Spiced seeds

Spiced seeds are a lunchbox essential for my husband and a batch lasts a week. So a weekend job is to make a new lot for the week ahead. They are dead easy to make and it takes less than 10 minutes so it's not that big a deal. The most time consuming part of it is trying to figure out which spice is which in my food cupboard as they all have the same black lid.

Spiced seeds

100-150g mixed seeds (pumpkin, sunflower and pine nuts)
A pinch of celery salt
A pinch of cumin
A pinch of turmeric
A pinch of paprika
Freshly ground black pepper
Salt
Olive oil

Place the seeds in a bowl and add all the other ingredients except for the oil and stir. Put some oil in a frying pan and heat. Add the seeds and stir. Fry for a few minutes until the pine nuts begin to brown and the pumpkin seeds begin to pop. Line the same bowl with a piece of kitchen towel and tip the seeds into the bowl and leave to cool. Store in an airtight container and eat as a snack.

All gone!

Saturday evening and all the shortbread have been eaten! What shall I make tomorrow?

Rapidly disappearing biscuits

At the beginning of this week I made a batch of shortbread as a gift for a friend. I didn't count how many biscuits it made but I gift wrapped 20 of them and put the remaining ones, maybe 14, into a box for my husband and two little girls to enjoy. They love my shortbread. A while ago I read in a magazine that you could make melt in the mouth shortbread by substituting the cornflour for custard powder. I had custard powder in my cupboard because I use it when making trifles so I tried it and it really worked! I don't know why it should work because the ingredients of custard powder are cornflour, salt and natural colour and flavourings, pretty much the same as the usual ingredients in shortbread.

Anyway, when the girls got home from school they each had a shortbread and then in the evening my husband sat down in from of the TV with the box and ate 5. The next morning the girls discovered the box next to the sofa. First they were shocked that Daddy had eaten in the living room (strictly forbidden since we had a new carpet laid at Christmas!), and then they noticed the lack of biscuits left in the box. "Greedy Daddy!" they exclaimed. Not to worry, I reassured them, when they run out I can make some more. It was the day after this that I had to make some more. So after school yesterday afternoon I made another batch of shortbread whilst the girls played mummys in the living room with a box of baby dolls. This time I informed them that there were 36 biscuits so even if Daddy did eat 5 there should be plenty left. But they were not reassured and insisted that I divided the biscuits into two boxes, one for them and one for Daddy because they thought it highly likely that Daddy would probably eat 8! Daddy doesn't know how many he ate last night because he wasn't counting but I don't expect them to last beyond the weekend.

Melt in Your Mouth Shortbread

4 oz (110g) butter
2 oz (55g) caster sugar
4 oz (110g) plain flour
2oz (55g) custard powder

Preheat oven to 180°C (gas 4). Grease a baking tray. In a bowl, cream together the butter and sugar. Sift over the flour and custard powder then use fingers to combine until it forms a soft dough ball. Roll out the dough and use pastry cutters to cut out biscuits. Place the biscuits on a baking tray and cook for 15 minutes until golden brown. Cool on a tray.

Doughnut substitute

Trying to have a healthy diet is all very well but sometimes I just fancy a doughnut. It's a funny thing really because most doughnuts are so, so horribly sweet that wanting to eat one is better than actually eating one. Nevertheless, the first bite is usually a pleasurable experience. Of course, the very best ones are those freshly cooked ones you can sometimes buy on markets; even better on a cold winter's day. Maybe it's the rarity of this experience that makes it so special. Anyway, if you'd like to recreate the warm, freshly cooked doughnut experience at home and not feel too bad about it, try this...

You will need a brioche roll (readily available in supermarkets), a jar of hazelnut chocolate spread (Green and Blacks is best), and a microwave. Slice the roll in half across the middle then reclose it. Place it in the microwave for 15 seconds. Open the roll up and let the steam disperse for about 1 minute then smear it was chocolate spread, close and eat. It's handy too because microwaving the brioche revives it no matter how stale it has gone. A delicious, indulgent mid morning or afternoon snack.