This tart will melt in your mouth. It is definitely the taste of summer. It is the recipe of my good friend Anne O’ Leary which she has generously shared with me. The filling is easy to make unlike a crème patisserie so novices can try their hand at it. Feel free to substitute your favourite berry or use a combination of them on top. Enjoy!

For the pastry case:

175 grams/ 1  cups plain flour (all purpose)

40 grams/  icing sugar

75 grams/ 5 tablespoons cold salted butter

1 egg yolk (reserve the white for later)

1 tablespoon ice cold water approx

Filling:

250 grams/ 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons mascarpone cheese – approx 1 tub

200 grams/1 ¼ cups white chocolate

145 millilitres/ cup cream

Fresh Strawberries

Method:

If you have a food processor add all the pastry ingredients and process until they form firm dough. If not, crumble your butter into the flour and icing sugar. Add the egg and sufficient cold water and use a knife to mix together to make a firm dough. This avoids the heat of your hands melting the butter    Turn out and knead lightly before wrapping in cling wrap and leaving in the fridge for 30 minutes to rest. Roll out the pastry as thinly as possible and carefully line a loose bottomed flan tin, pressing the pastry around the base and sides so it comes 5 millimetres/ ¼ inch above the tin. This is to allow for shrinkage during baking. Then prick the base with a fork and brush all over with the reserved egg white which you have lightly beaten. To avoid a soggy bottom preheat your oven to 200C/400F and place a baking tin inside the oven to pre heat also.  Place your pastry case on the preheated tray and bake for 20 minutes until golden brown. Allow to cool before filling.

To make the filling, melt the mascarpone cheese and white chocolate together over a pan of simmering water. Allow to cool. Once cooled, fold in 145 millilitres of lightly whipped cream. Don’t be tempted to add the cream before the cheese and chocolate mixture has cooled as the cream will dissolve into nothing! Spoon into your pastry case and chill in the fridge until set. Top with fresh strawberries and dust with icing sugar just before serving.

Cheat by using shop bought shortcrust pastry or even the pre baked pastry cases.

Make this tart gluten free by substituting the flour and baking powder with a GF variety. I like Dove’s Farm brand. Remember to include ¼ teaspoon of Xanthum gum. Remember to roll between 2 sheets of cling film to avoid the pastry breaking.

 

This is a delicious dip which is served warm. Don’t let the green colour put you off; once you taste it you will be hooked. This is my friend Teresa’s recipe which she has baked for me for many events and now you will get to taste it!  Avoid double dipping by letting your guests scoop out a portion on their own plate and serve with tortilla chips. I guarantee they will be back for more!

1 jar of Artichoke halves drained and chopped

Bag of spinach roughly chopped

1 cup/ 110 grams parmesan cheese grated

1 cup / 240 grams of grated Mozzarella cheese

1 cup/ 232 grams of mayonnaise

1 clove garlic chopped

Mix all ingredients together and place in greased baking dish and cook for 20-25 minutes at 180C

Notes:

I try to use baby spinach is possible but if you can’t get it use the regular spinach but remove the large stalks before you chop it. I have previously cheated by using per grated parmesan cheese without compromising the taste of the dish. You can prepare the dish and store it in the fridge until you are ready to cook it. This is the brand of artichoke halves that I use. This dish is gluten free.

 

My friend Teresa and her family are immigrating to Canada at the end of July and although we will miss them, she has shared with me the recipes of a couple of her signature dishes so we will never forget them! In my house these cookies are called “Teresa cookies” and they are very moreish. I use 54% chocolate chips (semi sweet) I use a cookie scoop to measure out the dough but if you haven’t got one use two spoons. I have included a link to amazon.co.uk if you want to get yourself a scoop. Brennan’s wholesale in Doughcloyne, Cork also stock them in varying sizes.

200 grams / 1 cup butter, room temperature

200 grams/ 1 cup white sugar

200grams /1 cup brown sugar

2 large eggs

1 tablespoon milk

1teaspoon vanilla extract

250 grams/2 cups flour (all purpose)

1 teaspoon Bicarbonate of soda (baking soda)

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

225 grams/2 ½ cups porridge oats

350 grams/2 cups chocolate chips

Preheat the oven to 180C/350C

Cream together the butter and the sugars until light in colour, add eggs one at a time followed by the vanilla extract and milk.

In a separate bowl, measure out the flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt and whisk to combine. This saves you having to sieve it! Add the flour mixture to your creamed butter and sugar and mix on a low speed until incorporated. Add the oats and chocolate chips and mix on a low speed.

Using two teaspoons drop balls of dough onto to a baking sheet. Allow at least 2 centimetres /1 ½ inches between the dough as the cookies will spread as they cook.

Cook for about 10 minutes until golden brown at the edges and light golden at the centre. Allow to cook for a couple of minutes on the baking sheet before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.

Make these gluten free by substituting the flour and baking powder with a GF variety. I like Dove’s Farm brand. Remember to include ¼ teaspoon of Xanthum gum. They won’t stay as fresh for as long, but if our house is anything to go by they will be eaten quickly!

 

This really is the best carrot cake ever. The addition of coconut and pineapple create a moist cake, all topped off with a luscious cream cheese frosting which has  a hint of lemon.This cake is not dense as I use oil instead of butter. Don’t be tempted to add all the ingredients in together. Whisking the eggs, sugar and oil before adding the rest of the ingredients is vital to creating a light cake. You can also  make this cake as a tray bake.

For the icing

115 grams/ ½ cup/ 4 ounces cream cheese

50 grams/ 3 ½ tablespoons/ 2 ounces unsalted butter

400 grams/ 3   cups/ 14 ounces icing sugar

Zest and juice of ½ lemon

Ingredients

2 medium eggs

200 grams /1 cup/ 7 ounces soft brown sugar

150 millilitres / ½ pint (US and UK) sunflower or veg oil

200 grams / 4 cups/ 7 ounces grated carrot

50 grams/ ½ cup/ 2 ounces walnut pieces optional

75 grams / cup diced pineapple fresh or tinned roughly chopped

50 grams / ½ cup /2 ounces desiccated coconut

200 grams / 1  ½  cups/ 7 ounces plain flour (all purpose)

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon bread soda

1 teaspoon salt

Heat oven to 150 C/302 F

Line an8  inches/20 centimetre round or square tin

Prepare icing in advance so it can chill. Beat cream cheese and butter together. Add icing sugar in three equal batches and leave in fridge to set. Cover your mixer with a tea towel to prevent the icing sugar causing a dust cloud!

In a large bowl, whisk the eggs until doubled in volume. Add sugar and continue beating until pale and fluffy. With whisk still on add oil in a slow steady stream and keep beating until mixture holds its shape.

Using a metal spoon gently fold in carrot, nuts, pineapple and coconut. Add sifted flour, cinnamon, bread soda and salt and slowly mix until combined.

Transfer to cake tin and bake for an hour until a skewer comes out cleanly. Cool in tin for 15-20 min then turn our onto a wire rack. When completely cooled, slice cake in half and sandwich together with frosting. Spread remaining frosting over the top. Enjoy!

Make this cake gluten free by substituting the flour and baking powder with a GF variety. I like Dove’s Farm brand. Remember to include ¼ teaspoon of Xanthan gum.

My kids weren’t big fans of banana muffins until they tasted my friend Brid’s. I think it was the addition of the cinnamon that convinced them which wasn’t in my original recipe or the fact that someone else baked them! Brid’s banana muffins are now a staple in the lunch box!  This recipe can also be baked as a loaf but you need to bake it for 45 -50 minutes. Place a banana chip on top of the batter to give it a coffee house look or change the shape and bake them in mini loaf pans.

3-4 ripe bananas mashed

85 grams/ 3 ounces/ 6 tablespoons/ melted butter cooled

200 grams/ 1 cup/ 7 ounces sugar

2 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla essence

1 teaspoon baking powder

¼ teaspoon salt

187 grams/ 1 ½ cups/ 6 ½ ounces self raising flour (all purpose)

1 teaspoon cinnamon

54grams/ ½ cup/ 2 ounces nuts: chopped pecans/walnuts – optional

I use very ripe bananas for this recipe( I don’t even mash them!) Just place all the ingredients in an electric mixer and whizz until you have a smooth batter. Use a muffin scoop to divide the batter into the cases and bake for approx 20 min at 180C/350F

Cheat by using frozen bananas which you have thawed. If you have a glut of overripe banana peel and freeze them in fours so you have enough for a batch of muffins. You can even freeze bananas in their skins. Do be aware that once they have thawed they will be very limp but that is ideal for your muffins.

Make these gluten free by substituting the flour and baking powder with a GF variety. I like Dove’s Farm brand. Remember to include ¼ teaspoon of Xanthum gum.

 

It looks like summer has finally arrived in Cork today and what better way to celebrate than with a glass of refreshing homemade lemonade. This is my cousin Sandie’s recipe which she kindly shared with me. This easy recipe makes enough for three lots of lemonade, just keep the syrup in the fridge until you are ready to use it.

To make the syrup:

Three lemongrass roughly chopped

1 pound/ 454grams/ 2 ¼ cups sugar

1 pint/ 568 millilitres/ 2 ½ cups water

Place all the above ingredients into a pot and boil over a medium heat until the sugar has dissolved. If you keep boiling it, it will become very thick which you don’t want to happen! Discard the lemongrass and chill your syrup until you are ready to use it.

To make the lemonade:

300millilitres/1 cup syrup

Juice of three lemons

1 litre/34 fluid ounces/ 2.2 UK pints sparkling water

Simply squeeze the lemons and combine with the syrup and sparkling water in a jug. Add ice and sliced lemons and serve in a tall glass!

 

This is my friend Leonie’s signature dish but credit must go to her husband Willie who actually makes it! This is such an easy recipe. My ten year old daughter Maedbh made the one in the photo because she was inspired to bake after watching CBBC’s Junior Bake off. The cornflour and vinegar are essential as they create the marshmallow centre. If you omit these you will have under baked meringue! I use cider vinegar as it is sweeter than white wine vinegar but if that is all you have in, use that. Use the yolks from the separated eggs to make lemon curd or pancakes or cheat by using bottled egg whites!

• 5 egg whites
• 10 ounces/284 grams/1 ¼ cups white caster sugar
• 1 teaspoon cider vinegar
• 1 teaspoon cornflour

Make sure that your bowl is clean and free of grease as your egg whites will be affected. Beat your egg whites with the whisk attachment until stiff. You should be able to tip the bowl upside down and they shouldn’t fall out. Add the sugar while the mixer is going slowly, two tablespoons at a time. Maedbh counted ten seconds between each one. This is to ensure that the sugar is incorporated fully otherwise your meringue will ooze a sticky sugar syrup when you take it out of the oven. Finally add the cornflour and cider vinegar and mix to incorporate.

Using a spatula scrape all of the meringue mixture into a parchment lined pan. My pan is 10” x 14” x1” /27cmx 36cm x2cm. You can also use a large Swiss roll/jelly roll pan. Bake at 140C for 30 minutes Allow to cool and turn out unto parchment paper. The crust should be facing down.  Maedbh used a filling of strawberries and cream in this one but whipped cream with two tablespoons of good lemon curd and raspberries is pretty good also. Dredge it with icing/powdered sugar and enjoy!

This is my Aunty Ann’s recipe that she devised for Housewife of the Year over thirty years ago. She made it to the final two contestants and was runner up! We loved this as children and my lot love it now. Although I have tweaked the recipe a little, it reminds me of my gorgeous Aunt every time we have it for dinner.  This recipe is for a family of five just increase the chicken if your family is bigger!

• 5 skinned and boned chicken fillets
• 1 clove of garlic finely chopped
• Olive oil to fry
• 1 cup/ 240 millilitres cream
• 1 can Bulmer’s cider 500millilitres/2 cups
• 2 cups/ 150 grams baby button mushrooms
• 2 teaspoons cornflour and 2 tablespoons water to make a slurry

Before you begin, place the chicken fillets between cling film and pound with a rolling pin to flatten. Heat the olive oil in a pan, add the garlic and fry. Then add the chicken and brown for approximately two minutes. Add the cider and bring to the boil to burn off the alcohol. Turn down the heat allow the chicken to cook in the cider until the internal temperature is 83C/181F. Some of the liquid will boil off but no need to worry you will still have a lot of sauce. When the chicken is cooked, stir in the cream. The sauce will be thin at this point. Make a slurry by whisking the cornflour with the water in a separate bowl.  Remember the rule: Add hot to cold so add a little of the cream and cider sauce to your slurry bowl and whisk together, and only then add it to your sauce to prevent  creating a lumpy sauce.

I serve this with vegetables on the side to add colour and roast or baby potatoes. This is gluten free so if you have a Coeliac in the family they can enjoy it too.

I was never a fan of hummus until I was at a Cuidiu Coffee one morning when Seán was a baby and tasted Julee’s homemade version! It’s divine and so easy to make! Just throw everything in your blender and wizz! Serve with crusty bread or raw veg. Remember to pack a little in your kid’s lunch box with some carrot sticks or breadsticks. Delicious!

1 can chickpeas drained approx 240 grams/ 1 cup

1 tablespoon dark tahini paste

1 teaspoon salt

1 small clove garlic minced of chopped very finely

Juice of a whole lemon

2 glugs of rapeseed oil approx 2 tablespoons

Method

Place all your ingredients into to your blender and blend until combined and chickpeas have been crushed. I used rapeseed oil but you can also use your favourite olive oil. This recipe is also gluten free.

Serve with paprika and a little oil drizzled over the top

There is nothing worse than getting a recipe which doesn’t work. At a recent cookery demo the audience was given a recipe for stout bread which tasted great. However, after a couple of attempts at home I abandoned the recipe for this one which does work every time! The cooking time of 55-60 minutes is longer than you would expect but this is a dense loaf and needs every minute of it! Cover the top with foil if you think it is browning too quickly. My small son thinks this is chocolate bread as it has a fabulous deep colour.  If it means that he will eat it, then it shall be called chocolate bread. Enjoy!

• 600grams/ 5 cups wholemeal flour- I used Macroom flour but Howard’s wholemeal works well too.
• 150grams/ 1 cup plain flour
• 75grams/ ¾ cup oats
• 2 ½ teaspoons bread soda (baking soda)
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 ½ tablespoons brown sugar
• 40 grams/ 3 tablespoons salted butter
• 200grams/ ¾ cup black treacle
• 480millilitres/2 cups milk
• ½ Imperial pint/10 fluid ounces/ 1 ¼  cups/ 300 millilitres draught Guinness

Note I’m using an imperial half pint here which is 10 fluid ounces

Method

Put all the dry ingredients into a large mixing bowl and mix with  a whisk to combine them. Add the butter and rub into the dry ingredients. Then add the treacle, milk and Guinness. Stir well to make sure that the treacle is fully incorporated. The batter will be very wet. This amount of batter will make two, one pound loaves. This bread freezes well so make one and freeze one!

Cook at 170C/340F for 55-60 minutes