Yes, it is a bit late! This blog was a year old in January, and I haven't written anything since. For that, I apologise. I don't know when life got so busy! Anyway, my 'new year's resolution' is to try and blog more regularly, hopefully at least once a week.
I promise I've been keeping up the baking! Here's what I've made over the last couple of months:-
- Naan bread
- Jammy steamed pudding
- Corn bread
- Brown scones with seeds
- Baked potato, onion and rosemary gratin
- Calzone
- Crumpets
- Baked red lentil dhal
- Cardamom bread
- Scheiterhaufen (bread and butter pudding with apple and white chocolate - A-Mazing!)
- Crème Anglaise
Shout if you want me to write any of the recipes up, otherwise I'll try and fit them in when I have time.
Oh, Evan and I attempted to make a gingerbread house just after Christmas - this was to be my showstopper piece to put on the birthday blog post. We managed to cook the dough and cut the pieces out, then it took about a week to get round to putting it together. By that time, some of the pieces had crumbled and it just wouldn't stick together. I got very frustrated, and ended up giving up. Evan looked crestfallen for a second, until I said he could eat some gingerbread. I've promised him we'll try again one rainy day!
As for the next year, I have a plan! I've made 53 recipes out of 139 - I make that 86 recipes to go. I will complete the challenge, as I hate to be defeated! Most weeks, I'll be making at least 2 recipes to hit my target. Still some big challenges to go, including puff pastry; choux pastry; croissants and doughnuts. Should be fun!
Thought I'd tell you about one of my recent challenges, which is Seville orange curd. I bought a batch of Seville oranges, originally intending to make marmalade again. However, I saw this at the back of 'Bake' and thought I'd give it a go. Really pleased with the result - it's deliciously rich and tangy. I could eat it by the spoonful! I made 2 batches, and used 1 in an orange meringue pie. Took this for a church lunch, and it went down really well (thank goodness for church functions - they give me a great opportunity to share my bakes, instead of troughing them all myself!)
So, here's the recipe...
Simply take 150g (5oz) butter; 250g (9oz) caster sugar; the finely grated zest of 1 Seville orange and juice of 3. Heat altogether, very gently until the butter melts. Beat 4 eggs and 2 egg yolks together, then stir into the melted butter. Stir carefully, over a very low heat, until the mixture is thick enough to coat the back of a spoon. (It's really important to keep the heat low, or you'll get scrambled egg). If the mixture starts scrambling, push it through a sieve (I did get a few lumps, despite keeping the heat as low as possible. But a quick sieve sorted it out). Remove the pan from the heat, and pour into jars.
I think that's enough for now! Back soon (I hope) with oat and vanilla shortbread cookies, and bacon and gruyere scones.
Thought I'd tell you about one of my recent challenges, which is Seville orange curd. I bought a batch of Seville oranges, originally intending to make marmalade again. However, I saw this at the back of 'Bake' and thought I'd give it a go. Really pleased with the result - it's deliciously rich and tangy. I could eat it by the spoonful! I made 2 batches, and used 1 in an orange meringue pie. Took this for a church lunch, and it went down really well (thank goodness for church functions - they give me a great opportunity to share my bakes, instead of troughing them all myself!)
So, here's the recipe...
Simply take 150g (5oz) butter; 250g (9oz) caster sugar; the finely grated zest of 1 Seville orange and juice of 3. Heat altogether, very gently until the butter melts. Beat 4 eggs and 2 egg yolks together, then stir into the melted butter. Stir carefully, over a very low heat, until the mixture is thick enough to coat the back of a spoon. (It's really important to keep the heat low, or you'll get scrambled egg). If the mixture starts scrambling, push it through a sieve (I did get a few lumps, despite keeping the heat as low as possible. But a quick sieve sorted it out). Remove the pan from the heat, and pour into jars.
I think that's enough for now! Back soon (I hope) with oat and vanilla shortbread cookies, and bacon and gruyere scones.
No comments:
Post a Comment