making and baking winter



this post is for Silverpebbles making winter, it's supposed to January, but time got the better of me....

anyway, she wrote about baking, and comfort food and a "go to" recipe, one that never fails you, a perfect me pick for a cold winter day. I was about to make a batch of rock buns, to my favourite secret seven recipe, but then I remembered that I'd already posted a variation of them here - cranberry and orange rock buns.

so I reached for my notebook of recipes and looked inside, and the striking thing I noticed was that it wasn't just full of recipes, it was full of friends.

there are Val's dottycookies

then there is Nancy's fruit and almond cake. never fails.

Lucy's lemon drizzle

and Silverpebbles portable crumble.
and then there's Sue's bread, Laksa via Coffee Lady on pinterest, and soooo many more.

so my recommendation for how to cosyify  and survive winter, take a large group of friends,
add tea, cake and chat. enjoy.


oh and just so you don't think I haven't brought any cake to the party, here's a real quickie recipe for jam buns (sometimes known as thumbprint buns I think...)

8oz Self raising flour
3oz margarine
3 oz sugar
1 egg
2-3 tablespoons of milk.
jam

rub flour and marg together to resemble breadcrumbs, mix in sugar, beat egg and add along with a couple of tablespoons of milk to make a stiff dough. place small blobs of dough onto a baking sheet, press a dent in the centre and add a small dollop of jam. bake at 180C for 10-15 minutes till golden.

warning the jam is Very hot when they have just come out of the oven. I know this as hubby stole one off the baking sheet as they just came out of the oven. and then leapt about the kitchen saying "hot hot hot.................."

easy pavlova

warm sunny weekends need summery desserts. ok so this is a favourite winter dessert too but don't tell anyone.....

Easy pavlova
heat oven to 180 C
whisk 4 eggs whites till frothy



whisk in 25o g caster sugar, till it goes silken, and you can make little peaks



fold in 1tsp of white wine vinegar and 2 tsp of cornflour and spread on a baking sheet covered in parchment paper.

turn oven down to 150C, and cook for 1 hour - 1 hour 15 minutes depending on your oven, it needs to be still quite pale. leave to cool in oven (that's why it needs to be slightly underdone)

heap piles of fruit and cream on once cool

and then forget to photograph it before it's all gone. - ok so that bit isn't part of the recipe - or the plan......

cheerio slice recipe

we had a lovely day out at the coast yesterday (photos will follow when I've charged the camera........) but in between fossilling, crab catching, rock scrambling, wave dodging, getting rained on, and going to the pub, the children were fortified by cheerio slices.

melt 4oz toffees, 4oz butter and 4oz marshmallows. we did it in the microwave and it was VERY exciting to watch the marshmallows to evolve into molten goo!

then stir in 7oz cheerios, and spread out in a shallow cake tin (the sort you'd make brownies in) lined with greaseproof paper.

then melt 4oz of milk chocolate, and in a seperate bowl 4oz of white chocolate. carefully place - ok splodge with great glee the two types of chocolate onto the cheerios, and swirl about to make pretty patterns.

let it set, turn out, and cut into wedges. enjoy. get sticky. feel slightly queasy. and have another bit...........

another way to 5 a day

each day the children take packed lunch to school, sandwich, fruit, water, and some kind of treat. I won't give crisps, or sweets, or chocolate bars and therefore I am a "mean old mummy".
oranges have to be easy peel, or they come back "I couldn't get in it........."
apples have to be cored, quartered and wrapped in cling film or "I can't bite them without any front teeth"
bananas just come back "it got squashed. I don't like squashed bananas.........."

today they've got really really squashed bananas, and they had fun squashing them too.




combine 75ml full fat milk, and 1tsp vinegar and leave to stand for 10 minutes (it will curdle and look gross - perfect for cooking with children then...)

sift 250g plain flour ( I used doves farm gluten free), 1tsp bicarbonate of soda, and 1/2 tsp salt.

cream together 110g butter and 195g caster sugar

beat in 2 beaten eggs,

then 250g (2 or 3 bananas) mashed banana and

75g chocolate chips

fold in flour mix, and the now curdled milk, and mix gently.....

bake in greased 2lb loaf tin at 180C for 50-60 minutes.

kitchen poetry 2

the contents of my fruit bowl have been displayed before, but these have seen better days, and so are destined for kitchen magic



with the addition of some chocolate chips they become



yummy muffins, you can make them big or small, depending on how hungry you are.

banana choc chip muffins

mix together
8oz Self raising flour
4oz sugar
1 tsp baking powder

in a separate bowl mix
8 fluid oz plain yoghurt
squirt of lemon juice
1 egg
2 or 3 mashed bananas
handful of choc chips
2 oz melted butter

then fold in the dry ingredients gently, and spoon into muffin cases, bake at 200C for 15-20 mins.

cranberry and orange rock buns

thank you so much for all the wonderful comments and support in my last post, I really appreciate it.. xx

and to say thank you do come round for a nice rock bun, I modified a recipe when I found some dried cranberries in the cupboard that really needed eating up, and they're not bad..




cranberry and orange rock buns

340 g plain flour ( I used doves farm gluten free which is why they aren't very rocky, feel free to use normal flour!
1/4 tsp salt
pinch of freshly grated nutmeg
2 tsp baking powder
175g butter/margarine
175g sugar
85g dried cranberries
85 g raisins or sultanas
85g glace cherries - chopped up
zest of 1/2 orange
zest of 1/2 lemon
1 egg
2 tbsp milk

rub flour/butter/sugar together to resemble breadcrumbs

stir in baking powder, salt, nutmeg, dried fruit and zest.

mix in egg, and milk, to make a stiff dough

pile mixture into little rocks on greased/lined baking tray.

sprinkle with a little demerara sugar.

bake for 15-20 minutes until golden brown at 180C

cool on a wire rack if you can resist them......

they certainly cheered up Miss K when she came home from school - which is getting a lot easier this week, we've had 2 meetings with the head teacher, and they're FINALLY listening, and so fingers crossed. Of course next we have the issue of which secondary school.........

and I was hugely cheered up by this most wonderful parcel which I won in Sheila's giveaway,



the whole parcel smelt gorgeous even before I got it undone!
Thank you so much Sheila,



and I've found the perfect pattern for the wool.

jam and cupcakes

the secret of happiness?

one warm sunny afternoon, 2 willing helpers, one trip to the "pick your own", for2 large punnets of raspberries.

what didn't get eaten by the next morning turned into this



following the easiest ever recipe ever (must be if I can manage it.)

take equal measures raspberries and sugar ( we had about 1 1/2 pounds left after we stopped nibbling on them.)

warm raspberries in large bowl in the microwave for 4 or 5 minutes, then warm sugar in a separate bowl for 3 minutes. combine together, stirring to dissolve the sugar, and then cook for 10-12 minutes stirring occasionally, until set (testing on a little saucer that's been in the freezer)

cool a bit and put in jars, or on freshly baked bread.

we might need to go and pick more..........

I manged to send my parcel for Rachael Rabbits cupcake swap just before the deadline to Lily at Blockaday, and this week I received the most delightful parcel from Sarah and Lisa at A spoonful of sugar. There are no photos of the beautiful packing as I was much too impatient to wait, and inside I found a delightful cupcake themed purse,



tea bag purse and keyring,





as well as some great looking teas,



and some extra cupcake goodies



- the sweetest little cases, and a fantastic stencil for decorating cupcakes/coffee - expect to see some very stylish baking going on round here.



thank you so much for your really lovely and generous swaps. xx

cherry and coconut slice

for Anna, recipe from this lovely cafe here



5 oz cooking chocolate
2 oz vegetable margarine
4oz soft brown sugar
4 oz coconut
1 egg
2 oz glace cherries (chopped)

line a Swiss roll tin with non-stick baking parchment or foil.
melt chocolate in double boiler or microwave, and spread over foil/paper and leave to cool.
Cream margarine and sugar. Beat in egg. Mix in cherries and coconut. Spread over the chocolate and cook until golden brown (15 -20 minutes) at Gas 4, 375F, 190C. cut into slices when cold.

I used foil and it stuck a bit, might try parchment next time, or that amazing re-useable non stick sheet stuff you can buy.

the beady eyed amongst you might notice that some of the pieces have raisins not cherries, for Miss K and hubby who are not cherry eaters - these pieces are good, but the raisins burnt a bit..

These might be good for you Kristina, for your allotment picnics.

We also made some great cookies last week, from Mel, recipe here, but they got eaten too quickly to photograph, - Mel has a good photo of hers!

rhubarb and orange cake

as requested by Garden Girl



rhubarb and orange cake
serves 6-8, serve warm with cream as pudding, or cold as cake, keeps 2-3 days in airtight container -- from March 2001 Good Food Magazine

12 oz rhubarb cut into 1/2 inch lengths (little bits - don't measure!)
2 oz golden caster sugar
zest of 1/2 orange
mix and marinate for 1 hour



cream together
5 oz butter
6 oz golden caster sugar

add 2 beaten eggs
fold in
3 oz self raising flour
4 oz ground almonds
1/2 tsp baking powder



stir in juice of 1/2 orange
----
pour mixture into lined greased 9 inch loose bottomed cake tin
drain the marinated rhubarb and spoon over cake mix
--
bake at 190 C for 25 minutes

then mix

1 oz melted butter
1 oz muscavado sugar,
zest of 1/2 orange
2 oz flaked almonds

sprinkle this over the part baked cake, reduce the oven temp to 180 C and cook for further 15-20 minutes till firm



cool in tin, dust with icing sugar to serve.

hope this makes sense, email me if it doesn't

sorry no photo, I haven't made one yet this year, but because I don't like posts without photos here are some lovely lambs prancing about on 2000 year old roman ruins.

spicy apple cake

my head hurts - no sympathy deserved however, all self inflicted.


brain not quite functioning, so attempting to write a recipe may be a bad idea, if it is a total disaster please forgive me. you might think as I have more than one or two recipe books it would just be a case of copying something, but I made this recipe up, so we'll have to hope for the best...

Spicy apple cake




60z flour (I used doves farm gluten free but use anything.. or even self raising and miss out the baking powder)
6oz sugar - golden granulated is my fave
60z butter (or marg, or dairy free margarine)
3 eggs
2 teaspoon baking powder (maybe less if not using nasty gf flour...)

mix all of these ingredients with a hand held blender, kitchen aid, wooden spoon....
grease and line cake tins - I used 2 7inch sandwich tins, but you could make it one deeper tin, and just cook it for longer.
spoon mixture into tins.
peel and core 2 or 3 eating apples, and slice into segments approx 1cm thick
arrange on top of cake mix in tin in a single layer.
mix 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon, and a couple of teaspoons of muscavado (dark brown) sugar, and sprinkle this liberally all over the apple slices.
bake at 180 C for 25 - 35 minutes, till cake springs back when prodded and a fork/cake tester inserted into the middle comes out clean.
cool slightly and serve warm with some cream or cold with a cup of tea, or even for breakfast (well it's got fruit in it so I reckon that makes it healthy)



don't think recipe writing is my strong point, I may not take it up as a career...


this is part of a valentines decoration I made after finding the new bead shop, seed beads and red hearts strung on fishing line, and hung in the window. (totally impossible to photograph in the window - believe me I tried)




and my new necklace, a pink and white bead, on pink soft leather.



Miss K thought it might be for her!

soup

it's grey and wet and I'm full of cold.
it's a soup day.
this is my favourite recipe, but we don't have all the ingredients, so I'm making do with a tin of Heinz tomato.

Butternut squash and potato soup.1 oz butter
1 onion chopped
1 butternut squash peeled and chopped
1 large potato chopped
pinch of ground nutmeg
2 pints stock (chicken or veg)
salt and pepper

melt butter, soften onion
add squash, potato, nutmeg
cover and sweat for 10 minutes
add stock, bring to boil,
reduce heat, cover, simmer for approx 20 minutes till soft.
puree/blend.
season to taste.

garnish with crispy bacon bits, croutons, roast chestnuts, whatever is in fridge.

enjoy.