Scottish Bakes
The first challenge of the year was in person and it was so great to see so many of you and see everyone's fabulous bakes! The brief was to bake anything (sweet or savoury) that made you think Scotland, and everyone was so creative and definitely rose to the challenge!
Adrija's Chicken Tikka Pie won Star Baker, and here you'll find the recipe, as well as some others, and pictures of all the bakes at the end!
Adrija's Chicken Tikka Pie
With the theme of “Scottish Bakes” at the first GU Baking society of the year, I really wanted to try something out of my comfort zone with a savoury bake. With my immediate thought going to pies, I began researching. I found out that chicken tikka masala was created and popularised by South Asian chefs in Scotland, with many considering actually it the national dish of the UK! And with the curry being claimed to be invented in Glasgow, I was excited to represent my British Asian roots by creating a fusion dish of chicken tikka masala pie.
Ingredients:
Pastry: (or store-bought works fine too)
250g strong plain flour
1tsp fine sea salt
250g butter (room temperature)
Water
1 egg, beaten
Chicken tikka curry:
3tbsp oil
1 medium onion chopped
300g diced chicken
2 tsp garlic paste
2tsp ginger paste
2tsp coriander powder
2tsp cumin powder
2tsp chilli powder
2tsp turmeric powder
2tsp kasuri methi (dried fenugreek leaves - optional!)
3tbsp tomato paste
400g tinned chopped tomato
200ml double cream
Salt to taste
5 tbsp Chopped fresh coriander
Chopped fresh chillies to taste
Method:
Pastry:
Sift 250g strong plain flour and 1 tsp fine sea salt into a large bowl. Roughly break 250g butter into small chunks, add them to the bowl and rub them in loosely. You need to see bits of butter.
Make a well in the bowl and pour in about two-thirds of 150ml cold water, mixing until you have a firm rough dough adding extra water if needed.
Cover with cling film and leave to rest for 20 mins in the fridge.
Turn out onto a lightly floured board, knead gently and form into a smooth rectangle.
Roll the dough in one direction only, until 3 times the width, about 20 x 50cm. Keep edges straight and even. Don’t overwork the butter streaks; you should have a marbled effect.
Fold the top third down to the centre, then the bottom third up and over that. Give the dough a quarter turn (to the left or right) and roll out again to three times the length.
Fold as before, cover with cling film and chill for at least 20 mins before rolling to use.
Preheat oven to 200 degrees Celsius
Curry:
In a pot on medium heat, add the oil, onions, ginger, garlic, spices (except kasuri methi) and tomato paste and cook till fragrant to form the curry paste.
Add diced chicken to the pan and combine with the curry paste until the chicken is partially cooked. This should take around 8 minutes.
Turn the heat to low, and add the tinned tomatoes, double cream, salt and kasuri methi. Put the lid on and let it simmer for 20-30 minutes.
Turn heat off, and add fresh chillies and coriander to taste as desired to the curry and mix.
Assembly:
To a pie dish, add the curry and cover with puff pastry adding a few slits with a knife on top of the pastry. Brush egg wash on top, covering the pie lid, and place in the oven for 25 mins or until top is golden. Enjoy!
Jodie's White Chocolate and Macadamia Flapjacks
Ingredients:
300g butter
200g golden syrup
100g light brown sugar
400g rolled oats
50g self-raising flour
1 tsp salt
75g macadamia nuts
75g white chocolate
Method:
Preheat the oven to 170C/160C fan/gas mark 3.5. Grease and line a 20cm square tin.
Melt together the butter, syrup and sugar in a pan over a medium heat until just melted. Roughly chop the nuts and white chocolate (or use chocolate chips) and mix together with the oats, flour and salt in a large bowl, then pour over the melted butter mixture and stir until all the ingredients are coated evenly.
Pour this mixture into the lined tin. Compress the mix firmly by pressing down with the back of a spoon or spatula. Bake for 40-45 mins or until deeply golden all over.
Leave to cool in the tin, then remove and slice into squares.
Maebh's Empire Biscuits
Ingredients:
175g plain flour, plus extra for dusting
100g cold salted butter, cut into cubes
335g icing sugar
½ tsp vanilla extract
2 medium egg yolks
100g raspberry jam
50g glacé cherries, quartered/ jelly sweets
Method:
Put the flour, butter, 85g of the icing sugar, the vanilla and egg yolks in a food processor and pulse in bursts until combined (alternatively, rub together the butter and flour with your fingertips and mix in the sugar, vanilla, and egg yolks). Add ½ tbsp water if the mix feels a little dry. Tip the rough mixture onto a work surface and briefly knead until the dough has come together. Wrap and chill for 30 mins.
Heat the oven to 180C/160C fan/gas mark 4. Line two baking sheets with baking parchment. Lightly dust your work surface with flour and roll the dough out to around 3mm thick. Cut 24 rounds from the dough with a 7cm cutter. Bring the remaining scraps of pastry together and reroll to make more biscuits. Line up the discs of dough on the baking sheets, then bake for 10-12 mins or until lightly golden brown around the edges. Transfer to a wire rack and leave to cool completely.
Mix the remaining icing sugar with 2-3 tsp of water to make a very thick icing. Spoon or pipe the icing over the top of half of the biscuits, leaving a border around the edge of each one. Top with a small piece of glacé cherry or sweet in the centre, then leave to set for 30 mins. Spread the jam over the un-iced biscuits and sandwich them together with the iced halves.
Will keep for two days in an airtight tin.
Sam's Scottish Snowballs
Ingredients:
2oz (57g) unsalted butter
2oz (57g) caster sugar
Pinch of salt
8oz (227g) self-raising flour, sifted
1 egg
1 tbsp milk
Raspberry jam
100g icing sugar
A little milk or water
Desiccated coconut
Method:
Preheat oven to 200C/180C fan/gas mark 6.
Cream the butter and sugar together with the pinch of salt. Add the egg with a little flour and mix well. Stir in the milk and add the rest of the flour. Mix to a fairly stiff dough.
Divide into 16 equal pieces and roll into balls. Place on parchment or silicone mat lined baking sheets, leaving a bit of space for them to grow. Press down a little. If you’d like smaller snowballs, divide into 24 pieces.
Bake for 8 to 10 mins, until very lightly golden brown. Remove from tray and allow to cool completely.
When cool, sandwich equal sized cookies together with raspberry jam. If you are able to leave them for half an hour, do so as the jam will set making it easier to dip.
Combine about 100g of icing sugar with enough water or milk to make a runny glaze in which to dip the snowballs. Have a bowl of desiccated coconut ready. Dip the snowballs in the glaze and allow extra glaze to drip off then roll in the coconut. Set aside to dry and continue to dip the remaining snowballs.
Will keep for about 4/5 days in a tin.
