Neapolitan Jellies - done my way ! (Foodbuzz #5 19/9/11)

Just because I'm on a low carb, low fat diet doesn't mean I can't cook nice things. The world won't stop turning and I'm not going to stop baking.

It does however take a lot more initial thought and imagination (unless I've no intention of eating what I'm making). General meals are easy and very little effort, but treats take a lot of thought.

I came up with the idea for these last week and was desperate to get round to making them. I knew Oliver would love them if nothing else !

These pretty little jellies require very few ingredients and are easy for any cooking novice to make. However, if you want to make thin multi-coloured layer jellies (rather than one colour) it does take a little patience. Thicker layers like the other one I did in a 1lb silicone loaf mould are easy to do as you simply pour the mix in one lot at a time.

A graduated disposable pippette is essential. They are really really cheap - I've just bought a pack of 100 from Ebay for £3.70 including post (see item number). I'd also advise the use of a silicone bakeware mould - it makes jelly making SO easy. This mould is a brand new design we've got in called 6 JAGGY HEART. Blame Richard for the name ! Right enough - it's getting difficult as we're introducing more and more heart design moulds and have to be able to identify which is which.....

Recipe

250mls of ready made strawberry milkshake

250mls of ready made chocolate milk shake

250mls milk

1tsp vanilla extract

1/2 tin of condensed milk

3 sachets of gelatine granules (I used Dr. Oteker)

Start by lightly oiling your chosen mould with vegetable oil. You don't want loads - just the tiniest bit to create a film. The cells of the 6 JAGGY HEARTS mould are 60mls in volume. I made the six and used excess mixtures to make a simple 3 layer jelly in a 1lb loaf mould which was later cut into slices.

Start with the first flavoured "milk" you plan to use. I used Muller low fat milk shake. Put a sachet of gelatine granules into the pan and pour on the milk. Leave for 10 mins to sponge.

Put the milk on a low / medium heat and warm to just below simmering, stirring all the time. Remove from the heat  stir in 2 to 3 tablespoons of condensed milk. Pour into a clean bowl. Repeat the process for the other flavoured milk.

To make the vanilla milk mixture, add the vanilla extract to the milk and gelatine granules. Repeat previous process. You may need to add a little extra condensed milk.

If you are using a detailed mould like the 6 JAGGY HEART, you can build up your layers a little at a time. After each layer, chill in the fridge until set. The thinner the layer, the faster it sets ! My first layer was set in about 3 minutes. Once set, add the next layer.

The only real tricky bit with this one was the outline round the edge. I only used about 4mls of jelly mix to do the tiny rim round the edge. I can't imagine it being achievable without a pipette.

The weather had been rather miserable (very over cast and high winds). The light in my kitchen was atrocious for taking photos. My results were dire and I was most disappointed as these jellies were so pretty. All of a sudden, the sky started clearing and a patch of blue appeared.

I legged it into the garden with my mirror board and literally grabbed about two minutes maximum of sunshine before the clouds all blew over once more. I used mirror board before to take photos of these jelly shots and I'm really starting to like it as a medium.

It's been an eventful week so far. This little chick hatched this morning, with some help. Henrietta has been broody for a few months now and was close to starving herself unless allowed to hatch out some chicks. 

I got some bantam hatching eggs from a local chicken keeper and sat them under her 3 weeks today. One chick tried to hatch yesterday, but I found it dead still in the shell last night. On checking in on Henrietta this morning. This little chick was trying to hatch, but for whatever reason, Henrietta had kicked it out her nest. It was still in the shell, stoney cold and barely alive.

I brought it in the house and warmed in my hands and slowly helped it out the shell. At this point, I really thought it didn't stand a chance as it lay lifeless and cold in my hand. Tiny little thing - only about 2" long.

After breathing on it for quite some time, it started to revive and cheep. We then sat it on a tiny little hot water bottle inside a sandwich box and covered over with a tea towel. About an hour later, chick was gaining strength and had opened it's eyes.

Oliver was intrigued and sat with me the whole time as I had the box on my knee. He even brought  his favourite toy elephant for the chick to cuddle and wanted to try and stuff it in the sandwich box !

As soon as it gained enough body heat, I took it back out and popped it back in with a very excited mummy hen. All we could do was hope the chick was going to be strong enough to make it. Henrietta tucked it underneath her, clucking away loudly.

On coming home tonight, Oliver and I went to check on how they were doing. Chick popped out for few seconds - long enough for a quick photo. It's all fluffed up now and very vocal. Fingers crossed, it should stand a good chance now. Henrietta still has another two eggs. There was no sign of pipping, but we'll see in tomorrow if any more are going to hatch.....

Yesterday, my 3yo washing machine broke. £45 call out later, I discover it was going to cost me another £45 call out and £180 for a new printed circuit board to fix it. I had stacks of washing backed up - so it spurred an emergency washing machine shopping spree. Thankfully, new one arrived this morning and I'm starting to get on top of my massive amount of laundry...... What fun !!

Sarah-Jane Nash - September 2011 - www.siliconemoulds.com

Bacardi Mandarin Jelly Shots - Fly Me Away !

Fly fly me away. Soaring into a clear blue sky... just the slightest breath of wind and cotton wool clouds.

Be careful. Eat too many of these and you may join me ! I tried one. It tasted like orange and jelly and sort of like sweeties. I had another and felt decidedly light headed. Jeez - these are D.A.N.G.E.R.O.U.S. but I think they would be spectacular at a party

I don't drink. I don't LIKE alcohol..... but I don't mind it cooked into things as long as it doesn't taste of alcohol. Surprisingly, it's not bad in jelly...

I've recently been inspired by Jelly Shot Test Kitchen. They do some awesome looking jellies which really intrigue me. I've bought their book and I love it. Some super ideas. This recipe did not come from the book or their blog. It was a combination of my own that has thankfully turned out a success. The photos - well - they were a bit of a fluke, but I like with how they turned out. My husband reckons they're just odd. I prefer to think they're one of a kind :-P

 I guess you bloggers want to know how a rubbish snap shotter like me ended up with these crazy blue and orange photos....

RECIPE

This recipe was made in the 8 Dariole silicone bakeware mould.  This recipe fills approx 10 large dariole cells. We also do a smaller 12 cell Dariole mould. The smaller one is the same shape, just half the volume in each cell. It may be better for party jelly shots... unless you want all your guests drunk and disorderly after a couple of jellies !

2 cans of mandarin oranges in syrup

juice of a lime

250ml bacardi

8 to 9 gelatine leaves

packet of orange flavour table jelly

400ml water

Take your dariole silicone mould and verly lightly oil each cell. A couple of droplets rubbed into each one is more than enough. Place the dariole mould or moulds on a baking tray.

Put the 250ml of Bacardi into a bowl with 6 > 7 gelatine leaves. Leave for 5 minutes or so to soften.

Put 250ml of the syrup from mandarin oranges in a saucepan and bring to a simmer. Add the bicardi with gelatine leaves and stir to dissolve. Once dissolved remove from the heat and set aside.

Menawhile, soak 2 gelatine leaves in 200g of water to soften.

In another pan, put the rest of the water and packet of table jelly. Heat until table jelly dissolves. Add the water and gelatine leaves and stir until dissolved. Remove from the heat and set aside.

Put a tiny amount of orange jelly in each mould cell. Put the mould (on the tray) in the fridge for approx 5 mins for the thin layer of jelly to set.

Remove from the fridge. As soon as the Bacardi jelly mix has cooled, pour this on top of the first layer to 2/3 fill each cell. Put back in the fridge to chill.

Once the second layer has set, put some mandarin orange segments in the remaining cell space and top up with orange jelly. You will have used all of the syrup, but only half of the mandarin oranges. These can be used as garnish - or taste great eaten as they are !

Again, chill until set. 25ml of Bicardi in each jelly is quite a lot, so don't under estimate how strong these babies are. 

Iff yuo eat two meany youre furds might get wurdled .....

Ok - so the mad blue and orange photos.... The light indoors was dire. Outside was really bright and sunny. Nice ! The shadows being cast were a royal pain however, so I tried to get rid of them by taking some shots of the jellies on top of my mirror board. Where ever I placed them, I was getting issues with light bouncin back. Infact, it was worse than the shadows.

Last ditched attempt was on a little table right in the middle of the lawn. The blue back ground you see is just the sky. A brilliant blue on a glorious sunny day. That was yesterday. Today has been rather gloomy, very overcast and grey !

Enjoy

Sarah-Jane Nash - July 11 - www.siliconemoulds.com - massive range of silicone bakeware moulds. Suitable for jelly too.

Dulce De Leche & Coffee Set Puddings

I'm quite pleased with how these turned out. Then again, I'm also besotted with our new 8 cell recessed heart silicone bakeware mould.

These ended up rich and creamy with a richness of caramel Dulche De Leche and undertones of coffee - kind of like a Starbucks caramel latte with cream I suppose !

I'd advise serving them at room temperature. They were really easy to release from the moulds. Literally, just a little squeeze and out they pop.

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Initially however, these seemed a bit of a disaster ! I was playing with agar agar for the first time which had been sent to me by blogger friend Ann Low of Ancoo Journal a couple of months ago. I'm well stocked on agar agar now as my dear friend Zurin of Cherry On a Cake has sent me some too :-)

In case you don't know what agar agar is, it's a vegetarian jelly made from seaweed. It has no taste, so you do  need to add flavouring. It can also set at room temperature, and sets much much quicker than regular gelatine.

The instructions on the packet say to add 1000mls of water, 250g of sugar and 1 pack of agar agar plus desired flavouring. Boil for a few minutes and then pour into your moulds. In Asian countries, pandan leaves are often used as flavoring for agar agar. I like making things that are a bit different from the norm where I can, so decided to work on something that would have my own twist.

1000mls was an awful lot of jelly. I worked out that each packet had 6 tsp - so I worked with just a 1/2 quantity

Recipe

350ml water

3tsp of agar agar powder

1 can condensed milk

4 tablespoons Camp Chicory & Coffee Essence 

You could substitute the Camp Coffee for a shot of expresso. Camp Chicory & Coffee Essence is made in Glasgow, Scotland and has been used in hot milk as a type of instant coffee (and in baking) for over 100 years. It's lovely in coffee cake !

Anyway, I put the water and agar agar into a saucepan and brought to the boil for 2 or 3 minutes before adding the coffee extract.

I then removed half a cup of the mixture and set aside.

To the remaining mixture, I added the can of condensed milk and stirred off the heat before pouring in to the 8 recessed heart silicone mould. I added less liquid than the started 500ml as I figured that I likely did not need as much given the condensed milk was a 450g (approx) can and runny.

Well - when removed from the mould, they were almost like rubber blocks and really really firm. When I tried to bend it a little - it felt like it snapped in two ! The texture was not to my liking, though they tasted ok. At that point, they were just creamy and a bit of a coffee taste too.

I decided it would be best to melt them down again and add some more water, so I chopped them up and shoved them back in the pan with an extra 150ml of water on a low heat.

This is where something decidedly odd happened.....

The condensed milk started to turn into caramel on the bottom of the pan - despite the fact it wasn't really that hot. I barely got the temperature up to as high as simmering before taking it off the heat !

Pouring it into the moulds this time, it was considerably thicker than the first time. The really odd thing was that I ended up with EXACTLY the same finished volume the second time - despite having added another 150ml of water. Where on earth did it go ? I can imagine that much would evaporate in such a short time !

Thankfully, after a second set, the texture of these was much better.

With the remaining agar agar (without condensed milk) I added 2 tsp of sugar and approx 70ml of water and warmed it in a saucepan.

I then scratched the recessed area inside the heart jellies (so the next layer would adhere) and filled each recess with the liquid

That's it !

These do taste quite yummy. The textures of agar agar is however very different to conventional gelatine and I don't really know yet that I like it. I'm very tempted to recreate this using gelatine leaves at some point as a direct comparison

Sarah-Jane Nash - www.siliconemoulds.com - July 2011

Fresh Summer Fruit and Wine Jellies

These beautiful summer fruit and wine jellies are very easy to make.

I made some as a display piece for the second day of the Ideal Home Show in Glasgow at the SECC. They attracted loads of attention !

I think they look even prettier when sliced so you can see a cross section of all the fruits.

 I made lots and lots of them the following day so we could actually slice some up to let people try.. Thankfully, I remembered to take some photos before the jellies went to the show and promised I would put the recipe on the blog on my return.

They were made in this mould - our 6 pink hearts silicone bakeware mould.

This makes a really light and refreshing dessert - perfect on a hot summer day or to cleanse the palate. They are sharp and not very sweet. It tastes like eating wine, but is offset with the sweetness from the fruit.

Better still, they are very very quick and simple to make.

Recipe

600ml of white wine -choose your favourite to compliment fruit

I think the one we used was a chardonnay ..

4 sachets of unflavoured gelatine 

Juice of 1/2 a lime

75g of caster sugar

Selection of summer fruits

Take your 6 pink hearts mould and lightly oil the inside of each cell and then place it on top of a baking tray

I used groundnut oil as it is flavourless. If you do not have groundnut, use sunflower or vegetable. The baking tray makes it easy to get your jellies in and out of the fridge later !

Pour the gelatine granules into a bowl and cover with 1/2 the wine. Leave these for approx 10 minutes. This is  called "sponging".

Whilst the gelatine is sponging, prepare your fruit. You want small strawberries. If yours are large, they will need slicing. I used strawberries, blueberries, raspberries and blackberries.

Pour the rest of the wine, lime juice and sugar into a pan. Bring these to a simmer and then add the sponged gelatine mix. Stir these over a low heat until the gelatine and sugar has all dissolved and the liquid is clear.

Spoon off any scum / bubbles from the top of the liquid. Put a couple of teaspoons of this liquid into each cell.

Arrange some berries into the bottom of each cell. Remember that the bottom will become the top, so put the pretties whole berries on the bottom. After you have done that, fill the rest of each cell to about 2mm from the top with fresh berries.

When the remaining gelatine and wine liquid has cooled down, pour this into the moulds. It will fill up all the space between the jellies. Try to cover all the fruit. If any fruit is sticking up, give it a poke to below the surface.

Refrigerate for at least SIX hours - preferably TWELVE

The jellies should have set in much less time than this. However, they need much longer for the full flavour to develop. I released my first jellies from the moulds about 3 hours later but they tasted very astringent - almost mouth puckering ! Left a good while longer, they mature as the juices from the berries infuse with the wine.

To release from the moulds, simply put a finger on top of the jelly and it will simply peel away from the sides. 

Do this right round the top of each cell and then simply turn them out on to a plate.

Sarah-Jane Nash, 13th June 11.  www.siliconemoulds.com  - silicone bakeware & cookware online shop.

Some Photos from the Ideal Home Show... (I'm Back !)

Sorry for the late post. The show finished a week ago, but I then took 4 days off on the way home and had a little break with my husband and Oliver in the Yorkshire Moors. My mobile and laptop had been banned. I was burnt out after the long hours I have been working the last few months and really needed some time off. This was the first holiday we have ever had as a family and the first time my husband and I have had a break together in at least 5 years !

Anyway, here are some photos as promised. The photo above shows (from left to right) Martin - (he works here as part of the staff), Simon (my younger brother, who was also helping out), Jean Christophe Novelli - (French Mitchelin star chef - I got a hug and a kiss !), myself, Carole (my cousin who was also helping at the show), my Dad (he got roped in too - bless him.... - we kept him busy !!)

Jean Christophe Novelli doing what he does best in the Celebrity Chef Theatre

This is a snap of our stand on the first day of the show, just before the halls opened and as we completed setting up.

All calm, all organised.

You may recognise my candy fudge bouquet. It was so pretty first time round that I decided to make another as a display piece for the stand.

Once the masses were let into the exhibition, it quickly got swamped. A couple of times our section had to be closed off for a short time as so many people were coming in at once it was becoming dangerous due to the volume of people !

In the foreground of this photo (if you look closely) - you will see some summer fruit and wine jellies I made too. These busy photos were from the second day. The heart shaped jellies were very popular and loads of people commented on how pretty they were. I'll blog the recipe and photos for those just shortly.....

The show was really really busy. Very hard work, but good fun. The chocolate moulds were very popular, along with the SAY IT WITH CAKE letter moulds and new push-up ice lolly moulds.

The work didn't finish when the show finished in the evening. I had baking to do for display items and we also had the stand to restock. Bed was never before 4am and time to get up again at 7am. No wonder I get tired..

I didn't get my presentation finished unfortunately. Just too much work and not enough time. I dad have a massive photo slideshow with almost 1,500 photos of our products and things made in them. Thank you to all who sent me photos and made this possible. It was lovely to be able to show specific things made in our moulds to customers that showed an interest in a specific product and wanted to know more.

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One evening just before we finished, I escaped to take you some photos from the food section of the show. I know that's what you really want to see !

The Arran Cheese Shop - http://www.islandcheese.co.uk/ - posing nicely with a range of their cheeses. Unfortunately, I was in a huge rush. Didn't get a chance to sample anyone's products. Sorry !

Chrystal's Shortbread. http://www.chrystalsshortbread.co.uk/ - Really pretty packaging selling Scottish shortbread shame their website is practically non existent...

Cedar Cottage Country Foods - http://www.facebook.com/pages/Cedar-Cottage-Country-Foods

Prize winning pedigree fold of highland cattle producing pure premium highland beef (hangs for min. 4 weeks). Free range pigs producing our best selling sausages, also pork and Ayrshire bacon. Free range poultry.

These guys do a mean sausage. Can't find a website for them - only a facebook page with very little activity...

Erin Croft Bakery - yummy scones and baked goods. Couldn't find a website for them.

The young lad (son?) of the owner was really cute - but couldn't stand still.... or stop laughing when I was trying to take a photo. Ok - so I was winding him up rather a lot.

Here is a better photo of their scones - since the young lad was rather a blur.

Caurnie - http://www.caurnie.com/ - Handmade soap producers.

They use loads of natural oils in their handmade soaps. Smelt lovely. Things like Bog Myrtle which keeps the dreaded Scottish midges at bay.

Home Ground Coffee Ltd - http://www.homegroundcoffee.co.uk/

An artisan coffee roaster and merchant based in Cardross, near Helensburgh, Scotland

 Catchpole and Frogitt - Private Wine Merchants http://www.pullthecork.com/

 

This kind man gave me 1/2 a bottle of his lovely wine at the end of the first day. I turned it into some beautiful summer fruit and wine jellies which loads of people admired. I'll post photos and recipe for the jellies in the next day or so.....

 

Dream Cakes - Glasgow - http://www.dreamcakesglasgow.co.uk/

This lady was selling pretty cupcakes in a vast range of flavours and colours. Her kids helped out loads on her stand too. She was busy as a bee - making fresh cakes every night ready for the following day.

Babu Bombay Street Kitchen - http://babu-kitchen.com/

Their own recipe vegetable curry served with a toasted Scottish morning roll. They had some great big vats of the stuff on the go at all times. Smelt really good.

 

I don't have a company name or any info for this couple - but they were lovely. They had a large selection of homemade pastries including a really nice apple strudel and vast amounts of olives and anti pasti selections

 

Chris from Absolutely Cupcakes does the largest range of cupcake decorations I've EVER seen ! His stand was very near to ours, and I brough a load of pretty things home. He and his wife also run baking / sugarcraft classes and have a shop and tearoom in Dorset. 

Really nice guy. Do drop in and visit his online shop and tell him you heard about him here :-)

http://www.absolutelycupcakes.co.uk/

Hope you enjoy all the photos. Apologies if this blog post takes forever to load !

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

Cinnamon and Vanilla Jellies

I've been meaning to have a go at making jellies for some time. I found Jelly Shot Test Kitchen from browsing other blogs and they have so many super jelly ideas and colours using alcohol. The queen of jellies however has to be Ann Low of Anncoo Journal and mine are rather boring compared to her awesome creations like the Fancy Hearts Jelly below

I'll need to have another go with jellies sometime soon and follow Ann's super instruction guide !

Anyway, I made these funky little jellies using Jelly Shot Test Kitchen and Anncoo Journal for inspiration. I used the FLORAL & FANCY CHOCOLATE SET 2 for these. The name for the silicone mould is a bit off putting I suppose as it can be used for making little cakes, jellies or ice cubes as well as chocolates.

 

As you can see, it has 12 cells, all with very different designs. Some floral and most of them fancy ! I so want to make some little cakes with this mould soon.

 

Recipe - Cinnamon & Vanilla Jellies (no alcohol)

2.1/2 cups of water

1 tin condensed milk (397g)

2 > 3 teaspoons ground cinnamon

1 vanilla pod

7 leaves of platimum grade gelatin

If your mould is brand new, oil it well and then wipe off all residue with some kitchen roll. Place the mould on top of a baking tray to make it easy to get in and out of the fridge !

Put 1 cup of water and the gelatin leaves aside in a bowl.

Put the rest of the water in a pan, along with the cinnamon and vanilla pod / seeds. Bring the water to a simmer and then remove from the heat.

Remove vanilla pod. Add gelatin and water from bowl and stir to disolve. But back on a very low heat and add the condensed milk, stirring all the time. As soon as combined, remove from the heat. Pour into prepared mould. I used two moulds for mine. I made these almost two weeks ago - and to be honest, can't remember if I had any mix left over.

Allow to set for a few hours in the fridge.

I found that the jellies released late that evening were far easier to work with than the ones that had only been left a couple of hours. To get them out easily, I dipped the moulds in hot water for a few seconds. That sounds easier said than done - don't forget that silicone bakeware moulds are very flexible. I found that the best way to do this was to put approx 1" of very hot water in the bottom of the sink. I could then dunk the mould in without the water coming over the top. It needed about 5 seconds.

Turn upside down over a baking tray and gently release one jelly at a time. I popped these back in the fridge to make sure they had a chance to totally stiffen up before moving them again. They were easy to pick up and move without damage as you can see.

These cinnamon and vanilla jellies did not last long at all. Each were about two good sized mouthfulls and it's easy to eat about 3 in a go ! They are very different from ordinary jellies and tasted rather grown-up. 

Next time I play with jelly I want to make some multi coloured layer ones !

Sarah-Jane Nash, April 11 - http://www.siliconemoulds.com/ - the online silicone bakeware cookshop.