Strawberry and Mint Jam

Following on from my strawberry recipe trend, I have yet another recipe to share with you...sorry there's a lot of good strawberries around especially after me and my son went fruit picking :)

Jam making is a lot easier than what you would think and honestly, well worth it, the combinations are never ending and you can adapt a simple recipe to exactly your tastes.

I once went to a restaurant that served strawberries with a lovely mint syrup which worked beautifully and that gave me the inspiration to add some mint to my basic strawberry jam recipe and it worked brilliantly, even my husband who struggles to find any compliment in anything I make, managed to say it was the best flavoured jam that he had ever eaten...quite the compliment! So here it is...enjoy 

Strawberry and Mint Jam

1kg strawberries

700g jam sugar

12 mint leaves (depending on taste add more if needed) chopped

Squeeze of lemon

Knob of butter

If like me, you froze your strawberries, then remove from the freezer and defrost overnight, when they have defrosted they will be very soft and they will have released a lot of juice, this is perfect! 

In a jam pan or a heavy based pan, add half the sugar, all the strawberries and there juices, the mint leaves and then top with the remaining sugar, stir through.

If you haven't frozen the strawberries, then you will need to add the strawberries and sugar together and leave for 24 hours to allow the strawberries to break down into the sugar and release its juices.

Turn on to a medium high heat and allow to heat through until the sugar dissolves, then add the squeeze of lemon, turn the heat up until it boils and bubbles, allow it to bubble like this for around 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.

While it bubbles away, add the knob of butter as well

Remove from the heat and allow to cool for around half an hour and then pour into your sterilised jam jars. Allow to cool completely.

The sealed jams will last for a year and once opened pop into the fridge.

Strawberry, Almond and Coconut Crumble

I love a traditional pudding, I would happily say that the crumble is my favourite but I also love Bakewell, cheesecake, bread and butter pudding, well pretty much any pudding...yet I always find something so comforting with a crumble. The only downfall is I would happily eat a several portions, or the whole thing if i had the chance...not like I've ever done that before (well maybe once hehe)

Apple is always the traditional option for a crumble and yes I love that but then I discovered strawberry crumble and that was it....love at first taste! I could happily eat this dessert morning, lunch and dinner, now wouldn't that be fantastic..well as long as my waist line didn't get bigger haha!

To add a little something to an already wonderful crumble I decided to add some tasty coconut (one of my favourites, there's probably not many recipes I don't add this too) and now I truly have died and gone to heaven, it gives this dessert so much depth and extra flavour! If you find yourself with some strawberries lurking in the back of the fridge, I promise you you won't be disappointed 

Strawberry, almond and Coconut Crumble

Filling

600g strawberries, hulled and quartered

20g caster sugar

25g ground almonds

25g dessicated coconut

3 tsp vanilla extract

Crumble

300g plain flour

170g Demerara sugar

200g butter chilled and cut into cubes 

20g ground almonds

85g flaked almonds

100g dessicated coconut

In a deep dish add the strawberries and then add the sugar, ground almonds, dessicated coconut and vanilla extract and stir round

Crumble

In a bowl add the flour and sugar.

Add the butter to the flour and sugar and rub with your fingers to until you get a bread crumb like consistency

Add the ground almonds, flaked almonds and dessicated coconut and stir through

Pour the crumble topping on top of the strawberries and pop into the fridge

Pre heat the oven to 190c/180c fan 

Place the crumble into the oven for around 35 minutes until golden on top

Serve with some double cream or ice cream :))

Perfect summer treat

Chocolate and Coconut Soda Bread

The last month or so has been pretty busy with this and that and with my cold that I can't seem to shift, I woke up this morning craving something a little sweet, I wasn't in the mood to make a cake, or muffins, so I started to look at making some cookies but I just couldn't decide so then it came to me...a sweet bread :))! I decided on a sweet soda bread, I hadn't tried it before and wasn't even sure it would work but the thought of chocolate and coconut was calling me so off to the kitchen I went and just threw all the ingredients in together and luckily the outcome was wonderful....exactly what I needed and my goodness was it tasty, I even managed to eat half of it before even had time to cool down and trust me the other half tasted just as good once it had cooled down haha...oops :/ 

So here it is, my recipe for Chocolate and Coconut Soda bread. This is like your normal soda bread, obviously because it is sweet but also the fact that it is a little softer once baked, also I used milk chocolate as that is all I had in my cupboards but feel free to use dark chocolate as I am sure that would work fantastic as well especially with the coconut.

Chocolate and Coconut Soda Bread

240g self raising flour

50g dessicated coconut

50g plain whole meal flour

1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda

Pinch of salt

2 tbsp honey

80g chocolate chunks

250ml coconut buttermilk (250ml coconut milk with 1tbsp lemon juice added and set aside for 20 minutes)

Pre heat the oven to 200/190c fan

Add the flours, dessicated coconut, honey, salt, bicarb of soda and chocolate chunks into a bowl.

Add the coconut buttermilk to the dry ingredients and mix (you may need some more flour if it appears too sticky and wet, depending on your flour so add more self raising flour if needed)

Mix to form a dough and turn out into a lightly floured worktop and knead gently. Form into a round ball and pop onto a lined baking tray and score a cross on the top

Pop into the oven for 30-40 minutes until golden in colour and cooked inside... And enjoy :))