A festive round-up!

Well, that's it. After weeks of planning and going a little crazy; Christmas is all over. I've had a lovely few days spent with the family, eating, drinking, eating some more and laughing a whole lot. I also managed to squeeze in a little bit of baking so I thought I food round-up would be a good idea. 

Christmas Pudding! 

You may remember a couple of months ago myself and my mum rallied together and made our pudding. Well, we dug it out from under the bed, steamed it for a couple more hours and then set it alight! I have to say, it was bloody good pud. I also whipped up some brandy butter to go with it. Very easy: 4oz butter, 4oz icing sugar and a healthy splash of brandy. Whisk it up, pop in the fridge to chill and tuck in when needed. 


 

Before and during. After was just an empty plate. 








Boxing Day Buns. 

Christmas pudding and mince pies get a little rich after a while, so for those of you who want something sweet but light; whip up a batch of cake mix, make some buns and enjoy! (It was just your standard 4 & 2, eggs, butter, sugar, flour and cocoa powder). 

I did actually help me Aunty out and make some gooey, chocolate pots. They're amazing. Light, chocolatey and melt in the mouth. I don't actually know the recipe, but when I find it I'll upload it. 

Well my dears, I hope you all had a marvellous Christmas and I hope you're not suffering nearly as much as I am. 

I shall be back in the kitchen very soon, trying out all my new utensils! TTFN x

Merry Christmas!

To everyone that's casts glance at this little blog, I thank you and wish you a very merry Christmas!
I hope you all get lots of lovely things, drink plenty, eat more and have a wonderful time!

X

Pince Mies!

Or to the normal people out there; Mince Pies!

Okay, so they may not be very original but every year we the British public consume something like 70million of the little buggers. Going by that judgement, I think it's fair to say we like Mince pies. 
The past two-three years I've made most of mine; it's fun, easy and you come away with the sense of achievement! Last year I actually made my own mincemeat, however due to a lack of time, this year I flaked out and went with the shop brought stuff. Still tasty though. (I thought I'd made a post about it, I didn't, but I will). 

Anyways! Time to get baking. This mix makes 12 reasonably sized pies. 

Ingredients:
-8oz plain flour
-4oz butter
-3oz caster sugar
-1 egg
-optional flavourings (I've used a tsp of vanilla essence). 

The Making Of:
-Pre-heat the oven to 160c
-In a large bowl, crumb together the flour and butter. Then mix in the sugar
-Crack the egg in and knead into a soft dough. Whilst kneading, add the flavouring. 
Just an FYI; if you're mixing by hand, the feeling when you burst the egg yolk isn't pleasant. 
-Once the dough is formed, wrap it up in cling film and pop in the fridge for around 10mins. 
-Whilst your dough is in the fridge, line your baking tray (a bun tin will do nicely) with butter and flour. 
-After 10mins, get your dough out, unwrap it and roll it out on a floured surface. You'll want to split the dough 60/40; the larger lump for the base of the pies, the smaller lump for the lids. Using a suitable cutter (I used two different sized glasses), cut the bottom circles out and pop into the tin. 
-Fill it up with a healthy tsp of mincemeat, brush the edges with milk and pop the lids on. 
-Brush each pie with milk, poke a couple of holes in and pop them in the oven! 
-Bake for approx. 20mins; you want the pastry to be firm and golden brown. 

Enjoy hot with cream, brandy butter, custard or on their own with a dusting of icing sugar!

Giving the gift of food; part two!

So, with a week left until Christmas it seemed only right to actually start baking some presents! Although, unfortunately I've still got a way to go! 

First up; Shortbread biscuits. It was a bit of a cop out really, but when you're posting them to friends and family, it makes a lot more sense. I've just used the same recipe as the Halloween ones, so head over there and you'll be sorted. But of course, use Christmas cutters, not Halloween ones! 

Secondly (and a lot more fiddly), miniature Christmas Puds! 
I'll come clean and admit that I've pinched the idea from a certain Mrs Lawson, but when I saw them I thought, "ugh, amazeballs!". So they were added to the list of baked presents. 
It's actually quite a simple recipe, but it requires a little bit of patience. 

What you'll need:
-350g of Christmas Pud (last years left over, or one from the shop)
-125g dark chocolate
-60ml of sherry
-2 large tbsp of golden syrup
-100g of white chocolate
-green + red icing/glacier cherries 


And....GO!
-First up, the pudding. If you've brought one you'll need to cook it and then let it cool completely. If not, crumble it up into a bowl. 
-Melt the dark chocolate ban-marie style.
-In the bowl: mix the pudding, syrup, sherry and chocolate together. Mix until it's all gloopy and folded into each other. 
-Now comes the fiddly part. Scoop up little handfuls of the mixture, and roll into neat balls. Neat being the operative word, as you'll see, mine aren't. But then, at least you can tell they're handmade! ha!
-Once they're all rolled, pop them on a plate, cover in cling film and whack in the fridge for about 15mins to harden up. 
-Whilst they're toughening up, you can melt the white chocolate and then let that sit for about 10mins. Makes it a little easier to play with. 
-Get your puds out, put a dollop of white chocolate on each and then decorate with either the icing or cherries. Nigella seemed to make it harder for herself but cutting out tiny holly and ivies; I went for the easier route and used the little tubes of piping icing. Personally, I think they look pretty darn cute!

I'm not giving these away until the end of the week, so to make sure they're truly set, I'm leaving them in the fridge. Nigella doesn't say how long to leave them in the fridge, but I'm guessing, if you're planning on the distributing them sooner than myself; leave them at least a day. You don't want to risk them falling apart!


Now, go share your baking wonders! 

Santa's Buns!

This really is my favourite time of the year as far as baking's concerned. There's just so much fun you can have with it!
On today's menu: edible Santa hats! I actually made these last year, they were such a success that I thought I may as well make them again.

Ingredients: (it's just a basic cake mix, so this is super easy)
Makes 12 little buns
-2 eggs
-4oz butter
-4oz caster sugar
-4oz SR flour
-1tsp vanilla essence
-Double/whipped cream
-Fresh strawberries

The fun part:
-Pre-heat the oven to 150c
-Cream together the butter and sugar
-Mix in the eggs (making sure not to curdle)
-Add the flour and vanilla; mix together until it's light and creamy
-Spoon the cake mix into individual bun cases, and then pop in the oven. Bake for approx. 30-40mins, or until golden brown on top and firm in the middle.

The topping:
-If you're using double cream, you'll need to whip it up until it's firm and peaky.
-Wash your strawberries, and chop in half
-Once the buns are cool you can add a dollop of cream to each bun, pop on a strawberry and finish off with a bit of cream on top. Repeat until they're all done.

As it's fresh cream and fruit, you'll want to store them in the fridge. But of course, you can always eat them quickly before ruining the cream! Would be rude not to!

Enjoy!

Give the gift of food!

This year for Christmas I've decided to make things a lot more personal. Instead of just thought out shop presents, I'm adding some homemade goodies to the mix as well. It's a fun, personal and slightly cheaper option. 

I'm making up a couple of hampers for family (a mix of baked goods and shop goods), I'm also sending boxes of Gingerbread Men and other Christmassy biscuits to friends and family who live further away from me. I digress...first of my list of things to make is; jam! You can make a variety of jams/preserves/pickles - neither of which will go to waste over Christmas, especially with all the leftovers! 

This is my first jam attempt, so I actually used a recipe from the internet. But it's tasty and so easy! 

What you'll need:

- Two-four jars (is your jars are small, you'll be able to spread the mix out more)

- 5 Bananas, chopped

- 100g of dark chocolate (70% cocoa)

- 200ml of water (room temp)

- 50ml of Ameretto

- 420g caster sugar (the online recipe actually said to use organic, cane sugar - but caster works just as well)

Let the fun begin:

*First off you'll need to sterilise the jars, so: Pre-heat your oven to 130o/gas mark 1, take the lids off, place them on a baking tray and pop in the oven for 15mins. Once they're out of the oven make sure you don't put your hands inside the jar. *

-In a large saucepan and on a low heat, pop in the water, sugar and bananas. Bring to a rolling boil and stir constantly. 

-Once the mix is clear and the bananas are pretty soft, add in the roughly chopped chocolate. Keep stirring until all the chocolate is melted.

-When it's all mixed in together and gooey, take the pan off the heat and stir in the ameretto. 

-Using a jug/funnel pour the hot mixture into your jars. Close the lids and let it cool. If you have some left over, keep it in a jar and save it for yourself. You can then store the jam in a cool, dry place. I've made mine up early so the alcohol can ferment a little. 

Now, the jars on their own are pretty boring so I suggest you get some festive paper, wrap the lids and use some cute tags to label it. 

Your jam is now ready for Christmas! 

IT'S CHRISSTMAAAASSS!!

It may only be the first of December, but as far as I'm concerned, Christmas has arrived! 
Admittedly I've not been this keen for Christmas since I was about 12, so it's good to feel in the spirit of things. A little tidbit for you; there's a good chance I'll be making things (decorations, presents etc) and not just food, so they'll be posted on here too :)

Right. Now, then....Christmas baking; let's begin!

First on the list is: Gingerbread biscuits. 

Ingredients:
- 1 cup of plain/SR flour (I used SR so they're all big and fluffy)
- 50g of butter
- half a cup of brown sugar
- 1 egg, beaten
- 1tsp of bicarbonate soda
- 1tsp of ginger
- half tsp of ground cloves - if you don't like cloves, use nutmeg/cinnamon. 
- pinch of salt

The baking part:
- pre-heat the oven to 190c
- In a bowl (I finally christened my Cath Kidston one!!): mix the flour, bicarbonate of soda and spices together
- Rub in the butter so that the mix becomes like breadcrumbs, then add the sugar. Mix together.
- Add the egg to your mix, this is where it gets messy. You want it to form a dough, but it's so sticky that you'll want to have some extra flour on hand to form the dough a little easier. 
- Once you've managed to peel the goo off your hands, on a floured surface roll out the dough to approx. 3mm. Keep your rolling pin and surface floured - otherwise you wont be a happy baker!
- Pop in the oven on a greased tray and bake for approx. 15mins - or until golden brown. 

Decorating:
I used Dr Oetkers's little tubes of piping icing; you can buy packs of 5 in various colours. 
Before you start making them look pretty though, make sure you wait for them to cool down. Then, get arty! 

These will also make great little extra presents; personalised things always go down so well. Especially when they taste good!