brownies for my loves

Valentine's Day is celebrated quietly in our home. A card for my love, a bunch of tulips for me and some home baked treats for our little loves.

On Saturday, I baked brownies. The most indulgent, fudgiest brownies you can imagine. They are so delicious it would be a crime not to share the recipe with you.

Brownies (makes 16)

Ingredients

170g butter

200g caster sugar

100g soft dark brown sugar

100g cocoa powder

50g flour

1tsp vanilla extract

pinch of salt

3 large eggs

Method

Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius. Grease and line a 20x20cm deep baking tin. 

Melt the butter over a medium heat until it turns golden brown. Leave aside to cool slightly. Beat the two sugars and the eggs together. Add the vanilla extract and melted butter and beat until they form a smooth batter.

Sift in the flour, cocoa powder and salt a little at a time and fold in gently. The ingredients will gradually come together into a thick mixture. 

Fill the prepared cake tin with the brownie mix. Put in the oven and bake for 30 minutes. Test with a skewer. There should be a few crumbs on the skewer when they are ready. Be careful not to overbake or they will lose their chewy texture. Allow to cool on a rack. When cool, cut into 16 squares and enjoy.

Joining in with the #abakefortheweekend and #createmakeshare hashtags.

apple butterscotch pudding

A little over a month ago, I baked Apple Butterscotch Pudding. Today, for the third time, the little ones requested it for dessert. It is definitely a winner. The kind of pudding childhood memories are made of.

I have no doubt it will become an autumn staple over the coming years. Warming, sticky and sweet. An easy favourite.

apple butterscotch pudding

ingredients

2 large cooking apples, peeled and chopped into cubes

125g self-raising flour

1/4 tsp salt

200g brown sugar

100g butter

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 large egg

200ml milk

2 tbsp golden syrup

150ml boiling water

method

Preheat oven to 180 degrees celsius.
Spread the chopped apples in an even layer on the bottom of a medium sized oven proof dish.
Melt the butter gently and leave aside to cool.
Sift the flour and salt into a large mixing bowl and stir in half of the sugar.
In a jug, mix the milk, egg, vanilla extract and melted butter.
Pour the wet mix into the dry ingredients and whisk to bring together into a loose batter.
Pour the batter evenly over the apples.
Make a syrup by placing the remaining sugar, golden syrup and boiling water in a small saucepan. Bring to the boil and dissolve the sugar.
Pour the syrup over the batter mixture in the dish. The syrup will gradually sink into the apples and batter, creating a butterscotch sauce beneath the sponge.
Bake for 40 minutes in the oven until the top is browned and slightly springy.

This pudding is best served warm with your preference of custard, fresh cream or ice cream. Although thinking about it now, there's no reason you couldn't have all three. I won't tell.

The recipe is adapted from Rachel Allen's Everyday Kitchen cookbook, a collection of delicious recipes for family mealtimes.

Wishing you all a lovely week. I hope you enjoy the pudding if you find time to give it a go.

oat cookies

So quick, so simple and so delicious.  Oat cookies.  I make these oat biscuits or cookies regularly for the little ones. They are a firm favourite. Great for lunchboxes and after school treats.  And especially good with a cup of tea and your feet up.

oat cookies (makes 16)

ingredients

75g plain flour
75g porridge oats
75g golden caster sugar
75g butter
1 tbsp golden syrup
1/2 tsp baking soda

method

Preheat oven to 160 degrees Celsius.  Mix the flour, porridge oats, sugar and baking soda in a bowl using a wooden spoon.  Stir well to combine.
Melt the butter and golden syrup together over a gentle heat.  Pour over the dry ingredients and mix again.
The resulting mixture is glossy and quite crumbly.  Take small amounts of the mix and roll into golf ball sized balls and place on a greased baking tray.
Bake for 10-15 minutes until golden brown.
Cool and enjoy.

Note: I made these cookies last night and omitted 25g of the sugar.  I consciously try when baking to cut the sugar content a little bit, just to see if we miss it.  The cookies were equally moreish so I will use 50g sugar next time.

Are you a fan of homemade biscuits?

flapjacks

At the request of the lovely Lazy Daisy Jones here is my flapjack recipe and a warning.  These are the flapjacks of my youth.  Delicious, sticky and sweet.  

They have a distinct lack of seeds, nuts and the like but feel free to tinker with the recipe if you would like to add some.  I do, sometimes but usually I stick to tradition and use the recipe of my childhood.

flapjack recipe (makes 16)

ingredients

150g butter

75g soft brown sugar

3 tbsps golden syrup

75g quick cook porridge oats

175g jumbo porridge oats

method

Preheat the oven to 170 degrees celsius ... grease a 30cm x 20cm baking tin and line with baking paper

Put the butter, sugar and syrup in a saucepan and melt together over a medium heat until combined

Add the oats and mix until coated and turn out into the baking tin and spread evenly over the base

Press the mixture out with the back of a spoon

Bake in the oven for 20-25 minutes

The baking time will depend on your oven but the delicious smell and golden coloured top usually give the game away.  A shorter baking time means a stickier flapjack.

Remove from the oven and trace cut lines into the flapjack.  I get about sixteen out of a tray this size but you can divide it up into as many as you like.  Then leave to cool in the baking tray.

When cool cut up into squares using the guidelines and enjoy with a hot cuppa.

+++++++++++++++++++++++

Sometimes the outer edge can be a little overdone.  I trim this off and eat it with natural yoghurt.  Very moreish.

We are partial to a slightly sticky flapjack but if you prefer them crunchy, put them back in the oven after switching it off.  This allows the stickiness to dry out a little.

The flapjacks keep well in an airtight container for up to a week.  They never last that long here though. I can't even get a picture they disappear so fast.

Hope you enjoy them Daisy. 

victoria sponge

To my lovely husband Mr F, wishing you a wonderful, happy 40th birthday today.

I have baked a cake, a favourite, Mary Berry's Victoria Sponge.  The recipe came from her book The Baking Bible but it is also available at the link above.  It is very moreish and the fresh cream really makes it.

My lovely man will be spoilt this weekend.  A special birthday and father's day. He has lucked out.

Hope you all have a lovely weekend and try the cake.  It's gorgeous.

granny's soda bread

Anyone fancy a little bread-making this weekend. Why not try soda bread. It's so easy and delicious.

Soda bread is actually known as fadge where I come from and is basically a homemade bread resembling a large scone with a cross cut in the top.

I grew up eating this bread baked fresh every day. My favourite accompaniment was stewed rhubarb although butter with a sprinkle of sugar came a close second.

My granny was the queen of soda bread and kindly passed her recipe on to me. I have a long way to go to be as deft at making it as she was but practice makes perfect.

Granny was a little old school when it came to baking and used pretty random methods for quantifying ingredients. This was the original recipe she gave me and the cup and bowl she used for measuring.

I have weighed and measured to give you actual amounts.  There are only three ingredients.

400g self raising flour

300ml buttermilk

1 large egg

Preheat your oven to 165 degrees.

Add the flour to a large mixing bowl. You can sieve the flour to add air but granny didn't bother. She had a light touch. I'll leave it up to you.

Add the egg to the buttermilk and whisk.

Make a little well in the centre of the flour and add most of the buttermilk and egg mixture, about three quarters.

With your hand in a claw shape, fingers slightly bent and spaced out, gently mix until the dough comes together. Add extra buttermilk until you have a good consistency. The dough will be soft and not sticky. Not too wet or too dry and will hold together well in the bowl.

Sprinkle flour on your work surface and turn the bread out. Gently work the dough, bringing it together into a round cake shape. Soda bread is not a yeast bread and should not be kneaded roughly as it will become heavy and tough.

Put the bread on a baking tray and cut a deep cross into the top. This helps the bread cook through.

Bake in the oven for about 45-50 minutes. You will know the bread is ready when it has a golden crust and makes a hollow sound when tapped underneath.

Leave to cool on a wire rack and enjoy anytime. Soda bread is best eaten on the day it is made but will toast or fry well the day after.

Soda bread can be flavoured. All sorts of things make it more interesting. Some raisins or sultanas, cheese, bacon, herbs. The possibilities are endless.

To make a brown soda, simply use half wholemeal and half self raising flour.

If you have a go, happy bread-making.

ultimate chocolate cupcakes

If you love chocolate, you'll love these.

ultimate chocolate cupcakes 
makes 14

ingredients

115g self raising flour

½ tsp baking powder

1½ tbsps cocoa powder

115g butter, softened, or soft margarine

115g caster sugar

2 large eggs, lightly beaten

55g plain chocolate, melted

method

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees and line a bun tray with 14 cupcake cases.

Sift the flour, baking powder and cocoa powder into a mixing bowl.

Add the butter, sugar and eggs and mix with an electric mixer until smooth.

Fold in the melted chocolate and fill the paper cases.

Bake in the oven for 15-20 mins or until firm to the touch.

The topping is 60g of 70% dark chocolate melted with 60ml of cream to create a ganache style topping. Melt the chocolate and mix with the cream over simmering water.

The ganache will thicken slightly as it cools and is easily spread over the top of the cupcake. I finely grated chocolate on top.

The cupcakes are very chocolatey and my topping is not sweet. If you prefer, you could use a buttercream topping.

They would make a lovely treat for Mother's Day.

apple cake ......

apples, cake ... apples in a cake ... what's not to love ...

 

this recipe for apple cake is inspired by my mum and granny ... i grew up eating homemade apple pie ... made with delicious shortcrust pastry ... sadly i am not so skilled with pastry ... so i deviated a little and made an apple cake instead ...

it is quite moreish served with cream or custard ...

 

apple cake

ingredients

300g self-raising flour
150g caster sugar
85g butter, at room temperature
3 large eggs
approximately 3-4 tbsps of milk
1 tsp vanilla essence
1 tsp of cinnamon
3 granny smith apples, peeled and sliced
juice of 1 lemon

method

preheat oven to 180 ... grease and line a 20cm cake tin ...
peel and slice the apples thinly ... once sliced, pour over the lemon juice and set aside ...

whisk the eggs with the caster sugar until light and fluffy ...
mix in the butter and add the vanilla essence ...

sift the flour gradually into the mixture ... and fold carefully ... the mixture can be a little heavy ... if this is the case, add a couple of tablespoons of milk to loosen the mixture a little ...

pour half the cake mix into the tin and arrange most of the sliced apples on top ... pour the remaining mix into the tin and add the remaining apple slices ...

bake for 45-50 mins or until golden on top ... a skewer will come away clean when it is cooked through ...

allow to cool in the tin and enjoy ...
 

i always add cinnamon ... as apple and cinnamon are one of my all time favorite flavour combinations ... my brother hates it ... so if any of you are in a similar boat feel free to leave it out ...

happy baking ... xx



stir it up sunday

Today I am custodian of two bubbling saucepans containing my Christmas puddings.

I love the process of preparing and steaming the puddings, from getting the dried fruit drunk on rum the night before, to measuring out and mixing all the ingredients in my granny's old pudding bowl.

It is a tradition in our family to make the puddings on the last Sunday before Advent, stir it up Sunday.

Since I was a little girl I watched and later helped my lovely granny make the Christmas puddings. She continued making them until she was ninety when the baton was passed on to me. 



Granny passed away three years ago but I still love stir it up Sunday. It is a wonderful way to remember her.

The happy memories baking 'stirs up' please me no end, so for me it is stir it up Sunday in more ways than one.

My granny always insisted that all the family took a turn to stir the pudding whilst making a secret wish.

The pudding was always stirred from east to west to represent the journey that the three wise men made to Bethlehem and often had a coin hidden inside for wealth, health and happiness.

So the pudding making today and the delicious smell which is wafting through the house as the pudding steams means the festive season is firmly on its merry way.  Oh sugar.  I better get organised.

a big thank you

The postman delivered a lovely parcel in the post yesterday afternoon.  I was a little puzzled as I couldn't remember ordering anything recently.  Then, I noticed the rosiebulldesigns sticker on the package.  How exciting.

I opened the parcel to find wrapped up in pink tissue paper the beautiful bag I won in Gina's recent giveaway.  I am winging a big thank you to you, Gina.  The bag is truly gorgeous and so beautifully made.

I am so thrilled that if you were here, Gina I would make you one of these.

A very decadent millefeuille pastry from Lorraine Pascale's recipe.  I know you're a fan.

Freestyling as usual, I altered the millefeuille slightly, making a vanilla flavoured cream and using some luscious strawberry jam and a few fresh strawberries between the layers.

So wicked, but what the heck, it's the weekend.

Wishing you all a lovely Friday and a wonderful weekend.

lemon drizzle cake

I baked lemon drizzle cake last night as a special treat for my little boy.  He had a bad fall on Tuesday evening while playing football in the garden with his daddy and big brother.

A trip to A&E revealed that he has broken his arm close to the elbow.  He will be in a cast from his shoulder to his hand for the next six weeks.

He was exceptionally brave throughout the whole thing despite being only four years old and more than a little scared of hospitals.  His main concern was whether he would still be able to go to school.

So you see, my brave little man really deserved this treat.  I have included the recipe if anyone fancies trying it.

lemon drizzle cake

ingredients

155g self-raising flour

130g caster sugar

25g soft brown sugar

155g unsalted butter, at room temperature

1 tsp baking powder

3 large eggs

zest and juice of 1 lemon

for the drizzle

40g caster sugar

juice of 1 lemon

method

Preheat the oven to 180 

Grease a 1lb loaf tin and line with baking paper

Cream the butter and sugar using an electric whisk until light and fluffy

Gradually add the eggs a little at a time beating into the mixture

Sift the remaining dry ingredients into the mixing bowl and mix into wet ingredients

When combined add the zest and juice of the lemon and mix in

Pour the cake mixture into the loaf tin and cook for 35-40 minutes until golden brown

When fully baked the cake should be firm to the touch and an inserted skewer will come out clean

While the cake is cooking, mix the sugar and lemon juice together to make the drizzle

When cooked allow the cake to cool completely in the tin

Once cool, prick all over with a skewer and pour the drizzle over the top

Boil the kettle, make a cup of tea and enjoy a lovely big slice.

With the happenings around here, there's no chance any of us will ever forget his first week at school.  We are hoping for a speedy recovery.

baking days

Baking update.  Brownies from The Primrose Bakery Book.  So delicious.

Sweet, sticky, delicious, need i say more.

A lovely brownie on a pretty little plate for me.  Hope you are all having a lovely start to the week.

primrose bakery book

Our postman arrived this morning with a parcel containing this little gem, The Primrose Bakery Book.

I can feel the urge to bake coming on.  Just look at that carrot cake.  Doesn't it look delicious.

Green tea cupcakes.  So pretty.

And those biscuits.  Could biscuits be any lovelier?

Sadly I think most of these masterpieces are a little beyond my current baking skillset.  However a girl can dream.

A little wildflower arrangement created by my eldest boy.  Can you see the little stones in the bottom? He informed me he knew I would think they were pretty.  I have a bit of a thing for stones, a little weird, I know.  Anyway, wishing you all a lovely bank holiday weekend. 

granny

I wanted to take a little moment to remember my lovely granny who passed away three years ago today.

My granny Margaret, was a wonderful woman, much loved by her large family.  She had the most amazing stories to tell about her life and has left a lovely legacy behind through her children, grandchildren and great grandchildren.

Granny was very special and she has without doubt inspired me today in my love of creating and making.

She was an amazing cook and baker and there was very little she couldn't do with a crochet hook.

Granny was ninety-five when she passed away but I feel so lucky to have spent so much wonderful time with her.

The photograph above was taken at our wedding.  Didn't she look beautiful?