Shake up your bakes by introducing flavourings normally used in savoury dishes shunning the cinnamon can make for an invigoratingly radical take on classic biscuits and cakes
Some spices are at the heart of baking: cinnamon can transform the fortunes of even the saddest apple pie, while nutmeg turns plain custard into gold. Cloves are the taste of Christmas. My favourite is just a couple of cardamom pods, split and ground, to brighten banana bread. It's easy to slip into a spice rut with such a delicious basic repertoire, but we miss out when we steadfastly stick to just these spices.
When we rigidly categorise "sweet" and "savoury" spices, our baking suffers. Black pepper, coriander, chilli, caraway, celery seed, and even mustard or juniper berries all typically accessories to savoury dishes can be used in sweet baking with exciting results. It's tempting to play to the autumnal notes of a carrot cake with a predictable spoonful of cinnamon, but why not ring the changes with a dose of caraway seeds instead? Likewise, the heat of a ginger biscuit can be bolstered by a good grinding of pepper. Carefully balanced, these spices will give a familiar cake, bun or biscuit a new lease of life. Reported by guardian.co.uk 1 day ago.
Some spices are at the heart of baking: cinnamon can transform the fortunes of even the saddest apple pie, while nutmeg turns plain custard into gold. Cloves are the taste of Christmas. My favourite is just a couple of cardamom pods, split and ground, to brighten banana bread. It's easy to slip into a spice rut with such a delicious basic repertoire, but we miss out when we steadfastly stick to just these spices.
When we rigidly categorise "sweet" and "savoury" spices, our baking suffers. Black pepper, coriander, chilli, caraway, celery seed, and even mustard or juniper berries all typically accessories to savoury dishes can be used in sweet baking with exciting results. It's tempting to play to the autumnal notes of a carrot cake with a predictable spoonful of cinnamon, but why not ring the changes with a dose of caraway seeds instead? Likewise, the heat of a ginger biscuit can be bolstered by a good grinding of pepper. Carefully balanced, these spices will give a familiar cake, bun or biscuit a new lease of life. Reported by guardian.co.uk 1 day ago.