Showing posts with label Tutorials. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Tutorials. Show all posts
I can't think of a better way to start your day, or to enjoy a break be it elevenses or lunch time than in the indulgence of a nutritionally sound and delicious smoothie. They are a fabulous way to get in some of your five a day, and I'll be honest here . . . I really enjoy them. They are a lot healthier than a frozen mocha, and . . . lets face it, perfectly portable if need be. Vitamin packed, smooth and delicious you feel like you are indulging in a milkshake, but in reality, you are packing a lot of nutritional punch into a most enjoyable drink! No empty calories here!
You can make a smoothie with just about anything fresh (or frozen) in your kitchen that is edible. I like the addition of something frozen myself, because I love the texture that frozen fruit lends to the end result. True indulgence. That's why I keep bananas sliced and frozen in the freezer for just this purpose.
To make a good smoothie, you will want a combination of fresh and frozen edibles. Some great combinations are frozen banana and fresh tropical fruits, such as mango and pineapple. But there is really no end to the combinations you can come up with. Some of my favourite smoothies are made using fresh berries and frozen bananas.
You will want something creamy to add. Coconut milk goes great in tropical drinks, but I have also used yogurt drinks, or even regular milk. Soy milk works well, almond milk, etc. Fruit juice also works well, but I love the creaminess of the other alternatives. Be sure to add whatever liquid you are choosing to your blender first. After that you can add any solids. I roughly fill my smoothie maker about 1/2 full of the liquid I am using, and then add fruits and solids to fill no more than 2/3 of my container.
I also like to add a dollop of fresh yogurt when I can, and a bit of honey adds a lovely sweetness which is natural. Its not totally necessary however to add anything sweet. Its all a matter of taste. Some great natural sweeteners are date syrup (great with bananas and peanut butter), maple syrup, Agave syrup, etc. As a diabetic I tend to leave out sweeteners unless the fruit I am using is really sour.
Another great thing which is really nutritious to add to your smoothies are some nuts and seeds. They are filled with power and protein, which are really great additions to a healthy diet.
This is what I use. I buy it at Costco. Its packed with delicious nutrition and is great sprinkled on your breakfast oats, and yogurt also, so it is multi-purpose. You can also keep it in the freezer so that it keeps fresh longer. Just a spoonful makes a great addition to any smoothie.
Nut butters are also great additions and can help boost your protein intake. It is important for diabetics to add protein whenever they can as doing so helps your body to process complex carbs in a healthier way.
Any addition of protein also helps you to feel fuller longer, an added bonus!
Just pop what you want into your blender and blitz away to your desired consistency (1) liquid (2) any solids (3) sweetener if desired (4) seeds or nuts (optional) Myself, I prefer a smoother consistency as I have diverticulitis and whole seeds can really create problems with my digestion. You can also add frozen ice cubes if you don't have any frozen fruit. Or (and this is one of my favourite things to do) ahead of time you can freeze cubes of almond milk or coconut milk, etc. and just use a couple of them with your fresh fruit and some fruit juice. Delicious!
Some great combinations:
Mango & Banana - 1/2 mango peeled and cubed, 1/2 banana sliced, 240ml orange juice (1 cup), 1 TBS of plain yogurt, 2 ice cubes and a bit of sweetener if you desire.
Kale & Avocado - 1/2 Avocado, peeled, stoned and roughly chopped, generous handful each of baby spinach and cleaned and chopped kale, 50g (2 ounces) pineapple chunks, 4 inch piece of cucumber roughly chopped, 240ml (1 cup) coconut water.
Banana & Forrest Fruits - 1 small banana sliced, 1 small pot of Forrest fruits yogurt (low fat and sugar), a couple TBS of frozen forest fruits, 240ml (1 cup) apple juice.
Creamy Mango & Coconut - 4 TBS coconut milk yogurt, 1 small banana (sliced), 240ml (1 cup) coconut milk, 120g (4 1/2 ounces) frozen mango chunks, 1 TBS ground flax seed, sunflower and pumpkin seed.
Super Berry - 1 small pot of sugar free/fat free strawberry yogurt, 240ml milk (1 cup), 120g (4 1/2 ounces) frozen berries, 1 TBS porridge oats, 2 tsp honey
Peanut Butter and Banana - 1 small banana, peeled and sliced, 240ml (1 cup) unsweetened almond milk, 2 ice cubes, 1 heaped TBS sugar free peanut butter, 2 tsp honey (you can also add 1 tsp cocoa powder if you like the flavour of chocolate and peanut butter together)
Think Ahead
When you're at work
You might think its impossible to enjoy a delicious and fresh smoothie when you are at work, but I have found a really neat little portable blender that not only light weight, but small and very easy to carry. You can take it with you on your daily commute, or keep it at the office, ready to use. One of the neatest things about it is that you can charge it easily from your computer or your phone!
So now you really have no excuse not to eat a bit healthier, either at home or at work! I might not always have time to sit and eat something healthy, but I always have time to sip away at a deliciously nutritional drink while I am working. Hopefully in the long run it will go a long ways towards making my waistline a tad bit smaller. Watch this space!!
No English Tea Party would be complete without a tray of beautiful Scones. Is it scone that rhymes with "on", or is it scone that rhymes with "stone"?? Who knows for sure!!
It sounds mighty delicious no matter which way you say it.
If asked what the difference between a scone and a North American
baking powder biscuit is, I would have to say first and foremost, it is
in the preparation. I thought it would be fun today to do a tutorial for you on how to prepare and bake the classic English scone.
North American baking powder biscuits generally use all vegetable fat, and sometimes
cream. Scones usually use all butter, and sometimes butter and cream.
The two things are not the same thing at all, no matter how similar they might look. Scones are sweeter as well, which makes them perfect for enjoying with a hot cuppa. Biscuits are flaky and Scones are crumbly. They really are not the same thing at all, no matter how similar they may look.
When making scones, the first thing you will want to do is to sift your flour baking powder and salt into a bowl I find that aerating the flour in this way makes for a lighter scone. Sifting it together with the baking powder and salt ensures that all are mixed together evenly.
I do this from about 6 to 8 inches above the bowl, which really helps the air to get in there. I also always use self raising flour. You can buy it ready made or make your own. I give instructions on how to that on the main page.
Once you have done this it is time to add the butter. I will be honest here, I have never really been able to tell much difference between using sweet or salted butter.
But then again, I use Lurpak, lightly salted and that is not very salty to begin with. I love Lurpak. It is a danish butter and is always my butter of choice.
Make sure your butter is really cold. right from the refrigerator. Cut it into cubes quickly. I just measure it and then using a sharp knife cube it right into the bowl. Remember you want it to stay as cold as possible.
If you think it has warmed up too much, stick it onto a plate and pop it back into the refrigerator or even into the freezer for a few minutes. Warm hands can be somewhat of an enemy here, as well as when you are making pastry.
Once you have the butter in the bowl take your thumb and first two fingers on each hand and rub the butter into the flour using a snapping motion. Snap, snap, snap. Use the tips of your fingers.
When you are done it will look like fine dry bread crumbs. You really don't want any larger bits if you can help it. It should also look a bit like wet sand.
It is then that you can take a round bladed knife and stir in the sugar. You might think it is strange stirring the sugar into the flour mixture like this. It does seem a bit backwards.
But trust me when I tell you to do it this way. Scones have been made this way for years and years with great success.
It is now also that you will stir in the raisins. I like lots of raisins in mine. But people also use dried currants (which are smaller) and sometimes other dried fruit and berries. Stir them in with the round bladed knife also.
If you are not fond of raisins you can use another dried fruit such as dried blueberries or dried cranberries. Chopped dried dates also work well. For this particular recipe you do not want to use wet fruit.
Then you are going to make a hollow in the middle of this mixture and pour in your wet ingredients, stirring them in once again with a round bladed knife, to give you a soft, slightly tacky dough that holds well together.
Don't be afraid or think you have done something wrong because the dough is tacky or a bit sticky. This is as it should be.
Tip this out onto a lightly floured board and knead gently for a couple of turns. Lightly floured is best. You don't want to add to much additional flour to the dough by using too much.
You also only knead it for a very few times. If you overhandle any dough such as scones or pastry (or even biscuits) you run the risk of toughening them.
Once it has all come together nicely you can then pat it out to a one-inch thickness. I favour patting it over rolling it.
Its time to cut them out now. I use a 2 or 3 inch sharp round cutter, and I prefer the straight edge rather than the fluted edge of the cutter. Using a sharp up and down tapping motion, cut out as many as you can from this first patting out.
Once you have cut them out, you can gently rework the scraps and cut out more, but bear in mind that they will not be as nice as the first cut, so do try to get as many as you can from the first cut.
DO NOT twist the cutter. If you twist the cutter when you are cutting them, your scones will bake all lop-sided.
Place them evenly spaced on a paper lined baking sheet. I brush the tops lightly with an egg beaten with a tiny bit of water.
Make sure you only brush the tops and don't let the egg wash drip down the sides. This will hamper the rise.
That's it. Its all up to the oven now. Just pop the scones on the baking sheet into the pre-heated oven and bake as per the recipe.
If you look at the sheet of finished baked scones above you can clearly see which ones were from the first cut and which from the second. (I would never cut three times.) The first cut are even. The second cuts a bit rougher looking.
At the end of the day perfect or rough, these scone, no matter how they look, they will be delicious. You will want to enjoy them with some cream and jam, for the ultimate English experience.
Over here tea-rooms make a good business out of serving scones with cream and jam. Clotted cream if you can get it is beautiful, but you can also use whipped heavy cream.
That's what they call a "Cream Tea" over here in the UK, and there is much debate about which goes first onto the split scone . . . the cream or the jam.
Wars have been fought over that choice. Just kidding, however there has been some very heated discussions about this topic!
This can vary greatly according to which part of the country you come from. Each county has their own idea of what is proper and what is right. It is a subject of much debate.
If you put the jam first, the cream tends to slide off . . .
I like to put the cream on first myself, as it helps to cradle the jam and keep it in place . . . but at the end of the day it doesn't really matter I don't think.
It all ends up in the same place. Jam first or cream first.
They are delicious no matter which you put on first. I personally like strawberry jam with mine, but lemon curd is also very nice. Some people like cherry jam, others honey.
The sweetness of whatever you choose to use helps to accentuate the richness of the cream. And of course all of it goes beautifully with those rich crumbly fruit studded scones.
I don't think there is a prettier or a more delicious sight than a fabulously light and perfectly baked scone topped with cream (clotted or whipped) and some jam. This is heaven to me!
Put the kettle on for there is only one perfect thing to enjoy with these delicious delights! A pot of hot teas, steaming. Will that be one lump or two?
Yield: 10
Classic English Scones
prep time: 20 minscook time: 10 minstotal time: 30 mins
These are buttery and flaky tender with just the right amount of sticky sultanas. Serve with cream and jam for a real treat!
ingredients:
350g self raising flour ( 2 1/2 cups)
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
75g of cold butter (5 1/2 TBS)
30g Caster sugar (2 1/2 TBS, superfine sugar)
75g sultana raisins (1/2 cup)
approximately 150ml milk (scant 2/3 cup)
2 large free range eggs, beaten
granulated sugar to sprinkle plus flour for dusting
75g of cold butter (5 1/2 TBS)
30g Caster sugar (2 1/2 TBS, superfine sugar)
75g sultana raisins (1/2 cup)
approximately 150ml milk (scant 2/3 cup)
2 large free range eggs, beaten
granulated sugar to sprinkle plus flour for dusting
instructions:
Preheat the oven to 220*C/425*F/ gas mark 7. Butter a large baking tray. Alternately line it with greaseproof paper.
Measure
the flour into a bowl along with the baking powder. (Pour the flour in
from on high to aerate it.) Whisk together. Drop in the cold butter
in bits. Using your fingertips rub the butter in quickly until the
mixture resembles fine dry bread crumbs. Stir in the sugar and
raisins.
Beat the eggs. Remove and set 2 TBS aside. Add
100ml (scant 1/2 cup) of the milk to the eggs and beat together. Add
this to the flour mixture. Mix together with the rounded end of a
butter knife to form a soft but slightly tacky dough. Only add the
remainder of the milk if your dough is too dry and you want to absorb
any dry bits in the bowl. The dough should NOT be too wet, but not too
dry either. Tip out onto a lightly floured surface and knead gently a
couple of times to bring well together. Gently pat out to 1 inch
thick. Using a sharp round 3 inch cutter, cut out rounds, using a
direct up and down motion. Do not twist the cutter. Place the cut out
scones an inch or so apart on the baking sheet. Gather any trimmings
together and repeat until you have 10 scones.
Brush the
tops of the scones with the reserved beaten egg and sprinkle with a bit
of granulated sugar. Don't let the egg drip down the sides.
Bake
for about 10 minutes, until risen and golden on top and bottoms.
Remove to a wire rack to cool. Store in an airtight container. Best
eaten on the day. Any leftovers can be frozen for several months.
Measure
the flour into a bowl along with the baking powder. (Pour the flour in
from on high to aerate it.) Whisk together. Drop in the cold butter
in bits. Using your fingertips rub the butter in quickly until the
mixture resembles fine dry bread crumbs. Stir in the sugar and
raisins.
Beat the eggs. Remove and set 2 TBS aside. Add
100ml (scant 1/2 cup) of the milk to the eggs and beat together. Add
this to the flour mixture. Mix together with the rounded end of a
butter knife to form a soft but slightly tacky dough. Only add the
remainder of the milk if your dough is too dry and you want to absorb
any dry bits in the bowl. The dough should NOT be too wet, but not too
dry either. Tip out onto a lightly floured surface and knead gently a
couple of times to bring well together. Gently pat out to 1 inch
thick. Using a sharp round 3 inch cutter, cut out rounds, using a
direct up and down motion. Do not twist the cutter. Place the cut out
scones an inch or so apart on the baking sheet. Gather any trimmings
together and repeat until you have 10 scones.
Brush the
tops of the scones with the reserved beaten egg and sprinkle with a bit
of granulated sugar. Don't let the egg drip down the sides.
Bake
for about 10 minutes, until risen and golden on top and bottoms.
Remove to a wire rack to cool. Store in an airtight container. Best
eaten on the day. Any leftovers can be frozen for several months.
Created using The Recipes Generator
If you follow my directions and use a light hand in the preparation you are going to be rewarded with beautifully risen, light and fluffy scones. With jam, honey or lemon curd, you are in for a real treat.
These are perfect for teatime, coffee break, breakfast, elevenses, etc. In short, they are perfect for enjoying ANY time!
This content (written and photography) is the sole property of The
English Kitchen. Any reposting or misuse is not permitted. If you are
reading this elsewhere, please know that it is stolen content and you
may report it to me at: theenglishkitchen@mail.com
Thanks so much for visiting. Do come again!
Today I am going to teach you how to make perfect meringues. Making meringues is probably one of the things that can strike fear into even the most seasoned of cooks.
Yes, they can be a bit tricky and a bit temperamental, but if you follow my tips and guidelines there is no reason why you can't be a great meringue maker. Crisp on the outside and as light as air!
Making meringues is not a process that can be rushed. Slow and steady always wins the race here. A few of my tips to help you get perfect meringues is to always use room temperature egg whites. Also use older eggs.
Older, room temperature egg whites give you a lot more volume. Fresh egg whites just won't beat up the way you want them to. Make sure your eggs are at least a week old.
You also always want to make sure your beaters and bowls are
scrupulously clean and grease free. That's why I always use a glass
bowl.
I always use an electric hand whisk. Its easier to control the speed with an electric hand whisk. I always start off at a low speed and then increase it incrementally . . .
So here you have my egg whites, in a clean bowl, at room temperature. I start on low and slowly beat, until they start to look opaque, and only then do I advance to a medium speed.
Egg white contains chains of proteins that need to stretch slowly so they trap optimum air. If you beat them too fast, you risk snapping some of the chains permanently, making an unstable foam that’s likely to collapse when you add the sugar.
Continue to whisk at medium speed, until they double in volume and resemble a white fluffy cloud. You don't want them to look dry.
Only after they reach this stage do you start to add the sugar. Again slow and steady wins the race. I use caster sugar, which is a fine grained granulated sugar.
It makes for a much stabler mixture and creates crisp on the outside, soft on the inside meringues. If you don't have caster sugar, you can whirr regular granulated sugar in a food processor until it is finer.
Add the sugar a bit at a time while you continue to beat the egg whites. I add it a spoonful at a time, which gives it a chance to melt into the egg whites.
Once you have all the sugar in you will have a white glossy billowy mixture like what you see in the above photo. Thick and glossy, but again, not dry.
The general rule of thumb is that you will use an equivalent weight of egg white and sugar. I like to use half caster and half icing/confectioners sugar. (Powdered sugar)
I fold the confectioners sugar into the whites, in thirds, making sure its well incorporated also. It should look roughly like this, with no lumps or bumps.
Its ready now to spoon onto a baking tray. Line your tray with baking parchment. The chemistry in meringues, which is means they are high in sugar, means that they want to stick to things.
I find that using a silicone baking sheet liner or baking parchment works the best. Make sure you leave plenty of space between them as they will puff up as they bake and you don't want them to end up touching each other.
You want the air to be able to move freely around them. This is also when I sprinkle on any nuts if I am using them.
Bake them again, long and slow. At a low temperature. This allows the meringues to bake without over-colouring.
They should be mostly white or at the very least a very light tan colour when they are done. Baking them at a higher temperature means that they will darken in colour and you won't get that nice crisp exterior with that soft mallow-like centre.
When done they will be as light and fluffy as air, with a beautifully crisp exterior. They might crack a bit, but that's okay. Its only when you make larger ones that they really crack.
The smaller ones might not crack at all. If you tap them on the bottom they will sound hollow. They will be barely coloured at all.
Perfect meringues are beautifully light and crisp and wonderful on their own, but are especially lovely when served with fresh fruit and cream.
Today I served them with some fresh Scottish raspberries and some of the clotted cream I had left from the other day . . .
These make a beautiful dessert, simple and very light . . . especially after a heavy meal. You are eating crisp sweet air . . .
You don't need to sweeten your berries or your cream, The meringues are sweet enough and will go beautifully with the tartness of the fruit and the creamy richness of the cream.
This is pure and simple . . . a dessert confection created in heaven. Bliss, pure and utter bliss . . .
*Perfect Meringues*
Makes 16
These are perfect. Billowy and sweet.
4 large free range egg whites, at room temperature
115g caster sugar (9 1/2 TBS)
115g icing sugar, sifted (14 TBS)
Preheat your oven to 100*C/200*F/gas mark 1/4. Line several baking sheets with baking parchment paper. Set aside.
Put
the egg whites into a large scrupulously clean GLASS bowl. Beat on
medium speed with an electric whisk until the mixture resembles a
fluffy cloud. Increase the temperature and start adding the caster
sugar 1 spoonful at a time, beating 3 to 4 seconds after each addition.
The mixture should be thick and glossy when done. (Note, if you don't
add the sugar slowly, your meringue will weep later on, and we don't
want that.)
Sift 1/3 of the icing sugar over
top and fold in with a metal spoon. Repeat until all of the icing sugar
has been folded in. You should have a thick smooth, billowy almost
snow-drift type of mixture now.
Using two spoons dollop the mixture onto the prepared baking sheets in oval shapes, or simply just dollop into rounds.
Bake
in the preheated oven for 1 1/2 to 1 3/4 hours. They should sound crisp
when tapped on the bottom, and will be a very pale tan colour. Cool on
wire racks. You can store these in an airtight tin for up to two weeks,
or freeze for up to a month.
Beautiful put together in pairs with whipped cream.
I really hope you will try making some meringues soon. I am fairly confident that if you use my hints tips and method, you are sure to have success with them! If you do, be sure to come back and let me know. Even if you don't. Perhaps I can help. In any case, Bon Appetit!
This content (written and photography) is the sole property of The English Kitchen. Any reposting or misuse is not permitted. If you are reading this elsewhere, please know that it is stolen content and you may report it to me at: mariealicejoan at aol dot com Thanks so much for visiting. Do come again!
I wanted to show you all a simple and easy way to decorate your Christmas Cake this year. You can seriously have it done in about half an hour. It truly is easy peasy, and I think it is really, really cute, don't you?
First you will want to assemble all of your ingredients. You will need one baked fruit cake. Mine is 8 inches in diameter. You will also need some ready rolled marzipan and ready rolled fondant icing. Don't worry if you cannot find it ready rolled, you can either buy the stuff un-rolled and roll your own, or make your own from scratch. I am going to give you the recipes below to make both the marzipan layer and the fondant. You will also need 3 TBS of apricot jam, warmed with 1 TBS of water or Brandy and pushed through a sieve to make it smooth and take out any bits. I have used three gingerbread cutters. One largish man and two smaller ones, a boy and a girl. But you can use any combination that you have in your house. You will also need some ribbons to decorate the edges around the cake or a paper frill, and some candies, etc. to decorate your gingerbread men.
Once you have everything assembled it will go like wild-fire!
It is really very, very easy!
Fasten your cake to the centre of a round cake plate/board. I used a dab of marzipan to hold it in place. If you don't want any lumpy bumpy surfaces, you can go to the trouble of filling in any holes with some extra marzipan, but I am not really bothered myself. Brush your cake all over with the seived apricot jam mixure. Take your marzipan and roll it over a rolling pin to move it without tearing it. Place it gently on top of your cake, smoothing it over the top and down the sides. Smooth the paste over the cake using the palms of
your hands, then trim with a sharp knife around the bottom edge of the cake all around. It is recommended that you wait 24 hours to let it dry, but because you are going to be cutting shapes out of the top you won't want to do that. You don't really want it too stuck to the cake when you lift the shapes off.
Now you want to brush the marzipan all over the top and sides of the cake with more of the apricot jam mixture. Roll the fondant icing over the top of a rolling pin to transfer it and then layer it on top of the marzipan, covering the cake completely and smoothing it out with your hands pressing it down gently around the sides also. Trim off any excess from the bottom and discard. Now place your cutters to where you want them on top of the cake. Press your cutter/s through the fondant and marzipan layers and remove the icing with the cutter still inserted to help give a cleaner outline. Add the gingerbread man features to the cut out shape using either cut out and shaped pieces of white fondant or fondant water icing placed in a piping bag. Marzipan shapes and sweets can be added on to and around your gingerbread man shapes for extra decoration.
I used some white piping icing to make lines and then little red balls for the eyes and buttons, which I also used some of the white piping icing to help stick them on. I cut a bow tie out of a red glace cherry for the larger gingerbread man!
He looks rather dapper don't you think! Then I used halved glace cherries and some slivers of green cherry to add some other decorative touches It doesn't quite look like holly, but I think it looks nice anyways.
I cut some ribbons and placed them around the sides of the cake. I used ball headed pins to hold them in place. Just remember when you go to serve your cake that they are there!
*Vanilla Marzipan*
Makes enough Mix the sugars and almonds in a large bowl, then rub in the vanilla seeds until even. Make a well in the middle, then tip in the eggs and citrus juice. Cut the wet ingredients into the dry with a round bladed knife. Dust the surface with icing sugar, then knead the marzipan briefly with your hands to a smooth dough. Don’t overdo it as it can get greasy. Add a bit more icing sugar if it seems too wet. Shape into a ball, then wrap and keep in a cool place until ready to cover the cake. Can be made up to 2 days in advance.
Flip the top of the circle back over your rolling pin so you can see the underside of the marzipan, then lift the pin up and lift the marzipan over the cake. Stop once you can see that the edge of the marzipan nearest you is about level with the bottom of the cake. Flop the front of the marzipan down. Smooth the paste over the cake using the palms of your hands, then trim with a sharp knife. If any cracks appear, simply pinch the paste back together and smooth. Leave to dry for at least 24 hrs, or up to 3 days, before covering with icing.
*Rolled Fondant Icing*
Makes enough to cover a large cake
1 TBS glycerine
2 TBS butter
I think it turned out really cute! I wanted to show you the neat cake carrier I have to store it as well.
Its one of those Lock Top ones. I got it quite some time ago. You put the cake on the insert part, which has handles for lifting. Then you lift your cake and put it into the cake holder and the lid clips on air tight. There is even a handle for carrying it around, out to the car, into the kitchen, etc. If you don't have one of these you might want to put it on your christmas list! I got mine at a local cook shop, but I think you can get them online at various places.
In any case I hope you enjoyed seeing our Christmas cake for this year! Bon Appetit and Happy Holidays!
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