Cinnamon Swirl Banana Muffins

www.shropshirebreakfast.com

We're a bit of a fan of cinnamon here at Hopton House. My husband is particularly keen. Normally I can't tempt Jess & Rob with a fresh baked muffin in the morning, but they both make an exception for these.

This recipe takes the banana bread recipe and raises it to a different level. You can make it in a 1lb loaf tin to make a traditional banana bread. However it takes quite a long time to cook  ( 50-60 minutes at 160 degrees C non fan oven ) & needs to be completely cool before cutting. By cooking as muffins no cutting is required so they can be served warm from the oven and
only take about 20 mins to cook. They are also incredibly easy to do as it's one of the mixes where you just bung everything into the mixer. They also last quite well so can be cooked the day before.

Makes 6 muffins

Muffin Ingredients

50g softened butter ( or you could use 50ml vegetable oil )
90g soft brown sugar ( caster sugar will do )
1 tsp mixed spice
1 egg
1 ripe banana
110g self raising flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tbsp buttermilk ( you can happily substitute 1 tbsp milk or 1 natural yoghurt as who wants to open a whole buttermilk carton for 1 tbsp but it does create a fluffier result )

Cinnamon Swirl Mix
4 tbsp of white sugar
1 tbsp ground cinnamon

Preheat oven to 200 degrees C ( or 180 degrees for a fan oven ). Put all of the muffin ingredients ( not the cinnamon swirl mix ingredients these are added separately ) into a mixing bowl and mix with an electric mixer on high for 2 minutes. Combine the white sugar and cinnamon together in a small bowl.

Line a muffin tin with a 6 muffin cases. Put a tablespoon of muffin mix into the bottom of each case. Take a good heaped teaspoon of the cinnamon swirl mix then  sprinkle over the wet muffin mix. You're looking to have the mix completely covered with sugar & cinnamon. Then add the remaining wet muffin mix to the cases and finish off with another good teaspoon of the sugar & cinnamon.

Be careful not to overfill the cases - you only want them 3/4 full - they will rise quite a lot.

Bake for about 20 minutes till they're firm to touch. Just keep an eye on them to make sure they don't brown too much.

If you have any remaining sugar & cinnamon mix you can store it in a airtight jar for next time ( or sprinkle some on your porridge in the morning )

Sarah's Chocolate Cake

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I can be very boring on the subject of Twitter and the real life connections it makes, but, living in a rural area and quite often stuck in the house waiting for guests to arrive/leave, it is a real lifeline for the country B&B landlady.

Just this week I had another B&B landlady Twitter friend to stay. We've talked online by direct message nearly every day for the last 3 years & it was finally time to meet. I must admit to being very nervous before their arrival. The nerves were two fold; first they run a fabulous 5 star B&B that has won B&B of the year & second, if we had hated each other in real life, it would have been the end of a beautiful online relationship & left a huge gap. And I have discovered that just because you get on well with someone online doesn't always translate to a great face to face relationship. Luckily it all went well & I was very sad to see them leave.

A few months ago I met another virtual B&B friend, Sarah of Ferndell in Shrewsbury. I took the train up to the "big city" and we nattered for hours and compared B&B stories over coffee & lovely cake. Sarah is known for her chocolate cake and has kindly offered to share the recipe with us all! In fact if you were looking for a country / town 2 centre break in Shropshire you might find Hopton House & Ferndell would be the perfect combination......

Over to Sarah:

Chocolate sponge

www.ferndellbandb.co.uk

Firstly I would like to thank Karen for asking me to place my chocolate cake recipe on her lovely blog, I usually ask my daughter age 12 to make me a quick cake before the guests are due and between the pair of us it usually turn out alright…

I use a Kitchenaid mixer to do the hard work starting with mixing the Marg and Sugar together, then add 3 eggs mixing again followed by the flour and cocoa powder…how simple, I don’t even use a sieve. I separate the mixture between two 8” tins greased and lined and into the bottom Aga for 25 minutes but luckily with an Aga  if you forget a few extra minutes wont spoil it…as my Aga is off at the moment (sad face) I have to use a timer on the oven so 25 minutes at about 150/160..

Now the butter icing I simply make straight in the bowl the cake mix has come out of, so Marg Cocoa Powder and Icing Sugar, all whizzed up leaving a cloud of icing all over me and the worktop etc as I often forget to drape a damp tea towel over the mixer.

Sandwich together and generously sprinkle over icing sugar (my favourite bit)

Sponge mix                                                          

6oz marg                                                               
6oz granulated sugar
3 Free range eggs
5oz SR Flour
1oz cocoa powder

For the butter icing I tend to plonk the marge icing sugar cocoa in and if it looks too sloppy add more icing sugar and if its too stiff add a little more marg…not very professional I know

Cheese and Herb Sausages

www.shropshirebreakfast.com

I always try and provide a good selection of vegetarian breakfast options that aren't just the full English without the meat. However quite a few people still choose the full breakfast but with vegetarian sausage. So I decided to have a go at making my own veggie sausages.

I have tried different recipes in the past but without any huge success. I needed a sausage that I could make in bulk, freeze and then be able to cook from frozen without it all falling to mush.

This is a recipe from Delia's Vegetarian Cookbook. Her recipe uses Parmesan in the coating. Parmesan isn't actually suitable for strict vegetarians, so I've replaced it with a strong local cheddar from the Ludlow Food Centre which is suitable for all vegetarians; Oakley Park Cheddar.

Delia's recipe reckons it makes 12 sausages but I've only every managed 7-8.

I freeze them individually on trays and then put into plastic bags.

I use whatever bread is leftover from breakfast. But I find it works well with a mix of my homemade seeded granary bread & white bread.

Sausage Ingredients
100g vegetarian cheddar cheese, grated
125g breadcrumbs ( white, granary or wholemeal or a mix )
1 medium onion, either grated or minced in the food processor
1 tablespoon mixed fresh  herbs ( I use parsley, chives & thyme )
3/4 tsp dry mustard powder
1 egg yolk
salt & pepper

Coating
1 egg white, beaten
25g breadcrumbs
25g very finely grated cheese

Mix together all of the dry ingredients for the sausage, then mix in the egg yolk. I find it easier to do this with my hands. Take small amounts of the mix and form into sausages. Roll the sausages in the egg white the mix of breadcrumbs & grated cheese.

If you're eating straight away I would suggest putting them in the fridge for about half an hour to firm up. Otherwise freeze on trays and then bag up when frozen.

To cook fresh, fry them gently in olive oil till golden all over - 5-10 minutes.

To cook from frozen. Brush with some olive oil and bake at about 200 degrees ( or top AGA oven ) for about 20 minutes, turning halfway through.

Sticky Ginger Cake with Ginger Wine Butter Icing

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If you've stayed with us at Hopton House you'll know that there is a whole cake waiting in your room on arrival. This is normally a homemade lemon drizzle. It's a fairly safe bet as it seems to be most people's favourite! However I'm always happy to make something different on request.

 

This week I was asked for a sticky ginger cake with butter icing. I'm glad I'm not asked to make this that often because it is one of my favourites, and I would end up eating far too much of it! It is so sticky & light all at the same time.



My favourite butter icing has a teaspoon of vanilla extract in it. Since my homemade vanilla extract is just rum with vanilla pods steeped in it I decided to switch it for a teaspoon of ginger wine and it works very well.

I've done this recipe in imperial measures as it's so easy to remember that way. It's easily halved if you don't want to make 4 cakes.

I bake it in 4 1lb loaf tins, lined with loaf liners. This means I have 1 cake for the guest room and the others I put in bags, seal and put in the freezer for up to a month. The cake keeps well and gets stickier over a few days.

The icing is enough to generously cover 1 cake

Cake Ingredients
8oz treacle
8oz golden syrup
8oz dark muscovado sugar
8oz butter
16oz white self raising flour
4 teaspoons ground ginger
1 teaspoon of mixed spice
2 large eggs
1/2 pint milk

Icing Ingredients ( for one cake )
2 oz very soft butter
7 oz icing sugar
1tsp ginger wine

Preheat oven to 150 degrees Celsius Fan oven, 170 degrees Celsius non fan.
Put the flour, ginger and mixed spice in a large bowl and mix well.
Put the treacle, syrup, sugar and butter in a large saucepan and heat gently until it all melts. Mix it well together.
Beat together the eggs and milk.
Pour the contents of the saucepan and then the eggs & milk into the flour and spices and beat well till it's all well combined.
Divide the mixture between the 4 loaf tins and baked for about 40 minutes until a knife comes out clean.
Leave to cool completely then make the icing by beating together the butter, sugar and ginger wine. Spread it over one cooled cake.