Soda Bread Farls

I really used to miss Soda Bread, another staple Northern Irish food.  Soda bread is available in most English supermarkets, but it's always the brown/wholemeal sort, and not the delicious bread of my childhood.  Soda farls (farl refers to the shape of the bread) were briefly available in my local supermarket, but were discontinued, so I was at a loss - until I found out how incredibly quick and easy they are to make!  And it can be made in advance in batches, as it freezes really well.

Soda bread is delicious when it's cut through the middle and grilled or toasted - buttered and topped with bacon and brown sauce, or sausage and a fried egg... or my personal favourite, corned beef and melted cheddar (I can hear the discomfort of Ulster folk as I write that, but I love it!).  It's also a vital ingredient to be fried up in an Ulster Fry.

Ingredients

300g Plain Flour
1 tsp Salt
2 tsp Bicarbonate of Soda
250ml Milk
2 tsp Lemon Juice

Method

1. Stir the lemon juice into the milk, and leave to sit for about 10 minutes.  This allows the milk to curdle slightly, forming a buttermilk.  (You may just use buttermilk instead, but my local shops don't seem to have it).

2. Mix together the flour, salt and bicarbonate of soda in a bowl.

3. Make a hole in the middle of the flour mixture and add the milk mixture.

4.  Get in with your hands and mix the ingredients to form a fairly dry dough.  If your dough is sticky, add some more flour a spoon at a time.  If it becomes too dry (and starts cracking), add a splash of milk.

5. Sprinkle some flour on your work surface and turn out the dough.  Shape it into a circle about 1cm thick.  This is thinner than you expect, but remember your dough is going to puff up a bit when cooked.  Cut your circle into quarters with a knife.

6.  Heat a frying pan to a low to medium heat.  Sprinkle some flour in to the pan (the pan needs to be totally dry), then place your farls on top.  Now LEAVE IT ALONE for around 8-10 minutes until the underside is nicely coloured.

7.  Turn the farls over and cook for another 8-10 minutes on the other side.  Remove from the heat and allow the farls to cool completely before either freezing them or cooking with them.

Light Strawberry Tart

My husband's favourite dessert is a strawberry tart, but it's a rare treat for him as it's such a sugary thing.  This version uses lots of cheats, but is a little healthier at least!

Ingredients

1 pack ready-rolled Light Puff Pastry
400g Strawberries
4 x 160g tubs Muller Light Banana and Custard yoghurt
1 sachet Powdered Gelatine
2 tbsp Low Sugar Strawberry Jam
Low Fat Spread for greasing

Method

1.  If your pastry has been in the fridge, remove it from the box and let it come to room temperature for about 30 minutes.  (If the pastry is too cold, it's really hard to unroll.)

2.  Preheat the oven to 200-220ºC.

3.  Line a baking sheet with greaseproof baking paper.  Rub a little low fat spread over this, just to be sure your tart won't stick.

4.  Unroll the pastry sheet onto the baking paper.  Score a 1-2cm border all the way round with a knife (being careful not to cut through).  Use a fork to pierce the central area (ideally, we don't want this to rise).

5.  Place the pastry in the oven and bake for 15-20 minutes until the edge is puffed up.  Remove from the oven and allow to cool.  (Don't worry if it has puffed in the centre, just press it down with a fork.)

6.  While the pastry is cooling, cut the tops off the strawberries and halve them.

7.  Put all the yoghurt in a bowl.  In a mug, stir up the gelatine powder with a few tablespoons of boiling water.  The idea is to get the powder dissolved in as little water as you can.  Stir the gelatine into the yoghurt until combined.  Then pour the yoghurt mixture over the baked pastry case.

8.  Place the strawberry halves gently onto the tart.  Place in the fridge until the yoghurt has set (a few hours).

9.  To get a nice shine on the tart, we cheat!  Place 2 tablespoons of low sugar strawberry jam in a mug, and microwave for 30-60 seconds until it is runny.  Brush this over the strawberries on the tart and return to the fridge.  When serving, I find a pizza cutter the best tool to use to portion it.

Tiffin

As I've said before, I hate baking, as it usually turns out disastrously...  Tiffin frees me from that, as there's no baking involved!  It's a crunchy, super-sweet indulgence of chocolate and tasty morsels and really easy to make, but it's very rich, and can only be consumed in small quantities.  This is one for sharing - I make it for my annual Eurovision party, or to take in to work for a colleague treat.

Ingredients

400g Chocolate (I usually go for dark chocolate, but any will do)
150g Digestive Biscuits
150g Maltesers
75g Raisins
150g Butter, plus a little extra for greasing
4 tbsp Golden Syrup (actually, this time I used Vanilla Syrup from theskinnyfoodco.com which worked just as well - it's there to soften the set chocolate a bit)

Method

1.  Place the biscuits in a plastic bag and smash them with something solid until they are in crumbs.  Do the same with the Maltesers.  It's nicer if there are still some small chunks, and they're not completely crushed to a powder.

2.  Break up 200g of the chocolate into a bowl and add 100g of the butter, along with 2 tbsp of the syrup.

3.  Melt and stir the mixture together.  You can do this in a microwave by heating on a medium power for 30 seconds at a time, and stirring in between, as long as you take care not to get the mixture too hot (it goes thick and lumpy if overheated).  Or you can use the classic method of stirring over a pan of simmering water until the ingredients combine.

4.  Once the mixture is just combined, add the raisins, crushed biscuits and Maltesers and stir together until distributed evenly.

5.  Line a container with baking paper, and rub a little butter all over the paper to stop the tiffin from sticking.  Pour the chocolate mixture into the container and smooth out to a layer around 1-2cm thick.  Leave this in the fridge to set for 1-2 hours.

6.  Melt the remaining 200g of chocolate, 50g of butter and 2 tbsp of syrup in the same way as before.  Pour over the set mixture to form a thin topping layer and smooth out where you can - it doesn't need to be perfect at all.  Place back in the fridge for another 1-2 hours.

7.  Once set, remove from the container and cut into small squares to serve (seriously, it's really rich, so very small mini-bites are best!).  Store the tiffin in the fridge - it will last at least a week if need be, probably even longer.

Alternative Options

I personally use Maltesers and Raisins in my tiffin, but you can use whatever you find tasty - as long as there's enough crushed biscuits to stop it going rock hard, the world is your oyster.  Chopped dried apricots or cranberries would be good.  I'm not a nut person, but if you are, you could try chopped almonds, peanuts or walnuts in the mix.  Or go crazy and add some popping candy, Crunchie bars, Rice Krispies or mini marshmallows.  Maybe try using a chocolate orange as the base, or ginger nuts as the biscuits.  Add some peppermint essence or chilli powder to the recipe if you like.  It's really up to you - the possibilities are endless.

Sugar Free Lemon and Lime Loaf Cake

I hate baking.  There, I've said it!  Almost every time I bake, it just doesn't come out right.  I get collapsed cakes and stodgy muffins.  They normally taste OK, but they just aren't quite right, know what I mean?

But my husband LOVES cake.  Unfortunately, he is diabetic, and cakes need sugar to give it the texture.  But do they?  After looking at many recipes and tweaking them, I have finally found a cake with no sugar, that even I can bake and comes out right every time.  And as a bonus, it's not bad on the old carbs either.

Also, I have finally discovered the two keys to baking - ALWAYS measure everything very carefully, and ALWAYS pre-heat the oven!

Ingredients

175g Low Fat Spread (or butter, if you can afford the calories!)
30g Granulated Sweetener (I prefer the taste of sucralose sweeteners - usually in yellow packaging)
225g Self Raising Flour
1 tsp Baking Powder
3 large or 4 small Eggs (beaten)
3 tbsp Lemon Juice
1 tbsp Lime Cordial

Method

1. Pre-heat the oven to 180℃.  Place the low fat spread and sweetener in a bowl.

2. Stir until they just come together and you can't see any granules left.  With an electric mixer, this only takes a few seconds.

3.  Mix the flour and baking powder together.  Add 2 tablespoons of the flour mixture and one tablespoon of beaten egg and whisk until combined.  Repeat this until all the flour mixture and egg have been combined in the mix.

4.  Add the lemon juice and lime cordial and whisk until combined.

5. Pour the mixture into a lined loaf tin.  I am lazy, and buy pre-made tin liners, but baking paper works just as well, or you can grease the tin with butter.

6.  Bake in the oven for 45 minutes to 1 hour.  It's done if you can stick a skewer in the middle and it comes out clean.  Serve in slices.