“What lemon curd recipe?”
I'd found a lemon curd recipe online and fully converted it… then asked Mark why he thought it might be a bit too runny — (I had followed the recipe exactly!)
“Erm… have you tried our recipe?”
“We have a lemon curd recipe?”
Mark: “There's a Panda one on the recipe cards…”
Oh yeah.
Right then… let's sprinkle a little bit of Panda into this! Turns out, yup, that's all it needed!
The long-winded realisation that I had of just how many’ Ways with Panda’ there are — and will be!
Recipes are merely the starting point. Ways with Panda are where the experimenting truly begins — and here are some of the bakes I've been throwing myself into testing this month:
Whole Orange & Chocolate Marble Cake:
This one started with a whole orange going into a simple chocolate cake… and then Mark posed the question: “Why don't you make it marble?”...Well… okay, I’ve never marbled before, so let’s do this!? So, once I'd found my painting palette knives, swished and swirled a few times, along came the whole orange and chocolate marble cake.
Some Fancy Focaccia Flavours:
Sometimes there isn't a complicated story behind a bake. Sometimes you literally just look at Panda Flour and think… “I wonder if we could make that?”
And so came the Dried Tomato & Basil Focaccia. Soft, savoury and full of those lovely little bursts of flavour — another quietly confident table staple.
There was also the Apple & Rosemary Golden Focaccia, which paired very nicely with our pork steaks one evening.
Orange & Cacao Nib Crunchy Almond Cookies:
I was given free rein on a new cookie mix launch, so I decided it needed a little orange, and a little extra crunch from cacao nibs. Orange & Cacao Nib Crunchy Almond Cookies were born. Despite having the zest of an entire large orange, I'd absolutely take more next time!
Then there was a little something which absolutely nobody asked for…
Rhubarb & Feta Soda Bread:
I wasn't entirely sure what would happen when I put rhubarb and feta into soda bread…
However, it turned out rather lovely alongside dinner one evening and will absolutely be making further appearances when we have these ingredients in at home.
Shortbread — V1, V2 & V3:
Not every ‘Ways with Panda’ experiment gets it right the first time.
Each one has been a little closer to the classic shortbread we have in our vision.
It's going to need a few more tweaks — and plenty of tasting — along the way! Especially if this is going on Panda Pioneers' Christmas dinner dessert platters!
It will be worth the wait. To exhaust an already exhausted joke…Because when we're developing something new, we're definitely not cutting anything short.
Our family home kitchen smells divine!
Those of you who are already members of our Facebook Baking Group will know from my recent posts that I am Pro-Pumpkin-Spice, so naturally, I had to have a little play with a few seasonal favourites. We are only getting started (watch this space)!
So far, we've loved our pancakes, doughnuts, breads, flapjacks… and even better…When Applejacks Meets Pumpkin Spice…
This was simply our Applejacks again, but this time with a little pumpkin spice mix added to the recipe! Quoting humble self here: “Spot on. No changes needed. Boom.”
The Autumnal Squash Garden Loaf:
A firm savoury favourite this month has been the Autumnal Squash Garden Loaf.
Simply…The Garden Loaf… squashed into full throttle autumn.
It was back to the Garden Loaf, but this time the carrots made way for a straight swap to grated butternut squash, with a little handful of pumpkin seeds joining the party.
We kept the fennel flavours too — and they were made for one another. If someone was new to using Panda Flour and wanted a quick win of a savoury bake, the Garden Loaf has to be up there on my recommendations.
And that's just a handful of the things I've been playing around with lately!
Some ideas come from Mr Panda, some are requests from our lovely Panda Pioneers, some come from recipes we've already made, and some from seasonal ingredients.
And some are simply a case of: “I wonder what would happen if…”One recipe can become another. One idea can lead to a million others. And there's always another way with Panda.
See you next month,
Emma