Showing posts with label Baking. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Baking. Show all posts
Did you every have one of those days? By that I mean a day where everything you touch turns to doodoo. You spend all day working really hard, but at the end of it you got nothing to show for it.
Days where you float from one disaster right on into another. Yep, having one of those horrible rotten days where everything I touch turns to dust.
First I had in mind to make some cheesy potato waffles using mashed potato flakes. I could picture them in my mind.
Oh but they were going to be beautiful . . . crisp and golden . . . and I was going to serve them with bacon curls, roasted tomatoes and some fried eggs . . .
First I couldn't get the batter the right consistency for the waffle maker, and the cheese kept getting stuck in the holes. Then I burnt the bacon.
At that point I gave up on them and the batter got washed down the toilet. (Don't judge me.)
I cleaned up the waffle iron and then I thought . . . hmmm . . . lemon and poppyseed waffles with a black currant syrup and some ice cream . . .
Failed . . . again. I'm batting for zero here. Its just one of those days. I gave up. I have no idea what I am going to make us for our supper. We will probably have beans on toast . . . coz its a beans on toast kind of a day . . . we all have em.
In
the meantime I rustled up these Cherry Croissants for my husband to help keep
his hungry dragons at bay.
I am so busy working on the next book (I
want it finished by the end of this month) and I have an art commission
nipping at my heels. There is no rest for the wicked. My mother was
right.
These are a total doddle. If I had messed these up, then there would have been no hope for me at all . . . seriously.
You can't mess them up, even if you ARE having a day from the pits of . . . . hello, what are you doing down here!!!
They only take a few ingredients. A tin of croissant roll dough. Ours is a bit different over here in the UK.
It is more like Croissants, and there are only six in a tin. I know that the American ones are not the same, but they will work also. You will just get more of them.
A tin of cherry pie filling. I used Black Cherry Pie Filling. I have never seen the really red one here . . . just the black one.
Some icing sugar and milk for the glaze. I add a drop of almond essence because cherries and almonds go very well together.
That's it . . . put together in a certain way, simply baked in a hot oven . . . and you have redeemed a lost, horrible, no good, rotten day.
These are good. My husband loves them.
Individual cherry pies, baked in a muffin tin. Easy peasy lemon squeasy.
drop almond extract
1 TBS milk 
Preheat the oven to 190*C/375*F/ gas mark 5. Spray a 6 cup muffin tin with non-stick cooking spray and set aside.
Open the croissant dough and separate into triangles. Place one triangle into each cup. Fill with Cherry Pie filling, then fold the ends over top to cover. Bake in the preheated oven for 15 minutes, until golden brown. Let sit in the pan for a few minutes before lifing out to a wire rack to cool completely.
Whisk together the icing sugar, amond extract and enough milk to make a drizzle icing. Drizzle over the cooled pies. Let set, then serve.
Note - Any extra pie filling can be passed at the table if you have any.
One more thing today . . . the sun was shining and so I thought, I'll do the wash and get it out. Did that and within minutes it started to rain.
Blah . . . with the exception of these Cherry Croissants, I really can't win here. I don't know that I dare try anything else! Tomorrow is a new day! Bon Appetit!
One of my husband's favourite desserts has to be Custard Pie or Tarts. When I am grocery shopping, I will oftimes pick him up a couple of custard tarts to enjoy. He loves them. They are tall and thick and well coated with nutmeg.
I can't say I am overly fond, although I could not give you a reason why. I like custard, and I like nutmeg, I am just not that fond of Custard tarts . . . its a texture thing I think . . . they are pretty solid . . . I like my custard a bit creamier.
I do like this Magic Pie however. It is basically a lazy man's custard pie, except that it has a lot more going for it.
One . . . its very easy to make. Its as easy as stirring a few things together.
Two . . . it's not just plain custard, it is filled with lots of coconut and almonds. I love both of those.
If something has coconut and almonds in it, I am on board! Love, LOve, LOVE!
It uses things like flour, sugar, dessicated coconut, flaked almonds,eggs, milk, vanilla and melted butter, which you simply whisk together and pour into a buttered dish.
If you can measure things accurately and whisk, then you can make this pie. Its so simple, really. Just whisk, pour and bake. That's when the magic happens.
It kind of makes a crust, and a creamy coconut filling. Then there is that nutty topping.It puffs up really high in the oven.
You might be tempted to think . . . "UH OH" . . . when you first see it, but never fear . . . all is well . . .
It sinks back down once you have removed it from the oven and it sits for a while. Don't be afraid when you see how much it puffs up.
It really does puff up quite high. Also don't be afraid when it sinks back down. Its supposed to do that.
I like to dust it and prettify it up a bit with a light dusting of icing sugar when I go to serve it. It just adds a special extra something.
Its a bit like adding a bit of blusher to a plain gal's face, or a touch of lippy. Just brightens things up a little bit. You can leave it off if you don't want to of course.
This is an update of a recipe which I first baked some 8 years ago now. I wanted to take some nicer photos of this and I felt it was a recipe which was worth repeating for you.
You can see the original post here.
On that occasion I served it with some tinned spiced peaches . . . which was and is very good, today however . . .
I served it with some fresh raspberries and blueberries, because I happened to have them in. The tartness of the fresh berries goes very well with the sweetness of this tart . . .
And because I happened to have some in the refrigerator, I added a dollop of clotted cream to the top, which made it all the more irresistable.
This really makes for a lovely dessert all round. Rich, creamy, sweet, filled with texture and beautiful to look at. You can't ask for more than that in a dessert. I would serve this to company.
Serves 8
Printable Recipe
So called because, just like *magic*, presto chango!!! A pile of ingredients separates into three perfect layers! Delicious coconut custard pie that is fabulous served with cream or fruit, or both! I have converted to American measurements as best as I can.
75g plain flour, sifted (1/2 cup plus one scant TBS)
220g caster sugar (1 cup plus 1 TBS plus 1 tsp)
60g dessicated coconut (1/2 cup, slightly heaped)
4 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
125g of butter, melted (1/2 cup plus 2 tsp)
40g of flaked almonds, divided (scant 1/2 cup)
500ml of whole milk (2 cups)
To serve:
Fresh or tinned fruit and or cream
Preheat the oven to 180*C/350*F/Gas mark 4. Butter a deep 9 1/2 inch pie or flan dish well and set aside.
Whisk the flour, sugar, coconut, eggs, extract, butter and half of the nuts together in a large bowl. Slowly whisk in the milk, stirring until completely amalgamated. Pour into the prepared dish. Bake in the preheated oven for 35 minutes.
Serve cut into wedges along with some cream or fruit, if desired.
If you are looking for a simple and easy dessert to make this weekend, that is also moreisly delicious, look no further. This one fits the bill on all those counts. Very scrummy indeed!
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I wanted to bake Todd a treat today and I had spied this recipe in a baking book of mine which I have had for a very long time, entitled, "Cakes" by Gina Speer. Its a really good book. Nothing I have ever baked from it has been a dud. Its a rare book that you can say that about!
Its filled with lots of recipes for everything from biscuits (cookies) to scones, to muffins, cakes, and a whole lot more. I am a naughty puppy in that I turn the corners over on pages in my cookbooks if I find a recipe that I want to try out at some point . . . and this book has a corner turned on almost every page.
I was thinking they would be like a cookie . . . despite the fact that the recipe was in section entitled "Buns and Bite Sized Cakes." The picture was what drew me . . . they looked like nice puffy jam cookies.
The dough was quite a stiff dough, but I used my hands and it came together beautifully. I shaped it into a log and then divided it into twelve equal bits, which I then rolled into balls as per recipe instructions. After that you make an indentation in them and drop in a bit of jam. She recommended seedless raspberry, but all I had was seeded raspberry. Not a problem. They were not the most beautiful cakes in the world however . . .
But as women, we all know that a little bit of lippy (or a dusting of icing sugar in this case) always lights up even the dullest composure!
These are very good, and more than a bit wholesome, with the use of both plain and wholemeal (wholewheat) flours. The wholemeal flour gives them an almost nutty flavour . . .
There are also dried cranberries in the mix . . . I chopped them to make them a bit smaller and more evenly distributed throughout. Worked beautifully.
They have a buttery, almost pastry like texture . . . like a cross between a biscuit and a scone . . .
That touch of jam is perfect on these . . . I could not resist eating one while they were still warm . . . with some cold milk, but I think they would go equally as well with a hot cuppa of whatever you like to drink. These were not a cookie, but nobody was disappointed.
*Jammy Buns*
Makes 12 
Preheat the oven to 190*C/375*F/ gas mark 5. Butter a large baking sheet and set aside. (Alternately, line with baking paper.)
Sift both flours into a bowl along with the baking powder. Tip any grains remaining in the seive into the bowl. Add a pinch of salt. Cut the butter into pieces and drop into the flour mixture. Rub in with your fingertips until you have a mixture resembling coarse bread crumbs. Stir in the sugar and cranberries. Stir in the beaten egg and milk to make a stiff dough. (Get in there with your hands. You might think its not going to happen, but it does.) Divide into 12 equal bits and roll each bit into a ball.
Place the balls, leaving plenty of space in between for expansion. Press your thumb down into the centre of each to make a hole. Drop a llittle jam into each. (Don't be tempted to overfill as the jam will spill out if you do.)
Bake in the pre-heated oven for 20 to 25 minutes. Scoop off onto a wire rack to cool.
If desired, dust with some icing sugar to serve.
You know, when these first came out of the oven I thought . . . ugh . . .ugly buns, but with a dusting of icing sugar they perked right up and the flavour was actually really nice. These have turned into another favourite in our home. I hope you'll give them a try. I guarantee you won't be sorry if you do! Bon Appetit!
One flavour which I really enjoy is Maple. In Canada at this time of year, the sap is running on the Maple trees and they are tapping them so that they can make Maple Syrup.
One of my favourite things to do when I lived there, with the family, was to take a trip into the Maple bush to watch them making the Maple Syrup and to buy some of their products.
They don't just make syrup, but also candies and sugar. Butter, fudge, etc. It takes about 45 litres of maple sap to make one litre of syrup.
The harvested sap goes into a sugar house where it is put into the evaporator which boils and condenses it down into syrup, as the water evaporates.
For other products (butter, sugar, candy) the syrup is boiled/evaporated/condensed even further.
When I first moved over here to the UK, Maple anything was very hard to procure. I came over with a 4 liter can of Maple syrup which I carried right onto the plane.(Try doing that now!)
Thankfully Maple products are a lot easier to find now. You can buy the syrup in all the shops and even Maple sugar in some.
I used some of my maple sugar the other day to make this delicious Pear & Maple Upside-down Cake, along with some maple flavouring in the batter.
Pears and maple go very well together. I had some tinned pears which were coming close to their sell by date and this was a great way to use them up.
Of course if you don't have maple sugar, soft light brown sugar works very well. It is what was originally used in making upside down cakes. Using maple sugar was my own idea, and it worked well.
I used tinned pear halves and pecans, filling in the spaces in between with some slices of pear and more pecan nuts.
The recipe itself was based on the one for Pineapple Upside-down Cake in my old Purity Cookbook. You can't beat that book!
It is filled with lots of very sound basic recipes.
The recipe for the batter calls for the use of white vegetable shortening, which makes for a lovely white sponge. Generally, you can use butter or margarine in place of shortening, but making this substitution may slightly alter the texture of baked goods.
Shortening is 100 percent fat, but butter and margarine are composed of about 85 percent fat and 15 percent water.
I have found that in cakes the substitution is barely noticeable really, except you might have a slight golden cake instead of a pure white one.
Not a problem really. Just don't use whipped or spreadable butters/margarines. Use solid, and you will be okay.
I think I like this Pear & Maple version even better than the old Pineapple version. My husband ate two pieces, one while it was still warm and another one later on after it had cooled!
Myself, I am trying hard to resist it, but it's hard to do! A little sliver won't hurt . . .
*Pear & Maple Upside down Cake*
makes 1 9-inch cake
A
delicious twist on an old favourite. If you want you can use 65g (1/2
cup) of maple sugar instead of the brown sugar called for in the recipe
for an even more maple-like flavour. That is what I did this time and it
worked beautifully.
a quantity of toasted pecan nuts
210g plain flour (1 1/2 cups)
1/2 tsp maple flavouring
190g sugar (1 cup)
.
Sift together the flour, baking powder, and salt. Whisk in the sugar. Drop in the shortening and 120ml (1/2 cup) of the milk. Beat on low speed with an electric whisk for 1 minute. Add the eggs, remaining milk and maple flavouring. Beat for an additonal 2 minutes on low speed. Pour over the pears in the pan. Smooth out evenly.
Bake in the preheated oven for 40 to 45 minutes. The cake should spring back when lightly touched. Remove from the oven. Immediately invert on a serving plate. Let cool for 10 minutes before carefully lifting off the cake tin.
Cut into weges to serve with ice cream or whipped cream.
This really is a lovely cake and one I am sure the whole family will enjoy! Bon Appetit!
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