Pear and Oat Chocolate Crumble

Nigel's pear and oat chocolate crumble has become a firm favourite since its first appearance in the Guardian in October. 

I know it's no longer really the right season for pears, but we had returned to B's family home for the weekend and I knew that I could be worry free about the amount of positive noises that would be made around the table when this was being devoured on a Saturday evening. 

Nigel says that this recipe works 'because of the classic partnership of pears and chocolate and the crisp crust with the luscious pears.' I'm not going to try and elaborate on Nigel's words. It would be pointless. He's right, as always. If you're looking for a crowd pleaser, here's your answer.

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5 Things

A week where I just could not get enough sleep. Let's hope a restful weekend in the countryside will fix that. 

But there were at least 5 happy moments:

1. Lunch at On the Bab

2. Maple syrup walnut buns for Monday breakfast

3. Summer holiday planning

4. Headstand progress

5. A good night's sleep

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Ugly Biscuits... Brutti ma buoni; ugly but good

This recipe is for all of you out there who think a cup of coffee just isn't the same without something sweet on the side. Nothing major; it doesn't has to be an exploding almond croissant, a chocolate-rich molten affair, but just a little sweetness, to take the edge off the beautifully strong coffee beans.

Lucy Boyd's 'Kitchen Memories' is one of my favourite books of recent times. And these little almond biscuits perfectly explain why. Not too complicated, nothing too radical, too daunting, too adventurous, but simply a beautiful combination of fragrant ingredients, pieced together like a mosaic, becoming wonderfully satisfying in its entirety.

4 ingredients. 4 egg whites whisked with a pinch of sugar until stiff. 300g skinned whole almonds pulsed until like rough breadcrumbs. Mixed together with 250g caster sugar and a splash of vanilla. The egg whites folded in. All blobbed on to a baking sheet and in the oven at 170°C for 30 minutes. Just enough time to get the kettle on and make that coffee to be drunk alongside.

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Maple Syrup Walnut Buns

I fell upon Nigel's recipe for maple syrup walnut buns on Saturday morning while reading my backlog of blogs and finally getting to Ed's fantastic and ever-so-useful Supplemental from the previous weekend. I had a free afternoon, and a free Sunday morning. I knew that with a strong cup of tea, sun-dappled bed sheets, and a good book, this is what I would need to make that Sunday morning even more special.

No long, long rising time. Well, comparatively. I remember making brioche last year, but I wasn't in the same place for more than 12 hours at a time so the brioche did a lot of driving around the country with me. Miraculously, it survived. None of that business here. No complicated ingredients. No scary kneading technique. In fact, as long as the room was warm enough for the dough to rise, with my trusty KitchenAid working away, there was very little I could do wrong. 

The dough did rise. The butter was soft enough to spread over it without breaking. It rolled into swirls without a problem. Stress free. Slotted perfectly into the tin, rose again, and baked to a golden sheen. Only to be improved by a generous pouring of maple syrup. Ripped apart and eaten while warm. Or heated up the next day. And the next day too. And hopefully tomorrow morning as well. These trusty buns made for a perfect weekend morning, and are doing a great job at cheering up weekday breakfasts (or coffee breaks for B) too. Cancel all your plans for next Saturday afternoon to make sure you have time to make these. You won't regret it. Promise.

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