Mincemeat Crumble Slices & Christmas Photos

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

Peach and Raspberry Crumble

It's cold and snowing outside and I'm stuck at home with a poorly teething baby. He's not well enough to go to nursery and even Iggle Piggle can't keep him occupied any longer.

Oliver has decided to help Mummy with the washing ! I went to the bathroom and came back to a baby unloading dirty clothes out the washing machine. It was only AFTER I put the washing machine and turned it on that I realised it wasn't dirty washing he was removing. It was clean stuff I'd taken out the tumble drier from the basket - ready to fold and go upstairs.

What do you want when it's cold ? A nice roaring log fire and a comforting, warm pud in your tummy. Well - the stove is lit. I've got an Abbey - you can see it at http://www.naturalheating.co.uk/ - the one with the deep red chimney breast.

As for the pud - we'll - its even better as there is some store-cupboard standby stuff BEGGING to get used up before the big spring clean !

I figure my dearly beloved might like a nice hearty pudding today - so I'm making a Peach and Rasperry Crumble in my halogen oven. It's all prepared ready to pop in later.

RECIPE

You'll need :

plain flour (self raising will also do), butter, sugar, a couple of tins of tinned peaches and some frozen raspberries

I've got a 1 litre dish I use for things like this.

Put 2 tins of peaches (sliced or halves will do - just chop into chunks) into the dish and top with a good big handful of frozen raspberries.

Put in 3 or 4 tablespoon of reserved fruit juice from the peaches and sprinkle with a 1/2 dessertspoon of sugar.

Pre-heat the halogen oven for 3 > 4 minutes at 180deg C, then pop this in, uncovered for apprpx 10 mins

Whilst that's getting the fruit nice and hot, prepare the topping.

Standard crumble mix is 2 parts flour to one part butter and one part sugar

4 oz plain flour
2 oz sugar
2 oz cold butter

Rub these together until they form crumbs, then put on top of the fruit.

If you have any demerara sugar lying around in the cupboads - a sprinkling of this on the very top will give a nice crunch.

I've become a huge fan of halogen convection ovens. Everything cooks in a fraction of the time and they use so much less energy than a normal cooker. These will soon also be available on SiliconeMoulds.com and you should find all my Halogen cooker recipes and cooking times on there.

Here you can see the crumble is in the oven. I put mine in at 180deg for 20mins. Like a normal oven, you'll need oven gloves to get it out. It's hot in there !

That's it. Ready to serve !