Hazelnut Raspberry Linzers

Todays recipe is inspired by a classic Austrian dessert, the Linzer Torte. Traditionally made with a nut rich dough and a redcurrant jam this is a cookie based version using hazelnuts and raspberry jam. Whilst I associate this with Christmas they really do suit any time of year. As it is nearing valentines day I thought the cutout would be nice as a heart, a slight nod to romance. Obviously if your heart is black, or your just making them at some other time of year you can use any shape of small cookie cutter instead.

Hazelnut Linzer Cookies
Makes about 30

300g plain flour
75g ground hazelnuts
1/2 tsp salt
200g caster sugar
225g unsalted butter, room temperature
1 large egg yolk
1 large egg
1/2 vanilla extract
raspberry jam to fill the cookies

To make the cookie dough mix together the flour, hazelnuts and salt. In a large bowl using an electric mixer beat together the butter and sugar until pale and creamy. You’re not looking for cake levels of light and fluffy but you do want to work a little lightness into the mixture to make a lighter, better textured cookie, mixing for about 2-3 minutes. Add the egg yolk and beat to until fully combined before adding in the egg. Add the vanilla extract and beat to combine. Add the flour mixture and mix on low speed until the flour is just worked into the dough. Be careful not to overmix the dough at this stage as it will make the cookies tough and chewy.

Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured work surface and use your hands to gently form into a uniform dough. Divide into two equal portions and press into discs, wrapping in clingfilm and then refrigerating until firm.

When you’re ready to roll out the cookies preheat the oven to 160C (140C fan) and line a couple baking sheets with parchment paper. On a lightly floured worksurface roll out a portion of dough until it is about 3-4mm thick and then using a 6cm round cookie cutter cut as many cookies as possible, setting the scraps aside. Place the cookies onto the prepared baking trays and refrigerate for 15 minutes. Repeat this process with the second portion of dough. Gently reform the scraps of dough into a ball and then refrigerate as before whilst you bake off the cookies. This dough can be rolled out again for more cookies.

Take the cookies from the fridge and use a small heart shaped cookie cutter to remove the middle from half of the cookies. Bake in the preheated oven for about 15-18 minutes or until just starting to turn golden on the edges. I bake the cookies lower than usual as it crisps the cookies evenly throughout without too much browning. Allow to cool on the baking tray for a couple minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.

To assemble the cookies place a teaspoon of raspberry jam onto each base cookie and spread slightly towards the edge. Dust all the top cookies with icing sugar then place one on top of each bottom cookie, sandwiching together. Once assembled the cookies are best on that day as the jam will eventually soften the cookies.

My Nanna's Gingerbread

I hope you’ll indulge me in a little story before I get to the recipe, its a story of how the recipe came to be and why it means so much more to me than any other. I often talk about the way a recipe can help remind you of a time or a place and can connect you to people you haven’t seen in a long time. It’s why I think food is more than the sum of its simple parts. I make this recipe a lot, more than any other and each and every time I open the tin of golden syrup, every time I smell the cake coming out of the oven, I am taken back to when I am still a toddler, just 3 years old. I’m in my Uncles house, in my Nanna’s room and my twin brother and I are sat on the bed, eating grapes with my Nanna. This memory probably isn’t real, just a fabrication built from stories I have heard my entire life but to me, it is as clear as any picture. This recipe was my Nannas, Jenny’s Gingerbread, and even though I never got to know her properly I have a connection with her through this cake. 

Whilst my memories of her are few, I have in their place a lifetime of stories my family like to tell every time we are together. My mum seems to be the family keeper of stories and she loves nothing more that telling us stories of her life when she was younger, about her twin bothers when they were little, so many stories about her aunts and uncles and of course lots of stories about her mum, my Nanna. Because she passed away when I was very young, those stories have always allowed me to feel close to her and to feel a bond that might not exist otherwise. As a baker and someone whose life is remembered through a series of dishes the handwritten recipes she left behind are precious. She was the baker in our family and as the mother to three children she had a lot of mouths to feed. The story goes that every week this gingerbread would be baked and it would slowly be eaten as the week went by, with another ready to take its place as the week came to a close.

It’s a cake that all her children and grandchildren associate closely with her, so much so that during a discussion about what makes a good nanna, a good grandmother, the only rule was this cake should make frequent appearances. This thought was taken further when it became part of my sisters pregnancy announcement. When the time came to tell our mum that she was going to become a grandmother for the first time, she didn’t simply tell her, she gave her a tin of this gingerbread and told her she’d be needing this soon. It may have taken my mum a minute or two to understand what she meant but that obviously joyous occasion has managed to put even more importance onto this recipe for us as a family. 

For me personally it is a connection to my wonderful mum and to a Nanna I didn’t really get to know, and I think of it as a way honouring her memory. Every time I make it I hope she would have been proud that I have taken her recipe and put it in the hands of people all over the world and that she would be happy that they enjoy it as much as we do. 

A quick note about the recipe, this a slightly tweaked version from the one that was originally printed in my book The Boy Who Bakes, I have adapted it for a bundt pan, obviously something my Nanna never did but something that looks as special as this cake is to me. 

My Nanna’s Gingerbread
340g plain flour
3 heaped tsp ground ginger
1 heaped tsp mixed spice (if making in the US pumpkin pie spice mix will work)
1 heaped tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 large pinch cayenne pepper (I tend to go with about 1/2 tsp)
170g unsalted butter, diced
115g caster sugar
2 tbsp fine cut orange marmalade
340g golden syrup
2 tbsp chopped stem ginger
2 large eggs
210ml whole milk

Lemon Glaze (optional)
Juice of 1 lemon
150g icing sugar

Preheat the oven to 180C (160C fan) and prepare a 10-cup capacity bundt pan by spraying with a light layer of oil (I prefer spray oils for this as its much more effective) making sure to coat all the nooks and crannies. Bundt pans are very detailed and if the pan isn’t prepared properly the cake may stick. Dust the inside of the pan with flour, again making sure to coat the whole thing. Turn the pan upside down and tap out any excess flour so that it is a thin coating. 

Place all the dry ingredients into a large bowl and whisk together to combine. Place the butter, sugar, marmalade, golden syrup and stem ginger into a saucepan and cook over medium heat until everything has melted together and you have a smooth mixture. Remove from the heat and allow to cool slightly before mixing in the milk, followed by the eggs. When combining the wet and dry ingredients do this for as short a time as possible, you’re not aiming for a completely smooth batter, the odd lump is fine. If you whisk the batter too much it can become a little tough, so ere on the side of caution. Pour the finished batter into the prepared bundt pan and place the pan onto a baking sheet and bake in the preheated oven for about 45-50 minutes or until the cake springs back to a light touch or a skewer inserted into the middle comes out clean.

When the cake comes out of the oven set the pan on a wire rack for 10 minutes before turning the bundt out onto the rack to cool. With bundt cakes I find the 10 minutes to be the sweet spot, if you try to turn the cake out any earlier it might break, as the structure of cakes aren’t fully set fresh from the oven. If you try to turn it out much later the sugars in the cake make the outside of the cake a little sticker mean the cake may stubbornly stick to the pan.

The next stage is totally optional and not something my family do when making this recipe, the cake is delicious as it is. If however you want to a little more you can add this simple lemon glaze. The recipe is a simple icing sugar glaze but by heating the lemon juice and icing sugar together, just until the mixture starts to bubble, when brushed on the cake it forms a thin fondant like glaze that crackles as its cut and creates a nice added level of texture as well as flavour. Brush the glaze onto the cake whilst still warm from the oven and once fully coated pop the cake back into the oven for a couple minutes. This will make the glaze set and turn slightly translucent. 

As with all gingerbread cakes this bundt will be even better if you can resist cutting into it for a couple days, the flavours improve and the cake becomes a little sticker (this is more pronounced without the glaze) so hold back from trying it if you can. I wont blame you if the smell out of the oven is too much to resist though.

Mulled Clementine Meringue Pie

Christmas desserts are wonderful, I have a lot of love for Christmas cake, for trifle and even occasionally Christmas pudding but don’t you think they sometimes just get a little predictable, a little boring even? Well, this year I decided to do something a little different. First of all if you want a whole host of Christmas dessert ideas then check out the current issue of Olive Magazine as I have written a feature on them, some of the recipes can also be found online here. Secondly I have one more recipe for you this year, a Christmas dessert that would be happy as the end of any big celebration and perfect for the winter months as it uses the fruit of the season, clementines. Doing something fruit based means if you don’t like those rich sometimes heavy Christmas desserts this gives you something as little lighter to enjoy. 

The clementine flavour is on its own a wonderful thing but to make it that little bit extra special and to make it more festive the clementine mixture has been mulled, that is to say infused with spices. Cinnamon, star anise, cloves, cardamon and mixed spice, all those warming wintery spices that we associated with Christmas. The pie itself isn’t too laborious of a task to exclude it from the main event the Christmas dinner. You can blind bake the pie and make the filling the day before simply making the meringue topping on the day you want to serve it, plus you can blowtorch it at the table so you have the same drama as the flames that adorn the Christmas pudding.

Mulled Clementine Meringue Pie
1 full baked pie shell (you can use my favourite pie crust recipe here)

Clementine Filling
650ml clementine juice
100ml lemon juice
Zest of 3 clementines
Zest of 1 lemon
185g caster sugar
1 cinnamon stick
3 cardamon pods, lightly bashed
1 tsp vanilla bean paste
1 star anise
3 cloves
1/2 tsp mixed spice
4 large egg yolks
50g cornflour
100g unsalted butter

Meringue Topping
4 large egg whites
250g caster sugar
Pinch of cream of tartar

To make the filling place the juices, the zests, half the sugar and the spices into a large saucepan and bring to the boil, reduce the heat and simmer for a couple minutes then turn off the heat, cover, and set aside for 30 minutes to infuse.

Once infused whisk together the egg yolks, cornflour and the remaining sugar, whisking until smooth (if the mixture is dry and wont come together add a splash of the warm clementine mixture). Meanwhile place the pan back on the heat and bring the clementine mixture to a simmer. Pour the mixture through a fine sieve onto the eggs, whisking to combine. Pour this mixture back into the pan and over medium/high heat cook until very thick. Once the mixture is bubbling, cook for a couple minutes more to cook out the taste of the cornflour. Scrape the custard back into the bowl and add the butter, stirring to melt and combine it. Pour this finished mixture into the fully baked pie shell and refrigerate for a few hours to set. At this point the pie can be kept in the fridge for a day before topping with the meringue if you want to prepare ahead. 

For the topping place the egg whites, sugar and cream of tartar in a heatproof bowl and place over a pan of simmering water and cook, stirring constantly, until the sugar has dissolved and the mixture is hot to the touch. Remove the bowl from the heat and using an electric mixer whisk for about 7-8 minutes or until the meringue has cooled and is holding stiff glossy peaks. 

Spread the meringue over the clementine filling and then using a blowtorch brown the meringue until almost burnt. You want the flavour that comes when the meringue gets nice and dark so don’t be afraid of taking it to the edge of burnt. 

Without the meringue the pie will keep in the fridge for a couple days, with the meringue on I prefer to serve it within a day. 

Salty Honey and Tahini Chess Pie

I. Am. Obsessed. This is a not a new thing, it’s been a slow build but with every bake that I use it in, I fall ever so slightly more in love with it as an ingredient. You can probably tell by the name of this post that the magical ingredient I am talking about is tahini, sesame seed paste. It lends itself so well to baking, it’s flavour is familiar (I describe it as peanut butter but with more depth) and it marries wonderfully with so many different flavours and is the perfect thing when you want something a little more sweet and salty. I’ve added the paste to cakes, to cookies, to all manner of recipes but when the Sister Pie cookbook landed on my doorstep all I could think of was pie. Pie is another obsessions of mine and in the same way I find tahini to be a brilliantly flexible ingredient, pie is the dish that you’ll never run out of ideas for, it is a vessel for whatever flavour you could fancy. And right now that flavour is tahini, specifically a salted honey and tahini pie.

The recipe for this pie uses my favourite pie dough, my ultimate flaky pie dough that I developed for Olive Magazine and can be found here. The filling owes a lot to the brilliant Sister Pie cookbook along with some pointers from the Four and Twenty Blackbirds Pie book which came out a few years back. Its a slight mash up of both their recipes with a few additions from me. 

The recipe is based on an old classic American idea called Chess Pie. Whilst to us brits that name doesn’t mean anything every American I know seems to loves it. Think of it in a way that isn’t dissimilar to treacle tart. You also may know of its famous modern cousin, Milk Bar’s Crack Pie. Now for anyone who has tried Crack Pie you know this style of dessert can be very sweet, almost too sweet for a lot of people, but that is where the brilliance of tahini really helps in this recipe. Whilst sesame works a treat in sweet recipes it does have an overwhelming savouriness which really helps to balance the sweetness in the recipe, as does the salt that is added (do not skip the salt the pie needs it, so do you). 

Salted Honey and Tahini Pie
1/2 batch of my Ultimate Flaky Pie Dough
1 tbsp sesame seeds
egg yolk for blind baking the pie

Filling
120g unsalted butter, melted and slightly cooled
150g light brown muscavado sugar (you can use regular light brown too)
3 tbsp fine cornmeal
1/2 tsp salt, plus extra for topping
1 tsp vanilla extract
250g honey
3 large eggs
125g tahini

To make the pie remove the dough from the fridge and on a lightly floured work surface roll out into a circle about 11-12 inches across. Drape into a 9-inch pie plate and cut the excess so that about 1-inch of dough is hanging over the edge of the pie plate. Take the overhang and roll it under itself to form a rope of dough that sits on the rim of the pie plate. Use two fingers of one hand, pinching them together, holding them against the outside of the pie. Use your forefinger of your other hand and press the pastry, from the inside of the pan, into your pinched fingers so the pastry forms a classic v-shaped crimp. 

Place the pie into the fridge for at least 30 minutes or until the pastry is nice and firm (you can also freeze the pie shell at this point). 

Preheat the oven to 220C (200C). Once chilled remove the pie from the fridge and line with a crumpled piece of parchment paper and fill with rice or baking beans. I prefer rice as the small size means there is less air pockets meaning it is less likely for the pastry to rise up during baking. Bake the pie on a baking tray in the preheated oven for about 20–25 minutes or until the crimped edge of the pie is golden brown. Remove the parchment and the rice and bake for a further 5 minutes or so, until the inside of the pie is starting to brown. Since we are adding a wet filling you can add a further step to prevent the dreaded soggy bottom. Brush the inside of the pie with a beaten egg yolk and pop the pie back in the oven for a minute or so until set. 

Remove the pie from the oven and set aside for the moment. Reduce the heat of the oven to 200C (180C fan).

To make the pie filling, place the butter, sugar, cornmeal, salt, vanilla and honey into a large bowl and whisk together until smooth and combined. Add the eggs one at a time whisking to combine. Finally add the tahini and whisk the mixture until everything is smooth and fully combined. Pour the custard into the blind baked pie shell. Before baking brush the crimped edge of the pie with a little beaten egg and sprinkle with sesame seeds. Bake on a baking tray for about 40-50 minutes or until the edges of the filling are set and puffed up whilst the middle has a gelatinous look to it, set but still a little wobbly. Keep an eye on the rim of the pie as the seeds may brown a little quicker than the pie, so if they seem a little too dark tent the pie with foil for the rest of the baking. 

Remove from the oven and sprinkle with a little flaked sea salt. Set the pie aside to allow it cool to room temperature.