Friday's Makes, Bakes & Learns #19

This morning I made homemade lip scrub.  I love Lush & Sara Happ ones. Especially the Sara Happ ones for the luxe packaging and gorgeous flavours!

This recipe is cheap to make and does the job intended!  I had all the ingredients already in the house one from baking and the others from making lip balm.  You can see this post here.

2 1/2 tbs castor sugar

1 tbs coconut oil (I used the solid stuff and had to whip it up to soften)

5 drops Vitamin E

couple of drops of lime essential oil

Mix the coconut oil with the Vitamin E and drop or two of essential oil if using. Stir in the sugar a bit at a time and spoon into pots.

Friday's Makes, Bakes & Learns #18

This is one of my favourite soups -

Sweet Potato & Red Pepper Soup

1tbs olive oil
1 chopped onion
2 cloves garlic crushed
1 1/2lbs sweet potato peeled and diced
veg stock/water - enough to cover the veg in the pot
sprigs fresh thyme (which I got at the veggie plot)
2 pointy sweet peppers
2 tbs lemon juice
Cayenne Pepper, Salt & Pepper to taste

Put the peppers under the grill to blister and blacken the skin.  When done put in a plastic bag to cool and once cool enough to handle peel the skin off, de-seed and chop.

Heat the oil in a pan add the onion and garlic and cook for 5 minutes or so until the onion is soft.  Add the diced sweet potato (this doesn't have to be small as the soup will be blended once cooked).  Add the stock/water and thyme.

Bring to the boil and simmer for approximately 20 minutes or so until the potatoes are tender.  Add the peppers.  Discard the thyme and zap with a hand blender or processor and blend until smooth.  You may find you need to add a bit more water.  Add the lemon, cayenne and salt and pepper to taste.  Yum.

Seeing as it was payday yesterday I picked myself up some beautiful flowers from  The Wild Flower Shop - they are gorgeous! Just lovely for Spring.

Friday's Makes, Bakes & Learns #17

I had a bit of a disaster this morning in my first attempt at making macarons from this book.  I'm going to have a second attempt another day and once I pick up a scraper!  

After I quick trip to the supermaket today's bake is Blueberry Muffins - a super easy thing to make - not like macarons!

The recipe is for 12 muffins (I just made 6 halving the ingredients)

250g SR Flour

1 tsp Baking Powder

50g soft marg/butter

75g caster sugar

175g blueberries

2 eggs

250ml milk

Preheat the oven to 200C.  Put muffin cases in the tin.

Put the flour and baking powder in a bowl rub in the fat to fine breadcrumbs

Add sugar and blueberries and mix well

Mix the egg and milk together and pour into dry ingredients

Mix quickly and spoon into the muffin cases

Bake approx 20-25 minutes until golden, cool on a wire rack and then enjoy with a cuppa!

Friday Makes, Bakes & Learns #16

This wheaten soda bread the easiest and the yummiest to make - no yeast involved!  The recipe came from an old Tesco magazine a few years back.

Prep: 15 mins

Makes: 1 loaf

Cooking: 50-60 mins

350g strong wholemeal flour

175g strong plain flour

1 tsp salt

1 tsp bicarbonate of soda

2 x 284ml cartons buttermilk

Preheat the oven to 200 C/400 F/G6.  Butter a baking sheet.  Sift the wholemeal and plain flours, the salt and bicarbonate of soda together in a large bowl.

Add any bran left behind in the sieve from the wholemeal flour to the bowl and stir well.  Mixing quickly add sufficient buttermilk to form a soft dough. Be careful not to over knead or your loaf will be chewy.

Shape the dough into a round and place on the baking tray. Sprinkle the top with a little extra wholemeal flour for a nuttier top.

Cook at the top of the oven for 30 mins then reduce the temperature to 180 C/350 F/G4 and cook for about 20-30 minutes.

Remove when risen and crusty on the surface and hollow-sounding when tapped on the base.  Cool on a wire rack and enjoy!  

We ate it with our M&S Valentine Dessert - Baked Emmental Gruyere Bake - which was yummy - although we thought more of a starter dish than a dessert!

Friday's Makes, Bakes & Learns #9 - update

At the beginning of December I made Turkish Delight Vodka (you can see this post here).  I have made sure I've shaken the bottle every single day but the pieces of Turkish Delight have not disappeared as they were supposed to according to the recipe.  I decided to try it anyhow and it is delicious.  Perfect for drinking out a shot glass and has a nice rose-y taste.  Recommend it!  Cheers!

Want to try making Limoncello next.  Do you make any homemade drinks?  If so, what do your recommend?

Friday's Makes, Bakes & Learns #14

This is my great, great grandmother's recipe (sorry it's in Imperial measurements!).  When I lived at home I always asked for this cake on my birthday.  It's yummy.

Praline Cake

4oz castor sugar

4oz soft margarine

2oz self raising flour

1 small tsp baking powder

2oz coconut

2oz grated chocolate or milk flake

2 eggs

Chocolate Fudge icing

1oz butter

2tbsp milk

few drops vanilla essence

1tbsp cocoa

4 oz icing sugar

Method:

(sorry I forgot to take a picture before the mixture was in the pan!)

Cream the margarine and sugar in a bowl (I used the mixer), beat in the eggs and then stir in all the dry ingredients until well mixed.  Pour into a greased baking tin and cook for 40 minutes in a moderate oven.

To make the icing melt the butter in a pan with the milk, stir in the essence and cocoa.  Mix well and gradually beat in the sugar.  Cool until thick beating from time to time (about 20 minutes) to thicken.

Brew a coffee or tea and cut yourself a slice!

Friday's Makes, Bakes & Learns #13

Every January I try to make two batches of marmalade - which last all year for ourselves and to give to friends and family.  It is a very time consuming thing to make but yummy.

I use Pam Corbin's recipe (River Cottage) and it always turns out perfect.  It does take 2 days to make as you need to soak the peel in the liquid for 24 hours - so I'll update this post when the marmalade is made.

Recipe from Preserves by Pam Corbin -

Makes 5-6 x 450g jars

1kg Seville oranges
75ml lemon juice
2kg demerara sugar

Scrub the oranges, removing any buttons at the top of the fruit then cut in half.  Squeeze out the juice and keep to one side (I use a juicer). Cut the peel up into thin, medium or chunky pieces.  Put the peel in a bowl with the orange juice and cover with 2.5 litres of water.  Leave to soak overnight or up to 24 hours.

I now have to leave this until tomorrow when I'll update this post.

Following on from yesterday..

Put the mixture in a preserving pan, bring to the boil and simmer slowly covered until the peel is tender - approx 2 hours.  The contents of the pan should have reduced by a third.

(To sterilise your jars - wash in hot soapy water and rinse and then put in a low oven).  

Stir in the lemon juice and sugar.  Bring to the boil stirring until the sugar has dissolved.  Boil rapidly until setting point is reached (I use a jam thermometer). This should take 25-30 minutes.  Remove from the heat, cool for 8-10 minutes, stir and then pour into your jars.  Seal immediately and use within 2 years.

A time consuming preserve to make but very yummy.  I like my marmalade with chunky peel but hubby prefers fine - so if I make a second batch I'll get him to chop the peel!

Friday's Makes, Bakes & Learns #10

I don't make many puddings as I tend to have disasters!  The one pudding I seem to be able to make is Pavlova.  I use a recipe from "Sweet Things by Claire MacDonald".  You can read more about her here.

4 egg whites

8oz/225g caster sugar

1 tsp vanilla essence

1 tsp wine vinegar

1 rounded tsp cornflour

pinch cream of tartar

double cream

fruit

Line a baking sheet with a piece of siliconised paper (I tend to use baking paper and grease it a little bit).  Put the egg whites in a mixer bowl and beat until stiff. Continue whisking, gradually adding the sugar until it is incorporated.  Measure onto the meringue the vanilla essence, wine vinegar, cornflour and cream of tartar.  Fold quickly together and spread the mixture onto the baking sheet.  Bake 350F 180C G4 for 5 minutes then lower the heat to 250F 130C G1 for a further 1 1/4 hrs or thereabouts.

Remove from the oven, cool and then turn upside down onto a tray/plate and cover the surface with whipped cream and fruit (I tend to use strawberries).

I made two small ones instead of a bigger one as I visited a friend this afternoon and this is her favourite dessert - she was delighted!

Friday's Makes, Bakes & Learns #9

Just half an hour ago I made Turkish Delight Vodka nom nom.  Only bad thing is it must wait a month before it can be drunk - I should have made it sooner so it would have been ready to drink at New Year!

The recipe was from last year's Good Food Magazine.  I used a half bottle but the recipe is for a litre bottle.

1 litre bottle vodka

1 tsp rose water

1 tsp caster sugar

100g Turkish delight, chopped

Pour 100ml out of the bottle (you can drink this!). Mix the rose water and sugar together until the sugar dissolves then pour into the bottle using a funnel.

Wash any sugar off the Turkish Delight and chop (I found my hands got very sticky!) and put into the bottle - I used a metal kebab skewer to push it down into the bottle.

Screw on the lid and leave to stand for up to a month swirling occasionally until the Turkish Delight dissolves.

When your Turkish Delight Vodka is ready to drink (can't wait it smells heavenly) you can serve with soda, ice or drizzle neat over vanilla ice cream. 

Friday's Makes, Bakes & Learns #8

I was going to make homemade Christmas Crackers today but they ended up a bit of a disaster!  So I was frantically looking for something to do.

I sometimes make my own bath oil.  Super cheap and you can choose your scent by adding essential oils.

One of my favourite blends is lime and geranium added to a carrier oil (use up to 7 drops).

Next week I'm going to make Turkish Delight Vodka (which should be ready for New Year!)

Friday's Makes, Bakes & Learns #7

Our dog Bess loves Power Flower Treats but at £3.99 a packet they are expensive.  My mum came across this recipe for dog biscuits in an old cookbook.  Super cheap to make (though the liver is gross and stinks!)  You can add grated carrot/sunflower seeds/cooked rice etc to the mix.

1/2lb liver

1lb wholemeal flour

1lb plain flour

1 egg

Bring a pan of water to the boil and remove it from the heat.  Put the liver in and let it stand for 15 minutes.  Whizz it in the food processor and mix with the remaining ingredients (I added some of the liver water to bind the mix together).

Cook in a slow oven (round about 130 degrees for fan oven) for about an hour and a half until hard.

Break up into smaller pieces (if you have a small dog) and store in a tin.  Super cost effective (I've got four packs of biscuit dough in the freezer).