RECIPES & WINE Festive bakes

TIFFIN & CO BAKEHOUSE’S FESTIVE BAKES

If you’re entertaining this festive season, if you’re looking to give the gift of delicious cakes or you’d just like to treat yourself, let us introduce Tiffin & Co Bakehouse’s Shannon Riglin whose new festive bakes are, in a word...

Delicious!

SOMETHING smells amazing...! Upon turning up to meet one of the area’s newest luxury confectioners, it’s clear we’re in for a treat. And surely enough, Shannon Riglin’s studio is full of the latest products she’s created as part of her Christmas range, ready to offer to those seeking festive treats for guests to enjoy over the season. Her showstopper is a stunning looking four-layer marbled chocolate cake heaving with ganache and chocolate curls. ‘That must have taken ages!’ We remark, but Shannon’s been baking since she was a youngster and assures us it’s just a case of utilising her experience to approach even the most ambitious bake with patience and attention to detail. You could give Shannon the credit she deserves... or... if you were feeling particularly nefarious, you could just pass it off to guests as your own creation. Either way, Shannon’s just happy that hundreds of people this Christmas will be enjoying her ranges of tray bakes, blondies, cookies, cakes, cheesecakes and cookie pies. And it’s a nice change of pace from the rigours of academia, like the masters degree she completed at university last September, just prior to setting up her business, Tiffin & Co Bakehouse.

“I’ve lived in the area most of my life and have always had the ambition of baking for a living. Previously, I’ve baked for family and friends, but I knew it would be a leap of faith to turn a personal passion into a business.” “After pursuing a Business Studies & Management degree with the Open University and then completing my Masters, we were in the throes of lockdown and I finally had the time to set up a business. I’ve designed the branding, made the website and set about creating a range of products that I thought everyone would love.” >>

From Stamford To Anywhere

Shannon’s products are available in butcher Gary Simpson’s shop in Stamford and from the county’s leading garden centres... but her mail order service means you can send a delicious gift anywhere in the UK.

>> “That was seven months ago and the response has been really rewarding. I’ve some core products that are popular all year round but I also try to create new ranges, like my Christmas products, which are just about ready to go.” “My ranges are available at all six of Gary Simpson’s shops including his Stamford shop and from Stamford Garden Centre. Most products can also be delivered nationally.” “I’m already receiving orders for mixed boxes of brownies, blondies, cookies and festive products like cranberry flapjacks and white forest blondies; limited edition products.” “I’m taking orders for Christmas delivery until mid-December, and already people are

really happy to have found a gift for loved ones, up and down the country, which are more personal, really indulgent and a present that comes from a small local business.”

“Our chocolate and Lotus Biscoff products are the most popular at the moment, but we’ve hot cookie dough trays, dipping sauces and cookie pies too, and we’re also taking orders for completely bespoke eight-inch celebration cakes.”

“More involved cakes need about a week’s notice, but often for products that I bake daily I can send out with a courier for next day delivery.” “After all, nobody should have to wait to enjoy something delicious this season!” n

Find Out More: Shannon is the founder of Tiffin & Co Bakehouse, delivering brownies, blondies, cakes and cookies nationwide. She can create bespoke cakes and other goodies to order. Order at www.tiffinandcobakehouse.co.uk, email enquiries@tiffinandcobakehouse.co.uk or enquire via social media @tiffinandcobakehouse.

In the KITCHEN

PEAR & PECAN STREUSEL CAKE

Preparation Time: 35 minutes plus cooling. Cooking Time: One hour. Serves 10. 125g unsalted butter, softened, plus extra for greasing • 125g light brown soft sugar • 2 free range medium eggs 125g plain flour • 50g ground almonds • 1 tsp baking powder • 1 tsp ground cinnamon • Crème fraîche, to serve For the brown butter pears: 20g unsalted butter • 1 tbsp light brown soft sugar 400g Conference pears (about 2 large or 3 small), peeled, cored and cut into thin wedges For the pecan streusel topping: 100g plain flour • 75g granulated sugar 75g unsalted butter, chilled and cut into small cubes • 50g pecans, roughly chopped

Preheat the oven to 180ºC, gas mark 4; grease and line a 20cm deep, loose-bottomed cake tin. To prepare the pears, heat the 20g butter in a non-stick frying pan over a medium heat. Cook, swirling occasionally, until the foaming subsides and it starts to smell nutty and turn golden. Add the sugar and pears and cook gently for 2-3 minutes, turning in the butter from time to time. Set aside to cool. For the streusel topping, put the flour, sugar, the butter and a pinch of salt in a bowl and rub together with your fingertips until you have a clumpy mixture. Stir in the pecans. For the cake, use electric beaters to beat the butter and sugar for two minutes until pale and fluffy. Beat in the eggs, one at a time, then beat in the dry ingredients until just combined. Tip into the base of the lined cake tin and even the surface with the back of a spoon. Arrange the pears on top and evenly scatter over the streusel topping. Bake for 45-55 minutes until golden, risen and a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. Leave to cool completely in the tin on a wire rack. Cut into slices to serve, with a spoonful of crème fraîche on top. This cake is just as good made with apples instead of pears – or you could try a mixture of both.

Just the thing to warm up your winter...

Carollers’ Reserve Winter Gin Liqueur, a winter warmer from Bandsman Gin... Only available for a couple of months a year, you’ll need to be quick to secure a few bottles of this spiffing winter warmer. It’s a warming gin liqueur made using sloes picked from fertile land near the River Trent, damsons from the farm of a local brass banding family and honey from an apiary in the village of Doddington near Lincoln. Drink it over ice or with lemonade as a long drink. n £25 / 50cl / 30% ABV, See bandsmangin.co.uk.

The Wine Cellar

Wine of the Month

Passion by Punks, by Some Young Punks, £13 / 75cl / 14.5% ABV

This absolutely ripping wine was once known by the name Passion Has Red Lips. Its makers, Some Young Punks, produced funky bottles with 1950s pulp artwork. That branding has been dropped in favour of a different looking label and arguably some of the charm of the original has been lost, but happily, the wine remains the same. Produced in Australia’s Clare Valley region, it’s a rather heavyweight Cabernet Sauvignon (45%) and Shiraz (55%) blend that’ll easily lay waste to winter nights with a hefty mix of cherry, smoke, tobacco and vanilla flavours. Buy from www.all aboutwine.co.uk n

WARMING UP YOUR AUTUMN AND WINTER THIS MONTH WITH A SEASONAL TIPPLE, A CELEBRATION OF BEAUJOLAIS NOUVEAU DAY AND A SUPER AUSTRALIAN RED...

BEAUJOLAIS NOUVEAU DAY: 18th November 2021...

A friend in mead is a friend indeed...

1. Rochegrès’ Moulin-À-Vent is a Beaujolais beauty, whose charm will only develop with 2021’s new wine release. Cherry, spice and oak on the nose, ideal with poultry or red meat, £19.99 / 75cl / 13% ABV.

2. Produced by the Cru of Morgon, by Dominique Piron on his 50-year old Gamay estate. Cherries and plums meet roasted coffee beans and tobacco yielding soft tannins and a really well-rounded flavour overall, £14.99 / 75cl / 13% ABV.

3. And finally, a remarkably good value midweek Beaujolais whose quality belies its modest price. Quite a jolly wine, with plenty of raspberry and cherry flavours, £6.29 / 75cl / 13% ABV. The term honeymoon derives from the custom of leaving newlyweds alone to enjoy mead or honey wine – thought to aid fertility – for a lunar month immediately after their wedding. Mead is still produced, most notably on The Holy Island of Lindisfarne in Northumberland. However, Matt and Nicola Brauer have created their own take on the medieval drink, combining a honey spirit with Perthshire whisky... ably assisted by about 8,000,000 bees. It’s a lovely, sweet winter warmer. £31 / 50cl / 30% ABV, www.beeble.buzz.

n Our featured wines are available from the best local independent wine merchants, supermarkets and online, prices are RRP and may vary from those stated.