Maple Syrup Muffins

I've always got a bottle of maple syrup in the larder and usually it's only poured over pancakes as I've often been wary of baking cakes with it as it has such a strong flavour.  But today my mouth has been watering at the thought of eating something cakey with it, so instead of heading for the chocolate muffin recipes I have, I decided to do a basic mix and then add in a bit of maple syrup.  I was still a bit hesitant about quantities, so I used half golden and half maple and I think the balance is just right.

4oz butter, softened
4oz caster sugar
4 tbsp maple syrup, plus extra for drizzling
4 tbsp golden syrup
2 eggs
8oz self raising flour
4 tbsp milk
cinnamon and icing sugar to dust

Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy.  Add all other ingredients and mix well.  Put into muffin cases and bake at Gas 5 / 190C / 375F for 25 minutes.

 

When the muffins are just out of the oven put two skewer holes in, drizzle over extra maple syrup, sprinkle with a tiny dusting of cinnamon and then a layer of dusted icing sugar.






These are so delicious warm.  My youngest son had just gone to bed by the time they were cool enough to eat, but he heard the Mmmmmms coming from downstairs and was allowed to come down to enjoy the first batch with us. Next time I bake them I'm tempted to top them with  a maple flavoured icing .

Beer and Mustard Bread

My son has wanted to be a chef since he was four years old.  Whether he continues with that career choice remains to be seen, but he does like to be given opportunities to get in the kitchen as often as possible.  He doesn't err towards baking sweet things like I do, but savoury and side dishes.  Today he wanted to make bread.  An ordinary white loaf didn't appeal.  He wanted to make a cheese and onion loaf, but our meagre amount of cheese in the fridge soon put an end to that.

Undeterred, he found a recipe for beer and mustard bread and after getting permission from his father to raid his stock of Boddingtons, he set about making his own loaf.  

His first loaf was quite intricately designed, he says, to be a 'sharing' loaf.  He served it on a wooden bread board with butter on the side with our main meal today and every single bit of it has gone.

Custard Dreams

The biscuit tin in my house empties way too quickly and I do get to a point where I refuse to buy more. Partly because I'm all too often the guilty party dipping into it and whilst they're there for the eating.....!

My daughter made these biscuits for a homework assignment a couple of years ago and they were a great success, so I decided to make them again today.

Biscuits

250g/8oz butter
1 cup caster sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
2¼ cups plain flour
½ custard powder
1½ tsp baking powder

Icing

1 cup icing sugar
2 tbsp soft butter
½ tsp vanilla extract
2 tbsp condensed milk

1.  Cream butter and sugar together until light and fluffy.

2.  Gradually add all other ingredients, chill for ten minutes.

3.  Break off pieces and roll into balls the size of a walnut and place on an ungreased baking sheet.  You can make them as big or little as you like.

4.  Press down balls with a fork to flatten slightly and then bake at 180C / 350F / Gas 4 for 15 minutes (shorter or longer depending on how big you make the balls).

5.  Cool on a wire rack.  When totally cool, mix all icing ingredients together, chill mix for ten minutes, then use to sandwich biscuits together.

6.  Find a willing volunteer to try out the first one!

Involving Children

I've not met a child yet that doesn't like baking and I've not met a child who is not prepared to taste their own creations. It can be a fabulous way to introduce new tastes and textures to fussy eaters. It allows them to be creative and best of all - to get messy.

Having two of my four children born with severe food intolerances brought home to me the importance of knowing where food comes from, what's in it and how it's made. At times I've bought things for the children and then searched for recipes to make my own version - more often than not the children enjoy the homemade version more. Other times the factory wins over me, but its fun messing around with the ingredients.

Children should not find baking intimidating. If you're not confident yourself, your children will pick up on that, so don't feel pressured to start teaching them anything too complicated to start with. With my children, I started with muffin mixes. They're not as precise as sponge mixes so they inevitably come out more successful than fairy cakes. Also, biscuit mixes and cookies. A plain biscuit mix can lead to all variations of creations, and all it takes to change the flavour is a little flavouring extract, or to change colour, some food colouring.

I usually double up quantities when my children want to bake. That way I can split doughs and cake mixes between them. It saves arguments over who gets most, stops them constantly elbowing or knocking each other when trying to work and also gives them the chance to make a whole batch of goodies. They love having their own working space, but if your kitchen doesn't allow for this, try to put them side by side with their own doughs or mixes. One may like to add a flavouring to theirs, another might prefer a colour or keeping it plain. You can really see a child's individuality come out when they're left to their own devices.

My younger two love making biscuits. This week they wanted to make their own jammie dodgers. They made a basic biscuit dough, rolled it out and then used different shaped cutters. With just a little supervision when rolling out pastry, as kids tend to roll it until it's like a sheet of paper, they got some really good results.  They tasted great too.  In fact they hadn't even cooled properly before they were all eaten.

 

Any flavour jam can be used to fill them. My children chose my homemade blackcurrant jam for these ones, but we've had just as good results from a jar of shop bought jam.

Meatballs and Spaghetti

As I grew up there seemed to be a pattern where a certain culinary craze would hit a height and people would aspire to be like the chefs on television.  Maybe a certain ingredient was in vogue (like rhubarb is at the moment), or a plate shape or a presentation style.  It seems now though, that anything goes and you can flit between fine presentation and rustic, depending on the season, your guests, your mood, your time allowance and your budget.  I'm no artist, but I do like messing around with ideas to present meals and treats.  I really enjoy "sharing meals", where everything is placed on the table and everyone helps themselves. 

One of my favourite rustic and easy sharing meals is spaghetti and meatballs.  My meatballs are quite basic, minced beef, egg, onions, garlic, herbs, ginger and seasoning.  I roll them into balls and place them on a patty tin greased with spray oil, then bake them in the oven for 15 minutes.  While they're baking I make a sweet herby tomato sauce in a deep frying pan, then transfer the meatballs in and finish cooking them through.  I've found baking them first helps to keep their shape as putting raw meatballs into a pan and then trying to turn them just ends up with them in a big collapsed jumble.  Today I added a few slices of frozen mozzarella cheese to the sauce and let it melt in and it added a lovely creamy taste and texture to the sauce. The meatballs and sauce simmer away happily while a big pot of spaghetti bubbles away.

 

The spaghetti is piled into a huge bowl,  meatballs on top and half the sauce drizzled over. The rest of the sauce in a jug so everyone can help themselves to more. We love sitting at the table around the big bowl and digging in. Usually we end up with bits of spaghetti on the tablecloth or the odd meatball escaping off the serving spoon as it rolls off en-route to the plate, but it's all part of the fun!

Creamy Shortcake Sandwiches

I love the days when my children have friends over.  It gives me an excuse to bake and my children always love it when I'm experimenting with new recipes.  Quite often this is around early evening, so staying up a little late in order to wait for things to cool down for the taste test is a real treat.  

I had some double cream left over in the fridge from a meal a few days back and not liking waste, it had to be used.  The result is a beautiful creamy, but slightly crumbly biscuit base, layered together with a rich sweet icing filling.

Some tips before you start: 

Be careful when you cool them.  Loosen them on the sheet with a palette knife, but don't attempt to put them on a cooling rack - they'll crumble.  Wait until they're quite cool and be careful handling them.  Of course, if you have a couple of casualties like I did, there is usually somebody not too far away hoping this will happen so they can help get rid of the evidence!

I used double the ingredients listed here for the icing as I like them to be really full for the children.  What child doesn't love it when they bite into something and the filling oozes out the side?  If I was making these for adults, I'd keep the icing amounts stated in the recipe.

Creamy Shortcake Sandwiches

Biscuit
1 cup butter (softened)
1/3 cup double cream
2 cups plain flour
1/3 cup granulated sugar

Icing
1/4 cup butter, (softened)
3/4 cup sifted icing sugar
1 egg yolk
1 tsp vanilla extract

1.  Biscuits: Mix flour and butter together thoroughly (do not add sugar at this point).  Stir in the cream, mix well and chill in fridge for 1 hour.  The mix will seem like a stiff cake mix at this point.  Don't worry.  It will solidify slightly when it's chilled. 

2.  Preheat oven to 375F / 190C / Gas 5.

3.  Flour the surface really well, and your hands.  The dough is extremely sticky, but will form a lovely soft ball when you bring it together.  Roll it out to about 3mm thick, then cut into 1½" rounds.  (Or you could use hearts, stars etc).

4.  Put sugar on a piece of paper, then coat both sides of the biscuit in the sugar.  I used a palette knife to lift and flip them as they're incredibly pliable.  They won't stay perfectly round, so don't worry.

5.  Lay them on an ungreased baking sheet (no need to grease it as the ratio of butter in the mix will be enough to form a non-stick layer).  Prick with a fork and then bake for 7-9 minutes (shorten or lengthen the time if you have used a different sized cutter).  Leave to cool.

6.  Filling:  Blend all ingredients together and sandwich two biscuits together.

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.