Author: Sarah Kemp

Stockholm and Åre

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I arrived home from a wonderful holiday in Sweden at the weekend. We flew to Stockholm, had a whole day of shopping and then got the sleeper train up to the skiing resort Åre where we skied for 5 days before taking the sleeper train back to Stockholm for another day in the city. Having only come back from Australia 6 weeks ago, it was a shock to the system to suddenly be in a city that is -14 degrees. We trudged around stopping occasionally in little shops just to warm ourselves. It was absolutely freezing. Then we were in for even more of a shock – when we arrived in Åre it was -25degrees but it was such a beautiful place that I could forgive it! This holiday was certainly not a foodie holiday. When I say this, I mean that I wasn’t able to snoot out the best foodie destinations and this was because there aren’t many in Åre and I wasn’t in Stockholm for long enough! We did however eat a LOT …

Blueberry, banana and cinnamon oat muffins

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I have made a fair few banana loaves over the last few months. A lot of you probably know that I am a huge fan of breakfast foods, especially the sweet kind. My local supermarket is currently selling punnets of blueberries at £3 for 2 packs so I stocked up and decided to make some banana, blueberry and cinnamon breakfast muffins. These muffins are low fat due to the fact that they’re made with buttermilk and light olive oil rather than butter – in fact they only contain around 5g fat per muffin. I’m not normally one to watch my fat and calorie intake but I don’t like to consume a lot of them at breakfast time as it leaves no room for my after dinner treat! They are lovely and moist and will keep for a month in the freezer. Ingredients 120g light muscovado sugar, plus extra for dusting 300g self-raising flour 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda 50g oats, plus extra for dusting 2 ripe bananas 284ml carton of buttermilk 2 tsp cinnamon 4 …

Chocolate ganache dipped flapjacks

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You’ll have to excuse my photos for the moment. My camera is poorly so I’m using my iphone – but I have to say, I’m loving all of the photography apps you can get on it! I still have quite a lot of the Green & Blacks chocolate left from the fabulous event that I took part in a few months ago. So what better way to use it up than to dip homemade flapjack biscuits into a ganache. Yum. This is a really easy recipe that is fun to bake with kids. You can muster up a batch in half an hour from start to finish – the dipping takes slightly longer but this part is optional. Ingredients 75g unsalted butter 70g light muscovado sugar 1 tbsp golden syrup 175g porridge oats (I used Scotts) For the ganache 50g Green & Black’s dark chocolate 50g Green & Black’s creamy milk chocolate 50ml single cream (or judge by the consistency – it needs to be thick but runny enough to dip the flapjack into) Method …

Bocca Di Lupo

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A few months ago, someone told me that a Pork dish that they had eaten at Bocca Di Lupo was a contender for the best dish that they had ever had. I’m not sure then why it took me the best part of a year to book. Valentines day seemed to be the perfect excuse – my boyfriend and I don’t bother with cards and presents but agreed that a nice meal was the best option. I booked a few weeks in advance and could still only get a table at 6pm but luckily it was at the chefs table, which I’d heard provided a better experience. My nerves about the restaurant being empty and lifeless were shattered as soon as we walked through the door. It was pleasantly busy and the chefs were hard at work behind the long sleek counter. Bocca Di Lupo is a classy and upmarket Italian restaurant. Don’t expect to find pizza on the menu but instead fantastic pasta, meat and fish dishes. Blood oranges are in season at the …

Chocolate and Rose Petal Cookie recipe

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My mum gave me a bag of rose petals around Christmas time. She is a baker herself and bought a huge jar back from Australia with her. They have been sitting in the baking box unsused since then so I decided to finally use them this weekend. I also still have a huge amount of Green & Blacks chocolate left over from the cook off that I did a few months ago so I put a chocolate, rose petal and vanilla cookie to the test. I baked the cookies with rose petals in the mixture and then covered the top with Green & Blacks Milk Chocolate and scattered more rose petals on top. Ingredients– Makes 8 large cookies 115 g butter, at room temperature 55 g caster sugar 135 g plain flour Hand full of rose petals For the topping 1 bar Green & Blacks Milk Chocolate 1 tbsp milk 2 tsp butter Hand full of rose petals to scatter Method Pre-heat the oven to 170degrees 1. Cream the butter in a bowl until light …