After trying the offerings of Sainsbury's and Tescos I tried my own and the results, especially eaten straight away are inconceivably superior...though I must state in deference to my Master Baker Almost-Brother-in-Law that I did not compare any from a fresh bakery *handslap* As you can see above I always feel the need to serve cakes and pastries on one of my little treasured mismatched plates to add to a sense of occasion but I am betting they are just wonderful off any china (remind me to road test some later ;)
I have had a weakness this week for danish pastries piled with think custard and slivered almonds, drizzled with crisp white icing trails and dusted with icing sugar....mmmmmmmmmmmm....
1. Mix together the dry ingredients, then stir
in the milk and egg until you have a
smooth, slightly sticky dough. Knead
for 1 min, using a little flour, until just
smooth. Put into an oiled bowl, cover
with oiled cling film and leave to rise in a
warm place for 1 hr until doubled in size. 2. Flour your surface, then pat or roll the dough
out to a rectangle, 1cm thick. Lay the
butter slices out over the middle of the
dough, in a rectangle. Fold the pastry
over the top, bottom and then sides
until the butter is completely hidden.
Press the edges down.
3. Roll the dough out to a 50 x 30cm
rectangle, first tapping out the dough
with the rolling pin in gentle ridges, so
that you can tell the butter is being
squashed out evenly inside the pastry,
before rolling properly. Turn dough 90
degrees, then fold the right third over
and the left third over that. Do this three
times, chilling for 15 mins after each roll.
4. Cut the dough in half, into 2 squares.
Roll one piece of dough to 35 x 35cm.
Cut into 9 squares. Roll up the four corners of each until you have rough circles with curled edges, sort of like little croissants 5. Fill each with a good spoonful of custard and sprinkle with slivered almonds. 6. Once shaped and filled, let the pastries
rise for 30 mins until puffed and doubled
in size. Heat oven to 180C/160C fan/gas 4.
Brush with beaten egg, make sure you
pinch any edges together again, then
bake for about 20 mins until golden
and risen.
6. Beat together 1tbsp icing sugar with a small amount of lemon juice until smooth, adding more juice or sugar until you reach a thick stiff consistency. Drizzle this icing liberally over the pastries and sieve over more icing sugar.
British Cream Tea: Delicious British Felt Food Sculpture
It can be difficult to get hold of unpasteurised full fat milk nowadays but it is essential for clotted cream so if you find a source use it!
Just a quick recipe today in response to an email from Marci; the British afternoon tea essential that is clotted cream.
1. Leave the milk overnight on the hob in the pan you will be cooking the clotted cream in. This is to allow the cream to rise up from the milk so do not move it once you have started the process. 2. In the morning scald the milk over a very low heat, warming it but not boiling. Do not stir. It is ready after an hour or so when pimples start to form on the surface. Remove the pan from the heat and allow the milk to cool overnight. 3. Next morning spoon off the wrinkly, yellowy cream and put it in a pot in your fridge.
Here's to a day of chocolate eggs, hot cross buns and yorkshire puddings ;)
British Cream Tea: Delicious British Felt Food Sculpture
So Today I give you a recipe for custard creams. Yes, I know they are available in packets everywhere and you can get a huge number in Tesco for less than 40p, but they are moreish when fresh and so easy to make...plus if you make them really small you can eat one whole and that is an indulgence! The recipe below makes about 10 to 15 finished biscuits depending on how teeny you make them. It is really easy to double or even quadruple the amounts though so you can make as many as you want (or think you can eat ;)
I had planned on launching my Spring 2010 collection yesterday, but it was not until Thursday that I remembered (or rather my Mum reminded me) that yesterday was Good Friday so I am postponing the launch until next Friday, the 9th.
Cream Filling
1. Beat the butter, icing sugar, milk and vanilla extract until smooth. 2. Mix the flour and custard powder and stir in the butter mixture until combined. 3. Roll small balls the size of maltesers, place on a greased baking tray and flatten into discs. If you wish you can press the prongs of a fork onto each to leave a pattern. 4. Bake at 180C for 10 mins before transferring to a wire tray to cool completely 5. Beat butter and vanilla extract until smooth. Stir in icing sugar and custard powder until combined. 6. Sandwich pairs of biscuits together with a blob of the cream filling, turning the two biscuits in different directions slightly as you push them together so the cream fills the biscuits evenly.
Because pancakes are mandatory on Shrove Tuesday!
1. Put the flour and salt in a large jug and mix. 2. Crack in the eggs and mix with a fork until combined with the flour mixture. 3. Mix the milk and water in another jug. 4. Slowly add the milk/water to the flour mixture beating each time with the fork until the milk is combined. Do not add too much at amny one time as lumps will form. After adding all the milk and water the batter should be smooth and the consistency of double cream. 5. Stir in the oil and refrigerate for 30 minutes before using. 6. Heat up a shallow frying pan and add the batter, swirling the pan as you go until the base is covered with a thin layer of batter. When the underside is lightly browned flip the pancake either by tossing the pan or flipping the pancake using a spatula. 6. Serve either with sugar and freshly squeezed lemon juice (the British way) or nutella and bananas/strawberries (the Parisian way)
1. Writing a book takes over your life. Literally. Telling yourself that it is only a small book (like size makes a difference) or that it is only writing down something you do everyday does not change the fact that your name is going to be searchable on Amazon, you are putting your work out there for all to inspect in all its imperfect glory or that a publisher is relying on you to design, make and write something that will sell. I love books, I have been obsessed with reading since I was a small child and I may tell myself and everyone who asks that it doesn't matter that it sells, that it is enough that I am being published and that is the fulfillment of a lifelong dream. But that is not actually true. If I sell none of course it will hurt. I guess that is natural.
2. When baking you should check at least twice you have all the ingredients. But if that fails replacing a third of the flour required for my jam tart biscuits with dessicated coconut (because that is what I had and what caught my eye) is delicious...so experiment! I read a while back that the secret to great baking is to follow recipes to the exact word and never deviate, but if everyone did that there would be no new ones written. Try, taste, make it up and see how it goes....
3. Finding that the local pound shop sells chocolate covered oreo cookies is very bad for the diet, as is the discovery they do massive toblerones too, and that they are right by the till.
4. Taking a list when going shopping will not change the fact you will still come home with 3 full bags having forgotten the item you wrote at the top in red capital letters...but you will have 6 items you did not need just because they were on offer and "everyone needs biscuits".
5. Friends and family members, thankfully, forgive long absences when something they do not necessarily see as important fills your life for a while and are there with wine, cake and congratulations when something is finished. Plus they take days off work without question to donate their home and toddlersitting abilities when needed (thanks Mum xx)
6. Working all night fueled by diet coke and chocolate gets harder as you get older ;)
This is the ultimate "hot water bottle in a bowl": pork and lentil cassoulet. Happy to bubble away merrily on the hob whilst you pour yourself a glass of wine and cuddle under a blanket to read a book with a small child it is perfect for cold evenings and lunch the next day.
1. In a large pan brown pork, onion and garlic in oil. 2. Add the water, tomatoes, carrots/parsnips, lentils, herbs and stock cube. Season and stir. 3. Bring to the boil, cover and turn the down the heat. Leave covered and simmer for about an hour, checking every 1 minutes or so and adding more water as necessary until the lentils are cooked and the pork is falling apart. 4. Check seasoning and add more to taste. 5. Serve in big bowls on a cold day with chunks of freshly baked bread.
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