Showing posts with label holidays. Show all posts
Showing posts with label holidays. Show all posts
I've been racking my brains to come up with something tasty for the upcoming holidays of Halloween and yes, Thanksgiving (American). It hasn't been really easy having had a ticky tummy for the past couple of days. I haven't really felt like much in the way of food, eating or recipes!
I've been eating applesauce, bananas and dry toast. I am feeling a bit better today, thankfully. I am not sure if your kids were like mine, but getting them to eat anything prior to Trick-Or-Treating was nigh onto impossible. They were very eager to get out there with the other kids in the neighbourhood.
Jon carving his pumpkin . . .
I had made Apple Pie Tacos for our RS activity last week. It was a presentation on flat breads. I had a bag of lightly salted tortilla crisps leftover and I thought to myself, lets try to do something with those.
Jakey carving his pumpkin ...
Because of my illness I had lots of applesauce in the house as well, so the wheels started turning and I thought Cinnamon Apple Nachos. But they had to be quick and easy, and something children would like to eat.
Josh working hard on his pumpkin . . . I am betting his tongue is out. Its a family trait. We all stick out tongues out when we are concentrating.
I shook the bag of tortilla crisps together with some melted butter and cinnamon sugar, spread them on a baking tray and baked them in a moderate oven until they were crispy toasty and nice and cinnamony . . .
While they were baking I stirred together some applesauce and a bit of cinnamon to give me some cinnamon applesauce. You could leave the cinnamon out if you wanted to.
You can use chunky applesauce or smooth applesauce. I used the smooth as that is what I had, and you want to use unsweetened. There is enough sugar in the crisps.
I put that into a bowl for dipping and topped it with some sour cream, which I then drizzled with some salted caramel sauce. (Optional, but very nice.)
Popped the bowl onto a plate and surrounded it with the cinnamon sugar tortilla crisps. Presto chango, a really delicious snack that the kids will love that won't take a lot of time. Guaranteed to please!
Yield: Serves 4 - 6
Quick Cinnamon Apple Nachos
prep time: 8 minscook time: 12 minstotal time: 20 mins
These are delicious, quick and easy. Its a sweet and salty thing. What more could you want?
ingredients:
180g bag of lightly salted tortilla crisps (6.5 ounces)
4 TBS melted butter
4 TBS sugar
2 tsp ground cinnamon
For the dip:
1 (280g jar) of smooth or chunky unsweetened apple sauce (about 10 ounces, or 1 1/4 cups)
pinch cinnamon
4 TBS sour cream
salted caramel to drizzle (optional)instructions:
Preheat the oven to 190*C/375*F/ gas mark 5. Line a baking tray
with some aluminium foil and spritz lightly with low fat cooking spray.
with some aluminium foil and spritz lightly with low fat cooking spray.
Open the bag of tortilla crisps and
drizzle with the melted butter, give them a good shake to mix the butter
well in. Mix together the sugar and ground cinnamon. Pour into the
bag and give them another good shake to coat all. Pour them out onto
the baking tray in a single layer. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes until
golden and smelling nice and cinnamony. Take out of the oven and let
cool while you set up the dip.
drizzle with the melted butter, give them a good shake to mix the butter
well in. Mix together the sugar and ground cinnamon. Pour into the
bag and give them another good shake to coat all. Pour them out onto
the baking tray in a single layer. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes until
golden and smelling nice and cinnamony. Take out of the oven and let
cool while you set up the dip.
applesauce into a bowl and stir in a bit of cinnamon to taste. Top with
dollops of the sour cream and drizzle with the salted caramel. Place
in the middle of a platter and surround with the cinnamon sugar tortilla
crisps for dipping.
Created using The Recipes Generator
I'm an adult and not feeling too good and I thought these were really tasty. Its times like this what I wish I had family closer around to enjoy these things I come up with. I love my grandchildren, and it would be so nice to be able to spoil them year round!
Jakey in the hay bales. He really looks like his mum here. I know I am a bit biased but I just think I have the bestest, smartest, most handsomest grandchildren ever! Bon Appetit!
I decided to bake some little Valentine Treats for my sweetie pie today in the way of these cute little Queen of Hearts Jam Tarts. Todd loves jam tarts. I think they are about his most favourite thing of all that I bake, next to a Victoria sponge, fruit cake, or apple pie . . .
The Queen of Hearts. So sweet here with her little tray of baked goodies and her cute crown, dress, etc. It was really difficult to find a nice picture of the Queen of Hearts . . . most are associated with that grouchy old Queen of Hearts from Alice in Wonderland . . . and someone who looks that grouchy doesn't belong on my page!
These however are not that grouchy, and they really put a smile on our Todd's face when he came in from being in town.
They are a really simple make. If you can make pastry, then you can make these. I used my basic butter and lard pastry with a bit of sugar added. The recipe makes enough for 24 double heart tarts.
I only did one half of the pastry as tarts however, I baked the other half blind as a pie shell for a Lemon Meringue Pie. (Which I will tell you about another time!)
You want a well flavoured nice strawberry jam for the filling. I favour Bon Maman, but you use whatever strawberry jam you like best. If you have homemade, use that. Its the best!
Just be sure not to overfill them. This is definitely a case where less is more!
And even being judicious with your filling, blow outs will occur, no matter how well you try to seal them! So really . . . less is more! Trust me on this.
Mind you, if you are like me (And I like to think that we are more alike than we are different!) a little bit of blow out only makes them tastier, with their chewy sweet crunchy almost candy-like bits . . .
*Queen of Hearts Jam Tarts*
Makes 24 little heart pies
Pastry:
2 cups all purpose flour (280g)
3/4 teaspoon salt
2 cups all purpose flour (280g)
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 tsp sugar
1/3 cup butter (76g)
1/3 cup lard (or white vegetable shortening) (74g)
5 to 6 tablespoons of ice water
1/3 cup lard (or white vegetable shortening) (74g)
5 to 6 tablespoons of ice water
You will also need:
strawberry jam
(I like Bon Maman)
milk for brushing
demerara sugar for sprinkling
icing sugar to dust
First make the pastry. Mix flour with salt, and cut in butter and
lard, until you have pieces of fat in the flour about the size of peas.
Add
ice water, one TBS at a time, tossing it in with a fork until pastry
comes together. Form in to a
ball and cut in two pieces. Form each into a round flat disc. Wrap in
cling film and
refrigerate for 1 hour.
At the end of that time,
preheat the oven to 200*C/400*F/ gas mark 6. Line a large baking tray
with aluminium foil and spritz the foil with non-stick cooking spray.
Set aside.
Working with one disc at a time, roll the
pastry out on a lightly floured surface using a lightly floured rolling
pin to 1/4 inch thickness. Cut out heart shapes with a 2- inch heart
cookie cutter. (Set the trimmings aside for the end.) Place spaced apart
on the baking tray. Place 1/2 tsp of jam or to taste in the centre of
each heart. Roll out the other disc of pastry the same as the first and
cut out an equal amount of herat shapes with the same cutter. Brush
the edges of the hearts on the baking tray with some milk and press the
other hearts on top to enclose the jam. Press around the edges with a
fork to seal completely. Brush the tops with some more milk and
sprinkle with demerara sugar. Using kitchen scissors or a sharp knife,
cut a little x shaped vent in the centre of each.
Gather
up all of the scraps and shape into another dish and roll out as for
the other pastry, and cut and fill tarts as before, bearing in mind that
they will not be as tender as the first ones because of the extra
handling. Repeat brushing with milk, sprinkling with sugar, etc.
Like I said I used the other half of the pastry to do a single baked crust for a Lemon Meringue Pie, and I am using an unsual amount of restraint keeping it in the refrigerator until it gets really cold before cutting! Lemon Meringue is my favourite kind of pie, next to raisin pie . . . so its hard to not want to cut into it right now!
In any case if you are looking for a delicious little Valentines treat to bake for your loved ones that's not that hard or fiddly and one that they will really enjoy, look no further than Queen of Hearts Jam Tarts!! Bon Appetit and off with their heads!
I've never been a go out and paint the town red person on New Years Eve. I have always been a stay at home and enjoy a nice meal and nibbles kind of a person. Partially because through the years, whilst raising a large family, we couldn't afford to pay a sitter to come in and watch the children, and partially because my then husband always worked on New Years. The guys with the children got Christmas off and in exchange they worked for the single guys who wanted to ring in the New Year out and about!
I never minded really. I've never been a party type of gal. Instead we always just enjoyed a nice family meal and then the children and I would have a nibbles buffet and see if we could stay up long enough to rock it in with Dick Clark!
I have really been enjoying these past few days without a car. Its has really clipped our wings and helped us to slow down a lot and really get tucked into what is really important about the Holidays. Home and family, the people you love and care about . . . good food . . . the Christ Child. Taking all the rush and hubbub out of these days has really helped us to feel a lot more festive. Today I really got into the mood and baked Todd some mince pies. He adores Mince Pies. You probably remember me making my mincemeat earlier this month. This is what I used. This was a test run for the ones I will bake on Christmas Eve. Do you do test runs for the holidays?? I think everyone does.
I was keen to try a new pastry recipe which I had found in this Marks & Spencer Christmas cookbook. It looked really nice and, as you know, I am always keen to try something new!
It is a really simple recipe which involves rubbing butter into flour and stirring in some icing sugar, an egg yolk and a bit of milk. I did add a pinch of salt. It rolled out like a dream and I had those tins lined and ready to fill in a nano-second. Well, maybe a bit longer, but you get the gist . . .
One thing I have learnt through the years is not to be overly generous with the mincemeat when making my mince pies . . . not unless I want mince pies that won't loosen from the tin. This is definitely an occasion when less is more. I couldn't find my star cutter this morning and so I used a small snowflake cutter instead. (I will add just a touch more mincemeat when I bake my final batch. This lot of mince meat I made doesn't spread like the store brands do. Its lovely.)
The original recipe said to roll the pastry out to 1/2 inch thickness which I think was a huge mistake. I rolled it out to 1/4 inch thickness and they were just right. Any thicker than that and it would have been far too thick.
I have to say this pastry is beautiful. Easy to work with. Nice and flaky!
You would think that having icing sugar in it would make it sweet, but it doesn't at all. Its just right.
There is nothing like putting Christmas Music on to play and then doing some Christmas baking to put one in the mood for the Holy Holidays!
Todd went to pick the car up from being fixed while I was baking these and inhaled two of them as soon as he got in the door. They got Two Thumbs Up from him! That's a really high accolade, as he is a real connoisseur of mince pies!!!
*Festive Mince Pies*
Makes 16
100g butter (7 TBS) cut into bits
210g plain flour (1 1/2 cups)
25g icing sugar (3 TBS)
1 large free range egg yolk
2 to 3 TBS milk plus extra for glazing
300g mincemeat (10 1/2 ounces)
icing sugar for dusting
Preheat the oven to 180*C/350*F/ gas mark 4. Butter a 16 hole tartlet tin and set aside.
Sift
the flour into a bowl. Drop in the cold butter and rub it into the
flour using your finger tips until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs.
Stir in the icing sugar and the egg holk. Stir in enough milk to make a
soft dough. Tip out onto a lightly floured surface and knead lightly
until you have a smooth dough.
Shape into a
ball and then roll our 1/4 inch thick. Cut into rounds using fluted
cutters. Place into the buttered tin. Half fill each with some
mincemeat. Cut out 16 star shapes from the remaining dough and place on
top. Brush lightly with milk.
Bake in the
preheated oven for 15 minutes, until golden brown. Remove from the oven
and leave to cool on a wire rack. Dust with icing sugar to serve.
Oh boy but these were some good. I will be baking another batch or two before Christmas and most especially on Christmas Eve! You can never have too many mince pies!
I am like my mom who never let anything go to waste.
The leftover cuttings of the pastry got balled back together and re-rolled. Mom used to do this. She would roll it out thin and spread it with butter and a healthy sprinkle of cinnamon sugar.
It would then be rolled up tightly and cut into slices and baked. The end result was delicious flaky cinnamon roll type of pastry bites that my father called Des Pets de Soeur, or loosely translated into English . . . wait for it . . . Nun's Farts.
Now what child would not be thrilled with a plate of these! We loved them! So did my dad. Bon Appetit and Happy Holidays!
I confess. I am having a love affair with Panettone. Todd thinks we have a magic Panettone that I got for Christmas that keeps regenerating itself. 😁 Truth be told I am a naughty magician that is very good at making it disappear and then reappear in the house,as if by magic (by use of my magic grocery cart). Shhh . . . don't tell.
I really love anything fruity. And I especially love all of the Christmas fruity goodies like Panettone and fruit cake, mince pies, stollen, etc. I am good at making all of it disappear too. They are a weakness I need to work on.
These lovely muffins embody all of the flavours of a delicious Panettone, but without all of the hard work and waiting.
A lovely moist cake type of batter. I use oil, but you could use melted butter if you wanted to. They would certainly be a lot richer with butter . . .
Sweet sticky raisins . . . chopped candied cherries. You could use chopped maraschino cherries if you can't get candied cherries. Just rinse and dry them off really well.
Candied citron, almond essence . . . finely grated orange zest . . .
I used three colours of cherries, well four actually light red and dark red . . . green and yellow . . . flaked almonds burnish the top . . .
A quick mix together and then a quick bake and presto chango . . . you magically have some really delicious moreish muffins that taste very Panettone-like.
*Panettone Muffins*
Makes 10
1/2 tsp almond extract
100g caster sugar (1/2 cup)
icing sugar to dust
Whisk together the egg, oil, milk and almond extract. Stir together the flour, sugar, cherries, raisins, mixed peel, orange zest and mixed spice. Make a well in the centre and add the wet ingredients. Stir together to combine. Spoon into the prepared muffin cups. Sprinkle the top of each with some flaked almonds.
Bake for 20 minutes until risen and golden brown. Let cool on a wire rack. Dust with icing sugar to serve.
These would be perfect served with hot drinks on Christmas morning while you are opening the gifts. These muffins and I are very good friends. Happy Holidays and Bon Appetit!
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