Basic cookie recipe

'This recipe is the basis for many combinations. Experiment with ingredients - flavourings, dried fruits, nuts, spices and even herbs such as lavender - to find your favourite'

Rachel Allen, 'Bake', p14

Well, If you saw my last post you'll know that our house has been full of cake and naughty leftovers since Evan's birthday. Added to this, Nigel has decided he's on a health kick, so I'm not supposed to be indulging his sweet tooth. So, it's time to share my baking with other people (which, after all, is supposed to be a big part of this blog)

Well, a very good friend of ours moved house this week so I decided to bake some house warming cookies. She's a big fan of ginger, so I added chopped crystallised ginger and lemon zest to the basic mix. The dough felt slightly dry, so instead of water, I added some lemon juice. Very pleased with this combination, it had a real 'zip'.  

Feeling quite inspired by cookie making now, lots of scope to be creative with flavour combinations! Rachel suggests poppy seed; lemon; orange; white chocolate and orange; spices; ginger; double chocolate chip or white chocolate and dried cranberry. Got me thinking... how about banoffee; salted caramel or even Mars bar cookies! What do you think? If that's got you inspired, let me know! Pop your flavour suggestions in the comment box and who knows, I might have a go!

Thought you might like to see my cookie making assistant, of sorts! He's a boy after my own heart - helped me for about 5 minutes then said "I'll come back and lick the bowl, that's the best bit isn't it Mummy?!'

And who can argue with that?!

Sticky toffee pudding

'Moist, sweet, moreish and very straightforward to make, this is a guaranteed crowd pleaser.  It can be prepared entirely in advance and will keep very well once cooked, lasting five or six days in an airtight box in the fridge, or up to three months in the freezer.  Before serving, just warm it up in a low oven for about 15 minutes covered (defrost first if it has been frozen) 

Rachel Allen, 'Bake', p84

Well, my apologies for the lack of blogging recently. It's been a busy couple of weeks! Evan turned 4 a fortnight ago, and we had a lovely weekend with a party at a local soft play cafe on the Saturday, followed by a family tea party on the Sunday.  Unfortunately, between preparing for visitors; cardmaking; present wrapping and birthday cake making (sorry Rachel, not one of yours!) there wasn't much time left for playing around. I even - shock horror - had to buy cake for the tea party! And ever since, we've been polishing off the naughty leftovers.  To add to that, I've been celebrating St David's Day this weekend by baking heaps of Welsh cakes! 

Right, excuses out of the way. Last Sunday, Nigel had a rare Sunday off work, so we cooked Sunday lunch for his parents and Grandma. Cue excuse for a naughty pudding! I love sticky toffee, but had never tried to make it. I didn't realise quite how easy it could be! It basically entails boiling some chopped dates in tea to soften. You then cream butter and sugar and gradually beat in eggs, followed by mixed spice; vanilla extract; the date mixture; flour and bicarbonate of soda. Pour into a tin and bake. Easy peasy!

The real star of this recipe is the toffee sauce. Now, my intention with this blog has never been to reproduce all the recipes. However, this is such a yummy and versatile sauce that i thought I'd share it here. You just mix 110g butter; 250g soft light brown sugar (or half brown & half caster); 275g golden syrup; 225mls double cream and 1/2 tsp vanilla extract. Whack it all in a saucepan, put over a high heat and boil for 4-5 minutes, until thickened.  Rachel says that this will keep for weeks, even months in the fridge, so worth making a big batch! I think this would make a great sauce for ice cream, or maybe for waffles or pancakes.  Ooh, pancake day on Tuesday and I've got sauce left. I'll let you know how it goes!  Rachel also has a boozy version of this sauce, made with brandy and sweet sherry. I'll try that next time.

Back to the pudding... It would definitely feed a crowd. Although Rachel says it serves 6,  we fed 5 adults and a child initially. There was plenty left over - Nigel and I have had 2 portions each over the week. And none of us went for dainty portions!  Definitely a good recipe to have in my repetoire, and I love the fact that it can be mostly be prepared the night before. 

Ok, signing off for now but hope to be back tomorrow to tell you about some cookie baking. Goodnight, or as we're in a Welsh frame of mind, nos da!

Grandpa's chunky Seville orange marmalade

Something a bit different this time - my first attempt at making preserves. It's something I've been meaning to try for a while, but never got round too. I suppose that's what this blog is all about!

My mission started with the purchase of a most ginormous bag of sugar. 5kg,  to be precise. It was about as big as Megan, and she's a little pudding! In fact, you hear about babies being born 'smaller than a bag of sugar'. Well, at 9lb 4oz, she was!

The technique was surprisingly easy. For those of you who haven't made marmalade before... Basically, you boil the oranges for a couple of hours. When they are cool, you scoop out the soft middles and squeeze through a muslin to strain the juice.  Chop up the zest, then put into a large pan with the juice and cooking water.  Then boil rapidly for about 20 minutes until it's set.  Finally, pour into sterilised jam jars.

I was really pleased with my efforts, and the row of jars sitting on the windowsill is giving me delusions of being a domestic goddess! Did make one error... I halved the original recipe, then cooked it in 2 batches as i didn't have a big enough pan. Still boiled it for 20 minutes, but I think this was much too long. The marmalade has set like glue! I've googled 'overset jam' and apparently, adding boiling water will soften it. Ah well, all part of the learning curve, I suppose.

Haven't been put off though, and I love the idea of giving homemade preserves as presents. Perhaps not this batch, though!

Easy gluten free bread

'You'll need a food processor for this one. The rice flour gives the bread a different consistency to that which you would expect from a traditional loaf, but this is an essential recipe to have to hand if you are feeding friends or family members with gluten intolerance'

Rachel Allen, 'Bake', p115

Well, as I said, my Mum is trying out a gluten free diet so it was an ideal opportunity to try this recipe while we were staying last week. Finding the ingredients was the hardest part - we looked in 3 major supermarkets but couldn't find any of the special flours required. Eventually we found rice flour; potato flour; cornmeal and soya flour in Holland & Barrett. 

That just left xanthan gum. 'What the heck is that?', I wondered. I'd seen it on food labels, and aiways imagined it to be some nasty artificial additive. However, as Rachel says it can be found in health food stores, I thought it couldn't be too bad. A little research on Wikipedia needed... It is a 'polysaccharide secreted by the bacterium Xanthomonas campestris'. Hmmm, sounds pleasant! It is produced from the fermentation of glucose; sucrose or lactose, grown in isopropyl alcohol and then ground to a fine powder. Xanthan  gum may contain traces of corn; soy or wheat so it's advisable to check the label carefully if you have allergies. Xanthan gum is often used to stabilise salad dressings and sauces; to improve the texture of ice cream and to bind toothpaste. Another use, as in this recipe, is to replace gluten in baking. It gives the dough a stickiness that gluten would otherwise provide. Oh, and we finally found it in Lakeland! 

It does seem a large initial outlay to make this bread. The flours and cornmeal were £1.89 for each 500g bag, the xanthan gum £4.49 for 100g. However, you only need small amounts of each - 225g rice flour; 25g potato flour; 50g cornmeal and 1 tsp xanthan gum. 

Making the bread was easy, basically just whizz together in a food processor. The dough is too wet to knead, so you simply pour it in to a tin; leave to rise and then bake. The taste and texture are, of course, very different to a traditional loaf and I can't say I'm a convert. However, if I was going gluten free I'd happily eat it. 

Quick brown bread with treacle & sesame seeds

'This 'no rise' bread is quick and easy to make if you're in a hurry'

Rachel Allen, 'Bake', p109

Firstly, my apologies for the delay in blogging this. I actually made it last Saturday, in the midst of preparing for a week away. The small ones and I are having a week with Granny and Grandpa in Wales. Mummy is loving the rest, and Evan and Megan are being happily spoiled!

Anyway, I digress. I had my doubts about this bread, as when I've tried out 'quick' breads in the breadmaker, they generally taste of nothing. This, however, was delicious! Super easy to make - you just mix up dry ingredients, then stir in the wet. Pour into a tin, sprinkle with seeds and hey presto, it's ready to bake! It contains buttermilk so is more like a soda bread, and quite heavy. Not really a sandwich bread, but great with butter; jam; cheese or pate. 

Halfway through, I realised I'd made a blunder and only bought 284mls of buttermilk, whereas the recipe calls for 400mls. I just topped up with normal milk, and it seemed to work. I used a 'Four seed mix' from our local health store, both in the mixture and sprinkled on top. It includes sesame; pumpkin; sunflower and linseeds and makes the bread feel all the more wholesome.

Hoping to try Rachel's 'Easy gluten-free white bread' next. Mum is trying to cut out gluten so would be great to try while we're here. However, after visiting a few supermarkets, none of them have the special ingredients - rice flour; potato flour; soya flour; and xanthum gum (?!) Off to the health foood shop tomorrow, to see if we have any more luck!

Oatmeal & Raisin Cookies

'An American favourite,  these cookies are moist, sweet and very moreish'

Rachel Allen, 'Bake', p12

Whipped these up in a spare half hour last night, after the small ones had gone to bed. Very

quick and easy, and Nigel used Rachel's exact words - "very moreish".

A slight word of warning... I tend to use salted butter in baking, which is a tip picked up from Holly Bell, of Great British Bake Off and www.recipesfromanormalmum.com. She suggests that the slight saltiness works really well as a contrast to sweetness - I agree (think Hob-Nob biscuits, yum!) I used salted butter in this recipe,  without thinking that the recipe also included a teaspoon of salt. We still really enjoyed the cookies, but they may have been too salty for some. Hope you like the picture - Nigel has been passing on his photography skills!

A postscript to our cottage pie experience, as mentioned in the last post. The recipe included 4 large cloves of garlic in the filling,  and 3-4 cloves in the garlic butter topping.  Definitely one for garlic lovers only. The next day we could still taste garlic,  and the house whiffed of it for 2 days! Nigel says it's destroyed any dreams he had of a romantic night with Rachel. It's all coming out now! But seriously, I think we'll stick with our own classic recipe next time. Sorry Rachel!

So; 3 recipes down, 138 to go. Tomorrow it's 'Quick brown bread with treacle and sesame seeds'. See you then!

Peanut butter & white chocolate blondies/ Cottage pie

So to begin! After much head scratching, and wondering quite where to begin, I conducted a survey among my Facebook friends. . I asked the question "what is your favourite cake/ baked treat?" Out of 32 replies, there was an interesting variety of answers. But chocolate brownies were the definite winner! So, that was my starting point. Well, blondies actually... the white chocolate version of Brownies. A nice easy start too! You may notice from the picture that some were darker than others.  This was due to me only having dark brown sugar,  not light brown as Rachel specified. It worked, although they were more 'brunette' than 'blondie'! Wanting to do this properly though, I bought some light brown sugar and made a second batch.These were definitely better, with a much lighter texture and flavour.

Lesson learned from a previous brownie making session... when they are cooked they feel quite underdone in the middle, just crispy around the outside. I cooked these for 25 minutes, the minimum that Rachel specifies. I wasnt quite sure that they were cooked after that, but decided to be brave. In the end they firmed up a lot, I think I could have cooked them even less as they were quite crispy. Delicious though! We had the in-laws round for dinner on Friday evening, served these as pudding with vanilla ice cream and salted caramel sauce. Fantastic!

This evening, I tried out the cottage pie recipe from the 'Baked Meals' section of the book. It's a pretty standard cottage pie recipe,  apart from the garlic butter added after cooking, which melts into the hot potato. Sounded interesting, but I'm not sure how much it added. Nigel declared that he preferred my version, with added baked beans. A compliment indeed! Sorry Rachel, I'm being critical already and that wasn't my intention!

On a personal note, we have reached a milestone in the French household today. Megan has reached the grand age of 3 months! This means that she is big enough for her door bouncer. I mention this as Evan adored the bouncer from about 3-9 months.  We had a nice routine where I'd put him in it on the kitchen door, while I cooked tea. Simon Mayo on the radio, he'd bounce happily while I cooked and sung along. Hoping it's as much of a hit with Megan, so I can crack on with this project. Looking good so far!

Hello, and how it all began!

Welcome! If you're reading this blog, you probably know me pretty well already. However, just in case...

I'm a 30 something mother of 2 - My first born being Evan, a loveable but stroppy nearly 4 year old. His interest in baking currently extends to licking the bowl! 12 weeks ago, he was joined by baby Megan, my laid back bundle of loveliness! The success of this blog may depend on me getting her into a nap routine (failed spectacularly at this with Evan!) I've been married for 8 years to Nigel, a sports photographer and very willing recipient of my baking.

I work as a paediatric nurse at Rainbows Hospice for Children and Young People,  in Loughborough.  An amazing and privileged job, although tough at times. Pootling around in the kitchen is a great escape from all the stresses and strains.

So how did this all start? Well, it must be at least 10 years ago now. I was working on the neonatal unit, and had just picked up a Jamie Oliver book from The Book People. One of my colleagues said "oh, don't bother with cookbooks,  nobody ever makes more than 2 recipes from any one".  Maybe she had a point... I've only ever made his Pukkola (which is darn good!) But since then, I've thought it would be a good challenge to work through a cookbook.  Then some 4 years ago, Nigel and I were on holiday in Aldeburgh - our last hurrah before Evan arrived. We went to see Julie and Julia at the cinema,  I loved it and thought maybe I could blog a cookbook too!

So why now? I've no idea, it's not as if my children fill my time! Maybe it's my mind wanting to think something other than baby now and again while I'm on maternity leave. Or perhaps that breastfeeding leaves me constantly starving and a bit obsessed with food. Or, it may have a teensy bit to do with the fabulous KitchenAid that I received for Christmas (thanks, Santa Nigel xx)  Whatever the reason, here I am!

And why Rachel? Well, the choice was between Delia's Complete Cookery Collection (the practical choice), The Great British Bake Off (probably the most fun and calorific) or one of Rachel's books. Rachel is definitely my favourite celebrity chef, I love her laidback approach and find her recipes easy to follow. Don't get me wrong Delia, I think you're great and I grew up on your Complete Cookery Collection. But you do remind me of a scary school cookery teacher. Whereas Rachel makes me think of cooking with a friend, and just having lots of fun. I put the question of which to choose to my Facebook friends, and Rachel came out tops. However, a few people said they looked forward to sharing my successes,  and baking seemed to lend itself to that. What fun, a project for myself but also something to make other people happy! So, Rachel's 'Bake' it is!

I was initially planning to do this in a year, however after counting some 140 recipes, thought this may be a little ambitious!  So I'm going to attempt it over the next 2 years, and hope you'll enjoy the journey with me.

Now, what to bake first?