Mince Pie Christmas Biscuits

It's being to look a lot like Christmas... everywhere you go. London loves Christmas. Its an excuse to have drinks, go ice skating, sing out loud in public (carols), drink gallons of mulled wine and of course gobble excessively on mince pies.

Shamefully I have been pre-occupied with sitting exams, working and coping with life that I haven't blogged in a few months...but here is the first of many to come. Thinking of New Year's Resolutions and blogging and baking more seems fairly apt.

For those who like the mince but not so much the pie, you should try these... a combination of the Christmas biscuits from last December and mincemeat!

You will need the following:

250g Self Raising Flour

100g Butter

100g Soft Light Brown Sugar 

(or Caster Sugar if that's all you have in your cupboard!)

1 Egg

½tsp Mixed Ground Spices

1¾tsp Cinnamon

 4tbsp Mincemeat

Extra Flour for rolling

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
 

'Dollop'  the 4 tablespoons of mincemeat onto the pastry

Take one end of the pastry and fold over a third.
Then repeat and fold over the other end of the pastry so your pastry is in thirds.

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/raw or slightly wet looking,

put them back in for 2 minutes more.

Enjoy...

Banoffee Cheesecake

How to bake in this heat, dare I say it ...you don't have to bake! It can be the case of combining flavours, artful mixing and assembling!

The heat has been ridiculous over the last few weeks, with. I live in West London and work in the East which requires a lengthy tube journey twice a day; I've been away from it for a week and I am slightly hesitant about hopping back into the routine. Unfortunately, I don't fancy a 2 hour bike ride each way, or have a scooter to weave my way through the traffic, or a parking space for my car...so tube it is for the foreseeable future.

This is so delicious you'll want to eat an unhealthy amount of it! Good job its nice weather so can eat as much as you like and then you have no excuse to take a run... life is a balancing act.

Serves 12

Chill for a total of 3 hours, minimum, in the fridge

You will need the following:

250g Marscapone Cheese

200g Cream Cheese

60g Caster Sugar 

350g Digestive Biscuits 

125g Butter

½Tsp Nutmeg

1 Banana

1 Pot of Caramel Dipping Sauce*

Method:

Place the biscuits in a bag and get out the frustration ... bash to smithereens 

Add the nutmeg

Add the butter & mix in till all crumbs are coated

Line the base of the cake tin with greaseproof paper

Pour the biscuits in and use a fish slice to flatten

Like so & place in the fridge for 1 hour

Spoon over the caramel sauce

Spread over the biscuit base and place in the fridge for 30 minutes

In a bowl place the marscapone, cream cheese & sugar 

Mix till combined 

Take the biscuit and caramel base out of the fridge after 30 minutes and smooth over the cheese topping

Smooth over using the spatula
Place in the fridge for 2 hours

Slice the banana and layer around the edge of the cheesecake and in the center

Warm the caramel dipping sauce in the microwave for 30 seconds. Drizzle over the bananas 

Enjoy... 

*cheat ingredient...it's not a sin to open a tin!

Courgette and Lemon Cake

I am currently on the annual grand family holiday in North Devon. Having a beautiful week relaxing from the humdrum of London. Devon, apart from baking, is my tonic for life. Staying at the beautiful Upcott Farm it is easy to unwind and of course, bake!

With a glut of courgettes having been bought from home, I thought I would share this deliciously moist cake, that is super easy to make, makes you feel good about getting one of your five-a-day and doesn't taste like a vegetable!

Serves 8-12

Depending on your generosity

Pre-heat the oven to 170°C

Bake to perfection for 45 minutes

You will need the following:

Cake Sponge

125g Soft Unsalted Butter 

50g Olive Oil

180g Golden Caster Sugar 

3 Free Range Eggs 

2 Medium-sized Courgettes, finely grated

Zest and Juice of 1/2 a Lemon

175g Self Raising Flour 

Filling

4Tbsp Lemon Curd

Icing

50g White Chocolate

50ml Single Cream

200g Icing Sugar

1Tbsp Lemon Curd for drizzling

8inch Spring Form Tin 

 

Method:

 In a bowl mix the oil, butter and sugar

Until pale and fluffy

Add in the three eggs, one at a time

Until combined 

Using the fine grater, finely grate the two courgettes. Keep the skins on the courgettes to create a bit of texture and colour in the cake. 

Gather the grated courgettes in your hands and over a sink, squeeze out the excess water

Fold in the grated, squeezed courgettes

Add the grated lemon zest and juice

Sift in the flour, adding a third at a time. Fold into the mixture

Pour your mix into the tin and bake in the oven, on the middle shelf 

Take your cake out of the oven to rest for 20 minutes. 

After 20 minutes remove the tin side and allow to cool for a further 20 minutes before taking off the bottom of the tin

Once removed from the base of the tin, cut the cake in half using a bread knife

Add the lemon curd to the base layer

Then sandwich the second layer ontop

In a bowl sift the icing sugar in and pour in the cream, then mix

Melt the chocolate for 1 minute and stir into the icing mix, leave to cool for 10 minutes  

Then decorate your cake with the icing sugar and drizzle with the extra lemon curd

Enjoy ...

All American Cookies

Independence Day tomorrow.... a great excuse to bake. Tomorrow for me means a day of not doing business with America and most probably dealing with the frustrating repercussions of a National Holiday over the pond.

I thought I would use it as an excuse to bake some much needed treats at work. It seems like the majority of my department are out on holiday so the rest of the force needs some extra sugar to keep up with the extra work! The housemates seemed to enjoy these too...

Strawberries, white chocolate and some squiggly blue icing make a perfect independence day bake...

Makes 12-15 Cookies

(depending on how much big you make your cookies and how much mixture you eat whilst making)

Pre-heat the oven to 180°C

Bake to Perfection for 8 minutes

You will need the following:

190g Butter

190g Caster Sugar

225g Self Raising Flour

1tsp Vanilla Essence

125g of White Chocolate

6 Strawberries, finely diced

1pinch of salt

Blue Decorating Icing

Method: 

Melt the butter and mix together with the sugar & vanilla essence

Add in the flour & salt and mix well

Next add a pinch of salt

Add the chocolate and Strawberries

Spoon small dollops onto a tray roughly 1-2 inches apart

&

Bake to perfect for 8 minutes

Remove from the oven and allow to cool

Once hardened, artfully drizzle over some blue icing

Enjoy...