Ginger Spiced Flapjack Cookies

 As we're nearing spring I thought what a better time to use up ingredients in my baking cupboard - the first one on the list was stem ginger! Black treacle and rice flour to be used up next, so all ideas welcome :)

So these are a slight twist to mum's original recipe for Flapjack Cookies I did previously on the blog. Whilst mentioning my mum's Flapjack recipe, did you know that is one of the main reasons people end up finding / reading my blog!?! It's because they type in 'flapjack cooie' into google and my link shows as the forth one down (yes just below the BBC - Ha!!)

Right sorry went off on a bit of a tangent then, back to the old recipe :))

Ginger Flapjack Cookies

100g Stork or Softened butter
1 tbsp Golden syrup
100g  Caster sugar
1 tsp Bicarbonate of soda
1 tsp Ground ginger
2 tbsp Finely grated stem ginger
100g Plain flour (if you wanna be ubber healthy use wholemeal flour)
125g Porridge oats

Pop the butter, syrup and sugar in a small saucepan and heat gently until just melted. Remove from the heat heat and add the bicarbonate soda, ground ginger and the grated stem ginger.
In a separate large bowl put in your oats and flour, mix. Then pour in the warm ingredients from the saucepan - mix well.
Now at this point I wrapped  the dough in cling and popped it into the freezer for half an hour to an hour, just to make it easier to work with. Roll into small balls and place on prepared and lined baking trays. Pop in an oven preheated at 180oc for around 10mins - I ended having to do this in three batches as only have 2 trays. Leave to cool on the trays once out of the oven for 1-2mins before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.

Oats & ginger? They must be healthy!?! :)

Jammy Valentine's

To bring some Valentine cheer into the office I decided that cakes should be baked! I ddin't bake one of these though http://www.lilyvanilli.com/content/valentines-hearts/ Scary aren't they, but at the same time rather amusing. Imagine if you received this in the post on valentines day!?

Anyway I had a nose in the fridge and saw a huge jar of my chunky homemade strawberry jam, and that's red and it's valentines day!! So after sifting through my many cookbooks I came across a lovely recipe in The River Cottage Every Day cookbook. So with a heart shape muffin tray to hand I went forth and made a few sweet-hearts! (sorry the puns are getting worse!?). I originally called them Jammy Ripple Muffins, but after being misheard and a few rude jokes (the cheek!?) they were named Jammy Valentine's.

Hmm I like that name...
Anyho here is the recipe:

Jammy Valentine Heart Muffins
225g Plain Flour
2 tsp Baking powder
pinch sea salt
100g caster sugar
1 medium egg
125g Plain yogurt
125ml Milk
75g Unsalted butter - melted
150g strawberry jam - chunkier the better!

Grease and line muffins trays & pop the oven on to 180oc

Pop the flour, baking powder, salt and caster sugar in a bowl & aerate....? Aerate, sieve the flour and then you could try whisking it... but I'm sure you'd end up with a very white kitchen and not much left in the bowl... ?
Anyway back to the recipe....
In a jug put the yogurt, egg, milk and melted butter (careful not to cook the egg with the butter) mix it all up. And then add to the flour mixture. stir around eight times so as not to over mix (over mixing will make them dense). Spoon the mixture into your muffin trays and place in the oven for about 30minutes.

If you want to live life to the full... eat one of the muffins whilst it's still warm!!

FIELD MUSHROOM AND FARMHOUSE PATE

After doing so many posts on the sweet variety I decided I should add a savory one to the batch. Not only did I make Pate but also had another go at baking some bread, which I have to say I was bloody pleased with! I managed to turn out a lovely crusty Raisin and Hazelnut Loaf to go with the Pate. I made it before for a previous post, but this time I made one large loaf rather than two smaller ones. The recipe was from that DOUGH book by Richard Bertinet, I plan to make another loaf next weekend too! Seem to have got my bread baking addiction back :)

Farmhouse & Field Mushroom Pate Recipe

25g Butter
80g Bacon Lardons (I used smoked, but it via my mum's recipe it says unsmoked)
250g Chicken livers (you can find them in the freezer isle) cut off the stringy bits.
1 Bay leaf
2 Sprigs of thyme
1 shallot - Finely chopped
1 Garlic Clove
1 tbsp Brandy
1 tbsp Creme Fraiche
freshly grated nutmeg
Dollop butter
2 large field mushrooms (around 100g)
seasoning.

 

Pop the butter and oil in a hot frying pan and add the lardons. Fry until crispy and golden, then add the bay leaf and thyme and livers** Important: Do not over cook the livers! You only want to cook them for around 3 minutes, so that they're cooked but still slightly pink in the middle. This will make sure the pate has a lovely smooth texture. Once ready pop the contents onto a plate, put the herbs and bay leaf back into the pan.

Put the shallots and garlic into the pan with the herbs and cook until soft and slightly golden. Add the brandy, and cook until the alcohol has evaporated.

Put all the cooked goodies into a food processor, add the creme fraiche and wizz up! It's up to you how chunky or smooth you like your pate....

Now don't forget the mushrooms!! Get your two lovely dark field mushrooms and chop up finely (again depending how chunky you like it) Put the last dollop of butter in the frying pan, add the mushrooms and cook off add ing a little bit of pepper at the end. Add the mushrooms to the food processor and give it one last wizzzz to mix it all up.

Then pour into a small pot, bowl, terrine and leave to cool before popping into the fridge to completely set.

Voila! 

Your own delicious quick and easy pate. Enjoy!

Let me know how you get on. Once you realise how easy it is to make you'll never buy shop bought stuff again.

Ps: I shall post again soon with another loaf and the recipe for the hazelnut and raisin loaf :)

Cookies The Size of your Hand!!

February is here already and I'm desperate to see signs of spring...summer soon..please!!
Now I realise the start of the year is time for 'detoxing' and diets. Well personally I think that January and February are better known for being miserable and dowdy months... SO! I am encouraging "re-toxing" to help with the February blues :) Re-toxing as i read on another blog is a term used for eating foods that make you happy!! Now who could deny happiness!?
On that note I present the BIGGEST cookies I've ever made, courtesy off The Humming Bird Recipe Book.

White chocolate and Pecan nut Cookies Recipe
250g Unsalted Butter (yes I know - A whole block!?)
100g caster sugar
200g Soft light brown sugar
2 eggs
11/2 tsp Vanilla Extract
400g Plain flour
1/2 tsp Salt
1/4 tsp Baking powder
100g white choc, chopped
100g Shelled Pecan nuts, chopped

Put the butter and sugars in a bowl and using a handheld electric whisk, cream until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, mixing well and scraing any unmixed ingredients from the side of the bowl with a spatula after each addition. Turn the mixer down to slow speed and beat in the vanilla extract.

Add the flour, salt and baking powder and mix well until a smooth dough is formed. Stir in the chocolate and pecan nuts until evenly dispersed.

Divide the mixture in half and shape each half into a roll 15cm in length and 3cm in diameter.wrap the rolls in cling and put them in the freezer to set completely for a couple of hours.

Preheat the oven to 170oc.

Get the rolls out of the freezer and take off the cling. Cut the dough into disks around 2cm in thickness. Arrange the cookies on prepared baking trays with parchment. make sure the cookies are well spaced as they will spread to around double the size when baking. Bake in the preheated oven for around 10-15minutes, or until golden brown around the edges and quite flat. Leave the cookies to cool slightly on the trays before turning out onto a cooling rack to cool completely.

The cookies should be soft and slightly chewy :)
See if you can resist eating one warm with a glass of ice cold milk!!!

Enjoy!
I plan to do these again but using dark choc and hazelnuts, it has to be done and tried :D