Because nut allergies have such an alarming reaction, my children's school has a blanket ban on anything containing nuts in lunch boxes. This isn't a particular big deal as they can always have nutty snacks when they get home from school. However, it does tend to mean that during term time I don't make nutty cakes and bakes because I'm busy making non-nutty things for their pack lunches.
Anyway, it's been half-term holiday this week so a good excuse to make some nutty flapjacks.
Seed and nut flapjacks
4 oz (110g) butter
4 oz (110g) golden syrup
2 oz (55g) light brown sugar
6oz (170g) oats
2 oz (55g) pumpkin and/or sunflower seeds
1 oz (25g) desiccated coconut
1 oz (25g) plain flour
2 oz (55g) chopped dried apricots
2 oz (55g) crunchy peanut butter
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
Preheat oven to 160°C (gas 3) and grease a suitable tin. Place the butter, syrup and sugar in a large pan and melt together over a gentle heat. Add all the other ingredients and stir until well combined. Press into the tin and bake for 15 to 20 minutes then cut into slices before cooling.
Friday, 20 February 2009
Monday, 16 February 2009
Lemon biscuits
I'm in the process of writing another Wholesome Home mini recipe book at the moment. There are quite a few of these now - chutney, jam, soup, cakes, muffins, flapjacks, special occasions etc. What is clearly missing is a book on biscuits. This is missing because I didn't think I made a big enough selection of biscuits to warrant a recipe book. But in fact when I sat down and listed my favourite biscuit recipes I quickly came up with a list of 12 - enough to get started - and I have been adding more as I remember old favourites.
It doesn't take a particularly long time to type up a recipe but compiling the books is a lengthier process than you might imagine because I like to check all recipes as I include them in a book. The only way to check the recipe is to make up a batch, of course - something my family don't complain about, but even so there are only so many biscuits they can eat in a week so it can take weeks to check all the recipes. At the same time, I take a photo of each finished biscuit - a real photo of the real biscuits in an ordinary situation - not a perfect biscuit in a staged setting that is no longer edible by the end of the photo shoot.
So a very biscuity season is install for my family for the next few weeks. At the moment they are all enjoying my lemon sandwich biscuits.
Lemon Sandwich Biscuits
4 oz (110g) butter
2 oz (55g) caster sugar
1 lemon
3 oz (85g) plain flour
2 oz (55g) wholemeal flour
1 oz (25g) oat bran
¼ teaspoon baking powder
1 oz (25g) butter or margarine
¼ oz (6g) corn flour
2 oz (55g) icing sugar
Preheat oven to 180°C, gas 4 and grease a large baking sheet. Cream together the butter and the sugar until light and fluffy. Add the grated rind of the lemon plus the juice from half the lemon to the creamed mix and stir well. Add the flours, oat bran and baking powder and combine to form a soft dough. Roll out the dough on a floured surface and cut into squares 3 cm by 3 cm. Bake for 10 to 15 minutes until golden brown then cool on a wire rack. In the meantime, cream together the remaining butter/margarine with the corn flour, icing sugar and the juice of half a lemon. Once the biscuits are cool, smear the cream mixture onto a biscuit and stick another one onto it. Repeat until all the biscuits are paired.
It doesn't take a particularly long time to type up a recipe but compiling the books is a lengthier process than you might imagine because I like to check all recipes as I include them in a book. The only way to check the recipe is to make up a batch, of course - something my family don't complain about, but even so there are only so many biscuits they can eat in a week so it can take weeks to check all the recipes. At the same time, I take a photo of each finished biscuit - a real photo of the real biscuits in an ordinary situation - not a perfect biscuit in a staged setting that is no longer edible by the end of the photo shoot.
So a very biscuity season is install for my family for the next few weeks. At the moment they are all enjoying my lemon sandwich biscuits.
Lemon Sandwich Biscuits
4 oz (110g) butter
2 oz (55g) caster sugar
1 lemon
3 oz (85g) plain flour
2 oz (55g) wholemeal flour
1 oz (25g) oat bran
¼ teaspoon baking powder
1 oz (25g) butter or margarine
¼ oz (6g) corn flour
2 oz (55g) icing sugar
Preheat oven to 180°C, gas 4 and grease a large baking sheet. Cream together the butter and the sugar until light and fluffy. Add the grated rind of the lemon plus the juice from half the lemon to the creamed mix and stir well. Add the flours, oat bran and baking powder and combine to form a soft dough. Roll out the dough on a floured surface and cut into squares 3 cm by 3 cm. Bake for 10 to 15 minutes until golden brown then cool on a wire rack. In the meantime, cream together the remaining butter/margarine with the corn flour, icing sugar and the juice of half a lemon. Once the biscuits are cool, smear the cream mixture onto a biscuit and stick another one onto it. Repeat until all the biscuits are paired.
Friday, 13 February 2009
Home made ready meals - part 2
When I was in the supermarket earlier this week I spent several minutes trying to decide whether to buy 6 eggs or 12. I figured I needed more than 6 but I didn't want as many as 12. I picked up a dozen in the end and it was just as well as now I only have one egg left in the fridge. It's been a busy week for baking.
Yesterday I continued my theme of home made ready meals by making two potato and leek pasties and a quiche. All, bar one slice of quiche (irresistable!), went into the freezer. If you have only ever tasted shop made quiche you would be forgiven for thinking you didn't like the stuff. It has a weird flavour but it is nothing like the delicious version you can make at home. I was fortunate enough to be brought up on my mum's home made version so I have always loved quiche. Unfortunately, in recent years I have developed a dairy intolerance which has stopped me eating it. Luckily, my discovery of soya alternative to cream has put quiche back on the menu. It tastes just the same and I figure with a lower saturated fat content, it is healthier too.
Making a quiche from scratch is fairly time consuming but the pastry is much better if home made. Of course, like pizza, there are any number of different versions depending on what ingredients you add to it but here's my favourite recipe.
Ham & Mushroom Quiche (serves 4)
4 oz (110g) plain flour
4 oz (110g) wholemeal flour
4 oz (110g) butter or margarine
3 oz (85g) smoked gammon or 4 rashers of smoked bacon, finely chopped
2 oz (55g) mushrooms, chopped
2 oz (55g) tinned sweetcorn
Grated Cheddar cheese
250ml soya or single cream
2 eggs
Black pepper
Sift the flours into a bowl and mix in the butter/margarine until it has the consistency of breadcrumbs. Splash in a little cold water until it is wet enough to bind the mixture into dough. Wrap in Clingfilm and refrigerate for half an hour. Preheat an oven to 190°C and grease a suitable tin or pie dish. Roll out the pastry on a floured surface and line the tin with the pastry, trimming to fit. Cover the pastry with greaseproof or baking paper and weight it down with baking beans. Blind bake the pastry for 15 minutes.
Put the ham, mushroom and sweetcorn into the pastry case and grate in some cheese. Beat the eggs with the cream and season then pour this into the pastry case. Level out the filling and grate a little more cheese over the top. Bake for 30 minutes until the filling has set. Serve hot or allow to cool, cut into portions and freeze. Thaw and reheat in the overn or microwave.
Yesterday I continued my theme of home made ready meals by making two potato and leek pasties and a quiche. All, bar one slice of quiche (irresistable!), went into the freezer. If you have only ever tasted shop made quiche you would be forgiven for thinking you didn't like the stuff. It has a weird flavour but it is nothing like the delicious version you can make at home. I was fortunate enough to be brought up on my mum's home made version so I have always loved quiche. Unfortunately, in recent years I have developed a dairy intolerance which has stopped me eating it. Luckily, my discovery of soya alternative to cream has put quiche back on the menu. It tastes just the same and I figure with a lower saturated fat content, it is healthier too.
Making a quiche from scratch is fairly time consuming but the pastry is much better if home made. Of course, like pizza, there are any number of different versions depending on what ingredients you add to it but here's my favourite recipe.
Ham & Mushroom Quiche (serves 4)
4 oz (110g) plain flour
4 oz (110g) wholemeal flour
4 oz (110g) butter or margarine
3 oz (85g) smoked gammon or 4 rashers of smoked bacon, finely chopped
2 oz (55g) mushrooms, chopped
2 oz (55g) tinned sweetcorn
Grated Cheddar cheese
250ml soya or single cream
2 eggs
Black pepper
Sift the flours into a bowl and mix in the butter/margarine until it has the consistency of breadcrumbs. Splash in a little cold water until it is wet enough to bind the mixture into dough. Wrap in Clingfilm and refrigerate for half an hour. Preheat an oven to 190°C and grease a suitable tin or pie dish. Roll out the pastry on a floured surface and line the tin with the pastry, trimming to fit. Cover the pastry with greaseproof or baking paper and weight it down with baking beans. Blind bake the pastry for 15 minutes.
Put the ham, mushroom and sweetcorn into the pastry case and grate in some cheese. Beat the eggs with the cream and season then pour this into the pastry case. Level out the filling and grate a little more cheese over the top. Bake for 30 minutes until the filling has set. Serve hot or allow to cool, cut into portions and freeze. Thaw and reheat in the overn or microwave.
Wednesday, 11 February 2009
Home made ready meals
I love making home made ready meals. On the surface it seems like a strange concept. Surely the whole point of a ready meal is that there is no cooking involved? There are problems with shop bought ready meals, not least that they often taste nasty. They also have a huge carbon footprint and come with masses of packaging. That's not to say that I would never use a ready meal. They have a place in my lifestyle when we go away on a self-catering caravan or cottage holiday where the kitchen is basic and where, quite frankly, I'm on holiday and would rather not cook and wash up every day!
So how does a home made ready meal work? It is perhaps a bit ridiculous but if you make something one day then put in the freezer for a week, a month or whatever then heat it and eat it another day the separation between the effort and the eating makes it feel as if it were effortless. I have all sorts of things in my freezer that work like that: home-made chips from home grown potatoes, similarly, roast potatoes, various pasta meals, humus, pate, pies, pizzas etc.
One of my stock items is sausage rolls. My girls love these and there are so easy to make that it is slightly mad to consider buying them. Half a block of ready made puff pastry, a pack of sausage meat and some milk or egg to stick and glaze. Cut them up and freeze them on a tray then the next day dispense them into a bag. 10 minutes job done. Cook from frozen for 25 minutes at 200C.
Today I'm making crispy duck legs. Duck has got to be my all time favourite meat but it is more expensive than chicken so either I have to wait for it to be reduced or I have to make sure I make a lot of use of whatever I buy. This week duck legs were reduced by 50p so I bought two packs of two legs. There is a fair bit of preparation involved but most of it is time where you can leave it and get on with the rest of your life. Firstly arrange the legs on a tray and sprinkle with salt, pepper, five spice powder and a bit of brown sugar. Cover with Clingfilm and refrigerate overnight. This helps extract water out of the skin. Now wash off this curing mix and pat dry with kitchen paper. Leave the legs out, covered with kitchen paper for about an hour to dry the skin further then sprinkle on some more salt, pepper and five spice powder and cook in the oven for an hour and a half at 160C, basting once. Pour off the excess fat into a suitable plastic container and refrigerate. This fat can be used to cook roast potatoes or to make bird cakes to feed the birds. Cool the legs on a rack then freeze in pairs. When ready, thaw the legs and cook at 200C for 20 to 25 minutes. Serve with a stir fry and rice.
So how does a home made ready meal work? It is perhaps a bit ridiculous but if you make something one day then put in the freezer for a week, a month or whatever then heat it and eat it another day the separation between the effort and the eating makes it feel as if it were effortless. I have all sorts of things in my freezer that work like that: home-made chips from home grown potatoes, similarly, roast potatoes, various pasta meals, humus, pate, pies, pizzas etc.
One of my stock items is sausage rolls. My girls love these and there are so easy to make that it is slightly mad to consider buying them. Half a block of ready made puff pastry, a pack of sausage meat and some milk or egg to stick and glaze. Cut them up and freeze them on a tray then the next day dispense them into a bag. 10 minutes job done. Cook from frozen for 25 minutes at 200C.
Today I'm making crispy duck legs. Duck has got to be my all time favourite meat but it is more expensive than chicken so either I have to wait for it to be reduced or I have to make sure I make a lot of use of whatever I buy. This week duck legs were reduced by 50p so I bought two packs of two legs. There is a fair bit of preparation involved but most of it is time where you can leave it and get on with the rest of your life. Firstly arrange the legs on a tray and sprinkle with salt, pepper, five spice powder and a bit of brown sugar. Cover with Clingfilm and refrigerate overnight. This helps extract water out of the skin. Now wash off this curing mix and pat dry with kitchen paper. Leave the legs out, covered with kitchen paper for about an hour to dry the skin further then sprinkle on some more salt, pepper and five spice powder and cook in the oven for an hour and a half at 160C, basting once. Pour off the excess fat into a suitable plastic container and refrigerate. This fat can be used to cook roast potatoes or to make bird cakes to feed the birds. Cool the legs on a rack then freeze in pairs. When ready, thaw the legs and cook at 200C for 20 to 25 minutes. Serve with a stir fry and rice.
Monday, 2 February 2009
Proper snow
It was nice to have some proper snow today for a change. If it is going to snow and cause problems it might as well do it in a big way so that you can make a decent snowman. It took an hour for me to get home with my girls after picking them up from school. Not because of traffic chaos or unpassable roads but because we took our time. We walked home, stopping to throw snowballs at garden walls and school friends, to make footprints in fresh snow, to make snow angels, snow castles and a snowman. By 4 o'clock the cold had crept through our soggy gloves and hats and it was time to go indoors. A house that had seemed chilly when I left it now felt warm and cosy. We stripped off our snowy clothes and snuggled up in fluffy dressing gowns and blankets. By now the girls were thirsty and hungry. I asked them what they wanted to eat and was somewhat surprised by the unanimous reply of "ice-cream!"
Sunday, 1 February 2009
Lunch box preparations
It is a common misconception that a weekend is 2 days long. It is in fact only a day and half long because Sunday afternoon is spent preparing for Monday morning, to be ready for school and work. In my case, some of Sunday is spent making up lunchboxes but before this I like to make some nice things to go into the lunchboxes. Yesterday, I made the spiced seeds and today it was fruit salads and biscuits.
I returned from the supermarket with some fresh and some tinned fruit and after lunch I put together some little pots of fruit salads for my daughters. Something like 3 cubes of melon, a grape cut in half, a slice of tinned peach, cut into smaller pieces, and 3 chunks of pineapple. It's enough to give them a portion of fruit but not so much they don't fancy eating it. I made 8 pots and stuck them in the freezer. Now all I have to do is put one in the lunchbox when required and it will be thawed by lunchtime.
That done, I made a batch of Nig Nogs. Nig Nogs are something from my childhood that hold fond memories. I don't know where my grandma found the recipe or why it was named such but once she had introduced us to Nig Nogs they soon became a essential requirement for every visit. After she died, I took charge of her recipe books and soon resurrected this favourite biscuit. I fiddled a little with the recipe (I can't help it), reducing the sugar and adding oat bran but they have now become a firm favourite with my family. Firm is a good word too because they are robust enough to withstand a morning in a lunchbox, yet with a deliciously soft centre.
Nig Nogs (makes 10-12)
3½ oz (100g) plain flour
3½ oz (100g) oats
2¾ oz (75g) dessicated coconut
2¾ oz (75g) light muscovado sugar
1 oz (25g) oat bran
4½ oz (125g) margarine or butter
1 tablespoon black treacle
Preheat oven to 190°C (gas 5) and grease a baking tray. Add all the dry ingredients to a bowl and stir. Pour the black treacle into a saucepan or microwaveable bowl and add the margarine or butter to it. Either over a low heat or with 30 seconds in the microwave, melt together the margarine and treacle. Pour this mixture over the dry ingredients and stir well until fully combined. Using your hands, pull out small quantities of the mixture at a time and form into a ball size of a small egg in your palm. Flatten the ball slightly and place it on the baking tray. Continue to do this until all the mixture is used. The biscuits do not spread so there is no need to leave space much between the biscuits. Bake in the centre of the oven for 15 to 20 minutes until golden brown. Remove from the tray and cool on a wire rack.
I returned from the supermarket with some fresh and some tinned fruit and after lunch I put together some little pots of fruit salads for my daughters. Something like 3 cubes of melon, a grape cut in half, a slice of tinned peach, cut into smaller pieces, and 3 chunks of pineapple. It's enough to give them a portion of fruit but not so much they don't fancy eating it. I made 8 pots and stuck them in the freezer. Now all I have to do is put one in the lunchbox when required and it will be thawed by lunchtime.
That done, I made a batch of Nig Nogs. Nig Nogs are something from my childhood that hold fond memories. I don't know where my grandma found the recipe or why it was named such but once she had introduced us to Nig Nogs they soon became a essential requirement for every visit. After she died, I took charge of her recipe books and soon resurrected this favourite biscuit. I fiddled a little with the recipe (I can't help it), reducing the sugar and adding oat bran but they have now become a firm favourite with my family. Firm is a good word too because they are robust enough to withstand a morning in a lunchbox, yet with a deliciously soft centre.
Nig Nogs (makes 10-12)
3½ oz (100g) plain flour
3½ oz (100g) oats
2¾ oz (75g) dessicated coconut
2¾ oz (75g) light muscovado sugar
1 oz (25g) oat bran
4½ oz (125g) margarine or butter
1 tablespoon black treacle
Preheat oven to 190°C (gas 5) and grease a baking tray. Add all the dry ingredients to a bowl and stir. Pour the black treacle into a saucepan or microwaveable bowl and add the margarine or butter to it. Either over a low heat or with 30 seconds in the microwave, melt together the margarine and treacle. Pour this mixture over the dry ingredients and stir well until fully combined. Using your hands, pull out small quantities of the mixture at a time and form into a ball size of a small egg in your palm. Flatten the ball slightly and place it on the baking tray. Continue to do this until all the mixture is used. The biscuits do not spread so there is no need to leave space much between the biscuits. Bake in the centre of the oven for 15 to 20 minutes until golden brown. Remove from the tray and cool on a wire rack.
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