Peanut Butter and Jelly Tarts

For Mother's Day this year, I hosted an afternoon tea for some of the wonderful ladies in my life; my Mum, my sister, my Nan and my God Mother.
I got out all of our pretty crockery and glasses, made up little triangle sandwiches and baked a whole host of sweet and savoury treats to share (obviously this was before our kitchen was taken out!). Some things I'd make before, like the scones and mini quiches, but I'll be sharing some of the other recipes over the next couple of weeks while we are without a kitchen, starting with these little PB & J tarts! And don't forget, you can follow me on Instagram - @jadebakes89

Oh my, cheesy chicken and bacon pie!

There’s nothing better on a cold, miserable evening than a nice warming pie – comfort food at its best. This is great for using up any left over chicken you have from your roast dinner, and it’s really simple to make. We actually served this between the two of us with just some steamed veg on the side (yes, we’re pigs) but it would easily feed four with a side of potatoes too. You could even make four individual pies in large ramekins – it’d make dishing up a little easier (less messy)!

Spiced Rum Chocolate Tart

James and I hosted a Halloween quiz night at the weekend, and put on a bit of a spread - using Tom Kerridge recipes for inspiration for the best part of it. This tart recipe is a slight adaptation of his Cheats Chocolate Tart, using my favourite spiced rum, Old J. It's rich and velvety, and the spiced rum cuts through the creaminess of the milk chocolate. Plus it's super easy to make, and very impressive!

Chilli, Cheese and Onion Mini Quiches

I made these little quiches for a birthday picnic at the weekend as I knew mini ones would be a lot easier to dish out than a big one. They're so quick and easy to make, and they serve as great finger food for summer picnics, BBQ buffets and lunch boxes as they can be eaten hot or cold. Also, you can now follow me on Instagram: @jadebakes89

Mini Egg Blondie Pie

I came up with this idea whilst trying to decide what dessert to bake for after our Sunday Roast this weekend. I spotted a bag of mini eggs in the cupboard and instantly set about making them go further; traybakes are more of an afternoon cuppa bake, so I opted to turn a blondie into a pie. So here it is, my mini egg blondie pie.

Giant Tex-Mex Sauage Roll

I saw this recipe on BBC Good Food in the week, and knew right away I had to try it. It's so simple, but OH MY DAYS it tastes so good! It was definitely a crowd-pleaser in our household! What's more, it makes a great dinner served with spicy wedges and salad, or it can be eaten cold as part of a picnic or lunch buffet.

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.

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.