FLAPJACK FRIDAY

Pecan Chocjack

 

Ingredients: 500g porridge oats, 250g Stork (plus extra for greasing), 250g brown sugar, 5 tablespoons golden syrup, 300g chocolate, and 150g pecan nuts.

Time taken: 40 minutes-ish. Then an hour break. Then a half hour more in the kitchen.

Hello ladies and gentlemen,

I write to you, ensconced in a duvet, on a cloudy Sunday afternoon in autumn. It’s been my first week at work this week, starting my first adult job, in a proper office wearing real business clothes. I’ve been getting to know my colleagues and learning basic tasks to help them out. It’s been a big week for me! A big week indeed. I have a desk, I have clients asking for me on the phone, I have a target number of phone calls to make each day. I can name about half of my colleagues in the office, and I think most of them remember my name, too.

So that’s it. I have to hang on another 4 weeks til I’m paid, but my name’s been added to the clock-in sheet and I’ve been given an extension number on the phone line. I’m deffo there to stay. And it feels like a big step towards adulthood! Getting on the morning bus with other commuters every day, and then pouring a well-earned glass of wine on a Friday evening.  This is the real deal.

And I have my weekends back! After 3 years of uni deadlines, which don’t clock out on a Friday and leave you in peace. No no. Instead, they haunt you anytime you dare dream of a Saturday morning lie in, or (heaven forbid!) pouring an evening bath on a Sunday. These have been such guilty pleasures for years for me now. But, as of this weekend… they aren’t.

This weekend, I had my Sheff BFFs over for cake and a catch up, and we talked so long we even had a second round of hot drinks! I bought a weekend newspaper and read it cover to cover. Caught up with my little brother and heard all about his teen adventures. Watched the dancers on Strictly. Today, I accompanied my dad around the supermarket, buying anything on offer. Now, here I sit. Working my way through the Vicar of Dibley box set on TV. Totally content!

I tell you readers, for now at least, this is the life for me. I can go on Facebook. There, one of the geography girls from uni has got engaged this weekend. And one of the girls from my secondary school, she’s given birth to the sweetest little baby boy I may ever have seen. And then I can log off. Pour a bath. Do whatever I feel like doing.

My life may not be the most thrilling in the world right now, I may not be travelling the world or becoming a mother, I’m not running for the London Tube or admiring a big ring on my finger. And how exciting for those girls who are! But I’m happy right now to be joining the world of work in Sheffield and chilling on the weekends. Happy indeed.

Are YOU readers? Are you happy this week? What is it that’s made you happy this week? Maybe the weather? … the Bake Off on TV? … or a gift? … a holiday? … maybe  friends and family? … the start of something new? … something great?? I hope that you have been happy this week. Very happy.

And that, maaaybe, you’ve spread that happiness, too?? You could have bought someone a drink or a present! Told them they look beautiful. You could have done all the chores or done nothing at all! Just spent time with someone instead. Brightened their day. Have you been spreading happiness, readers?? I hope you have and that there are a lot of happy people out there right now. Sort of thanks to you.

On Thursday, readers, I made the call that I needed to spread some happiness. And sooo… I got my bake on!! Piled in from work in the evening and turned on the oven, with my mind set on baking some flapjack. It was on. I thought a big batch of flapjack was just what the folk at work needed to see them through Friday in the office. My mission was clear.

Why flapjack? Well, readers, it’s quite a short and straightforward recipe. And there’s nothing too offensive about flapjack, is there?? I think most people quite like it. Everyone knows what it is. Flapjack goes quite well alongside a mugful of tea or coffee. It’s not too messy to eat in an office. Plus, it’s not too prone to going terribly wrong in the oven. Perfecto!

So, readers, I had quite a cosy evening in on Thursday. I baked flapjack and had my tea while it cooled. Then decorated the flapjack and watched ‘Love and Other Drugs’ with a hot water bottle. Woke up in the morning to glorious sunshine, and spent my day at work getting big thank yous for my flapjack from everyone! It was a total hit! Not to brag, but I snaffled a square and it did taste quite delicious. And lots of people in the office thought so. They became a very cheerful bunch with Tupperware of flapjack in their midst. Very cheerful indeed.

So, this week readers, my message to you is to brighten someone’s day! Whether it’s by following this recipe and surprising everyone in your office, with a tasty sweet treat for them! Or whether it’s in an entirely different way. Use your imagination and spread some happiness. You’ll feel great about it.

So. Want to follow my lead, readers, and bake up a storrrrrm of happiness? Here’s how to bake a big batch of Pecan Chocjack in just ten easy steps…

1. Heat your over to 180˚C. Prep your chocolate by breaking it up into squares in a bowl. Prep your nuts by, first, setting your 18 best looking ones aside. Use your own good judgement here. Then, take the remaining lot and use your fingers to break them up into little nut pieces.

2. Measure your porridge oats, Stork, brown sugar and golden syrup all into a mixing bowl. Take a wooden spoon and get mixing! Stir like your life depends on it. There’s a lot of ingredients in that bowl and you want them all mixed together.

ChefBeHere Top Tip: 100% break that marg up before you put it in the bowl. Add half a knob all in one go and you’ll spend the best part of an hour trying to mix it in! Not the finest use of your time. And by then you’ll have overmixed everything else to a pulp. So chop up your marg pre-mixing bowl.

3. Grease a big baking dish quite generously with marg. Be sure, if your dish is rectangular like mine, that you get the marg right into the corners. This can be a real sticking zone for your flapjack.

4. Spoon all your mix into the baking dish and then use your wooden spoon to spread it around into the corners. Then, when your mix is evenly spread, sprinkle your broken-up pecan nuts over the top. Use your wooden spoon to tap everything down til it’s tightly packed.

5. Next, take some kind of implement like a knife or a spatula. Use this, with care, to divide your flapjack up into 18 squares. Then bung it in the oven!

ChefBeHere Top Tip: For reasons that will soon become apparent, time this so that your flapjack goes in the oven about 20 minutes before a show is about to start on TV. 20 minutes before.

6. Bake your flapjack in the oven for around 20 minutes, until it’s beginning to turn golden on top. Meanwhile, you can get your washing up done and wipe some oats off the ceiling. Then, carefully, pop your flapjack out of the oven onto the side and turn your oven off. Leave it to cool in its tin and get settled in front of the TV!

ChefBeHere Top Tip: Do not fear if your flapjack doesn’t seem to have set. It shouldn’t feel firm when it comes out of the oven. In fact, it will probably still be quite squishy to feel. This is because flapjack sets as it cools and the syrup goes hard. So, if your flapjack’s got a bit of movement in it when you take it out of the oven, that’s not a worry. It will firm up with time.

7. Return to the kitchen at least an hour after you took your flapjack out of the oven, by which time your flapjack should have cooled and set. There’s no upper limit to how long you can leave the flapjack cooling. Take your time.

8. When  you’re back in the kitchen, use your knife or spatula to go around the edge of the flapjack and try to prise it away from its tin. Also, go over the cuts dividing up the flapjack to separate it back into 18 squares. Get the squares out of the tin onto a cooling rack or, if you don’t have one, just pop them on some kitchen roll.

ChefBeHere Top Tip: I realise that this step of the recipe is easier said than done. Your aim, obviously, is to lose as little flapjack as is possible along the way. I advise using a spatula to scrape the flapjack out of the tin one square at a time. Go slowly and with a steady hand. If your flapjack breaks up, try to squish it back together again.

9. Next, melt your chocolate, either in the microwave (heat for 30 secs at a time and stir in between heating until it’s smooth – be careful not to burn!) or melt it on the hob instead. If you’re using the hob, just boil some water in the kettle and pour it into a pan over a high heat. Sit your bowlful of chocolate over the pan and your chocolate should soon start to melt in the bowl. Keep giving it a stir until it’s smooth.

10. And the final step of the recipe is your flapjack decoration! Simply pour a teaspoonful of melted chocolate over each flapjack square, and spread it about so that most of the square is covered. Then pop one of your pretty pecans on top, to finish it off nicely. When all your flapjack squares have been decorated (and you yourself are entirely coated in chocolate) you can call it a day. Leave the squares to cool for a few hours until the chocolate is set, before you move them into Tupperware.

ChefBeHere Top Tip: I left mine overnight and think this is probably for the best. The chocolate had set for sure by morning.

There you have it…

...my batch of Pecan Chocjack!

And that’s all there is to it. This is quite a straightforward recipe, readers, and quite a fun one, too! You can change this recipe up any way you like. Dark or white chocolate, instead of milk? Hazelnuts or Brazils, instead of pecans? Or just throw those nuts out the window if you aren’t keen, and usher in some dried fruit or chocolates instead?? Do what you like!

Go crazy, readers. Go forth and bake flapjack. And spread happiness! Love comes back.

 

Be happy readers,

Hayley

PEANUTS & PARTY TIME

Peanut Butter n Jam Sandwich Cake!

Ingredients: 500g butter, 300g smooth peanut butter, 8 eggs, 400g caster sugar, 300g natural yoghurt, 400g self-raising flour, 450g icing sugar, 1 tablespoon vanilla extract, 4-6 tablespoons milk, a jar of fruit jam, & 100g salted peanuts.

Time taken: 3 hours

Hi readers,

What an eventful start to the week! Here in Newcastle there’s been glorious sunshine for the past few days… not that any of the geographers have seen it because they’ve been locked away in the library making final dissertation edits, ahead of our deadline tomorrow!!

I can report, with a big sigh of relief, that mine is finally handed in. And the battle is over.

It’s been a long road since we handed in our project proposals, which was this time last year, but at last I’ve written everything up and then chopped it to smithereens, and then edited it and handed in two bound copies of my work. No more.

And finishing such a big piece of work (the biggest I’ll maybe ever write!) feels… WEIRD. So, so weird. It makes me realise how much the dissertation’s become a part of my day. As sad as that is, I’ve worked on it most days of my life for a long time now. And today the dissertation is gone – so how do I fill my time?

The answer is… WITH FUN. Today, me and a good few of the geography chums are planning to head to the seaside, we are. We’re allowed to do that now! The girls and me are going to brave March temperatures at the coast of north-east England (brrrr) for some fresh sea air and lashings of fish n chips! And I cannot wait.

Yesterday, I was hungover and I think largely in shock about handing in my dissertation. It was a very strange and confusing day. But it’s been Dr Davies birthday in the house (Happy 21^st missus!!) so we all went bowling and had some slightly-competitive fun. Dr Davies WHOOPED US ALL in the game and claimed victory… but I did come second. And slurped a CocoFudge Milkshake, which was heaven. So good.

And the fun agenda, really, was launched on Monday with an afternoon-long baking session in the ChefBeHere kitchen. This was in preparation for a birthday party and night out that we held in honour of the tremendously old Dr Davies.

BIRTHDAY FUN TIMES. It was a lovely night! Of what I remember, the Birthday Girl and friends got to drink real champagne and I believe we did some seriously good boogying out around Newcastle. You can’t beat it!

So, today really is Day 3 on the Fun Agenda. Whatever will come next?? Who knows! So long as it’s funfunfun. If I’m well enough to drink again soon then maybe there’s a cocktail on the horizon. I do hope that there is. And I hope you all, readers, are having some fun wherever in the world you may be this week!

If not… go get your fun on! What’s one sure fire way to fun up your week? Surprise everyone and bake something CRAZY. Literally, don’t hold back… just go for it!! If you’re up for a challenge, then this blog post today talks you through how to bake up a mammoth Peanut Butter n Jam Sandwich Cake, like I did for Dr Davies on Monday. I’m not kidding. This cake is possible and it’s do-able and it tastes SO GOOD. Like aaaaaaaaaah kind of good.

I recommend this cake for those of you, readers, who…

1. Are not on a diet.

2. Like to eat peanut butter n jam sandwiches.

3. Also, like to eat cake.

4. Have at least 3 hours to spare.

5. Are feeling frivolous with regards to ingredients money.

6. Maybe have some kind of occasion to celebrate?

AND 7. Want a challenge.

IF THIS IS YOU then here is how to bake up a storm and craft one Peanut Butter and Jam Sandwich Cake, which you will not regret, in just 22 fun-filled steps…

1.       Heat your oven to 180˚C. Grease a square cake tin and line with baking paper.

2.       In a large mixing bowl, add: 400g butter, 6 tablespoons of smooth peanut butter, 8 eggs, 400g caster sugar and 300g natural yoghurt.

3.       Mix it up! Beat together until smooth and creamy.

ChefBeHere Top Tip: As there was so much mix and it was difficult to stir, I got out our electric hand blender and had a little help from technology, in order to get this mix to be smooth. If you have an electric blender too then there’s no shame in getting it out. If you don’t have one then prepare for an arm workout!

4.       Fold in 400g self-raising flour. Don’t worry if this makes your mix a little lumpy – just try to beat out any big lumps. Then pour half of the mix into your baking tin.

5.       Bake in the oven for half an hour until your cake is well risen and golden, and a knife jabbed in its middle comes out clean.

6.       When it’s ready, remove your cake from the oven and leave to cool in its tin for ten minutes.

7.       Then, run a sharp knife around the edge of your cake to loosen it from the tin and tip out onto a wire cooling rack, to cool completely.

8.       Quickly wash your cake tin, then grease again and re-line with baking paper.

ChefBeHere Top Tip: I forgot baking paper here for the second bake and this meant that my cake broke a little when it came out of the tin later. So no forgetting.

9.       Pour the second half of your mix into the tin and bake in the oven for half an hour.

10.   As with the last sponge, when it’s ready, remove your cake from the oven and leave to cool in its tin for ten minutes. Then run a knife around the edge and tip onto a wire cooling rack to cool.

ChefBeHere Top Tip: OBVIOUSLY if you have 2 large, square cake tins then you can save time and bake both sponges at once. Just remember switch them around in the oven half way through baking so that they change oven shelves. This way they should bake evenly.

11.   Meanwhile, turn your oven up to 200˚C.

12.   In a small bowl, mix 100g salted peanuts with 2 tablespoons of icing sugar and a small splash of water, until well coated and claggy.

13.   Spread over a baking tray and pop this into the oven. Roast your nuts for 10 minutes, tossing them a couple of times until golden and coated in a shiny caramel.

ChefBeHere Top Tip: Remember to keep checking on your nuts. If any marshmallow-like froth appears on your tray in the oven, then just spoon this off into the bin before it has time to burn. Once roasted, tip your nuts onto a lightly buttered plate, so that they don’t stick!

14.   Using a large sharp knife, cut both of your sponges diagonally so that you now have 4 triangles of cake.

15.   Cover a large chopping board with tin foil. This will be your cake presentation board.

16.   In a large mixing bowl, beat together 50g butter and 150g smooth peanut butter.

17.   Add 400g icing sugar, 1 tablespoon of vanilla extract and mix until smooth. Add 4-6 tablespoons of milk until you achieve a spreading consistency for your cake frosting.

18.   Arrange 2 of your cake triangles on your presentation chopping board, so that they are slightly apart and look like 2 halves of a sandwich.

19.   Spread the tops of both sponges liberally with jam and use a butter knife to spread the 3 sides of each sponge with frosting.

ChefBeHere Top Tip: Your sponges should be completely covered!

20.   Then, coat the sides and tops of your remaining 2 cake triangles with frosting.

21.   Very carefully, place your second 2 triangles of cake on top of the first 2, so that the jam sticks your sponges together

ChefBeHere Top Tip: These sponges should also be completely covered! No cake on show!

22.   Wipe any spilt jam or frosting from your cake presentation board. Use your hands to break apart your caramelised peanuts and scatter your cakes with the nuts. YOU’VE DONE IT!

 

Here’s how your cake might look at the end…

And that… is it. That’s how to bake a Peanut Butter n Jam Sandwich Cake. I mashed a lot of recipes together here and upped the quantities of everything as I didn’t want a cake that was too small for a birthday party (not an issue). And in the end this cake turned out pretty decent, I have to say. I think it’s very tasty myself – I can’t stop eating it – and everyone that’s tried some has been really nice and complimentary to me about it, too. About the idea, the taste and the sort of unconventional sandwich design take of this cake. Overall, this recipe has been a ChefBeHere success story!

I can report that the peanut butter comes through subtly in the taste of the sponge. And then like a hammer in the frosting, which is incredibly rich to eat! The jam, of course, balances all of this peanut butter with the age-old PB&J taste sensation. Then you have caramelised peanuts thrown on top for good measure, which work a treat. I’ve never caramelised anything before or eaten any nuts of this kind, but they’re SO LUSH. As it happens, caramelised peanuts turn out to be a really easy, sweet decoration to make for a cake. These nuts are something which I’ll definitely be repeating in the ChefBeHere kitchen. Just you wait and see.

Sooooo this bake is long and, mostly likely, quite stressful. But very worth your effort! A PB&J Sandwich Cake is a real show-stopper and I’d love to see some of you have a go at pulling one together. Would you consider giving this recipe a try?? Do you think you’d follow it to the letter or would you make tweaks? Can you imagine you’d like the taste of this crazy cake? Do you think it has the funfunfun factor??

Readers… be inspired. Go bake something spectacular and be sure to share with me how you get on. I wish you all the best of luck and, while you’re breaking ground in the kitchen, I intend to sit myself down and have a thorough post-hand in relax, I do. Nothing more.

Have fun safely,

Hayley

TRIUMPHANT TEABREAD

Bara Brith

Time taken: Ten minutes, then ten minutes, then a long bake in the oven.

Ingredients: 175g currants, 175g sultanas, 225g light brown sugar, 300ml strong hot tea & an egg.

Hi Readers,

It’s Friday time! At last, Friday has come!! Everything is going to be A-OK now. A few hours left at work for most… and then you’re free. :) The sun’s shining outside and you could do anything with your weekend! The world is your oyster!

Is it just me or has everyone been incredibly productive this week?? It seems like everyone has been getting things done… and then more and more things! There’s been no stopping people! So, this week, my flatmate Godica journeyed down to London for a big interview aaaaaand… she’s scored herself an offer to study for a postgrad nursing diploma at South Bank Uni! Which she can defer for a year so that she can travel around Australia with my flatmate Brummanie!! Such great news! She was really nervous and so we’re all really proud of her. :) Also, Godica found out today that she's got a summer job at Buckingham Palace to help her save some cash for travels! Rubbing shoulders with royalty! Best news EVER.

ALSO my flatmate Dr Davies took a trip to London too (apparently, it’s the THING to have been doing this week). She also had big interviews for further study after uni… and she’s been invited to join a lab down in the capital city to study for her PhD!!! Dr Davies is ACTUALLY going to be a doctor. It’s terrifying! I don’t know quite where she’s been made an offer, and don’t at all understand what it is she’ll be doing her PhD on, but she’s doing one!

Such an exciting time. In Newcastle, me and Brummanie and Tiddy, we haven’t exactly been scoring ourselves big career offers this week. Not quite. BUT we battled through 2 ½ days without hot water for showers after Northumbria Water had a bloody disaster with a pipe nearby, which is achievement enough for me.

And this week I wrote a full draft of my dissertation. I actually wrote it. And yesterday I printed it. All 126 pages of it, complete with 97 figures and 107 references. My baby. So, this weekend, I’m taking a few days off to clear my mind and have a rest. Then on Monday I’m whipping the dissertation back out again for a big read through, and after final edits I can have it bound and submitted! This is very scary.

But the prospect of a few days break from my work is wonderful. It’s all winding down now. On Wednesday night, Woody took me out for pizza and to see Kingsmen (definitely a lads film) at the cinema, complete with back row seats and vegetarian sweets! Then, last night, I had my geography friends Floss and Fizz over for a dinner party. Two glasses of wine went straight to my head! But I still managed to pull together a veggie Thai green curry, with fruit salad for dessert. The girls were most complimentary. :)

And today… my Father Bear is driving up to Newcastle to visit! I’m so excited! Especially, to see me my dad’s taken a day off work and he’s embarking on a long drive up the country to Newcastle. I’m so lucky! Today, if the sunshine holds on, we’re going to take a big walk around the Quayside of Newcastle and hopefully find some cask ale bars to pay a visit to. And, for my dad’s arrival, I’ve got my bake on!

This morning, I’ve baked a Bara Brith Teabread. Mmm. Bara Brith is a reeeally fruity, traditionally Welsh teabread. My flatmate Dr Davies is half-Welsh and so she has introduced us to this! To make Bara Brith you soak fruit overnight in tea, before you bake this bread, and so it’s suuuper moist. Some fruit cakes can be quite dry and tough – this is not one of them.

Hopefully, this will be a good reward for my dad when he gets here after his long drive! I wanted to bake something for him coming up and, for once, give something other than banana bread a whirl. I’m not eating chocolate due to Lent and so my options were limited. But Bara Brith was the perfect solution! I can report that the teabread has baked superbly and now the house smells like a DREAM. Sooo homely.

To make your Bara Brith, which EVERYONE needs to do, follow these 10 easy steps…

1. Boil the kettle and then pour 300ml hot water into a measuring jug.

2. Chuck 3 teabags into your water and leave your tea to brew for 5 minutes or so.

3. Meanwhile, measure 175g sultanas, 175g currants and 225g light brown sugar into a mixing bowl.

ChefBeHere Top Tip: This recipe comes from my Mary Berry ‘100 Cakes and Bakes’ book. In the book, Mary calls for you to use light muscovado sugar. I found some of this sugar in the baking cupboard, but there was only about 50g of it left. So, the rest I made up with just light brown sugar. I have to report that both sugars look EXACTLY THE SAME to me. And the teabread seems to have turned out fine without all of the muscovado sugar that was requested. So I don’t think it’s all that essential. Just any light brown sugar you can find, that should do the job.

4. Remove your teabags from your tea and then pour it over your fruit and sugar. Cover the bowl with clingfilm and leave your fruit to soak overnight.

5. The next day, heat your oven to 150˚C.

6. Measure out 275g self-raising flour. Sift this over your bowl of fruit and then crack an egg into the bowl, too.

7. Mix it up!

8. Grease a loaf tin and line this with baking paper. Then spoon your mix into the prepared tin.

9. Safely transport into the oven to bake for 90 minutes.

ChefBeHere Top Tip: Leave your kitchen door open and the smell of this lovely bread should seep through your whole house. Literally, it’s like you’ve lit ten scented candles.

10. When your bread is well-risen, firm to touch and a knife jabbed in the middle comes out clean, then your teabread has baked! Leave it to cool in its tin for ten minutes, before you tip your teabread out onto a cooling rack. Job done!

ChefBeHere Top Tip: Slice and butter your teabread, and serve warm or when cooled. Enjoy!

Here’s my wonderful Bara Brith…

So, this recipe is wonderfully simple. There are only six ingredients! And one of them is a brew! It’s very easy to bake. Plus, you can bake this recipe at incredibly little cost, and it only really requires twenty minutes of your time in the kitchen, so you don’t have to dedicate heaps of your work/study/relaxation hours to your teabread.

ALSO there’s fruit in Bara Brith. So it scores points for health in my books! And your house will smell, and your bread will taste, as if you’re in a country cottage in rural Wales. It’s the best.

I feel that everyone, each and every one of you, deserves Bara Brith this weekend. We’ve all worked hard this week and so a light spot of baking is most deserved. I hope you have a chilled, sunny weekend, readers. And that you have a wonderful start to March. And that my dad likes Bara Brith!!

Brew safely,

Hayley