Bake - Cookie - Cake

Healthy-ish Chocolate Truffles

2014-08-17T13:42:00.000+01:00

First and foremost these taste really good. Its not one of those 'healthy alternatives' that people try and convince you taste just the same but actually taste like someone stirred in a little cow manure for authenticity. I got the lads in the warehouse in work to taste one each and asked them all what they thought the secret ingredient was; needless to say none of them guessed and many were appalled because they wouldn't have even tried an avocado in its normal state but they agreed that they were really nice except some of the lads didnt like the dark chocolate.
It was a point of curiousity really that lead me to risk the chocolate on making truffles with a vegetable (well technically a fruit) even if it is one that I like. These are incredibly easy to make, the hardest part mashing the avocodo down so that there are no lumps.

Makes 12 Truffles

1 Small Ripe Avocado
140g Dark Chocolate
Cocoa for dusting

Method

Melt chocolate either in a bowl over a pot of simmering water or in a microwave for 30 seconds at a time stirring each time until its all melted.
Mash an avocado with a fork until its smooth like whipped cream. Gradually add melted chocolate to the avocado. Allow to cool and pop in the fridge for 20 mins.
Take teaspoons of the chilled chocolate mix and roll into a ball and toss in cocoa. Pop them back in the fridge for 5 mis to firm up or until ready to eat.

Irish Soda Bread

2014-05-17T09:32:00.003+01:00

So this is it. I love soda bread and would happily eat a soda cake to myself with just butter. Add a bit of homemade jam and my tastebuds are in ecstasy.

I found it hard to get the recipe right but turns out I had just been over-complicating it. The basic recipe comes from one of my co-workers Rob's Dad who makes bread every evening for 3 generations of the family.

This will freeze well so you can make this in advance and defrost overnight. I double the recipe but make three loaves at a time because I add my own seed mix to it (see variations).

250g Stoneground Wholewheat Flour
250g Plain Flour
1 tsp Salt
1 tsp Baking Soda
500ml Buttermilk

Method

Preheat the oven to 190C (reduce to 175C when the bread goes in)
Stir together the dry ingredients and make a well in the middle pour in the buttermilk. Mix until combined well but dont overmix.
Grease and Flour a loaf tin and empty the dough into it. Cut a slit with a sharp knife down the length of it to let out the steam.
Bake for approx 1 hour. If you're not sure test the bread to see if its done.
Take out the bread and wrap in a clean tea towel (this will prevent the crust from getting too hard)

Variations

I like nutty tasting bread so I mix together linseed pumpkin seed sunflower seed sesame seed and a fistful of oatmeal which makes it very rich in fibre

Kid friendly cupcakes for birthdays partys

2013-11-18T17:36:00.003+00:00

These are really simple to make with a mixer or electric whisk. They are easy to make with very little help from a young age. They don't taste great, there is less butter in them than my usual fairy cakes and I miss the salty butteriness, so I would say that they need a little something added chocolate chips, dried fruit, jam in the middle, or frosting on top, to add flavour. Be warned though this does yield about 24 cupcakes but they can be frozen provided they are not iced/frosted. And lets be honest buns are a staple of any kids birthday party.

Dry ingredients
3 cups self raising flour
1 cup sugar

Wet ingredients
4 eggs
1tsp vanilla extract
1 cup milk
6 tbsp melted butter

Preheat the oven to 175 c
Add dry ingredients to a mixing bowl.
Crack each egg separately into a bowl (like a soup bowl) before adding to a larger bowl (I use a batter bowl or Pyrex jug). This is so you can deal with egg shells, bad eggs and double yolks. Add the cup of milk and vanilla and whisk it with a fork.
Pop the butter in the microwave and let it melt it should take less than a minute. Allow to cool before adding to the wet mix and giving it a stir.
Add the wet mix to the dry mix and switch on the mixer to get it going until the batter is smooth 3mins or so but don't forget to scrape down the sides with a spatula and give it another quick mix.
To help measuring out evenly I use an ice cream scoop.
Bake in the oven for 10-15 mins until nice and brown and a cocktail stick or skewer comes out clean.

Post Birthday Party reward for the Mammies:
When you get the kids to bed after the party treat yourself to some Kahlua (or Tia Maria) and Baileys Cupcakes.
If you make chocolate buns hold back some of the batter and add a little Kahlua to the buns. Make up some buttercream icing but instead of adding cream or milk but the frosting use Baileys lots of Baileys and this time of year you'll get Irish Cream Liquer chocolates in Lidl. Just saying you might be worth it.

A love song to the Chelsea Bun

2013-11-17T21:31:00.004+00:00

So, for most things baking related I'm pretty much up for anything. There are a few things that still give me the heeby-jeebyz and working with yeast is one of them. This is a little ironic that in my youth I worked in a pizzeria making bin loads of dough from fresh yeast - happy as a clam sitting on a mixer while stretching and kneading dough until they fired my ass and, well, that's another story for another day!

This recipe is loosely based on the one that comes in the Kenwood cookbook; it's the wunderkind of a cinnamon bun and a Chelsea bun. It's simple to make, but takes time, it is worth it though. I have included suggestions for making the drawn out process as lazy as possible.

There are variations where you use fruit soaked in tea or whiskey overnight and I'll update this after I make my Christmas cakes when I will be soaking the fruit in Jameson anyway.

Equipment notes;

You will need to use your 8" tin (which I usually use for my Christmas cake) for putting the rolls in. I use a silicone brush for brushing the dough and the glaze.

Be warned this recipe makes twelve and they are that good warm that you may attempt to eat them all so make sure you have enough mouths.

Dry ingredients

500g Strong White Flour

1 tsp Salt

2 sachets of dried fast action yeast

75g sugar

50g butter

Wet ingredients

225g lukewarm milk*

1 egg

Filling

Light muscovado sugar

A fistful of sultanas or two

Mixed spice

Cinnamon

30g Butter melted

Glaze:

40g Sugar

4tbsp water

Dry ingredients into a stand mixer with a dough hook. Turn it onto it's lowest setting and let the butter mix in properly.
Mix the wet ingredients together and pour into the dry ingredients and leave the machine to knead for 5 mins.
Take the dough off the hook and leave it in the bowl covered with clingfilm (saran wrap) that has been oiled on the inside. Put it in a warm place for an hour or until it has doubled in size. (Note: how I do this is put the bowl near a radiator turn on the heating and watch a couple of half hour shows on netflix when they're over move to step four.
Peel off the cling film carefully you'll be using it again shortly. Knock the air out of the dough by putting the bowl back into the stand mixer with the dough hook and turning it on for 1 min.
Grease your 8" tin
Roll out the dough till its about a foot square. Brush it generously with melted butter sprinkle a good fistful of muscovado sugar in an even layer and the sprinkle the spices on top about a level tsp of each for me works for me and then finally the dried fruit evenly over the dough.
Roll it up like a big old swiss roll. Cut it in half, then cut those halves in half to make four even pieces which are finally each divided in three. Place the rolls cut side up in the prepared tin and cover with the cling film again. Place them in the warm place again for 30-40mins. (Note: This time you make yourself a cup of tea or coffee and turn on the oven to 200c before you sit down to watch another episode of something and when it's over pop the buns in the oven).
Bake for 20-25 mins. Take them out of the oven but leave them in the tin.
To make the glaze: put sugar and water in the pot and dissolve over a medium. Dont bother with a spoon just swirl it to mix. Once the sugar has been dissolved let the glaze boil for a minute or two until it becomes syrupy. Brush it on the buns and allow to cool.

*How to know if your milk is lukewarm (the right temperature)

Pop the milk in the microwave for 20 seconds, stick a washed finger knuckle in and ask yourself this does it feel nice and warm but you wouldn't describe it as warm enough to be hot. If you still feel I'm being a little wishy washy try this pour equal quantities of boiling water and tap water together and stick your finger in the cup. That's how it should feel but you needn't be too exacting.

I'm quite fond of marshmallow fondant icing

2013-10-14T17:14:00.001+01:00

Ever thought that fondant tastes like pants - yeah me too! This is fondant icing that is easy to make and tastes good. The recipe below specifies mini marshmallow but marshmallows chopped up to the same size works fine. Cups refer to have a standard mug size. You will need extra icing sugar for dusting and I would get a travel spray bottle with a little water in it to get rid of the dustiness (vodka works better but not always practical, especially with kids cakes)

White Marshmallow Fondant
4 Cups of White Mini Marshmallows
4 cups of Icing Sugar
2 Tbsp Water

Coloured Marshmallow Fondant
Gel food colouring (the more gel the stronger the colour
4 Cups of White Mini Marshmallows
4 cups of Icing Sugar
2 Tbsp Water

Brown or Black Marshmallow Fondant Icing
2 tubes of gel colour will give you dark brown with this recipe
4 Cups of Mini Marshmallows
1.5 cups of Cocoa
3.5 cups of icing sugar
2 Tbsp Water

Method

Measure out the marshmallows into a bowl. Sprinkle the water on top and into the microwave for 30 seconds at a time until they are melted.
If you're adding colour, now's the time squeeze it on in there.
Sift the icing sugar and cocoa if you're using it. It will seem like there's too much but I promise you'll need it all.
Start by working the marshmallow away from the edges of the bowl using plenty of the icing sugar to prevent your fingers from sticking.
Tip the contents of the bowl onto a surface and then knead for all your worth to encorporate all the icing sugar. The final result should be smooth and elastic. As it cools it becomes less malliable (great word) but a few seconds in the microwave will sort that out.

Oreo Brownies

2013-05-09T17:42:00.000+01:00

I'm going to shamelessly poach my own blog with this recipe. The oreos soften and disintegrate and become part of the brownie itself giving depth to the brownie, if such a thing is possible. Worth a try.

1 packet of regular or Double Stuffed oreos
1 batch of brownie mix

Method

Preheat the oven to 170C. Grease an 8"/20cm square tin (brownie tin).
Spread a thick layer of brownie batter on the bottom of the tin and place the peeled creme eggs at regular intervals until the tin is divided equally into 12/16 pieces
Cover with the remaining batter trying to keep everything in its place.
Bake for 20mins or until its cooked but still fudgy. Leave in the tin to cool.
Cut them up (pizza cutter comes in handy here)
Eat.

Creme Egg Brownies

2013-05-09T17:33:00.000+01:00

The Cadburys Cream egg time of year is short lived (between January and April). Apparently they make them year round and freeze them to deal with the quantities. Years ago Eoin brought me home a whole box of 48 of them and I've eaten them in moderation ever since- tasty, but very sweet.

You could make these as surprise cupcakes too.

1 bag of mini creme eggs
1 batch of brownie mix

Method

Freeze creme eggs in their little foil wrappers.
Preheat the oven to 170C. Grease an 8"/20cm square tin (brownie tin).
Spread a thick layer of brownie batter on the bottom of the tin and place the peeled creme eggs at regular intervals until the tin is divided equally into 12 pieces (mark the side with the four eggs with a little batter to make it easier when your cutting up the brownies)
Cover with the remaining batter trying to keep everything in its place.
Bake for 20mins or until its cooked but still fudgy. Leave in the tin to cool.
Cut them up (pizza cutter comes in handy here)
Eat.

Sweet Potato Beignet

2013-04-30T17:25:00.002+01:00

I originally posted pics of these beignets back in October 2012 but I was too lazy to post the recipe. They are teeny tiny little morsels of doughnutty yumminess rolled in cinnamon sugar with the semi-redeeming quality of being filled with beta carotene. To those of us on the eastern side of the Atlantic the whole sweet potato thing can seem like too much of a gastronomic oxymoron but since I first discovered them making baked sweet potato fries, I have become a huge fan in either savoury or sweet dishes. I believe that these are from the Louisiana part of the world by way of the french colonists.

The recipe calls for vegtable oil but avoid the olive oils and other strong flavoured oils because it will ruin the flavour. Suggestions would be Rapeseed oil or sunflower oil.

Serve with custard, syrup, maple sweetened marscapone, ice-cream. The recipe says it serves 6 but its hard to count them if their eaten just as they come out of the pan.

3 small sweet potatoes
300g sugar
3 eggs
190g Plain Flour
2tbsp baking powder
2.5tbsp Cinnamon
pinch of salt
pinch of nutmeg
vegtable oil for frying

Preheat the oven to 170C. Peel and chop the sweet potatoes then pop them in the microwave for 5 minutes with a little water at the bottom of the dish to help them steam. Then into the oven they go until they are soft and mashable. Then mash away to your hearts content and let them cool.
Beat the eggs sugar and sweet potatoes together in a big bowl (you'll need this because this is the bowl that you will add the dry ingredients to).
Heat the cooking oil to 180C
Sift together the dry ingredients - Flour, baking powder, .5 tbsp cinnamon, salt and nutmeg. Fold them in bit by bit using a silicone spatula.
Using two tablespoons spoon drop generous tablepoons of the mix into the hot oil. Flip them to ensure an even tone. Cook in batches and don't overfill the the fryer (or the pot with the oil in it) or it will reduce the temperature of the oil too much and you will have soggy beignets.
Rescue them when they are cooked evenly and drain on some kitchen paper.
Roll in cinnamon sugar and eat, and eat and eat and......

Recipe pilfered and adapted from Food & Wine Magazine it's one of Donal Skehans

Sweet Potato Muffins

2013-04-22T11:28:00.003+01:00

I had a load of sweet potatoes in the fridge peeled, chopped and bobbing in a bowl of water, leftovers from a red onion parmentier thingy and I figured I would use them up.

These are more breakfast type muffins, healthier than those that you get at service stations etc and super moist. I am on a bit of a breakfast muffin kick at the moment and I stockpile them in the freezer and have them in work for breakfast. At the moment I have these, banana muffins, and apple muffins which taste lovely but there are a few tweaks needed in the recipe before I post it.

The measurements are in cups and I've left them that way because it's a very straightforward recipe using cups. The recipe I originially used didn't include either nuts or sultanas but I like bits in my muffins. I found these a little bitter to be honest and I would be inclined to up the soft brown sugar to a cupful of packed soft brown sugar. The other thing I did was to perforate them and pour over a little maple syrup while they were still warm so that they would soak it up. The original recipe also said that it was for 12 muffins which I filled but then I also filled 10 bun cases too because I ran out of muffin tins.

Two things I mentioned before with regards to muffins but they are quite useful so I'll say 'em again.
First up: in order to measure out even quantities use an ice-cream scoop it's one of those things that's so easy but makes life so much easier when you're making muffins. Secondly preheat the oven as hot as you can get it and when you put your muffins in reduce down to 170-180c; it will give you well risen muffins.

The dry ingredients:
2 cups of Self Raising Flour
1/2tsp ground cinnamon (or more if you like)
1/2tsp ground nutmeg
1 cup of soft brown sugar
a handful of pecans and sultanas
The wet ingredients
1 cup milk
2 eggs
1 cup vegtable oil
1 tsp Vanilla
1 cup sweet potato cooked and mashed.

Preheat the oven as per instructions above and slip the muffins cases into their tins.
In the first bowl whisk together the dry ingredients and make a little hole in the middle.
Mix the wet ingredients together (you can probably use the whisk again for this just make sure the ingredients are well mixed)
Pour the wet ingredient into the dry and mix well.
Scoop into the cases, pop into the oven and reduce the temp. 15-20mins later they should spring back to the touch and if you stick a skewer in them they should be done.

What is a pinch of salt? How much is a pinch of salt?

2013-04-11T10:11:00.002+01:00

Literally it refers to the amount of salt that you can pick up between your index finger and thumb.

Raspberry Friands

2013-03-21T08:05:00.003+00:00

So here's the story. I got my grubby little paws on some amazing eggs from my mates Bren and Hazel's chuckens. But the question was what to bake that was worthy of such lovely eggs? The answer is contained in this recipe. Sweet and moist with the juicy contrast of the berries, they are simply divine. There are a lot of egg whites in this and I made a deliciously rich custard from the leftover yolks. - Happy Eating

75g Plain Flour

240g Icing Sugar

125g Ground Almonds

6 egg whites lightly whipped

150g melted butter cooled

150g Raspberries frozen or fresh

Method:

Preheat the oven to 180c. Grease muffin tin.
Sieve together flour and icing sugar. Stir in the ground almonds.
Add melted butter and egg whites and mix well.
Using an ice-cream scoop measure out 12 portions. Place 4-5 berries in each friand.
Bake for 25 mins until golden brown.

Tiramisu

2013-03-18T21:18:00.001+00:00

Not my first choice on the menu when I'm out, not because I don't like it, in fact I'm quite the fan but I know what it tastes like and more often than not it's the disappointing pre-pack version that's served up to me in restaurants.

Below is the Paolo Tullio version and I need to make some exchanges because I don't have the ingredients here and I'm not going shopping especially for it. You can use stale cake instead of ladyfingers providing you avoid brownies they're too gooey to soak the liquids. I don't always have brandy so rum or coffee liqueur is good.

Like any trifle a nice glass dish to show the layers is pretty cool.

Please note that this is not suitable for children or those with a bun in the oven because of the raw eggs.

250g Mascarpone Cheese
200g Caster Sugar
Ladyfingers/savoiardi biscuits
3 eggs
Marsala
a room temp espresso
Cocoa for sprinkling

Separate the eggs and whisk yolks with sugar. Add half an espresso and a splash of brandy and mix well. Next add the mascarpone cheese a bit at a time until is thoroughly mixed.
In a clean bowl whisk egg whites until stiff and fold them into the mascarpone mix.
Lay down a layer of ladyfingers into the bottom of the glass dish dipping each biscuit into the remaining espresso on one side first (or you could just layer them down first and sprinkle them with coffee liqueur)
Place a layer of the mascarpone mix on top and repeat finishing with a layer of the mascarpone mix. Sieve a layer of cocoa powder on top.
Chill in the fridge for at least an hour.

Bread and Butter Pudding

2013-03-18T10:01:00.001+00:00

I love those recipe books that lack glamour but are just packed with really good tried and tested recipes. You quite often find real peaches of recipes in fund raising cookbooks for schools or hospitals and the ingredients tend to be a lot more accessible too.

The other place that you will find good recipes tends to be with manufactures of baking suppliers Dr Oekter in Germany, McDougalls in Lancashire in the UK, Odlums and Shamrock here in Ireland and one I got as a present from New Zealand which is the Edmonds Cookery book from a friend of mine called Gillian who has since moved back home to NZ.

I made this recipe base on the Edmonds version except I used up a little brioche I had in the house, used vanilla extract instead of lemon rind to lift the flavour and used sultanas instead of currents. It looked gorgeous when it was done and it tasted better than any Bread and Butter Pudding I've ever had, but I still don't like it. I didn't as a child and it would appear that my opinions of it haven't changed and yet I love french toast - go figure.

This is an all in one recipe that is really easy to make and if you prepare it you can pop it in the oven while you have dinner and it should be ready for dessert. Stale bread works well on this because it's so thirsty it absorbs more of the liquid.

6 Slices of Brioche or 4 slices of sliced pan
2 tbsp sultanas
3 eggs
2 cups/ 500ml milk
1/4 cup /50g Sugar

Layer slices of brioche or quoter triangles of bread, sultanas and sugar in a Pyrex dish.
Whisk eggs and milk together with 1 tsp of vanilla extract and pour over bread. Allow to stand for 15 mins meanwhile preheat the oven to 180c.
Bake for 30mins until set and if you're feelin' swanky sieve a bit of icing sugar over the whole thing to make it look pretty.

HEALTHY CHRISTMAS CAKE

2012-12-13T14:07:00.003+00:00

This is stolen from Kate Farrells Facebook page. Completely and unashamedly:

I made this one on monday, turned out beautiful. Plus its gluten and dairy free for those with allergies and intolerances.

600 g mixed dried Fruit or a mix of the following (raisins, prunes, figs, apricot, currants, sultanas, dates)
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon vanilla bean extract or paste
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
zest and juice from 1 orange
3 tablespoons olive oil
3 eggs
200 g (2 cups) ground almonds
50 g walnuts

Preheat your oven to 150 C (fan forced)
Prepare a 20 cm round cake tin with baking paper lining the sides and the base.
Combine dried fruit, spice, vanilla, orange zest + juice, olive oil and eggs.
Add the almonds and walnuts and mix through.
Spoon Christmas Cake batter into your baking tin.
Bake for 1 hour and 30 minutes. Check with a skewer to see if it comes out clean, if not bake for another 30 minutes.
Cover the top if necessary to prevent over-browning.
Cool, then remove from the tin and store in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 1 month.

NOTE:
If you wish to soak your Christmas cake in orange liqueur, as soon as you remove the cake from the oven, skewer holes through the cake and drizzle over 1/4 cup orange liqueur so it can penetrate through the holes and infuse into the cake.

This cake can also be served as a pudding served with vanilla bean custard or thick natural yoghurt.

For nut allergies replace the almond meal for 1 CUP wholemeal or spelt flour and omit the walnuts. Add one more tablespoon olive oil.

20 serves per cake
Nutrition per serve:
Protein: 4.4 g
Total fat: 9.8 g
Saturated: 1 g
Carbs: 18 g
Fiber: 3.3 g
kilojoules: 740
Calories: 177

Thanks to The Healthy Chef (www.healthychef.com)

Pecan Pie and Vanilla Ice-Cream

2012-11-22T18:00:00.000+00:00

Happy Thanksgiving folks I'm going to a potluck Thanksgiving dinner in Balally in Dublin tonight. And I will be bringing some of these pecan pies (because I have a bottle of Karo) and some homemade ice-cream made with condensed milk (because traditional egg custard based ice-cream is rich with protein which will not be welcomed by the Move 4 Parkinsons choir that will be present).

This is Bakerella's recipe for Pecan Pie (Irish-ised).

Mama’s Pecan Pies
Makes 3 pies or about 33 mini pies

450g pecans
200g Butter
450g package light soft brown sugar
1 heaped tablespoon Self Raising Flour
16 oz. bottle light corn syrup (Karo)
1 tablespoon Vanilla Extract
6 eggs
3 regular size (not deep dish) pie crusts

Melt butter in the microwave for about 2 minutes or until melted and set aside.
Prepare your pecans. Remove any unwanted brown pieces from the pecan crevices and shake out pecan crumbs in a colander.
Place brown sugar in a large bowl. Work out any lumps with the back of a spoon. If the brown sugar is too hard, you can loosen it up in the microwave. Heat it for a few seconds and it will be fine.
Add a heaping serving tablespoon of self-raising flour and stir until the flour disappears into the brown sugar.
Add a bottle of light corn syrup. Then add 1 serving tablespoon of vanilla and stir until thoroughly combined.
Add melted margarine. Fold carefully into the mixture so it doesn’t splatter. Fold until the margarine is thoroughly worked in and disappears.
In a separate bowl, crack open six eggs. Remove the “roosters” and loosely beat the eggs with your spoon.
Fold the eggs into the pie mixture until they disappear.
Add pecans and stir until completely coated.
Remove three pie shells from the freezer at this point and check for cracks. If you do have a crack, thaw and knead the crack together and refreeze.
Pour the mixture evenly into the three shells. You’ll probably have a little bit leftover in the bowl. Tap tops with a spoon to check consistency and make sure there is the same amount in each pie. Redistribute pecans if necessary to make equal.
Bake for 45 minutes to an hour at 175. Cook pies until they swell and then fall. At that point they are done.
Remove and cool for about three hours. Store on the counter or in the refrigerator depending on how you like your pie.

Eggless Vanilla Ice-Cream
1 can of condensed Milk
1.2Ltr Double Cream (I know insane right)
2 tsp Vanilla Extract

In a stand whisk ingredients together until thick and quite stiff.
Pour into a freeze proof container and cover with cling film (this ice-cream does not need to be churned.

Footnote
I wound up being too late and now have much Ice-cream in the freezer and Pecan Pie in the fridge

Brownies - an Adendum

2012-11-21T16:51:00.001+00:00

So a little experimentation (this time last week) following a bit of Pintrest browsing allowed me to put aside one of my snobbery's. You see I abhor recipes that include the likes of

'add one pack of cake mix to...'

So here I am to admit I may have been just a little too hasty. The two experiments that I tried were based on American confections (it coming up to thanksgiving and all).

The first was putting Reeses peanut butter cups in brownies and the result was pretty meh - nothing unpleasant but nothing special.

The second was the delightfully decadent Oreo stuffed brownie. The Oreo remained soft due to the moisture in the brownie - amazing!

Try this with one of the Brownie Recipes below;

Katherine Hepburn Brownies

Brownies

DO THIS NOW your taste buds will thank you for it.

Katharine Hepburn's Brownies

2012-11-21T09:47:00.001+00:00

I am open to be corrected on this but so the story goes that Katharine Hepburn was asked to submit a recipe for a charity thingy and she submitted a recipe for brownies. It quickly became the 'go-to' recipe for brownies at the time. But due to my brownie 'curse' I haven't ever been able to make them work. Below is the original (I believe).

Maple Pecan Pie

2012-11-12T11:30:00.000+00:00

1 prepared unbaked pastry shell, 9-inch
3 eggs
1 cup pure maple syrup
1/2 cup light brown sugar, packed
2 tablespoons melted butter
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/4 cups pecan pieces or halves

Preparation:

Preheat oven to 350° and place rack at lowest position. In a large bowl, beat eggs. Add maple syrup, brown sugar, melted butter, and vanilla. Blend well and stir in pecans. Pour into prepared pie shell. Bake at 350° for 35 to 40 minutes, or until golden brown and the filling is set.

Whiskey Fed Christmas Cake - The Preparation

2012-11-08T19:30:00.000+00:00

And so I did start with the Christmas Cake

Add half a bottle of whiskey* to 450g of Dried Fruit** cover with cling film and pop it into the hot press for a day or so take it out and stir it every once in a while (twice a day) so that all of the fruit gets a chance to plump up and get a little drunk. Think of it like a tea brack looking at you cross eyed! By the time you get to mixing up this cake the whiskey will have combined with the sugars from the fruit to create an unctuous syrup.

*Jameson Whiskey

**This years dried fruit combination:
Dried Blueberries
Dried Cranberries
Flame Raisins
Currants
Golden Sultanas
Sultanas

Christmas Cake

2012-11-07T19:00:00.000+00:00

BTW My Christmas cake is not close to being baked. I have bought an impressive array of dried fruits I just need to get my hands on a bottle of Jameson will post when I get cracking.

The kitchen in the new house.

2012-11-07T18:30:00.000+00:00

So it would appear all my promises of Christmas baking have been lies till now. I've just moved house and I've been working on getting that into order. The old kitchen in the new house is significantly smaller than the kitchen in the house we were renting. We have a room now ready to house a swanky new kitchen but cant afford to kit it out (because as it turns out there was nothing holding the slates (roof tiles), on being that the slats had dissolved!). The old kitchen in the new house is a double galley kitchen and works really well if one person is cooking, everything is in easy reach. Small kitchens can be a blessing in disguise. In renting over the past 12 years we got really, really good at designing efficient kitchens.

1st Goal - Storage
Its really difficult to find stuff. Most of it was packed away in chest of drawers (my clothes are from the laundry or a skip bag at the moment - ironing was never a high priority). Two big billy bookcases took a large chunk of the storage needs from the garage and later down the line we can look at buying doors for them.

2nd Goal - Clear Counter Tops
We went to Ikea and got a bunch of rails and hooks to deal with my obscene need to have utensils (there are 20 filled hooks and we still need more). We bought a magnetic strip for the knives and got rid of the knife block. We discovered that the Goodalls spice/herb tins are magnetic so we will probably pick up some more magnetic strips. I have other hook mounted spice jars that everything else can go in. My weighing scales is wall mounted and I have one of those plastic bag storage thingys. The hand blender went up on the wall too and we've run out of wall space.

Whats left to do in the old kitchen...

3rd Goal - Brighten the place up a bit
There are solid wood doors and crap cabinets. Sugarsoap, Sand, Undercoat and Paint the Cabinets. Get rid of the current light fitting (the roof is 6'6" and the other half is 6'5") and insert under cabinet lighting and lighting over the food prep/serving area.

4th Goal - Finishes
I will paint the center panel for some of the cabinets with blackboard paint for shopping lists and menus (I have a painfully bad memory). Some of the tiles need re-sticking and I need to paint the little bits that need painting. The final thing is that the cooker needs a splashback. I like the stainless steel ones for practical reasons.

Christmas is coming...and I'll be getting fat ;)

2012-09-15T22:07:00.003+01:00

About this time every year I get to thinking about Christmas or at least the food part of Christmas which is my favourite.

The reason I am thinking about Christmas so early is because I like a mature Christmas cake. Many families have their own cake recipes and mine is no exception and in the spirit of generosity I will give you my Mamas recipe which is essentially an Oxford Lunch. My own recipe for Christmas cake kind of evolved from that and became something else entirely. My cake is a whiskey fed Christmas cake and the 9" round cake takes an entire bottle of Jameson over the following few months. Last year I made almond paste for the first time (again with the whiskey) and it tasted infinitely better than the crap that I've been buying in the shops for years and it's really easy to make too. Theres also a guide on how to apply almond paste. This year I'll take a crack at making fondant for the first time and let you know how I get on.

I made Christmas puddings with my Mama every year but have never made one of my own. This year I'll make a crack at it and I also have a version of it that is Gluten, Dairy, Egg and Sugar Free that I'm going to try (for my sister in law Melina) and a dairy free cream that goes with that. I have recipes on Mince pies from last year and of course whiskey/brandy butter. I also have a recipe for Mincemeat Gingerbread that you should take a look at for an easy winter pud.

For edible decorations there is nothing nicer than gingerbread which can be made into tree decorations and gingerbread houses which make lovely gifts too. There is a huge range of easy to make greatly appreciated edible gifts for the christmas too. Sweets, truffles, fudge, biscuits. I'll make, bake and post over the next few months and you'll find everything under the Christmas Baking label on my blog.

Vanilla Syrup for Coffee

2012-09-09T20:07:00.001+01:00

If you like vanilla latte this is the super easy recipe for the vanilla syrup that you put in coffee. Syrup can also be used for a vanilla sponge pudding or over fruit in a crumble, cobbler or eves pudding

2 Cups White Sugar
3/4 Cup Brown Sugar (I use a mix of demerara and soft brown at a ratio of 2:3)
21/2 Cups of Water
4 Tbsp Vanilla Extract

Mix the first 3 ingredients together and bring to the boil for at least 10 mins. Give a little stir the first few times so that the sugars are dissolved properly.
Add vanilla extract and stir. Allow to cool
Pour into a jug and into sterilised bottles (Kilner bottles are good but you can also use Grolsch bottles or similar style)

Hungarian Chocolate Cookies

2012-08-20T18:00:00.000+01:00

Truthfully I don't know how authentic these are but I adore how they taste. They are really straightforward to make and the results are delish.

Ingredients:

Biscuit
100g Butter
50g Caster Sugar
100g Self-Raising Flour
25g Cocoa
A few drops of vanilla extract
Filling
50g Butter
100g Icing Sugar
25g Dark Chocolate
2Tbsp Hot Milk

Method

Preheat the oven to 190C
Cream butter and sugar until it pales in colour and becomes light and fluffy. Beat in the vanilla extract.
Sieve togeth SR Flour and Cocoa. Fold into the creamed butter and sugar.
Roll the dough into equal marble-sized balls and flatten a little with a fork.
Bake for 10mins and leave to cool on a cooling rack
Filling: Beat together butter and icing sugar. Grate chocolate and melt in the hot milk. Add melted chocolate to butter icing.
When biscuits are cool sandwich together

Viennese Fingers

2012-08-14T18:30:00.002+01:00

You'll need a piping bag with a large star nozzle for these. Not to worry if you dont have the equipment I've used the same recipe to make Jammie Dodgers. They taste wonderful and are one of my all time favourites

200g Butter
75g Icing Sugar
1tsp Vanilla Extract
200g Self Raising Flour
Pinch of salt

Preheat the oven to 190c
Soften the butter in the microwave and then beat together with the icing sugar until it is very soft. Add the vanilla extract and mix through. Stir in the flour.
On a a greased baking sheet. Pipe the mix into cigars go for a little forwards and backwards wiggle if you're feeling exotic.
Bake in the oven for 15-20 mins
Sandwich together with a little butter icing and jam and dip either end in melted chocolate.