SiliconeMoulds.com Blog

Scottish Pancakes (Drop Scones)

2012-02-28T19:03:00.000-08:00

These are REAL pancakes!

Real SCOTTISH pancakes!

Otherwise known as 'Drop Scones' - another old family favourite, so quick and easy to make.

These were traditionally made on a 'griddle' which is really just a cast iron hotplate with a semi-circular handle which was hung over the fire.

I've never had a griddle, but I have often used my electric frying pan. Recently we bought a 'fancy' cast iron non-stick hotplate which just sits across two rings on the hob. I suppose just about anything will do!

You will need -

A big mixing bowl

hotplate or heavy base pan - very LIGHTLY greased and pre-heated to HOT

2 cups of SR flour

2 teasp baking powder

1 tblsp sugar

1 tblsp syrup

2 eggs

milk

Mix all together in the bowl, adding enough milk to make a 'batter' of 'dropping consistency' - (no lumps!) it should be just like custard and showing signs of starting to 'bubble'.

Pour out on to the hot griddle enough to make a pancake about 3 or 4 inches (75- 100mm) dia. It will rise and spread, and as it cooks on the bottom you will know when to turn it over when the top is showing bubbles. The cooked sides should be a smooth golden brown. It only takes a minute or so on the griddle.

Sometimes I make a GIANT pancake per person. Usually they are made of a uniform smaller size. Serve immediately while hot, with butter or syrup, or cool on a rack for later use.

Being up in the highlands of Scotland this week, I thought the workmen (out in the cold wind and showers) doing our decking would appreciate some pancakes. They were dutifully 'SCOFFED', daubed with syrup, just as soon as each was cooked, straight off the griddle!

I THINK there must have been about 20+ pancakes ABOUT 4" (100mm) dia, but I didn't think to count them!

They do freeze well, but as they are SO delicious and quich to make fresh, it's hardly worthwhile.

Best wishes from the Highlands of Scotland,

Helen (Sarah-Jane's mum)

Brownies Part 2 - Two ways... Cooking With Oliver

2012-02-27T17:07:00.000-08:00

What kid doesn't love brownies ? Oliver and I baked brownies this morning at his special request....

Well - the kitchen was already like a war zone and the floor practically flooded (see the last blog post) - so I reckoned adding a bit of chocolate to the equation really wouldn't make too much difference to the amount of clean up required.

Unsurprisingly, after this lot, Oliver ended up 15 minutes late arriving to nursery, and I was 15 minutes late for work. But then again, when you arrive with platefuls of brownies - all tends to be forgiven and forgotten.

This recipe will make 16 man-food sized brownies, but if you aren't looking to overdose on chocolate brownie, you may want to cut each into two rather daintier ones. After all - brownies are rather rich.

This is a new mould design, due for launch around end of April and currently being design registered and now going into mass production. I originally designed it to make 100g soap bars - but then decided it would be PERFECT for large individual brownies and flapjacks.

I made two different types of brownies. One normal batch and one decidedly sticky dulche de leche batch.

I had a tin of condensed milk that was about to go out of date. Determined not to waste it, I heaped a good spoonful of the stuff over the second load of brownie mix and swirled it in. A lot of it sank down the sides of the mix - which was no bad thing. Other than that - there is no difference in the recipe between the batches....

Apart from the taste of SOAP that is. Uh huh - I used one of the prototype moulds (I've got two) for soap making first. I thought I was going to get one tray of brownies and wasn't expecting the mix to do two. So.... I used the tray I'd been using for experimenting with soap to make the Dulche De Lche brownies. Washed it first of course - but there was still a soapy after taste. Therefore, I MUST advise that you don't use the same mould for soaping and baking. It's not nice !

Saying that - these moulds made a really nice job of the brownies. I greased and floured first and they came out cleanly when cooled and firmed up a bit.

Yummy - brownie batter tastes good - licking the spoon is the treat reserved only for the chef !

You can see Brownies Part 1 from 2010 here - with Oliver...

RECIPE - makes 16 large brownie bars (or 32 small ones)

Preheat fan oven to 160deg C, 180deg C electric

185g salted butter

185g dark chocolate (I used Belcolade Belgian)

85g plain flour

50g cocoa powder

100g milk chocolate (chopped)

3 eggs

275g caster sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

2tsp espresso coffee powder (optional)

condensed milk - (for Dulche De Leche Brownies)

Melt the dark chocolate and butter together in the microwave in short bursts - then set aside.

Cream the eggs and caster sugar until light coloured, thick and foamy.

Add the sieved flour and cocoa, plus vanilla and espresso powder to the sugar / egg mix and fold to combine. Add the chocolate chips in the last few strokes.

Note that the brownies don't taste like coffee. The purpose of the coffee is to enhance the depth of chocolate flavour.

Grease and flour 2 x 8 cell rectangular bar silicone bakeware moulds. If you want to make some Dulche De Leche ones, put a great bit heaped teaspoon of condensed milk on top of the brownie batter and swirl it in a little on top with a teaspoon handle.

Bake for approx 20 mins until JUST set and cake tester comes out clean. Allow to cool thoroughly before turning out and allowing work colleagues and a little cake tester to devour.

Give the soapy ones to those with no sense of smell. They might taste ok (ish) but certainly smelt floral !!!!!

In case you haven't noticed.... my batter photos and baked photos are round the opposite way !

Sarah-Jane Nash, www.siliconemoulds.com - February 2012

Ham, Potato and Red Lentil Soup - Cooking with Oliver !

2012-02-27T14:43:00.001-08:00

There is nothing quite like a comforting bowl of soup to warm you through to the core. It also makes a cheap, easy and filling meal. This large pot of soup is enough for around 10 portions.

It's also something Oliver likes "helping" with in the kitchen. Lets just say I'm messy when working in the kitchen - but when Oliver is helping..... there is stuff EVERYWHERE. Still - I wouldn't swap those precious moments for anything.

1 large ham hock

500g red lentils

500g peeled floury potatoes

3 stalks celery

1 large onion

3 bay leaves

5 dried chillies

1.8 litres of water

1 tablespoon of Margiold Bullion Powder (or 2 > 3 vegetable stock cubes)

Oliver put the ham hock, quartered onion, chopped celery, chillies and bay leaves into the pot. Add the water.

Oliver added the water in 3 batches.

We cooked this in the pressure cooker for 1 hour. I then removed the ham hock.

Oliver had spent the last hour ~~playing~~ chopping the potatoes (that I had sliced) up with a cookie cutter into teeny weeny bits. I must admit - there were loads on the floor..... so we scooped them all up and he spent another 15 minutes at least washing them in the sink and playing with the tap....

The potatoes and lentils then went back into the electric pressure cooker with the rest of the ingredients for about 20 mins. After cooking, I then blended these with a stick blender until smooth.

Serve the soup with some flaked meat from the ham hock on the top. Yum !

We kept half the ham back for making wraps. 1.2kg ham hock from the butchers cost just £2.50 and yielded 570g of meat.

Sarah-Jane Nash, www.siliconemoulds.com - February 2012

Zurin's Kung Pao (Made with Pork instead of Chicken)

2012-02-21T17:15:00.000-08:00

I take NO credit for this recipe - it's from a good friend's Blog.... Zurin of Cherry on a Cake . Zurin was one of my first ever blogger friends. Our friendship became more than just blogging and something to treasure dearly. Zurin hasn't blogged in a little while (we email occasionally) and was my early source of inspiration with some outstanding recipes and photos that dreadfully put all of mine to shame !

My photos really do no justice at all - do have a look at Zurin's original ones here. Zurin - please forgive me - we were starving hungry and wanted to eat whilst dinner was hot.... However bad my photos are, I assure you it was really yummy !

Given Zurin's own comments, I doubled the sauce part of the recipe from her original and am glad I did. The volume of chillies seemed obsurd, but when deseeded, didn't put as much heat as I thought they would into the recipe. Saying that, I wasn't keen on the texture of the cooked dried chillies. Next time, I think I'd add fresh chillies (to taste) instead.

300g sliced / diced pork steaks

3/4 cup of dried chilles - deseeded and cut into approx 1" lengths

3/4 tsp Sichuan peppercorns (I crushed them.... dunno - not used these before !)

3/4 cup chopped spring onions

1 chopped yellow pepper

large handful of salted roast peanuts

3 cloves of crushed garlic

3tsp grated fresh ginger

Marinade :

3 tsp cornflour

1 egg white

salt and pepper to season

2 tablespoons of rice wine

For the Sauce

1 tablespoon of rice vinegar

4 tablespoons dark soy sauce

3 tablespoons soft brown sugar

3 tablespoons water

1 tsp of cornflour

squeeze of lime juice

Mix up the marinade ingredients and massage into the pork. It really doesn't look pleasant at this stage ! Refrigerate for a couple of hours.

Put 1 cup of oil in a pan and fry the marinaded pork in one layer on a high heat. As soon as the colour changes, flip it over and do the other side. This is rapid - get it in and out the pan in ONE MINUTE.

Remove the meat with a slotted spoon and set aside.

Keep the oil aside for later use. Leave 3 tablespoons in your pan. Fry the dried chillies until crispy on a very low heat, then drain and set aside. I'm not sure what happened to mine. I think I may have overcooked them ? They went more of a dark brown than red and final texture was a bit leathery. I'm hoping Zurin can advise me on that one....

Pour away the oil the chillies were cooked in and use a little of the reserved oil. Add the garlic, ginger and sichuan pepper and cook for about 30 seconds until fragrant. Add the sauce ingredients and as soon as it starts to bubble and thicken, tip the pork back in along with spring onions, peppers and peanuts. It only needs another minute or two. Stir to coat well and serve with fluffy white rice.

Sarah-Jane Nash, www.siliconemoulds.com - February 2012

Coffee and Double Chocolate Macarons - FOODBUZZ #6 24/2/12

2012-02-21T16:09:00.001-08:00

Are you fed up yet of my current obsession with baking macarons ? I found I ADORE making the colourful shiny shells with the pretty ruffled feet. Not etting them all exactly the same size used to annoy me somewhat - so that's why I designed my own DOUBLE SIDED MACARON MAT.

You can see a tutorial I made using it on YouTube here.

The recipe for the macarons shells is more or less the same as my other macaron recipes and the cooking times I have given are what I've found suit my oven when baking on the mats. Because you are baking on a mat and on top of a tray, cooking time is a little longer than normal. Also, make sure they are totally cooled before peeling them off your mat. These ones could have done with an extra minute. They come off easily when done (and cooled). If you undercook and they are really gooey / sticky, shove them back in the oven for a few minutes to dry out some more. You will need to practice and find out the best cooking time / temperature in your own oven.

Yes - these photos were nothing elaborate - just a pile of coffee beans and a few macarons sat on top of some black fabric...

Ingredients - STANDARD Italian Meringue Method and amounts

(for pictorial guide blog post, see here )

200g icing (powdered) sugar

200g ground almonds

180g of egg whites (split into two batches of 90g)

80ml water

200g of caster sugar

To flavour and colour the shells, I used 3 TABLESPOONS of Camp Chicory and Coffee Essence. I used the same stuff in this recipe. The macronage looked quite pale in colour, but where food colouring normally lightens during cooking, these to my delight got brighter !

Set your oven to 150deg C fan / 170deg C electric.

Put the ground almonds and icing sugar into a food processor and blitz until superfine. I use my hand held bamix and grinding mill attachment for this.

Break up any big lumps that have formed and sift into a large mixing bowl. Throw away any bits too large to fit through the sieve. Add one batch of egg whites, gel paste food colouring (about 3 times the amount you think you need !) and mix until a thick paste forms.

Put the caster sugar and water into a saucepan and boil until the sugar thermometer hits 110deg. As soon as temperature reaches 110deg C, whip your egg whites until stiff peaks form. Get the sugar syrup off the heat as soon as temperature hits 118deg C

You know your egg whites are stiff enough when you can hold the bowl upside down above your head and the whites stay put !

Using a hand held or stand mixer, whip the egg whites and add in the sugar syrup in a slow stream. Take care to try and keep the sugar syrup from coming into direct contact with the beaters (or the syrup may crystallise and change the texture). Keep whipping until the italian meringue is cool, stiff and glossy.

Mix about 1/3 of this into your paste of icing sugar, ground almonds, egg whites etc we already made to loosen in.

Fold in the remaining 2 /3rds. Make sure to incorporate it all fully. You want to mix it enough so that a ribbon of macaronage will start to disappear back into the bowl after about 30 seconds. If it doesn't fold another couple of times and try again. I reckon it takes about 25 full strokes (variable)

Once the macaronage is ready, put into a piping bag fitted with a plain tip. I like to use a 5mm nozzle for optimum control. I sometimes use a 10mm (1cm) tip - but the batter can flow a bit too fast, especially if you are using the small side of the mat.

Put the macaron mats on to baking trays.

Pipe the macaronage into the centre of each cell - leaving approx 3 > 4mm space around the outside of the batter to the cell walls to allow for expansion as they relax. You will only need to leave about 2mm on the smaller side. Once you've got the hang of it and made your first batch, you'll know what's right for you. Pipe in too much and it will overflow the cell walls.

If the macaronage is not dead centre, dampen your finger and this will allow you to centre it. Handy trick whilst you get the hang of piping them centrally !

Rap the tray once or twice on your worktop to dispel any air bubbles and level the macaronage. Don't worry if not so level - they'll smooth out in the oven.

If you wish to add any edible glitter or sprinkles to the top of your macarons, do so now.

All macaron instructions I've ever seen involved leaving your macarons out for about 30mins to 1hour until a skin forms on the top before baking. Dr Tim Kinnaird was good enough to share a tip with me that I've used ever since.....

Simply pop the baking tray straight into the oven at 150deg C Fan, BUT leave the door open about 6" / 150mm for the first 5 minutes to dry off the tops. After that, shut the door to complete baking.

Baking time can be variable. I find in my oven that 2" / 50mm macarons always take 18mins to cook (excluding the first 5 mins with the door open) and the 30mm macarons take 13mins (excluding the first 5 mins with the door open)

Remove from oven and allow to cool fully before attempting to remove from the macaron sheets. Our revolutionary double sided macaron sheets are now also available in a commercial size for bakery ovens.

I used two fillings for my macarons. First of all, I piped some Nutella in a ring on top of the shells and then I put a teaspoon of white chocolate ganache with added vanilla seeds to the centre. Assembled as above on my photo table when I got to work !

For the Ganache :

Heat 75ml of double cream and bring almost to the boil.

Remove from the heat and pour on to 125g of chopped Belgian white chocolate. Add the seeds of 1/2 a vanilla pod. Stir until all the chocolate has melted and then refrigerate until piping or spooning consistency.

I think these shells would work really well with salted caramel filling too.

As Oliver said this morning "Scrummy, yummy in my tummy !"

Sarah-Jane Nash - www.siliconemoulds.com , February 2012

Devilishly Decadent Chocolate Cupcakes - Pirate Coins Toppers (New Mould)

2012-02-12T18:02:00.000-08:00

How many of you have Little Pirates ? Oliver adores anything pirate related - especially chocolate pirate coins !

I was constant nagging to make our own chocolate pirate coins that inspired the creation of this REGISTERED DESIGN silicone pirate coins chocolate mould. Ours has had loads of use already. After all, you can never have enough gold dubloons / pirate treasure. It's fun to wrap them in your favourite coloured foil wrappers and a super way to entertain kids on a wet and rainy day. Do be prepared for lots of chocolate mess, sticky hands and faces though if making these with toddlers ....

This photo of my little pirate was taken by a friend's husband at a recent children's party. Oliver has to pirate outfits, but loves this one most. I must say - I do too - he looks rather fetching in it :-) Too cute. I guess he'll break a few hearts when he's older.

Here's the new mould - it's quite a large mould the big coins are approx 50mm diameter. You can see what the coins in both sizes look like on my hand below. BTW - my hands are more akin to builders hands and I do take a large glove size....

Couple some decadent, dense and fudgy cupcakes with rich chocolate buttercream and pirate chocolate coin toppers and you'll be an instant hit at the next kid's party or play day.

Makes 24 cupcakes :

2 cups white caster sugar

1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
1 cup milk
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup boiling water

I use a cup with 250ml volume

Combine all wet ingredients. Sift all dry ingredients into a large bowl. Add wet ingredients and mix until combined.

Bake in an oven at 180deg / Gas mark 4. I used 170deg Fan oven.

When cooked (approx 18 > 20 mins), remove from the oven and allow to cool before frosting

Chocolate Buttercream Recipe

4 cups icing sugar

115g salted butter (soft)

1 tsp vanilla extract

50g cocoa powder

1/4 cup milk

1 cup dark chocolate chips (melted)

Beat the butter and add icing sugar, vanilla, cocoa powder and milk. Beat until smooth and creamy. It is best to use a mixer, and beat for at least 5 mins. All melted chocolate and beat in. If the buttercream is too thick at this point, add some extra milk.

Note - last time I made this frosting, it was to frost one larger cake. I made it without weighing ingredients this time - but suspect you will need double the amount if you want big ice cream style moulds of frosting on 24 cupcakes.

Wild Blueberry & Lemon Macarons (with VIDEO TUTORIAL) - FoodBuzz #7 15/2/12

2012-02-12T15:56:00.000-08:00

I have to say, these were not the prettiest macarons I've made over all. I actually made two batches. The first batch were colour perfect. I added some lemon oil extract to the shells in the second batch, and it seemed to react with the gel paste food colour a little and give them a yellowy tinge round the edge.

Most of the first batch had been eaten at the end of the video tutorial and these were all that were left.

Macarons seem to have a reputation for being horrendously hard to make.

It's honestly not that bad. If you are already a confident baker, you'll find it quite simple.

I've made a video guide that you can watch below which may help give a little confidence - using the Revolutionary Double Sided Macaron Mat.

Do note, that undercooked macarons are are likely to sink and crack on removing from the oven. If not cooked enough, they will be impossible to removing from your baking paper or macaron mat. If properly cooked, they'll be crispy on the outside and chewy in the middle once cooled. They'll peel off your mat but leave a little sugary residue. If half the macaron sticks to the mat - it's undercooked !

I like to soak my mat in warm soapy water for a few minutes in the sink and then give it a quick clean by using a dish brush. Rinse in clean water and then pop in the oven for a couple of minutes only with the door open to rapid dry without water marks.

If your mat starts to lose it's shine after a few uses (common as there is no fat content in the meringue shells), I give a light spray before use with some cake release spray. Rub this in until the mat is shiny again but NOT greasy. All you are doing is sealing the pores in the mat.

Happy Baking !

Seville Orange Curd and Mallow Macarons (MACARON MATS NOW AVAILABLE)

2012-02-12T15:29:00.000-08:00

My name is Sarah-Jane and I'm addicted to baking macarons.

It's a fairly recent affliction since I received the prototype of my new design macaron mat. It's taken a little practice in cooking times to suit my oven and piping technique, but I can confidently knock out batch after batch of identical looking macarons from my oven.

I recently used a friend's oven to make some macarons and did find the cooking time varied a little in her oven (needed another minute or two) - so you may need to adjust your cooking time and temperature as you find appropriate.

Don't believe me ? Here you are !

50 identical macaron shells ready to come out of the oven. I'm really pleased with how level the tops came out. I managed to stack nine pairs (that's 18 shells) on top of each other (pre filling) before they fell over. It had to be done. Just because.

If you've ever tried stacking macarons before, you'll realise that 4 or 5 pairs is about the limit.

The Revolutionary Double Sided Macaron Mats are now available at the introductory price of £9.99 each until end February

Ingredients - STANDARD Italian Meringue Method and amounts
(for pictorial guide blog post, see here )

200g icing (powdered) sugar

200g ground almonds

180g of egg whites (split into two batches of 90g)

80ml water

200g of caster sugar

To flavour shells, I used 1 tsp orange oil extract (Sainsbury's Taste the Difference) added this at the same stage as the food colouring

Set your oven to 150deg C fan / 170deg C electric.

Put the ground almonds and icing sugar into a food processor and blitz until superfine. I use my hand held bamix and grinding mill attachment for this.

You know your egg whites are stiff enough when you can hold the bowl upside down above your head and the whites stay put !

Mix about 1/3 of this into your paste of icing sugar, ground almonds, egg whites etc we already made to loosen in.

Put the macaron mats on to baking trays.

If the macaronage is not dead centre, wet your finger and this will allow you to centre it. Handy trick whilst you get the hang of piping them centrally !

Rap the tray once or twice on your worktop to dispel any air bubbles and level the macaronage. Don't worry if not so level - they'll smooth out in the oven.

If you wish to add any edible glitter or sprinkles to the top of your macarons, do so now.

Simply pop the baking tray straight into the oven at 150deg C Fan, BUT leave the door open about 6" / 150mm for the first 5 minutes to dry off the tops. After that, shut the door to complete baking.

For the filling, I adapted Astral's mallow recipe and the seville orange curd I made in my last blog post here : http://www.siliconemoulds.blogspot.com/2012/02/seville-orange-curd-and-sugar-top-buns.html

Mallow filling :

1 egg white

100g fine white sugar / caster sugar

40ml water

1 Tablespoon golden syrup (Astral used much less)

Pinch salt

1 tsp vanilla extract

Put all ingredients into a bowl over a pot of boiling water - making sure your bowl doesn't touch the water. Using a hand mixer, whisk at high speed until soft peaks form (about 9 mins). Remove from heat and continue to whisk until almost at firm peak stage.

Put into a piping bag and pipe a ring on top of half of the macaron shells. Put a good dollop of the seville orange curd in the middle of each ring and sandwich with another shell. The mallow wall is great at holding the curd in, so it can take a good amount of filling without squirting out the sides.

Do eat these the same day - they go rather soft by day 2 (even refrigerated), due to the curd filling.

Seville Orange Curd and Sugar Top Buns

2012-02-03T05:26:00.000-08:00

Seville oranges have such a short season. I'd bought a couple of kilos with the intention of making marmalade. 10 days later, they were still sitting there SCREAMING at me to be used. I've been so busy that I literally didn't have time to spare faffing about with marmalade, so I decided to turn it into an orange curd instead. I hoped that the tartness would be really apparent as it is with lemon curd. I adore that real mouth puckering citrus tang.

At first taste, it was nice - but initially I was disappointed. It was sweet and silky smooth. No tang. Pants.

Then, just when you think it's all over, BAM - that strong orange taste and citrus tang kicks in several seconds afterwards... Awesome stuff. I had to make a second batch - too many things I wanted to do with it. Victoria got a jar and I sent two jars to my parents. I used a jar making some macarons (which I'll show you very shortly). My colleagues and I devoured another jar .... believe me - it doesn't last long / go far ..... with a batch of sugar top buns.

SEVILLE ORANGE CURD RECIPE (makes 3 smallish jars or two big ones)

200g sugar

3 eggs + 2 yolks

100g melted butter

250ml juice from seville oranges

zest 1.1/2 seville oranges

First of all, melt the butter and them add the seville juice and lemon zest.

Whisk together the eggs, yolks and sugar in a pan, then whisk in the butter and lemon mix.

Stir continuously over a low heat until thick enough to coat the back of a wooden spoon. Put into sterilised jars and seal.

This lemon curd recipe does not need a double boiler. Keep a sink full of cold water nearby. If it looks like it might split, plunge the pan bottom into the water and then whisk like fury. I've never had it split yet...(though I've water dunked it once or twice before).

Sugar top buns are one of my childhood memories. I believe these are really only common in Central Scotland, mainly in the Glasgow area. They were also known as Paris Buns - but sugar tops is the name I remember them as.

I remember my dad bringing them back from Lightbody The Bakers in Hamilton. Back in those days, they had three retail bakeries in Hamilton that I remember and I think two tearooms. They made the most fantastic potato scones, Scottish Plain Bread and when mum went, she always came back with a jar of their lemon curd.

Sadly, they sold out and became a large commercial bakery / factory - now producing and selling celebration cakes to supermarkets. All the little shops and tearooms have gone.

From my memories, sugar tops are much like a domed scone, pale in colour and encrusted in crunchy sugar nibs (also known as sugar pearls in the baking trade)

I've used my favourite scone recipe.

Sugar Tops / Paris Buns - makes 6

350g self raising flour

1/4 tsp salt

1 tsp baking powder

4 tablespoons white sugar

175g milk

squeeze of lemon juice

100g butter

egg white (to glaze)

sugar nibs / pearls (or crushed sugar cubes) to coat

Preheat fan oven to 200deg C

Scones are so quick and easy to make that once you make them once yourself, you'll never go back to shop bought. I'm serious.

1. Grate your butter. Yes - sounds crazy. I think that was a tip I picked up off a Jamie Oliover program many years ago. It may seem mad - but it works like a dream. You want to work the dough as little as you possibly can. Grating the butter means it incorporates into the dough FAR faster.

2. Warm your milk. Just as you are ready to use it, give it a zap in the microwave. You want it nice and hot - but not too hot to touch.

3. Sour the milk with a squeeze of lemon juice (or use buttermilk). I normally use a little lemon juice. If you don't have any, vinegar would do. It doesn't need much !

4. Handle the scone dough as little as possible and get it in the oven as fast as you can. The addition of the warm / hot milk helps them rise from the inside.

In a large bowl, mix sieved flour, salt, sugar and baking powder. Rub in the grated butter until crumbs form.

Warm the milk and add it to the dry ingredients. Combine with a fork. Bring together with your hands. It will be very soft and a little sticky.

Tip out on to a work surface and pat it into a rough rectangle about 9" x 6" I guess. Try not to add any extra flour and handle the dough as little as you possibly can. Mine is normally about 2" thick (yes - before they go in the oven !)

I never ever roll my scone dough....and I never use cutters on it either. If you want to cut it into rounds, push the cutter the whole way down in one go. Don't twist / rotate the cutter as you do this - otherwise the scones don't rise nearly so well.

I simply cut into rectangles with a sharp knife. One single cut down and lift the knife out exactly the way it went in. I basically cut my rectangle into 3 and then each big piece into two.

Place on a baking tray lined with baking parchment - or use a silicone baking tray liner as shown above. Great things these are - save me a small fortune in baking parchment.

Squeeze each piece into a rough ball. Coat in egg white and then roll in the sugar nibs or crushed sugar cubes would do until coated all over. Place on baking tray and flatten slightly.

Bake for 10 > 12 mins at 200deg C (fan) until just starting to colour

Eat slightly warm, or cold. Delicious slathered with butter and raspberry jam or lemon curd.

A few snaps from a cold winter visit to Southwold 2 weeks ago.

of course, whatever the weather - digging in the sand was a must !

We went for some lunch and a warm up afterwards. I could have cried at how grown up Oliver was. He very politely ordered himself some apple juice and cottage pie. Thank goodness both were on the menu ! Whilst waiting on his tea, we did some basic maths counting fingers to work out the answers to some puzzles.

Sarah-Jane Nash - www.siliconemoulds.com - Feb 2012

Mini Doughnuts / Donuts (by the bucketload !)

2012-01-27T19:25:00.000-08:00

I've stared playing with some of the new moulds that have arrived in an effort to start getting photos, measurements and recipes online. There are SO many to do that it's going to be quite a task !

I must say, I've always been sceptical about doughnut / donut moulds - after all, aren't the best doughnuts deep fried ? I'd never given baked ones a second thought. A couple of months ago, I made some mini jam doughnuts which I've yet to blog the recipe for. Very good they were too - but an awful lot of faffing around to be honest.... I found a recipe online at www.allrecipes.com for cake doughnuts and have modified it a fair bit.

I'll warn you now. These doughnuts (UK spelling!) are paler coloured. They're surely healthier - but a bit denser in texture than the yeast risen kind. They DO taste just as good and are easy enough for young children to help bake along with mum. This recipe makes LOADS - 40 infact, but they are small and disappear fast.... especially if your kid wants to take them to nursery with him / her as Oliver did ! It should be very simple to half the given quantities.

Oliver and I made 3 variations from the one base recipe - rolled in cinnamon sugar, dipped in pink icing and dipped in coffee and maple syrup icing. All were superb ! If you try them without rolling in sugar or dipping in icing, you will find they are not very sweet. Given we're coating the outside in copious amounts, the inside doesn't need to be overkill on sugar too.

The 8 cell Mini Donut Silicone Bakeware mould is now available here : http://www.siliconemoulds.com/cell-mini-doughnut-baba-details-follow-p-411.html

Thanks goes to John Masters who helped me photograph these and also did some taste testing (he was the one holding a half eaten mini doughnut below !) Hope you enjoyed them John !

Prepare your silicone mini donut / doughnut pans but either greasing and flouring or with a very light coating of cake release. Dr Oeteker does an aerosol one and Wilton's comes in a little bottle. Goes a long way - and both are fast becoming by friends. Cake release is so fast and easy for prepping pans.

Place mould on baking tray for support. I can get two of these pans on one tray at the same time.

Preheat the oven to 200deg C / 180deg C fan

Recipe

1 cup (250ml volume) white granulated sugar

3 cups of self raising flour *

2 tsp vanilla extract

300ml milk (warmed)

3 eggs

2 tablespoons of honey

115g melted butter or use vegetable oil

can be substituted for 3 cups normal plain (cake flour) plus 4 tsp baking powder

Spoon some batter into each cell. Go easy ! You want to fill to just BELOW the centre section - a little LESS than 1/2 full. First couple of trays, I had a tendancy to way overfill.

You only need a small amount of batter per cell - about a dessert spoonful. I spooned it in and then used a damp finger to level it in the cell and expose the raised bit in the centre to ensure it was not covered over.

Bake in the oven for 9 > 10 mins. Remove from the oven and allow to cool for just a few minutes - long enough to firm up a little... then simply flip the mould over and turn them out.

If you have over filled them, you only have holes about half way through. My first 16 (two trays) were like that. No problem - easy and quick to fix. Oliver was quite happy to stamp out (and devour) the middles using an apple corer.

To toss in cinnamon sugar : mix 1 tsp ground cinnamon with 100g of caster sugar. Brush each donut with melted butter and roll in the cinnamon sugar

To ice : Mix icing sugar with a little boiling water into dipping consistency. Needs to be quite thick. Can easily be flavoured and coloured. For the coffee and maple glaze, I used 1tsp espresso powder with a tiny bit of boiler water and a table spoon of maple syrup. The pink ones were not flavoured.

Hely's Big, Hearty........ SCOTTISH HAGGIS PIZZA

2012-01-27T15:43:00.000-08:00

Hello, it's Helen again!

Well I'm getting to grips with Sarah-Jane's bread recipes, and I have to say I have turned out several lovely loaves.

Basic Bread Recipe

500g strong white bread flour

1 tsp salt

1 sachet quick action yeast (same stuff they use for breadmakers)

1 tablespoon sugar

approx 300ml of luke warm water

While making up her basic bread dough this afternoon, I had a sudden craving for a PIZZA for dinner ............................and why not?

Time to raid the fridge for ideas.

With 'Burns' Night' being only just gone, I had a couple of small fresh HAGGIS in the fridge... (as one does)

(You can buy the real thing, already bagged and ready to microwave for just 6 minutes) ............PERFECT!

I turned on the oven (with the big flat grill pan in it, lightly oiled) as high as it goes, 250deg. to heat up HOT,

and looked out everything I fancied that might make good ingredients.

I rolled out 1/2 of my bread dough on to my big silicone pastry mat to a 12" dia.

It didn't stick in the slightest - in fact, it didn't even stick to my rolling pin ......whatever had I been worrying about?????

http://www.siliconemoulds.com/pink-massive-fondant-pastry-silicone-rolling-work-p-339.html

Ingredients (Just make yours up as you go along!)

1/2 standard bread dough mix (equiv. of a 1lb loaf)

1 haggis (I used ‘McSween's' - serves 2-3)

1/2 carton of Sainsbury's chopped tomatoes with olive oil & garlic (390g carton)

2 onions (mine were quite small) - sliced

3 tomatoes - sliced

2 sticks of celery (de-strung and chopped)

2 red hot chillies - sliced

+ some grated cheese - I only had cheddar (Scottish matured - of course!)

(Be very generous with the 'toppings' and it'll be a 'WOW!')

I opened up the haggis & chopped it up into a bowl, microwaving it for 4 minutes. Everything else I had chopped and ready in bowls, ready for the big rush....

I took the hot grill pan from the oven, slapped in the rolled-out pizza base, slathered on the chopped tomatoes, spread the haggis, then the rest of the toppings - with the cheese on top, and slammed it back into the HOT oven.......... Phew! NO PROBLEMO!

About 10 minutes later it was ready to serve. Lovely crispy base and the toppings looked thick, meaty, tasty, juicy and crunchy, easily enough for 4 people, with a good portion for each.

FANDABBYDOZEY!

Now THAT’s what I CALL a PIZZA!

Now tell us what YOU will put in YOUR PIZZA!

http://www.siliconemoulds.com/pink-massive-fondant-pastry-silicone-rolling-work-p-339.html

COFFEE BUNS

2012-01-26T14:58:00.000-08:00

Hello everyone!

This is not Sarah-Jane blogging, but ME - I'm her mum, Helen. I hope you don't mind the intrusion, but I'm 'helping' out today.
It's many years since Sarah-Jane baked her first fairy cakes and made chocolate rice crispies and smartie marshmallows with me and she's come a long way since then. Now it is me who very much follows HER baking and asks HER advice!

I have been thinking recently of an old family recipe we all enjoyed, so I 'dug it out'.
Coffee Buns.
They are more of a sort of soft biscuit, and if, like me, you love coffee - you should love Coffee Buns!
BUT - horror of horror, this old recipe was all in imperial - even the oven temperature!

The 'secret ingredient' is 'Camp Coffee' which is a liquid coffee with chicory, which you can buy in any supermarket. If you don't have any, you can always make some strong liquid coffee to add instead.

Ingredients
1/2 lb marg (I used 250g)
2 cups of demerara sugar
2 eggs
1 tablesp Camp Coffee (the recipe said 2, but was changed to 1 - or maybe it was a 1 changed to 2....
1 lb (500g) self raising flour so I just used 1.1/2 tblsp)
1/2 lb currants (250g)

First, I washed and soaked the currents for a little while, so they wouldn't turn out like bits of grit.
Cream the marg and sugar
Whisk the egg (save a little for glazing), and add with the coffee to the mixture
Stir in the sifted flour and the currants

Roll into balls the size of a large walnut (I got 30) and space them out on your baking trays (prob.2).
I lined my trays (the grill pans, actually - nice and big) with my wonderful plain black silicone mats from www.siliconemoulds.com, and very lightly oiled them. Just overlap them to cover the trays. (They worked a treat, as usual, so I only had the mats to wipe and no trays to wash up.)

Slightly flatten, and brush the tops with egg before putting into the pre-heated oven.
This old recipe said 375deg (old money) or 190deg C, and I thought that looked rather on the hot side, which probably explains how my mum often burned them.

Here's a handy conversion chart

Fahrenheit	Celcius	Gas Mark
250°F	120°C	Gas Mark ½
275°F	135°C	Gas Mark 1
300°F	149°C	Gas Mark 2
325°F	162°C	Gas Mark 3
350°F	176°C	Gas Mark 4
375°F	190°C	Gas Mark 5
400°F	204°C	Gas Mark 6
425°F	218°C	Gas Mark 7
450°F	232°C	Gas Mark 8
475°F	246°C	Gas Mark 9
500°F	260°C	Gas Mark 10

I decided that 160/170deg would be better, but as my oven control panel is decidedly difficult to read (even with my specs on and standing on a chair!), I confess I guessed where to turn the dial and set the timer for the required 30 mins.

They turned out just as good as I remembered them! Delicious!

Sarah-Jane

I seem to remember Sarah-Jane enjoyed Coffee Buns too!

.........and something tells me now that I'm in for BIG trouble!!!

Cinnamon Macarons with Brown Sugar and White Chocolate Ganache

2012-01-22T17:30:00.000-08:00

Many of you will already have seen from my earlier blog post, that I've designed a new double sided macaron mat which should make the art of macarons all the same size that bit easier. It has been quite a big project prototyping and getting it right. I'm very thankful that Dr Tim Kinnaird of MacaronsandMore.com gave me some initial help and suggestions during some trials. It's been a secret up until now whilst my design registration was pending, but these WILL be available for sale in around TEN DAYS time.

The mat has 25 x 2" / 50mm diameter cells on one side and 64 x 30mm cells on the reverse. It will fit on a 300mm / 12" square (or larger) cookie tray and easily go into any standard oven.

Double size mats (600 x 300mm) will also be available for use by bakeries.

Don't get me wrong, I've had quite a number of failed batches due to experimentation along the way. You do need to follow some of the basic rules of making macarons. As an example replacing the water with fruit juice to make the syrup for the italian meringue really does NOT work !

Macarons do have a bit of a learning curve, but once you master your macaronange (macaron batter) and cooking times / temperatures - it is possible to make batch after batch of near identical dainty delicacies. I've been successfully making macarons with both the French meringue and Italian meringue methods. For me, the Italian meringue is the hands-down winner. The shells are a little firmer and easier to handle and I prefer the feel in the mouth when you bite into them. The lemon ones in the other blog post were French meringue method and I'll post the recipe for those soon

Ok, enough chattering and on with the recipe. Note that you WILL need a sugar thermometer for this recipe. A double sided macaron mat is not essential (but having all your macarons the same size is such a pleasure and delight !)

I used two mats and made 50 large shells (25 x 2" macarons) and 26 shells (13 x 30mm macarons) from this recipe

Ingredients

180g icing (powdered) sugar

180g ground almonds

30g cocoa powder

5g cinnamon

160g of egg whites (split into two batches of 80g)

80ml water

200g of caster sugar

For the ganache

200g white chocolate

200g double (heavy) cream

5g cinnamon

3 heaped tablespoons of soft brown sugar

Set your oven to 150deg C fan / 170deg C electric.

Put the ground almonds and icing sugar into a food processor and blitz until superfine. Add the cocoa and cinnamon and blitz again. I use my hand held bamix and grinding mill attachment for this.

Break up any big lumps that have formed and sift into a large mixing bowl. Throw away any bits too large to fit through the seive.

Add one batch of egg whites and mix until a thick paste forms.

You know your egg whites are stiff enough when you can hold the bowl upside down above your head and the whites stay put !

Mix about 1/3 of this into your paste of icing sugar, ground almonds, egg whites etc we already made to loosen in.

Unfortuantely, I cannot pipe and take photos at the same time. Hopefully, I might have a macaron fanatic blogger friend that is good at photography too and might like to do some photos for me. If that sounds like you - do let me know !

Put the macaron mats on to baking trays.

If the macaronage is not dead centre, wet your finger and this will allow you to centre it. Handy trick whilst you get the hang of piping them centrally !

Rap the tray once or twice on your worktop to dispel any air bubbles and level the macaronage. Don't worry if not so level - they'll smooth out in the oven.

If you wish to add any edible glitter or sprinkles to the top of your macarons, do so now.

Simply pop the baking tray straight into the oven at 150deg C Fan, BUT leave the door open about 6" / 150mm for the first 5 minutes to dry off the tops. After that, shut the door to complete baking.

When done, they should look like this when you remove from the oven. Out of this batch of macarons, I had not one with a cracked shell and all matched up size wise beautifully with the others.

Slide the mat from the tray on to a worktop and leave until TOTALLY cool before attempting to remove from the mat.

Macarons will be impossible to remove from the mat (or baking paper etc) if under cooked.

With silicone, general rules of baking as with any non-stick bakeware apply. Where there is a higher or equal sugar to fat content, always grease and flour before use, otherwise, your cake mix is likely to weld itself to any surface ! When making macarons however, you really DON'T want to grease or flour. I've found that every two or three uses, rubbing a tiny bit of cake release or vegetable fat rubbed into the mat seals the pores and makes a massive difference. You don't want it greasy or oily for macarons. You only want the tiniest tiniest bit so that after rubbing in it literally is invisible and totally dry to the touch.

This is a macaron peeled straight off the mat. I was too impatient and these were still a little warm. You will always get a little residue on the mats when they lift off, but this one had a little more than most (see bottom of cell in photo) as was still a touch warm. I left the rest another 5 > 10mins before removing.

For the ganache :

Put the white chocolate in a bowl

Add the cinnamon to the double cream and bring to a boil to scald. Add the sugar and stir to dissolve.

Pour the hot cream mixture over the chocolate and stir until the chocolate fully melts. Allow to cool, and then chill in the refrigerator for around 1 hour until firm enough to pipe between your shells.

For packaging, I rolled two pieces of fancy card around a rolling pin. I let the the first spring out enough in my hand to allow a macaron to slide down the centre of the tube. I then secured with double sided tape. I made a second, just a microscopic amount larger and secured again with double sided tape and some fancy ribbon.

I then made a cello wrap sleeve to go over the first tube. I put the macarons down tube 1, which made an easy job of packaging the macs into the cello wraps and tied at the top. The cello wrap was then small enough to fit inside the pretty outer sleeve. This way, you can make bespoke packaging any size and colour you wish.

More macarons coming soon !

Sarah-Jane Nash, www.siliconemoulds.com - January 2012

Entered into January MacTweets

Cardomom, Saffron & Lemon Yogurt Cake

2012-01-22T14:21:00.000-08:00

Ok - so this involved some playing around.... with a couple of new mould designs (due for release in March), a sponge cake recipe and then the cakes themselves.

Well - with small castle cakes, playing with the actual cakes became irresistible and simply had to be done ! From the minute I saw these, I was intent on making a cake to be played with and destroyed. Yes.... like most kids I was told not to play with my food, and have often found myself saying the same to Oliver. For once however, playing with food was actually encouraged !

The cake recipe should fill a large bundt / tube ring form. I used it to make 6 x round turret style cakes (like the one above) and 4 x more typical castle style ones that you can see further below. Each cake was probably plenty for 2 > 3 people to share and we had plenty fun reducing a few to crumbs.

It's lovely and moist and a rather delicate sponge. It could stand up well to some glace icing or buttercream perhaps. It managed to stand up to some rigorous play and destruction ! The saffron didn't do much. I hoped it would add another little twist of interest and perhaps a good injection of colour - but I don't think I used enough of it for that. I'll give you the recipe as I used it - but this cake was more about the annihalation !

225g butter

1.1/2 cups of sugar (my cup was 250ml volume)

6 eggs

4 tsp ground cardamom

1 tsp lemon extract

juice of 1/2 a lemon

1 cup of plain yogurt

pinch of saffron infused in a tablespoon of boiling water

1 tsp of salt

3 cups of self raising flour

Crack eggs and separate yolks and whites.

Cream butter and sugar until pale and fluffy. Beat in egg yolks. Alternately add 1/3 of sifted self raising flour, yogurt and egg whites until all incorporated. Add lemon juice, lemon extract and the saffron strands plus liquid they have infused in.

Grease and flour a large bundt ring mould (or two small castle / turret moulds) with a hard fat such as butter and tap out any excess flour. Put on a baking tray for support.

Small castle cakes baked at 170deg C Fan (about 190deg C normal) for approx 30 mins.

Allow to cool until just warm before carefully turning out.

Let your battle commence !

The two new moulds for these round turret and castle cakes will be available around the end of March.

Sarah-Jane Nash, www.siliconemmoulds.com - January, 2012

Sour Cherry & Cinnamon Griddle Cakes

2012-01-17T15:33:00.000-08:00

These are similar to Welsh cakes. Welsh cakes are traditionally cooked on a griddle and are similar to a cross between a scone and shortcrust pastry, packed full of currants and then tossed in sugar. They are delicious on their own warm, or cold with butter, jam or honey.

This recipe is a bit of a variation from the norm. I replaced lard with butter and mixed spice with vanilla. I changed the currants to chopped sour cherries and tossed in cinnamon sugar.

Absolutely delicious and the smell of the warm cinnamon sugar is intoxicating.

I made the dough this morning and took the griddle cakes, uncooked on a tray to work. I planned to cook them on a new cast iron pancake pan, but forgot I had not seasoned it first. It took a considerable time to burn off the wax before the pan was ready to use for the first time. So much so, that these griddle cakes were literally ready as we were packing up to go home !

The photos were terribly rushed, and I can back into the office with the tray of griddle cakes to get my laptop. In the 30 seconds it took me to put my laptop in it's bag..... my colleagues had snaffled all but one of them ! I don't think I've ever seen anything disappear so fast !

Perhaps I should rephrase that. Actually - I missed the event. I didn't see even one of those griddle cakes leave that tray. I only know mice that big just DON'T exist.

These are simple, quick and easy to make.

Ingredients

225g plain flour

85g granulated sugar

100g salted butter

1tsp of baking powder

1tsp vanilla extract

75g dried sour cherries (chopped)

1 beaten egg.

1/3 cup caster sugar (fine granulated) mixed with 1tsp of ground cinnamon (for tossing)

Rub the dry ingredients together and mix in the chopped sour cherries. Add beaten egg and vanilla.

Gently combine to form a ball of dough - similar to shortcrust pastry.

Roll to about 6mm thick (I rolled mine out on a silicone rolling mat) and cut out with 3" / 7.5cm cutter.

Mine made 15 griddle cakes.

Heat a frying pan and lightly grease. I used a cast iron pancake griddle (will be available very soon - we now have these in stock) and sprayed it with a little Frylight.

I cooked these 4 at a time on top of a cast iron wood burning stove in our showroom !

They take about 3 minutes on each side. They will rise a little - but really not much. These are MEANT to be very flat.

Remove from griddle pan and toss in the cinnamon sugar. Stand on a wire rack until cool enough to handle / eat. The only reason mine managed to make it as far as the rack is because staff know that eating before photos are taken would be a sackable offence ......

Simple Farmer's Curd Cheese

2012-01-16T19:01:00.000-08:00

I found the original recipe for this very simple and low fat curd cheese on Allrecipes.com

Many people seemed to struggle with it a bit, so I made my own revisions based on the reviews and used vinegar in place of the original lemon juice added. It was VERY simple and easy to make. The vinegar cannot be tasted in the resulting cheese.

With all the whey pressed out, it makes quite a dense cheese that can be sliced almost a little rubbery. Almost something like the drier mozzarella you put on top of pizzas I suppose. Rolling it in crushed peppercorms made it a little more exciting. Loads of whey / buttermilk left over which I'm intending making into soda bread tomorrow

True - this IS a bit bland - but I think this would be a super easy thing to make with kids to teach them the basic principles of cheesemaking. I've seen a riacotta recipe on Foodbuzz here that I'd like to try. Similar principles but a lot more fat content due to the cream and no squeezing out all the whey.

RECIPE

2 pints whole milk (organic, unhomoginised)

1/4 cup vinegar

good pinch of salt (or two)

crushed peppercorns (to roll in)

First of all - make SURE you get unhomogenised milk. Most supermarkets keep pasturised and homoginised. That means that the milk has been treated so the cream is suspended in it and does not float to the top. You will likely need to buy organic milk to get UNHOMOGENISED.

Put the milk in a pan and bring JUST to the boil on a medium heat, stirring so it does not scorch.

Remove from the heat. Add the salt and stir, followed by the vinegar.

Within a couple of minutes, the milk will curdle and the curds have formed

The curds should be white and the remaining liquid a yellowy colour. This shows that the milk proteins have all been separated. You can purposely see the bowl of whey in the background of one of photos further up.

Line a sieve with muslin and drain the whey from the curds.

Once cooled enough to handle, twist the muslin around the cheese to squeeze out any remaining whey. Roll the resulting ball of cheese in crushed peppercorns. Can be kept refrigerated for up to a week.

Yesterday, we had a lovely family afternoon out in Bury St Edmunds in the Abbey grounds. Oliver had a ball in the super play area and chasing seagulls and squirrels !

Rather chilly and overcast - but it was nice for all three of us to spend a Sunday together. Doesn't happen very often at all, but we've been lucky to have my husband Steve around the last TWO Sundays !

Oliver did get a bit of a telling off. He was rather too excited and a bit bargy. I told him off for trying to push in front of another kid to get on the slide. Huge sulk followed and it took him a good 5 minutes or more to get himself together and join in again.

I'm not so sure this wall of logs was really meant for walking on... but it was heaving in kids !

This is one angry face - actually - it was Oliver pretending to be a wild animal on a treetop bridge. He looked pretty wild to me !

Revolutionising Macarons - My Exciting New Secret !

2012-01-11T19:51:00.000-08:00

Lemon macarons with lemony white chocolate ganache filling

I've been itching to share news on this for a while.... and I guarantee it will be new to all of you.

Macarons are the most wonderful little almondy meringue cookies with a chewy centre - often recognised in leading patisseries for their little ruffled feet and being displayed in a wide range of often lurid colours. They are notorious for being hard to make (which actually is not true). Macaroons on the other hand are normally little coconut cookie moulds.... which I really must get round to making again soon.

The real problems in making macarons lie in the mixing - mixing too much, not mixing long enough and also in the baking times. I was very lucky and my first ever batch turned out really well. Since then, I've had many successes and a few failed batches which have taught me valuable lessons in baking macarons along the way.

One thing that really irritated me was the fact that I did not have enough oven space to bake an entire batch of macarons at one time. My big bug bear was getting them all exactly the same diameter. The OCD in me (obsessive compulsive disorder) was finding a way to get ALL my macarons exactly the same size !

The accepted way for pastry chefs to do this is by drawing circles out on a piece of baking paper, turning it over and then piping on the reverse. You need to leave about 2" / 50mm between the macarons as once the mix is piped it will spread. It's a darn good idea and most macarons will be near enough the same size once you get the hang of it. However, me being me, I had my digital calipers out measuring every macaron to make sure they were absolutely the same size to within quarter of a mm before pairing them together.

I found that the perfect size for macarons (in my opinion) is 50mm..... but I also like teeny weeny ones too !

Don't worry - I'll share my various macaron recipes very soon.

NOW - WHAT YOU ARE GOING TO SEE IS A NEW DESIGN CONCEPT.

(This product is patented to us and these will be available for sale from early next month.) At the moment, I have the only two in existence and have been using them LOTS with superb results every time.

Dr Tim Kinnaird of Macarons and More has kindly assisted me in initial testings before product development. He'll be getting the very first one available as soon as they arrive, and we'll be launching them at the SPRING FAIR trade show at the NEC in Birmingham next month.

I've designed a DOUBLE SIDED MACARON MAT. The mat is 300mm x 300mm and fits on a standard cookie sheet. Cookie sheets are widely available from all baking shops and most supermarkets at a low price - generally around £2.99 in the UK. If you want to splash out, I can personally recommend the slightly bigger (about 14" square) Bakingenius vegetable roasting tray from Lakeland (as shown below) which is far more robust.

This is what it looks like on a baking tray. What you do is pipe your macaronage (macaron batter) into the centre of each cell until about 3/4 full (leaving a gap of about 5mm right round the mix). The cells have a very tiny marked rim. As the macaronage spreads after piping, it should just get to the edges of each cell and give your macaron a perfect shape and size. It does take a batch or two practise piping and get it perfect every time.

This is what they looked like piped. The little ringed cells mean you can pipe more macarons on one baking sheet. On top of that, it's reusable too !

The large side makes 25 x 50mm / 2" macaron shells. See the picture below for a close up view, before they go in the oven.

THIS IS THE VERY FIRST BATCH OF MACARONS I MADE ON OUR NEW PROTOTYPE MAT !

Here is what they look like baked - ok - a couple of slightly wonky ones, but it WAS my first attempt !

These ones were peppermint and I filled them with white chocolate ganache

I so wanted to share these photos and this recipe at Christmas - but I've had to wait. It's impossible to explain how hard it's been to keep a secret !

As if that is not enough, don't forget, our mats are double sided.

YES ! Flip it over, and you can use the other side to make little mini macs.

The other side lets you make SIXTY FOUR mini macaron shells ! This picture shows the mat on a 12" square cookie sheet.

I've found that one batch of macaron mix lets me make two sheets worth of macarons. Even better - make two batches and flip your sheets over to use the other side too before you bother washing up.

This is what 64 mini shells look like.... almost the same size as a two pence piece.

These were chocolate with dark chocolate orange ganache filling. Oh - and if you spotted an EDIBLE GIFT TAG..... you might have a clue at what else is coming very soon !

The double sided macaron mats will also be available in double size - ie 600 x 300mm (50 shell one side, 128 shell on the other) to suit larger commercial ovens.

All comments and shares are very welcome. I'm really excited about my new product design and will be giving a few away on arrival to some bloggers for product testing and reviews.

Happy Baking !

Sarah-Jane Nash, January 2012

Chicken Liver and Brandy Pate & Puddle Jumping !

2012-01-06T20:36:00.000-08:00

A New Year and a new beginning. It's also time for me to reflect back on the things I've done and the things I want to do.

Loads of new things to cook and bake, new experiences. The last few months have been very difficult as workload had had a massive impact on my life and limited the one on one time I've been able to give Oliver. Don't get me wrong - I'm a workaholic and will always be a workaholic, but there if more to life than work and I'm glad that the madness of Christmas rush has eased off !

Nearly 4am and I'm still not in bed. Actually - I WAS in bed, but found I was too excited to sleep. That got me up and baking macarons. Yeah - you know you are a foodie when you put macarons in the oven at 2.30am !

I'll tell you what the excitement is about another day - it's still a secret I'm afraid, but is all about macarons.

The recipe I'd like to share with you now is for CHICKEN LIVER AND BRANDY PATE. I served it for New Years Day lunch along with rye sourdough crackers, sausage rolls and homemade bread (amongst other things)

For this recipe, I used a 1lb silicone loaf mould.

Ingredients :

300g chicken livers

150g salted butter

2 > 3 tsp brandy

clove of garlic (finely chopped)

1 onion

salt and pepper to season

a sprig of fresh thyme

First of all, prepare the chicken livers by removing any sinewy or discoloured parts.

Fry in approx 50g of the butter for around 5 mins until starting to colour nicely.

Remove the livers from the pan and set aside.

Add the remaining butter and chopped onion with the garlic to the pan and the thyme leaves (removed from stalks). Sweat off the onions until transparent and then add the brandy. Cook for a minute or two more and then add all the contents to a food processor and blend until smooth.

Put this warm paste into your 1lb silicone loaf mould and level the top.

Use some clarified butter to seal the top and refrigerate overnight.

Alternatively, make a savoury jelly to pour over the top. I used 120ml of chicken stock, to which I added a couple of bay leaves and 2 tbsp of orange juice. Sit this in a bowl with a leaf of gelatine for 5 mins. Add to a pan and bring to just below simmering point to dissolve the gelatine. Allow to cool to room temperature and then pour over the pate. I decorated the top of my pate first with a couple of orange slices and the bay leaves.

Unfortunately, due to lack of time, my pate only got about 2 hours to chill ! It really wasn't enough and tasted far better the next day.

Oh - we had these too.... apple crumble slices - same recipe as the mincemeat crumble slices (but mincemeat replaced with same weight of apples, sugar and cinnamon mix)

These photos of Oliver were taken Monday 2nd January. Had to believe it was just earlier this week. I've done so much since then !

I took him out for an afternoon at Eaton Park to run off some steam. It was glorious sunshine, but windy and bitterly cold. There was one puddle in the whole park and typically Oliver found it.

It was more like a pond than a puddle. This was one MASSIVE puddle. Thankfully, he was prepared with several layers of clothes and some new wellies. I had TRIED to put waterproof overalls on him underneath earlier, but that had resulted in a screaming match and I ended up giving up.

To start with, it was a paddle near the edge. No big deal, and loads of smiles. I got the camera out my handbag and snapped a few shots. An evil grin started spreading across his face I KNEW what was going to happen next, and no matter how much I tried to get his eye contact or yell at him - Mummy was totally ignored.

Yep - puddle jumping and lots of it. THIS was just the start. Note the thick winter jacket, the fleece underneath and the gloves. It was FREEZING cold. Passers by watched and laughed in amazement as my little monster tore around in that puddle like a total lunatic. Honestly - you would have thought it was the middle of summer !

Oliver was in that puddle for a good 30mins at least. I tried threats, I tried bribery. He wasn't coming out and belted off through the ware as fast as he could if I got remotely near. Eventually, I managed to grab him by the back of the jacket and chaos followed. He was not happy about being dragged out that puddle and it was a struggle to get him back to the car until I persuaded him that McDonalds would be shut if he wanted french fries and didn't hurry up. Total lie of course. I don't think Mc Donalds ever shuts !

His wellies were near impossible to get off as they were full to the brim with water. He was absolutely soaked to the skin. I had to strip him off. By then, Daddy had arrived and kept an eye on him wrapped up in a jacket whilst I made an emergency trip to the big superstore about 5 miles up the road to purchase a dry set of clothes as we were too far from home. Lunch at the pub (with french fries for Oliver did follow) and strangely enough there were no comments on how it wasn't Mc Donalds .

Hopefully next time Oliver does puddle jumping I'll have spare clothes in the car.

Sarah-Jane Nash - www.siliconemoulds.com - silicone bakeware specialists

GIVEAWAY - Small Selection Pack of New Design Moulds

2012-01-01T16:57:00.000-08:00

HELP PLEASE....

I'm looking for some website reviews from customers of moulds you have bought and use from our collection. We have many customers who regularly ask why there are not many online reviews when we sell SO many moulds. Truth is, few people ever bother to leave them !

Honest reviews are all welcome at www.siliconemoulds.com.

Reviews left by owners of our moulds at www.siliconemoulds.com between now and 4th January will enter into the giveway draw for a selection of some of our new release moulds (we've still got quite a number of new ones to add online)

Happy New Year !

THIS IS NOW CLOSED. WINNER WAS CHOSEN BY RANDOM GENERATOR (www.random.org) AS BELOW

Each person who left a review was given a number for every entry.

1.Nikki L

2. Nikki L

3. Nikki L

4. Nikki L

5. Jill M

6. Kerri M

7. Kerri M

8. Kerri M

9. Kerri M

10. Kerri M

11. Deirdre T

12. Deirdre T

13. Nicola I

14. Rosalyn F

15. Susan H

16. Susan H

17. Susan H

18. Katie G

19. Katie G

20. Ellie S

21. Ellie S

22. Ellie S

23.Ellie S

24. Ellie S

25. Sarah B

26. Sarah B

27. Sarah B

28. Jason Brogden

29. Jason Brogden

30. Jean Lacey

31. Roxana G

32. Roxana G

NICOLA IRELAND - it's YOU ! Congratulations !

Malibu Koi Carp Jelly Shots - Celebrate the New Year !

2011-12-31T18:06:00.000-08:00

I believe that koi carp fish are a symbolism of love, friendship and prosperity. For this reason, I've chosen to make some koi carp shaped jelly shots to share with you and celebrate the coming of 2012. For those of you out partying and celebrating the New Year - many of you may already be swimming like fish !

Happy New Year everyone - Wishing you all the best for 2012

These koi carp jelly shots were inspired by Ann Low of Anncoo Journal who made some awesome agar agar koi carp jellies a year ago. We've now got a new koi carp silicone bakeware mould now available. I'm just dying to make some chocolate fish or little fish cakes !

I used normal granulated gelatine powder (Dr Oetker) here. I don't think agar agar can be used with alcohol anyway .... and besides, I'm not over keen on the texture of it. Agar agar is kind of crunchy as opposed to wobbly. That probably won;t made any sense until you try eating it for the first time.

Compared to normal gelatine, agar agar is stupidly easy to work with. It un-moulds beautifully with zero effort. Normal jelly is easy enough to work with too, but for a shaped jelly, don't go with the concentration on the packet.... One sachet of Dr Oetkers gelatine granules is said to set 1 pint of liquid. That it will - but only firm enough to spoon from a bowl and not firm enough for turning out shaped set desserts. For that, I use double the volume of gelatine.

To start, lightly oil the inside of your silicone mold with some sunflower / vegetable oil and then use some kitchen roll to wipe away any excess. We don't want a pool of oil on the inside - only a thin film.

RECIPE FOR MALIBU KOI CARP JELLY SHOTZ

2/3 cup of white sugar

35g powdered gelatine (I used 3 sachets Dr Oetker)

1 cup of water

1 cup of milk

1.1/3 cups of Malibu (coconut liqueur)

2 sultanas

note - I used a 250ml volume cup

Sponge the gelatine in the cup of water and set aside for 10 mins.

When sponged, remove 1 heaped teaspoon and set aside.

Add sponged gelatine, milk and sugar into a pan. Bring slowly up to heat - just below boiling point - until sugar and gelatine are completely dissolved. DO NOT let it boil as this will affect the setting properties.

Remove from heat and add in the Malibu. Set aside to cool.

Take the reserved sponged gelatine and add to it a couple of tablespoons of water. I melted these together in the microwave in short bursts.

Cut the sultanas into little pieces. You need at least 12 (make one or two extra). Roll them into little balls with your fingers. Take a little gelatine solution on a spoon and roll the tiny sultana piece in the solution, then carefully place the sultana ball on the indentation on the inside of the mould where the eye is to be.

Add some food colouring to a saucer. Don't be scared of it - we want a strong colour. I used some red and yellow together to get a deep orange. Add a tablespoon or so of the gelatine mix to the food colouring and combine. Use this to highlight detail areas inside the mould using a teaspoon. Don't totally cover the inside.

Put the mould in the fridge for a few minutes to chill and set the coloured markings.

Any left over gelatine (without the colour) can be added back to the malibu mix.

Remove the mould from the fridge and add a teaspoon or two of the malibu mix to the mould. Refrigerate again for another few minutes. It won't take long to chill that volume - literally only 3 > 4 mins. The reason for doing this is that I found by skipping this step, the coloured markings lift off the inside of the mould when you pour in the rest of the liquid and end up floating to the top of your jelly (which will become the bottom)

Pour in the rest of the malibu jelly mix and allow to set for approx 3 hours before turning out.

Every little fish will have it's own unique markings. Time to meet (and eat) your little fishy friends !

Sarah-Jane Nash, www.siliconemoulds.com - silicone bakeware specialists, 1st Jan 2012

Mincemeat Crumble Slices & Christmas Photos

2011-12-29T12:33:00.000-08:00

These cake bars couldn't be easier and yet they can be made SO versatile and quick to make. I packed these full of my home made sweet mincemeat on this occasion, but diced peaches or apples with cinnamon and sugar work well - or even just a good thick layer of chunky jam !

Eat them as a cake slice or serve hot as a dessert with custard or a scoop of good vanilla ice cream.

Use a tray, tin or silicone bakeware mould approx 11 x 9" internal size - our Tray Bake Swiss silicone mould is perfect for this (as shown)

700g mincemeat (replace with suitable alternative as desired)

650g flour

325g sugar

300g butter

Rub the butter, flour and sugar together until it starts to clump together. I like to be able to compact it together in my hand so it holds as one lump and them crumble it again so it's like rubble more than crumbs.

Put half the mixture in the mould or tin and roll flat. Spread mincemeat / jam / choice of filling on top and then top with the remaining crumble.

Bake 180deg c fan oven (200deg C normal electric) for 30mins or until the top is starting to turn a light golden brown.

Allow to totally cool before slicing. Makes approx 12 large slices.

May be warmed again later and served as a dessert with good vanilla ice cream.

I've been spending a few days with family in Scotland. We shouted up the chimney just before we left Norfolk so that Santa would know where to bring Oliver's presents on Christmas morning ! I must Santa brought Oliver a spectacular load of toys....including the spitting dinosaur that he really wanted (but is actually rather scared of at the moment)

Uncle Simon (my brother) got given the job of putting all the fiddly little bits of a Playmobil set together.

Oliver was VERY excited on Christmas eve and getting him to bed was a bit of a nightmare. We wrongly presumed that since he was very late going to sleep, that he would not get up until a reasonable hour. Hmm 5.25am isn't quite what I had in mind.......!!!

This one - Smokey The Fire Engine - is most definitely the favourite.

Doctor Oliver doing an examination of Pappy (apparently contagious)

Riding Bullseye (Nanny's rocking horse) on Boxing Day

Santa was rather good to me too. I've got several rather super cookery books that I'm looking forward to trying out new recipes from family and a Masterclass at The Lavender House in Norfolk from my lovely husband.

Can't believe it's almost all over and we go home again tomorrow.

Hope you have all had a fantastic Christmas !

Sarah-Jane Nash, www.siliconemoulds.com - December 2011

Chocolate Hazelnut Soft Nougat Recipe (and other varieties)

2011-12-22T17:51:00.000-08:00

I made some Honey, Vanilla and Pistachio Nougat earlier this year. It was SO good.

Actually, I'd forgotten all about it until I was given an E book for my ipad of all my blog posts that Mum had made for me. Only looking back through it in book format, did I really appreciate the volume of things I've made over the last year and the amount of things Oliver and I have done !

Given Christmas is almost upon us, I decided to have another bash at nougat for Christmas gifts. I'll be making another batch of the original recipe - but my new adaptation of last year's recipe is just as good although not nearly so sticky to the touch. In an effort to create a chocolate nougat, I added some melted chocolate to the other ingredients. It gave a less sticky result. When white chocolate is used, it's really not detectable as having chocolate added ....

Recipe

2 egg whites

1.1/2 cups / 320g granulated sugar

300ml corn syrup (or glucose)

1/2 vanilla pod

60ml water

200g toasted hazelnuts

40g good cocoa powder

100g of dark chocolate (I used 65%)

for those in the UK, corn syrup can be bought from Amazon.co.uk. Works out considerably cheaper than buying liquid glucose. Golden syrup can be used as a substitute, but it's a lot sweeter in taste. Worth investing in corn syrup for candy making - the difference (ease) is incredible.

Scrape the seeds out the vanilla pod and put aside. Put the pod itself and the sugar, liquid glucose or corn syrup andd water into a large, heavy based saucepan (preferably non stick - you'll appreciate that later !)

Bring these slowly to a rolling boil and keep on the heat until temperature reaches 248 to 250deg F. This will take about 15 mins.

Just before the syrup mix is ready, whisk the two egg whites to stiff peaks in the bowl of a stand mixer.

Remove syrup from the heat and pour slowly into the egg whites with the mixer going at a medium / high rate. Try and keep the syrup from directly making contact with the whisk otherwise this can affect the texture I believe.

The mix will grow like meringue and look shiny. As soon as the syrup is all in, add the melted chocolate and cocoa powder and let the mixer combine. Quickly chuck in the hazelnuts. You want it to stick to the beaters like a good meringue, but it will be much stickier. Don't let it cool in there too much. You need to work quite quick with this one ! It doesn't take long in the mixer.... get it out within a minute or so of all the syrup going in.

Scrape into a well buttered silicone bakeware mould - I used a 9" square silicone bakeware mould - and allow to cool. Chill in the fridge to get it really nice and hard as it is generally easy to cut that way.

For other variations try :

100g pistachios, 50g dried cranberries, 50g dried cherries, 100g white chocolate (omit the cocoa powder)

150g walnuts, 60g white chocolate, 40g milk chocolate, 1tsp strong coffee granules (added to syrup)

Cut into strips (I got approx 6 per tray) wrap in cellophane and tie with some ribbon. Quick and simple store cupboard stand by items that can quickly and easily be turned into a beautiful gift !

Merry Christmas to All - and wishing everyone all the best for 2012.

I'll be taking a few days off work (by the end of tomorrow). Looking forward to some well earned rest and overdue time with my family. I hope to perhaps catch up and message many of you during the holiday and will be back with loads of new mould designs very early in the New Year.

Date & Honey Sourdough Bread and A Visit To Denver Windmill

2011-12-18T19:45:00.000-08:00

I started this blog post on the 27th of November - the evening Oliver and I got back from our trip to Denver windmill. I don't know where the time has gone since then.... I've been working crazy hours to cope with the volume of emails and orders due to the pre-Christmas rush and the blog has been sadly been neglected. I've not been ignoring any of you, I've simply not been around.

Denver Windmill is (was) the last remaining commercial working windmill in Norfolk producing stone ground flour. I say was, as only a month before our visit tragedy struck and the mill was badly damaged. You can read all about it here.

Here is my refreshment recipe for my starter.

2 tablespoons of starter from your vat in the fridge

5 well rounded tbsp of strong white bread flour

1 well rounded tbsp of rye flour

mix with enough luke warm water to reach a dropping consistency (much like cake batter !)

Cover with clingfilm and leave on the kitchen counter overnight.

It should be nice and bubbly by the morning. Discard about half (of put it in another bowl if you intend making more than one loaf and do the next following steps to both lots of gloop).

To the remaining gloop, add about 2 > 3 times the amount of white wheat flour and enough water to get it back to dropping consistency. Leave for about 6 hours and it's then ready to bake. If it's not bubbling nicely, this step can be repeated. As long as there are a good amount of bubbles there, don't worry if it is not as foamy as it was after sitting for 12 hours. I've been doing this bit by eye as above and without weighing.

Whilst there, I purchased some newly milled flour and made this honey, date and raisin sourdough loaf the next day.

HONEY, DATE AND RAISIN SOURDOUGH

100g rye flour

400g stoneground dressed bread flour *

10g salt

3 tbsp runny honey

220g refreshed sourdough starter

250g water

150g chopped medijool dates

50g raisins

This can be mixed together and kneaded by hand - or shove in a Kitchen Aid with dough hook for 10 mins. I know, I know sourdough should be treated softly softly... but it is not always as convenient to do the lot by hand. I had several things going on tonight in the kitchen whilst my trusty Kitchen Aid worked my dough.

Once the dough is kneaded and has become soft and silky, put it back in the mixing bowl and cover with either a plastic shower cap or some cling film and leave for approx 3 hours until risen by about 50 > 75%

Take out, knock back and shape as required.

Put on a baking tray and leave to rise for another 1 > 1.1.2 hours before baking in a relatively warm environment.

I cut out a stencil of initials from an envelope. Wet the stencil and apply to the bread.

Dust over lightly with flour

Remove stencil and bake for an artisan finish.

Yummy served slightly warm from the oven served simply with some butter and cheeses.

Of course, a visit to a windmill wouldn't be the same without going up the actual windmill. Oliver will show you around....

Oliver - scampering up the first lot of steps into the windmill

This is the floor where the flour is sent through a hopper system and into large sacks. These are then lowered to the floor below (via a hoist) through a hatch in the floor. Kind of hard to take decent photos as not really possible to get any further back.

You can see the hoppers a bit better in this semi aerial view from the stairs to the next level.

Milling stones are on the next floor above. Again, rather impossible to get much in. Loads of equipment lying around and cordoned off given everything is in a state of repair.

Oliver going up yet more stairs. They were very steep and getting interesting by this point. He did well and managed up no problem. Coming down took quite lot longer as he was not nearly so confident and was rather "interesting". Still - he was very brave and came home with a certificate to say he'd got to the top.

This is a hopper that the grain is fed into, which in turn is fed to the millstones on floors below.

Once so pretty, this windmill is now sadly need of some restoration work. Thankfully, the people who have the tenancy are still managing to operate thanks to an engine powered mill.

You can see in this photo why we couldn't go out the door of the tower and walk round the outside. Eeek !

Oliver was fascinated by the big gears on the top floor of the windmill. What a shame is wasn't working when we were there !

After all that - it was time for a cup of tea and some lunch in the tearoom. We can recommend the bread baked on site from the newly milled flour !

Homemade Boozy Mince Pies

2011-11-29T02:26:00.000-08:00

Mince pies have to be one of my favourite foods of Christmas. I adore the warmth from the mixed spice and cinnamon traditionally coupled with brandy. I kid you not - there is little easier to make than these adorable mini mince pies. Of course, bigger ones are just as easy - but it doesn't give me the excuse to eat two of them !

In many years gone by, it was common place for mincemeat for these sweet meat pies to ACTUALLY contain ground meat. Some people still make them like that. However, this version does not.

The batch of mincemeat is very very simple to make. It gets better with age and will keep several months properly stored. I made a batch of 24 mini mince pies in my silicone bakeware mould and still had enough mincemeat to fill about 5 good sized jam jars (each of which will be enough for another batch of pies). Makes a lovely Christmas gift !

FOR THE PASTRY (makes 24 mini pies)

275g plain cake flour

110g salted butter (cold and GRATED)

100g icing sugar

1 large egg

zest of a lemon

Rub the grated butter into the flour and icing sugar, until the mixture resembles crumbs. I like to use cold grated butter as it incorporates easier when rubbing together. You want to work pastry as little as possible to keep is short and melt in the mouth.

Add the beaten egg. You may want to combine with a wooden spoon as it does get very sticky - but I get in there with my hands.

Once combined, wrap in clingfilm and shove in the fridge for at least 20mins. This is a VERY soft sweet pastry. I don't even bother rolling it.

When you are ready to use it, pinch pieces off . I've forgotten the exact weight now.. but am pretty sure I used 15 grams per ball.

I used a pastry tamper to form the shapes and then finished the tops with my fingers.

Now fill your mini pies with as much of the mincemeat as they will hold. It's not much - about 1 heaped teaspoon. After filling the ones below, I went back round them and packed a bit more in

MY SWEET MINCEMEAT RECIPE

650g of luxury mixed dried fruit

(mine consisted of raisins, currants, mixed peel, cherries, pineapple, apricot)

100g roughly chopped pecans

juice and zest of a lemon

400g medium diced bramley apples

1 tsp cinnamon

3 tsp mixed spice

250g Atora suet

100g caster sugar

250g dark brown soft sugar

175ml of apple brandy

175g plum liqueur

Basically, put all the ingredients into a large bowl and stir. Pop it in the fridge, and give it another stir every time you walk past over the next two days.

The dried fruits will swell as they absorb the alcohol and strangely enough, the apples are going to shrink. There will be some thick syrupy stuff in the bottom.

After 2 > 3 days, spoon into sterilised jars and seal with a lid. Make sure you split the syrupy liquid evenly between the jars Some people think mincemeat is best left to mature for 2 > 3 weeks before use - but I've found the results and flavour just as good after the first 2 > 3 days.

The pastry tops for my little pies are 6 or 7 gram balls f pastry simply squashed in the palm of my hand.

Put a tiny slit in the top of each one. Liberally douse with caster sugar and bake in a 180deg C fan / 200deg C electric oven for approx 15 mins until the tops are slightly golden.

Enjoy warm with a cup of tea or a glass of mulled wine.

These will store up to a week in an airtight container. Why not make and freeze an entire tray in one go ? Ideal to pull out the freezer and bake when unexpected visitors arrive. Silicone bakeware moulds are totally safe to go from freezer to oven !

Spiced Crab Apple Jelly

2011-11-22T18:22:00.000-08:00

I'm very late in blogging this one. Been meaning to do it for several weeks. Already Autumn has passed and winter is upon us.

Nature brings a bountiful harvest. There is something special about harvesting bountiful wild crab apples and hedgerow berries. The vast majority of people pass them by without a second glance. To me, they are something special to be savoured. Easy to collect, and free to gather they impart beautiful flavours and are delicious made into jellies to serve on thickly buttered bread or toast and as a condiment alongside meats.

Add to a maslin pan :

2.5kg of crab apples

a thumb sized piece of root ginger

2 sticks of lemon grass

2 tsp ground ginger

1 tsp chilli flakes

1 stick of cinnamon

Juice and zest of a lemon

Add approx 1 litre of water and boil until the fruit becomes soft and pulpy.

Strain off the liquid through some muslin. Actually, an clean pillowcase works well too. I can't resist squeezing out any excess juice, but by doing so this will make jellies a little cloudy. For this reason, I generally pass the juice a second time through a muslin cloth.

Put the juices back in the pan - with 750g of sugar for every litre of juice. Boil until setting point for jam is reached on a sugar thermometer and then pour into sterilised jars

Other variations of this can be made. I also made some hedgerow jelly (not spiced) with 1.5kg of mixed hedgerow berries such as sloes, hawthorne, rose hips and 1kg crab apples. Delicious on warm buttered scones.

Apologies - I didn't get round to taking photos of the hedgerow jelly. Shame, as it was a beautiful pink hue.

Banana Cornflake Crumble Breakfast Muffins FOODBUZZ #5

2011-11-21T03:31:00.000-08:00

Our Crown muffin mould makes large American jumbo sized muffins. The silicone mould has a special rebated head so you can create those great big mushroom like tops that you find in all the well known cafes / coffee shops. It's almost impossible to recreate muffins like these at home without a special mould. If you've tried, you have no doubt experienced muffin mix overflowing the top of normal bakeware / moulds and a very messy end result.

The topping is optional. If used, the muffins are best eaten same day. They make large MAN FOOD sized muffins. Each is the same as two normal muffins (excluding topping) - so either hide in a corner whilst consuming or cut in half and share ! The picture in the foreground is one of these on a side plate. The 3 in the background are on a dinner plate (to give an idea of scale)

This recipe creates a lovely moist muffin. They seem to stay fresh in the fridge for a good 3 days (without topping). The cornflake crumble topping has a lovely crunchy texture.

300g plain (cake) flour

1.1/2tsp baking powder

1 tsp bicarbonate of soda

1/2 tsp salt

2 tsp cinnamon

100g of white chocolate chips (optional)

400g of mashed bananas

1 beaten egg

100ml milk

100ml vegetable oil

Prepare the crown muffin mould by greasing the inside of the rims at the top and dusting with flour. Tap out any excess. Don't bother this to the lower section of the mould unless you are not using paper liners.

The papers are designed only to stop where the rebated head starts.

Preheat oven to 180deg C fan / 200 deg C electric

Sift dry ingredients together. Add all wet ingredients and mix to combine. Do be careful not to overmix. Don't panic - it's going to be really lumpy, especially with the mashed banana.

Spoon mix into the cells in your mould. It will overflow the paper cases and partially into the rebated head area.

For the topping

50g salted butter

60g plain flour

50g granulated sugar

25g cornflakes

Rub the butter with your fingers into the flour and sugar. Lightly crush the cornflakes in your hand and add to the mix.

The mix should just hold together when clamped in your hand. If it is too crumbly, add a little more butter. You don't want a fine crumble. You want to clamp some in your hand and roughly crumble it in lumps over the muffin batter.

Bake for approx 25 mins until a cocktail stick comes out clean. The muffins should be well risen and golden.

My little cake tester approves ! This bit went missing whilst I was still taking the photos....

Sarah-Jane Nash, November 2011 - The joys of baking with Oliver !

Zingy Lemon & Ginger Iced Gingerbread Cake

2011-11-20T18:58:00.000-08:00

This was a beautifully moist, rich and spicy gingerbread cake which was topped with a zingy lemon and ginger icing.

It was good. Really good ! Has to be my all time favourite gingerbread recipe. So good infact, I made two in two days. One to take to work Saturday before last (coffee and cake for customers every Saturday morning) and the other for my friend Victoria.

The original recipe can be found on the BBC GOOD FOOD website here

My recipe was very similar - but method a little different and quicker. I used a 9" square silicone mold and cut the finished cake into 18 generous sized servings.

225g plain flour

3 tsp baking powder

1 tsp bicarbonate of soda

2 tsp ground ginger

2 tsp cinnamon

120g butter

250ml milk

115g dark brown soft (muscavado) sugar

200g black treacle

50g golden syrup

80g finely grated preserved ginger (syrup reserved)

Preheat the oven to 160deg C fan / 180deg normal

Line a 9" square silicone baking mould or tin with baking parchment.

This is very sticky stuff - especially when iced, so I recommend you don't skip this step. I wanted to lift it out by the paper and am glad I went to the extra effort of lining the mould. Saying that, I only lined the base and two sides with a strip (after greasing to make the paper stick) and did not bother lining the other two sides.

Sieve all dry ingredients into a large bowl and give a stir to combine.

Melt the sugars, milk and butter in a large saucepan until almost boiling.

Remove from the heat.

Quickly mix in all dry ingredients until no lumps can be seen. You may want to use a hand mixer to do this.

Transfer this mixture into a 9" square silicone mould or traditional baking tin (on a baking tray for support) and get it in the oven as quick as you can.

Bake until a cocktail stick comes out clean. Mine took approx 25 mins.

FOR THE ICING

250g powdered icing sugar

juice of 1 lemon

reserved syrup from preserved ginger

Mix these together until a thick, smooth paste is formed.

Spread on top of the hot gingerbread (just out the oven). It will start to melt as you spread, which gives a nice even coverage.

Leave overnight in the tin / mould to cool and for the icing to harden. If you can resist, leave for a couple of days in a tin to mature as it will improve given a chance !

Sarah-Jane Nash, November 2011 - www.siliconemoulds.com - Cooking with silicone bakeware

Bockwurst Sausages Baked in a Bun - MAN FOOD !

2011-11-16T03:35:00.000-08:00

I came up with this idea a few weeks ago and never got round to trying it out until today.. This photo is a little scary. These are my colleagues - not a bunch of ex convicts :-P

The guys got ripped into these when I took them in at lunchtime and it took them a little longer to demolish one than it does a dainty macaron !

I'm sure there will be someone else out there who may adapt these and make them look pretty. Forgive me, but this initial version is unadulterated MAN FOOD. It's rustic and huge. Made for eating with grubby, unwashed hands and cramming in a big gob (huge mouth) whilst on the move. Saying that, they smelt wonderful even if they did look rather silly.

Saying that, it worked pretty well.

I'd bought a big jar of 8 huge German Brockwurst sausages from Lidl. They are like big hotdogs, (though taste a lot better) and come in a jar with brine. I'm guessing they have a higher meat content than normal hot dogs and are 75% pork These were ready cooked and can be eaten cold or reheated. They're big old hot dogs at approx 8" long.

The recipe below produced enough dough to make 6 Bockwursts Baked in Buns.

First of all, I made a batch of bread dough very late last night. My Kitchenaid did all the work with a dough hook.

500g strong white bread flour

25g olive oil

1.5tsp salt

1tbsp sugar

14g dried active yeast - or 1 x sachet fast action bread maker yeast

35g wholegrain mustard

35g grated parmesan

1.5tsp dried mixed herbs

320ml luke warm water

It using dried active yeast, dissolve sugar in the water, add the yeast and leave for about 10mins to activate.

Proceed to combine all ingredients and make the dough. Knead for 10 mins until smooth and silky - or if it's 1.30am, you may choose to get the Kitchenaid to do it for you as I did !

Put the dough in an oiled bowl and cover with clingfilm. Shove in the fridge overnight - or leave to rise until doubled in size and ready to use.

I've been working with sour dough a lot recently. That does not rise as much as regular dough. I've been shoving my sour dough in the fridge in an oiled tupperware box rather than in a big bowl.

This was how much the dough had risen IN THE FRIDGE after about 2 hours before I went to bed... I knocked it back a bit, figured it wouldn't do much more (and had no where to go) before the morning and put it back in the fridge.

This is what I found this morning ....

I guess it had been trying to escape !

I took it out the box and divided into 6 x 140g balls. Each of these was rolled out. I put a generous squirt of chilli tomato ketchup on each one and a bockwurst on top.

Then sealed them up like packages. Do not forget to make a small air / steam hole in one end. The ones I didn't burst open at the seams on baking.. Glaze with egg wash and bake at approx 180deg C fan for 20mins.

I wish I'd scattered some sesame seeds on top too.

As you can see, they cam out a beautiful golden brown and the sausages stayed snuggly warm inside the soft dough outer for a considerable amount of time. They may look a bit more presentable cut in two across the diagonal and served in a basket with some hand cut chips (fries). But whatever way - offer to a man, and it's good food to grab and go !

Sarah-Jane Nash - experimenting in the kitchen, November 2011 - http://www.siliconemoulds.com

Beef Suet Pudding - A British Winter Classic

2011-11-14T17:32:00.000-08:00

A rich and luxurious beef steak suet pudding. Easily enough to feed 6+

I'd never made one of these - but it's easier than it looks. A pressure cooker drastically cuts down cooking time !

Recipe

For the filling (and enough to also do a steak pie !)

1kg shin beef (cubed)

all purpose flour

2 cloves of garlic, crushed / chopped

150g pickled onions, drained and sliced

1 > 2 medium onions, finely sliced

150g sliced mushrooms

2 sticks celery (finely sliced or small diced)

1 tsp ground black pepper

1 tsp thyme

1 tbsp black treacle

2 tsp marmite (or vegemite)

3 beef stock cubes

1 heaped tsp of english mustard

30g grated parmesan

Generously toss the cubed shin beef in flour until totally covered and fry in a little oil to brown in batches until starting to go golden on the outside. Set aside. Gently cook the garlic, celery and onion for a couple of minutes, before adding the onions, pickled onions, and mushrooms to the pan.

To approx 1pint of boiling water, dissolve the stock cubes. Stir in the pepper, thyme, treacle, mustard and parmesan. Pour over the meat / onions. Give it a good stir and cover with a tight fitting lid. Leave to gently simmer on the hob for a couple of hours, checking occasionally. More water can be added if needed, but we’re looking for a thick and luxurious gravy at the end before taking it off the heat.

To make the suet pastry

150g beef suet
300g self raising flour
1tsp dried mixed herbs
1 > 2 tsp baking powder
approx 200mls cold water.

Mix the dry ingredients together. Combine the ingredients together with cold water – just enough to bind and bring together. I also added a couple of tsp of dried mixed herbs

Take a pyrex glass pudding bowl and butter the inside generously.

Reserve about 1/3 of the pastry dough. Roll the rest out to about 5 or 6mm thick on a silicone work mat (stops it sticking to the work tops !) and use this to line the pudding bowl. There should be enough to allow for a small overhang. Rest / chill in the fridge for approx 20 mins.

Fill the pudding bowl to within about 30mm of the top, don't put in too much of the gravy ! Roll the remaining dough and place this over the top of the meat and seal using a pastry brush with a little water. Make sure to leave a gap of about 25mm / 1" from the top of the bowl to allow for expansion

Cover with some greaseproof paper and foil. Put a pleat in the middle to allow for expansion. I used an elastic band to hold this in place whilst I tied it with string.

Put about 3" of water in the bottom of a pressure cooker. Place a trivet on the bottom and a bowl on the top. Cook at high pressure for approx 1 hour. Alternatively, this can be steamed in around 2.1/2 hours.

Carefully remove from the pressure cooker or steamer when cooked. Remove foil and allow to sit for approx 10 mins to crisp up and retract a little before turning out. Additional reserved gravy can be poured over the top if required.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I can’t believe about 2 weeks have already passed since Oliver and I made this. The time has simply flown by ! It’s that time of year when I work so much that one day rolls into the next without me noticing. There is just SO much work to be done.......

Bed time is normally around 4am and I’m staggering back to my feet around 7am. For the most part, I cope with it - but every 10 days or so my body says no which results in a twelve hour or more straight of seriously deep sleep. I swear that during that time, I would be totally oblivious if a bomb had gone off and trying to wake me is totally pointless. Oliver will vouch for that ! Thankfully, it’s normally on a weekend when my husband is still around in the mornings.

I’ve had one of “those” nights and thankfully rather refreshed. Bright enough in fact to catch up on some well over due blog posting before I forget to post some of these entirely. After all, my mind is not what it was. I could be crazy, or senile – but thankfully it’s much more likely to be down to tiredness.

A week ago, one of Oliver’s little friends was having a birthday party at an indoor play centre. Feeling guilty that during the winter months Oliver (like me) has a non-existent social life, I decided to pull him out of nursery and take a couple of hours away from work to take him to Finlay’s party. Work could wait.... just a little while. After all, the world wasn’t going to stop turning just because I’d taken two hours out. We arrived about 15 minutes late. No big deal I suppose – and fairly normal for me at the moment given the hectic schedules I’ve been running to. Oliver was proudly carrying the little present and card we’d got for Finlay and was super excited about the party and seeing his friends.

Tears flowed.

Lots of them.

Bad Mummy had got it wrong. The party wasn’t today – we’d arrived a MONTH early ! No amount of apologies or chocolate could make it right. Yeah. Sometimes even chocolate is not enough to win over a kid..... Even a kid that loves chocolate.

I joke not – Oliver’s little face was STILL tripping him when I picked him up that night. I agreed to the request to make cake. I sort of made it up to him after work on the Saturday after work and took him (by special request) to the cafe at Goodies Farm shop too. He loves sitting in there and having some lunch, with a drawing book and a pile of crayons.

We had a good couple of hours the next day (last Sunday) too. I’d booked tickets months ago to take him to see “Roary The Racing Car”. We had ice cream in the city before going into the theatre. The seats we had were super – front row, right in the centre. Oliver loved it – but I can’t really say that I got into it. I think I fell asleep once or twice (was certainly on the cusp) although Oliver was rather unimpressed with Mummy for that !

By the time we got home, I realised that I’d lost my camera. It’s ALWAYS in my handbag, and I’d had it with us. That camera goes EVERYWHERE with me. I turned the car upside down. I phoned the cinema. I tried to back track where I’d been. ALL this week I’ve been looking for that damn camera and totally gutted that it was gone. I’d checked my handbag several times. Checked my laptop case, taken a pitch fork to the car. No camera. I didn’t think I’d ever see it again until I got a phone call from the cinema this afternoon. Yes, one of the staff had found a black camera left on the front row on Sunday.

My heart skipped a beat. I’d a load of photos on there of recipes I’ve not yet blogged. I’d photos and videos of Oliver I hadn’t downloaded. “Yeah, it’s a Samsung.”

Hell and damnation. Punch me why don’t you. “Mine’s a Panasonic.”

“Are you SURE ? Why don’t you come and get it ?”

I actually stopped to think. Maybe mine was a Samsung.... “Thanks – but mine’s a Panasonic”.

Nah. I’m sure that I’m sure I’m sure !

I rummaged in my handbag – searching for a couple of Neurofen to kill a migraine that was on the brew. They were in there somewhere. I needed them now. Even if they were lurking with fluff at the bottom I’d find them.

So was a black Panasonic camera.

Loaded Apple Spice Muffins (low fat content) FOODBUZZ #5 14/11/11

2011-11-12T17:27:00.000-08:00

I was totally taken in by the stunning images on Anncoo Journal of some wonderful Italian apple cupcakes. Gosh – they looked so good I visually ate the lot off the screen. The ingredients list was awesome too. There was whacking great amount of butter – bound to make any cake taste good.... but not exactly easy on the waistline. Then again, what cake doesn’t add inches to your waistline. Blimey. I’m sure just thinking about it makes mine expand.

Hmm. My apple trees did well this year. I’ve got a fridge drawer full of Bramleys, a shelf full of Empire Reds and a car load of Jonagolds. Apples are bountiful in England in the autumn and winter months. I’ve been good. I don’t each much cake these days. I’ve got an abundance of apples begging to be used. How many excuses does a fat girl (trying to get thin) need to bake ?

I’ve waited a week.

“Mummy .... I need to bake cake !” a little voice chirps up and a fluffy blond head pops round the door.

One. Just one. That’s all the excuse I need.

Three years ago, I was convinced I was going to have a little girl. I had dreams of riding ponies together and threading daisy chains on the grass. Instead, I was nurturing a little boy that would love mud and cars. I worried as he’s start to grow up, all he would want was to spend all his time with Daddy.

That may well happen.... buy my little boy loves mud, and cars and BAKING with Mummy.

Sure, this is cake, compared to Ann’s amazing Italian Apple Cakes, it’s much lower in fat. That does NOT mean eat six. Don’t eat cake in excess. You’ll get fat. Don’t sue me – I warned you !

RECIPE

Makes 12 > 14

255g all purpose flour

3tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

2 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp ginger

good couple of pinches nutmeg

good pinch of ground cloves

150g granulated sugar

90mls oil

150mls milk

1 beaten egg

350g finely cored and finely sliced apples ( I used some small Empire Reds, peel left on)

agave nectar (or warmed golden syrup) to glaze

Sift dry ingredients together.

In a separate bowl or jug, mix the wet ingredients together. Combine wet and dry ingredients, (taking care not to over mix) folding in the mass of apples in the final few strokes. It will look like mainly apples and not much batter !

Spoon into standard size cupcake / muffin paper cases in a muffin tray or silicone muffin mould. These need filling more or less to the top. There is so little batter in relation to apples that these muffins aren’t going to give a great rise.

Bake for approx 22mins at 180deg C fan oven until tops are golden and a cocktail stick comes out clean.

Glaze the top with some agave syrup brushed onto the tops of the hot muffins. Allow to cool and serve.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

On leaving the house this morning, I put one of these in these in the fridge for Oliver. We’d made 14, though next time, I’ll use the batter to make just 12. Oliver had already demolished one still a little warm before we left.

Twelve left.

I put the baking tray with the silicone mould containing the muffins on the back seat of the car. I didn’t box them up, as they were still a little warm. I wanted to take them into work to photograph and figured that the lads that work with me would find resisting these futile. What I didn’t forsee was that only 10 would make it to work.

I know what you are thinking.

The smell of my car was amazing. The wafts of warm spices cheered me up no end. Nothing like the smell of Christmassy spices to lift your soul. It made me hungry too.

The tray bounced and slid as I cursed and hit a pot hole that had escaped my notice. The tray slid and two muffins out and hit the floor. Only 10 lots of temptation remained.

I set my lightbox up on a table in the stove showroom to take a few snaps. I didn’t think it would take long before my colleagues would start coming to look at what I had in there. But it wasn’t Colin that was first (despite the fact he usually is). Nor Richard, or Martin. It was a little boy that came in the door with his mum to buy a fire grate as I was just starting to take some photos.

“I’m hungry!” he piped up.

Not much time for photos – they were a little hurried to say the least. I now wish I'd taken some more.

The little boy and his mum had a cake. Colin, Richard and Martin had a cake. Another customer coming in had a cake as did I .... and the postman. The last two ? I don’t know where they went !

I didn’t eat them. I SWEAR I didn’t eat them.

Wherever they went, that has to be the most amazing fastest cake disappearance I’ve ever seen. Five minutes max and ...... gone.

The paper muffin / cupcake cases are a new design just in. You can find the RED DOTTY HEARTS paper cases here in standard 50mm size.

Sarah-Jane Nash, November 2011 - www.siliconemoulds.com - silicone bakeware moulds.

Thanks for voting for these in the Foodbuzz top 9 !

Not So Sour Sourdough Bread !

2011-11-06T13:53:00.000-08:00

I recently went on a sourdough bread class with my friend Victoria. We had a super day and made some lovely things (you can see them here). However, I found that the 1/2 and 1/2 wholemeal and white sourdough loaf we made was pretty much inedible to me. It was just TOO sour.

I love the idea of being able to grow and nurture wild yeast. I like the fact that it can live dormant in the fridge for practically months at a time without a feed and yet can still be resurrected. Why use commercial yeast after all when you can make your own ? Convenience is of course a big factor ... and dried yeast offers that. It's not so convenient though when you've run out and forgotten to replace it !

I've been messing around with some starter and sourdough over the past two or three weeks trying to find the best way to make a tasty sourdough with a MILD tang that is not overpowering. Most people who love sourdough will be shaking their heads in disbelief I'm sure ..... as many aim to make it as sour as they possibly can. I know this is not the accepted way of doing things, but I'm sure there are probably many other bakers like me who find the taste of sourdough too strong......

For anyone who has not eaten sourdough before, it has a crispy / crunchy crust and a chewy interior. It's very different from commercially produced breads or those made with dried yeast !

There are various websites that list info for making a starter. Basically, it's just rye flour and water mixed together. Each day, 1/2 is thrown out and replaced with fresh to feed the growing culture. By the end of 5 days or so your should have created your own wild yeast which will be bubbly and lively. Unless you are planning on baking, this can go into a tub in the fridge and sit in a dormant state.

To bake with it, you need to take a tablespoon or two of the gloop in the fridge and add twice the volume of flour and water and mix to a paste. Cover with cling film and leave to sit on the kitchen counter for 12 hours or so until it starts to get bubbly.

Most recipes seem to then add more water and flour and leave overnight to make a sponge. More flour and water, sugar and salt are added to then make a dough. I've skipped that step.

Here is my Not So Sour White Sourdough Recipe.

2 tablespoons of starter from your vat in the fridge

5 well rounded tbsp of strong white bread flour

1 well rounded tbsp of rye flour

mix with enough luke warm water to reach a dropping consistency (much like cake batter !)

Cover with clingfilm and leave on the kitchen counter overnight.

It should be nice and bubbly by the morning. Discard about half (of put it in another bowl if you intend making more than one loaf and do the next following steps to both lots of gloop).

For the bread dough :

500g white bread flour

30g rye flour

10g salt

265g water

tablespoon of honey (or golden syrup !)

220g gloop as above

Take out, knock back and shape as required. You can see the air bubbles in my dough. I've knocked it back a bit, but don't want to be so harsh as to knock all those lovely bubbles out. There were much larger surface bubbles than this, but unfortunately my photos were out of focus.

Place on a baking tray, cover with cling film and leave for around another 1.1/2 hours before baking. You need a relatively warm kitchen for bread to rise. I've currently got my tumble drier on to dry the washing - so the dough is rising slowly but steadily.

Alternatively, you can let it rise in a banneton cane basket before turning on to a baking tray just prior to putting in the oven. DON'T PUT THE BANNETON IN THE OVEN !

A banneton will put artisan rings on your loaf and helps it keep shape and not spread. The dough will stick to the cane unless the banneton has been sealed with a slip of cornflour and water before first use. To the dough I put in these bannetons, I added a handful of roughly chopped kalamata olives.

This recipe makes approx 1kg of bread dough - enough for one large loaf or two small ones.

Once risen, you can either leave as is, or glaze with egg wash. On the large loaf shown below, I've slashed it diagonally a few times with a serrated bread knife.

I bake at 220deg C , turning down to 180deg C after 10 minutes until done. Just before you put the bread in the oven, pour some boiling water into a roasting tin and place on the shelf below the bread. It's the water in the tray that helps develop the crust.

My large loaf takes about 40 mins and the small ones about 25 to 30mins. They are done when you tap the bottom and they sound hollow.

This is how the large glazed loaf turned out.

I was a bit stupid turning the ones out the bannetons. I turned them out on to my hands (unfloured) and the dough typically stuck to my hands ! By the time I transferred the dough to the baking trays - it was rather distorted ....

Oh well - as long as it's edible - I'll forgive it for not being beautiful !

And here are the smaller distorted loaves made from the second batch of dough (with Kalamata olives). You can see both loaves sliced together at the top of the blog post.

Sarah-Jane Nash, November 2011 - www.siliconemoulds.com

Rumbledethumps With Stuffed Chicken Thighs

2011-11-05T18:33:00.000-07:00

Rumbledethumps - what a funny word. It certainly made Oliver giggle !

He seemed to like it though and gobbled the whole lot up at warp speed. Leftovers are easily reheated the following day.

Rumbledethumps is a traditional Scottish dish similar to Colcanon. It's smooth mashed potatoes, cooked savoy cabbage and some onions that have been sweated off to transparent. Mix them all together add some butter, a good grating of nutmeg and season with salt and pepper. Dress the top with some cheddar cheese if you wish (though I used some parmesan) and shove in the oven to finish off.

No real amounts here - but I did weigh what I used tonight :

650g floury potatoes

200g cabbage

1 medium onion

I'm sure you get the idea. This is enough to serve 4 > 6 people. We like plenty for left overs the next day !

I would have liked to have had it in the oven a bit longer to get some colour on top - but when a 3yo is hungry, aesthetics are the last thing on your mind....

For the stuffed chicken thighs, I boned two per person and left the skin on.

Then stuffed the middle with 1/2 a butcher's pork sausage, some chopped fresh herbs (thyme and oregano) and a little lemon zest.

Tied up with wasteful kitchen twine (I was in far too much of a hurry to look for enough silicone rope ties scattered through various kitchen drawers !)

Roasted in my halogen oven at 200deg C on bottom rack for approx 20mins

Simple, cheap, quick and easy family meal !

Sarah-Jane Nash, November 2011 - www.siliconemoulds.com

Rainbow Cake and Chocolate Cake - Oliver's 3rd Birthday Cake Fest.

2011-11-03T18:28:00.000-07:00

Yes - Oliver - aka my Little Cake Tester, is 3 ! It was his birthday last Tuesday and we had a steam train ride with his friends last Sunday which was super fun. Seems an eternity ago now already. Hard to believe it's 3 years since I was given the most beautiful little bundle I'd ever set eyes on.

Asked what he wanted for his birthday " Cake Mummy, just cake ! A big round chocolate cake and cupcakes to take to nursery.... and a Handy Manny cake with a car on it for my party"

Hmm. Not just one cake then. More like lots of cakes.... and lots of work

We started with this. After all, I couldn't not make my little rascal a cake to cut on the morning of his birthday ! A great big fudgy chocolate cake and a load of cupcakes with pirate toppers and flags. Did I mention Oliver likes pirates ? Ok - he's mad about pirates at the moment ...

You can find the chocolate cake recipe here.

This was not all the cupcakes - there were 24 of them and I put them all into little individual sealed pods after taking the photo, ready for the next morning.

At 8.30am....

There was chocolate cake for breakfast ... and a helicopter...

Don't worry. My kid doesn't normally eat cake for breakfast, but it's allowed on birthdays !

Oliver was very happy with the chocolate cakes, and the cupcakes seemed to go down a storm at nursery. We even posted a few to relatives and they seemingly arrived intact !

For the party, I'd arranged a steam train trip for 10 kids and 9 mummies. In the end 3 daddies and a nanny came along for the ride too ! I started making the cake you see at the top on the Saturday night after Oliver went to bed.

I admit it. I had every intention of copping out. I had bought a plastic Handy Manny car and intended making a simple sponge cake, fondant covering and then plonking said car on top.

Plenty of excuses.

I'm still not well.

I'm tired an have been working FAR too much

How many cakes does a 3yo need ?

But then again, what sort of food blogging mummy would I be to cheat and make a boring cake decorated with a plastic car ?

The challenge was on.

Something different. Something with wow factor. Shocking even - since it was also Halloween.

Have you ever heard of a Rainbow cake ? Six sponge layers like a rainbow. A hideous amount of food colouring. Layered with white swiss meringue buttercream.

I'd heard of it- but I'd never made one. I'd never even tasted swiss meringue buttercream either never mind made the stuff. 2am and no time to practice. It would either work, or be a mad rush for a cake at the supermarket in the morning !

Made the cake layers, made the swiss meringue buttercream.

Fondant covered the cake - that was hard. Didn't realise it should be refrigerated before covering this stuff. Swiss meringue buttercream has the texture of whipped cream ! Finish wasn't too bad. Ditched the plastic car idea and made a giant black topper with cut out skull and crossbones detail so the white icing shone through.

Cake looked cute, boyish and totally disguised what lay within....

Oliver ready to cut his cake....

and this is what was inside !

No one had seen one of these before and it certainly got it's fair share of attention. I felt like a kid again myself. It didn't look anything spectacular when putting it together but was rather breath-taking when sliced !

It's really funny to see kids with multi coloured cake crumbs all over their face. :-)

This is not an original idea. I found it at www.whisk-kid.com . The original recipe is here

Rainbow Cake

225g salted butter

400g caster sugar

5 egg whites

2tsp vanilla extract

400g self raising flour (sifted)

30g cornflour

350g luke warm milk

Weigh your mixing bowl.

Cream butter and sugar. Beat in egg whites followed by some of the flours, then some milk, more flour, more milk and vanilla until all incorporated.

Divide the mix equally into 6 bowls. I had 260g of mix in each bowl.

Add a stupid amount of gel paste food colouring to each until a very vibrant colour is achieved. I used red, orange, yellow, green, blue and violet.

Butter and flour (or grease and line) an 8" diameter silicone baking mould or standard tin for each bowl of mix. I made two cakes at a time. These cooked at 170deg C fan for about 13 minutes. Remove from the oven and allow to cool.

You could layer this with normal vanilla buttercream and it would be lovely. For me, the jury is still out on the Swiss Meringue Buttercream. I didn't much care for it before it went on the cake, but as a filling it was light, fluffy and quite tasty. I wouldn't want much of it though. Then again, I SHOULDN'T be eating cake anyway !

Swiss Meringue Buttercream (Whisk-Kid has a fantastic tutorial )

9 (NINE) egg whites

350g caster sugar

450g butter

2 tsp vanilla

100g white chocolate (melted and at room temperature)

Look at the link to the tutorial. I could not have made the SMB without it. I'd have chucked it out at the soupy stage !

Put the egg whites in a pan with the caster sugar over a low heat. Lightly whisk in the pan on the heat until the sugar is dissolved and the texture is no longer gritty.

Put this into a stand mixer and whisk until cool. Add tiny knobs of the butter and whisk until these totally disappear before adding more. It will eventually look really soup like. Whisk the life out of it for about 5 mins.. If it refuses to thicken up to whipped cream consistency, bung it in the fridge for 30 mins and then try again. Mine needed the time in the fridge...

Vicky was good enough to video the cake cutting for me...

A labour of love for the little one I treasure most.

Happy 3rd Birthday baby. All those cakes were worth every minute to see the smiles on your face !

Lots of Love Always, Mummy xx

Lavender Macarons with White Chocolate Ganache

2011-10-30T19:00:00.000-07:00

It's been a week of cake here in Norfolk. A load of testing for some new mould designs I'm working on for early next year and Oliver's 3rd birthday

RECIPE

160g icing sugar

160g ground almonds

4 large egg whites, separated into two equal batches -

160g caster sugar

80ml water

1 tablespoon lavender sugar

1/2 tsp violet gel paste food colouring

Sift the almonds and icing sugar and lavender sugar together. Blitz with a blender or in a mill. Add the food colouring paste / gel to two egg whites and put this on top of the icing sugar / ground almond mix. The colour should good SERIOUSLY STRONG. It will lighten when you add the egg white / syrup mix and again on cooking. You do want gel / paste as liquid food colouring is not strong enough colour and can thin the batter and interfere with the rise.

Heat caster sugar and water together until they reach 110deg C. Whip 2 egg whites to stiff peaks and then slowly drizzle and whip in the hot syrup to these until it becomes shiny and stiff. Avoid getting any syrup directly on the beaters if possible !

Fold the whipped egg white / syrup mix gently into the other bowl of mix. I started by adding a spoonful and mixing that through to loosen it up and then folded the rest in.

Transfer this into a piping bag. Pipe into small rounds on grease proof paper or silicone baking sheets.

You need to stand the macaron mix like this on the sheets for about 30mins or so until the surface does not stick to your finger when touched BEFORE you bake it. Otherwise, your shells are likely to crack and the finished result really isn't the same (been there - done that !) Put on some sprinkles (if using) now. I sprinkled some dried lavender on top.

Pop into a 145 > 150deg C oven for approx 15 minutes. Remove and immediately slide silicone sheet or greaseproof paper off the tray onto the work surface.

Leave to TOTALLY cool before removing. If even slightly warm, the insides of the macaron will leave themselves stuck to the paper or silicone sheet.

To make the lavender sugar, put some sprigs of fresh lavender during the summer months in a container o granulated sugar in exactly the same way as you would to make vanilla sugar. Rosemary sugar is lovely too and also made in the same way.

For the white chocolate gananche, I used 150g of chocolate and poured over 200ml of scalded cream. Stir to melt the chocolate. When melted and cooled to room temperature, put in the fridge for a little while until firm enough to pipe.

Sarah-Jane Nash - October 2011