frangipane.

Return to the oven and bake for 8-10 minutes until the nuts are golden and the honey syrup is bubbling all over.

To get a really neat finish on the portions the traybake needs to be cut upside-down, so that you are cutting the nutty topping against the firm surface of a chopping board.

Remove the traybake from the oven and cool in the tin for 15 minutes. This allows for the topping to cool and set a little so that it does not stick to the board when you turn it out. Place a clean chopping board on top of the bake and, wearing oven gloves, flip it over. Peel away the baking paper and place a wire rack, upside down, on the bake. Flip again and remove the chopping board. Cool completely on the rack.

When cool, replace the chopping board gently on top and flip the bake as above. Using a large, sharp knife trim the edges and then cut into portions.

Delicious straight away and keeps well if you put it into an airtight tin.

 

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White Chocolate and Cranberry Blondies Revisited

Posted on May 1, 2016 by The quirk and the cool

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This is what I was cooking this time 3 years ago, in May 2013. It’s an ultra rich blondie inspired by a Gordon Ramsay recipe. I thought it worth revisiting – it’s easy to make, really fudgy, and the cranberries give a nice, slightly tart note to offset the caramel sweetness.

Ingredients

1 cup dried cranberries
2  x 100g white chocolate bars
225g plain flour
226g butter
1 pinch of salt
300g sugar
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
2 free-range eggs

Method

Line a 23cm x 23cm tin with baking paper.

Melt butter, add sugar to mixing bowl. Add salt to sugar.
Add melted butter to sugar and whisk well. Add vanilla and eggs, whisk well.
Add baking powder and bi-carbonate of soda, mix well.
Whisk in half the flour. Once incorporated (no lumps), add the rest of the flour and mix well until there are no lumps.
Add the dried cranberries, changing from a whisk to a spoon.
Slice the bars of white chocolate into  thick matchsticks and mix in gently, trying not to break up the chocolate.
Spoon into baking tin (previously lined with baking paper (butter or non stick spray the tin to hold paper in place).
Spread mixture into the tin, using a spatula to make sure the mixture is even.
Bake at 180 degrees C for 35 -40 minutes.
Leave to cool, then remove from tin.
Cut into squares. Blondies will keep for a week and also freeze well.

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Peanut Butter Blondies

Posted on September 24, 2015 by The quirk and the cool

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This recipe is James Morton’s from a Rachel Allen recipe. James uses dark chocolate rather than white, as he thinks it a better flavour  with the peanut butter. I agree, as I discovered, when making Rachel’s original recipe – see my post Peanut Butter and White Chocolate Blondies.  I decided to use a mixture of dark and milk chocolate buttons.

Jame calls his recipe brownies, but I’m going with Rachel and calling mine blondies.  They are after all, pale, as they contain no cocoa or melted chocolate.

Oh, and although I LOVE the peanut butter in the recipe, I added macadamias to the mixture not peanuts!!!

For James’ brownies, see his beautiful book How Baking Works and What to do if it Doesn’t:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/How-Baking-Works-what-doesnt/dp/009195990X/ref=pd_bxgy_14_img_2?ie=UTF8&refRID=1D45NCBQD1RHZVHP2PCA

So here is my tweak on James’ and Rachel’s original recipes.

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Ingredients
100g softened unsalted butter
150g crunchy peanut butter
150g caster sugar
1 free range egg beaten
1 tsp vanilla extract or paste
100g self-raising flour
50g salted macadamias or peanuts  – or any nut really. I think the salt adds a great “salty “!! flavour
100g dark and/or milk chocolate buttons

Method

Preheat the oven to 170 degrees C/150 degrees C fan-forced/Gas Mark 3.  Place a square of baking paper into a 20cm (8 inch) square tin.
In a food processor or a large bowl, beat the butter, peanut butter and sugar together until paste-like. Add the egg and vanilla and beat until combined. James says not to worry about too much beating so long as the ingredients are combined.
Add the flour, nuts and chocolate, stirring gently to combine. Dollop the mixture into the  cake tin and spread out to the edges (the mixture will be quite stiff and hard to spread).
Bake in the oven for 25-30 minutes or until golden brown on top and a skewer inserted comes out clean.

 

 

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Peanut Butter and White Chocolate Blondies

Posted on July 16, 2014 by The quirk and the cool

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Peanut butter is the next best thing to salted caramel in a traybake or blondies. And mix that with white chocolate and you have a delicious combination!

My mission is now to combine peanut butter, caramel and chocolate – white or milk – in a traybake.

I  found this recipe on Rachel Allen’s television show Rachel Allen Bake!: http://www.lifestylefood.com.au/tv/rachel-allen-bake/

Ingredients

125g plain flour

1 tsp baking powder

100g  butter, softened

50g crunchy peanut butter

175g  soft light brown sugar

1 free range egg, beaten

1 tsp vanilla extract

75g white chocolate, chopped

Method

Preheat the oven to 170 degrees C.  Grease a square or rectangular tin and line the base with baking paper.

In an electric mixer, cream the butter and peanut butter together until very soft. Add the sugar, egg and vanilla extract and beat until combined. Add the flour and baking powder and mix to form a dough. Carefully stir in the chopped chocolate.

Place the dough in the prepared tin, smoothing the top, and bake in the oven for 20–25 minutes or until golden brown and almost firm in the centre. Be careful not to overbake – the centre should be not quite cooked.

Allow to cool in the tin, before removing and cutting into squares.IMG_3744

 

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Chocolate and Raspberry Shortcake Slice

Posted on June 8, 2014 by The quirk and the cool

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I am continuing with my slice/traybake experiments. I am intrigued with their nomenclature. Slice in Australia, traybake in the UK, and my fellow blogger Revolutionary Pie
tells me they are bars in the US. Here is her blog:

http://revolutionarypie.com/

Gaining inspiration from my Berry Jam Shortcake Traybake, I had to whip up a batch of slices for a lunch so my shortcake recipe became chocolate by adding cocoa and dark chocolate pieces to the pastry and I sandwiched the shortcake with raspberries and sugar before baking.

The raspberries made the slice a bit gooey, so next time I would bake a little longer perhaps to firm up the slice.

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Ingredients

125 g unsalted butter

125 g castor sugar

1 egg, lightly beaten

175 plain flour

50 g ground almonds

1/4 cup dutch cocoa

1 tsp baking powder

40g dark chocolate, roughly chopped

1/2 cup frozen raspberries

2 tbsp demerara sugar

Milk, to brush the pastry

Method

Preheat oven to 160 degrees C. Grease and line a medium sized square cake tin.

For the shortcake, beat the butter and castor sugar until thick and creamy. Add the egg and mix well. Add the flour, almond meal, cocoa and baking powder, then stir until combined. Mix in the chopped dark chocolate. Turn onto a lightly floured surface and knead briefly to just bring the mixture together. Divide the pastry in half, then wrap in plastic wrap and chill for 30 minutes.

On a lightly floured surface, roll each pastry portion into a square about the size of the tin, then press one square into the tin. Scatter the frozen raspberries over the pastry, making sure to leave a border around the edge. Scatter 1 tablespoon of the demerara sugar over the raspberries.

Top with the remaining pastry square and press the edges together to seal. Brush with milk and sprinkle with the remaining demerara sugar.

Bake for 30 minutes or until until the top looks firm (cover loosely with foil if browning too quickly). Cool in the tin for 20 minutes before carefully removing from the tin and cutting into slices.

Picture below is a plate of the chocolate shortcake with the berry jam shortcake traybake:IMG_2547

https://thequirkandthecool.com/2014/06/01/berry-jam-shortcake-traybake/

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Berry Jam Shortcake Traybake

Posted on June 1, 2014 by The quirk and the cool

IMG_2306Traybakes or slices are my current baking obsession. Portable, easy to whip up, and always popular, they suit my life at the moment where I need to create something sweet on a regular basis for the hungry hordes or just to keep this quirky writer sane!

So I have adapted my shortcake recipe as a traybake. I left out the whole fruit and just used jam. I cooked for a fraction longer to ensure the bake was firm when sliced. And of course I substituted a square tin instead of a tart mold.

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Ingredients

125 g unsalted butter

125 g castor sugar

1 egg, lightly beaten

175 plain flour

50 g ground almonds

1 tsp baking powder

4 tbls good whole strawberry conserve

2 tbls good raspberry jam

Milk, to brush the pastry

1 tbsp demerara sugar

2 tbsp flaked almonds

Method

Preheat oven to 160 degrees C. Grease and line a medium sized square cake tin.

For the shortcake, beat the butter and castor sugar until thick and creamy. Add the egg and mix well. Add the flour, almond meal and baking powder, then stir until combined. Turn onto a lightly floured surface and knead briefly to just bring the mixture together. Divide the dough in half, then wrap in plastic wrap and chill for 30 minutes.

On a lightly floured surface, roll each dough portion into a square about the size of the tin, then press one square into the tin. Spoon the strawberry conserve over the dough, then the raspberry jam, leaving a small border around the edge.

Top with the remaining dough square and press the edges together to seal. Brush with milk and sprinkle with demerara sugar and flaked almonds.

Bake for 30 minutes or until until golden (cover loosely with foil if browning too quickly). Cool in the tin for 20 minutes before carefully removing from the tin and cutting into slices. IMG_2286

 

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Berry, Apple, Golden Syrup and Oat Flapjacks

Posted on May 28, 2014 by The quirk and the cool

IMG_2186I found a recipe for flapjacks while surfing the internet for “tray bakes”. As a food etymologist I was intrigued by the name, not overly used in Australia. We tend to talk more of “slices”.

The following recipe is very loosely based on one of my finds, Blackberry and apple oaty flapjacks: http://www.goodtoknow.co.uk/recipes/511747/blackberry-and-apple-oaty-flapjacks.

My traybake turned out more of a tart as it was quite soft. I think the apple makes it soft, so you could try less apple to firm it up or cook it for longer.

My next incarnation of the flapjack will be apple-free and I’ll make the berries into jam before cooking. Watch this space!

Ingredients

1 large or 2 small apples, peeled and chopped

200g  rolled  oats

2 tsp cinnamon

2 tbs store bought caramel

200g fresh or frozen mixed berries

2 tbs golden syrup

Crumble topping:

60g rolled oats

1 tbs butter cut into small pieces

1 tbs golden syrup

Handful of flaked almonds

Method

Preheat the oven to 180°C. Grease a medium sized baking tin. I used a flan mold for something different.

Place the chopped apple in a saucepan with enough water to cover.  Put on the lid and cook until soft.  Drain the water and puree or mash the apple.

Mix the oats and the cinnamon in a large bowl, add the apple and caramel and combine well.

Spread the oat mixture Into the base of the tin or flan and spread out into an even layer.

Scatter the mixed berries on top of the oat mixture, having cut in half any larger berries such as strawberries.  Drizzle the golden syrup over the berries.

To make the crumble topping, combine oats, butter and extra golden syrup.

Spoon the crumble mixture over the berries, lastly scattering the flaked almonds.

Press down slightly to stick the layers together. Bake for 20-30 minutes or until the flapjack is golden brown and the berry juices are bubbling.

Remove from the oven and leave to cool completely before cutting into pieces.

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Salted Caramel Cake Bar

Posted on May 16, 2014 by The quirk and the cool

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Salted caramel cake bar began life as a blondie, but on making it for the first time it was clear that the baking powder and the eggs make it much more cake like, and I have re-named it. Maybe it’s a cakey slice? Or a blondie cake?

Ingredients

2 cups plain flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup salt reduced butter, melted and cooled slightly
2 cups light brown sugar
2 free range eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/2 cup caramel * (warmed in microwave)
Sea salt for sprinkling (optional)

Method

Preheat oven to 160 degrees C. Line a 22 cm square baking tin with baking paper.

Put melted butter and brown sugar in a food processor and whizz until completely dissolved. Add the eggs and vanilla extract and mix to combine. Add the flour, baking powder and 1/2 teaspoon of the salt and fold gently with a rubber spatula into the mixture.

Press half of the mixture into the prepared tin (it will be quite soft), smoothing the top with a spatula.

Stir the remaining 1/2 teaspoon salt over the caramel. Pour the  caramel on top of the mixture and spread in an even layer, leaving about a 1centimetre of space around the edges.

Drop the remaining mixture in spoonfuls over the caramel and gently spread with the spatula until the caramel is covered. Sprinkle the mixture with a little sea salt if you want a really salty  taste.

Bake the cake bar for about 20 minutes, or until the top is brown and a skewer inserted into the bar comes out with just a thin coating of caramel. Cool the bar to room temperature, then refrigerate for at least 30 minutes to allow the caramel layer to set. Cut into squares to serve.

*Nestle Top Fill is great for the caramel.

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