Pastries!

That's right it's pastry time!  Now if you're anything like me that word is one of the scariest words in cooking, well don't worry you won't have to make any of it by hand.  For what I'm going to show you today we'll be using puff pastry, which is even more of a pain to make than normal pastry, so just go down to your local supermarket and buy the pre-made stuff!

First I'm going to show you...

S'mores Pasties!
My inspiration for these was taken from this page that I found whilst stumbling through the internet.

There isn't a specific recipe for these so I just had to experiment a little.  I made mini ones but you can make these whatever size you want!

Ingredients
Pre-made puff pastry (I got around 10 of these out of 1/3 of a 500g block)
Milk chocolate
Mini marshmallows
1 egg

Method
1. Roll out the puff pastry until it's about 3/4mm thick.

2. Cut into squares.  You can make them any size you want but I think my squares were around 5cmx5cm

3. Add the chocolate and marshmallows to the centre of the square.  For mine I found that half a square of the chocolate and 2 mini marshmallows worked well.  Too many marshmallows and you'll end up with a sticky mess in your oven! (I found my marshmallows wouldn't stay in one place so only added them just before folding).

4. Crack the egg into a small bowl and beat the yolk and white together.  Once it's combined (or near enough) take a pastry brush and coat the edges of the pastry in this egg wash.  Don't throw it away we'll be needing it again in a bit!

5. Fold the squares in half corner to corner so you end up with little triangles.  The egg wash we just put on the edges should act like a glue and help stick it together.  To complete seal the seams (and for a bit of decoration) just crimp the edges with a fork.

6. Poke a couple of steam holes in the top with a sharp knife, brush on more egg wash so that the top goes nice and shiny and place them on to a baking tray.  (Always line your baking tray with grease proof paper!  You don't want to be cleaning up the sticky mess left behind if any of them leak!)

7. Place into a preheated oven at 200C.  Wait 15-20minutes or until golden on top.
8. Try to resist the urge to gobble them straight out of the oven and wait about 2/3mins for them to cool a little then enjoy!

It looks like this pastry thing is going to turn into a series of posts so next time it'll be... Mini cinnamon swirls!

Indulging myself in Harry Potter

So if you know me at all you'll know I'm a big Harry Potter fan.  (And I'm ever so envious of Rachael at Island Girl Insights who has actually been to the HP theme park!!!)

Since the last film came out I've pretty much constantly been obsessing about HP.  It's probably not healthy but I don't have a job so it's doing a good job of filling up my days.  I've been doing everything from reading the books and watching the films to re-playing Lego Harry Potter Year 1-4. (Must. Get. 100%!!!)

Then last week was the release of the Magical Quill Clues which granted you early access to Pottermore.  I managed to be one of the lucky few who registered on the very first day so hopefully won't be waiting for my welcome email for too long!  *fingers crossed*

Anyway to celebrate my 21st birthday last week (YAAAY!) I decided to experiment with some Harry Potter related recipes I found here a few weeks ago.

I made Acid Pops, Liquorice Wands, Butterbeer and Cauldron Cakes.

That's a picture of my cauldron cakes without their handles.  Aren't they adorable?!?!  I'm making a video where I talk about everything birthday related so I'll be posting that soon, where you get to see completed Cauldron Cakes!  With handles and EDIBLE GLITTER!

I have to say they were surprisingly simple to make and were delicious!  You can find the recipe for these here.  (Looks at how cute they look with the handles!!!!)  I substituted buttercream for the filling as it's hard to find marshmallow fluff over here and I really couldn't be bothered making my own.

I will post more birthday happenings once all the birthday happenings have happened...  In other words I've not been to my parents yet so will put the video up once I've seen them and all by birthday things have finished!

DFTBA!

P.S. DFTBA = don't forget to be awesome.  I think you should all check out Vlogbrothers.

Focaccia!

This is an Italian bread typically made with lots of olive oil in it.  Don't worry if this recipe gives you a stickier and wetter dough than you're used to, it's supposed to be like that!  The way I made this requires a bread maker, if you don't have one then I've posted a link to the original recipe where you can see how it's made by hand.

Focaccia

(original recipe can be found here)

Ingredients

300ml tepid water

1 1/2 tsp dried yeast (although I cheated and used one of the sachets of fast acting yeast)

500g strong white bread flour

1 1/2 tsp salt

3 tbsp olive oil (plus more for drizzling over the bread before it's baked)

Herbs and salt

Method

1. I cheated and didn't make the dough by hand.  Instead I used my trusty bread maker and just put all the ingredients in there.  Making sure than the yeast was kept separate from the salt.  Then I just put my machine on to the dough setting and let it work its magic!

2. Once it's worked its magic with the dough take it out of the machine and place it on to a shallow baking tray.  I had to dust my dough with a little more flour as it was just too sticky to handle.  After placing it on the tray I roughly shaped it and then left it to rise again for another 30mins.  Whilst it is rising preheat the oven to 200C or 180C if you have a fan oven.

3. Then create a dimpled effect in the dough by poking your fingers into it gently.  Drizzle some olive oil over it and sprinkle with your herbs and salt.  I used dried herbs for this but fresh would be best.

4. Bake for around 25-35 minutes or until the top is crusty and it gives a hollow sound if you tap on the bottom of the loaf.

I would recommend anyone to get a bread maker.  They're so good and you can make so many different kinds of bread with them!  I've always been a bit rubbish at making bread by hand but this makes it so much easier and it's better (and cheaper) than buying supermarket bread all the time.  I just bought my bread machine from Argos so it doesn't have to be anything fancy, in fact mine only costs £40 which you could easily persuade someone to buy you as a present.  This is the one I have.

Chocolate Fudge Cake

I will post something that's not sweet soon but I just have to share this one with you all. It's currently in the oven and smelling oh so gorgeous so I will add pictures later. (EDIT: errr it all got eaten so quickly there were no pictures taken....Ooopsie!)

Chocolate Fudge Cake

(original recipe can be found here)

Ingredients

For the sponge...

85g self raising flour

30g cocoa powder

pinch of salt

115g light muscovado sugar (I used soft light brown sugar and it worked fine!)

115g unsalted butter

1tsp vanilla essence

2 eggs

2-3tbsp milk

For the sauce...

85g light muscovado/soft brown sugar

30g cocoa powder

225ml milk

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 180C.

2. Cream together the butter and sugar until they're light and fluffy.

3. In a separate bowl, lightly beat together the eggs and vanilla essence.

4. Slowly add the egg mixture to the butter and mix together thoroughly.

5. Sift in the flour, cocoa and salt. Fold this in gently.

6. Line and grease a deep, round cake tin (this cake rose a heck of a lot more than I expected it to.)

7. Spoon in the cake mixture and roughly smooth the top.

8. Whisk together the ingredients for the sauce. (I found that whisking it quickly got rid of any lumps)

9. Pour this evenly over the top of the uncooked cake mixture and then bake in the oven for 40-60mins.

10. Eat hot, warm or cold with whatever you want!

Pre-Christmas Baking

So about a month ago myself and a couple of friends were feeling a bit down so we decided to indulge in one of my friend's traditions of having a pre-christmas party. I have to say it was possibly the best idea we've ever had!!! We all decided that we were going to bake something for the party so we spent a morning making a complete mess of my kitchen while listening to Christmas songs and wearing Santa hats!!....In October! :)

I decided to make some gingerbread snowflake biscuits. Have to say they were pretty delicious! I will definitely be using this recipe again and again, in fact I might make some in a minute... Anyway here's the recipe!

Gingerbread Biscuits

(original recipe can be found here)

Ingredients

350g plain flour

1tsp ground ginger

1/2tsp ground cloves

1/2tsp ground cinnamon

1tsp bicarbonate of soda

100g butter

175g soft brown sugar

1 egg

4tbsp golden syrup

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C. Mix together the flour, spices and bicarbonate of soda.

2. Rub in the butter (using your fingertips) until it looks like breadcrumbs.

3. Add the sugar and mix.

4. In a separate bowl mix together the egg and golden syrup.

5. Mix the wet and dry ingredients together until it forms a dough.

6. Tip this out on to a clean, floured work surface and knead it until it's smooth.

7. Roll out the dough until it is about 0.5cm thick and then cut it out using whatever cutter you want/have.

8. Put the biscuits on a greased baking tray (I like to put grease proof paper on my baking trays too) and then bake in the oven for 10-15mins.

9. Ice if you want to!

I iced mine using royal icing. There it a specific way to ice biscuits using 2 different thicknesses of icing however after 3 biscuits I gave up on this method and just slapped it on using a palette knife, which worked quite well!! I then added some edible glitter or lustre dust to them to make them sparkle and shimmer like real snowflakes! I'm so incredibly excited to have edible glitter I wouldn't be surprised if everything incorporates it from now on.... Hehe!

My friends also made brownies, mince pies, white chocolate tarts and rum balls!! Lets commence with the silly pictures!

Baking!

I love baking and recently I've been a little obsessed with it. I blame The Great British Bake Off for that!! (For those of you who didn't watch it it was a tv programme all about baking. I was in heaven for those 6 weeks it was on!)

So that pretty much inspired me to have a massive baking day last weekend and these are the results!!! :D

Cheese Scones

(original recipe can be found here BBC Good Food)*

Ingredients

500ml plain flour

3tsp baking powder

large pinch of salt

250ml grated cheddar cheese

3tsp sunflower/vegetable oil

125ml milk

1 egg

(it's weirdly measured in ml but I just measured everything in my measuring jug and it turned out fine!)

Method

1. Sift the flour, baking powder and salt into a large mixing bowl. Add the cheese and mix this together.

2. Mix together the oil, milk and egg in a jug and add this to the dry mixture.

3. Mix everything together until it forms a dough. (If it's too dry add a little more milk, don't worry if you think it's too wet and sticky at the moment.)

4. Dust your worktop surface with flour and roughly press out the scone mixture using your hand until it's about 0.5cm thick. (Don't use a rolling pin as this will pop any air bubbles that are in the mixture.)

5. Fold this in half and press out until it's 0.5cm thick again. Then cut this out using a round cutter (a perfectly round one will help your scones to rise better, however I don't have one. Don't wiggle the cutter either!! That will also prevent your scones from rising properly)

6. Place them on to a greased baking tray (I like to put grease proof paper on mine as well but this isn't necessary). Bake in a preheated oven (180°C) for 15 minutes.

Basic Scones

(not sure where my Dad got this recipe from...)

Ingredients

350g self-raising flour , plus more for dusting

1/4 tsp salt

1 tsp baking powder

85g butter , cut into cubes

3 tbsp caster sugar

175ml milk

1 tsp vanilla extract

squeeze lemon juice

Method

1. Heat oven to 220C/fan 200C/gas 7. Tip the flour into a large bowl with the salt and baking powder, then mix. Add the butter, then rub in with your fingers until the mix looks like fine crumbs. Stir in the sugar.

2. Put the milk into a jug and heat in the microwave for about 30 secs until warm, but not hot. Add the vanilla and lemon juice, then set aside for a moment. Put a baking sheet in the oven.

3. Make a well in the dry mix, then add the liquid and combine it quickly with a cutlery knife - it will seem pretty wet at first. Scatter some flour onto the work surface and tip the dough out. Dredge the dough and your hands with a little more flour, then fold the dough over 2-3 times until it's a little smoother. Pat into a round about 4cm deep.

4. Take a 5cm cutter (smooth-edged cutters tend to cut more cleanly, giving a better rise) and dip it into some flour. Plunge into the dough, then repeat until you have four scones. By this point you'll probably need to press what's left of the dough back into a round to cut out another four. Brush the tops with beaten egg, then carefully place onto the hot baking tray.

5. Bake for 10 mins until risen and golden on the top. Eat just warm or cold on the day of baking, generously topped with jam and clotted cream.

This recipe worked reasonably well just don't use too much lemon juice otherwise it will make the milk curdle!! (I found out the hard way.)

Rice Krispie Treats

(original recipe Rice Krispie Website)*

Ingredients

3 tbsp butter

100g mini marshmallows

500g rice krispies

Method

1. Melt the butter and marshmallows together in a pan on a low heat.

2. Mix in the rice krispies (if it's too marshmallowy just add more rice krispies until you're happy).

3. Put into a disposable foil baking tray (I find these best so you don't have to worry about scratching it when you're hacking away with a knife try to cut it up) add any decoration you want (marshmallows, sprinkles, chocolate) and then place into the fridge until its set.

4. Cut up into squares and eat!

*N.B. Incase you're wondering I've credited these recipes as they aren't ones I've made up. All the other recipes I've posted so far have been my own creation :)