Old Fashioned Cornbread

The house is permeated with the smell of onions and garlic right now. M is stewing a big pot of his wonderful chilli for lunches this week. My mouth is already watering. So I thought I'd whip up a batch of cornbread, the perfect accompaniment to a bowl of chilli. Cornbread is really simple and easy to make and goes well with a wide array of dishes, or a stand-alone for breakfast or a snack. Best served warm with a smear of butter melting into it or spread with jam for breakfast.

1cup/225gr flour
3 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1cup/225gr cornmeal (polenta works as well)
1cup/225ml milk
2 eggs, beaten
1/4 cup/60ml honey
1/4 cup/60gr butter, melted

Preheat oven 425/220/gas 7

Sift flour, baking powder and salt into bowl. Stir in cornmeal. Combine eggs, milk, honey and butter in seperate bowl/jug. Pour into dry ingredients. Stir until just combined.

Pour into greased pan. I used 9"x13" but a square pan, sandwich tin or muffin pan work just as well. Bake about 20 minutes or until golden and a skewer comes out clean.
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Chocolate Chunk Cookies

Today involved a failed trip to Hitchin. There's a cute little kitchen shop I love and I wanted to get a nice oven thermometer for better bread baking but, and please allow me this little rant, nothing was open! Listen England, it's not the 1600's and Sunday Trading Laws are a little behind the times. But even Sunday Trading Laws I can get behind, for the sake of the shop staff, but towns placing higher restrictions then what's required by law is a little ridiculous. Like Hitchin. So no oven thermometer which means I have to postpone trying a loaf of honey wheat bread.

The one thing that was open was Waitrose, which we don't get a chance to go to often. So I bought a nice (read: expensive) bar of chocolate to make Chocolate Chunk Cookies.

You can use any standard chocolate chip cookie recipe for these, just replace the chips with chunks of chocolate of varying sizes from the bar. These are great for chocolate lovers; when the cookies cool, the melted chunks will solidify. Husband was very happy with them, they're almost gone now!

And I get to indulge in a little nostalgic milk and cookies right before bedtime. Lovely sunday.

Stadium Pretzel & Cheese

Bank holiday weekend and....shock horror....it's raining. Perfect day to bake. In light of upcoming summer and memories of past summers spent at baseball games, I thought I tried my hand at pretzels. Big, crunchy, salty jumbo pretzels which are best eaten dipped in nacho cheese. These take a while to make but are worth it.

Jumbo Pretzels
1 1/4 cup warm water
1 pkg fast-active dried yeast
1/2 tsp granulated sugar
4 cups strong white flour

Water should be hand-warm, about 85F. Put in a bowl with yeast and sugar. Let stand for an hour.

Gradually add flour, creating a soft dough. You may need more or less flour. Knead for 10 minutes. Put in a greased bowl and let rise until doubled in size, about an hour.

Twist dough into figure 8 shape, logs or twists. Put on greased baking sheet and brush with egg wash (1 yolk and 1 tbsp milk). Sprinkle liberally with sea salt. Leave to rise until doubled.

Bake at 240C/gas 9 for about 10 min. To finish with a nice golden brown colour, put under the grill for a few minutes. Serve with nacho cheese for dipping.

Nacho cheese
1oz sharp cheddar cheese
1 slice laughing cow light cheese spread
1 tsp minced jalapeno pepper
1 tsp jalapeno juice
1/8 tsp ground cumin
1/8 tsp paprika
1/8 tsp chili powder
pinch garlic granules

Mix all together. Heat until cheese is melted.