Wednesday 24 December 2014

Reindeer Doughnuts

Reindeer Doughnuts
The girls made some special Christmas Treats today. We made Nerdy Nummies Reindeer Doughnuts. These are so easy to make, the girls made them on their own.


What you need:
  • Chocolate covered mini doughnuts
  • Red smarties or m&ms - we used some brown ones too for the non-Rudolph reindeer.
  • Pretzels
  • White pearl sprinkles - I got Cake Angels Tuxedo sprinkles from Tesco and separated the white and black pearls.

Method
  • Break the pretzels into stick shapes for the antlers and push them into the doughnuts
  • Press the red smartie into the doughnut hole
  • Press the pearl sprinkles where the eyes should be, and you're done!


Rebecca's Teddy Bear Doughnut
Om, Nom, Nom!


Friday 19 December 2014

Oh Christmas Tree

Oh Christmas Tree
Over the past few years I've experimented with making baked gifts for people. It started when I was pregnant with Elizabeth and trying to save a bit of money, so I made Scottish Tablet and Macaroons for Jeff's family. And more recently it's been making gifts for the girl's teachers and childminder.

Last year I made gingerbread Christmas trees for Elizabeth's teachers. I decided to go one step further this year, and make 3D edible Christmas trees.

Gingerbread Ingredients - I got this recipe from the cookbook that came with my Andrew James food mixer

  • 1 medium egg
  • 305g plain flour
  • 1tsp bicarb of soda
  • 3tsp ground ginger
  • 115g soft butter
  • 175g soft brown sugar
  • 4tbsp golden syrup

Method

  • Preheat the oven to 165 (fan)
  • Break the egg into a cup and lightly whisk it
  • Add flour, bicarb, ginger to a bowl. Add the butter and mix it until it looks like breadcrumbs.
  • Add the sugar and mix.
  • Add the egg and syrup and mix. The recipe says to mix it until it becomes a soft dough, but I find it works better doing this part by hand.
  • Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and roll it out to a thickness of about 5mm. Cut out the shapes you need. I made my own template for the Christmas Trees.




  • Lift onto a lightly oiled/greased baking sheet. I use a silicon sheet and I don't need to grease it, they come off really easily.
  • Bake for about 12-15 minutes until pale golden brown.
  • Leave them to cool for a minute or two on the baking sheet. Then transfer onto a wire rack to cool completely. When cold, decorate as you like.


    • I had to do a bit of trimming because the mixture spread a little in the oven. When I did this when they were fresh, it was difficult to do, because they were crunchy and some parts just snapped off. When I completed the job the next day it was much easier as the biscuits had softened a little.


  • The 3D trees were covered in green icing and I added small colourful sprinkles to look like Christmas lights. I then "potted" them in a chocolate cupcake and covered the cake in white chocolate buttercream icing.

Chocolate cupcakes ingredients - Cupcakes from the Primrose Bakery

  • 115g dark chocolate (70% cocoa or more)
  • 85g unsalted butter, at room temp
  • 175g soft brown sugar
  • 2 large eggs separated
  • 185g plain flour
  • 3/4 tsp baking powder
  • 3/4 tsp bicarb of soda
  • Pinch of salt
  • 250ml semi skimmed milk
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract

Method

  • Preheat the oven to 170 (fan) and line a muffin tray with cupcake cases
  • Melt the chocolate - I do it in the microwave, 30 seconds at a time and stirring between. Leave it to cool slightly.
  • In a large bowl cream the butter and sugar until the mixture is pale and smooth (a few minutes with an electric mixer).
  • In a separate bowl beat the egg yolks until they are paler in colour and creamy. Add the eggs to the large bow and mix. Then add the melted chocolate and mix.
  • Combine the flour, bicarb, baking powder and salt in a separate bowl.
  • Put the milk in a jug and add the vanilla extract.
  • Add one third of the flour to the chocolate mixture, mix. Pour in one third of the milk mixture and mix. Repeat these steps until all the flour and milk have been added.
  • In a clean bowl whisk the egg whites until soft peaks start to form.
  • Carefully fold the egg whites into the batter using a metal spoon.
  • Spoon the mixture into the cupcake cases, filling them to about two thirds full.
  • Bake for about 20-25 minutes.
  • To check they are cooked, insert  a skewer into the centre of one of the cakes - it should come out clean.
  • Remove from the oven. Leave to cool in the tin for about 10 minutes. Then remove and place on a wire rack to cool.

White Chocolate Buttercream icing ingredients

  • 55g unsalted butter at room temp
  • 30ml semi-skimmed milk at room temp
  • 1/2 tsp canilla extract
  • 250g icing sugar
  • 100g white chocolate melted
  • 3tbsp double cream

Method

  • In a large mixing bowl, beat the butter, milk, vanilla and half of the icing sugar until smooth.
  • Gradually aff the remainder of the icing sugar and beat until smooth and creamy.
  • Add the cooled melted chocolate and cream to the buttercream mixture and beat until again smooth and creamy.


For the finishing touches I put the Christmas trees into small potting pots that I bought off amazon.

Friday 12 December 2014

Lasagne


Bolognese Sauce

  • 250 g lean steak mince
  • 1 tin of chopped tomatoes
  • 1 medium sized onion chopped
  • 1 carrot
  • 1 stick of celery
  • 2 tbsp tomato puree
  • 250 mls beef stock
  • A few sprigs of thyme
  • A bay leaf
  • Olive oil (although I sometimes use sunflower oil and sometimes marg)
  • 120 ml Red wine (optional - in my case depending on whether I have some in the house)
  • Salt and Pepper
  • Plus any other veg that's needing used up

Method:

  • Fry the onions in oil until soft
  • Add the mince, fry until it has browned
  • Add the tomato puree, give it a good mix
  • Add the tinned tomatoes and stock and mix
  • Add the rest of the vegetables, herbs and seasoning
  • Bring to the boil, then cover it and put it on the lowest heat to simmer for as long as possible! Probably at least an hour. I often let it thicken up with the lid off towards the end of cooking. But that's a judgement call.

I make a cheese sauce for my lasagne. This sauce is great for macaroni cheese.

Cheese Sauce

  • A knob of margarine (about 30/40g)
  • 2 heaped tsp plain flour
  • 70-100 g of your favourite cheddar grated - we like Red Leicester
  • About 120-150 ml milk

Method

  • Melt the marg in a small pot
  • Add the flour and mix until it all comes together
  • Add a small dash of milk and mix it until all the liquid has been absorbed. Repeat this until you have a runny liquid, probably double cream consistency.
  • Add the cheese and heat it up until the cheese has all melted and the mixture has thickened.

Next up is constructing your lasagne. I use a small casserole dish. You will need lasagne pasta obviously. But also I sometimes add a layer of pepperoni or chorizo if I have some in the fridge. It spices it up a little.

  • Put a layer of mince, then lasagne, then cheese sauce, mince, pepperoni/chorizo, lasagne, cheese sauce etc until the mixture is all used up. With the cheese sauce on top.
  • Cook it in the oven at about 160 (fan) for 40-45 minutes.

I usually serve it up with dough balls. But crusty bread is also good.

Friday 5 December 2014

Easy Cheesy Bread Rolls

Easy Cheesy Bread Rolls
Attempt 1
I made these rolls according to the recipe in Annabel Karmel's My Favourite Recipes.

Ingredients

  • 1x7g sachet of fast action yeast
  • 1tsp sugar
  • 150ml hand-hot water
  • 60g mature Cheddar cheese grated
  • 30g Parmesan cheese grated
  • 225g white bread flour
  • 1/4 tsp salt
  • 1tbsp sunflour oil
  • 1 egg, beaten for greasing
  • Seeds for sprinkling (I used sesame and poppy seeds)

Method
  1. Mix yeast, sugar and 3tbsp water in a bowl. Stir to dissolve the yeast. Leave it to stand for 5 minutes or until frothy.
  2. Stir together flour and salt in a large bowl. Make a well in the middle and add the oil, yeast mixture and water.
  3. Mix into a soft dough. Add more water if it is too dry.
  4. Turn onto a floured surface and knead until smooth - about 10 minutes.
  5. Pat the dough into a circle about 20cm (8in) across. Spread the cheese over it then fold the dough in half, then in half again so that the cheese is enclosed. Knead for 1-2 minutes.
  6. Divide into about 8 pieces. Shape them into balls and place on an oiled baking sheet.
  7. Leave to rise for about 45 minutes or until doubled in size.
  8. Preheat the oven to 200 degrees (180 fan). Brush with egg. Sprinkle with seeds. Bake for about 12-15 minutes.
This is a really good recipe to do with the children. My two especially loved kneading the dough, spreading the cheese onto the dough and making the dough balls. They made tiny ones, so I had to watch my time so they didn't over cook.
Jeff preferred these rolls to attempt 2.

Attempt 2 - Even easier cheesy bread rolls

I decided to try to make cheesy bread rolls using the Bridge Rolls recipe that I wrote about earlier in the year.
I followed the recipe as usual to make the dough. Once the dough was finished in the bread machine, I turned it out and split it in half. I used half of the dough to make normal rolls, and I used the other half to make cheesy rolls, following the method above from point 5 onwards.
I prefer the rolls done this way. They were easier to make and lighter to eat and the cheese taste was more subtle.
The girls still got to do knead the cheese into the dough and make the balls etc. So they were happy! And they each got cheesy rolls in their packed lunches.