Lemon Scented Blueberry Swiss Roll

There is no doubt in my mind that blueberries and lemons go together like . . . well, peas and carrots!!

I grew up in rural Nova Scotia, a very small province in Canada with a distinctly maritime climate . . . and ditches and fields just chock full of wild blueberries in late summer and early autumn. Wild blueberries were always something I had taken very much for granted when I was a child, and even as an adult . . .



Flicker
until I couldn't get them anymore. That is when we seem to miss things the most . . . when they are seemingly out of our reach.

It is my dream to visit home again one summer . . . when the corn is ripe for the picking and eating . . . and when the wild blueberries once again are deep purple and growing profusely in the brush along the bye ways and highways of my beautiful home province.



We do have cultivated berries here, and they are quite tasty . . . but nothing ever comes quite up to that beautiful taste of the wild berry, all that fruity flavour concentrated into a small juicy berry no larger than the tip of my baby finger . . . ahh . . . bliss.



We do get wild blueberry preserves over here though, and they are quite tasty in a pinch! I love them on my toast in the morning and spread onto fluffy buttermilk pancakes . . . all warm and stodgy good, with melted butter gilding and soaking into their lace like crisp edges.



Sometimes for a treat on a Sunday afternoon, I make us a lovely jelly roll, or Swiss roll as it is called over here in the UK . . . and I spread it through the middle with sweet and tasty wild blueberry preserves . . .



I like to eat it with my fingers, and while I eat . . . I dream of August days when the air is dry and hot . . . and filled with the sounds of humming insects . . .



of ice cream buckets filled to over flowing with wild blueberries . . . the smell of wild brush in the heat of the sun . . . fingers and teeth stained blue from our exertions . . . aching backs after hours spent hunched over in this glorious labour of love . . . and . . . well . . .

of home . . .



*Lemon Scented Blueberry Swiss Roll*
Makes one 12 inch roll
Printable Recipe

This swiss roll has to be one of the easiest and quickest cakes in the world! You can have the cake mixed together, baked and cooling on the countertop in less than 15 minutes!

For the cake:
3 large free range eggs
5 ounces caster sugar
2 TBS milk
the finely grated zest of one un-waxed lemon
5 ounces plain flour
1 tsp baking powder
a handful of slivered almonds
caster sugar for rolling
1/2 pint of blueberry preserves



Pre-heat the oven to 230*C/450*F. Line a swiss roll pan (8 by 12 inches) with greaseproof paper and set aside.

Break the eggs into a bowl and add the sugar. Beat together with an electric whisk until pale and fluffy. Add the milk and the lemon zest. Whisk together the flour and baking powder. Fold this into the egg mixture, making sure all the dry ingredients are incorporated. Pour into the prepared pan. Sprinkle the slivered almonds on top.

Bake for about 5 minutes in the centre of the oven. Cake is done when lightly browned and when it springs back when lightly touched.

Have a sheet of grease proof paper ready on which you have sprinkled more caster sugar. Remove the cake from the oven and turn out immediately onto the sugar coated paper. Carefully peel off the greaseproof from the baked cake. Roll up the cake in the caster sugar covered paper, from one long side towards the other, tucking in the first long side tightly. Set aside and allow to cool completely before proceeding.

Once the cake is cooled, unroll and spread with the blueberry preserves. Reroll. Cut into 1/2 inch thick slices to serve.

hmmm . . . the thought just occurs to me that this would be lovely in a lemon trifle . . . stay tuned!!

Date Slice

I know you must get sick of hearing about yet another food that I just love, but I can't help sharing my loves with you and I love Dates! It has ever been so. I can eat them just like raisins . . . so sweet and dense and moreisly moist. As my teeth sink into one, I can just picture Desert Bedoins rolling along the dunes of the Sahara on the back of camels, and I am very glad that I am sitting in my little cottage in the South East of England munching on dates . . . but I digress . . .



My mother always, always , ALWAYS made us Date Squares at Christmas time . . . all buttery and crumbly and oaty and chock full of dates. We just couldn't get enough of them. I'm sure she had to make more than one batch each year just to keep us happy. In fact, the very recipe that she used is in my cookbook, Recipes From The Big Blue Binder, which you can find HERE.



But it's not Christmas . . . and it seems like the wrong time of year to be munching on my mother's date squares as delicious as they are.



I have dates that need using up though . . . and so I turn to these.

Moreishly tasty Date Slices . . . delicious cake base, filled with dates, coconut and toasted nuts, and covered with a scrummy lemon icing . . .



Bet you can't eat just one!



*Date Slice*
Makes one 8 by 12 inch pan
Printable Recipe

If you like the flavour of dates and coconut, then this slice is for you. Moreishly moist and datey cake, beneath a tangy lemon icing. What's not to like! You can add 1.4 cup of chopped pecans or walnuts for an extra bit of flavour and texture if you wish.

100g of dessicated coconut
7 ounces caster sugar
6 ounces self raising flour
90g of butter
1 large egg
125g of stoned dates, finely chopped
2 TBS whole milk
1 tsp vanilla extract
For the lemon icing:
1 cup of sifted icing sugar
1 TBS butter
the juice of one lemon



Pre-heat the oven to 180*C/350*F. Line the baking tin with baking paper and lightly grease. Set aside.

Melt the butter. Once melted cool and then whisk in the milk, vanilla and the egg to combine well.

Sift the flour into a bowl. Whisk in the castor sugar, the coconut and the dates. Pour the butter mixture over top and mix well with a fork. Spread evenly into the prepared tin.

Bake for 25 minutes until risen and golden brown. Remove from the oven to a wire rack to cool.

To make the icing whisk the icing ingredients together until smooth. Spread over the cooled cake. Cut into squares to serve.

Orchard Fruit Crumble

It's no secret that I love grocery shopping, and I reckon I spend roughly twice as much time in grocery stores than most people, because of my job . . . so it's a pretty good thing that I do love it! I work as a personal chef in a big manor house and so, if I am not cooking and shopping for myself . . . I am cooking and shopping for work!



I regularly see things that I think to myself . . . I could do that and for less than half the price, and it would probably taste a lot better too.



I happened to see what looked like a delicious crumble in the frozen food section of my local Waitrose the other day . . . Orchard Fruit Crumble. What a tasty idea!!



I took a look at the ingredients and then dashed my trolly over to the produce section to pick up some apples, pears and plums.



Easy peasy . . . lemon squeasy. Of course, lashings of custard are a given . . .



And oh so very delish!!



*Orchard Fruit Crumble*
Serves 4
Printable Recipe

This is delicious and heartwarming. The perfect pud for a chilly autumn evening.

3 Bramley apples, peeled, cored and cut into chunks
3 pears, peeled, cored and cut into chunks
3 ripe plums, pitted and cut into chunks
2 oz butter
a pinch of cinnamon (optional)
8 oz of rolled organic oats
4 oz of soft butter
3 oz soft brown sugar

Melt the 2oz butter in a pan and then add the apples, pears and plums, coating them with the butter. Leave them to simmer on a gentle heat for about 5 to 6 mins or until just beginning to soften. Taste. If it seems a bit too tart, add a heaped dessertspoon of caster sugar. Pour this mixture into a buttered shallow baking dish.

Pre-heat the oven to 180*C/350*F.

Place 6 ounces of the oats in a blender. Blitz until they are the consistency of flour. Tip out into a bowl. Add the remaining oats, cinnamon, butter and sugar. Rub it all together until crumbly with your fingertips. Sprinkle evenly over the fruit in the baking dish.

Place into the heated oven and bake, uncovered, for 15 to 20 minutes, until the topping is nicely browned. The fruit should be completely soft as well. Remove from the oven and let sit for about 10 minutes, before spooning out into individual serving dishes.

Serve with lashings of custard or scoops of good quality vanilla ice cream.

Upside Down Apricot and Pistachio Cake

Having only discovered apricots late in life, I confess . . . I am carrying on a love affair with them. Happily it's a love affair that I share with my husband . . . for he loves them too.

Call it a Culinary Menage a Trois . . .



I discovered this tasty little cake the other day in one of my newer cookbooks, Feed Me Now, by Bill Granger. I just love Bill's books and recipes. They're really down to earth and delicious. Not an ounce of pretention in the lot.

Imagine brown sugar and vanilla glazed apricots, sprinkled with some chopped pistachio nuts and topped with a cinnamony sour cream cake batter . . . and then baked until golden . . .



Turn it out onto a plate and let the syrupy sweet juices flow . . . top it with some creme fraiche and gobble it up while it's still warm.



No . . . it is not pretty. It will not be winning any beauty contests for sure . . .
But whilst it is lacking in attractiveness . . . it more than makes up for that lack in taste.

He called it a tart . . . it looks and tastes like cake to me. I added the pistachios . . . well . . . coz I happen to like nuts as much as I like apricots and, I had some that needed using up.



if you like apricots, you're going to really love this one.

We did . . . in the Rayner household, it got two sets of two thumbs up!!




*Upside Down Apricot and Pistachio Cake*
Serves 4 to 6
Printable Recipe

Deliciously glazed apricots mixed with the crunch of pistachios and topped with a wonderfully spicey and rich sour cream cake. Make sure you turn this out of the pan as soon as you remove it from the oven so that it doesn't stick. You'll want to serve this with lashings of creme fraiche or whipped cream.

100g of butter, divided
12 apricots, halved and pitted
25g raw pistachio nuts, coarsley chopped
90g soft light brown sugar
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
125g plain flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp ground cinnamon
115g caster sugar
130ml of sour cream



Pre-heat the oven to 200*C/400*F. Place a 24cm diameter round baking tin on top of a low flame and add 25g of the butter. Melt and then stir in the sugar and vanilla. Cook and stir until the sugar melts. Turn off the burner. Place the apricots, cut side down on top of this mixture. Sprinkle with the chopped pistachios.

Sift the flour, baking powder, cinnamon and sugar into a bowl. Rub in the remaining 75g of butter until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs. Stir in the sour cream. Dollop this mixture over the apricots and spread it out with dampened fingers to cover.

Bake in the pre-heated oven for 25 to 30 minutes until golden brown. Remove from the oven and immediately invert onto a large plate. Cut into slices and serve warm with some creme fraiche spooned on top or whipped cream.

Mincemeat Jalousie

One of the things that I really like over here in the UK, is the mincemeat. You can buy it ready-made all year long, not just at Christmas. Or you can make your own. It's really quite easy.



Back home the mincemeat is really quite different. There's actually minced meat in it. I was never all that fond of it. My Aunt and Uncle used to make Deer Mincemeat. Interesting . . . to say the least.



Over here the mincemeat is a delicious mixture of chopped fruits and spices . . . raisins, currents, sultanas,lemon and orange peel . . . cinnamon, nutmeg, mixed spice . . . soft light brown sugar . . . suet. You can get it with brandy, or port and some varieties even have cherries in it. I love it all.



Mincemeat is not just for Christmas you know.



You can make lovely loaf cakes with it and pies of course . . . any time at all.

or you can make this tasty Jalousie.



Served warm and cut into squares, it's deliciously moreish with a tangy dollop of creme fraiche on top to counteract the sweetness.

It's lovely, really lovely . . . and so very . . . very . . . easy to make.

Sweet . . . spicy . . . and flake, flake, flakey . . . I think Todd said it best of all . . . "Nice . . . very nice" . . . as he reached for a second helping . . .



*Mincemeat and Apple Jalousie*
Serves 6
Printable Recipe

Light and crisp puff pastry filled with delicious bottled mincemeat and sliced apple. Served warm with a tasty dollop of creme fraiche. Yum!

1 350g package of frozen all butter puff pastry
1 4 to 6 ounce jar of mincemeat
1 large eating apple, peeled and thinly sliced
1 TBS caster sugar
milk and demerara sugar
Icing sugar to dust
Creme fraiche to serve



Pre-heat the oven to 220*C/425*F.

Roll the pastry to a thin oblong, 6 inches wide and 18 inches long. Cut in half crosswise to give you 2 9-inch long strips. Flour one strip lightly and fold in half from both edges to the centre. Make a series of cuts through the folded edges to within one inch of the trimmed edge on both sides.

Lightly butter a sheet of parchment paper and place it on a baking tray. Lay the plain piece of puff pastry on top. Spread with the mincemeat to within 3/4 inch of the edge all around. Place the thinly sliced apple on top and then sprinkle with the caster sugar. Dampen the free edge all around with some water. Open out the slashed piece of pastry and lay on top. Seal the edges all around and crimp them together. Brush with some milk and sprinkle with some demerara sugar.



Place in the centre of the heated oven and bake for 25 to 30 minutes until well risen and nicely browned. If you think it is browning too quickly you may reduce the oven temperature for the last 5 to 10 minutes. Remove from the oven. Dredge with icing sugar, cut into squares and serve warm with some creme fraiche.

Blueberry Apricot Crumble Traybake

I'm not sure how many of you know this or not, but I am a Latter Day Saint, or Mormon as we are commonly known throughout most of the world. One of the things that I love most in my cooking life, is being able to have the missionaries over for tea. After having raised five children, and now with just Todd and I living here on our own, my table is far too empty most of the time. There is nothing that makes me happier than having the opportunity to see some young and smiling faces sitting around it, especially when they are hungry.

Young people . . . far away from home and family . . . just ripe for spoiling in a way only a mom can spoil them. It's one of my absolute favourite things of all to do!!



We have two young sister missionaries here right now, and tonight was my first chance to cook a meal for them. One is from Brommieland (near Birmingham) and the other from Idaho. They are such sweet young ladies.

Boys, you can feed until they are full to exploding, and they will come back for more. Young women . . . they can be a somewhat different kettle of fish. I wasn't sure how much they would eat, or if they would prefer a light meal over something heavy . . .



My solution . . . a nice big pot of corn chowder, the perfect meal on a cold and rain swept day . . . served with some cheese and oat drop scones, and then for dessert this tasty crumble traybake.

They loved it, warm from the oven and served up with lashings of pouring cream.



They took the leftovers home with them.

They're my kind of girls!



*Blueberry Apricot Crumble Traybake*
Serves 12 (HA!)
Printable Recipe

This scrumptious cake is deliciously moist with a hidden surprise of creamy yoghurt hiding beneath the tasty fruit and crumble topping. I bet you can't eat just one piece!

1 420g tin of apricots, drained well
8 ounces softened butter
8 ounces golden caster sugar
8 ounces self raising flour
1 tsp baking powder
3 large eggs, beaten
2 TBS milk
150g pot of lemon yogurt
8 ounces blueberries
For the Crumble:
1 ounce softened butter
3 heaped dessertspoons self raising flour
3 heaped dessert spoons demerara sugar
1 tsp ground cinnamon



Pre-heat the oven to 180*C/375*F. Butter a 9 by 12 inch tray bake pan. Line with baking paper and butter again. Set aside.

Make the crumble by rubbing all the crumble ingredients together until crumbly. Set aside.

Weigh the butter, sugar, flour, baking powder, eggs and milk into a bowl. Beat with an electric mixer until creamy. Spoon into the prepared tin, leveling the top. Bake for 25 minutes, or until almost set. Remove from the oven and immediately spoon the yogurt over top. Scatter the fruit over top of the yogurt and then top with the crumble. Return to the oven and bake for a further 15 to 20 minutes until done and a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. Remove from the oven. Serve warm and cut into squares, with some pouring cream, or cold as a tea time or picnic treat.

Date and Pistachio Hot Cakes

Adding a slice of fruit to the top of a pancake turns it into something really special.



When you are talking about pancakes that are already studded with pistachio nuts and chopped dates, then you are talking really special.



I just love cooking with oats. They seem so very wholesome and healthy to me. Oats are very good for you.

So are nuts and dates.



Nuts, dates, oats, apples . . .
These just have to be incredibly healthy, right?



That must mean you can eat even more of them than other pancakes. ☺

There is NO such thing as too much of a good thing. (Wisdom according to Marie)



*Date and Pistachio Hot Cakes*
Makes 12
Printable Recipe

Oh, we do love these tasty pancakes. Chock full of goodness with the oats, chopped pistachios and then dates. When you add the surprise of a slice of apple or pear on the top, well . . . these just become fabulous!! I like to serve them with a dollop of thick Greek Yoghurt and some honey drizzled over top.

200g flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
3 TBS soft light brown sugar, packed
50g of rolled oats
100g shelled, unsalted pistachio nuts, coarsely chopped
100g moist dates, pitted and chopped
the grazed zest of one lemon
250ml of whole milk
2 large eggs
55g unsalted butter, melted
(plus more for buttering the pan and brushing over the fruit slices)
2 crisp eating apples, cored, and sliced crosswise into 1/4 inch slices
(You can also use firm pears)



Sift the flour, baking powder and salt into a large bowl. Stir in the sugar along with the oats, dates and pistachios. Beat together the eggs, melted butter, milk and lemon zest. Pour this over the dry mixture and mix all together just to combine and make sure all the dry bits are moistened. It doesn't have to be smooth.

Heat a large non stick pan over medium heat. Brush with butter. Spoon on dessertspoons of the batter, leaving some space between each one. Top each with a slice of apple. Cook for several minutes, until small bubbles begin to appear on the upside. Turn over, brushing the apple slices with butter some melted butter before turning. Cook on the other side until nicely browned and cooked through, about 2 minutes. Keep warm in a slow oven while you cook the rest.

Serve warm, drizzled with some honey and a dollop of Greek Yoghurt if desired.