Bakewell Tart

After promising to make a Bakewell Tart all week it was today I finally found the time. There was a great recipe in a book called The Great British Book of Baking. I followed the exact recipe (for once), and unusually it worked perfectly!

Suggestions and comments

I'm looking for requests of what to make in the next few weeks to feature on my blog. Let me know what you want to see, and if they are post-able/you live near me I will send/give you a taster!

I enjoy reading all of your comments :)

Mixed Grain Rolls

 I'm not one for using packet mixes, I made some Barbie cupcakes from one once and that was quite enough. However, I fancied making some bread and rather than go through the palava of deciding which flour and which grains, and then finding the yeast I found a handy little bread mix.

I chose a mixed grain wholemeal mix, emptied the packet into a large bowl with 290ml lukewarm water. After mixing, 5 minutes of kneading, and 30 minutes of rising, it was into the oven for 15 minutes. And seconds later I was eating warm freshly baked bread with melted butter...yum.

The Great British/American Bake Off

A good friend of mine is a fellow baking blogger (see Baking-in-Brooklyn), and we have often shared and compared recipes. We decided to cook the same cake and compare, hence the 'bake off'.


After much deliberation we chose lemon drizzle cake - in any form we wanted - and the baking commenced!

I found a recipe for a 'Lemon Drizzle Traybake', and as usual adjusted it to fit my ingredients/equipment. I enlisted the boyfriend to be my official taste tester as he is a particular fan of the lemon drizzle cake.

Chocolate Caramel Shortbread

As a kid whenever I visited my Grandma I would always get 'fed up'. Not bored, you understand, but fed until you were full. As if that wasn't enough, my Grandma would always give out a big box of home-made chocolate caramel shortbread to take home.

Sadly my Grandma passed away last month, and so today, on what would have been her 98th birthday I made my own batch of this treat.

You make it in three stages, first you make a shortbread base, followed by a layer of caramel and then a layer of chocolate.

To make the base:

Measure 125g plain flour (I used rye for a bit of added texture) and 40g caster sugar into a bowl. Add 100g softened butter and rub in until it resembles breadcrumbs. Bring the mixture together into a ball, and then press it into a greased baking tray, ideally one with straight edges. Prick all over with a fork.

Bake in the oven for 15-20 minutes at 180°C. Take the shortbread out of the oven when it is very lightly browned and firmed.

To make the caramel:

Empty one tin (400g) condensed milk into a pan, add 50g butter and 50g brown sugar. Heat slowly until the sugar and butter have melted. Bring to the boil, stirring all the time, until the mixture has thickened, for about five minutes.

Pour the caramel over the shortbread base and leave to cool.

To finish:

Melt 100g of milk or dark chocolate. Pour over the caramel and put into the fridge to set. 

To serve:
Once it is set cut into squares and lift from the tin.

My verdict:

It was the first time that I have made this, and it wasn't as difficult as I thought. It was nice, the rye flour takes off a little of the sweetness of the caramel which I like. Not a patch on my Grandma's though.

Oatmeal Scotchies

After an American visitor I recently acquired some 'Butterscotch Morsels'. They look like chocolate chips and taste like sweet caramel. This recipe was on the back of the packet and I decided to give it a go.
I altered the recipe slightly to suit the ingredients I had in my cupboard, but I'll give you the 'official' recipe.

Ingredients

1¼ cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp. baking soda
½ tsp. ground cinnamon
½ tsp. salt
1 cup (2 sticks) butter or margarine, softened
¾ cup granulated sugar
¾ cup packed brown sugar
2 large eggs
1 tsp. vanilla extract or grated peel of 1 orange
3 cups quick or old-fashioned oats
1 ⅔ cups (11-oz. pkg.) butterscotch chips

PREHEAT oven to 375°F.
COMBINE flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt in a small bowl. Beat butter, granulated sugar, brown sugar, eggs and vanilla extract in a large mixer bowl. Gradually beat in flour mixture. Stir in oats and morsels. Drop by rounded tablespoon onto ungreased baking sheets.
BAKE for 7 to 8 minutes for chewy cookies; 9 to 10 minutes for crisp cookies. Cool on baking sheets for 2 minutes; remove to wire racks to cool completely.
Makes about 4 dozen cookies.

I made a half mixture, and even that made too much (the mixture freezes well, so is waiting for another day). I used a mixture of rye and self-raising flour instead of all-purpose, and used the cinnamon and vanilla to flavour.
I made the chewy version, cooking them for 7-8 minutes. They worked really well, they are very sweet so I probably would put a little less sugar in the next batch. If you would like the UK measurements, drop me a line and I will send them to you.

Now I'm off for a strong cup of British tea and an American cookie. Bridging the gaps between geography.

Easy Egg Custard

Those who know me well know that custard is my number 1 favourite food. I will eat it with anything, in anything or on its own.

I've wanted to try making egg custards for a while, but I was under the impression they are very difficult to make. So when I saw what looked to be a simple recipe in a Nigella book I decided to give it a go. Despite internet searches I couldn't find the exact recipe, (a good reason to buy the book!) so I half remembered it and made the rest up as I went along.

Roxanne's Easy Egg Custard

1. Pre-heat the oven to 180°C/gas mark 4.
2. Heat 225ml milk, 20g caster sugar and a couple of drops of vanilla essence until almost boiling.
3. Meanwhile crack an egg into a large bowl (big enough to have the milk poured in) and whisk.
4. When the milk is almost boiling pour onto the egg, stirring continuously.
5. Sieve the mixture into 2 greased ramekins (about 8cm diameter), and sprinkle a little nutmeg on top of each.
6. Bake in the oven for 25 minutes or until set. It's best to let them cool slightly before eating.

This recipe made enough for 2 ramekins.

They tasted yummy, and I was very impressed by how easy they are to make. Definitly one to add to my 'easy dessert' repertoire!

My Aunt's Peanut Butter Cookies

 I have a 'thing' for peanut butter right now, and was excited to try out these peanut butter chips. I decided to make some soft cookies with them. Easy to make, and tastiest fresh out of the oven!

225g/8oz butter

240g/12oz sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 large egg and 1 egg yolk

425g/15oz self-raising flour

50g chocolate chips (we used white)

50g peanut butter chips

 

Preheat oven to 190°C/375°F/Gas 5. Cream the butter and sugar together in a large bowl.

Mix in the egg and extra yolk until creamy

Next step is to add the chocolate and peanut chips and the flour,

and mix together to create a soft dough.

Take about a tablespoons worth of dough and roll it

into a ball. 

 Place 2 inches apart on the baking tray. Press down slightly

with the back of a fork. Place in the oven and bake for 10 minutes.

Leave to cool for 5 minutes on the tray before transferring to

a cooling rack.

Enjoy!!!!!

You can see my aunt's blog here at Pixie Mama.

Icing writing

Here's a picture of my shockingly bad icing writing... well I can't be good at everything. It does leave rather a lot to be desired, but when you're 6, and can eat pink and blue icing who cares?

Lavender Cake

Happy New Year readers!
This Christmas I was lucky enough to get quite a few cooking-themed presents. One of which was a jar of lavender sugar. I looked through my cookbooks (mostly Jamie Oliver) and browsed the web, but I didn't find any recipes that I was enamoured with so I decided to experiment. The advice I did take was not to totally replace regular sugar with lavender sugar as it is quite strong

Roxanne's Lavender and Lemon Cake

Ingredients
6oz butter
1oz lavender sugar
4½oz caster sugar
3 eggs
1½oz ground almonds
4½oz plain flour
1½ tsp baking powder

2 tbsp icing sugar
grated lemon zest


Step 1
Cream together the butter with the 2 types of sugar, until smooth and creamy.

Step 2
Beat 3 eggs and add gradually to the butter and sugar. Sift in the flour, ground almonds and baking powder and mix well.

Step 3
Spoon the mixture into a standard cake tin and bake in the oven at Gas Mark 5 for 30-40 minutes, or until a skewer comes out clean. (Or a 'Cake Tester' like the one I got for Christmas!)

Step 4

Lift the cake out of the tin and leave to cool. Meanwhile mix the icing sugar with the lemon zest and enough water to make a smooth icing. Spread the icing over the cake and sprinkle with a little of the lavender sugar.

The verdict

Bizarrely the cake didn't rise much (if anyone has any suggestions as to why this might have been please let me know). However, the lavender was just right, not too strong and complimented the lemon icing well. The overall texture reminded me of a lemon drizzle cake, moist and quite light.