Easy, healthy & cheap – unbeatable

I’ve been making my own muesli for so long I couldn’t remember or find the recipe I used to make it the first time. A friend asked for the recipe and my mind was completely blank. So, I went into the baking kitchen and made muesli and wrote down what I put in the bowl. This may be the easiest ‘recipe’ I’ve published on the blog; the most challenging thing you do is chop a few nuts. I do this recipe by ‘volume’ – cups, not by weight but I’ve approximated the weights by gram in case you want to include that.

No added sugar in this recipe, plenty of sweetness from the dried fruits. The ingredients are very flexible – 3 parts grains, 2 parts fruit, 2 parts nuts and seeds. I add some unsweetened desiccated coconut but wholly optional.

This recipe is economical and healthy if you have a good supplier of ingredients. None of the ingredients are super specialised or unique but if you’re buying these ingredients in Waitrose it will be a) annoying because of the tiny packets; b) frustrating because of the limited availability and c) the price per gram will be surprising. I use Whole Foods Online. Nothing to do with the poshest posh supermarket (nicknamed ‘whole paycheck’ in the USA) but good quality, in quantity, reliable, reasonable prices.

Recipe

• 2 cups of rolled oats (180 grams)
• 1 cup of toasted malted wheat flakes (90 grams)
• 1 cup of dried cranberries (130 grams)
• 1 cup of dried raisins (130 grams)
• 1/2 cup sunflower seeds (65 grams)
• 1/2 cup flaked almonds (40 grams)
• 1 cup mixed chopped nuts (walnut, pecan, macadamia, more almonds, pistachios) (150 grams)
• 1/2 cup unsweetened desiccated coconut (45 grams)

Method

Throw it all in an airtight plastic container. Shake the container. Serve with milk and Greek yoghurt.

Nothing could be easier. Thank you for reading the blog, cooking the recipes, subscribing and sharing.

Chain coffee shops have done a lot of damage to the reputation of cinnamon rolls. A cinnamon roll should not be a microwaved stale glutinous mass half the size of a brick and covered in gritty glaze. Make your own cinnamon rolls and eat them still warm from the oven. A warm cinnamon roll you’ve made yourself is a treat not a dietary sin requiring two hours atonement on your Peloton bike.

These cinnamon rolls are perfect for sharing over a lazy breakfast and relatively easy, even for first time bakers. Imperfect cinnamon rolls are just as delicious as ‘instagram perfect’ ones but I’ve included a few of my favourite tricks to help make yours picture perfect.

The recipe makes two dozen nice sized cinnamon rolls, cooked in two 9 inch cake pans and is perfect for sharing. Cut the recipe half to make a dozen and keep them all for yourself

Useful specialised equipment; paper liners for your cake tins, some dental floss or fishing line, a measuring tape and a stand mixer for dough. It’s a very sticky dough – which also gives it richness. You can also use your food processor to knead or ‘stretch and fold’ in the bowl. The dental floss is used to cut the rolls without crushing or compressing them.

Top tips for great looking rolls:

• spread the filling evenly and don’t leave too much empty edge space;
• roll up your dough loosely (link to short video);
• use the dental floss technique or your sharpest knife to avoid compressing your sections (link to short video) ;
• line your cake tin with paper (link to tin liners):

Cinnamon rolls are a multi-step process: so here’s a quick overview:

• Make dough and let it rest for 10 minutes or so,
• Make cinnamon filling
• Roll out the dough and cover it with the filling.
• Roll up the dough and cut into pieces, allow to rise.
• Bake the dough.
• Allow the rolls to cool and then glaze.

It sounds intimidating but step by step instructions are in the recipe. Time to get baking.

Recipe

Ingredients

Dough

• 700 grams plain flour
• 100 grams granulated sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 4  teaspoons active dry (or instant) yeast 
• 240 mls whole or semi-skim milk
• 120 mls water
• 100 grams of unsalted butter
• 2 eggs

Filling

• 90 grams unsalted butter
• 2 Tablespoon ground cinnamon 
• 100 grams light brown sugar

Icing

• 120 grams powdered (confectioners) sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract 
• 30 – 45 mls milk

Instructions

1. Combine flour, sugar, salt and yeast in the bowl of your stand mixer.
2. Melt butter in the microwave until well softened. Add milk and water to the melted butter. It should be warm but not boiling.
3. Start the mixer and add the melted butter mixture to the dry ingredients. Roughly beat eggs and add to the dough.
4. Knead for 3 to 5 minutes. The dough will be soft and will not form and tidy ball. Cover the dough and allow to rest for 10 minutes. Make the filling.
5. Filling: melt the butter, add the cinnamon and brown sugar, combine well and set to one side.
6. Prep your cake tins. Line with paper.
7. Generously flour the work top. Turn the dough out on to the work top, divide in half. Put one portion to the side and cover while working with the other half.
8. Roll into a rectangle, 14 inches by 8 inches. (36 cm x 20 cm). Don’t be tempted to roll it out thinner.
9. Spread one half of the filling on the rectangle. Spread to within 1/2 or a centimetre of the edges. Gently lift the long edge and gently roll up the dough into a cylinder.
10. Cut a length of dental floss or fishing line, about 20 cms or 12 inches. Slide the dental floss under the roll about one inch in – cross the ends and cut the first segment off the end of the roll. Repeat and cut the roll into approximately 12 segments. Place the segments carefully into the first cake tin. The segments will expand to fill the tin when they rise. Cover with a shower cap or cling film.
11. Repeat with second portion of dough.
12. Allow the filled dough to rise until doubled. The length of time this will take is based on how warm your kitchen is. If it’s cold, heat your oven to 100C. Turn off the element, wait 15 minutes and put your covered dough in. It will double in 45 to 60 minutes.
13. Remove and preheat oven to 190C (no fan).
14. Bake the rolls for 25 to 28 minutes. Rotate the pans half way through if they are on different shelves.
15. Remove from the oven and cool. Prepare the icing and drizzle over the rolls.

Share the rolls out equally amongst members of your household or guests. People can be very crabby when they feel shortchanged on their allotment of cinnamon rolls.

Thank you for following the blog, reading and cooking the recipes. Please send requests, comments and share photos if you make the recipe. Tag #mamadolsonbakes

Why make your own buns for Independence Day or summer barbecue season? Because you can, I say. And they are yummy. The recipe that served as a basis for this blog was badged as ‘easy’. My experience suggests that’s stretching the definition of easy but it’s well within the grasp of most bakers. There are a couple of techniques that don’t change the taste of the buns but actually help your make your buns look like (but taste much better) than store bought ones.

A couple of great things about these buns – the dough is all machine kneaded and the first rise is in the refrigerator. You can refrigerate your dough for a couple of hours or 24 hours – the recipe works around your schedule.

You want your buns to be short cylinders (like hockey pucks but less dense) and not spheres (like a baseball or cricket ball). A couple of crucial techniques here to make this happen. First, weigh your dough and divide it into 8 equal pieces then roll each piece between your hands into a smooth ball. The second step is to place a a second piece of parchment paper over the shaped dough then a second baking sheet over the parchment. This forces the ‘rise’ to move out rather than up producing the cylindrical shape.

Once you’ve got the techniques in this recipe, you may never buy buns again. I’m working on perfecting the shaping and baking of the hot dog buns so watch this space. Have a great Fourth of July. On to the recipe.

Recipe

Ingredients

• 500 grams all purpose or bread flour
• 130 grams whole or semi-skimmed milk, room temperature
• 90 grams water, room temperature
• 8 grams (2 tsps) active dry yeast
• 12 (1 1/2 tsps) grams salt
• 15 grams (1 tbsp) caster sugar
• 30 grams vegetable oil
• 1 egg
• Oil for the bowl
• Egg for egg wash
• Sesame seeds for garnish (optional)

Instructions

1. Combine the flour, yeast, sugar and salt in the bowl of your stand mixer.
2. Beat the water, milk and egg in a separate bowl.
3. Add the wet mixture to the dry and mix to combine.
4. Put the dough hook on and knead the dough for about 5 minutes until it forms a smooth ball. If it feels dry add water a tablespoon at a time. Be cautious – the dough needs to be quite wet.
5. Add the oil and knead for 8 to 10 minutes. You will stare at it during the early period of kneading thinking it’s never going to come together. Be patient, it will. If it’s not smooth and shiny at the end of 10 minutes, add flour a tablespoon at a time and knead for another minute each time. Don’t make the dough too dry – it will firm up and be easy to work with when its chilled.
6. Transfer the dough to a clean oiled bowl, cover with cling film and refrigerate for at least 4 hours and up to 24 hours.
7. Lightly dust your work surface with flour and line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Cut a second sheet to place over the top of your shaped buns.
8. Weigh your dough (tip – put a piece of parchment on the scale) and cut into 8 equal pieces.
9. Roll each piece into a firm ball and place on the parchment sheet about 7 cm (3 inches) apart.
10. Press each piece to flatten to a disk. Lightly dust the tops with flour, place the second parchment over the top, and cover with the second baking sheet. Cover the entire thing with plastic wrap.
11. Allow the dough to rise for about an hour. On a cold day, this might take longer or less time on a warm summer day.
12. Preheat the oven to 180C (350F) about 30 minutes before baking.
13. Beat the egg with a pinch of salt. Wash the tops of the rolls with the egg wash. Sprinkle with sesame seeds if desired.
14. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes. Remove from oven when golden brown and puffy. Best eaten on the same day or wrapped tightly in an airtight container in the refrigerator.

Enjoy! Thank you for reading the blog and baking the recipes. Please tag @mamadolson with photos on social media. Send requests!

Beans are amazing and versatile. I always have 3 or 4 different kinds of dried beans. I was building a little stockpile pre-Brexit and so rolled into Corona quarantine with about 5 kilos of dried beans and lentils. The challenge – make them into great food for the Davinator (not a problem for the ultimate omnivore), my son and his university roommate (our lockdown crew).

Homemade refried beans is a great response to this challenge.

Refried beans are healthier and easier than you think. The recipe is very flexible – you can use almost any kind of canned or dried beans you have available. Black beans, white beans, pinto beans, black eyed peas. I was eying up a can of chick peas the other day – but those are better used in hummus.

The amount of spice is up to you – some like it hot, some like it garlicky, some like it with the flavour of beans shining through. The vegan version is, if anything, better than the standard version. Or you can go full on old school decadent carnivore and start with lard or beef dripping.

Refrieds are NOT fried twice. It’s a corruption of frijoles refritos or ‘well fried’. Not deep fried, not soaked in lard, just fried well.

Refried beans are great in Tex-Mex food; fajitas, burritos, quesadillas, tacos, dip, nachos – the list goes on and on. Kids like beans if they are well cooked and will pretty much eat anything you wrap up in a flour tortilla. Also, refrieds are an essential component of the highest form of Tex-Mex food – huevos rancheros. Food of the gods.

My son and his roommate brought a can of refried beans when they came home for lockdown. I said ‘I’m going to show you what that should taste like’. Made them this recipe, took a dish into their study room with a few corn chips. They took one tentative taste (to be polite) and then dived in and gobbled the rest up. They are converts.

The convenience of a can of refried beans is not to be sneered at but make these at least once so you know what they should taste like. I made extra and froze portions for future use.

And just in time for Cinco de Maya – here’s the recipe.

Recipe

Ingredients

• 30 grams (2 tablespoons) of butter or neutral oil, divided (vegan substitutions)
• 1 small white onion, peeled and diced small
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 x 425 gram cans of beans (2 x 15 ounce cans) or 200 grams (1 cup) of dried beans, cooked as described below
• 120 mls (1/2 cup) vegetable stock
• 1 teaspoon chili powder (decide how spicy you want your beans to be and consider hot or chipotle chili powder)
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1 tablespoon freshly-squeezed lime juice
• fine sea salt and freshly-cracked black pepper
• optional garnishes: finely-chopped fresh cilantro, crumbled or shredded cheese, diced tomato, and/or sliced jalapeño

Instructions

1. Heat half the butter (or oil) in a large deep frying pan until melted.  Add the onion and cook for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally, until softened.  Add the garlic and repeat for 1-2 more minutes, until cooked and fragrant.
2. Add in the canned or cooked beans, veggie stock, chili powder, cumin and oregano, and stir to combine.  Continue cooking until the mixture reaches a simmer.
3. Take the pan off the heat.  Use a potato masher or a wooden spoon to mash the beans to your desired consistency.  If you like them super-smooth, you can purée them with a stick blender or in your food processor. I don’t recommend the food processor – pureed beans are a b*****d to clean up.
4. Stir in the remaining butter until well-combined.  Taste and season the beans with lime juice, salt and pepper, to taste.
5. Serve warm, topped with any garnishes you might like.

Thank you for reading the blog, commenting, cooking, subscribing and sharing. Keep healthy and safe.

Instructions for cooking dried beans: this is my go to website for working with dried beans. It takes a little more time but is even cheaper than using canned beans. Enjoy.

You don’t need sourdough starter discard to make this recipe, I’ve included a version below without starter. With the sourdough starter – it is A-M-A-Z-I-N-G. Without the starter, it’s still great and will make better crackers than you can buy. The recipe is infinitely flexible; you can change the type of flour, the type of fat, the seasonings, the type of seeds and the toppings. I suggest that you make it as per the instructions the first time to get the technique down.

I made this several times, altering the seasonings each time until arriving at this recipe. The Davinator said ‘write that one down quick so you don’t lose it’.

Is this recipe easy? It requires some technique. This is a good recipe to practice your rolling technique and working with parchment paper because the ingredients are inexpensive. There are a couple of gadgets that make it easier and quicker. But you don’t need the gadgets. Useful gadgets for this recipe; a marble rolling pin, a spike dough roller and pizza cutter.

The good trick in this recipe – roll out the dough between two sheets of parchment paper. You can roll thin and even and make lovely crackers.

Recipe

Ingredients (see all the flexes below)

• 350g sourdough starter discard
• 100g whole wheat flour
• 100g all purpose or bread flour
• 60 mls olive oil
• 1 Teaspoon salt
• Water – a couple tablespoons as needed to bring the dough together
• 1 teaspoon of chilli flakes, crushed ( I ground in a small mortar)
• 2 teaspoons of Italian herbs
• 2 teaspoons of sesame seeds
• Salt grinder for topping
• All purpose flour for rolling out

Method

1. Pre-heat your oven to 160C fan (180C with no fan) (350F)
2. Put all the ingredients except the water in a bowl that fits your mixer. Mix well, then use the dough hook and ‘knead’ in the mixer for 3 minutes or so. You’re not trying to develop gluten here so longer isn’t better.
3. If the dough has formed into a ball, you’re ready to roll out. If not, add cold water a tablespoon at a time and knead for 30 seconds until the dough comes together in a ball. Should take one or two tablespoons at the most.
4. Cut parchment to fit your baking sheets. I used four baking sheets to bake these crackers, you can rotate yours. You also need at least one additional parchment sheet to use as a cover.
5. Place a sheet of parchment on your rolling surface. Flour the parchment, place about 1/4 of the dough on the sheet. Flatten with your hands, and flour the surface. Roll the dough flat and as thin as your nerve will tolerate. This is where the heavy rolling pin comes into its own – focus on getting the middle part flat and then the edges.
6. Flip the parchment with dough over and peel off what was the bottom piece (easier than peeling off the top piece). Using a fork or your spiky roller punch a lot of holes in the dough. Puncturing the dough keeps your crackers from getting puffy. Take your pizza cutter or a knife and cut the crackers into pieces. You do not need to separate the crackers on the parchment.
7. Slide the parchment onto a baking sheet and place in the oven for about 20 minutes on the upper shelf. I put the first sheet in and then roll out the second. At 10 minutes, I move the first sheet to the lower shelf and put the new sheet in on the upper shelf. Or prep two, rotate them half way through.
8. 20 minutes is a guide – keep an eye on the crackers because the edges will usually be thinner (especially in the beginning) and will brown more quickly.
9. Remove from the oven and let them cool on the baking sheets if you can so the crackers get just a little crisper. If the crackers feel soft or chewier – put them back in the oven for 3 minutes at a time.
10. Let cool before eating, In theory, these will keep for 10 days to 2 weeks. In this house, there have never been any left after 48 hours.

Flexing this recipe

There are so many ways to customise this recipe. Here are some suggestions:

1. No sourdough starter? Use 175 grams of flour (whole wheat, bread, all purpose) and 175 mls of water instead. You won’t get the sourdough tang but still really lovely crackers.
2. Vary the mix of flour in the recipe. Use rye, more white, less white, more whole wheat. I haven’t used any alternative flours like blue farina or spelt but it’s worth a try. Keep an eye on how much water you need.
3. Use different types of fat. I’ve used butter, bacon fat, sesame oil (very strong taste). We’ve settled on olive oil. Your fat should be liquid when mixing the dough so melt in advance.
4. Go wild with the seasonings. You can use up to 6 or 7 teaspoons of small seeds – sesame, black sesame, flax, hemp. Rosemary. Black pepper. Cumin. Oregano. Garlic or onion salt. Use combinations that you like and what you have in the cupboard. I found three open containers of chilli flakes – hence the chilli in this recipe.

Thanks for reading the blog. Please like, follow and share. Send comments and pictures if you’re cooking the recipes.

It was an impulse purchase of a kilo of dried black eyed beans (black eyed peas to Americans) that inspired me to make my own baked beans. And since the very first batch not a single can or jar or snap pot of Heinz has been seen at Braybourne House. My recipe has been through several iterations and I am confident in calling it ‘my own’.

I’m not waging war on convenience food -it is essential in a busy life. But understand what you exchange for convenience; it’s not just money, it’s taste and quality as well.

There I was staring at that kilo of dried beans thinking – what was I thinking? What should I do with these? An hour or so spent browsing the internet resulted in me rejecting many many recipes. I was astonished at how many American recipes for ‘slow cooked beans’ or ‘crockpot baked beans’ used tinned baked beans. Basically, the recipes just sexed up the canned beans.

This recipe starts with the true basic ingredients; a pork hock and dried beans. You can cut out steps by using a ham hock and tinned beans. My version has you cooking the pork and soaking the beans overnight – so starting from scratch doesn’t add much if any prep time.

If you want to make beans on Saturday, you need to have your ingredients and start your prep on Friday night. A slow cooker works well but you can also put these in a cast iron Dutch oven (big heavy stock pot) and put them in the oven. Instructions for both methods are below. You could cook them on hob, but then you’d need to be around to stir them regularly. Nobody has that much time on their hands.

Elapsed time is long but actual time spent prepping etc is very low. It’s a recipe that makes a lot of beans but they freeze beautifully. I freeze lots of containers with two servings. So that’s for two with breakfast but only one for the Davinator with a jacket potato or on toast.

You could do this as a vegetarian dish. Omit the bacon and the pork hock, use a couple of vegetable stock cubes to add some flavour during the slow cooking process. Add these midway through the cooking process. Salt and beans are not friends until after the beans have fully absorbed liquid.

Ingredients

One pork hock (it’s the ‘shank’ part of the leg, sometimes described as a pork knuckle). Or a ham hock. If using the ham hock, do not roast it)
600 grams of dried beans
100 grams of bacon lardons
2 small onions
3 cans of tomatoes (400 grams each)
3 tablespoons of black treacle, molasses or brown sugar
2 teaspoons dried mustard powder
2 teaspoons black pepper
1 teaspoon celery salt
1 teaspoon chili flakes

Salt to taste but only when cooking is finished.

Instructions

1. The night before prep your beans and pork.
2. Put the oven on about 125C. Place the pork joint in a roasting tin. Score the skin deeply in a number of places. Use a small rack if you have one to put the pork on. The pork can cook for 8 to 10 hours but a minimum of 6 hours. So put it in the oven when you go to bed and take it out the next morning.
3. Now the beans. I use the ‘hot soak’ method for my beans. There are three ways to prep dried beans and they tend to divide otherwise mild mannered cooks. Hot soak gets rid of the most sulphur and its sulphur that gives beans a bad reputation for shall we say digestive effects. Hot soak also works nicely overnight. Here’s a link to an assessment and detailed description of the various methods from the Bean Institute.
4. Put the beans in a big deep pot, cover with twice as much cold water as there are beans. Bring to a simmer. Simmer for about 3 minutes. Turn them off and leave them overnight.
5. Now you can go to bed and try to get over the knowledge that there is a Bean Institute. And they care a lot about beans.

Next day…….

1. Get out your slow cooker or Dutch oven. If using the oven method, preheat your oven to 150C.
2. Put the lardons in the bottom of the pot.
3. Peel the onions, halve and place in the pot.
4. Drain the beans, rinse, pick out any bad ones. Add the rinsed beans to the pot.
5. Add the tomatoes, molasses and spices. Stir into the beans. Adjust the amount of water so the mixture is covered with about 3 cms of liquid on top. I usually rinse out the tomato tins and use that water.
6. Take your roasted pork shank and nestle it in among the beans. If you’re feeling decadent, deglaze the pork roasting pan with hot water and add the juices and pork fat the beans.
7. If using a slow cooker or crock pot; put the lid on it, turn it to high and leave it for 3 to 4 hours. Likewise with the oven method; cover it and put it on the bottom shelf of the oven for 3 to 4 hours.
8. Check the beans for ‘doneness’ after the initial cooking time. The meat should be falling off the bone and the beans soft, approaching creamy. Turn the heat to low and cook for another hour. Leave the lid off if it seems like there is too much liquid.
9. Your beans are nearly ready to eat now. Carefully remove the pork shank, remove the skin, bone and cartilage and shred the meat. Return the meat to the beans and stir it in. I usually find and remove the onions as well. Add salt to taste at this point.

Enjoy! Thank you to my Twitter friend Anne (@anneforensics) who noticed the hand crafted baked beans in my cooked breakfast tweet and asked for the recipe.

Home made cream filled chocolate sandwich cookies.

Or should I say ‘cream filled chocolate sandwich cookie’? I stumbled across this recipe from the amazing Sally of Sally’s Baking Addiction.  I made it and the  cookies were so delicious it changed how I thought about ‘convenience’ foods.

Note: the terms biscuit and cookie are used interchangeably in this blog post.

This recipe started me on my quest to re-discover food that has been stolen from us by big food companies pushing ‘convenience’.  These cookies are what the inventor of the Oreo imagined.  Then the cost accountants said ‘cheaper ingredients please’ and the marketing team said ‘must last for 18 months in the package’ and the logistics team said ‘oh and should survive a 3 story drop without crumbling’.

Nobody actually NEEDS cookies. We WANT cookies.  If you’re going to indulge in a cookie (biscuit), make it one of these cream filled chocolate beauties.

I’ve made a couple of process improvements and tweaked the recipe ever so slightly for non-American bakers.  My version of the recipe makes three dozen (36) filled sandwich cookies, 75 to 80 individual biscuits.  It’s about double the original recipe. but believe me you won’t have any trouble with ‘disposal’ of these cookies.

They are a great way to win friends and influence people.  And the 3 dozen includes ‘wastage’ like when the Davinator sneaks into the baking kitchen and steals some dough or a fresh baked cookie.  For a big man, he can be stealthy.

My instructions below include three innovations that help me get consistent results with the recipe: melting the butter for the dough, weighing the dough for each biscuit and piping the filling onto the biscuits.

Some genius at Cooks Illustrated came up with the idea of melting butter to combine it with sugar.  I tried it first in my brioche and I’ve never looked back.  Just about any recipe that combines butter and sugar (not icing sugar) works well with melted and cooled butter rather than ‘room temperature’ butter.   Cooks Illustrated is the only online cooking resource I pay for, by the way.  Love it.    Occasionally frustrating because they sell cookbooks and gadgets you can’t get in the UK.  

Weighing the biscuit dough seems fiddly but it means that you have uniform pieces when it comes to assembly of the sandwiches.  In other words – they all match.  I pipe the cream on because it’s neater (once you get the hang of filling and working with the bag),  and you can weigh the filling as you put it on.

Piping the filling is quicker than spooning it on – it means you eat less of the filling. If you bake as much as I do – it makes a difference.

There seem to be a lot of steps in the recipe but don’t worry.  It’s to break the recipe down for the less confident bakers.

Bake away people!

Recipe

Chocolate sandwich cookies

• 320 grams plain white flour (not self raising, I don’t get on with it)
•  85 grams unsweetened natural cocoa powder – I use Callebaut and get mine from Amazon
• 2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 225 grams unsalted butter melted then cooled (see below)
• 300 grams fine white caster sugar
• 100 grams brown sugar (I find that light or dark doesn’t matter)
• 2 large eggs at room temperature
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Cream Filling

• 120 grams unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
• 95 grams vegetable shortening (Trex or Crisco), room temperature
• 420 grams icing  sugar
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Instructions

Making the chocolate biscuits

1. Melt the butter in a plastic bowl or other microwave safe container. I do 30 second pulses and it takes 2 or at the most 3.   Let the butter cool for about 10 minutes.  You can get the rest of ingredients ready while it’s cooling.
2. Put the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt in a bowl.  Whisk to combine.
3. Combine the sugars in the bowl of your stand mixer.  Put the paddle attachment on.  Pour in the melted cooled butter and beat at a low speed.  It might take a minute or two but is much quicker than creaming even true room temperature butter.   Beat in the eggs and the vanilla until well combined.
4. Add the dry ingredients.  Beat slowly.  Stop and scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl.  Beat for another minute.  Then cover the bowl with plastic wrap or a shower cap and refrigerate for an hour.
5. Preheat the oven to 190C (170C fan).  Line your baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking sheets.
6. Take the dough out of the refrigerator.. It should be firm and easy to handle. Divide it into four roughly equal portions.  Get your scale ready – put a piece of parchment on it, zero it.
7. Roll one of your portions into a log about 3 cms (an inch and a bit)  in diameter.  Cut off about a 2 to 3 cm piece and weigh it.  You want each biscuit to be about 15 grams.   Divide the dough into 15 gram portions.  Roll each 15 gram piece into a ball and place on the baking sheet.  You will get good at ‘feeling’ when they are right weight and your speed will pick up.
8. Fill 2 baking sheets, leaving enough room between each biscuit because they will spread.  Crush each ball so that they become disc shaped.
9. Put the baking sheets in the oven and cook for 7 -8 minutes.  You can do a test biscuit on it’s own (also fun to eat) to see how your oven is baking.   I don’t rotate the baking sheets or move them up or down the oven racks because I don’t think it makes a difference for a cooking time that short.  If you find it does, then I would do one baking sheet at a time.
10. When the biscuits are cooked, remove them from the oven, cool on the sheet for about 5 minutes and then move to a rack or a clean tea towel.  I use an offset spatula and move one biscuit at a time – resisting the impulse to use my fingers or do two at a time.  It’s quick enough. Cool the biscuits well before adding the cream filling.

Making the ‘cream’ filling

1. Beat together the butter and the vegetable shortening using the paddle attachment in your mixer.  This is NOT the time to try the melting butter trick.  You’ve just got to wait for the butter to soften.  Add the icing sugar and the vanilla.  I throw a damp towel over the mixer rather than rely on the Kitchen Aid splash guard (that is the most useless piece of kit ever, actually makes more mess than it prevents).  Beat until smooth.
   

   No actual ‘cream’ and should be a bit stiff.

   Now it’s time to get out the piping bag and do your assembly.

Two great gadgets come together now: disposable piping bags and the piping bag filler.  It’s a plastic cone shaped thingy (see below) and helps you fill the pointy end of piping bag.  I buy the piping bags in a big roll and use them for buttercream,  mashed potatoes, filling cookies and putting dough into things like donut pans.

A plastic gadget that should be cheaper but works a bomb.

Assembly

1. Fill your piping bag. DO NOT CUT OFF THE END – YET.  You don’t need a metal nozzle. Gather up the top and twist it about 10 times.  Then swing it over your head like a bolo or a lasso.  This forces the filling to the pointy end.  NOW cut off the end of the piping bag. Repeat: DO NOT CUT THE END OFF BEFORE THE LASSO STEP.  Learn from those of us who may have redecorated the kitchen with buttercream icing.

Lay out your biscuits in pairs and match any that may have been 14 or 16 grams.  I put the filling on the ‘smooth’ side and then put the smooth sides together.  The smooth side would have been the bottom when baked.

Lay out your sandwich pieces and improve any size mis-matches.

Put a biscuit on the scale and zero it (smooth side up).  Apply about 15 grams of cream filling to the biscuit and then smoosh another (matching) cookie on top of it.

The piping bag really helps with speed and uniformity. Also you eat less icing….

Fill away, smoosh the pieces together and enjoy.  These keep in a sealed Tupperware container for at least a week.   I’ve never had these cookies go stale – they get eaten too fast.

Happy baking!

Four simple ingredients.

Convenience food is amazing for productivity at home.  It is a gift from god to those busiest of people – working parents.    And almost everything we eat – even in Mama Dolson’s kitchen – has an element of convenience food.  Let’s work through an example.

It’s lunch time.  You buy a ham and cheese sandwich with mayo, crisps and a bottle of juice.  Breaking down only the sandwich; without ‘convenience food’ you would need to start with wheat, a pig, a cow, some chickens, a sourdough starter, corn to press for oil, something to make vinegar and a source of salt.   That is a lot of work for a ham and cheese sandwich with mayonnaise.   And I didn’t mention the preservatives, colouring agents, flavour ‘enhancers’, etc.

Modern life would be practically impossible without convenience food.   Unless you’ve grown it yourself, all the ingredients in the kitchen have an element of convenience. As a minimum, it’s convenient that they are there in your kitchen.   Butter is a convenience food – can you imagine getting fresh milk and churning your own butter before making toast in the morning?  Convenience food is a game changer.  But it’s worth knowing what you have given up for convenience.

I had  a life changing experience when I stumbled across a recipe for home made Oreos.  I made them and the result was amazing.  What I had made was what the creator of Oreos had invented.  But that Oreo vision had then fallen into the hands of marketing, supply chain management, packaging and dare I say it – the management accountant.  The original Oreo was modified so that it would last 12 months on the shelf, could be easily packaged, transported and so that each package would make the company money.  The ideal Oreo had become a money making convenience food.

It launched me and my family (and anyone else within reach whom can I feed) on a voyage of discovery.  I love taking a convenience food and finding out what it really tastes like.  I’m not a zealot looking to ban convenience food.  I’m an adventurer on a quest for authenticity.

For example, I used to joke that mayonnaise was the only fattening thing I didn’t like.  No longer true – I love fresh home made mayonnaise.   Mayonnaise is so much more than smooth white boring sauce and a convenience food.  Some foods deserve fresh mayonnaise (crab meat for example) or oeuf mimosa (mimosa eggs, coming in a future blog post).

So, let’s make mayonnaise.   The Davinator filmed me making it. The video is 1 minute and 2 seconds long because once you’ve assembled your ingredients – that’s how long it takes. Here’s a link to a video on YouTube.  Mama Dolson makes mayonnaise.      

And if you don’t like my video – there’s about 100 other ones on YouTube that will show you the same thing.

You do need the right equipment for this recipe to work.  You need a stick blender and cylindrical container.   Plus the ingredients.  You can make mayonnaise by hand or in a food processor but this way always works for me.  Once you trust the recipe, you can start to experiment with different oils, acids and spices.  One of our favourites is lime chilli mayonnaise with crab meat.

It only lasts a couple of days in the fridge but I’ve never had to throw any away. Think about how long a bottle or jar of mayonnaise or salad cream lasts…..what do you think they’ve done to it to make it last that long and never separate.

Recipe:

• 1 egg
• 2 teaspoons lemon juice
• a pinch of salt
• 240 mls of oil; I use 120 mls extra virgin olive oil and 120 mls corn oil

How to:

Break the egg into the container.  Put in the lemon juice, pinch of salt and the oil.  Give it a minute to settle then put the stick blender to the bottom, put it on a high setting and whiz away.  This will take less than 30 seconds and you have mayonnaise.

Watch the video, yes it is that easy.

I haven’t banned mayonnaise in a squeezy bottle because I don’t want to stop and make mayo every time the Davinator wants a sandwich.   But the Davinator has not touched the squeezy bottle since I made the first lot of home made mayo.  If there is no home made mayo – he uses another condiment. Which tells you everything.

A bit more on the equipment:  a stick blender costs about £10 on Amazon or you can get a slightly more expensive set that comes with a cylinder.  If no container with the blender, find a plastic container or a Kilner jar.  There are three things:

1. It needs to be a snug fit for your stick blender.
2. The sides need to be straight up and down.
3. It should be at least 12 centimeters deep.

A stick blender and a cylindrical container are mandatory for this recipe.

So, people.  Let’s make mayonnaise!