Gingerbread People

A recipe from the Big Lunch because gingerbread men make most people smile and they're fun to make. This is a pretty rufty, tufty dough which can stand up to kiddies messing about with it, there's no messing about "making the mixture like small breadcrumbsetc" you just whack it in a mixer. As black treacle is used they do come out quite dark gingerbreads you can always use Golden syrup instead if you like them more pasty faced, I don't, I like a nice sun bronzed ginger myself. This works just as well in any shape so could be valentines cookies or alphabet letters, anything really.

Ingredients and how to make

•400g plain flour
•¾ tsp bicarbonate of soda
•2tsp ground ginger
•2tsp ground cinnamon
•½ tsp ground allspice
•¼ tsp ground nutmeg
•½ tsp salt
•180g unsalted butter, at room temperature
•125g soft dark brown sugar or dark muscovado sugar
•1 egg (always free range and preferably from a hen whose name you know)
•125g black treacle

•Sift together the flour, bicarbonate of soda, ginger, cinnamon, allspice, nutmeg and salt in a large bowl and set aside.

•Cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Then beat in the egg and treacle. Life’s short, so use a hand mixer.

•Slowly add the flour mixture a couple of tablespoons at a time, you have to stop quite a bit to scrape any unmixed ingredients from the side of the bowl. Once the dough has formed, take it out of the mixer, divide into 3 and wrap each piece in clingfilm- basically its easier to roll out in smaller chunks than one big one)

•Leave to rest overnight (if possible, unlikely in V world) in the fridge. If not just stick it in there for half an hour while you have a cup of tea and a biscuit.

•When you are ready to bake the cookies, preheat the oven to 170°C (325°F) Gas 3.

•Take the dough out of the fridge and leave to soften for about 10 minutes. Lightly dust a clean work surface with flour and roll out the dough to a thickness of about 4mm with a rolling pin. Cut out shapes with the biscuit cutters (they do make great Ginger people but also a tip for you single men out there - lovely hearts and flowers biscuits for Valentine’s Day). Pop some Smarties on for buttons if you fancy Arrange the cookies on the prepared baking trays and bake in the preheated oven for about 10–15 minutes.

•Leave the cookies to cool slightly on the trays before turning out onto a wire cooling rack to cool completely.

Decorating - now this is the fun bit. You can make your own icing of course but it's just as easy to buy the ready to pipe stuff in very handy tubes. For the Big Lunch I did all shapes and sizes. There was "Corporate Man" with his piped shirt collar and tie. "Y fronts man" who had Y fronts and a bow tie and "Medallion Man" who you guessed it sported his rather fetching gold neckchain.

There was also "Yummy Mummy" and "Granny Ginge" .One thing you learn when cutting out Ginger people is that as in life Gingerbread Women need lots more dough, they just do OK ;)

Happy Ginger baking

Lazy hazy strawberry days

One of the benefits of country life is the pure volume of farms, growing stuff, nice stuff and at the moment lots and lots of strawberries. I have some bushes of course planted when I was going through my "Good life" phase. They grew well this year and I'm sure that the birds enjoyed them. The birds it seems have some spooky sixth sense and know not only the precise moment of ripeness but also the precise moment to steal them before I manage to pick them. I've always been deeply suspicious of birds and it seems that I was copletely right to be.

In the absence of any produce from my own bushes it was off to a local strawberry fair to buy some, lots really and some very tasty Strawberry & Lavender Jam too. The strawberries were from Doddington Hall, where they have their own organic garden and grow very lovely if not completely perfectly shaped strawberries. Proper strawberries. That shine and are juicy. The best strawberries really.

Sunday was a lovely sunny day so time for strawberries with clotted cream and a chocolate dip (made from dark chocolate and double cream). There's something deliciously naughty about dunking strawberry's.

Of course I had to try some sort of baking involving strawberries and opted for strawberry & raspberry muffins. An experiment in strawberriness really. I made a couple with strawberry lavender jam hearts (a gorgeously gooey explosion when you bite in) and planted some dark chocolate chunks in a couple of others. Overall, very nice indeed, with clotted cream and ice cream. Especially good if still slightly warm.

Also looking at recipes for strawberry and balsamic ice cream, strawberry and pistacchio shortbread and strawberry shortcakes.

Here's to lazy, hazy strawberry days.

Raspberry chocolate cupcakes

I've always loved raspberries and chocolate ever since my first Raspberry Ruffle which I think was bought at Woolworths in a pick and mix. Later of course came Raspberry Ruffle bars, which I still sometimes buy basically a raspberry flavoured coconut fondant cream, encased in chocolate. Very pink and girly really for a girl who liked wearing her dungarees and climbing trees and fixing cars with her dad. They cheer me up still, because it's like a Dr Who like Tardis moment when I get one, speeding back through time to Woolworth's to pick out some sweeties and always, always making sure there were ruffles.

I'd been wondering about raspberry and chocolate cupcake possibilities and decided to try some out and I must say they were very lovely indeed, Very sweet and gooey and yummy and somehow rather naughty cheeky little cakes. They're fantastic to make as only really need one saucepan. the icing here was lovely, but equally you could do a raspberry buttercream one which would be very girly indeed and decorate with icing flowers or chocolate stars. You can also pump some chocolate ganache into the raspberry for a cheeky chocolate surprise when the berry bursts in your mouth.

I love these cakes and would be happy to make the for anyone who'd like some. Just let me know and you can come and talk bobbins with the crazy cake girl and her creatures.

xxx

INGREDIENTS


FOR THE CUPCAKES:
125g soft unsalted butter
100g dark chocolate, broken into pieces
300g raspberry jam
150g caster sugar
pinch of salt
2 large eggs, beaten
150g self-raising flour
12-bun muffin tin and papers

FOR THE ICING:
100g dark chocolate
100ml double cream
Raspberries
Makes 12

METHOD

1.Preheat the oven to 180ºC/gas mark 4.

2.Put the butter in a heavy-bottomed pan on the heat to melt. When nearly completely melted, stir in the chocolate. Leave for a moment to begin softening, then take the pan off the heat and stir with a wooden spoon until the butter and chocolate are smooth and melted. Now add the raspberry jam, sugar, salt and eggs. Stir with a wooden spoon and when all is pretty well amalgamated stir in the flour.

3.Scrape and pour into the muffin papers in their tin and bake for 25 minutes. Cool in the pan on a rack for 10 minutes before turning out.

4.When the cupcakes are cool, break the chocolate for the icing into little pieces and add them to the cream in a saucepan. Bring to the boil, remove from the heat and then whisk – by hand or electrically – till thick and smooth. Ice the cupcakes, smoothing the tops with the back of a spoon, and stand a raspberry in the centre of each.

Cupcakes ready to eat in the garden:

Easter cake bake

I've always rather liked Easter, well what's not to like it's a festival that involves a lot of chocolate, similar to Christmas but more chocolatey and lets face it with much better weather.

My favourite memories of Easter are of trips to Wales with mum and dad. Escaping school and off down to our little holiday chalet in Wales. It was just a little wooden holiday chalet but it had the best view ever because perched on the hill it overlooked Llandulas bay and I'd sit there watching the waves and chomping on my chocolate eggs. Chocolate button eggs were always my favourite of course, (they still are) and I liked to break off a bit of egg and dunk it in my tea (I still do). It was even better eating eggs on the beach, especially if they were for pudding after chips with mushy peas and bread and butter and a bottle of fizzy Panda Pops. There's something wonderful about chips on the beach I think, even if its a bit cold and the wind is blowing or there's spots of rain nothing can ruin a lovely bag of chips with lots and lots of salt and vinegar. I can still remember sucking sticky chip fingers clean much to the horror of my mum, who had a constant supply of wet wipes on tap which she thought were far more appropriate for finger cleansing.

As ever I have wandered slightly off track so back to the present day and the purpose of this entry. As an Easter lover and a newly obsessed cake baker I decided to make an Easter cake. My initial thought were of course of chocolate, but having already recently cooked a chocolate birthday cake and the chilli chocolate cupcakes and the chocolate and banana loaf I was in danger of looking like a distinctly one trick pony. So I pondered and considered and pondered some more and decided to go with a lemon and raspberry Easter cake. As you can see from the picture, there had to be chocolate somewhere but I think the bunny looks quite happy there amongst a sprinkling of mini eggs.

This cake was baked to the tunes of the Arctic Monkeys followed by some Faithless followed by some Biffy Clyro. My favourite bit was juicing the lemons because suddenly I was in a happy haze of lemony loveliness transported to a Sicilian lemon grove smiling in the sun. I suppose you could use Cif if you absolutely have to but I doubt it would taste as nice, so go on, use the real lemons all six of them and maybe even a couple more just for the joy of juicing.

What does it taste like I hear you ask. Well, it's a lovely moist lemony sweetness with undertones of almond and creamy centre with a raspberry zing. The almondy taste reminds me of Battenburg cake, which was always my favourite and which I always liked to have with lemonade (yes I was a strange child) so again for me its a taste of childhood on a plate. Hopefully it will be enjoyed by all after Easter lunch tomorrow. Though will have to explain why there is a couple of slices missing (I think he may actually be on slice 4 now) but well guess he can't be blamed for tucking in.

I hope if you try it and like it you'll drop me a message to let me know, I'd like that. Happy Easter to everyone x

Here's the recipe:

Ingredients
• 300g caster sugar
• 350g butter, softened
• 2 tsp almond essence
• 6 medium eggs, beaten
• 150g ground almonds
• 300g self-raising flour
• grated zest of 4 lemons
• 6 tbsp fresh lemon juice
• Mini eggs to decorate
•
• For the drizzle
• 150g icing sugar
• 3-4 tbsp lemon juice
•
• For the filling
• 300ml double cream
• 150g lemon curd
• 200g raspberries
•
• For the icing
• 300g royal icing sugar
• 3 tbsp lemon juice
• yellow food colour
Method
1.Preheat the oven to 180˚C/350˚F/Gas 4. Grease and flour 2 x 20cm (8in) cake tins.

2.Beat the sugar, butter and almond extract together until pale and fluffy. Gradually add the egg, then fold in the ground almonds, flour, lemon zest and juice.

3.Spoon into the tins, smooth the top and bake for 30 minutes or until a skewer inserted in the centre comes out clean.

4.Make the drizzle by mixing the icing sugar and lemon juice together. When the cake comes out of the oven, turn out onto a cooling rack set over a plate. Prick all over with the skewer and drizzle with the syrup. Set aside to cool.

5.Whip the cream and fold in the lemon curd. Set one cake on a plate, level the top if necessary and spoon over the cream. Sprinkle with the raspberries and set the other cake half on top. Set aside. I liked doing this bit, but be careful not to add too much cream and raspberries as it can get very squelchy when you pop on the top

This would be too much raspberries and cream by the way!

6.To make the icing, mix the lemon juice and icing sugar until it’s a spoonable consistency, but still quite paste-like. Use a few drops of the yellow colour to make a pastel-yellow shade and spoon the icing evenly over the cake, allowing it to drip down and coat the sides. Run a spoon or pallet knife around the sides to neaten and evenly distribute the icing.

7. Decorate with anything lovely you want to. I went for a rather lovely chocolate bunny and some mini eggs.

Chilli Chocolate Cake

To celebrate the kitchen finally being finished and of course with it being Valentine's weekend I decided to bake something fabulous. Well I think it is anyway and Country Boy seems rather pleased with it because chilli chocolate is one of his most favourite things. It's sweet and a bit gooey and has a lovely little spicy kick. Perfect with a great big dollop of whipped cream or vanilla ice cream.

So if you're a chocolate fan, who likes a bit of spice or just to create a cake that looks a bit funky I promise you won't be disappointed. I hope you make it and love it, if you do, let me know.

Recipe:

Ingredients

CAKE:
250g Unsalted Butter
300g Caster Sugar
100g Plain Flour
100g Self-Raising Flour
4 Eggs
300g Dark Chocolate ( I used a mixture of Chilli Chocolate , 70% & 90% cocoa)
1-3 Red Chillies (depends on your preference – I used 3)

ICING:
200g Dark Chocolate (I used half Chilli chocolate & half dark)
200ml Double Cream

Method
1. Heat an oven to 160°C/Gas 3 (140°C if a fan oven)
2. Grease with butter a 20cm (approx) cake tin. (use springform if preferred)
3. Using an electric/classic whisk, add the butter/margarine to a mixing bowl together with the sugar. Whisk till light and fluffy.
4. Beat in the eggs one at a time, take care not to let the mixture seperate. If it does seperate, add a bit of flour.
5. Melt the chocolate
6. Once cool, add the chocolate to the mixture and mix in.
7. Add the remaining flour to the mixture and stir till smooth.
8. If you are using fresh chilli/es finely chop them, and either add to mixture. Stir till smooth.
10. Pour the cake mixture into the greased cake tin.
11. Bake for just over 1 hours or till fully cooked. Mine took 1 hour 10 approx.

Check by poking a knife or stick in, and if clean it is cooked. It should be risen and have a slight crust.

12. Take out the cake, and let it cool for 10 minutes, before taking out of the tin. Then leave to cool for another 10 minutes on a wire rack.
13. The cake could be eaten now, or if you want to ice it, proceed with the instructions, or choose your own icing choice.

14. To make Chocolate cream, simply:
Melt the chocolate as before, and mix together with the cream, and then cool until thickened. Cut the cake in half, ice, then put back together and ice all over. Add a Chilli or two for decoration of course. I decided on one in the end, pure & simple.

Scruffy's favourite chocolate brownies

Here's a recipe for a certain scruffy dogs favourite chocolate brownies. They were actually birthday brownies for my dad and don't worry she only got a tiny bit.

Ingredients
• 375 g soft unsalted butter
• 375 g best quality dark chocolate (I like the Lindt 85% stuff myself)
• 6 large eggs
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• 500 g caster sugar
• 225 g plain flour
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 300 g chopped walnuts

Directions
Preheat the oven to 180°C.

Line your approx 33 x 23 x 5 1/2cm brownie pan with foil or baking paper.

Melt the butter and chocolate together in a large heavy based saucepan.

In a bowl beat the eggs with the sugar and vanilla.

Measure the flour into another bowl and add the salt.

When the chocolate mixture has melted, let it cool a bit before beating in the eggs and sugar mixture, and then the nuts and flour.

Beat to combine and then scrape out of the saucepan into the lined brownie pan.

Bake for about 25 minutes.

When its's ready, the top should be dried to a paler brown speckle, but the middle still dark and dense and gooey.

Keep checking the brownies as they cook; remember that they will continue to cook as they cool.

Cupcakes

There's something about cupcakes that always make me smile. I remember my first cupcake,I suppose every girl does!. It was a chocolate one, with shiny chocolate icing, a truly lovely deepest dark brown kind of icing that makes you go mmmm before its even in sniffing distance. Evere since they have seemed special, imbued with some magical quality guaranteed to raise a smile during even the darkest of days.

So I was rather pleased today to stumble on a new market stall in local town. There it was sprung from nowhere, opposite the plant stall and down from the bags.Sitting there, looking all lovely were homemade bundles of cupcake gorgeousness. Pink ones, brown ones, white ones all in lovely flavours strawberry, chocolate, vanilla. Yum. Brought a smile to my face straight away and of course a purchase had to be made.

Decisions decisions but the final selection was one Malibu & Lime and one Chocolate & Orange.

Malibu & Lime and Chocolate Orange cupcakes.

Lovely they were too. The Malibu & Lime, smelled delicious and it was a lovely coconut tinged sponge, with the dreamiest of butter cream toppings which hid a limey tang. The chocolate sponge was equally fantastic a lovely bittersweet sensation with orange icing laced with Cointreau for a little extra spicy punch. Scruffbag was very taken with both, but chocolate hound that she is her tail wagged at the first waft she caught on the breeze of that particular delight.

So on dark days or down days or even bad dog days, I would recommend a cupcake, maybe even two with a nice cup of tea. Or even on a good day, trust me the sun will shine brighter after a cupcake.

TTFN

XX

A chocolate brownie sort of day

There are some days when the only answer is chocolate. Today was one of those days, chocolate brownies, turkish delight flavour hot chocolate and just to top it off a bar of chocolate.

Somehow life seems better.