Ginger Zingers

There are some dishes that just shouldn't be messed around with - crême brulée being one of them. I don't like adding fruit in the base, spiced up custard and serving zesty sauces with them.  It's a classic dish and one that should be left as naked as it started.  I used to be the same about shortbread biscuits, but I came across an idea to spice up the basic mix.  I wasn't convinced at first and I mulled it over for a while and then decided to give it a try.  After all, what is the point of experimenting if you're not going to experiment?

In this recipe I've used ground ginger and have topped it with a ginger based icing.  It's got a strong kick to it, so if ginger is not your thing, try experimenting with other spices.  These are especially nice with tea or coffee, so perfect for that rare moment you may get to put your feet up for five or ten minutes.

I was very surprised too, that all my children liked them.  My two sons and eldest daughter are not fazed by the thought of new food and they eagerly try anything new put in front of them.  My youngest daughter is a different story.  It's hard to even get her to try new foods and what she does like is very limited and somewhat bland, so with this particular recipe I was certain the strength and heat of the spice would offend her palate.  But she proved me wrong and loved it and even asked for more.  So, again, another hit in the household and requests for more to be made very soon.

Ginger Zingers

The shortcake base:
225g (8oz) plain flour
100g (3½oz) caster sugar (I use unrefined golden)
1 tsp baking powder
2 tsp ground ginger
150g (5½oz) butter, cut into cubes

The icing:
150g (5½oz) butter
60ml (2fl oz) golden syrup
300g (10½oz) icing sugar, sifted
2 tbsp ground ginger

1.  Heat oven to Gas 4 / 180C / 350F. Line a 7x11 inch baking tin with baking parchment.

2.  Make base: Put flour, sugar, baking powder and ginger in food processor.  Pulse to mix, then add butter and process for a few seconds to create a breadcrumb mixture. 

3.  Bring together by hand into a ball and then press mixture into tin and level off.

4.  Bake for 20-25 minutes until golden. Remove and leave in the tin until completely cold.

5.  Make icing: Put butter and syrup in pan and melt slowly.  Add sifted icing sugar and ground ginger and mix well to a smooth consistency.  Keep on heat, stirring, for 2 minutes.  Remove and pour immediately over cooled base.  Leave to set.

6.  When set, remove from tin and cut into squares or triangles.

Rolo Bombs

According to my kids these are the best cookies I've ever made.  I've experimented with a lot of recipes, but these really hit the chocolate spot.  The recipe is simple to follow and a great one to do with the kids as they can play around with the dough and have fun hiding the sweets inside.

My children were up past bedtime last night making these as they were so much fun - and of course, they had to stay up just a little bit longer for the taste test.

The Rolo in the middle melts and creates a pocket of caramel, which oozes out of the centre of the cookie.  When they cool, the filling is chewy like toffee, but the lovely thing about these is you can put them in the microwave for a few seconds to warm up and melt again, without ruining the taste or texture.

In fact, the dough was so nice my eldest daughter took an uncooked ball with a Rolo inside in her lunch box today in place of her usual chocolate bar!

Rolo Bombs

1 cup butter, softened
1 cup caster sugar
1 cup brown sugar (any brown sugar will do)
2 eggs
3/4 cup cocoa powder
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda (if you don't have this, omit and use self-raising flour instead of the plain)
Seeds from 1 vanilla pod (or 2 tsp vanilla extract - don't use essence - the quality of flavour is not there)
2½ cups plain flour
2 tubes Rolos

Cream the butter with the sugars, then mix everything else in, except the Rolos.  That bit comes later.  Once you've made the mix, it will look like crumbs and will be quite bitty and grainy, but once it comes together in your hands, the warmth releases the oils and it binds really well. 

When they're cooked, leave them on the baking sheet for at least five minutes as the centres are very gooey and will drop out the bottom otherwise.

Mix dough into a golf ball

Flatten, then place Rolo in centre

Roll back into a ball

Roll in extra sugar

Bake at Gas Mark 4 for 10 minutes




When cooled - EAT and ENJOY!!!!

 

Equipment : Weighing

The correct equipment is essential when baking some dishes and for others, it's not really important at all.  Throughout this blog I'll be sharing ideas about utensils I use which I couldn't do without and also the tools I use which aren't so conventional.
 
Scales:  There are recipe quantities which you just 'know' are right.  If you're experienced at making batter, you get to know the consistency and colour, whether to add another egg, whisk a little more or add more flour.  If you like runny custard you add more milk than the recipe states, if you like it thick you add less.  Measurements are not important.  But if you're making choux pastry, the weight of ingredients is essential and it's worth the extra time and fiddling around to make sure the recipe is followed to the gram or oz.  When making jams, the correct amount of sugar is imperative to ensure it sets.  The scales I use are digital and can be reset when loaded.  If a recipe calls for eggs, sugar, flour and butter to be mixed at once, I can add each ingredient to the bowl and reset the scale to zero to weigh the next ingredient.  They are also interchangeable so I can measure either metrically or by imperial weight.  However, if you do have a recipe that states both, make sure you stick to one method of weighing and never mix imperial and metric.

Reflecting on this, I remember my Mum having old fashioned brass balance scales.  I used to love helping her weigh ingredients, watching the pans go up and down as weights were lifted and replaced on each side and waiting for the final wobble to cease when the scales balanced.  Then tipping the ingredients into a bowl and then starting again with the next ingredient.  Sometimes we'd end up with four or five bowls all neatly lined up and accurately weighed.  It took ages but as a kid I didn't have to rush off to deal with other responsibilities, so it was fun.  Whilst I was dabbling around, she used to potter with other chores. She got rid of those scales a few years back and I am rather sad really, as given the chance I know I'd use them again on an afternoon when I had a little time to potter with them.

Cups:  American recipes are becoming extremely popular in the UK and the measuring system is most often in cup measurements.  It's worth investing in a set.  You can get online conversion charts that give equivalent weights, but why bother referring back and forth to a chart if you can just scoop your ingredients up?  It also makes measuring ingredients incredibly speedy, so if you need to make something in a hurry, cups are great.  Stainless steel is best.

Measuring spoons:  Take a look in your cutlery drawer and pull out five teaspoons.  If your drawer is anything like mine, you'll pull out five completely different shaped and sized ones.  Which one is a REAL teaspoon in terms of baking weight?  A level one of them may only fill half another one, so when you're measuring baking powder, how do you know you've got enough or too much?  If you need a flavour extract, a larger teaspoon may end up overpowering your entire dish and ruining it.  A smaller one can leave the finished dish lacking in taste.  Measure too much salt into a dough mix and you risk inhibiting the yeast. Like cups, measuring spoons are accurately calibrated and it's worth having a set in your basic equipment.  Again, if you can, get stainless steel.

With both cups and spoons, remember not to pack the ingredients tight. Just tap the excess off and if necessary level off with the back of a knife.

20 Minute Treats

Days like today, when I'm feeling run down and generally not well, I still have to consider fillers for the school lunch boxes.  So, anything that can be mixed, baked, cooled and finished off in 20 minutes is a winner.

I baked two Swiss rolls, one plain and one chocolate, which took 15 minutes.  Whilst they were baking I made chocolate buttercream.  The cooled sponges were then cut into rounds.  A plain and chocolate  round were sandwiched together with the buttercream.  The finished treats were piled on a plate and dusted with icing sugar.

Simple and tasty.

Passion Cake

I spent a day with my Mum yesterday and whilst we were queueing at a café, I spotted a very delicious looking cake.  It was called Passion Cake.  I'd never heard of it before, so upon further research, found out it was actually a variation of carrot cake.

I was pleasantly surprised when today, after offering to bake a carrot cake for the women's tea and cake afternoon at church I came across the recipe in one of my cook books.  Feeling a bit bold I thought I'd experiment and give it a go and if it was a success I'd take it along.  If not, I'd have to admit defeat and take along a shop bought one.   It also has banana and walnut and I can say, from tasting the leftover mix in the bowl, the banana is detectable, but not overpowering.  How it tasted in the baked sponge I can't tell as it had all gone by the time I went to get a slice!

My cake stand came home empty.  So I'm taking that as a thumbs up.

Toad In The Hole

A traditional English dish of sausages served in Yorkshire pudding batter.

If you can make batter, you can make Yorkshire pudding.  If you can make Yorkshire pudding, you can make Toad In The Hole.  It's a very easy dish to make and has been a favourite of mine since I was a child.  My Mum used to be able to get the batter risen around the edges to almost twice the height of the dish and it took me years to realise that using a glass dish makes the batter rise better than if you make it in a metal dish.

It's now become a favourite with my children and I have to use a full sized roasting dish as my recipe takes 12 sausages (2 each).  Always served with mashed potatoes (put through a ricer to make them lumpless), thick gravy and vegetables.

My Kitchen

I love kitchens.  To me they truly are the heart of the home.  Most of my spare time is spent in mine - either cooking, eating, having coffee with friends and neighbours, or just pottering around. 

When my husband and I first discussed extending our house, the main thing we agreed on was that the kitchen had to be at least doubled in size. I look at the design now and know it could be better and I look to the day I can start again and redesign it.  I want a kitchen I can sit people down in for meals, where people can hang around and chat over a coffee, or where I can run a small production line of home made baking ready for when the kids come home from school, or when a group of friends are coming over for a girlie night.

In fact, the production line is already happening.  There's no other way to make packed lunch for four children. But, I'm grateful for the kitchen I do have and I love my double oven which is just on its last legs, but still manages to churn out the odd delight now and again.

So, this blog is nothing mind-blowing - just what I love doing in my spare time.  Cooking.