Christmas Biscuits



 



Sooo its been a while since I have blabbed about my life and written up another recipe ... starting up a new job has been a bit more overwhelming than I thought. I shaln't complain however as I am enjoying it and I think I have possibly the best view out of the window. There are some perks to working on the 29th floor of a building; the other day we were above the cloud line, the sun was shining and only the tips of the yellow O2 arena spikes could be seen. In all honesty I felt like I should be skiing, not working. There comes one downside to working on the 29th floor and that is that you have to go up 29 floors in a rather speedy and efficient lift system ... motion sickness is a big issue in my life at the moment!

 

Last week we had our secret santa at work and with a budget of £5 and a person to buy for who I had known for the grand total of 2 days, it was not the easiet of tasks. So after much failed searching I decided to bake something seasonal & bought a nice tin to put the Christmas Biscuits in... easy.

 

These biscuits are soooo yummy I baked a double batch of the quantity specified below & having been eating the extras at a current rate of roughly 3 a day... oops to the diet.

 

 

Makes 16ish large Christmas Trees (10cm high)

or many more if you go for little biscuits

Pre-heat your oven to 180˚C

Bake to perfection for 8-10 minutes

 

You will need the following:

 

200g Self Raising Flour

100g Butter

100g Soft Light Brown Sugar

1 Egg

½tsp Mixed Ground Spices

1¾tsp Cinnamon

 

100g Icing Sugar

1-2tsp Water

 

Rolling pin

Christmas Cutters

 

 

 

 

Method:

Pre-heat your oven

Cream together the butter and sugar

 
 

Add in the egg

 

Sift in the flour and spices

 Mix until combined into a solid cookie-like dough

 

 Then flour your work surface and rolling pin

If you prefer you can half your mixture and roll out half at a time

 
 

Roll your mixture to the thickness of a £1 coin, use your cutter to push down and cut out the shapes

 

Place on a baking tray that has been lined with greaseproof paper

 

Place in the oven for 8 minutes, if they look uncooked or slightly wet looking,

put them back in for 2 minutes more

 

Remove from oven and cool on wire rack

Mix your icing sugar and using a knife,scoop some icing sugar and drizzle over the icing like tinsle on the trees


Leave to dry on a wire rack


Enjoy with a cup of tea, a glass of milk or a more festive glass of mulled wine ...

Pumpkin Pie

So I realise its a while since I posted a recipe, basically life has taken over & after a fabulous week away in Morocco I have been trying to organise my life ready for the 3rd December, the big 'first day' of my career! 

Rewind slightly to the 4th November and I was leaving a cold, wet, dreary England behind and boarding a rather cramped budget airline plane bound for Morocco! Now, I had a bit of a blonde moment... well two. Firstly, I didn't realise that it would take just over 4 hours to fly out, its quite a long way to Northern Africa (made seemingly longer on a budget airline). Secondly, for the week I thought we were an hour behind GMT ... apparently not. 

I had an incredibly relaxing week, we started our stay just outside Marrakech staying at a beautiful riad with grounds littered with olive trees, Ibiza white sunbeds and a refreshing swimming pool. It was bliss (minus the odd irritating fly). We went into the Medina for a bit of shopping at the souks and I was overwhelmed by the smells, crowds of people, snake charmers, birds, market stall sellers & mopeds. It was a world away from our oasis and threw me straight back to my gap year travels! My bartering skills that I gained in South East Asia were put to good use in the souks. It was a bit like a scene out of The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel when Bill Nighey thinks he knows 'how the game is played' & walks away. He was unsuccessful. I however was. At the end of the day I was scrambling to get out of the chaos that was the Medina. After Marrakech, we headed for a few days on the coast, enjoying clear blue skies and the benefits of an all inclusive hotel; one of my favs being people watching the other guests... 'Auf Wiedersehen, Pet' says it all really! 

I was incredibly sad when it came to catching the flight home, the thought of leaving the sun and the heat  was  made even more depressing when the incoming passengers on our return flight got off dressed in full on winter gear! The only silver lining to flying home was the promise of a new chapter, guilt-free shopping for a working wardrobe...can't exactly turn up in my birthday suit and Christmas. I love Christmas mainly for the opportunity it brings to meet up with much missed friends, drink inordinate amounts of mulled wine and bake...a lot.

I feel the countdown to Christmas can only begin once Thanksgiving has passed ... might as well jump on the festive band wagon! So here is my British version of pumpkin pie, I've cheated and used butternut squash as it is far easier to get hold of and has a sweeter flesh, which means that you can avoid pouring a can of evapourated milk into your pie...there is a reason for America holding one of the highest obesity rates. I baked this last year for a girly dinner party & it went down a storm. 

Serves 8 ish

depends on how super-sized you make your portions!

Pre-heat your oven to 200°C

Bake to perfection for 45 minutes

You will need the following:

Pastry

(The one and only time I will say cheat...but totally worth it)

500g Pack of Sweet Shortcrust Pastry

Filling

Pumpkin or Butternut squash...roughly 600-700g

2Tbsp Golden Syrup

1Tsp Ground Cinnamon

½Tsp Ground Nutmeg

75g Golden Caster Sugar

3 Eggs, beaten

200ml Double Cream

22cm loose bottom tart dish

Method:

Roll out your pastry to the thickness as a pound coin

or buy ready rolled #guilty

Flour your tin

Chop your butternut squash up into chunks, place on a greaseproof paper lined baking tray and drizzle with the golden syrup & spices

Line your pastry with baking parchment, topped with rice or baking beans. 

Alternatively prick the bottom of your pastry with a fork 

Put the squash and pastry in the oven at 200°C

After 20 minutes remove the pastry and set aside & trim the edges. 

Turn down the oven to 180°C & allow the squash to continue cooking for another 25 minutes

When cooked remove the squash, scoop out the flesh into a bowl, along with the excess syrup, eggs, 

cream & sugar. 

Blend with a food processor or food whizzer

Pour into the cooled pastry case

Place back into the oven & bake at 180°C for a further 45 minutes or until the filling has set. Check the pie at 20 minutes, if it is colouring too quickly, loosely place a sheet of tinfoil over the pie.

Dust with icing sugar

Serve with a scoop or two of ice cream

Enjoy ...

Halloween Cake

Trick or Treat?! 

...obviously treat.

It is that time of year, I'm carving out my pumpkin today (better late than never) & try to avoid eating all of the treats ready for umpteen village children to come trick-or-treating! It might just have to be a trick if I get hungry...

The best bit of news for me in recent happenings is that I was offered a job! I can't quite get over it yet, still in disbelief and exhausted at the thought of how much I have to organise! Mind you I love to organise and as HRH Prince Charles noted, us Brits are pretty good at Organising things. 

Here is my nod to Halloween...

You will need to follow the Chocolate, Coffee & Nutmeg Cake Recipe or the Chocolate Cake Recipe as a base, then follow the icing instructions as follows.

You will need the following:

Icing

300g Icing Sugar

100g Crème Fraiche

1Tsp Camp Coffee

1Tsp Vanilla Extract

50g Granulated Brown Sugar

Webbing

25g Dark Chocolate

2Tsp Warm Water

Method:

Melt your chocolate chips with the water, stir once melted

Cut a circle out of greaseproof paper, fold it in half, then half again, and once more. 

Push the creases towards one another to form a cone 

Snip the bottom off  & spoon in the chocolate. Fold over the top

Get your iced cake

Pipe five rough circles

Using a wooden kebab skewer or sharp knife, starting at the centre of your cake drag the skewer or knife to the edges of your cake, until you have a spiders web

Enjoy...

Chocolate, Coffee & Nutmeg Cake

Serves 12

Pre-heat the oven to 180°C

Bake to perfection for 24-26 minutes

You will need the following:

Cake

225g Butter

150g Golden Caster Sugar

75g Dark Muscavado Sugar

4 Eggs

175g Self Raising Flour

50g Cocoa Powder

1Tbsp Baking Powder

1Tbsp Ground Coffee + 4Tbsp Hot Water

1Tsp Ground Nutmeg

1 Drop of  Vanilla Extract

Icing

300g Icing Sugar

100g Crème Fraiche

1Tsp Camp Coffee

1Tsp Vanilla Extract

50g Granulated Brown Sugar

Method:

Dissolve your coffee in the water

Cream together your butter and sugars

Add in your eggs one at a time, followed by the coffee

Sift in your cocoa powder and then fold in

Sift in your flour and nutmeg & fold into the mix 

Grease your tins then line the bottom with greaseproof paper

Pour your mix into two 8" cake tins & bake for 24-26 minutes

Whilst baking make your icing

In a bowl place the crème fraiche, camp coffee and vanilla extract 

Then add your sugar 

Until combined

 Sift in the icing sugar

Remove your cakes from the oven and leave to cool for 10 minutes

Peel off the greaseproof paper

Level off the base layer and spoon on a large spoon for icing 

Smooth out over your cake 

Repeat with the top layer 

Enjoy with a cup of fresh coffee...

Aumtumn's Cake

So I utterly failed to post every day during National Baking Week ... life got rather busy on Friday and then Saturday I was off to the land of the far South West and Cream Teas, Cornwall. I have had the most peaceful week walking the dogs around the Lanhydrock Estate, enjoying the sunshine visiting port towns and eating too many cream teas; I am avoiding standing on the scales!! Obviously the internet is slower & sketchier in Cornwall, must be the fact that it is further away from London or something like that?! My friend seems to have the same problem with her internet ... in far south west Wales; geographically roughly the same ... could be valid!!

Here is my ode to Autumn. Everything about it screams Autumn and goes perfectly with a cup of tea by a log fire ... tried, tested and verified!

Serves 10-12

Pre-heat the oven to 180°C

Bake to perfection for 22 minutes

You will need the following:

Cake

200g Butter

100g Caster Sugar

75g Light Soft Brown Sugar

50g Dark Muscavado Sugar

4 Eggs

225g Self Raising Flour

1Tbsp Baking Powder

1Tsp Nutmeg

1Tsp Cinnamon

1 Drop of  Vanilla Extract

2Tbsp Pressed Apple Juice 

(or the juice of half an Apple)

Icing

275g Icing Sugar

1Tbsp Plain Yoghurt

25g Butter

1Tsp Apple Juice

Filling

4Tbsp Hedgerow Jam

Decoration

A handful of Flaked Almonds & Crushed Walnuts to scatter

x2 8" Cake Tins

Method:

Measure out your butter

Combine the sugars and butter

Till pale and fluffy, then add in the eggs one at a time

Sift in the flour, spices and vanilla extract

Fold in

Add in the apple juice 

Finally fold in the baking powder 

Grease the two tins with butter, then sift in a bit of plain flour 

Coat the tins in the flour and dust of any excess  

Fill the two tins with the mixture 

Place just below the centre of this oven

&

bake to perfection for 22 minutes 

Whilst baking, make the icing sugar

Mix together the butter and icing sugar 

Add in the yoghurt & apple juice 

Ice your cake 

Top with flaked almonds and crushed walnuts 

Spread the jam on the base layer and then sandwich the two layers together 

Sprinkle your cake with crushed walnuts and flaked almonds 

Enjoy ...