Pavlova

It was my birthday last week and this weekend I had some friends round for a joint birthday get together/ baby shower for my friend who was due to give birth last Thursday!

I had a real notion to make pavlova but must admit was a little apprehensive that it would sink, crack too much etc. The recipes I looked at also seemed to vary in the cooking time so I played it by ear and settled on 1 hour 20 minutes given that I used a lower oven setting than some recipes.

I couldn't decide how best to decorate/ serve - I had considered nutella , chocolate or butterscotch sauce but settled on a lighter whipped cream , strawberry and kiwi combo to make sure the taste of the sweet slightly chewy meringue came through.

That being said this turned out a real winner with one of my friends going back for her fourth portion :)

Along with my friend I also made some whoopie pies which I'll post later.

Pavlova

4 egg whites

225g golden caster sugar

1 tsp cornflour

1 tsp white wine vinegar

vanilla essence/ extract

284ml carton double or whipping cream

1 lemon , zested

fruit of choice for topping, strawberries, kiwi etc

1 tbsp icing sugar

Heat the oven to 180C/fan 160C/gas 4. Cover a baking sheet with baking parchment. Whisk the egg whites with electric beaters until they just form stiff and shiny peaks. Gradually add the sugar a couple of tablespoons at a time and whisk really well between each addition. When all of the sugar is used up continue whisking for 3-4 minutes or until the meringue is stiff and glossy and stands up in peaks, then whisk in the cornflour and vinegar.
Spoon the mixture onto the baking parchment and use a palette knife to make a circle about 20cm in diameter. Put in the oven, turn the temperature down to 120C/fan 100C/gas ½ and cook for about 1½ hours. Turn the oven off and leave the meringue inside until completely cold. I made this the night before and left in the oven overnight. 
Whip the cream with a bit of icing sugar to sweeten . Cut and display fruit on top. Serve with more cream, sauce or fruit if desired.

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year to everyone! I've never been a lover of New Year and this year was a very quiet one with a few visits and catch- ups with family and friends. I've always wanted to attend a really nice party perhaps in a country house something like a ceilidh but so far have never had the chance  (perhaps one year!).
Anyhow the New Year has got me thinking about the changes I want to make and the things I want to achieve for the year ahead and the future.
First off I finally purchased a new phone a htc salsa. For someone who loves the internet and technology I was never really into phones and was apprehensive about a touch screen. So far I've loving it and can't believe how easy it is to access the internet, send messages and catch up on facebook !
I'm also considering making this blog about all things creative and not just food related. I'd love to try get my work shown more and maybe see if I could get a job in something more creative or perhaps secure a few commissions? ( I'm being optomistic - its only the 2nd January after all!).
For now heres a sketch I did from my new Dowton Abbey book.

Lebkuchen

Last year I made some cinnamon biscotti to give as Christmas gifts and wanted some biscuit type thing to make to give this year. I made a batch of biscotti but after a bit too much googling I decided to adapt last years recipe and omit the butter given that traditional biscotti is butter free. Any how I thought it all looked rather nice but when my mum tried it later she declared it not fit to give as it was likely to break everyones teeth!
Now as much as I love my mum she is no baking / biscotti expert and after trying it myself softened when drunk with a hot drink I thought it tasted lovely.
However, my confidence in giving the biscotti was somewhat dented so when I came across this recipe on the Pink Whisk for Lebkuchen I thought it would be worth a try as it seemed like it would last a few days after baking (which was pretty crucial when giving food as gifts) and in general I love anything with a cinnamon spicy taste.
When I made this I'd already spent the morning on my Christmas cakes, then made biscotti so I wasn't totally paying attention and forgot to add a few ingredients - ie the almonds and substituted the honey in the original receipt for golden syrup. That being said these turned out pretty well - and I was delighted when a few people commented they were the perfect texture for Lebkuchen ( which I must admit I had no real idea what it should be like, although apparently a little soft is just right!).
I put them in presentation bags to give as gifts, tied with some ribbon and a homemade/ designed gift tag ( more on this later) and in the end I was pretty pleased with my efforts.
My recipe adapted from The Pink Whisk

85ml golden syrup
115g dark brown sugar
30g butter
225g plain flour, sifted
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
1/4 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1 egg, beaten
To ice:
25g icing sugar sifted
2 tsp water
Makes 24 biscuits.

Place the syrup, sugar and butter in a pan. Heat until butter and sugar have melted then remove. Sift together flour, spice and bicarbonate of soda. Beat the egg in a small cup, then add 1/2 of the flour mix and 1/2 of the eff and mix well. Then add the remaining flour and egg. Pur the dough into a bag and chill in the fridge for a few hours.
Remove from fridge and roll to about 5mm thick - I used quite a bit of flour on my work surface.
Preheat oven to 160c Fan/180c/Gas Mark 4. Cut out your biscuits with cutters or flattened into rounds.
Bake in the oven for about 8 minutes till golden brown. Leave to cool on tray to firm up.
Make up water icing then brush over biscuits. Apply a second layer of icing if desired. I think these would also be nice with a litte chocolate on one layer.

No Croutons Required Festive Photo - The Princes Tree

I was out for dinner in Glasgow on Saturday night and took this image of the hanging tree in the Princes Square. I love Christmas lights and they created a lovely atmosphere in the centre. I'm quite pleased with how this picture turned out, and it makes me keen to keep taking photos and to keep learning about photography. I'm entering this for No Croutons Required Festive Photo as hosted by Jacqueline at the fab blog Tinned Tomatoes.

Mini Christmas Fruit cakes

As usual I wanted to make some festive gifts for work colleagues and friends. Over the last few weeks I've become majorily addicted to pinterest and have made various festive things like bows, tags, and my usual homemade christmas cards.
After the success of my christmas birthday fruit cake earlier this year I wanted to make mini ones to give as gifts.
I used a combination of mini baked bean cans and mini loaf cases with my normal recipe adjusting the timings to cook to about 1 hour 1/2 rather than the normal 2 1/2 hours.
These turned out really well although I've only sampled a small piece so far.
The marzipan and icing was okay to do, but I couldn't work out how to decorate on a small scale. Initial attempts at making stars and shapes and colouring left over marzipan and fondant icing looked a bit clumsy,  so I bought some small decorations and pearls which I think looked okay in the end.

Chocolate cinnamon spice tealoaf

I finally got round to sorting out some recipes which I had pulled out from various magazines and supplements and with some friends coming round at the weekend,  I thought it was a good opportunity to try something new.
Everyone seemed to enjoy the cake and loved the spicy cinnamon with the chocolate. Personally although I thought this was a nice cake to enjoy with afternoon tea, I'd much prefer it if it had more of a sweet chocolate taste ( only cocoa was used in the actual cake) or if it had been smoothered in chocolate icing or buttercream ! When I have cake I like it to be really indulgent and sweet!

I stuck to the recipe (more or less) although reduced the eggs to 3 and adjusted the quanities of sugar and flour accordingly.

The recipe can be found here as its definitely worth a try!

Update - I've started sketching again and am considering starting a sketch book style blog rather than just posting recipes. I've also been doing wee crafty projects and learning more about photography/ photoshop ( does anyone else find theres not enough hours in the day!)

If you haven't already I'd also urge you to use pinterest.com - a fab scrapbook style site to post images from around the web which you like. I was actually thinking I needed a better way to organise my favourite bookmarked sites and thought a virtual scrapbook would be a great idea - when i then hit upon pinterest.

Chocolate chip cookies

 

I wanted something quick and tasty to take to my friends house for a girls night. Suprisingly I've never actually made chocolate chip cookies before and a quick search on tastespotting etc returns thousands of variations. This is my adaptation which is quick and easy and these had a nice balance of being both soft and chewy. Be sure to leave plenty of room on the baking tray as these really expand. Next time I might try making them a bit more bite sized and might a variation with oats and raisins.  

Chocolate chip cookies
Makes 20 medium cookies

100g milk chocolate chopped
125g unsalted butter
100g caster sugar
75g soft brown sugar
1 free-range egg
2 tsp vanilla extract
150g plain flour
½ tsp baking powder
Pinch of salt

Preheat the oven to 190C/375F/gas mark 5. Line two large baking sheets with baking parchment. Chop the chocolate into chunks and set aside.
Heat the butter very gently in a saucepan until it has just melted. Meanwhile, put both sugars into a mixing bowl. Pour the melted butter on to the sugar and beat with a wooden spoon. Break in an egg and add the vanilla, then beat until blended.
Sift the flour, baking powder and salt into the bowl, fold in, then add the chunks of chocolate.
Dot heaped pudding spoonfuls of the mixture on to the baking sheets, leaving plenty of space in between - they really spread out - and bake for eight to 10 minutes, until the cookies are turning golden brown. Remove, leave on the sheets for a couple of minutes to harden up, then carefully lift the parchment on to a wire rack and leave to cool completely.