Marizipan Mince Pies - IT'S CHRISTMAS !!!!!

I love a mince pie - but if there's one thing I love more it's marzipan. So I decided to combine the two.
I made a batch of sweet pastry from Edd Kimber's book ( can't recommend it enough ) and put it in the fridge to chill.
Greased the baking tin and, after 20 minutes in the fridge, rolled out the pastry and cut the circles to place in the tin.
I haven't had time to make my own mincemeat but used a good quality one from Waitrose and spooned a teaspoonful into each pie.
Then I rolled out some brandy marzipan quite thin - 2mm- and cut circles just a bit smaller than the size of the pie and placed them in each one.
Finally I cut out the pie lids and topped the mince pies.
Cut 2 slits in the top of each and glazed with an egg/milk wask and sprinkled liberally with sugar.
Placed in a moderate oven 180 o C for 5 - 20 mins until golden and the pastry is cooked through.
I served them warm with coffee to my girlfriends - Yummy !!

The marzipan really works and adds a welcome change to the ordinary mince pie - Merry Christmas !!

Mint Chocolate Macarons with Gracie !!

I'd been promising Gracie for weeks that we would have a go at making macarons, always think they look so pretty and cost a fortune in the shops, so with an afternnon free we set to !!!
We decided to use Edd Kimber's recipe from his book The Boy who Bakes as everything I've made from it has been delicious and never failed. Gracie can be a little fussy when it comes to fruit and nuts so we opted for the mint chocolate ones and we loved the colour - bright green !
Gracie marked out the circles on the baking sheet and then we started mixing and making.
I'm going to be honest with you now - this was our first attempt and although it wasn't a disaster they weren't perfect - my oven is very fast and even though it was on the recommended fan setting - they coloured slightly.
Gracie wasn't happy and neither was I - so we started again - 2nd time lucky ????
Reduced the oven to 130 oC and off we went again

Piped out and left to form a crust for 30 minutes

Fresh out of the oven

And filled with mint chocolate ganache

And close up - we were very pleased with ourselves !!

 

Can see why the are so expensive now - they took forever - but well worth it !!
Some girlfriends came round for coffee the following morning and loved them - crispy on the outside and gooey in the middle - Well done Gracie !!!

Self Saucing Chocolate Pudding - That's Magic !!

I'd invited our old next door neighbours from Walthamstow over for lunch and wanted a quick , easy and comforting pudding ( weather getting chilly now ).
What else would do but my mum's self saucing chocolate pudding. It brings back so many happy childhood teatime memories and my sister and I were always amazed by this 'magic' pudding - How did 'drowning' it with water create such a lovely,chocolatey sauce underneath ??? Magic !!
The great thing also is it can be prepared before hand up to pouring the water on - so it can go into the oven as you sit down for main course and be ready 30 minutes later.

Self Saucing Chocolate Pudding

1/2 cup sugar

1 egg

1 cup self raising flour

1 tablespoon cocoa 

2 oz butter

1/2 cup milk

1/2 tsp vanilla essence

1/2 cup extra sugar

1 tablespoon cocoa

1 1/2 cups hot water

Method

Cream butter and sugar together. Add egg and beat. Fold in sifted flour and cocoa alternatively with the milk. Put mixture in a greased dish. Sift over extra sugar and cocoa. Pour over hot water carefully. Bake in a moderate oven for 35 to 40 minutes - 190 o C.

Serve with vanilla ice cream.

It's that easy - great for the kid's tea on a dark winter evening !!

The pudding mix made up before guests arrive

Boiling water poured on just before we had our main course and then popped it in the oven while eating

Out the oven after 30 mins and the magic has happened and the pudding has a gorgeous cocoa crust

 And then dig in to reveal the chocolate sauce underneath

Served with vanilla ice cream - this made us giggle - very ' Carry on ' - Oo er Mrs !!

ENJOY !!!

Passionfruit Cheesecakes and Coffee Meringues for a Caldesi Catchup !!

With Vagina Monologues tour finally finished it was time to catchup with friends. Invited Katie and Giancarlo Caldesi and their boys Giorgio and Flavio along with our friends (and passionate foodies) John and Neil.
Wanted it to be a very relaxing afternoon for all so I prepared the puddings in advance - no last minute cooking required !!
The coffee meringues come from my Auntie Lorna's recipe for Cappucino Pavlova and it is great for both - the only difference is you will need more chocolate for the meringues as they are dipped before filling with the cream.

  

Cappuccino Pavlova

4 egg whites

pinch of salt

1 1/2 cups caster sugar

1 dessertspoon cornflour  

1 tsp instant espresso coffee powder

1 1/2 tsp white wine vinegar

Method

Beat egg whites and salt until stiff. Gradually beat in half the sugar adding a little at a time. Beating well beat until thick and glossy. Fold in remaining sugar. Add cornflour, coffee and vinegar. The mixture should be lovely and thick and glossy. Spoon the mixture into a circle on parchment on a baking sheet. Bake at 110 o C / 120 o C for about 1 hour 40 mins then switch the oven off and leave in oven till cold.

Top with the following

600ml double cream

1 tablespoon caster sugar

1 tsp coffee

1 dessertspoon tia maria

Whisk together then cover meringue and grate dark chocolate over the top.

Obviously, if you are making meringues you need to spoon or pipe individual ones on the baking sheet and bake for 15 mins less - then dip in melted chocolate and leave to set before sandwiching together with the cream.

The Lime and Passionfruit Cheesecakes are the easiest things to make - they come from one of my favourite recipe books - Jo Pratt's In the Mood for Entertaining and the only cooking involved is melting the butter for the base and toasting some coconut !!
To make 8 small eggcup sized cheesecakes

45g desiccated coconut
60g butter
150g digestive biscuits

225g cream cheese
120g icing sugar
zest and juice of 3 limes
3 large ripe passionfruit
225ml double cream

Method

Heat a small frying pan and toast the coconut until golden.
Tip in a bowl and add the butter to the pan to melt.
Crush the biscuits to fine crumbs and mix with the butter and coconut.
Divide between the 8 little dishes - use a teaspoon so you don't make a mess up the sides of the glasses or dishes.
Place in the fridge to chill.
Place the cream cheese in a bowl and soften with a wooden spoon.
Add the icing sugar,lime juice, zest of 2 limes and pulp from 2 passionfruit, keeping the rest to garnish.
Mix well until smooth.
In a separate bowl whisk the cream until it forms soft peaks and then mix into the cream cheese mixture.
Spoon or pipe into the glasses or dishes and place into the fridge to firm up.
They can be left overnight.
When you are ready to serve, garnish each with the reserved lime zest and passionfruit pulp and dive in !!! Enjoy !!

The Dessert Deli Visit !!

Today I had a lovely afternoon visiting Laura Amos at The Dessert Deli - a fabulous company she has set up making beautiful desserts and cakes  - check out her website www.thedessertdeli.co.uk
Her kitchen was all go - 4 large and 16 small Christmas cakes in the oven, brownies and mince pies being made - the smell was amazing!!!
We had a great chat about our thoughts and ideas for puddings and desserts and I'm looking forward to catching up with her again soon - Watch this space!! She sent me off with a bag of goodies - millionaire's shortbread, amaretto truffles, mince pies and these beautiful dessert shots -

I've just polished off the cherry one and am about to dive into the passion fruit - just gorgeous - thanks Laura !!
Check out the website or follow Laura on twitter for great offers and tips
@TheDessertDeli

Bara Brith from Lesley in Llandudno

Llandudno was cake mad !! Aswell as Banoffee Cake we were really lucky to have some Bara Brith (Welsh Teabread) made for us by Lesley Beech or as she is known on twitter @posh_pinkies.
It was truly delicious, so moist and as Mel Giedroyc commented " look at the rise on that fruit!!"
We all loved it and smothered it with Welsh butter.!!
It was so lovely to meet Lesley and she is obviously a great cook and baker -

Check out her blog - homecookingwithles.blogspot.com
It 's really great with lovely recipes and interesting stories.
Thanks Les - we LOVED your Bara Brith !!

Banoffee Cake was voted favourite Vagina Monologues cake!!

The last week of Vagina Monologues tour flew by!!
So sorry this post is late but our hotels for the week didn't have wifi.
Louisa Lytton left us to go off to Pantoland and although I was sad to see her go, I was very excited as we were joined by Mel Giedroyc who co presents the Great British Bake Off !!! So many questions to ask - could I limit it to one a day?????
The pressure was on for the final cake and Banoffee Cake was voted in as a favourite of the tour. I had a bit of a panic on packing the cake up for travelling to Llandudno as it kept sliding off the base but that was solved by a top tip from one of my followers on twitter -  use a cereal box and cut a collar for it and tape it around in the tin - brilliant !! Arrived in one piece!

It really is so delicious - even if I say so myself - and Mel loved it - Phew !!The recipe is on an earlier post in October although I noticed I forgot the flour on it - 325g of sef raising flour - ENJOY !! and goodbye Vagina Monologues Cake Club - It's been fun !