Top 5: Fairtrade Fortnight RecipesBy Angelica Malin

Fairtrade Fornight kicks off on Monday (27th February) and runs until 12th March. During the two weeks, The Fairtrade Foundation is encouraging everyone  across the UK to hold Fairtrade breaks in their community, tell stories of farmers who are benefiting from getting a fairer deal, and share their afternoon tea party photographs using the #ChooseFairtrade.

And if you need some baking inspo, some of London’s hot shots have shared their favourite Fairtrade recipes. Let’s get cooking:

Jackson & Levine: No Fuss Fairtrade Bars

The duo share their recipe for a sweet, chewy bar that is an ideal accompaniment for your coffee. These little squares are perfect as a breakfast on the go too.

Yields: 9-12 bars

Ingredients:

• 2 large, very ripe Fairtrade bananas
• 180g oats
• Generous pinch of salt
• 40g chopped dried Fairtrade dates
• 40g chopped hazelnuts
• 20g Fairtrade dark chocolate

Method: 

1. Pre-heat the oven to 180 degrees

2. Mash the Fairtrade banana until no large lumps remain. Add the oats, salt, dates, and hazelnuts.

3. Transfer the mixture into a greased baking tray and evenly distribute.

4. Bake for 25 minutes or until the edges just begin to turn a golden brown and get crispy.

5. Once cool, melt the Fairtrade dark chocolate and drizzle over.

6. Cut into bars

Frances Quinn: Fairtrade Coffee Shot ‘Cup’ Cakes

Bake Off winner 2013 Frances Quinn shares her Fairtrade Coffee Shot ‘Cup’ Cakes. Baked and served in take-away coffee cups, they will bring out your inner barista.

Yields: 12 small cakes

For the Cakes:

• 3 tbsp Fairtrade instant coffee
• 3 tbsp freshly boiled hot water
• 3 tbsp whole milk
• 150g butter, softened
• 150g light muscovado sugar
• 3 eggs (at room temperature)
• 150g self-raising flour
• 150g walnuts, toasted and chopped (see p.82)

For the Coffee Syrup:

• ½ tbsp. Fairtrade instant coffee
• 50ml boiling water
• 50g Fairtrade caster sugar
• ½ tbsp coffee liqueur, such as Tia Maria, optional

For the Topping:

• 250g mascarpone
• Few drops of vanilla extract
• 50g Fairtrade icing sugar
• Dash of milk or cream, if needed

To Decorate:

• Cocoa powder

Equipment:

• 12-hole muffin tin
• 12 espresso-sized (115ml/4oz) paper cups – ideally kraft ripple, as the outer rippled layer will conceal any butteriness that can soak through from the cake through the inner cardboard.
• Cocktail stick
• Medium paintbrush
• Coffee-bean stencil or other stencil, optional

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C/160°C fan/gas 4. Line the muffin tin with the cups.

2. Mix the coffee with the hot water, then stir in the milk. Set aside to cool. Using a hand-held electric whisk, or in a free-standing mixer, beat the butter and sugar together for 5–10 minutes or until very light and creamy. The mixture will turn from a rich toffee brown to a pale café-au-lait shade. Break the eggs into a mug or jug and beat with a fork. Gradually add the eggs to the creamed butter and sugar mixture, beating well after each addition. Should the mixture look like it’s curdling, add a spoonful of the flour. Sift in the flour and fold in until just combined. Finally, stir through the coffee and chopped walnuts.

3. Spoon the mixture into the paper cups and bake for 15–20 minutes or until the cakes have risen and a skewer pushed into the centre comes out clean.

4. While the cakes are baking, make the syrup. Put the coffee in a small pan, add the boiling water and stir to dissolve the granules. Stir in the sugar. Set the pan over a medium heat and bring to the boil. Reduce the heat and simmer gently for a few minutes or until the sugar is completely dissolved and you are left with a runny syrup. Remove from the heat and stir in the liqueur, if using.

5. Once the cakes are baked, remove from the oven and leave to cool in the tin for about 5 minutes. During this time, prick them all over with a cocktail stick and brush over the coffee syrup using a paintbrush or pastry brush, allowing the syrup to soak into the sponge. Use about ½ tablespoon syrup per cup. Remove the cakes from the tin, still in their cups, and leave to cool completely on a wire rack.

6. Put the mascarpone and vanilla in a bowl and sift in the icing sugar. Beat together until creamy and well combined, adding a dash of milk or cream to slacken the mix slightly, if necessary. Spoon some on to each cake and spread level with a palette knife. Sift the cocoa on top, either all over or through a coffee-bean stencil to create some barista art.

7. Cool completely on a wire rack.

 Florence Knight: Fairtrade Olive Oil Chocolate and Orange Cake

The brilliant chef and Sunday Times columnist shares her tasty recipe for an indulgent Fairtrade Olive Oil Chocolate and Orange Cake.

Yield: 12 slices

Ingredients:

• 3 medium oranges
• 260g blanched almonds
• 6 medium eggs, at room temperature
• 400g Fairtrade golden caster sugar
• 6tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• 260g plain flour
• 1 tbsp baking powder
• 1 ½ tsp bicarbonate of soda
• a good pinch of salt

For the Filling and Topping:

• 150g Fairtrade dark chocolate
• 115g butter
• 150g Muscovado sugar
• 200ml double cream
• a large pinch of flaky sea salt

Method:

1. Grease and line three 23cm round baking tins and preheat the oven to 180 C / gas 6.

2. Place the whole, lightly scubbed oranges in a large pan and cover with water. Bring it to the boil then leave to simmer gently for an hour. While the oranges are simmering, toast the almonds for about three minutes on a dry baking tray, until they give off a nice nutty aroma. Let the almonds cool. Grind them to a fine consistency in a food processor and set aside.

3. After an hour’s simmering, remove the oranges from the pan and let them cool slightly.

4. Once the oranges are cool enough to handle, tear them open and remove the pips and any stalks. Place in a food processor and blitz to a smooth paste. Scope the orange paste into a bowl, sir the almonds into it and set aside.

5. In a large bowl whisk the eggs with the sugar until pale and fluff. Slowly trickle in the olive oil, whisking as you go. Gently fold through the flour, raising agents and slat, followed by the orange and almond paste, folding until evenly combined.

6. Pour the cake mixture into the prepared tins and bake at 180 C / gas 6 for twenty to twenty-five minutes, or until a skewer poked into the centre comes out clean. While the cakes are baking, make the topping.

7. Break up the dark chocolate, cut up the butter and drop them into a heatproof bowl placed over a pan of simmering water, stirring every so often to help them to melt together. Once the butter and chocolate have melted and combined, remove the bowl from the heat and set aside.

8. Pour the sugar and cream in a pan and place on a low heat, stirring occasionally. Once the sugar is dissolved, turn up the heat and bring to the boil (making sure not to do what I always do and let the cream boil over – if it does, take it off the heat immediately and blow on it until it simmers down!). Then lower the heat and simmer for about five minutes to reduce the sugary-cream mixture; it bubbles like a witch’s cauldron so be careful.

9. Remove from the heat and stir thorough the chocolate butter. Leave the mixture to cool, stirring it from time to time to make sure that it doesn’t set.

10. By now the cake layers should have finished baking. Whilst you wait for the chocolate mixture to cool down, carefully remove the cakes from the tins and let them cool completely on a wire rack.

11. After about ten to fifteen minutes’ cooling, the topping should be thick and glossy. Put half of it on one cake layer and split the rest between the other two. Spread the topping over each layer, working from the center outwards. Pile the layers on top of each other, while the thickest layer of chocolate as the top of the cake. Finally, sprinkle over a generous pinch of flaky salt. Cut the slides and eat just as it is at teatime, or serve as a dessert with a little crème fraiche.

 Sandia Chang: Fairtrade Cheddar Honey Corn Muffins with Maple Butter

The co-founder of Bubbledogs, the champagne and hot-dog bar in Soho, shares her recipe for Fairtrade Cheddar Honey Corn Muffins with Maple Butter.

Yields: 24 mini muffins

Ingredients:

• 1 cup yellow cornmeal
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 Tablespoon baking powder
• ½ cups Fairtrade granulated sugar
• 1 Teaspoon salt
• 1 cup whole milk
• 2 large eggs
• 4 Tablespoons melted butter
• ¼ cup honey
• 1 cup grated cheddar cheese

For the Maple Butter:

• 1 cup grade A maple syrup
• 160g of butter cut in small cubes

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 190C

2. In a large bowl, mix the cornmeal, flour, baking powder, salt and sugar.

3. In another bowl, mix milk, eggs, butter, honey and cheese.

4. Add the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and stir to mix well.

5. Place the batter into mini muffin moulds and bake for 8-10 minutes until light golden brown.

For the Maple Butter:

1. Bring the maple syrup up to 240C

2. Slowly whisk in the butter into the maple syrup till it is completely melted.

3. Place the mixture in a kitchen aid and whisk on slow until the mixture is completely cooled.

4. The butter can be kept in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks.

Rosie Birkett: Fairtrade Smoky, Tea-Brined Chicken in Crusty Rolls with Warm Peanut Sauce

The cook, food journalist and author of ‘A Lot On Her Plate’ shares her tasty savoury afternoon tea recipe for Fairtrade Smoky, Tea-Brined Chicken with Warm Peanut Sauce.

Ingredients:

• 2 organic chicken thighs, deboned and cut into strips
• 100g cooked organic, Fairtrade brown basmati rice, to serve
• 6 crusty rolls

For the Tea Brine: 

• 3-4 tbsp. smoked tea (use Fairtrade’s Lapsang Souchong)
• 500-600ml boiling water
• 30g salt

For the Peanut Sauce: 

• 200g roasted, unsalted Fairtrade peanuts, blitzed until chunky in a food processor
• 1.5 tbsp coconut oil
• 1 onion, finely chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
• 1 scotch bonnet chili, deseeded and finely chopped
• 3 cm ginger, finely chopped
• 2 tsp honey
• 150ml water
• 1 tbsp soy sauce
• 1/2 tbsp fish sauce
• lime juice, to taste

Method: 

1. First make the tea brine by placing the tea in a bowl or jug along with the salt and pouring over the water. Stir and allow to infuse for a few minutes, then strain it into another bowl or Tupperware and allow to cool completely.

2. Once cooled, submerge the chicken in the brine and keep covered in the fridge for 2-4 hours.

3. To make the peanut sauce, melt the coconut oil in a non-stick frying pan. Add the onion and a pinch of salt and cook down for 8 minutes or so, until soft. Add the garlic, chili and ginger and cook for another couple of minutes, until aromatic. Then add the peanuts, water, honey, sauce, fish sauce and a couple of tablespoons of the tea brine and cook, stirring, for about 5 minutes or until you have a rich, creamy sauce. Taste it for seasoning and balance with a bit more honey or some lime juice if need be. Keep in the pan but take it off the heat.

4. Heat a griddle pan over a medium to high heat and scatter with a little bit of sea salt. Remove the chicken from the brine and allow the excess to drip off. Place the chicken into the pan and cook, turning, for about 5 minutes on each side, until the chicken is cooked through and slightly charred on the outside. Rest for a couple of minutes and serve with the brown rice, and peanut sauce. Add lime zest and spring onions to garnish.