BOURBON BRILLIANTS

So as it turns out my fav biscuits are bourbon biscuits and so I decided to have a go at making my own. Using the brilliant World Wide Web I found a recipe...which I followed...then tweaked by adding random handfuls of extra flour / sugar and an egg. In other words this recipe could be a little off.

I plan to make them again as they were a HIT. 

I promise to double check the measurements and post accordingly. But until then you'll have to do with this 'guess' of a recipe.. yeah sorry about that!! But hey who said 'creating art' was a precise science!?!

Note I say 'art' - I'm sure by classing anything as 'art' you don't have to follow any rules as it ruins your creative streak!! (well this is what I'm going with anyway - and who's gonna question that!?!??)
RECIPE:

125g Plain Flour
60g Caster Sugar 
25g Cocoa Powder
1/2tspn Bicarbonate of soda
50g Stork or Butter
1 Egg beaten
1 tbsp syrup

75g Icing sugar
50g unsalted butter - room temp
1 tbsp Cocoa powder
1 tbsp Camp coffee essence
50g of 70% dark chocolate to decorate

METHOD:

Pop the oven on at 170oc or 160oc for Fan assisted. Get out as many baking tray as you have and line with baking parchment. Prep done!Put all the dry ingredients in a bowl and mix.Place the butter/stork in a saucepan with the syrup and heat until melted. Pour into the melted concoction into the the dry ingredients and stir. Then add the beaten eggs. Now get your hands in there and mix up up into a good ball of tasty dough.Pop in the oven for 12-18 minutes until golden brown. Once ready pull out the oven but leave them on the hot baking trays until the tray has gone cold, which at this point you can pop them onto a wore rack to finish cooling. *really important to leave on the hot baking tray as this will make sure they'll have that crunch!Once cooled you can melt off some delicious dark choc in a bowl over a pan of hot water. Then using a spoon or spatula, get some of the melted choc and squiggle over the top of the biscuits. Leave to set on the wire rack.

I've decided that is actually COMPULSORY to have a glass of ice cold milk whilst eating these. It makes the experience much more IMMENSE!
Enjoy & Merry Christmas for tomorrow. Hope you all have a festive food filled feast!!xx

Ginger Biscuits

These again are made using one of mum's fab recipes. My sister and I used to make them as kids...well get to the stage of eating loads of raw dough anyway...

Here is Victoria Tunstill's (my mum's) secret recipe for her famous ginger biscuits:

RECIPE:
 (this makes LOADS you may want to do just half the recipe to start with)
1 1/2 lb Plain Flour
1lb Caster Sugar
5tspn Ginger Powder
2tspn Bicarbonate of soda
Pinch of salt


1/2lb Stork or Butter
2Eggs - beaten
8 tbsp syrup
And if you're feeling extra naughty... 200g of 70% dark chocolate to dip them in after they've cooled.

Pop the oven on at 190oc or 180oc for Fan assisted. Get out as many baking tray as you have and line with baking parchment. Prep done!

Put all the dry ingredients in a bowl and mix.

Place the butter/stork in a saucepan with the syrup and heat until melted. Pour into the melted concoction into the the dry ingredients and stir. Then add the beaten eggs. Now get your hands in there and mix up up into a good ball of tasty dough. *

* This is the point I end up eating most of the raw dough mixture...*

Pull off small blobs of dough and roll into balls - no bigger than a 50p piece.
Place spaced out on a baking sheet and press your finger gently on the top to 'squidge it'. They will spread whilst cooking, I usually fit 12 on a square baking sheet.

Pop in the oven for 10-12 minutes until golden brown. Once ready pull out the oven but leave them on the hot baking trays until the tray has gone cold, which at this point you can pop them onto a wore rack to finish cooling. *really important to leave on the hot baking tray as this will make sure they'll have that crunch!

Once cooled you can melt off some delicious dark choc in a bowl over a pan of hot water, and one by one dip in the biscuits and then leave to set on the wire rack.

DELICIOUS!!!

TOUCH Christmas Treats

I decided to take some of my baked goods to share at work this year... as you can see by the time I got round to taking photos, most of the biscuits had been eaten already!?!

Ginger Biscuits and Linzer Hazelnut Dodgers and the usual load of juicy clementines.

Off to bake more tonight to replenish the jars, and will be posting the recipes up soon.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

Cook-athon Part 1 - Sausage Rolls

So as it turns out I didn't end up cooking anything for Sonja's arrival instead a lot of chocolate, Nutella and wine was consumed!!
This weekend I have hit the kitchen like i have never before :D So far I've made :

*Sausage rolls using Mr Willows sausages and this time made my own 'rough' puff pastry - it roughly follows the same recipe i used for the 'picnic for a king' post back in Feb.
*Millionaire's shortbread - we've started a syndicate at work, which isn't going very well as we keep forgetting to buy the lottery tickets!? Hopefully this will suffice.
*Pizza Dough - a great thing to have a the freezer for a quick fab pizza!
*Lemon Drizzle - turns out Kim at work has been wanting me to bring one of these into the office for ages - so this one's for you kim! :)

As I've made quite a few things I'm gonna have to put them over a couple of posts. To start of we'll start with the Mr Willows Sausage Rolls.

Rough Puff Pastry:
300g Plain / rice flour
A pinch of salt
150g chilled butter cut into cubes.

For the filling:
25g Butter
1 large red onion
1 tbsp brown sugar
6 large Mr Willows Pork & tomato sausages
a handful of brown bread crumbs
Seasoning

Method:
To make the pastry, mix the flour with the salt, then add the cubed butter and rub together until evenly mixed. Add just enough iced water (8-10 tablespoons) to bring the mixture together into a fairly firm dough.
Shape the dough into a rectangle with your hands and, on a well floured surface, roll it out in one direction, away from you, so you end up with a rectangle about 1cm thick. Fold the far third towards you, then fold the nearest third over that (rather like folding business letter), so that you now have a rectangle made up of 3 equal layers (see photos). Give the pastry a quarter-turn, then repeat the rolling, folding and turning process 5 more times. Wrap the pastry in cling film and rest it in the fridge for about 30 minures, up to an hour.

Whilst the pastry is chilling you can start on the filling. Also pre-heat oven to 180ºC/350ºF/gas 4.

Take the onion and cut into quarters then slice very finely. Melt the butter in a frying pan and add the onion and sugar. Cook slowly for around half an hour until they've turned caramel-ly and golden. Pop on a plate and allow to cool. In another bowl put the handful of breadcrumbs (slice of bread whizzed up) and then slice the sausage down the center and pop the meat out into the bowl. Add the cooled onions & seasoning, then squigg together.

On a floured work surface, roll the pastry out into a big rectangle as thick as a pound coin and cut it length ways into two long, even rectangles. Roll the mixture into sausage shapes with your hands and lay along the center of each rectangle.

Mix the egg and milk and brush the pastry with the mixture, then fold one side of the pastry over, wrapping the filling inside. Press down with your fingers or the edge of a spoon to seal the join.

Cut the long rolls into the sizes you want and space them out on a baking tray. Brush with the rest of the egg wash and bake in the preheated oven for 25 minutes or until puffed, golden and cooked through.

Cook-athon Part 2 - Millionaire Shortbread

As I'm yet to become a millionaire or be whisked away by a millionaire, Millionaire shortbread seemed to be the only option!
This was the traditional treat until it was transformed into the choc bar known as TWIX. Oh and before i continue don't get any clever ideas of trying the toffee before it's cooled!! It's like ruddy lava and stay hot for ages - thus I now have burnt fingers, that'll teach me...

Recipe

Shortbread:
125g Butter (salted is better)
50g caster sugar
175g plain / rice flour

Topping:
125g butter
100g sugar
2 tbsp golden syrup
200g condensed milk - usually sold in tins of 397g, so roughly use half a tin.
200g milk chocolate

Grease a & line a 20.5cm x 40.5cm baking tray (or one roughly rectangle and a bit deep :) Preheat oven to 150oc/300oF/gas 2.

Rub all the ingredients for the shortbread together as if you were making crumble, but keep going until it starts to form a very stiff, crumbly dough. Don't add any liquid!!

When the dough forms press it evenly into the baking tray using your fingers (rustic look!) - as it cooks it tends to level out. Bake the shortbread for 20minutes then set aside and allow to cool.

Heat the butter and sugar in a saucepan. When the sugar has dissolved add the syrup and the condensed milk. bring the mixture to a boil, lower the heat and simmer for 3-4 minutes, stirring constantly. it will thicken and go a toffee colour. As soon as this happens spread it over the shortbread and allow it to cool.

Now melt the chocolate with 4 tbsp of water, either in a bain Marie (bowl over a pan of hot water) or in a microwave. As soon as you can, pour it over the toffee and biscuit and even it out with a knife. The reason for adding the water to the choc is so that it makes it easier to pour & also prevents it from going brittle (next time may use less water, as it quite nice for it to be a bit brittle).

Allow it to chill / cool for at least an hour, then cut it into whatever shapes sizes you desire. Once made it will keep in the fridge for up to a week. So by next sat you may have won the lottery and be paying me to make some of this shortbread!! lol!!

Cook-athon Part 3 - Pizza Dough!

Seriously when you've got time you have to make some of this,  it is so easy but really useful & I have to say, quite impressive to have your own dough at the ready :)

This recipe makes enough dough for around 8 bases - if you like them thin, obviously if you like them thick it'll make less.... This is another Jamie Oliver recipe - "Cook your way to the Good Life"

1kg strong white bread flour
1 level tablespoon fine sea salt
2 x 7g sachets of dried yeast
1 tablespoon golden caster sugar
4 tablespoons extra virgin oil
650ml lukewarm water

Sieve the flour and salt on to a clean work surface and make a well in the middle. In a jug, mix the yeast, sugar and olive oil into the water and leave foe a few minutes, then pour into the well. Using a fork, bring the flour in gradually from the sides and swirl it into the liquid. Keep mixing, drawing larger amounts of flour in, and when it all starts to come together, work the rest of the flour in with your clean, flour dusted hands. Knead until you have a smooth, springy dough.

Place the ball of dough in a large flour-dusted bowl and flour the top of it. cover the bowl with a damp cloth and place in a warm room for about an hour until the dough has doubled in size.

Now remove the the dough to a flour-dusted surface and knead it around a bit to push the air out with your hands - this is called ' knocking back the dough'.

At this point, you can either use it immediately or divide into balls and pop into the fridge or the freezer for a later date :).


When it comes to using the dough this is what to do....
First of all it's best to roll out the dough bases about 15-20mins before you want to cook them. if you want to worked more in advance and be fully prepped, you can roll them into 'rough' circles and place on a olive-oil + flour dusted rubbed piece of foil. Then stack the bases cover with clingfilm and pop into the fridge.
If using dough that has been frozen, get it out in the morning and pop onto a plate - warning if they were originally wrapped in cling - this will explode as they warm up so make sure you pop a loose piece of cling over the top or a damp tea towel so it doesn't dry out.

At a later date I'll do a post for a good tomato base sauce, in the meantime I'm sure you've got a rough idea of what to use for a tomato sauce :D

This bit is KEY to making the best pizza at home. so listen carefully!!
Preheat your oven to full whack and place a large thick baking tray, pizza stone or granite slab into the oven to warm up. (went to our local Topps Tiles that was closing down and they gave me 4 free granite slabs!! which work perfectly)

Taking into consideration the size of the granite slab, i cut out a piece of baking paper to the correct size - a large square. Sprinkle with a little flour then place my ball of dough on top then start rolling out from the center until I reach a nice circle, about 0.5-1cm in thickness. I then place it on another 'no edge' baking tray and place all my topping on. the 'no edge tray then is used as a shovel to slide the pizza on the parchment straight onto the granite slab. Viola!! leave for 10mins - and you'll have a delicious crispy divine pizza!!.

PS. As tempting as it is, try not to overload the pizza with topping as it'll just make everything to soggy...

As I'm giving a lot of this dough away I'm hoping to get some shots of what their pizzas ended up like - if they're any good I'll pop them up - the pressure is ON!! :D

Mx

Here are some photos from the lucky folk who got some dough:

Jo, Rich & Harrison's pizzas

Kim & Steve's pizza - Note how I provided the dough! yep, in a Chinese cartoon - always ask for spare cartoons when at a takeway :)

Still awaiting other photographic evidence from the slackers.... shall be posted once received!
x

Better Late than Never...

Ha... so pretty much two whole  months have passed since my last post. Which is pretty disgraceful but you know life, it sometimes gets a bit crazy and certain things end up on the way-side...
But I'm here now and that's the main thing!

This week I've got a good friend coming to stay and it's her 30th which she doesn't like being mentioned... and obviously I'm gonna have to bake her a cake or cookies to celebrate her birthday. She is also OBSESSED with chocolate... so anything 'along those lines' will perfect.

I've also borrowed a Donna hay cookery book from my brother in-law and it has lots lovely looking recipes. So give me a couple of days + hopefully there'll be some new photos up on the blog.

will blog soon, promise!!
x

Seasons Are changin!

As it's Sunday, we headed up to the Farmer's market in Blackheath to get some produce for the coming week...

Is it me or do work lunch boxes seem to be the hardest thing to keep exciting and interesting? Not only do they have to be portable (un-leakable) usually have to be cold or pre-cooked (no ovens at work) but also tasty and satisfying. And on top of all that variety!

Now I know we're in the height of summer and what I'm about to say will seem strange... but soup seems the way forward! Obviously this will change once I'm all souped up, but having a bowl of soup is healthy, hot and also will keep you fuller for longer compared to a salad - 'don't you know' - well that's what I heard them say on this TV programme. There were lots of army men eating soup and others the same ingredients but not pureed... anyho the soldiers that had the soup stayed fuller for longer.

Oh I've just thought of another reason why soup is goood in the summer - it's like having a cuppa tea. A hot cuppa tea will cool you down quicker than a glass of ice cold water.  FACT.
Again heard this on another tv programme and made a lot of sense but don't ask me to explain... something to do with your bodies inside freaking out at the hot tea and then cooling you down quicker...??

That was a bit of a tangent wasn't it......

So where was I? Oh yeah 'Soup kitchen' and work lunch boxes.
My work colleague, Kim, and I are gonna start making lunches for each other. So she'll sort out Mon & Tues and I'll sort out Wed & Thurs etc etc... We're gonna do soups, which works out brilliantly! Cause when you make soup, it usually ends up being a 'Vat' of soup & you end up eating the same soup every day for a WEEK!? So by us combining our efforts, not only do keep the variety, try recipes you've never made but it's also rather fun and exciting! 'You never know what ya gonna get' :D

Also I might get myself this cool yet informative t-towel. It tells you what veg is in season every month, which in turns tells you what veg you can get lots off for not a lot of money - Great for soup making! It's designed by Stuart Gardiner (he's done some really cool stuff!) and I think they might sell them round the corner from my office in SCP. Ooo might pop in on Monday :D

Another modern way to stay in touch with your seasonal veg would be to sign up with 'Eat the seasons'. They send you an email every couple weeks to tell you what's in season and has links to recipes and things. very useful as it's free and again very 'informative' (God I'm sounding like my old teacher Mrs Cox!? She was my Home Ec teacher - named after apples - Ha!? co figure)

Bought some delicious Kent Cherries... majority were eaten by the time I got home ;o)

Plan to make Spinach & lentil soup for Wed and Thurs next week. I ended up getting the spinach from the supermarket, as all the spinach in the market had wilted a bit in the sun.
Let's hope Kim likes it :O)

Mx

Harrison's Carrot cake

My friend Jo, who told me about the amazing Yorkshire pud recipe, gave birth on Wednesday 14th July to a lovely little boy - 'Harrison'. So in true fashion I decided to bake them a cake to celebrate!! :D

Carrot cake I decided on. Now I've done carrot cakes before and they're BEASTS! Three tiers to be precise. So for their version I tweaked the recipe slightly, made it a 2 tier with a slightly different version for the icing.
Because I've been seeing the bump grow and have now met wonderful Harrison, I had to make sure it would be up to his standards ;o)

Here is how I got on:

 

So here is how I made Harrison's Carrot Cake:

RECIPE

200g Light muscovado sugar

2 medium eggs - fresher the better!

200ml sunflower oil

200g Rice Flour (can use plain flour if you don't have rice flour)

1/2 tspn Bicarbonate of soda

1/2 tspn Baking powder

1/4 tspnground ginger

1/2 tspn ground cinnemon

1/4 tspn ground mixed spice

salt

200g grated carrots

75g whizzed up walnuts

35g unsalted butter

200g icing sugar

35g creamcheese

2 tbspn lime juice

METHOD

Mix up the sugar, oil and eggs until combined. Then sieve in the flour, bicarb soda, baking powder, spices and salt. Mix well. Then add grated carrots and whizzed up walnuts - mix.

Spoon into two sandwich tins and pop in a pre-heated oven at 170oc for 20-25mins until bouncy.

For the icing you'll unsalted butter, icing sugar, cream cheese and some lime juice.

Mix well and spread - volia!!

Old Greenwich Brewery

So this weekend my Sister and Jonboy came to visit. Pete saw this as a perfect excuse to go try out 'The Old Greenwich Brewery' that's recently opened in Greenwich. 

Instead of recommending which wine you should have with each course it recommends what BEER! So yes Pete was VERY excited to say the least ;o)

 

After what felt like the fastest walk EVER in very hot weather (see Pete in the top pic at full speed!) we arrived at the Brewery in desperate need of a drink. The service was ace and after taking one look at all four of us they appeared with four ice cold glasses of water, swiftly followed by a selection of Meantime beer :D This was a good start!

The food was divine!! Truly scrumptious! Here are a few photos of what we ate. I would definitely go back even though... I have to say the puds were a bit of a let down... I had the home-made ice cream, which was just too sweet and I couldn't finish (which as you know is unheard off for me!?). However John choose a brill pud, choc cake with the runny bit inside (I know there is a name but can't remember..) and that went down a treat!

 

It's situated in the Martime Naval College area right next to the Thames, so has a lovely cool breeze on a hot summers day. It's well hidden so you'll have to have a keen eye to find it. But trust me well worth the search & the hike - Hey there's a pint there with your name on it, you won't regrete it.