Fika Fridays!
One of the ways I've brought a little more Hygge into my day to day life is by introducing Fika Fridays to my week.
Some weeks I bake a delicious sweet treat, other weeks I pick up my favourite cake from my favourite café (obviously I'll have to do a special trip purely for a blog post of this one soon!)
The act of stopping, having something delicious with a nice tea or coffee (or iced tea as it was this week) just brings such a feeling of contentment. And I look forward to my Fika Fridays all week. It's a little bit of me time. Sometimes it's as simple as grabbing a quick Danish pastry from the supermarket, but I always make time to sit down and stop for 20 minutes to enjoy it,
I've decided to start sharing some of my favourite recipes for Fika Friday here on my blog and my Instagram - if you do bake any of them, I'd love to see your results, just tag me on insta ( either @hyggeandwild or @mrshyggeandwild )
This weeks recipe is for one of my all time favourite bakes; Courgette Loaf. Now I'm not going to sugar coat this, I absolutely despise courgettes. On a huge scale. Forced to eat ratatouille as a child, I've always hated them. Its the texture when they are cooked I think.
But many years ago a colleague brought a courgette cake into work and I reluctantly tried it; it was divine. My opinion on courgettes as a whole hasn't changed, but if they are in cake or a loaf, I can't get enough! So after trying many different recipes, tweaking, adding, removing items, I finally have a 'go to' recipe for my own courgette loaf. Its moist, its a bit crumbly and its pretty addictive - it never lasts more than a couple of days in our house, if that. The beauty of this loaf is you don't need any electric gadgets, so I used to make it loads when babies were sleeping! This is also a perfect autumn bake as the smell from the spices fills the house.
Courgette Loaf
Ingredients
300g self-raising flour
1 - 2 x courgettes depending on size
150g sugar (light brown or caster - I have used both for)
2 medium eggs
150ml vegetable oil
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp mixed spice
150g sultanas / raisins
a pinch of salt
Method
Preheat the oven to 180C/160C(fan).
Grease and line a loaf tin and set aside. I actually use paper tin liners for loaves - they are so much easier to remove from the tin, and the load is already in a case, great if gifting!
Grate the courgette roughly.
Once grated pop the courgette into a sieve and squeeze it to remove any excess moisture.
In a bowl, mix the egg, oil and sugar
Add courgettes to the egg, oil & sugar mix
In a separate, larger bowl, combine the flour, spices, fruit and salt. I always find I put a lot more spices in than I’ve suggested, but it's up to you - the suggested should be the minimum - I like mine to smell deliciously spicy! This is a fab autumn bake purely for the smell!
Make a well in the centre of your flour mixture and tip in the courgette, oil and egg mixture.
Stir the ingredients well and pour into your pre prepared loaf tin.
Bake for 60-70 minutes (approx. - keep checking from 50 minutes). When a knife or skewer comes out clean, your loaf is ready!
With this one, I always sample a slice while it's still warm, complete with a pot of earl grey or chai tea.
Happy baking! Hannah x