We don't do Valentines in this house but if we did....

Me and Paul have never celebrated Valentine's day, apart from the cheesiness of it all, the anniversary of our first meeting is the week after so in true cheapskate fashion we love to buy cut priced flowers, eat in crowd free restaurants, and get to choose from all the leftover bargains! 

Yesterday, Paul had a raging hangover thanks to Mr Gaze and spent the day on the sofa. Not one to miss an opportunity to do nothing I thought I'd waste a day in the kitchen making something different.  Now my baking is usually fast, filling and not too expensive, a habit that started when I worked full time and had 4 lunch boxes to fill and the girl's friends to feed. But I'd been looking through Ruth Clemens Valentine baking recommendations and decided to try my hand as some of them.  She's a self confessed girly glam rebel, I'm not... so I thought it would be a bit of a challenge... my attention span isn't all that good!!!!

I decided to made a batch of these Vanilla Sugar Cookies They were quite time consuming, what with chill time and rolling them between greaseproof paper etc... but I stuck with it, cut them into heart shapes, pricked them all round with a fork, and they turned out quite well!

They are a bit sweet for my liking but looked pretty, had a lovely vanilla flavour (Thanks Caroline!) and a great crunch. So, what to do with all these cookies?  I decided to give some away to friends at church who make my working life that little bit easier. They've all been so supportive over the last couple of months. Working in a parish is definitely a team job, lots of people give their time to make it all run smoothly, this in turn makes my job easier... so thank you... I think they turned out lovely!  I made little boxes made out of old copies of Good Food Magazines and lined them with pink tissue!

After I'd completed these I thought I'd do a few for Paul... as I said we're not your regular romantic couple!!!

His tasty Valentine treat!!

Broccoli Ham & Cheese Parcels

These are one of the kid’s favourite snacks. When they were little we used to buy them from a local pastry shop, however they stopped making them and I had to resort to making them myself. Simply steam small florets of broccoli, fry off a handful of lardons and mix with a homemade thick cheese sauce, using a large scoop place in the centre of a square of ready rolled puff pastry. Fold up the corners to make a parcel, brush with an egg wash and place in a hot oven 200c for 15-20 mins until golden brown and the filling is bubbling! Great hot, just as nice cold the next day in a lunch box!

Another great filling for these is the pampered chef hot broccoli dip recipe, any leftovers work really well in these.

A rack or two of homemade cookies!

I was at a pampered chef show last Friday and met a lovely young girl call Em. While I was setting up she was telling me about her healthy eating week at school and how she had tried dried cranberries for the first time and she liked them. I told her about my cranberry and white chocolate cookie recipe, how they are crispy on the edges but soft and chewy in the middle. She asked me for the recipe and after I had emailed it to her, she text me a photo of her efforts...they looked just like mine and as soon as I find the lead for my phone, I will post her photos!

These are mine...white chocolate and cranberry and milk chocolate chip and macadamia nut.

Find the recipe here

Evenly cooked Flapjacks

1 cup Butter. (roughly 8oz!!!)
1 cup Demerara Sugar.
6 tablespoons Golden Syrup.
4 cups porridge Oats.
¾ cup of flavouring. (I use my favourite muesli but you could add dried fruit)

1. Preheat oven to 180c degrees.
2. Measure dry ingredients using the Easy Read Measuring Cups.
3. Use the kitchen spritzer to lightly oil a medium bar pan
4. Melt butter in a 2.8l pan and stir in the sugar and syrup. (use Measure-All Cup to weigh the golden syrup)
5. Add the oats and flavourings and stir well.
6. Using the large spreader press mixture evenly over the greased medium bar pan and smooth over.
7. Bake for 20 mins.
8. Cool for 15 minutes and score into bars with the pizza cutter.
9. When completely cool turn out.

*Medium bar pan cooks everything evenly, no more burnt edges and soggy middles!*Recipe is made easy by measuring in cups

Pampered Chef 'Jaffa Cake' Tarts

Regular readers and friends of my children will know that I don't like to give my kids processed food. Everything they ask for I usually find a homemade alternative. These were a massive hit!!

Quick and easy to use in my Deluxe Mini Muffin Pan

Shortcrust pastry, dibbed out into the deluxe mini muffin pan, filled with orange shred less marmalade and cooked until the pastry is golden. Remove from oven and top with dark chocolate drops, the heat of the marmalade will melt the chocolate. These are great eaten while the chocolate is still warm (warning - make sure the marmalade has cool sufficiently) but they are Divine when the chocolate is cold and cracks when cold!

Brocolli Ham and Cheese Squares

Bex is the Mac 'n' Cheese queen and makes a mean cheese sauce from scratch, there is always leftovers in the fridge which they use to make these simple lunch time treats. Its also a great way to get them to eat broccoli as it is so finely chopped they get the goodness without the big tree crunchy bits!!! [Their words not mine!]

Unroll the puff pastry squares, cut into squares, score a frame for the filling and top with finely chopped broccoli, diced ham which has been mixed into the cheese sauce. There are no quantities for this recipe its just all done by eye!

Bake in a hot oven for 15-20 minutes until golden brown and bubbling on top. Great served cold in a lunch box too!

Chocolate Muffins for the lunchboxes

Here is the link to the recipe Best Ever and Most Versatile Muffins

Lunch box time again!

It's the start of the new term and its all about the lunch boxes. The kids usually take sandwiches or pasta with a piece of homemade cake and a piece of fruit [if I'm lucky] with a fromage fraise and an innocent drink. [the new blueberry being the favourite at the moment] Us grown ups like to stay clear of the bread and tend to take salads or soups. This is a spare salmon fillet that was cooked with last nights salmon and cabbage dish, cooled and stored in the fridge overnight then I topped a regular lettuce, tomato, cucumber salad with it the next morning. If you add mayo put it under the salmon that way it won't get all over your lunch box lid. If you serve it with an oily dressing, put it in a separate little pot or empty mustard pot jar and dress just before eating otherwise it will make your salad go soggy!

Jo made herself supper

She's made these many times before, but cooking it on the stone made so much difference, they are usually quite soggy in the middle, but this time they were crispy on the top AND the bottom.
She simple rolled out the ready made flaky pastry, cut it into squares, halved a few cherry tomatoes, added mature cheddar and sprinkled with mixed herbs then baked for 15 minutes on a medium hot oven -about 200c.
They were so nice, she took one to school for lunch - she said it was just as nice cold.

NOT IPD Friendly - I however am still on the pink path!

Basic Quiche - with Salmon & Broccoli...

...sans Broccoli (its still sat in the microwave - I forgot to add it - ok!) lol

This was an interesting recipe to do. I have done a crust-less quiche before but never one with a nut crust. It looked good and the smell was pretty good also. My quiche dish was the same size as Bee’s recommended spring form tin and the recibee says 3 large eggs; it took 4 measly medium ones to fill my tin. She knows what she’s taking about our Bee!!

Cooked it for exactly 35 minutes and Voila!!

I wasn’t too keen on it hot, the base was very crumbly (as the butter was hot) but when it cooled, it held together perfectly and I liked it better that way. Paul thought it was nice either way…it would have been better with the broccoli in it…but hey, I can’t remember EVERYTHING I was also cooking the kids tea at the same time!

Is that homemade mayonaise I can see on the plate??

Fat Free Malt Loaf

This recipe came with my breadmaker but is a bake only recipe as you mix it by hand.


340g Self Raising Flour
45g Dark Brown Sugar
130g Sultanas
225ml Skimmed Milk
1 1/2 tbsp Malt Extract
1 1/2 tbsp Golden Syrup

1. Place flour, sugar and sultanas ina bowl and mix
2. Add the skimmed milk, malt extract and gloden syrup and mix thoroughly with a wooden spoon,, (the mixture will be very stiff)
3. Place the tin back inthe bread maker and set the program to 'bake only'
4. Set timer for 1 hour 10 minutes
5. When programme has finished, remove from tin and cool on a wire rack.

I think the next time I bake this I will add more fruit, other than that it turned out really nice. slightly hard crust, soft centre, great malt flavour and good texture....fat free too so you can have two pieces!!!

Joy's Supreme Sausage Rolls

Follow the link for Joy's recipe for Joy's supreme sausage rolls .

Mine don't look too friendly but the taste and texture is wonderful. Such a simple recipe but a real treat, you've got to try them.

Chocolate Chocolate Cup Cakes

Lunchbox specials...special because Jo-Jo made them! Chocolate fairy cakes with chocolate icing and decorated with hundreds and thousands. Looks a bit overly sweet but a much better option than a shop bought cake.

Coconut Biscuits

Lunch box goodies

Sam Stern's Apple Cake

Our second Tuesday at cookery club saw us making Apple cake. These photo's are of the cake I made the night before. The children's cakes looked a little different!!!
We made two cake, both looked and tasted very different. The children are aged 8 - 10 and have a varied skill level, once the cakes were in the oven and the kids were cleaning up we over heard them discussing the recipe. One whispered to her friend, oops, I think I put a tablespoon of mixed spice in my cake instead of a teaspoon!” Two boys were trying to decide if they had put the baking powder in their cake…all in all good fun and a huge learning curve.

Great texture

While we waited for them to cook we went on Sam Stern’s web site where we left him a message telling him what we are doing this term. I hope he gets back to us as the kids are really excited!
This is proving to be so much fun!

Dusted with icing sugar - I served this with pouring cream

1 ½ lb cooking apples
30z butter
1 tbsp lemon or orange marmalade
6 oz soft brown sugar
2 large eggs
8 oz plain flour
2 tsp baking powder
½ tsp ground mixed spice
½ tsp ground cinnamon
1-2 tbsp milk
Grated rid of 1 lemon
Icing sugar for dusting.

1. Preheat oven to 180c
2. Grease and line a 8” round deep loose bottomed cake tin
3. Peel, core and chop the apples into small dices
4. Beat the sugar and butter until soft and pale
5. Add egg little at a time until all beaten in
6. Sift flour, baking powder and spices into the mixture
7. Fold in with a large metal spoon until mixes
8. Gently fold in the marmalade and rind
9. Add the apple and fold in gently,
10.Add a little milk if the mixture isn’t soft enough to just drop off the spoon
11.Bake for 1 hour or until it is tested with a skewer and it comes out clean.
12. Leave to cool13. Sieve icing sugar over the top before serving.

Sam Sterns Flap Jacks

I help out at the after school cookery club in the primary school where I work as a learning support worker. This half term we are working through the chapter called 'school recovery' in Sam Stern's first book, 'Cooking up a Storm'

The first week we made flapjack. One batch of plain and another of apricot. They were delicous! My favourtie was the apricot ones, they were softer almost chewy...very morish! Photo isn't the best but I'm surprised I managed to snap it before it was eaten.

175g soft brown sugar
175g butter
1 tablespoon golden syrup
275g porridge oats
1 teaspoon ground ginger (optional) but I'd say it's a must!

Method:
Grease a 20cm square baking tin measuring about 4cm deep with a bit of extra butter.
Put the sugar, butter and syrup to melt in a large saucepan, over a gentle heat. Stir with a wooden spoon.
Remove the pan from the heat. Tip the oats into the pan. Add the ginger (if using).
Mix well.
Pour the mixture into your prepared tin.
Use your hands or a spatula to level it off.
Leave to stand for 15 minutes.
Preheat the oven to 150 degrees centigrade/gas 2 while the mixture is standing.
Bake for at least 40 minutes, till golden and still a little soft in the middle.
The mixture will firm up as it cools.
Leave to cool in the tin.
When the mixture has cooled slightly, cut it into squares.
Take them out when cold and firm.

Chocolate Chip Cookies

See more photos here

Very versatile, you can play around with the flavours, add smarties, nuts, plain chocolate chips, white chips and they all turn out just fine.

 

3/4 cup butter
3/4 cup sugar
1 1/2 tbsp golden syrup (use a Pampered Chef measure all to get the quantity correct!)
1 cup Self raising flour (make it a heaped cup!)
1/2 cup chocolate chips

1. Pre heat oven to 180c.
2. Beat butter and sugar together until creamy
3. Beat in golden syrup.
4. mix in half the flour
5. Stir in chocolate chips *
6. Mix in remaining flour
7. Work dough together with your hands then divide into 14 balls.
8. Place well apart on a medium sheet pan – don’t flatten **.
9. Cook for 12 minutes
10. Cool on the tray first then on a wire rack.

*Variations:.
Plain chocolate chip and orange zest.
White chocolate chip and raspberries / cranberries.
Chocolate chips and nuts.
Raisins.

 

** At this stage you can open freeze them, then cook from frozen for 14 minutes.

The recipe double very easily. I triple the recipe then

Nutty Flapjacks

4oz margarine
1 tbsp golden syrup
4oz sugar
2oz oats
2oz SR Flour
3oz crushed cornflakes

1. Mix margarine and syrup together very gently
2. Mix the dry ingredients pour on the margarine mixture and mix well
3. Spread evenly in a greased Swiss roll tin and press down firmly
4. Bake in a moderately hot oven 190c for about 20 mins.
5. cut into fingers while warm