The Power of Poppy Pendle
Page 16
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3/4 cup unsweetened coconut milk
1 cup shredded, sweetened coconut
~ METHOD ~
••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••
1.Preheat the oven to 325°F.
2.In a medium bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
3.Now put the butter and sugar into another bowl. You can do this in a standing mixer (ask an adult to help you set it up) or use a handheld mixer. Cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. (“Cream” is a fancy word for beat or mix.)
4.Add the eggs one at a time, mixing in well. Then add the vanilla.
5.Now take turns adding some of the flour mixture, some of the coconut milk, some of the flour mixture, some of the coconut milk, and so on until they have both been used up. Gently stir in the shredded coconut.
6.Line 14 to 16 muffin molds with paper cupcake wrappers and pour in the batter, about 1/2 to 2/3 full, depending on how big you like your cupcakes. Bake for 22 to 28 minutes, until very light golden and spongy. (When you press the top gently, it will bounce back.) There should be no liquid visible. Remove from the tin and cool on a wire rack.
7.Frost with Coconut Buttercream Frosting when cool.
Coconut Buttercream Frosting
~ INGREDIENTS ~
••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••
1/2 cup shredded, sweetened coconut
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, softened
1 1/4 cups powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 tablespoons coconut milk, or more, to mix
~ METHOD ~
••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••
1.Preheat oven to 350°F.
2.Spread sweetened coconut on a baking tray and bake for 7 to 10 minutes, until lightly golden. You might want to ask an adult to help you take the tray out of the oven. Let the coconut flakes cool.
3.Put the butter and powdered sugar into a bowl, and using a handheld mixer, cream together until smooth and light. Make sure your butter is really soft, and go slowly at first; otherwise, you will have powdered sugar flying about all over the place! Mix in the vanilla extract and coconut milk, slowly adding more coconut milk until a lovely creamy texture is reached. Dip in a clean spoon and give it a taste.
4.Swirl on top of cooled cupcakes.
5.Sprinkle the toasted coconut flakes on top.
6.If there are any cupcakes left, store in an airtight container at room temperature.
Chocolate Butter Bread
Makes 1 Bundt cake
Marie Claire makes this only on Wednesdays, because in her experience Wednesdays are often days when people need something special to eat. One buttery, chocolaty mouthful, and the gloomiest Wednesday will be transformed by happy smiles.
This is a little bit more complicated than the other recipes but worth trying because it is simply so delicious. It is definitely best eaten warm from the oven!
~ INGREDIENTS ~
••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••
2 teaspoons dried yeast
3 cups all-purpose flour (plus about another 1/4 to 1/2 cup)
1/4 cup sugar
2/3 cup lukewarm milk (Just warm in a microwave for about twenty seconds, but be careful because you want the milk only slightly warm and not hot.)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter
2 large eggs
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
5 1/2 to 6 ounces of good dark chocolate (The better the chocolate you use, the more delicious your bread will taste. Marie Claire is a big fan of Callebaut and Lindt.)
~ METHOD ~
••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••
1.In a small bowl, mix together the yeast, 1/2 cup of the flour, the sugar, and the lukewarm milk. Let this mixture sit for about 10 minutes, until it gets all foamy and bubbly.
2.While you are waiting for the yeast mixture to bubble up, take a large bowl, or if your home has one, the bowl of a standing mixer. Most standing mixers come with dough hook attachments, and this is the easiest way to make chocolate butter bread. If you don’t have a standing mixer, don’t worry; you can knead the dough by hand. It just takes a bit longer, but it’s also quite fun. So, into your big bowl put 21/2 cups flour and 1/2 teaspoon salt. Chop in one stick of butter, cutting the butter into smallish pieces. Then using your fingers, rub the butter into the flour until it looks like bread crumbs and there are no big clumps of butter left.
3.Now add 2 eggs, the vanilla, and the small bowl of bubbly yeast mixture. If you are using a standing mixer with a dough hook, gently mix the ingredients around at low speed. If you are using a regular bowl, stir the ingredients together with a wooden spoon. What you are aiming for is a soft but not sticky dough. If your dough is very sticky, take the remaining 1/4 cup of flour and slowly shake some of it into the bowl, mixing it around until the dough no longer sticks to the bottom and sides. You may need a bit more, but add slowly.
4.Keep the standing mixer running for about three minutes while it kneads the dough. To do this part by hand, simply tip the dough onto a clean, floured table. Using the heel of your hands, push the dough forward, then fold it back over and push forward again. This is called kneading, and it can be quite hard work. Keep going, turning the ball of dough, pushing it forward, and folding it over again and again for about three minutes. You don’t want to overwork this dough. Too much kneading will make the bread tough.
5.Put the dough into a clean bowl. Cover the bowl with a dry dishcloth or a piece of plastic wrap, and leave it to rise in a warm place. The kitchen counter is usually good. Now you need to wait until your dough is double its size. This can take anywhere from 11/2 to 4 hours, so just forget it’s there and go off and do something fun. You don’t have to hang around the house while it’s rising.
6.Chop up the dark chocolate on a chopping board that HAS NOT been used to chop onions (otherwise, your bread will taste oniony). Try not to eat all the chocolate while you are waiting for your dough to rise. Once the dough has puffed up to double its original size, punch it down and stir in the chocolate. Use your hands for this. It’s much easier than trying to mix the dough with a spoon.
7.Butter around the inside of a pretty 7- or 8-cup Bundt cake pan. Pat the dough into a circle the width of the pan, and using your fingers, make a hole in the middle so it looks a bit like a giant, flattish doughnut. Carefully lower the dough ring into the cake pan, enlarging the hole if necessary so that it fits over the tube in the center of the pan. Now cover with plastic wrap or a dishcloth, and leave it to rise in a warm place until it has doubled in size again. This should take about 1 to 11/2 hours, but don’t worry if it takes longer. Time doesn’t matter here. Making sure it rises properly is what’s important. It should rise almost to the top of the pan.
8.Preheat the oven to 375°F. When your dough has risen, bake it in the middle of the oven for 35 to 40 minutes. Check the bread after about 20 minutes. If it looks like it’s getting too brown on top, cover the pan loosely with foil. As it bakes, your house will smell fabulous, just like Marie Claire’s bakery. You can tell the bread is done because it will be a lovely golden color on top and sound hollow inside when you tap it. Ask an adult to help you take the pan out of the oven and place it on a wire rack. Loosen the edges with a kitchen knife and then turn it out of the pan to cool. If you want to add a fancy
touch, feel free to sprinkle some confectioners’ sugar on top of the bread, when it has cooled.
9.Try to wait a bit before cutting off a slice. This is almost impossible to do, and even though Marie Claire lets her bread cool down before slicing into it, Poppy always has a big, steaming piece, warm and chocolate speckled, with her morning caffe latte.
10.Store in an airtight container at room temperature.
Charlie’s Favorite Lemon Bars
Makes about 20 2-inch bars
Whenever Poppy makes these, Charlie will share a bag of them with her goose. He loves the crumbly cookie crust, while Charlie adores the zingy lemon filling.
~ Ingredients for the Crust ~
(You will need to bake these in a 9 x 13 pan*)
••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••
1 3/4 cups flour
1/4 cup cornstarch
1/2 cup confectioners’ sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup (2 sticks) butter
~ Ingredients for the Filling ~
••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••
4 large eggs
2 tablespoons finely grated lemon rind
2/3 cup lemon juice (You will probably need four to five lemons, depending on how juicy they are.)
1 1/2 cups sugar
1/4 cup flour
1/8 teaspoon salt
~ METHOD ~
••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••
1.The easiest way to make the crust is in a food processor. If you have one in your house, ask an adult to set it up for you, then simply put in all the crust ingredients and whiz together until a smooth dough forms. If you don’t have a food processor, don’t worry. Simply put the flour, cornstarch, confectioners’ sugar, and salt into a big bowl. Stir around with a fork to blend. Chop the cold butter up into small pieces and tip it in. Then using your thumb and fingers, rub the butter into the flour mixture until it resembles fine crumbs. When you reach this point, squish it all together until it forms a soft dough. Taste a little to make sure it’s yummy.
2.Now press the dough into your pan. Try to make the layer as even as possible.
3.Put the pan in the fridge to chill for 30 minutes before baking. This step is important. It will give you a crisper, flakier cookie crust.
While the crust is chilling, you can make the filling.
4.Crack the eggs into a bowl. (You don’t want bits of shell in the filling, so you might want to ask an adult to help you with this part.) Beat the eggs with a whisk, and then add the rest of the filling ingredients. This makes a very lemony bar, which Charlie loves.
5.Preheat the oven to 350°F.
6.Once the crust has chilled for half an hour, bake it in the oven (without the filling) for 20 minutes. Don’t take the pan out, but turn the oven temperature down to 300°F. Bake the crust for another five to ten minutes, until it’s a nice pale golden color.
7.Now ask an adult to help you take the pan out of the oven and let it cool for two or three minutes on a wire rack before pouring on your topping. You do want the crust to be warm when the filling goes on.
8.Carefully pour the lemony filling all over the cookie crust. Then ask an adult to help you put the pan back in the oven.
9.Bake for 25 to 30 minutes at 300 degrees, until filling is set. The filling should not be liquid in the center, but a soft jiggle is okay.
10.Cool completely in the pan on a wire rack. This is hard to do, and Charlie has been known to eat the bars, warm and crumbly, straight from the oven!
11.Sift powdered sugar on top and then cut into bars and eat.
12.These are best eaten the day they are made, but are still delicious when a few days old. Store in an airtight container at room temperature.
*If you want to make a smaller quantity of lemon bars, simply halve all the ingredients for the crust and filling and bake in an 8 × 8 pan. You may need to ask an adult to help you work out the math for this! The most difficult measurement to halve is 13/4 cups of flour. Half of this would be 3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons of flour.
Coffee Cupcakes
Makes 12 regular-size cupcakes or about 36 mini cupcakes
Poppy dreamed up these delicious cupcakes after drinking her first cup of French-brewed coffee at Marie Claire’s bakery. This makes a rich, espresso cupcake topped with coffee buttercream and a coffee-flavored chocolate bean on top.
~ INGREDIENTS ~
••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••
1 tablespoon milk
1 tablespoon instant espresso powder (found in the coffee aisle of most supermarkets)
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, softened
1/2 cup sugar
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons self-rising flour (or all-purpose flour mixed with 11/4 teaspoons baking powder)
1/4 teaspoon salt
~ METHOD ~
••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••
1.Preheat the oven to 350°F.
2.Pour the tablespoon of milk into a little dish (a small china ramekin is ideal), and warm it in the microwave for about 10 seconds. If you don’t have a microwave, just warm some milk gently in a saucepan and measure out 1 tablespoon into a little dish. Then sprinkle the espresso powder over the milk and stir to blend.
3.If there is a food processor in your home, ask an adult to help you set it up, then whiz all the cake ingredients together, including the espresso-flavored milk. Then go directly to step 7.
4.Otherwise, put your stick of softened butter into a large bowl, and using a handheld mixer, whiz the butter around until it is nice and fluffy. Pour the sugar on top, and beat together with the butter until well blended. Go slowly at first, because you don’t want sugar flying all over the counter.
5.Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. You can ask an adult to help you with this if you like, because you don’t want bits of eggshell in the batter. Add the vanilla extract, then the self-rising flour (or all-purpose flour and baking powder) and 1/4 teaspoon salt and mix quickly again. You don’t want to overmix the ingredients or your cakes will be tough.
6.Now mix the powerful espresso-flavored milk into your cake batter, scraping around the little dish to make sure you get it all in. The batter will turn a rich coffee color and smell delicious.
7.Arrange 12 paper cupcake wrappers inside a muffin tin, or if you want to make miniature cupcakes, you will need about 36 mini paper wrappers for a mini muffin pan. Fill each cup half full with cake batter and bake 16 to 20 minutes for regular cupcakes, or 9 to 14 minutes for minis. You might want to ask an adult to help you get the cupcakes into and out of the oven. Let cool on a wire rack.
8.Frost with Coffee Frosting when cool.
Coffee Frosting
You can make this while the cupcakes are baking.
~ INGREDIENTS ~
••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••
2 1/2 tablespoons milk
1 1/2 teaspoons espresso powder
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, softened
1 1/4 cups confectioners’ sugar
~ METHOD ~
••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••
1.Pour the milk into a little dish. Warm the milk in the microwave for about 10 seconds, and sprinkle the espresso powder on top. Stir to blend.
2.Put the soften
ed butter into a large bowl and shake the confectioners’ sugar over it. Using a big wooden spoon or a handheld mixer (I like to use a handheld mixer because it makes the frosting really smooth and creamy), gently stir the espresso-flavored milk into the mixture, and blend together until soft and creamy. Go slowly to begin with; otherwise, you will have sugar all over your counter! If you want a softer frosting, just add a drop or two more milk.
3.Using a dinner knife, smooth the frosting on top of the cupcakes, and decorate with a coffee-flavored chocolate bean.
4.These are so scrumptious you probably won’t have any left. If you do, store them in an airtight container at room temperature.
A Really Delicious Orange Cake
Makes 1 loaf
This is an excellent teatime cake. It is moist and orangey, with a lovely orange icing drizzled on top. It’s a favorite with the villagers of Potts Bottom, and unlike Mrs. Pendle’s version, it doesn’t contain any canned salmon!
~ INGREDIENTS ~
••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••
1 large organic orange
3/4 cup (11/2 sticks) butter, softened
3/4 cup sugar
3 large eggs
1/4 cup apricot jam
1 1/3 cups self-rising flour (or all-purpose flour mixed with
2 teaspoons baking powder)
1/4 teaspoon salt
~ Method ~
••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••
1.Preheat the oven to 350°F.
2.Using a lemon zester, grate the rind off the orange. If you don’t have a lemon zester, you can use the small holes of a cheese grater to grate off the orange rind. Squeeze out
5 tablespoons of the orange’s juice.
3.The easiest way to make this cake is to whiz all the ingredients together in a food processor. Ask an adult to help you with this if you decide to use one. Then go directly to step 8.