Unsophisticated Bakes - Pistachio Marzipan?

Fruits. Christmas. Family. Those are the things that come to mind when I think about marzipan. Every Christmas, without fail, there have been marzipan fruits. It’s kind of a tradition now. We used to make them ourselves, H & I when we were children with help from our Nan. It was always murder finding natural food dyes that wouldn’t set off her allergies!
All these years later, marzipan is still a sweet treat that we all love – H’s vegan husband loves it too as it’s one of the only sweets he can have.

We’ve always had a massive soft spot for pistachios in our family too, so I started scouring the internet to see if you could make marzipan with them. Turns out that you can! After a hefty Pinterest session I discovered a recipe, I’ve tweaked it a little, but it works beautifully.

Photo from  Pinterest - I forgot to take pictures of mine!

You will need:

285g shelled pistachios, preferably raw (they will give you a brighter green)
200g icing sugar
1/4 tsp salt, if using raw or unsalted pistachios
1 egg white, lightly beaten
Green food coloring
350g dark chocolate (min. 50% cocoa)

1. Blitz the pistachios in a food processor until they’re finely ground. Remove a few tablespoons if you fancy using it for decoration.

2. Add the icing sugar to the food processor, and if your pistachios are unsalted, the salt. Blitz again until it’s broken down to a very fine powder.

3. Add a little of the raw egg to the food processor, blitz and repeat. You want the marzipan to be malleable like Play-Doh. You might not need to use all the egg to get to this stage, so keep an eye on it.

4. If you want to make your marzipan a bit greener, now is the time to add the food dye, just work the colour in like you would with normal marzipan.

5. Divide the marzipan into little balls and pop them on a baking tray lined with greaseproof paper or foil. Put them in the fridge for 10 minutes.

6. While the balls are chilling, melt the chocolate in a glass bowl over a pan of hot water. Keep stirring it, and don’t let the hot water hit the bottom of the bowl – it could cause the chocolate to burn. Leave to cool for a few minutes before introducing it to the marzipan!

7. Dip the balls into the chocolate (naughty!) and then pop them back on the baking tray. If you’re being extra fancy you sprinkle them with the leftover pistachio bits before popping them back in the fridge. 
8. Leave them in the fridge for at least 10 minutes (or until the chocolate is set) and voila! Yummy chocolate treats

I have to say, these went down so well when I made them for my Nan’s birthday that my mother has requested them for hers!

Unsophisticated Bakes - THE Banana Loaf

In my line of work, some days I can end up with a lot of surplus bananas. There's nothing terribly wrong with them, they're just too ripe, or have split in transit, or they just won't last the weekend. I don't like wasting perfectly good food, particularly not when I can bake with it. They almost always end up in the banana cake recipe I'm sharing below, although they've crept into a few welshcakes of late.

You will need:

125g soft butter/margarine

250g caster sugar

3-4 over-ripe bananas 

2 large eggs

1/2 tsp vanilla essence

250g plain flour (or self raising, just omit the extra raising agent)

3tsp baking powder

optional handful of pecan nuts

Equipment:

1x 2lb loaf tin

Greaseproof paper or loaf tin liners

Method

1. Preheat your oven to 160°/150° fan & line your tin
2. With a spoon (or an electric mixer if you're lazy like me), mix the butter & sugar together until fully combined - it should have formed a paste.
3. Chop your bananas and add them into the bowl, along with your eggs & vanilla essence. Mix until you've got a lumpy wet mix.
4. Sieve in, then fold in the flour. Take your time, do it slowly, until the last of it is no longer visible, but you want your mixture to still be lumpy
5. Chop your pecans (or whatever nuts you fancy bedecking your cake with) as finely or roughly as you fancy. 
6. Pour your mixture into the prepped tin, and sprinkle the nuts evenly over the top of the cake.
7. Bake for 50-60 minutes, or until a skewer comes out clean. All ovens vary, so don't worry if it takes longer. Leave to cool in the tin for a few minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack. Enjoy!

Variations

• You could try adding extra bananas. The most I've ever tried is 6! It makes the cake super-moist and a bit fudgy.

• You could also try adding nuts or chocolate chips to the mix itself, or even cocoa powder. From experience, the chocolate chips option is divine.