Blackberry and Chambord Cupcakes

So all of the last blackberries have been picked and foraged and many of us have put some in jam jars to keep in the coming months. I know I did! I had a random jar lurking around in the fridge and I thought I’d use it up. I’m such a sucker for cupcakes these days, I think it’s because you can pick one up without feeling as guilty as cutting a slice of a huge cake! However this logic works, it proves to be highly illogical because it’s quite easy to get more than one! Never mind. Anyways, I decided to just try some cupcakes, and I made the icing out of a little yogurt milk and icing sugar, and of course some blackberry jam. Really easy to make and you could use any type of jam you like. Makes 6 cupcakes, enjoy!

Lovely and moist, perfect with a cuppa!

Ingredients:
80g butter
80g self-rising flour
80g caster sugar
¼ tsp. baking powder
½ tsp. vanilla
Pinch salt
2 eggs
1 tbsp. Chambord (or milk)
¼ c. blackberry jam + 1 tbsp.
50g greek yogurt
Milk
Icing sugar

To Start:
Cream the butter and sugar together until smooth.
Next mix in the vanilla and eggs.
Slowly sift in the flour, salt and baking powder.
Stir well to combine.
Put into muffin tins and bake for about 10-15minutes.

For the Icing:
*The reason I haven’t given exact measurements is because for me this isn’t a science, it’s very little by little adding some and eying it. So with that said….
Add a tablespoon of greek yogurt a tablespoon of milk and keep adding icing sugar and yogurt until it’s the consistency you like.
Add about 1 tsp-1 tbsp. jam to get the colour and consistency you like.
Keep adding sugar until it’s firm enough to ice.

To Finish:
When the cupcakes are out of the oven and cool, take a small teaspoon and dig out a tiny portion of the middle, you don’t have to take much just a little to get a nice blackberry filling.
Dollop a good half tablespoon to tablespoon into the hole keeping it in the middle.
Put the icing in a bag and pipe two large circular layers around the jam and then they’re ready to serve!

Homemade Freezer Pesto Cubes

Luckily it’s that time of year where basil is running rampant in everyone’s garden and being grown at high volumes for purchase. Unfortunately, I am not one of those people who can grow lot of anything, except maybe mint. I have a very aggressive mint bush growing right now and it’s threatening to take over. Anyways, back to basil. It’s a really lovely herb and it also freezes really well. A few years ago I took advantage of a huge bag of basil from my local organic veg box scheme Riverford, mostly because I didn’t realize at the time how much 200g of basil was! I had basil everything for a week. When it was running out I decided to figure out how to freeze it which was incredibly easy. I just put the remaining 100g into a food processor and added a little oil and presto pesto. Shove it in some ice cubes and pop it in the freezer. It’s a very simple remedy for any herbs really. They can be popped into any dish frozen; I like to pop them into the last five minutes of a Bolognese sauce or quick pesto pasta for a quick mid-week dinner. The possibilities are absolutely endless.

Easily doubled if necessary.

Takes about 2 seconds to make.

Makes about 18 1 tsp. portions.

Easy Fresh Panzanella with Mint and Marjoram

What is it? It’s an Italian bread salad, made with hot croutons freshly made, then sauced up with a delicious vinaigrette and fresh veggies and herbs. It’s absolutely delicious on a hot day or easily taken on a picnic. I bet it would even go nicely with a grilled piece of chicken or fish. I got the herbs from my garden but you traditionally use basil, but since I didn’t have any I just improvised and it was fantastic. It’s best when the croutons are fresh hot out of the oven, but just as delicious after resting at room temperature. This recipe makes about 4 servings but you can easily double it for 4 large portions. Enjoy!

Fresh and healthy!

Ingredients:
200g baguette (rustic baguette preferred and slightly stale)
2-3 medium tomatoes
1 small red onion sliced finely
½ yellow pepper sliced
½ red pepper sliced
½ long cucumber
4 tbsp. olive oil (1 for toasting, 3 for dressing)
½ tsp. Dijon mustard
3 tbsp. white wine vinegar
1 clove garlic
Few sprigs mint and marjoram
Salt and pepper

To start:
Cut the baguette into 1x1inch cubes. Make sure your bread is crusty and stale if it isn’t cut into cubes and leave to rest for 1hr before toasting.
Drizzle 1 tbsp. of olive oil around and salt and pepper tossing it with your fingers to combine.
Put in a 200F oven for about 10 minutes, watch them so they don’t burn!

For the Salad:
Dice the tomatoes, peppers and cucumbers in nice big chunks.
Make sure the onions are sliced finely.
Finely chop the herbs
Salt and leave aside.

For the Dressing:
Whisk 3 tbsp. oil, vinegar, Dijon mustard, garlic until well combined.
Add the herbs and stir.

To Combine the Salad:
When the croutons are hot out of the oven mix them with the vegetables.
Next dress the salad with the dressing and stir to combine.
Stir well so that the dressing gets absorbed by all of the croutons.
Enjoy!