Sunday Brunch

You can always count on Waitrose for a delicious recipe and this was no exception. 

Family brunches have become a regular occurrence recently and this was up there with the best.

Banana and blueberry eggy bread.

Essentially bread and butter pudding, but for breakfast. 

This really does set you up for the rest of the day and as breakfast is the most important meal of the day, how can you resist?! 

To serve 4, all you need is:

- 2 bananas, each halved and sliced lengthways

- 8 slices Brioche loaf

- 100g blueberries

- 4 tbsp clear honey

- 4 large eggs

- 150ml milk

- Pinch of cinnamon

- 15g butter

- Icing sugar to dust

Arrange the slices of banana on the 4 brioche slices and scatter the blueberries on top.

Drizzle with honey, then place a slice of brioche on top. 

Place the eggs in a shallow dish with the milk and cinnamon. Place all 4 brioche sandwiches in the eft mixture and leave for 5 minutes to soak. 

Turn over and repeat for the other side. Keep turning until each sandwich is soaked and the egg has been used up. 

Heat the butter in a large frying pan (I was using the AGA so placed baking parchment on the top plates). Gently cook the brioche sandwiches for 3-4 minutes until each side is golden brown. 

Serve while warm and dust with icing sugar. 

The perfect treat for a rainy Sunday morning, sure to brighten anyones day. 

Gingerbread Grotto

Christmas at home means one thing - food galore.

After many years of failed attempts at Gingerbread houses, we decided to give it another go.

Mary Berry did us proud and provided us with the perfect recipe. 

All you need is..

375g unsalted butter

300 g dark muscovado sugar 

150g golden syrup

900g plain flour

1 tbsp bicarbonate of soda

2 tbsp ground ginger

And of course, anything you fancy to decorate your creation with (chocolate buttons, jazzies, smarties)

Melt the butter, sugar and golden syrup together in a large pan

 Sieve the flour, bicarbonate of soda and ginger together

Make a well and pour the melted butter into the flour mixture

Mix until incorporated, then knead into a firm dough

Split the dough into 5 even sections

Roll each piece out so its approximately 3/4cm thick. Use the template and cut around each piece using a sharp knife

Do this for each section - the front, back, sides and roof

Place on greaseproof paper and bake for 8 minutes, take out the oven and trim the edges. Place back until golden brown and firm

  

Remember to use all the trimmings to make the chimney, christmas trees, gingerbread men, snowmen, whatever you fancy

Whilst waiting to cool, make your royal icing using 3 egg whites, 675g icing sugar and 3 tbsp of lemon juice. Make sure you beat until very stiff - it is the key to assemble your entire house!

Use the icing to stick on any decorations and create the tiling for your roof

Pipe the icing onto all edges and assemble carefully. Be generous with the icing and hold it together to make sure it sticks properly (help will be needed)

Use the frosting to create a snow effect on all edges

The Chau's gingerbread grotto

Christmas in Newcastle

This year has flown by and I can't quite believe that it's already time for the Christmas festivities to begin.

You know it's that time of year again when Fenwick's unveil their Christmas window display. Never failing to impress, this year's Fairy Tale Forest theme goes above and beyond all expectations.

Attracting hundreds, even hearing the magical music is enough to get you feeling festive.

And if this isn't enough, the Newcastle Continental Christmas Market will be.

The Continental Market brings us gourmet ingredients giving you a real taste of Europe.

Offering you every imaginable flavour of fudge, from Irn Bru to Jammy Dodger...

With French crepes, German beer, Spanish Paella and so much more, there is almost too much choice.

Be sure to visit the Continental Market at Grey's Monument before the 30th November.

Banana Pancakes

It's time for brunch and that means one thing - pancakes.

You can't go wrong with the basic pancake recipe, it's a classic loved by all. 

To add a slight twist, I added bananas and topped my pancakes with Nutella. 

The best combination ever. 

I started by caramelising the thinly sliced banana by tossing them in brown sugar. Place in a saucepan and gently heat for a couple of minutes to add a sweet touch. 

Make your usual pancake batter - flour, eggs and milk is all you need. Once you have poured this into your saucepan, immediately add the sliced banana using however much you like. 

Continue as you normally would, flipping the pancake to cook both sides.

And there we have it, a delicious banana pancake made within minutes. 

Topped with Nutella, this is the perfect wakeup call. 

Courgette, Walnut and Cinnamon Layer Cake

The sun has officially disappeared and winter is approaching, fast. 

All this depressing weather calls for one thing only - comfort food. With this in mind, I figured that this cake would be the ultimate cure for my summertime sadness. 

At the beginning of the year my friend Beanie set herself the a challenge - to bake the entire Hummingbird Bakery 'Cake Days' recipe book. With 110 recipes and 52 weeks in a year, it is quite a task but you can't exactly complain when you're baking cakes as good as this one... 

You will need:

For the sponge:

- 3 large eggs

- 300ml sunflower oil

- 300g soft light brown sugar

- 1/2 tsp vanilla essence 

- 300g plain flour

- 1 tsp baking powder

- 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda

- 2 tsp cinnamon

- 1/2 tsp ground ginger

- 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg

- 300g peeled and grated courgettes

- 100g walnuts, roughly chopped (plus extra halves to decorate)

For the frosting:

- 160g unsalted butter, softened 

- 1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon 

- 500g icing sugar

- 50g plain Greek yoghurt

(We reduced the quantities for the frosting as the original recipe makes quite a lot)

Preheat the oven to 170 degrees C and line three 20cm diameter loose-bottomed sandwich tins with baking parchment.

Mix together the eggs, sunflower oil, sugar and vanilla essence until the are all combined.

Sift together the flour, baking power, bicarbonate of soda and the ground spices. Gradually add this to the wet mixture, beating well. 

Lastly, add the courgettes and chopped walnuts to the batter, mixing them in thoroughly.The courgettes are definitely the secret ingredient to this cake, they add great moisture, texture and colour. 

Divide the cake batter evenly between the three prepared cake tins and bake for 35-40 minutes or until golden. 

 Allow the cakes to cool in the tins for a few minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.

Whilst the cakes are cooling, you can make the frosting. Mix together the butter, cinnamon and icing sugar. Add the yoghurt and mix on a low speed until all the ingredients are combined then increase the speed and beat until the icing is light and fluffy.

Once fully cooled, spread the frosting on each layer sandwiching the three cakes together. Use the remaining icing for the top and sides of the cake. 

To finish, dust with cinnamon and decorate with walnut halves. 

Follow Beanie's bakes and the rest of her baking challenge on http://beaniesbakes.blogspot.co.uk

Enjoy!