Welsh Cakes - Bake Off inspiration week 2

Biscuit week.  Anyone else just totally in love with biscuit boxes made from biscuits?  From the bakers comments I was pleased to learn that I was not the only one to never have heard of an arlette, and with Jus-Rol sharing a recipe for one on their Facebook page using their ready made sheets, I may just find time to try one!

I decided to make some biscuits for us to enjoy with a cup of tea and a board game so got out my copy of 'The Great British Book of Baking' and flicked through the biscuit chapter so see what whet my appetite.  The biscuit chapter is headed 'Biscuits and Teatime Treats' and it turns out what whet my appetite was not a biscuit at all, but welsh cakes.

This is an incredibly quick and easy bake, I mixed it up while the cabbage was cooking for tea (and you know you don't want to overcook cabbage) and then rolled, cut and griddled after we had put the girls to bed.  Ten minutes after they went to sleep we were eating welsh cakes.

Our Feathered Friends

I've mentioned our chickens a couple of times in posts, but realised I have not yet introduced you!

At the end of September 2012 we had some new additions to our household. Four incredibly cute silkie chickens, a wedding gift from some friends who have a breeding flock.  There are two black ones - the witches (of Terry Pratchet Discworld fame) Nanny Egg and Granny Featherwax, one brown one - Emily Chickenson, and one white one - Princess Layer.

We had been talking about getting chickens for ages (first step on the small holding dream) and my previous birthday had a distinct poultry theme.  I received a chicken house, feed hoppers, water dishes, books on keeping chickens, chicken food, grit, mite spray and an all important scrambled egg pan.  Best of all my mum had reconstructed the bottom of our garden to include a fantastic hand-built chicken pen and a rebuilt shed to keep all our chicken paraphernalia in.

The pen under construction

I knew something was up as I’d been banned from the garden for the week before my birthday, Arthur got really twitchy every time I got near the door!  However I didn't expect the scale of the work taking place.

The finished pen and new tenants

A summer Christmas pudding

August might seem an odd time to post about Christmas pudding, in fact there's no might about it, it is odd.  However there is a reason!

My sister and I are both huge fans of Christmas pudding, but me being somewhat pickier than her, I have been making my own for the last 10 years or so, mainly just to have one without chunks of nut in, who wants a crunch in that mouthful of warm soft flavours?!

I started with a recipe from an old cookbook at my parents house, I don't remember what it was called, and, apart from removing the nuts, the first year I did follow the recipe.  That was the only year that happened!

Each year I have made changes to the recipe, either through design - such as adding ground almonds to keep the nutty flavour without the crunch and swapping candied peel for fresh for a wonderful citrus burst, or sometimes through accident - such as changing of quantities due to bad maths when trying to halve the recipe and the one year when I was making a fruit cake at the same time and used the cake sugar in the pudding and the pudding sugar in the cake.

Anyway, with all the changes, intended and otherwise, Christmas pudding 2013 was about as perfect as I ever expect to get it, and was faithfully reproduced for Christmas 2014 without any errors.  It went down a storm.  That being the case it seems such a shame to only make it once a year.  So with my sister enjoying Christmas pudding as much as I do and her birthday approaching, I decided to make her a birthday pudding rather than a birthday cake.  However, best laid plans and all that, I ran out of time and she did not get a birthday pudding (she got peanut butter cupcakes).  So when she invited us for dinner last week I seized the opportunity and casually offered to bring dessert.

Here is my recipe for anyone who fancies giving it a go

Topped with a rose, rather than the more traditional holly.  It is summer after all!  This picture does not really do the pudding justice.  We were too keen to eat them to remember to take pictures, so this one is a left over that had not yet had its second steam.  As such it looks a little sad :(

Black Forest Bites - Bake Off inspiration Week 1

So what did you think of week 1? I enjoyed the Madeira (lemon with cherries is my signature), particularly liked the sound of Tamal's pistachio and rose version, and I thought it looked incredible.  The recipe has gone up on the BBC site so I shall definitely be adding that to my 'to bake' list.

The walnut cake was a good watch, but not really the accompaniment to my cup of tea, although they did look very nice.

But what really fired my imagination (as usual) were the show-stoppers. I love a good Black Forest gateaux, the best one I ever had was actually in the Black Forest in a small pub at the bottom of a waterfall, it was delicious, if a little boozy for my 14 year old self!

This weeks bake off versions were fantastic, I loved the chocolate trees and animals, was so impressed by the chocolate collar (what can I use that for?) and thought Alvin's shards were a really modern original.

I was all fired up with ideas of baking a gateaux, I could try something fancy like Ian's macaroon base (although maybe not after my last macaroon disaster) or just do a simple cake and go all out on decoration.  Then I realised, who am I kidding!  I don't have time to eat that sort of pudding, let alone make it, so here is my time saving version for those of us that wish we could spend the weekend baking, but can't.  Black Forest Bites.

2015 Reading Challenges

One of the things I want to get back to doing more of is reading, and to help keep me motivated to do so I am going to take part in a couple of reading challenges this year (or what is left of it!).

The first is the Full House Reading Challenge hosted by Book Date

The idea is to complete a full house on the bingo card below

I'm going to start with 'Book by an author you really like' and read The Shepherd's Crown by Terry Pratchett.  I will add my list of books and any reviews here as I choose and read them.

Full House Challenge Books

1. Book by an author you really like - The Shepherd's Crown by Terry Pratchett

2. Book set in the Northern hemisphere - North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell

3. 2nd book or more in a series - Wise Man's Fear by Patrick Rothfuss

The second reading challenge I am signing up to is The Nonfiction Reading Challenge hosted by The Introverted Reader.  I very rarely read nonfiction, so I'm hoping that this will open up a new genre for me.  I am aiming for Explorer level - read 6 - 10 books so we will see how that goes!  We are currently reading David Mitchell's biography 'Back Story' so that will be first on my list.  Again I will update this post with books and any reviews as they are chosen and read.

Nonfiction Reading Challenge

1. Back Story by David Mitchell

2. How the Girl Guides Won the War by Janie Hampton

3. The Little Princesses by Marion Crawford

4. The Kon Tikki Expedition by Thor Heyerdahl

If anyone has some good suggestions for reading material for either challenge I'd be very happy to receive them.

Happy reading!

Bake off and new beginnings

So as I'm sure you can see, the blog has been dormant or some time.  Over a year in fact, but it has been a very busy year!

Our baby has grown into a toddler and we have another baby fast on her way to becoming the same. 

We have unfortunately had to say goodbye to our cat after a fine innings of 20 years ordering us all about, and we have moved house (3 weeks before the baby arrived!).  So I make no apologies for the lack of posts.

However, I have been feeling lately that I would like to do something for me, and this blog encourages me to do those sort of projects that I might otherwise neglect as I then get to blog about them.  

So no time like the present, the girls have just gone to bed and in less than two hours Bake Off begins, and with it starts a new season of inspiration.  Every episode makes me want to try new things and our new garden is bursting with fruit to be turned into delicious baked/jammed/frozen delights.

Now is the time, the new sap is rising (slightly late, but it has been a chilly wet spring!), I want to bake and craft and visit exciting and interesting places - and I want to blog about it.  I want to share my thoughts and have a lovely record of our doings and hopefully chat with some of you lovely people out there along the way.

So look out for more regular blog posts, sharing cooking, crafting, outings and all sorts, but for now to get going here is a picture of some peanut butter cupcakes and some 'worms in the mu' brownies that I made or my sister and nieces recent joint birthday party.

See you all soon!

Pear Honey and Almond Upside Down Sponge

Arthur was hankering for an upside down pudding the other night, and while I know what he really wanted was a syrup sponge I fancied something a little fruitier so I put this together.  I think he was pleasantly surprised, I certainly enjoyed it.

Pear, honey and almond upside down sponge

Made in Water - La Bassine birth pool

Right from the start I knew that I wanted to have a homebirth, hospitals are definitely not or me, but it wasn't until during our hypnobirth classes when we watched some water births, that we considered this as an option.

The more I thought about it the more I liked the idea so I started looking around or a pool that we could use at home.  There seemed to be two options - the birth pool in a box and the made in water La Bassine.  After a good look at both we decided to go with the La Bassine as I wasn't too sure about the seat in the birth pool in a box and the La Bassine seemed to offer a larger internal space for the total dimensions.

We bought the La Bassine birth pool essential kit, including the pool, a heat retaining cover, electric pump, water pump, eco hose, tap connector, repair kit, debris net, protective sheet and a nylon storage bag, everything you need to set up, use and empty the pool.

As directed in the instructions we had a test run setting up and filling the pool.  The pump supplied to inflate the pool was very noisy, but fortunately worked very quickly, the hose was plenty long enough to reach the taps at the other end of the house and the protective sheet was huge and could have covered the entire room.

In just over an hour the pool was inflated, filled and ready to go.

Natural Dye - The Yellow Raspberry Experiment

I have a number of white muslins, baby grows and nappies that I thought it would b fun to brighten up by dying, but maternity pay being what it is, when I came to buy dye I decided it was an unnecessary waste of money.  Then while making my blackcurrant sorbet and appreciating the colour of it, I got to thinking about natural dyes.  I did some reading online about different methods of dying, and mordants to use, and then decided to have a go with what I could find in the garden.

White items to dye

My mum had mentioned earlier in the week that she ha a glut of soft fruit if I wanted to pick some so I started there.  She wasn't too keen when I told her it was for dying rather than eating though!  So I started with the yellow raspberries as she had the most of those.

Yellow raspberries waiting to boil

Homemade cloth nappies - five months later

Before Jen arrived I made a bunch of budget homemade nappies and some wool nappy covers.  I was really pleased with them, they looked cute and were very cost effective.  Five months on I must confess we are not using them, which is a little disappointing!

We are still using cloth nappies but not my own homemade ones, for several reasons.

Having not used real nappies before (or any nappies for that matter) I was a little clueless about them, and despite having done my research, there is nothing like actual use to give you perspective.  The nappies were not absorbent enough, in fact were far from it.  They need to be made from a double layer of absorbent material and/or used with boosters (additional absorbent fabric stuffed inside the nappy).  That alone wouldn't have stopped us using them, I could have easily made boosters.

Only one of my woollen covers fitted.  The crochet one was almost impossible to get on, there just isn't enough flex in the fabric to allow the shape I used to work.  Again this probably wouldn't have stopped us using them, although I definitely would have bought covers as I certainly had no time to knit another.

What did stop us using our homemade ones, is the gift we were given by a friend of some commercially made all-in-one, one size nappies.  She had used them for her son but he had outgrown them so she very kindly passed them on to us to use, and we were spoiled! I will be eternally grateful, they made a world of difference to us in the early days.

They were fab.  So easy to use, with velcro closure an a built in waterproof layer, using the nippers and covers on our homemade ones isn't really so much of a chore, but it is amazing how every little bit helps when trying to adjust to a newborn.  The homemade nappies were just that little bit more to handle, so they weren't first choice when changing.

We have bought more commercially made nappies since, from several brands (mostly preloved) and I'm not sorry.  They are so simple to use and care for and Jen seems comfortable in them.  I am looking at making some of my own again, but they will be similar to the commercial ones.  I will post about them when I get round to it, am also hoping to post some reviews of the brands we have been using.

The good news is, the wipes I made are brilliant, just what is needed, and I'm planning on running up a few more.  So pregnancy sewing wasn't a complete loss!

Blackcurrant Sorbet and liquorice sticks

Some years ago (more than I care to remember) Ribena held a summer promotion where if you got a purple straw you could send it off to claim a free cutting of the Ribena berry Ben Hope.

I was working at a cafe at the time an more than one customer left behind their purple straw so I ended up with several cuttings which grew incredibly well and strike so easily I am now on third or fourth generation plants.

Despite having a number of very healthy plants, I have eaten very few blackcurrants over the years.  They always seem to ripen while we are on holiday and by the time we are back, the birds have beaten me to it.  Not this year though!

Having returned from a holiday on the Saturday I went out to take stock of the garden and noticed one ripe blackcurrant - great I hadn't missed them.  Gardening on the Sunday I looked up to see a bush full of ripe blackcurrants, they had obviously been waiting for me!

With the weather being so warm I decided that the best use of them would be Blackcurrant sorbet.  I used this recipe from Lavender and Lovage although I only had enough berries for a half batch it was plenty.

 I love the colour that blackcurrants give, such a bonus to the taste.  I'm lucky enough to have an icecream maker - an excellent birthday gift some years back - so making sorbet was really a doddle, boil the fruit and sugar syrup, cool and pour into the maker.  My work was done oh so quickly.

Sorbet after mixing in the icecream maker

 I must confess that I did not read the recipe thoroughly and tossed my fruit in the pan whole, without topping and tailing, however I don't feel that this affected the final product in any way, and candour compels me to admit that even if I had read that part, I probably would have been too lazy to do it.

I served the sorbet with liquorice sticks which were great as they worked really well as spoons.  The recipe said it would serve 4-6, but I only made a half batch and it easily served four (with larger servings than pictured below, I started small and went back for seconds!) with a good size portion left over.

Blackcurrant sorbet served with a liquorice stick spoon

It's the first time I've made sorbet and I was amazed at how easy it was and how healthy I can convince myself it is (just a little bit of sugar, right?).  I will definitely be trying more sorbets with garden fruit this year.

As a bonus the seedy mush left over after straining was enjoyed by the chickens!

Coffee Lover's Cheesecake

Last weekend, the three of us went for a walk in Ironbridge an stopped at the Tea emporium for a coffee (a slight contradiction I know!).  The coffees came served with ameretti biscuits which I love, and it got me thinking.

The results of these thoughts were this coffee lover's cheescake which I made for Sunday dinner.

House-warming Saffron Buns

My sister and her family recently moved house after a very (VERY) long time of trying to do so.  I wanted to bake them something nice to celebrate and decided on Saffron buns.

My Grandma grew up in Devon and even after moving to Shropshire, raising a family here, and confessing to a love for her adopted county, she still thought of herself as a Devonshire lass.  We spent a fair few holidays in that part of the world as children and my sister opted to attend university there.

Pasties, saffron cake, and clotted cream have always been popular not just in our house but with all of the family and whenever my sister came home from university she did so laden with huge boxes of pasties, many tubs of cream and saffron cakes ordered by our many uncles.  I remember one time visiting her at Uni before coming home together and we spent the morning driving round several bakeries and clearing them out of stock in order to get as many pasties as needed!

So saffron cake or buns have quite a special place in my heart, and the warming saffron spice seemed an appropriate choice for a house warming gift.  They are also on my current list of bakes to try.

I used a recipe from The Great British Book of Baking, and while I wasn't expecting them to match up to the standards of Budleigh Salterton (small bakery there many moons ago, hands down best saffron cake I have ever tasted) they looked like a tasty bake.

Unfortunately this house-warming gift did not warm well, my dough did not rise.  Not after the 3-4 hours that was suggested, and not after the 24 hours I left it just in case.

Dough after mixing (left), and dough after 24 hours (right)

I didn't bother baking them, it didn't seem worth it.  Still, I do dearly love saffron buns (and am rather fond of my sister!), so will at some point try again.

Walled garden walks

I read somewhere that babies who get at least an hour of fresh air and daylight during the afternoon sleep better at night that those that don't.  So in an effort to improve our night times, Jen and I have an enforced hour of outside time each afternoon.  Providing the weather is not hideous, we go for a walk (well I walk and she generally sleeps!) otherwise we sit outside on our covered patio, but she doesn't seem to enjoy that as much, and really neither do I.

One of the places we have been walking most often is Attingham Park a National Trust property.  We are National Trust members, so going is free which is a big attraction, but it is also a really lovely place to walk.  The grounds are huge so plenty of different routes to explore, the paths are well kept and easy to use a pushchair on and there is lots to look at, woodlands, the deer park, the mansion, tea rooms, a book shop and my current favourite the walled garden.

Attingham Park - view of the mansion 

Time flies...

So you may have noticed it's been a little quiet here on the blog of late, an I'm sure you can understand why, I've been busy being a mama.

Our tiny bundle (weighing in at a not so tiny 8lb 15) made her appearance in early February and life as we knew it ceased!

Eight weeks on we are beginning to adjust to our new life as a family rather than a couple.  It has been an amazing, awe inspiring, and incredibly difficult couple of months.  No matter how prepared you may think you are, how many books you've read or advice and experience others have shared, nothing can prepare you for the relentless nature of having a new life totally dependent on you for their survival.

It has taken quite some time but we now have a routine allowing us to eel confident enough to leave the house and which includes more than 3 hours of sleep at a time overnight, making a huge difference to our days.  There is a reason sleep deprivation is used as a torture.

Jen changes and impresses everyday, learning new things and developing new responses, I still find it incredible that we had a part in making this amazing person and am so excited to help her to continue to learn and grow :)

Pork and Apple Sausage Rolls

I had intended to make these sausage rolls for Arthur's Nan's 90th birthday party last week, it was going to be my first try at puff pastry and I was very excited about it.  However, sometimes things just don't go to plan and two baking disasters last week (saffron buns that didn't rise at all, and brown sugar shortbread that ran off the tray in the oven) combined with tiredness that I suppose is to be expected at this point in pregnancy, meant I just didn't feel up to making them (or the honey rose cupcakes I had planned).

I ended up buying both cakes and sausage rolls to take along, very disappointing to me, but thanks to a little time taken in arrangement and the addition of a pot of amazing chutney (Pear and Ginger made by Heather's Harvest) they seemed to go down pretty well.

With my pork not getting any younger and my inclination to try puff pastry not yet recovered I bought a pack of ready made just to get these made up.  I am very pleased with the filling, so I will have a go at making these again with my own pastry, will see how that goes!

In the meantime, here is the recipe for my pork and apple sausage roll filling, use it with whatever pastry you like!

* 2 medium cooking apples
* 1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
* 1/4 tsp ground ginger
* 1tbsp dark brown soft sugar
* 500g minced pork
* 1/2 tsp salt
* 1tsp fresh ground black pepper

Core, peel and chop apples and stew with a little water, nutmeg, ginger and sugar until soft and mushy.

Allow to cool then mix into pork along with salt and pepper.

Use in whatever pastry required.

I used a 500g pack of ready to roll puff pastry, cut the square in half and rolled each half out to a rectangle around 15cm by 60cm.  Placed mix along the middle (longways) then wrapped edges over.  I cut each roll into 6 pieces, slashed the tops and brushed with milk before baking at Gas mark 6 for 25 mins.

Wool nappy covers

I have finally completed the last stage of our homemade real nappy system - wool nappy covers.

I decided to try wool for several reasons:

1. It is more breathable than synthetic alternatives
2. I could make them myself, without buying expensive PUL fabric
3. Who wants to wear plastic pants?!

The biggest incentive for me to try wool covers is my own hatred of waterproof clothing.  I mean I really hate it, I would rather be wet.  I have tried any number of waterproof coats over the years, including incredibly expensive 'soft' and 'breathable' fabrics and all of them have been sweaty and uncomfortable.  I do not like them, and the thought of my baby experiencing that discomfort on such a sensitive area was not a pleasant one.

It may be an unnecessary concern, I know that huge numbers of people are using synthetic waterproof covers, both as outer wraps and as part of all in one nappies.  In fact I have recently been given a number of Tots Bots all in one nappies by a friend whose son has outgrown them and they do feel soft and comfortable, and I certainly will be giving them a try, but I wanted to have an alternative.

Honey Chocolate Madeleines

My first bake off my list from my recipe book post.

I recently treated myself to a mini madeleine mould from Lakeland, so when looking for a recipe to make for this months we should cocoa, honey chocolate madeleines won hands down.

My new silicone mould

We should cocoa is a monthly chocolate challenge from Chocolate Log Blog and a guest host, this month Lancashire food.  Each month has a theme and January's is 'New Ingredient', the idea being to use an ingredient you have not previously combined with chocolate.

As much as I love honey and chocolate, I've never put the two together before, so this seemed like the perfect opportunity!

The recipe is taken from a fair trade chocolate recipe book: Divine - Heavenly Chocolate Recipes with a heart, by Linda Collister.

I've never made madeleine's before, so I wasn't quite sure how it would go, or to be honest entirely sure what they should be like!

Recipe books - practical or pretty?

With all the clearing out we have done in the house of late to make room for a nursery, I have recently been looking at my ever expanding collection of recipe books (mostly cakes and baking) and wondering if they are really worth the space they are taking up.  They are very pretty to look through (or just look at sometimes) but there are quite a few that I have not baked a single thing from.

A selection of my baking books - some as yet unused

This is a huge step for me to even question, as 
a) I like to keep things 'just in case' and 
b) They are books! (I love books and getting rid of them does not compute)

I certainly haven't been at the point of ditching them, but I have been wondering do I really use them enough?  Do I need more than 20 books with cake recipes?

Banana scones

I like scones.  They manage to be a comfort food and a luxury one at the same time.  Nothing is better than a warm scone with butter, or cream if you can get it!

I also like bananas, but am rather picky about the point at which they should be eaten.  Slightly too green or hard and I feel a bit sick, too brown and they just don't taste nice.  This often leaves a very short banana eating window, which I occasionally miss leaving the fruit bowl with increasingly black bananas.

Every cloud has a silver lining though as black bananas make beautiful banana bread, which we very much enjoy in our house, but it is always nice to have options.  So when I saw this recipe for banana scones I was excited to give it a go.

I found this recipe for banana bread scones with brown sugar glaze on Lavender and Lovage blog but it has travelled a little further than that!  Kate from Lavender and Lovage found the recipe as part of The Secret Recipe Club on the blog Baking and Creating with Avril, where Avril had seen it on the blog cinnamon spice and everything nice where it is sourced from thekitchn.  Phew!

So earlier this week when I was going to have lunch with my mum, sister and niece and noticed a number of past eating bananas in the bowl I gave these delicious sounding scones a go.