What To Bake… Without Turning The Oven On
Is there a better word for baking? + Cookbook Corner!
It’s only when a heatwave arrives in the usually mild UK that I realise quite how limiting the umbrella term “baking” really is. Inherent in the word “baking” is the involvement of an oven, though so many desserts and sweet things mercifully don’t require an oven at all.
If I spend the afternoon whipping up a tiramisu, could you really describe the activity as baking?! It is an etymological riddle, indeed. There are some 170,000 words in the Oxford English Dictionary, yet nothing to suitably describe spending a few hours scraping a granita, or stirring a rice pudding. Sure, we could call it cooking, but that feels like we’re selling desserts short! In any case, with temperatures heading toward 30c (86F!) this weekend, it’s never appealing to turn the oven on or to mess around with melting pastry.
So, with the 3-day weekend thanks to the bank holiday ahead, here are the best things from the archive (plus one new one) to NOT bake during a heatwave - all my favourite recipes that avoid switching your oven on (though I’ve allowed the hob – forgive me?)! AND because I’ve been thinking a lot about cookbooks lately, I’ve also written a little round-up of what food books I am reading at the moment, both new and old.
Jelly! On! A! Plate!
Of course, one of the best things you can make without turning on the oven is all things jelly - fruity or creamy. I know pannacotta sounds fancy, but it really is just milk jelly. Whatever you choose, it works beautifully when warm; Cold jelly eaten in a hot garden is like tapping the vein of nostalgia! There are plenty of recipes here in the newsletter to tempt you, and a brand new one over on KP+: Little Black Forest Jellies, complete with cream and a cocktail cherry just *because* why wouldn’t you? Just look at this wobble?
If gelatine isn’t on the menu for you, there are plenty of set desserts that don’t require it: Brown Butter Milk Chocolate Pots, Blood Orange Crème Caramels, or Passionfruit and Lime Posset are all suitably silky.
Fruit Jelly: Black Forest Jelly
Panna Cotta: Mango Panna cotta, Lemon Leaf Panna Cotta, Summer Neapolitan panna cotta, Custard panna cotta with roasted strawberries
Set Custard: Brown Butter Milk Chocolate Pots, Blood orange crème caramel, Passionfruit and Lime Posset
Plant-Based: Chocolate Mousse with Phil Khoury
Creamy, Airy Layers!
Forget the oven, embrace the fridge. There are plenty of recipes that swap oven-time to fridge-time - a selection of tiramisus (Tiramisu, Matcha Tiramisu, Tiramoussey, and Banana Pudding Tiramisu) and mousses, as well as d the Fig & Whipped Feta Cheesecake, which benefit from a thorough chill.
In a bowl: Banana Pudding, White chocolate mascarpone mousse by Octavia Lamb
Cheesecake: Fig & whipped feta cheesecake
Tiramisu: Classic Tiramisu. Matcha Tiramisu by Milli Taylor, Tiramoussey (extra light tiramisu), Banana Pudding Tiramisu
Nice & Icy
Frozen desserts of all kinds are welcome in the heat. Sure, you could queue up for a Mr Whippy, but in case you feel like undertaking the task yourself, there are plenty of recipes here in the newsletter that don’t require special equipment, as well as some that do. I’ll also point you toward my granita and sorbet calculators, which will help you build your own recipes, no matter what ingredients you have.
GranitasL Lychee & Jasmine Granita ft. the Granita Calculator, Coconut & Green Tea Granita, Pistachio Granita, Cucumber Granita
Parfaits/No-Churn Ice Cream: DIY Vienetta, Peach and vanilla swirl parfait, Apricot no-churn Ice Cream sandwiches, No-churn two-layer mango semi-freddo by Louis Thompson, Frozen yoghurt-honey parfait with flash roasted blueberries by Sarah Johnson
Sorbets: Watermelon and strawberry sorbet ft. The Sorbet Calculator, Peach and Basil Sorbet by Kitty Travers, Mango Sorbet by Marie Havnø Frank
Ice Cream: Fig Leaf Ice Cream by Marie Havnø Frank, Cucumber Sour Cream Ice Cream by Kitty Travers
Preserve + Forage
Summer is also when all the preserving and flavour-extracting recipes start becoming useful again. Resident columnist Camilla Wynne’s preserving round-ups always feel especially relevant at this time of year, giving you a heads-up on all the jamming, syruping, marmalading and compoting you can prepare for:
We are also in elderflower and fig leaf territory – as you walk to the park, or around your favourite green spaces, why not take a pair of scissors and a little bag with you? Take the most fragrant elderflowers to make cordial, and snip the best fig leaves to whizz into oils, or infuse into creams.
HEAT… but different
I realise this is probably a long shot and not the loop hole I think it is, but just in case a non-oven heat source feels more appealing, then there are some divine fried, deep-fried and steamed you can stand recipes that avoid the oven by simply involving a different form of heat entirely: Cannoli, Torrijas, and other fried desserts that somehow feel much more manageable than turning the kitchen into a 220-degree fan oven situation.
Bread, no oven! + Delicious Savoury things
Should you wish to make fresh bread this weekend, there are some oven-free jewels on the newsletter. Ben Lippett’s Semolina Flatbreads, which are cooked in a hot pan, are a delight. There is also a trove of delicious toppings and savoury treats spread across the archive – most of them have been designed to go on or with bread that, yes, you bake in the oven, but any of these could proudly stand on their own. For your consideration:
Pan Con Tomate by Jordon King
Crudité Cake by Milli Taylor
Drinks
I love that we have a small but excellent drinks section in the archive – all good things to keep in giant bottles in the fridge and pour over ice whenever needed.
Tomato Water Lemonade by Susan Spungen
Cookbook Corner: Four Books I’m Reading Right Now
The Kitchen Book, the very newly released book by Ella Risbridger, is one you can really just fall into. If you’ve never read Ella’s writing before, then prepare to become a dedicated Risbriger completist (Midnight Chicken, In Love With Love, her Substack You Get In Love And Then, even her Instagram captions! – go and sink into it all!). The book is full of delicious, unpretentious cooking that will no doubt become classics in your homes.
108 Asian Cookies by Kat Lieu is a book I saw on my Instagram feed and bought immediately. When it arrived, I found myself turning the pages with an accumulating joy and urgency – these recipes! Chocolate Mochi Bars with Sambel Oelek! Maple Char Siu Cookies! Halo-Halo Cereal Treats! White Rabbit Sugar Cookies! I’m taken aback by the creativity and range in this book, a total cookie magnum opus.
Every time the season changes, Fruitful by Sarah Johnson goes platinum in my house. I love leafing through it – Sarah has written such a beautiful, calming book that carries you through farms, fields and kitchens. I trust her implicitly and am always keen to learn her approach to fruit so I can make the best of whatever I bring home from the greengrocer.
I’ve been borrowing a friend’s ice cream machine, and I want to return it to her with a few pints of ice cream as a thank you. So, as ever, I’ll turn to the brilliant La Grotta Ices by Kitty Travers. It is filled with visual inspiration and flavour combinations you could really apply anywhere. This book came out in 2018, and it’s probably still the coolest book I’ve ever seen.
If you want to try her ice cream, it just so happens that Kitty and Adriann Ramirez, aka Gay Nigella of Finks, are collaborating on an ice cream, baking & wine pop-up tomorrow (White Hot Forever!) at Finks in Mountgrove Road, N5. See you there!
Thank you for reading — see you next time!
I want all the fruity jelly and creamy things with some freshly shaven icy delights on the side!
Ooh just what I needed! I’ve finally got my ice cream bowl into the freezer and was looking for some really solid ice cream recipes so I’m definitely looking for that book next time I’m near the bookshop. Do you have a good ice cream base recipe, or know where to find one? I’m looking forward to making some of the ice creams here but I do want to start with chocolate and some nutty flavours.