Cinnamon Snaps

This recipe is a little adaptation of the gingerbread recipe I used for my house for those who don't like ginger. This made enough dough to make 11 miniature houses as well as about two dozen little stars, so it makes a lot! If you want to make houses, follow the tips at the bottom of this recipe.

Ingredients:
250g unsalted butter
125g light brown muscovado sugar
75g soft brown sugar
4tbsp golden syrup
2tbsp treacle
600g plain flour
2tsp ground cinnamon
1tsp baking powder
Royal icing sugar

Preheat your oven to 180°C and line your baking trays with greaseproof paper.  

In a pan, melt the butter, sugar, golden syrup and treacle together, stirring until its smooth. Remove from the heat and leave to cool slightly.
In a large bowl, sift together the flour, bicarbonate of soda, and cinnamon. Pour the melted butter to the flour mix and mix well, first with a spoon, then with your hands, until it forms a stiff dough. You can add a little more flour if it’s still sticky, or a little splash of milk if it’s too dry and crumbly. Knead for a couple of minutes until its smooth.  

Roll the dough out onto a lightly floured surface, to the thickness of a £1 coin.
Use a cookie cutter to cut out your shapes, re-rolling any left-overs until it's all used up.
 

Space the biscuits out on your trays and bake in the middle of the oven for 10 minutes or until golden in colour. Remove from the oven and leave to cool for a couple of minutes on the tray before moving to a wire rack to cool completely.

 

Once cool, make up the icing as per the instructions on the packet, and ice your biscuits with any design you like. Leave to set overnight before eating.

Salted Caramel Pretzel Bark

Stuck for any last minute Christmas ideas? Why not make your own chocolate bark? It's so quick and easy, and makes a great homemade gift. This isn't really a recipe as such, just more of a 'How To' - this makes 3 side plate sized bars. And you can pretty much use anything you like in place of the pretzels and caramel; why not try fruit and nut, or pieces of meringue and dried strawberries?

Ingredients:
300g milk chocolate
300g dark chocolate
Salted pretzels
Soft caramels, chopped into small pieces
Coarse sea salt

Line three side plates with cling film and put to one side ready.

Break both the chocolates up into separate microwavable bowls, and melt in the microwave for 30 seconds, stir, then melt in further 15 second increments until it's smooth. Mine took about 1 minute 15 seconds for each bowl.

Once all your chocolate is melted, spoon the chocolate onto the lined plates, alternating between the milk and dark, drizzling it in spirals. Once all the chocolate is used up, tap the plates gently on the bottom to level the chocolate out and get rid of any air bubbles.

While it's still melted, gently press a handful of pretzels into the chocolate. Scatter over the chopped caramels and press lightly into the chocolate too, before sprinkling over a pinch of sea salt.

Leave to set in the fridge. Once firm, you can wrap them up whole as a bar, or break them into shards and put into little gift bags. 

Mini Turkey, Stuffing and Cranberry Pies

 

These are a great addition to any buffet spread, and are a brilliant way to use up any left overs from your Christmas dinner! They're best warm from the oven, but can be eaten cold too.

Ingredients:

2 batches of shortcrust pastry (makes 12 with a little left over pastry)

One packet of stuffing mix

One large turkey breast, cooked and shredded

One small jar of cranberry sauce

1 egg, beaten

Pre-heat your oven to 180c and get a muffin tin out ready.

Make up the stuffing according to the instructions on the packer, leaving out about 20% of the water.

Give it a good mix and leave to stand while you make the cases.

Roll the pastry out onto a lightly floured surface and use round cutters to cut out 12 cases, and 12 lids. You'll need a cutter that's larger in circumference than the holes in your muffin tin for the cases, and one the same size as the holes for your lids.

Line the muffin tin with the larger circles of pastry to make the cases, then you can assemble the pies.

Place a generous teaspoon of stuffing into each case, and press down with your fingers.

Fill up to about 3/4 full with the shredded turkey, then add a teaspoon of cranberry sauce on top.

Brush the edges of the cases with egg, and place a lid on top of each pie. Seal the edges by crimping or rolling them over, before brushing the top of each pie with more egg.

Poke a small hole in the centre of each pie before baking for 25 minutes, until golden and firm to the touch.

Spicy Sausage Rolls

Are you hosting a festive party this year? Sausage rolls are a must at any buffet table, and they're super easy to make! These are spiced up with fresh chilli, garlic, chilli powder and paprika for a bit of a kick! If you're not a fan of spicy food, then leave out the chilli and chilli powder- they're still just as good. Again, almost forgot to take a photo of them before it was too late!

Ingredients:
One batch of rough puff pastry
450g good quality sausage meat (or skinned sausages)
2 fresh chillies, finely chopped
3 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
2tsp chilli powder
1tsp paprika
1 egg, beaten
Black pepper

Pre-heat your oven to 180c and line your baking tray(s) with greaseproof paper.

Tip the sausage meat into a mixing bowl, and add the chillies, garlic, chilli powder and paprika, along with 50ml of cold water. Use your hands to work the ingredients together until everything is well distributed and well combined.

Roll out the pastry to a long rectangle, about 4 inches wide, and shape the meat into a long sausage down the middle of the rectangle.
Brush the pastry down both sides of the sausage meat with egg and tightly roll the pastry around the meat, sealing the two egg-brushed edges together.
Use a fork to crimp the sealed edge, or roll the edge over itself, then cut the sausage roll into smaller ones, about 1-1.5 inches in width.

Space these out onto your baking trays, brush all over with egg, and sprinkle a little black pepper on top.

Bake for 25-30 minutes, until the pastry is puffed and golden, and the meat is cooked through. Enjoy hot or cold.

Christmas Tarts

These are basically jam tarts but with a Christmas twist - spiced orange is a classic festive fragrance, and these are quick to make if you have unexpected visitors in the run up to Christmas Day. Maybe you could even leave a couple out for Santa... ;)

Ingredients:
One batch of sweet shortcrust pastry
12 tbsp orange marmalade
2 tsp mixed spice
1 tsp ginger
2 tbsp port
Nutmeg to dust

Pre-heat your oven to 180c.

Roll the pastry out to the thickness of a £1 coin, and use a round cookie cutter or the rim of a glass to cut our your cases. Use a cutter that's a little bigger than the circumference of the holes in your cupcake tray so they come up the sides. Re-roll any left over pastry until it's all used up.

Lightly dust a cupcake tray with flour and line the holes with your pastry cases.

In a mixing bowl, combine the marmalade, mixed spice, ginger and port and mix well. Place a spoonful of the mixture into the pastry cases - make sure you don't overfill them, you don't want hot marmalade oozing everywhere when you take them out of the oven!

Bake for 15 minutes until the marmalade is bubbling and the pastry is lightly browned.
Leave to cool in the tin slightly before removing and placing on a wire rack. Once cool, dust with a little nutmeg.

Boozy Mince Pies

These speak for themselves - the Christmas table would not be complete without mince pies, and the addition of whiskey to these makes them that extra special. Sorry I almost forgot to take a photo of these!

Ingredients:
One batch of sweet shortcrust pastry
1 jar of mincemeat
3 tbsp whiskey
1 egg, beaten
Demerara sugar to sprinkle

Pre-heat your oven to 180c and dust a muffin tray with a little flour.

In a mixing bowl, combine the mincemeat with the whiskey and mix well. Leave to rest while you make the cases.

Roll out your pastry onto a lightly floured surface. Use two round cookie cutters, one slightly larger in circumference than the holes in your muffin tray and one the same size as the holes, to cut out an equal number of cases and lids.

Line your muffin tray with the larger of the circles, so the pastry comes up the edges, and leave the smaller circles to one side for now.

Place a generous teaspoon of the boozy mincemeat in each case.

Brush the edges of the case with egg and place a lid on each pie, using a fork to crimp the edges together. 
Brush the lids with egg and sprinkling over a little demerara sugar before poking a small hole in the center of each lid.

Bake for 20 minutes, until golden and the filling is a little oozy.

Baby Guinness Cake

A regular haunt of ours during the summer weekends is Woolacombe; long weekends camping, with great company and plenty of booze. A staple shot during these weekends, is the Baby Guinness: layered Tia Maria and Baileys. It was mentioned earlier this year that I should make a cake version, so here it is. Will, this one is for you! 

Ingredients:
10oz unsalted butter
10oz caster sugar
4 eggs
Few drops vanilla essence
10oz self raising flour
1tsp baking powder
60ml Tia Maria
100g dark chocolate, melted

175g unsalted butter
400g icing sugar
50ml Baileys

150g dark chocolate, melted

Pre-heat your oven to 180c and grease/line 3 loose bottomed cake tins.

In a large mixing bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until it's light and fluffy.
Beat in the eggs and vanilla, followed by sifting in the flour and baking powder and folding the mixture together.
Lastly, stir in the Tia Maria and melted chocolate until everything in well combined.

Divide the mix between the three tins and spread to the edges. 
Bake for 20-25 minutes, until they are springy to the touch and a skewer inserted into the centre of the cakes comes out clean.
Leave to cool on a wire rack while you make the buttercream.

In a bowl, combine the butter and icing sugar. You can place this in the microwave for a few seconds to soften the butter before creaming them together until light and fluffy. Stir in the Baileys until it's well combined. You can add a little more icing sugar if it's a bit sloppy.

Sandwich the three layers of cake together with the buttercream before coating the whole cake in it - over the top and around the sides. Use a pallet knife to smooth the edges as much as possible. 

Leave for about 10-15 minutes for the frosting to go a little firmer, then pour the melted chocolate over the top of the cake, gently spreading to the edges and around the sides, covering the whole cake. Wait for the chocolate to set before serving.

Christmas Gingerbread House

It’s only in the last few of years I’ve taken on building a gingerbread house from scratch, but now it’s something I look forward to making every Christmas. This recipe is slightly adapted from this Tesco one. The mixture needs to be a little dry, so when it cools after baking, it goes hard. If the gingerbread is too soft it won’t hold it’s weight when put together. I used the template from Tesco also, but feel free to make your own. Please note, this is a 2 or 3 day bake, and you will need a little patience when it comes to the assembly! There are also a few tips and tricks at the bottom of the recipes :)

Ingredients:

250g (8oz) unsalted butter

200g (7oz) light muscovado sugar

4 tbsp golden syrup

2 tbsp treacle

600g (1¼lb) plain flour

1 tsp bicarbonate of soda

4 tsp ground ginger

2 tsp mixed spice

Clear, boiled sweets, for the windows

500g royal icing sugar

Chocolate buttons for the roof (optional)

Chocolate wafer tubes (optional)

Preheat your oven to 180°C and measure out a few sheets of baking paper ready to fit the trays and dust with a little flour (you’ll probably have to cook all the pieces in a couple of batches).

Cut out your template ready.

In a pan, melt the butter, sugar, golden syrup and treacle together, stirring until its smooth. Remove from the heat and leave to cool slightly.
In a large bowl, sift together the flour, bicarbonate of soda, ginger and mixed spice. Pour the melted butter to the flour mix and mix well, first with a spoon, then with your hands, until it forms a stiff dough. You can add a little more flour if it’s still sticky, or a little splash of milk if it’s too dry and crumbly. Knead for a couple of minutes until its smooth.

Remember, your gingerbread needs to be a little dry so it goes hard once cooled after baking. You’ll have to use your own judgement here, but this dough will make a little more than needed for the average house, so feel free to roll, cut and bake a small test piece and see. 

Once you’re happy with the consistency of the dough, break the dough into about 4 equal pieces.
Take the first piece and roll it out onto one of your sheets of dusted baking paper, to the thickness of a £1 coin. Use your template to cut out the first few pieces of the house and remove any excess dough from the baking paper.
Repeat this until you have all your pieces cut out on baking paper sheets.
Re-roll any left-overs and use it to cut out snowmen or trees to decorate the garden, or you could make a little chimney to go on top.

Place a boiled sweet or two in each of the windows – these will melt in the oven and fill the hole.

Bake in the middle of the oven for 10 minutes or until just turning golden and the sweets have melted. Remove from the oven and leave to cool for a couple of minutes on the tray before moving to a wire rack to cool completely.

Once it’s cooled completely, stack all the pieces in an airtight tin and leave over night to firm up.

The following day, you can decorate and assemble the pieces. Obviously, you have free reign over decorations, but here’s what I did…

Make up the royal icing according to the instructions on the packet.
Pipe frames around the windows and on the door piece. While that’s setting, spread the roof pieces with a thick layer of icing and cover them in chocolate buttons.

While the roof sets, you can assemble the walls. Stick the first wall onto your cake board with a little icing, using bowls/cups/tins to hold it upright. Stick the second wall to this and the board with more icing, again using what ever you can find to prop it up. Attach the two remaining walls in this way and leave to set for about 10-15 minutes.

Cut 4 wafer tubes to the height of the walls, and stick one on each corner join.

Once the walls are set, stick on the roof pieces, again using cups to hold them in place until the icing sets. Join the two roof pieces at the top with a thick line of icing, and more wafer tubes along the length.

Use any left over icing to decorate your snowmen/trees or cover the rest of the cake board with ‘snow’.
Leave everything overnight to set properly before eating/displaying.

We’ve eaten these houses up to two weeks after they’ve been baked, so they can be made well ahead.

Here are a few tips and tricks I’ve discovered over the last couple of years:

- As I’ve mentioned already, the dough needs to be firm and a little dry.

- Make sure you do leave the gingerbread over night before assembling – you don’t want a pile of crumbs!

- Make the roof slightly thinner than the walls – once it’s covered in a layer of icing and chocolate buttons, it can get quite weighty and will take longer to stick on to the walls.

- If you are having serious issues with getting your roof to stay on try this: ice a row of sweets, like dolly mixtures, onto the underside of the roof that can act as a buffer, holding the roof in place while the rest of the icing sets.

- Try different coloured boiled sweets in the windows. If you’re using a template that has big windows, try using a gradient from yellow, through orange to red – it looks brilliant with a little led light inside.

- Most importantly, be patient and be prepared. Get your template and baking paper ready before you start making the dough, and don’t go into it hoping to bosh it out in an afternoon – it takes time!

Orange and Pecan Parsnip Cakes

This recipe is a little spin on the parsnip cake I made a couple of months ago, and they're SO good. The treacle gives a much richer flavour than the maple syrup, and compliments the orange well. Feel free to leave the pecans out if you have nut allergies!

Ingredients:

175g unsalted butter

2 tbsp treacle

240g demerara sugar

3 eggs

250g self raising flour
1tsp baking powder

1tsp mixed spice

250g parsnips, peeled and grated
Zest and juice of 1 orange
50g chopped pecans

For the frosting:

75g unsalted butter

200g icing sugar
1 tbsp orange juice
Pecans to decorate
 

Pre-heat your oven to 180c and line a muffin tray with cases.

In a large saucepan, melt together the butter, treacle and sugar over a low heat until smooth.

Remove from the heat and leave to cool for a few minutes.

Next, whisk in the eggs before adding the flour, baking powder and mixed spice and mix well.

Add the grated parsnips, and stir until thoroughly combined. Lastly, add the orange zest and juice, along with the chopped pecans, and mix well.

Divide the batter equally between your muffin cases and bake for 20-25 minutes, until the sponges are springy to the touch, and a skewer inserted into the centre of the cakes comes out clean.

Leave to cool on a wire rack.

To make the frosting, put the butter and icing sugar in a microwavable bowl and heat in the microwave for 15-20 seconds, until the butter is just starting to melt. Gently mix together until it’s lightly and creamy. Add the orange juice and stir until well combined.

Once the cakes have cooled, use an icing bag to pipe spirals of frosting on top of each cake, and top with a pecan.

Smoked River Cobbler and Spring Onion Quiche

If you're ever stuck for mid-week meal ideas, I seriously recommend you try this quiche. Served hot with roast new potatoes and salad to make a filling meal. It's also a great party food as it can be eaten cold too, making it perfect for a buffet on boxing day alongside all your Christmas turkey left overs and cheeses! Sorry I forgot to take a photo of it until after I'd started dishing it up!

Ingredients:

One batch of basic shortcrust pastry
500g smoked river cobbler, or other white fish, skinned and boned
Bunch of large spring onions, finely sliced
3 eggs
300ml pot double cream

1 tsp paprika

Pepper to taste
50g mature cheddar, grated

Pre-heat your oven to 180C and get your tart dish/tin out ready.

Lightly dust your work surface with flour, and roll the pastry out to 2-3mm thick. Use the pastry to line your dish/tin. Push the pastry into the edges and corners, and leave any over hang. Use a fork to prick a few holes across the base before using a sheet of baking paper or tin foil to line the pastry. Fill the lined case with baking beans. If you don't have baking beans, you can also use a handful of copper coins.

Blind-bake the pastry for 15 minutes, then remove the paper and beans/coins, and return to the oven for a further10 minutes, until just golden. 

While this is blind-baking, bring a pan of water to a simmer. Place the fish fillets into to the water and poach for 5 minutes, until the flesh is white and flaky. Drain the water from the pan and break the fish into bite sized chunks.

Once the pastry has finished blind baking, scatter the fish over the base of the case. Scatter over the sliced spring onions too, followed by the cheese.

In a small jug, beat together the eggs, cream, paprika and pepper and pour this over the fish and onions. 

Turn oven down to 150C and bake the quiche for a further 50 minutes, golden and just set in the middle.

Let it rest for about 10 minutes before serving hot, or leave to cool completely in the dish/tin if eating cold.

Rough Puff Pastry

This one take a little more time to make, and can be tricky, but it's worth it. Rough puff pastry is great for pies and sausage rolls. Another recipe from BBC Good Food.

Ingredients: 
250g plain flour
Pinch of salt
250g butter, at room temperature, but not soft

Approx. 150ml cold water

Sift the flour and salt into a large bowl. Tear the butter in small chunks, and roughly rub them into the flour. You still want some chunks of butter, you don't want it to look like breadcrumbs.

Make a well in the mix and pour in about 100ml of the water, mixing until you have a firm rough dough. You can add extra water if necessary, but add a little at a time until it just comes together. Cover with cling film and rest in the fridge for 20-30 minutes.

Once rested, turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and shape into a rectangle. Roll the dough away from you, until it's 3 times the height. Try to keep the edges straight and even. 

*Tip from BBC Good Food - don’t overwork the butter streaks; you should have a marbled effect.

 Fold the top third down to the centre, then the bottom third up and over that. Turn the dough 90 degrees and repeat the folding process. Leave folded, and cover with cling film. Chill for 20-30 minutes before rolling to use.

Sweet Shortcrust Pastry

Next, sweet shortcrust pastry. Great for sweet tarts and mince pies!

Ingredients:

1 egg

125g golden caster sugar

1 tsp vanilla essence

250g plain flour

125g butter, cubed

Put the egg and sugar into a bowl and whisk until the sugar has dissolved into the egg.

Then sift the flour into the bowl and mix well, making sure there are no pockets of flour, until it is sandy in texture.

Lastly, add the butter and cut in with a pastry cutter or butter knife, until it forms a sticky ball.

Turn the dough out onto a light floured surface and knead together for a few minutes to get rid of any lumps of butter, then wrap in clingfilm or greaseproof paper and put in the fridge for at least 30 minutes before use.

Basic Shortcrust Pasty

Whilst planning my Christmas baking I realized that I've got a few things that include pastry; rough puff, shortcrust and sweet shortcrust. Rather than write out the pastry recipe for each different pie or tart I bake, I thought it would be easier to give you the pastry recipes now so that in the future, I can just list 'one batch of rough puff pastry' in the ingredients section and link it to this page. You can of course use shop brought pastry, as this can save time, but homemade is definitely nicer!
First is shortcrust pastry, which is great for savory dishes like quiches and tarts. Recipe from BBC Good Food.

Ingredients:

225g plain flour
100g butter, cubed
pinch salt

Sift the flour into a large bowl, and add the butter. Rub the butter into the flour with your fingertips until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs. 

Stir in the salt, then add 2-3 tbsp water and mix to a firm dough. Knead the dough briefly and gently on a floured surface until it's smooth, and wrap in cling film and chill in the fridge while preparing the rest of your dish.

Raspberry and Blackberry Frozen Mousse Cake

I made this as my Mum’s birthday cake last month (I’ve been slow to upload some of the recipes I’ve used recently!) and it went down a treat with my family. I used a combination of home-grown raspberries and blackberries picked from the field just down the road from our house, but frozen fruit from your local supermarket would work just as well – just defrost them first.

Ingredients:
For the base:
2 eggs
50g caster sugar
50g plain flour
2tbsp cocoa powder

For the mousse:
600g combination of raspberries and blackberries
115g icing sugar
300ml whipping cream
2 egg whites

Pre-heat your oven to 180c and grease/line a deep, loose bottomed cake tin.

Whisk the eggs and sugar in a bowl set over a pan of simmering water until the beaters leave a trail when lifted. Remove from the heat at this point and sift over the flour and cocoa powder. Fold the mix together until well combined, then spoon the mix into the cake tin and spread up to the edges.
Bake for 12-15 minutes, until just firm, then turn out and leave to cool on a wire rack.

Re-line the tin and replace the sponge layer. Place this in the freezer while you do the next step.

Set aside about 200g of the berries. Put the rest of the berries in the bowl of a food processor, along with the icing sugar, and process to a puree.
In a separate bowl, whip the cream to form soft peaks, and then in another bowl again, whisk the egg whites until they form stiff peaks.
Using a large spoon, fold the puree, and then the egg whites, into the cream a bit at a time, trying not to knock any air out of any of it.
Carefully spoon half of this over the sponge layer in the tin. Sprinkle over the whole berries that you set aside, and then spoon the remaining mousse mixture over the top.
Freeze over night, and then thaw for at least 2 hours before serving.  

Peanut Butter Pudsey Bears

Tonight sees the Children in Need evening take over our televisions, and millions of pounds will be raised to help young people with disabilities, struggling with poverty, or who give their lives to caring for their families all around the UK. Everyone likes to do their little bit, and today I am wearing my onsie to work and have made these Pudsey Bear biscuits to help raise a few pennies for an amazing cause.
Now, I will admit, these biscuits are better made in a more sturdy shape - round or square would be perfect. They are so light and buttery that I did find the legs and arms snapped off a few of bears when transferring them to my trays. Aside from that, they taste amazing and they do keep some of the texture of the peanut butter.

Ingredients:
120g plain flour
1/2tsp baking powder
50g caster sugar
50g unsalted butter, diced
4tbsp crunchy peanut butter

Pre-heat your oven to 160c and grease/line your baking trays.

Tip all the ingredients in a mixing bowl and then use your hands to rub the butters into the dry ingredients.
When it starts to come together into a dough, knead it around the bowl for a couple of minutes until everything is well combined.

Lightly dust your work surface with flour and roll out the dough to the thickness of a £1 coin. Use your cookie cutter to cut out your biscuits, re-rolling any off cuts until all the dough is used up.

Place your biscuits on your prepared baking trays and bake for 10-12 minutes, until golden. They will still be a little soft, but will firm as they cool.

Once firm, move to a wire rack to cool completely. You could drizzle a little chocolate over the cooked, cooled biscuits if you wanted to add a little something extra too.

Earl Grey Biscuits

 

I made these for my friend’s birthday – a crazy cat lady, who is also an avid tea drinker. They’re great for dunking, and you can substitute the Earl Grey tea leaves for any other kind of loose leaf tea too – try using different fruit teas for a more summery taste, or ginger and cinnamon for a festive twist.

Ingredients:
150g unsalted butter
115g light muscovado sugar
2tbsp Earl Grey tea leaves
1 egg
200 plain flour
Demerara sugar for sprinkling

Pre-heat your oven to 180c and grease/line your baking tray(s).

In a large mixing bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in the tea leaves until well combined, then stir in the egg. Sift in the flour and fold into the mixture, first with a spoon, and then with your hands.
Bring the dough together into a ball and knead for a couple of minutes until everything is well combined.
Lightly dust your work surface with flour and roll out the dough to the thickness of a £1 coin.
Cut a cookie cutter to cut out your biscuits and transfer them to your prepared baking tray(s). Re-roll any off cuts and keep going until all the dough is used up.

Sprinkle over a little demerara sugar and bake for 10-12 minutes, until lightly browned.
Leave to cool on a wire rack, or enjoy warm from the oven.

I used a little dark chocolate to draw cat faces on these, but obviously this isn’t a necessity!

Easy Chocolate Finger Biscuits

 
I made these to go alongside the citrus squares – variety is the spice of life after all! They look so pretty and would make a great birthday/Christmas present in cute little boxes – and they’re REALLY easy to make. You can try different chocolate for dipping; milk or white chocolate would work just as well.

Ingredients:
115g plain flour
Pinch of baking powder
2tbsp cocoa powder
50g caster sugar
50g unsalted butter
3tbsp golden syrup

100g dark chocolate
Chocolate balls or strands to decorate

Pre-heat your oven to 160c and grease/line your baking tray(s).

Sift the dry ingredients together in a bowl, and then add the butter and golden syrup. Using your hands, rub the butter and syrup into the dry ingredients until it starts to form a soft dough. Knead the dough for a couple of minutes to make sure all the ingredients are well combined.

Take two sheets of baking paper and place the dough between them. Roll the dough between the sheets to a rectangular shape, about A4 size and just a couple of millimetres thick.
Trim the edges so the side of the rectangle are straight, then cut in half length ways. Cut each half into a dozen or so slices, about an inch in width and transfer them to your prepared baking tray(s). Re-roll and re-use and offcuts until all the dough is used up.

Bake for 12-15 minutes, and take them out just before they start to colour. They will still be a little soft when you take them out, so leave them on the trays to cool for a couple of minutes until they firm up. Once firm, you can move them to a wire rack to finish cooling completely.

Once the biscuits are cool, break the chocolate up into small pieces and place in a small but deep microwave safe bowl. Melt the chocolate in the microwave, heating it in 15-20 second blasts and stirring between each one, taking care not to burn it.
Dip one end of the biscuits into the melted chocolate, letting any excess drip off. Lie the biscuit on a sheet of baking paper (you can use the clean side of same pieces you used to roll out the dough) and sprinkle a few chocolate balls or strands onto the chocolate before it sets.

And there you have it - fancy looking biscuits are easier than you thought, eh?

Luscious Lemon and Lime Squares

Things have been busy the last couple of weeks, so I've not found much time to get any baking in... Until last night that is! My sister asked me to make something for her to take to a party, and after much deliberation, I settled on this citrus traybake, as well as some chocolate biscuits I'll share with you in another post. Feel free to substitute the lemon or lime for the zest and juice of half an orange instead - go with whatever citrus fruits you fancy!

Ingredients:
For the base:
150g plain flour
90g unsalted butter, cubed
50g icing sugar

For the topping:
2 eggs
175g caster sugar
Zest and juice of a lemon
Zest and juice of a lime
1tbsp plain flour
1/2tsp bicarbonate of soda

Pre-heat your oven to 180c and grease/line a deep baking tray or square oven proof dish.

Put the flour, butter and icing sugar for the base in the bowl of a food processor and blitz until it resembles fine breadcrumbs. Tip the mix into your tray/dish and press down firmly with the back of a spoon, making sure to push it right up to the edges and in the corners.
Bake for 15 minutes then remove from the oven, but leave the oven on.

While the base is cooking, make the topping. In a bowl, whisk the eggs until they turn frothy. Tip in the caster sugar a little at a time whilst still whisking, then add the lemon and lime zest and juice. Whisk this until well combined before adding the flour and bicarbonate of soda and giving one last mix.
When the base comes out of the oven, pour the topping over the base and spread into the corners with the back of a spoon. Return the dish to the oven and bake for a further 20-25 minutes until golden and just firm to the touch.
Leave to cool in the dish before turning out, dusting with a little icing sugar, trimming the edges and cutting into squares.

Chocolate Gingerdead Men

 

I love Halloween - I wish the UK did Halloween as big as the US do it. I found this cookie cutter/stamp a few weeks ago, and couldn’t resist, I had to buy it to make Halloween gingerbread!

I must admit, I wasn’t that impressed with the product as a cutter or a stamp… the cutter didn’t leave nice crisp edges, and the stamp, that supposedly leaves little wells to fill with icing, served more as just guidelines for icing the skeletons freehand. You’d be better off using a metal gingerbread man cutter and then just icing the skeletons on yourself. That said, I do still think that they look pretty cool, if a little misshapen, and I made little gravestones for them too!

Ingredients:

250g unsalted butter

100g light muscovado sugar

100g demerara sugar

4 tbsp golden syrup

540g plain flour

60g cocoa powder

1 tsp bicarbonate of soda

4 tsp ground ginger

250g royal icing sugar to decorate

Preheat your oven to 180°C and grease/line your baking trays.

In a small saucepan, over a low heat, melt the butter, sugars and golden syrup. Stir until the sugar has dissolved, then remove from the heat and leave to cool for a few minutes.

In a large bowl, mix the plain flour, cocoa powder, bicarbonate of soda and ginger. Add the cooled melted butter to the flour mix and stir until it forms stiff dough.

Use your hands to shape the dough into a ball, scraping down the sides of the bowl, and knead for a couple of minutes. If it’s still sticky, add a little more flour, a tablespoon at a time, and continue to knead until it’s ‘rollable’. And if it’s too dry, add a splash of milk while you’re kneading the dough.

Lightly dust your work surface and rolling pin with flour, and roll the dough out to 5mm thick.

Use your cookie cutters to cut out your shapes, re-rolling the off cuts, until all the dough is used up.

Space the shapes out well on your baking trays and if you’re using a cookie stamp, press this into the gingerbread when they’re on the trays.

Bake in the middle of the oven for 8-10 minutes, until just firm. Leave to cool slightly on the trays before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.

Once the cookies have cooled, make up your icing.

Add 40ml of luke warm water to the royal icing sugar, and use an electric whisk to beat the icing until it forms soft peaks. You can add colouring at this stage if you want to.

Transfer the icing into a piping bag and go to town with your decorating!

Once you’ve decorated all your gingerbread, leave it over night for the icing to set, then tuck in!