Helllo beautiful people! Want to ask you guys a question. Have you ever had the motivation to do something after listening to either a speech, some music or perhaps by watching a play or a movie? I can say I am one of those people. Being motivated I find is the key to achieving your dreams, as cliche as it sounds its true. By giving yourself that urge to start something is by no means nerve racking. I find its human nature to fear the unknown or better yet to be scared to fail. Nobody wants to have that idea of failure, but through the years in school and uni I realised its good to fail at times. By failing your learning from your strengths and weaknesses which in the future will help you achieve your overall set goal.
For the longest time I wanted to focus on writing a food blog ( 2 years to be exact) but at the time I didn't have any motivation to start it even though it was always at the back on my mind, because I was on a journey of finishing university and trying to find that "steady job". Luckily within the last year or so I started organising my time better with work and found time to focus on it.
My motivation to get this ball rolling was definitely due to some of my close friends. They have been my constant support by being my guniea pigs and testing out some of my creations and by buying me tools ( a journal) to start jotting down ideas. However another motivation was none other than Netflix's show Chef's Table. I could genuinely watch the whole season of Chef's Table and not get bored. I really get intrigued on learning the chef's story and their idea process on creating a dish. When they create a dish, my mind is blown! IT LOOKS LIKE AN ART PIECE. Chef's are like artist/ scientist they are creating something that is visually appealing and yet equally appetising. After watching the shows my aim is to travel to those destinations and try their dishes, especially Chef Massimo Bottura whose restaurant is in Italy.
So after watching an episode from season 2 ( the episode was of Chef Gaggan Anand ) my creative juices started flowing. I wanted to create something sweet as tea time was around the corner and we ran out of biscuits. In the Weich household no biscuits with coffee is just a sin. Then after scavenging around the kitchen cupboards to find what ingredients I had, I came up with the idea of making Mixed Berry Crumble Bars.
I created this recipe and was curious to see how the ingredients would combine together, which according to my guinea pigs was amazing. These mixed berry bars have three layers consisting of Shortbread, Mixed Berries, and Crumble Topping. The overall result is great its sweet but with a sprinkle of salt on the crumble gives a nice kick to the flavour. Due to the moisture of the berries, the shortbread was a bit soft but throughly cooked. I think the next time I bake them I will try to bake the shortbread base blind for 5-7 mins, then place the berries on top. Highly recommend these mixed berry bars for a nice sweet indulgence with your tea/coffee or can have it for dessert for that sugar craving in the evening.
During my creative process was listening to some African jams as I was going to see MI CASA ( A South African band ) who came to play in Nairobi over the weekend. You can check some of their tunes and other artists HERE .
Equipment:
Square Cake Tin : 9 x 9 x 2in | 22 x 22 x 5 cm
Ingredients:
3rd Layer: Shortbread
- 175 g unsalted butter
- 200g (7 oz) plain flour
- 100g (3 1/2 oz) caster sugar
2nd Layer: Berries
- 450g frozen berries
- 1/3 cup granulated sugar and extra 2 Tbsp
- 3 tsp corn flour
- 1 tsp lemon juice or juice of one lemon
* You may need add more lemon juice depending how big your lemon was. I used a small one.
* Also might have to add sugar, depending how sweet you would like the berries.
1st Layer: Crumble
- 1 cup flour
- 1/3 cup sugar
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 5 -6 Tbsp vegetable oil
METHOD:
1) Preheat the oven to 160ºC (325ºF / Gas 3). Grease and Line the tine with baking parchment. Combine the flour and sugar in a bowl. Rub in the butter until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs. Spread it in the tin.
2) In a bowl stir in mixed berries, lemon juice, sugar and cornflour. Place it on top of the Shortbread base.
3) Mix all ingredients together for the crumble. Then place it on top of the berries.
4) BAKE for 40 mins, leave in the tin to cool.
NOTE:
- This recipe makes 12, depending how big your cutting your slices (lol)
If your going to make these please LET ME KNOW what you think!? Would loved to hear any feedback!
Hope you have a fab weekend! Till next week :)
