Keep Calm...and Bake on...

As lockdown continues, I’ve been spending some time in the kitchen baking.  As we needed a change of taste one Saturday, I baked pizza three ways.  The first was feta cheese and tomato on a hummus base; the second sausage with spring onion on harissa and the third, pepperoni and goat’s cheese with red pepper, also on harissa.

Good Friday found me in the kitchen baking Hot Cross Buns.  These didn’t last long!

And my favourite Easter treat - chocolate cupcakes with a chocolate ganache and mini eggs.  (I managed to save some of these and had one, complete with a candle, on my birthday, which was Easter Monday.)

Yesterday, I made a marzipan fruitcake from a Nigella Lawson recipe - I’ve made this before and it’s a favourite.  Then I tried a new recipe for malt loaf.  This was absolutely delicious still-warm from the oven with butter.

I managed to save the marzipan fruitcake until this afternoon, when I served it with a cup of Yorkshire Gold tea.  

How are you getting through lockdown and what are you baking?

Stir-Up Sunday

Today is Stir-Up Sunday, so it’s time to make my Christmas puddings.  I prepared the dried fruit last night and soaked it in brandy.  

Flour, sugar, spices and vegetable suet were mixed before adding the liquid, which consisted of eggs, milk and alcohol.

In a break from tradition, I used a different pudding recipe this year, loosely based on Emma Bridgewater’s recipe, which you can find here.  I tweaked it a bit, changing some of the fruit and my choice of alcohol.

The reason for the change is mostly because of the disappointing results that I had last year when using currants.  It doesn’t seem to make any difference where I buy them, as they are all gritty and full of stalks.  I’ve tried picking through the fruit in advance of using it, but it has been impossible to get rid of every bit and so I’ve opted for a change.  

This last photo is of one of the smaller puddings after it cooked for two hours.  Emma’s recipe is more than generous and made two small and one medium-sized pudding.  Good news, as I have some spare for a pre-Christmas tasting.

Mince Pies

As we have been having such cold weather, it feels more like late December, so I decided that it was time for some mince pies.  I bought a jar of mincemeat this morning and I remembered to buy an orange, as the pastry recipe I use contains freshly squeezed orange juice.

This is definitely slow baking.  First the fat and flour mixture is chilled in the freezer for 20 minutes and the orange juice is chilled in the fridge.  Then, once the pastry is formed, it is returned to the fridge for a further 20 minutes.

The anticipation was mounting as the aroma of Christmas spices filled the kitchen.  Once out of the oven and slightly cooled, they were dusted with icing sugar and enjoyed whilst still slightly warm.

There’s nothing better than a freshly-baked mince pie with a cup of Yorkshire Gold tea.  

Christmas Is Coming...

As the weeks pass, I’m busy feeding our Christmas cake with brandy.  It’s getting two tablespoons per week, so it should be well-preserved, though it won’t last long once Christmas arrives.

The Acadian Kitchen

The Acadian Kitchen is a book that I found at our local library.  I was intrigued, so I placed a hold and collected it at the weekend.   

One of the recipes included in this book is for oatmeal cookies.  Not a recipe that I would immediately associate with Acadian cooking, but there is a link between early French settlers and the early Scottish settlers in the Maritimes, with a mingling of cuisine.

I’ve never made a recipe for oatcakes that included eggs, but this one made a lovely light and tasty biscuit.  Vanilla extract was yet another unexpected, but tasty, twist.

I’m looking forward to trying some of the other recipes before this book returns to the library.

Strawberry Swiss Roll

I love the flavour of fresh local strawberries in summer.  I recently acquired a copy of The National Trust Cookbook and couldn’t wait to try this recipe for strawberry Swiss roll.

First I baked the sponge and rolled it up, leaving it to cool for an hour.  Then I made the buttercream filling, which included some strawberry jam, hence the pink colour.

Once the buttercream had been added, it was sprinkled with fresh strawberries and rolled up again.  I must admit that the sponge was a bit heavier than expected, but I think that was due to the size of eggs that I used.  We buy fresh farm eggs, which are not only extra large, but many of them have double yolks.  Mr Candytuft described it as ‘Omelette cake’, but still managed to eat most of it!

Easter

Well, Easter has come and gone and it is still cold and miserable here - we had sleet again this morning.  I’m wondering if spring will ever arrive.  

I did do a bit of baking for Easter - hot cross buns from Mary Berry’s recipe, which turned out great and were delicious.  Also, our favourite chocolate Easter cupcakes.

The weeks have passed by in a blur and I was surprised to find that I’ve only posted on my blog five times since January.  There has been a lot on my mind - more of which in the next post.

Channelling my Domestic Goddess

There are days when only chocolate will do and I’ve had a few of them recently.   This is a recipe that I’ve wanted to try for a long time - Nutella cupcakes. 

The cake mixture is added before warmed Nutella is swirled in with a skewer.  This is how they looked when they came out of the oven.  They were supposed to be iced with a Nutella and chocolate icing, but I had a disaster when it curdled - not exactly a domestic goddess moment.  Anyway, they were delicious without icing - light and fluffy with hints of Nutella throughout.  Perfect with a cup of Yorkshire Gold tea.

It's Never Too Early For A Mince Pie

The cold and snowy weather has had my thoughts turning to Christmas food and I had a sudden craving for a mince pie.

I'm not in the habit of baking mince pies in November, but I felt that we deserved a treat after the awful weather of last week.

I favour Nigella's recipe for mince pies and made the pastry with orange juice, hence the colour.

My mince pies are star-topped, so I cut the stars out of the pastry scraps left over from cutting the cases.

Once filled with mincemeat, the tops were added.

They came out of the oven looking like this.

I would normally add a festive dusting of icing sugar, but I had forgotten that I used it up and hadn't bought any more.  Still, they tasted great with a cup of tea.  I managed to stash a few in the freezer before Mr Candytuft ate them all!

Stir-Up Sunday

Today is Stir-Up Sunday, the day on which tradition dictates that we make our Christmas puddings.

I use the same recipe every year and there is something quite therapeutic about stirring all of the ingredients together and filling the pudding basins.

Once filled, a piece of baking parchment covers each of the puddings and then a foil lid is added.  I use the slow cooker for boiling the puddings, as it generates much less steam in the kitchen than steaming them on a pan.  After two hours, the puddings were cooked and two of them are now tucked away for Christmas...the third didn't last long enough to go into storage!

Christmas Kitchen

One of the joys of my preparations for Christmas is baking our Christmas cake.  This year’s cake came out better than ever.  

I find that baking a fruit cake in a new oven can be a case of trial and error, so last year’s cake was a little overcooked.  This year, I used an oven thermometer, set the temperature lower than the recipe recommended (our oven seems to be hotter than it should be) and kept a very close eye on it from about three hours into the baking time.  It was definitely worth the effort.

Our cake is all tucked up in greaseproof paper and comes out weekly for a feed of brandy.  It is the aroma of Christmas.

Scandinavian Christmas

One of the joys of the Christmas season is baking.  I love this book, which I received as a Christmas gift last year. I didn't have an opportunity to try any of the recipes at the time, so I decided to get a head-start this year and try a simple cake recipe.

I chose Nana's Apricot Cake, which is the sort of recipe my own Nana might have made.  I produced two apricot loaves, one of which is now safely tucked up in the freezer as one of our Christmas teatime treats.  This is one of those recipes which improves with age, if you can manage to keep the cake for a day or two.

If you fancy trying it for yourself, you can read the recipe if you enlarge the photo.  I did tweak it a little, as I added vanilla essence to what would have otherwise been a plain cake.  I can highly recommend it.

Raspberry Scones

This is one of my favourite recipes.  I’ve been baking raspberry scones on a regular basis and, as I’m the only person who likes raspberries, I get to eat them all!  (I do make sultana scones as well, for Mr Candytuft.)

They freeze well, so I can thaw them in the oven and enjoy a warm raspberry scone whenever I fancy.  Anyone for a cup of tea?

Hot Cross Buns

I spent some time baking today.  Making hot cross buns is a lengthy process, but so worthwhile.

I love hot cross buns and Good Friday is the only time that I make them.  To make good buns, it is necessary to allow the dough to rise three times, which takes up to three hours.

They were ready just in time for a cup of afternoon tea and a still-warm bun, fresh from the oven.  After a month of healthy eating, this was a welcome treat.  

Wishing you all a happy Easter.

Winter Birthday Cake

Mr Candytuft celebrated his birthday yesterday, so I baked a cake.  I normally make variations on a chocolate theme but, this year, I decided to do something a little different.  I read about this fresh ginger cake, which was recommended by Mrs Tiggywinkle.

This recipe made the most delicious, yet light cake.  I’ve made ginger cakes before, but none this good.  I think that ginger is a perfect choice for a winter birthday, as it is warming and full of spice.  It went down really well with a cup of Yorkshire Gold tea.  Mr. Candytuft observed that it would have been even better with ice cream.

Happy New Year

The New Year has arrived and 2018 is underway.  A chocolate log was requested by Mr Candytuft, so I baked this one, though we had probably already had too much dessert over Christmas (I’ve stashed some of this in the freezer for another time).   

The tree has come down and the ornaments put away.  Life isn’t quite back to normal, mainly due to the weather with a major winter storm in the last day and a half.  We’ve been digging out today and it was hard work, as we had heavy, wet snow which felt like shovelling lead weights.  The residue of the storm resulted in winds which were so strong that we could barely stand up outside, due to 100 km/hour gusts.  What with the winds, and the ice underfoot, it made clearing up extremely hazardous.  With the mercury due to plummet tonight, we needed to clear up as much as possible.  

I read today that the Island is almost completely surrounded by ice, which is unusual for this early in the season.  In places it is about 30 cm thick.  It could be a long winter.

Wishing you all a Happy New Year and all the best for 2018.

   

Mince Pies

It wouldn't be Christmas without mince pies.  I remember a few years ago, when it was almost impossible to find mincemeat here.  I managed to buy a jar and set to work in my kitchen.  I used Nigella's pastry recipe and turned out two dozen.

I managed to take a photo before these ones were eaten and then put a few in the freezer before they were all gone.