Hello February!
I hope you are all well and had a lovely January? Did any of you try making my Irish Cream Tiramisu? If you did, wasn’t it amazing? I have got some more amazing recipes this month. I love, love, love these recipes and I hope you do too.
The first is to celebrate Pancake Day. I have made some cinnamon crepes with a vanilla mascarpone cream, seasonal fresh berries and all drizzled with melted chocolate. Oh my goodness me, these are truly delicious and can be eaten for breakfast or dessert or maybe even a snack if you are feeling indulgent and why not.
My second recipe is not only delicious but uses the same vanilla mascarpone cream and melted chocolate so you won’t have any leftovers. They are my Valentine’s pink love heart macarons sandwiched with the delicious vanilla mascarpone cream and finished off with velvet like melted chocolate. Yum!
My third and final recipe for this month is my sweet chilli jam. You may not have tried this before but it is so simple and quick to make and is unbelievably good with all kinds of cheeses and cold meats. We had it on Boxing Day with our cold turkey and gammon and it was truly scrumptious. It is sweet yet sour and all with a slight kick of heat. This is also amazing in a brie and bacon panini I must say.
I really hope you enjoy making these recipes and I hope you have a lovely February. See you all in March!
Recipe 1
Cinnamon French Crepes with Vanilla Mascarpone Cream, Seasonal Fresh Berries and Maple Syrup
Ingredients
Crepes:
125g plain flour
2 medium free range eggs
275ml-300ml semi skimmed milk
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp caster sugar
Butter-for frying
Vanilla Mascarpone Cream:
250g mascarpone
250ml double cream
30g icing sugar
2 tsp vanilla bean paste/extract
Seasonal fresh berries-to serve
Maple syrup-to drizzle
Method
First make the vanilla mascarpone cream so it can chill in the fridge. Whisk the cream and icing sugar until soft peaks form. In a small bowl, gently mix together the mascarpone and vanilla bean paste. Add mascarpone to softly whipped cream and continue to whisk until the mixture thickens and firm peaks form. Spoon into a bowl and chill for 1 hour.
Sift the flour with the ground cinnamon and sugar into a large bowl. Make a well in the centre, pour in the egg, then slowly whisk in enough milk to make a smooth batter with the consistency of single cream.
Set aside to rest for at least 20 minutes. Heat a frying pan over a medium heat. Once hot, melt a little butter to cover the frying pan.
Add a small ladleful of batter, then tilt the pan to swirl the batter evenly over the base.
Cook for 1-2 minutes until the pancake is set, golden underneath and coming away from the pan at the edges. Loosen the pancake with a palette knife, then flip and cook for a further 30-60 seconds until golden on both sides. Slide the pancake onto a plate, then repeat until all the batter has been used up. Serve the hot crepes with the mascarpone cream and fresh berries and drizzle over a little syrup. Serve and enjoy.
Recipe 2
Valentine’s Pink Love Heart Macarons with Vanilla Mascarpone Cream and Chocolate Drizzle
Ingredients
Macarons:
4 egg whites-room temperature
160g granulated sugar
160g ground almonds
170g icing sugar
Pink food colouring
Filling:
Vanilla mascarpone cream from pancake recipe-to fill macarons
100g melted milk chocolate and 100g melted white chocolate-to drizzle
Method
Line x2 baking trays with greaseproof paper. Place the ground almonds and icing sugar in a food processor. Process until just beginning to clump. Sift well and discard any bits that won’t pass through the sieve. Set aside. Whip the egg whites until they’re the consistency of soft peaks. Continue whipping while slowly adding the granulated sugar. Whip to a stiff meringue. Fold the dry mixture into the meringue. Add the food colouring at this point.
Pour the batter into a piping bag fitted with a plain circle nozzle. Pipe the macarons onto your baking trays in love heart shapes. When all your macarons are piped, whack the baking tray on your work surface a few times to get rid of any air bubbles. Let the macarons dry at room temperature until dry to the touch. Approximately 1 hour. Don’t skip this step.
Once they are dry, bake the macarons in the oven at gas mark 2 1/2 until they stick a little bit to the trays. This can be anywhere from 10-14 minutes depending on your oven and how crowded the macarons are on the tray. Let the macarons cool completely before removing from the trays. Pipe the vanilla mascarpone cream into the centre, sandwich the macarons together and press until the filling just starts to show around the edges. Drizzle over a little melted milk and white chocolate and then serve for a delicious accompaniment to your morning coffee on Valentine’s Day.
Recipe 3
Sweet Chilli Jam
Ingredients
150g-x10 cayenne chillies
250g red bell peppers
50g fresh ginger-peeled and chopped
500ml apple cider vinegar
1kg jam sugar
90ml lime juice
1 level tsp salt
Method
Slice and chop the chillies and peppers, remove seeds and white membrane. Place into a preserving pan or large saucepan and add the ginger. Add the apple cider vinegar and place on a medium heat. Bring to a simmer and cook for 15 minutes on low.
Whizz with a stick blender until you have a puree. Add the jam sugar, lime juice and salt. Keep on a low heat and stir until the sugar has dissolved. Boil rapidly for 3 to 4 minutes and remove from the heat. Allow to cool for 5 minutes and then ladle into clean sterilised jars. This is amazing with cheeses and cold meats.
Shopping list for all 3 recipes
Check your cupboards first as you may have a lot of these already
125g plain flour
x6 eggs
300ml semi skimmed milk
Ground cinnamon
250g block butter
250g mascarpone
250ml double cream
200g icing sugar
Vanilla bean paste/extract
100g milk chocolate/100g white chocolate
Seasonal fresh berries
160g granulated sugar
160g ground almonds
Pink food colouring
150g-x10 cayenne red chillies
250g red bell peppers
50g fresh ginger
500ml apple cider vinegar
1kg jam sugar
90ml lime juice
February 2024 Recipes by Lucie Wilson download the printer friendly pdf recipes here
Meet Lucie
Hi, I’m Lucie and it’s very lovely to meet you. I’m your food and cookery baker, maker and writer and I love creating new and exciting recipes for you all.
I am 22 years old, a WI Supporter and I live in Hampshire with my mum and our beautiful cats. During my childhood I was brought up around food as my mum was a cookery teacher for schools and as soon as I was able, I had a wooden spoon in my hands. My dad was a very good cook too, but he sadly passed away from dementia when I was 8 years old. I have 3 sisters, but they weren’t too interested in cooking, so me and mum would spent hours in the kitchen baking and creating together. Still to this day me and mum spent a good few hours every week shopping for ingredients and then cooking delicious things together. I think time spent cooking as a family is really important, whether it’s like me and my mum or a father and son, brother and sister, parents and children, it is wonderful to simply spend time with the ones you love and for an opportunity to develop new skills.
Food is a massive part of my family; I am part Italian, so we take food very seriously and that means no pineapple on pizza and no mushrooms in a Bolognese! I simply love food and I do truly believe that cooking or baking can really help your mindfulness and invoke a calmness that can help relax you and focus the mind. Baking is also really good fun and I have so many amazing memories spent in the kitchen cooking and creating and the occasional icing sugar snowstorm game.
I am also a massive animal lover. We have 3 beautiful cats, and they are so joyful and so full of beans. I am also a huge formula one fan. I just adore Lewis Hamilton and never miss race. So much so that my keys have got 4 mini formula one tyres on them as well as cats and cupcakes keyrings.
I really do love creating and baking for you all and I hope you enjoy my recipes and have as much fun making them as I do.
To read more of Lucie’s fabulous blogs, visit www.theWI.org.uk/MyWI
