Thursday, November 29, 2007

Tablet/SA Fudge

1 teacup of milk
Large tin of condensed milk
900g of sugar
100g of butter

Tablet Cooking Directions:
1. Melt the butter and sugar. Add the condensed milk and the teacup of milk.
2. Stir and turn up the heat and keep stirring until it reaches boiling point.
3. Turn the heat down low and stir for 45 minutes (chair and book optional!)
4. Remove from the heat and beat 60 times with a wooden spoon. Put a wee bit on a plate and if it sets then it's ready to be put onto the shallow trays.
5. Score the tablet surface marking into squares and allow to set and get cold.



South African fudge

Ingredients
4 cups sugar (4X 250ml)
1 cup milk (1X 250ml)
125g butter
5ml vanilla essence
1 tin condensed milk

Method
In a large pot, pour in sugar, milk, butter and vanilla essence.
Turn the heat on to medium, and bring to the boil, stirring with a wooden spoon.
When the sugar has dissolved, pour in the condensed milk and bring to the boil.
Reduce the heat so that the mixture boils slowly (too quickly and it will burn).
Stir continuously with a wooden spoon, in a figure 8, for about 30 to 40min.
Make sure you keep the mixture moving.When the mixture "looks right" test it by pouring a small amount into a glass of clear water.
If it sets, then the mixture is ready.
Alternatively, dip a clean spoon into the mixture, and see if it sets on the spoon.
Pour into a greased braking tray / rectangular dish, and allow to cool.
Before it sets hard, cut into squares.

Thursday, June 14, 2007

Tortilla Pizza

2 Tortilla Wraps
Pizza tomato topping
Grated Cheese (moazzarella, cheddar etc)
Any veggies or meat toppings you wish

Cover one wrap with the tomato topping and then spread grated cheese over it.
Then put another wrap on top and cover like it's a pizza again.
Bake in an oven of 200 degrees or gas mark 6 for 10 minutes and then cut up.
Quicky easy new version of pizza and my 2 love it.
You could add in some toppings etc like ham and pineapple or veggies.
Dh likes his inside like a Quesdilla while my kids like to put some on top instead

Thursday, May 10, 2007

Cake Competition

It's school fair time again. The cake competition is taking place with the theme of "The Secret Garden". Not expecting either to win but the taking part should be fun.

MMurray made his secret garden with a big mud pile


Eilidh's is a bit more covered with floral ways.

Tuesday, April 24, 2007

Chocolate Orange Cheese cake

Ingredients
Base (personally doubled all these and made a thicker base)
4 tbsp butter, melted
115g/4oz digestive biscuits, finely crushed
2 tsp unsweetened cocoa powder

Chocolate Layer
800g/1lb mascarpone cheese
200g/7oz icing sugar
juice of 1/2 orange
finely grated rind of 1 orange
175g/6oz dark chocolate, melted

1. Grease an 8inch loose-bottomed cake tin.
2. To make the base, put the crushed biscuits, cocoa powder and melted butter in a large bowl and mix well. Press evenly onto base of tin.
3. Put the mascarpone and icing sugar into a bowl and stir in orange juice and rind. Add the melted chocolate and mix together until thoroughly combined.
4. Spread over base and chill in fridge for at least 4 hrs.

Friday, April 06, 2007

Millionair Shortbread

For the shortbread -
400 gr plain flour
250 gr butter
140 gr caster sugar

For the caramel -
1 tin Nestlé sweetened condensed milk
200 gr butter
200 gr caster sugar

For the chocolate topping -
500 gr chocolate of choice (never tried white chocolate, but both milk and plain are good)

Preheat oven to 180 °C
Grease 2 swiss roll tins
Combine all shortbread ingredients (I use a mixer) until it's like fine breadcrumbs.
Divide into 2 and press down into the 2 tins.
I use a rolling pin to get it nicely squashed down and level.
Prick with a fork and put in oven for about 20 minutes - should be very lightly browned and still soft (but will harden on cooling).
Leave to cool.
Put the caramel ingredients in a thick based pan, melt (taking care that it doesn't burn) then once melted bring to boil, stirring all the time.
Once boiling, turn down heat and keep stirring while it boils until it thickens and is pale brown in colour. (Probably about 10 minutes from first boil).
Cool slightly.
Melt chocolate (in a bowl over a pan of simmering water - bowl must not touch the water) and pour over the two tins of shortbread.
Leave to cool.
To cut - cut down the edges of the tins and tip out onto a chopping board.
Cut into squares, rectangles, whatever.
Keeps well in the fridge for a while or can be frozen too

Thursday, March 08, 2007

A Couple of Lost Recipes

Used to use a fantastic recipe book when I worked and was in a nursery this week where they had it.

Biscuits

125g Butter
175g Plain White Flour
50g Caster Sugar
Vanilla essence

Oven 180oC

Put butter into the bowl and stir until soft
Add flour sugar and vanilla essence
Mix altogetheruntil it begins to come together like dough
Roll out and cut with shapes
Bake for 10 minutes or until golden brown.


Banana and Sultana Teabread

3 medium bananas
60 mls thick honey
juice of 1/2 lemon
125g Margarine
225g S R Flour
5mls Baking Powder
125g Caster Sugar
2 eggs
50g Sultanas

180oC

Peek Bananas and mash with honey and lemon juice
Add Margarine and mash in
Add all remaining ingredients and beat together with a wooden spoon
Spoon into the baking tin and make a shallow hole in the middle
Bake for 1 hour 15 mins or until golden

Friday, February 16, 2007

Chocolate Chip Cookies

Ingredients:

250g plain/self-raising flour
2g baking soda (not necessary if using self-raising flour)
3g salt 170g unsalted butter,
melted 220g packed brown sugar
100g white sugar
15ml vanilla extract
1 egg1 egg yolk
335g chocolate chips (use white, milk or plain chocolate - doesn't matter which, or even if it's all three. But whichever you use, that's 3 bags of the Supercook ones)

Method:
1-Preheat oven to 165°C, grease baking sheets or line with baking parchment
2-Sift together flour, baking soda and salt, set aside.
3-In a medium bowl, cream together the melted butter and sugars until well blended.
4-Beat in the vanilla, egg, and egg yolk until light and creamy. Mix in the sifted ingredients until just blended.
5-Stir in the chocolate chips by hand using a wooden spoon. Drop cookies 1 tbsp at a time onto baking sheet about 3 inches apart.

Cooking:
Bake for 15-17 minutes, or until the edges are lightly toasted. Cool on baking sheets for a few minutes before transferring onto wire racks.
This will give you big cookies. However, if you want little ones, use a teaspoon to measure out each one and put them a couple of inches apart. This quantity will make up to 6 dozen soft cookies, but if you're making little ones, heat the oven to 180°C and reduce the cooking time to 6 minutes.

Chocolate Chip Cookies

Ingredients:

250g plain/self-raising flour
2g baking soda (not necessary if using self-raising flour)
3g salt 170g unsalted butter,
melted 220g packed brown sugar
100g white sugar
15ml vanilla extract
1 egg1 egg yolk
335g chocolate chips (use white, milk or plain chocolate - doesn't matter which, or even if it's all three. But whichever you use, that's 3 bags of the Supercook ones)

Method:
1-Preheat oven to 165°C, grease baking sheets or line with baking parchment
2-Sift together flour, baking soda and salt, set aside.
3-In a medium bowl, cream together the melted butter and sugars until well blended.
4-Beat in the vanilla, egg, and egg yolk until light and creamy. Mix in the sifted ingredients until just blended.
5-Stir in the chocolate chips by hand using a wooden spoon. Drop cookies 1 tbsp at a time onto baking sheet about 3 inches apart.

Cooking:
Bake for 15-17 minutes, or until the edges are lightly toasted. Cool on baking sheets for a few minutes before transferring onto wire racks.
This will give you big cookies. However, if you want little ones, use a teaspoon to measure out each one and put them a couple of inches apart. This quantity will make up to 6 dozen soft cookies, but if you're making little ones, heat the oven to 180°C and reduce the cooking time to 6 minutes.

Wednesday, February 14, 2007

Mango Chicken

1 large mango
• 6 mild Peppadew peppers (these are available in jars in most supermarkets)
• 3 tbsp mango chutney
• 100g / 4oz Greek yoghurt
• 2 tsp Chinese five-spice powder
• 2 tsp flour• ½ lemon, juice only
• salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 4 chicken breasts, skinless and boneless
• 1 tbsp sunflower oil
• 1 tbsp honey

TO GARNISH
• 2 Peppadew peppers, thinly sliced
• fresh parsley, chopped

METHOD
• Cut the mango in half lengthways, on either side of the stone. Peel the fruit and cut into fairly large pieces.• Place half of the mango pieces into a food processor, keeping back the more even-sized pieces. Add the Peppadew peppers, mango chutney, yoghurt, five-spice powder, flour and lemon juice and blend until fairly smooth. Season with salt and freshly ground black pepper.• Cut the chicken breasts into pencil-thin strips and season with salt and freshly ground black pepper. • Heat a large, non-stick frying pan over a high heat. Add the oil and the strips of chicken, spread evenly around the pan and pour over the honey.
• Fry briskly over a high heat for about 2-3 mins until browned and just cooked (if you have a small frying pan you will need to do this in two batches).
• Pour the mango sauce over the chicken in the pan and stir until the sauce has thickened and is bubbling. Stir in the reserved pieces of mango.
• Check the seasoning and adjust if necessary then transfer to a serving dish and top with the sliced Peppadew peppers and sprinkle with parsley.• Serve with boiled rice.

Orange Drizzle Cake

Orange Drizzle Cake
2 Oranges,
6oz butter,
6oz sugar,
6oz S.R flour,
3 eggs
4oz sugar,
4oz chocolate,
1oz butter
Cream, butter and sugar until soft,
fold in flour,
add beaten eggs one at a time until cake is a soft, dropping consistency.
Stir in zest from both oranges.
Put into a lined 1lb loaf tin.
Bake at 180 degrees C, gas mark 4 for one hour.
Leave to cool in the tin.
Make a syrup from the juice of the two oranges and 4oz sugar by simmering in a pan until sugar is dissolved.
Leave the cake in the tin, and puncture holes all over it with a cocktail stick.
Gradually pour the syrup over so it soaks the cake evenly.
Cool.
Melt chocolate and butter together, spread over the top of cake.
Leave to set, then peel off lining paper and serve.

Caramel Apple Pudding

I would use a large tin of apples, so you would have to poach them first. And also, lol, I don't think I have ever made this in the UK, so not sure if caramel essence is easily available. (would probably work just as well with pears)

PUDDING
50g Margarine
200g sugar
3 eggs
120g flour
2 tsp baking powder
pinch salt
60ml milk
1 can (825g) apples

Cream margarine and sugar.
Add eggs one at a time, beating well in between.
Add sifted dry ingredients and milk alternately.
Pour into an overproof dish.
Spread aples over mixture.
Bake at 200 degrees for about 40 minutes (obviously this could vary, lol)

SAUCE
100g sugar
50g margarine
60ml milk
1 tsp Caramel Essence
Place all sauce ingredients in a pan.
Stir over medium heat until margarine has melted.
Pour sauce over pudding as soon as it comes out of the oven.

Saturday, February 10, 2007

Chocolate Banana Cake

2 large ripe bananas
1/2 tsp vanilla flavouring
175g butter225g granulated sugar
275g self raising flour
1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
3 eggs (beaten)
100g chocolate chips

Grease and line a 8 inch cake tin with greased greaseproof paper.

Peel the bananas and mash until smooth in a small bowl with vanilla flavouring.

Gently heat the butter and sugar in a saucepan until dissolved. Remove from heat and stir in flour and soda. Beat in eggs and mashed banana. Cool slightly. Stir in chocolate chips, and spoon into tin.

Cook at 170C for 35 mins or until skewer inserted into center of cake comes out clean.

Decorate with melted chocolate and bananas if you wish.

Serve with whipped cream as a pudding or on it's own as a cake.

Friday, February 02, 2007

Cheese sauce

*** 1 tablespoon of cornflour to ¼ pint milk, adding a little drymustard powder if liked and seasoning to taste. Mix the cornflour to apaste with a little of the milk, heat the rest to nearly boiling point.Add the HOT to the COLD, (not the other way around) stirring as you do,then return the mixture to the pan. heat slowly, stirring constantlyuntil the mixture thickens, simmer for a minute ir so, still stirring,then take off the heat and add the cheese - stron is best.

Sauce Recipes

Creamy Mushroom Sauce

As with so many things in cooking and in life, the key to this sauce is patience and confidence. Don't rush it and don't panic and you shouldn't have a problem.

You need:A good few handfuls of any mushroom sliced thinly.
25g (about 1heaped tbsp) flour or cornflour
1/2 pint of milk15g butterolive oilsalt and pepper
Melt the butter in a pan with some olive oil to stop it from burning.
Sauté the mushrooms until soft and coloured remove from the pan and set aside.
Turn off the heat under the pan.
Add the milk and flour and whisk.
Turn the heat back on but onto a very low flame.
Whisk the sauce frequently but not too vigorously and it will thicken up right before your eyes. It needs to cook for about 10 mins to cook out the flour taste.
This is a basic white sauce.
A nice little variation is to bung in a tsp of mustard (english is best), it gives the sauce a certain something.
Some torn basil is great too.
Once you are happy with it, return the mushrooms to the pan, allow to heat through, season to taste .
Serve over freshly boiled conchigle (pasta shells) as they hold large amounts of sauce.
No burnt bits, no lumps, no fuss.

Saturday, January 20, 2007

Biscuit Recipe's

Biscuits
225g Plain Flour
110g caster sugar
110g Cold butter cut into squares
1 medium egg mixed with a teaspoon of water

Mix flour, sugar and butter together and rub together using your fingers(You could whizz up in food processor if wanted) until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs.
Add the egg and mix until it becomes a ball.
On a lightly floured surface roll dough out until it is about 1cm thickness.
Use a cutter to cut out a shape and place on a greased baking tray.
Bake in an oven of 180 degrees/gas mark 4 for 10-15 minutes.
Although in my oven they took around 20 to get them a nice golden brown.
When cold you can then ice if you wish or just eat plain as they are nice that way too.

Cake Recipes

Fairy Cakes
100g SR flour
100g Butter
100g Caster Sugar
2 medium eggs

Mix softened butter and sugar together.
Beat eggs, add 1/2 eggs and sift the flour through a sieve and add half flour and mix well.
Add rest of egg and the flour and beat well.
Put into the fairy cake cases and bake for around 10 minutes or until golden brown in an oven 160 degrees or gas mark 3.

Traybake Recipes

Aero Bars
Ingredients
1 large mint aero
4oz margarine
4oz caster sugar
1 beaten egg
2 dssp drinking chocolate
9oz rich tea biscuits, crushedchocolate to cover
Method
1. melt aero bar, margarine and sugar in a saucepan over a low heat.
2. Add drinking chocolate and egg and cook
3. Add crushed biscuits and stir in.
4. Press into baking tray and cover with chocolate.
5. Allow to set and cut into squares.

Malteser traybake
Ingredients
4oz margarine
3tbsp syrup
5oz milk cooking chocolate
8oz maltesers, cut in half
8oz rich tea biscuits
cooking chocolate to cover
Method
1. melt the margarine, syrup and chocolate in a saucepan over a low heat.
2. Add the maltesers and crushed biscuits.
3. Mix well and spread into a baking tray.
4. Cover with chocolate and sprinkle with extra crushed maltesers (optional).
5. Allow to set and cut into squares.Baking tray = swiss roll tray (I think?)


MALTEESER CAKE

Crush ½ lb. Digestive Biscuits
½ lb. bag of Malteesers

Melt in pan (or microwave)
3oz Margarine
½ lb. Chocolate mix together

Add ½ Large Tin Condensed Milk
Or 1 Small Tin

When all this smooth add dry ingredients to this.
Smooth into oblong deep tin.
Melt another ½ lb. chocolate and cover.
Cut into squares and keep in fridge.

Scone Recipes

Fruit scones
8oz self rasing flour,
50g butter
50g caster sugar
50g dried fruit
milk to bind
Rub fat into flour, add sugar, add milk and mix to form dough. roll out to about 1.5cm thick. Cut into rounds, place on abking tray. Bake at 220oC/gas 7 for 12-15 mins.


cheese scones
8oz/225g self raising flour.
2oz/50g butter
good pinch of dry mustard powder
pinch salt
2oz/50g strong cheddar, grated
1 egg, beaten with heavy dash of milk
blend butter into flour, stir in mustard powder and salt. Stir in cheese. Blend with the egg and milk to form a stiff dough. Roll on a floured surface until about 1.5cm think, cut into rounds using a cookie cutter. Place on a baking tray. Brush with milk or egg to glaze.
Bake at 220oC/gas7 for 12-15 mins until risen and golden.

Fruit Socnes
Ingredients
225g/8oz self-raising flour
40g/1½oz caster sugar
75g/3oz butter at room temperature
50g/2oz mixed dried fruit
1 egg, beaten
3-4 tbsp buttermilk, to mix
a little extra flour for dusting tops
pinch of salt
You will also need a lighlty greased baking sheet and a 5cm/2in cutter.

Method

Preheat the oven to 220C/425F/Gas 7.
Begin by sifting the flour and salt into a bowl and sprinkling in the sugar, then rub the butter in lightly until the mixture looks crumbly.
Sprinkle in the dried fruit, pour in the beaten egg, and add 3 tbsp of the buttermilk.
Start to mix the dough with a knife and finish off with your hands - it should be soft but not sticky, so add more milk, a teaspoon at a time, if the dough seems too dry.
Next, form the dough into a ball and turn it out on to a lightly floured working surface.
Now roll it out very lightly to a round at least 2.5cm/1in thick, then cut the scones out by placing the cutter on the dough and giving it a sharp tap.
Don't twist the cutter, just push the dough out, then carry on until you are left only with trimmings - roll these and cut an extra scone.
Place the scones on the lightly greased baking sheet and dust lightly with the extra flour. Bake them in the top half of the oven for 10-12 minutes or until they are well risen and golden brown. After that remove them to a cooling tray and serve very fresh, split and spread with butter.
NOTE: Scones do not keep well so are best eaten on the day they're made. Any left over, however, will freeze perfectly well.