Sweet Onion & Chedder Mini Breads

Makes around 6-8 breads   Prep time 1hr 30 mins   Cooking time Approx 25 mins

Ingredients:

For the dough:
500g Strong bread flour (white or other, it is really up to you)
310ml Tepid water
1.5 x 7g Sachets dried yeast
1 tbsp. Sugar
1/2 level tbsp. Fine sea salt
Extra flour for dusting

For the topping:

1 Red onion

1/2 tbsp. Olive oil

2 tbsp. runny honey

1/2 tbsp. Caster sugar

1/2 tbsp. Red wine vinegar

1/2 tsp. Salt

1/2 tsp. black pepper

150g Mature chedder

Equipment:

Baking sheet

Frying pan

Wooden spoon

Large mixing bowl

Preheat oven to 190c/180c fan-assisted/Gas mark 5

In a large mixing bowl, add the flour and yeast and combine with your fingers. In a jug, add the sugar and salt to the tepid (blood temperature) water and stir. Gradually add the water to the flour mixture, combining with one hand (just so the other stays clean) in a claw shape until all the water is incorporated. 

Once you have a rough dough, tip the mixture on to a clean and slightly (don't go mad!) floured surface and begin to knead the dough. This just means pushing back and forward on the dough and turning it on itself for 5-10 minutes until you have a smooth dough. It should also be fairly elastic. 

Add some flour to the inside of your original mixing bowl and place the dough in the bowl. Loosely cover the bowl with cling film or a clean tea-towel and leave in a warm and draught-free place for 30 minutes. 

When you come back to the dough it should have doubled in size, if not, recover and leave for another 15 minutes. Next you need to knock back the dough, I usually do this by punching it to release the air. Then remove the dough from from the bowl and divide with a knife into 6 equal pieces. 

Slightly knead each ball of dough and stretch out into a rough oval shape around 1cm thick. Do this for all your balls of dough. You can place these on either a greased (just with olive oil) or floured (I usually flour) baking sheet and loosely cover again for their second proving, this will take another 30 minutes. 

In the meantime, you can get on with the topping. Place a pan on the hob on a medium heat and add the oil and the red onion, as thinly sliced as you can. Fry in the oil, adding salt and pepper for 5 minutes until the onions have softened. Then reduce the heat to it's lowest setting and slowly cook the onions until they are completely softened, this will take around 10 minutes. 

Add the caster sugar, honey and vinegar to the pan and cook for another 6-7 minutes until you have a sticky, jam like consistency and set aside to cool. 

Once cooled, evenly divide the onion mix between the breads and slightly spread but not all the way to the edges. Then sprinkle each bread with the grated chedder cheese and place in the oven. Cook for around 20-25 minutes but check after 15 minutes in case the topping is catching. 

You will know the breads are cooked by feeling the base; this should be dry and when tapped feel a little hollow. 

These are tremendous served on their own or as a starter or with your favourite soup. 

Blackberry, Almond & Cinnamon Cupcakes.

Makes 12   Prep Time 40 mins   Cooking Time 15 mins

Ingredients:

For the cakes:

150g Unsalted butter or cooking margarine

150g Caster sugar

2 Large or 3 medium sized free-range eggs

1 tsp. Vanilla extract

150g Plain flour

2 tsp. Baking powder

80g Blackberries

1.5 tsp Cinnamon

50g Flaked almonds

For the topping:

12 Blackberries

250g Mascarpone cheese

75g Icing sugar

1 tsp. Vanilla extract

Equipment:

12 Bun cake tray

12 Large sized cupcake/muffin papers

Wooden spoon

1 Large and 1 medium sized mixing bowl

Piping bag with nozzle of your choice

Preheat oven to 180c/170c fan-assisted/Gas mark 4

In a large mixing bowl beat the butter/margarine with the caster sugar with a wooden spoon until the mixture is pale and fluffy. 

Add in each egg, one at a time, mixing the egg into the mixture before adding the next and stir in the vanilla extract. 

Sieve the flour, baking powder and cinnamon into the bowl and fold this in to the mixture carefully so the cakes are light. 

Add the almonds and blackberries to the mixture and fold in, you can slightly crush some of the blackberries against the side of the bowl with the wooden spoon to break them up and give a marbled effect to the mixture. 

Insert the cake/muffin papers in to the cake tray and divide the mixture between the 12 cakes as equally as you can. If you like you can use an ice-cream scoop for this. 

Gently drop the tray horizontally on to your work top to even out the position of the cake batter and ensure there are no air holes. 

Place the tray in to the oven and bake for around 12-18 minutes, you can check whether they are cooked with a cocktail stick; this should come out clean, but you know that!

When the cakes are ready, remove from the tray and place on a cool surface or preferably a wire rack to cool completely. 

For the topping, place the mascarpone cheese into a medium sized mixing bowl and beat with a wooden spoon until it has loosened, add the vanilla extract and beat again. 

Sieve in the icing sugar and (carefully!) incorporate this in to the cream cheese until you have a smooth and glossy mixture. 

It's a good idea to chill this down for 10 minutes or so before piping as the mixture will be much easier to use. 

Place the icing into a piping bag and pipe a dot of icing on to each cake and place a blackberry on top. Then pipe around the berry in any way you wish, I like to do circles of little dots with a star nozzle. 

Now, they're ready to eat, preferably with a cup of tea!