SiliconeMoulds.com Blog

Mini Doughnuts / Donuts (by the bucketload !)

2012-01-27T19:25:00.000-08:00

I've stared playing with some of the new moulds that have arrived in an effort to start getting photos, measurements and recipes online. There are SO many to do that it's going to be quite a task !

I must say, I've always been sceptical about doughnut / donut moulds - after all, aren't the best doughnuts deep fried ? I'd never given baked ones a second thought. A couple of months ago, I made some mini jam doughnuts which I've yet to blog the recipe for. Very good they were too - but an awful lot of faffing around to be honest.... I found a recipe online at www.allrecipes.com for cake doughnuts and have modified it a fair bit.

I'll warn you now. These doughnuts (UK spelling!) are paler coloured. They're surely healthier - but a bit denser in texture than the yeast risen kind. They DO taste just as good and are easy enough for young children to help bake along with mum. This recipe makes LOADS - 40 infact, but they are small and disappear fast.... especially if your kid wants to take them to nursery with him / her as Oliver did ! It should be very simple to half the given quantities.

Oliver and I made 3 variations from the one base recipe - rolled in cinnamon sugar, dipped in pink icing and dipped in coffee and maple syrup icing. All were superb ! If you try them without rolling in sugar or dipping in icing, you will find they are not very sweet. Given we're coating the outside in copious amounts, the inside doesn't need to be overkill on sugar too.

The 8 cell Mini Donut Silicone Bakeware mould is now available here : http://www.siliconemoulds.com/cell-mini-doughnut-baba-details-follow-p-411.html

Thanks goes to John Masters who helped me photograph these and also did some taste testing (he was the one holding a half eaten mini doughnut below !) Hope you enjoyed them John !

Prepare your silicone mini donut / doughnut pans but either greasing and flouring or with a very light coating of cake release. Dr Oeteker does an aerosol one and Wilton's comes in a little bottle. Goes a long way - and both are fast becoming by friends. Cake release is so fast and easy for prepping pans.

Place mould on baking tray for support. I can get two of these pans on one tray at the same time.

Preheat the oven to 200deg C / 180deg C fan

Recipe

1 cup (250ml volume) white granulated sugar

3 cups of self raising flour *

2 tsp vanilla extract

300ml milk (warmed)

3 eggs

2 tablespoons of honey

115g melted butter or use vegetable oil

can be substituted for 3 cups normal plain (cake flour) plus 4 tsp baking powder

Spoon some batter into each cell. Go easy ! You want to fill to just BELOW the centre section - a little LESS than 1/2 full. First couple of trays, I had a tendancy to way overfill.

You only need a small amount of batter per cell - about a dessert spoonful. I spooned it in and then used a damp finger to level it in the cell and expose the raised bit in the centre to ensure it was not covered over.

Bake in the oven for 9 > 10 mins. Remove from the oven and allow to cool for just a few minutes - long enough to firm up a little... then simply flip the mould over and turn them out.

If you have over filled them, you only have holes about half way through. My first 16 (two trays) were like that. No problem - easy and quick to fix. Oliver was quite happy to stamp out (and devour) the middles using an apple corer.

To toss in cinnamon sugar : mix 1 tsp ground cinnamon with 100g of caster sugar. Brush each donut with melted butter and roll in the cinnamon sugar

To ice : Mix icing sugar with a little boiling water into dipping consistency. Needs to be quite thick. Can easily be flavoured and coloured. For the coffee and maple glaze, I used 1tsp espresso powder with a tiny bit of boiler water and a table spoon of maple syrup. The pink ones were not flavoured.

Hely's Big, Hearty........ SCOTTISH HAGGIS PIZZA

2012-01-27T15:43:00.000-08:00

Hello, it's Helen again!

Well I'm getting to grips with Sarah-Jane's bread recipes, and I have to say I have turned out several lovely loaves.

Basic Bread Recipe

500g strong white bread flour

1 tsp salt

1 sachet quick action yeast (same stuff they use for breadmakers)

1 tablespoon sugar

approx 300ml of luke warm water

While making up her basic bread dough this afternoon, I had a sudden craving for a PIZZA for dinner ............................and why not?

Time to raid the fridge for ideas.

With 'Burns' Night' being only just gone, I had a couple of small fresh HAGGIS in the fridge... (as one does)

(You can buy the real thing, already bagged and ready to microwave for just 6 minutes) ............PERFECT!

I turned on the oven (with the big flat grill pan in it, lightly oiled) as high as it goes, 250deg. to heat up HOT,

and looked out everything I fancied that might make good ingredients.

I rolled out 1/2 of my bread dough on to my big silicone pastry mat to a 12" dia.

It didn't stick in the slightest - in fact, it didn't even stick to my rolling pin ......whatever had I been worrying about?????

http://www.siliconemoulds.com/pink-massive-fondant-pastry-silicone-rolling-work-p-339.html

Ingredients (Just make yours up as you go along!)

1/2 standard bread dough mix (equiv. of a 1lb loaf)

1 haggis (I used ‘McSween's' - serves 2-3)

1/2 carton of Sainsbury's chopped tomatoes with olive oil & garlic (390g carton)

2 onions (mine were quite small) - sliced

3 tomatoes - sliced

2 sticks of celery (de-strung and chopped)

2 red hot chillies - sliced

+ some grated cheese - I only had cheddar (Scottish matured - of course!)

(Be very generous with the 'toppings' and it'll be a 'WOW!')

I opened up the haggis & chopped it up into a bowl, microwaving it for 4 minutes. Everything else I had chopped and ready in bowls, ready for the big rush....

I took the hot grill pan from the oven, slapped in the rolled-out pizza base, slathered on the chopped tomatoes, spread the haggis, then the rest of the toppings - with the cheese on top, and slammed it back into the HOT oven.......... Phew! NO PROBLEMO!

About 10 minutes later it was ready to serve. Lovely crispy base and the toppings looked thick, meaty, tasty, juicy and crunchy, easily enough for 4 people, with a good portion for each.

FANDABBYDOZEY!

Now THAT’s what I CALL a PIZZA!

Now tell us what YOU will put in YOUR PIZZA!

http://www.siliconemoulds.com/pink-massive-fondant-pastry-silicone-rolling-work-p-339.html

COFFEE BUNS

2012-01-26T14:58:00.000-08:00

Hello everyone!

This is not Sarah-Jane blogging, but ME - I'm her mum, Helen. I hope you don't mind the intrusion, but I'm 'helping' out today.
It's many years since Sarah-Jane baked her first fairy cakes and made chocolate rice crispies and smartie marshmallows with me and she's come a long way since then. Now it is me who very much follows HER baking and asks HER advice!

I have been thinking recently of an old family recipe we all enjoyed, so I 'dug it out'.
Coffee Buns.
They are more of a sort of soft biscuit, and if, like me, you love coffee - you should love Coffee Buns!
BUT - horror of horror, this old recipe was all in imperial - even the oven temperature!

The 'secret ingredient' is 'Camp Coffee' which is a liquid coffee with chicory, which you can buy in any supermarket. If you don't have any, you can always make some strong liquid coffee to add instead.

Ingredients
1/2 lb marg (I used 250g)
2 cups of demerara sugar
2 eggs
1 tablesp Camp Coffee (the recipe said 2, but was changed to 1 - or maybe it was a 1 changed to 2....
1 lb (500g) self raising flour so I just used 1.1/2 tblsp)
1/2 lb currants (250g)

First, I washed and soaked the currents for a little while, so they wouldn't turn out like bits of grit.
Cream the marg and sugar
Whisk the egg (save a little for glazing), and add with the coffee to the mixture
Stir in the sifted flour and the currants

Roll into balls the size of a large walnut (I got 30) and space them out on your baking trays (prob.2).
I lined my trays (the grill pans, actually - nice and big) with my wonderful plain black silicone mats from www.siliconemoulds.com, and very lightly oiled them. Just overlap them to cover the trays. (They worked a treat, as usual, so I only had the mats to wipe and no trays to wash up.)

Slightly flatten, and brush the tops with egg before putting into the pre-heated oven.
This old recipe said 375deg (old money) or 190deg C, and I thought that looked rather on the hot side, which probably explains how my mum often burned them.

Here's a handy conversion chart

Fahrenheit	Celcius	Gas Mark
250°F	120°C	Gas Mark ½
275°F	135°C	Gas Mark 1
300°F	149°C	Gas Mark 2
325°F	162°C	Gas Mark 3
350°F	176°C	Gas Mark 4
375°F	190°C	Gas Mark 5
400°F	204°C	Gas Mark 6
425°F	218°C	Gas Mark 7
450°F	232°C	Gas Mark 8
475°F	246°C	Gas Mark 9
500°F	260°C	Gas Mark 10

I decided that 160/170deg would be better, but as my oven control panel is decidedly difficult to read (even with my specs on and standing on a chair!), I confess I guessed where to turn the dial and set the timer for the required 30 mins.

They turned out just as good as I remembered them! Delicious!

Sarah-Jane

I seem to remember Sarah-Jane enjoyed Coffee Buns too!

.........and something tells me now that I'm in for BIG trouble!!!

Cinnamon Macarons with Brown Sugar and White Chocolate Ganache

2012-01-22T17:30:00.000-08:00

Many of you will already have seen from my earlier blog post, that I've designed a new double sided macaron mat which should make the art of macarons all the same size that bit easier. It has been quite a big project prototyping and getting it right. I'm very thankful that Dr Tim Kinnaird of MacaronsandMore.com gave me some initial help and suggestions during some trials. It's been a secret up until now whilst my design registration was pending, but these WILL be available for sale in around TEN DAYS time.

The mat has 25 x 2" / 50mm diameter cells on one side and 64 x 30mm cells on the reverse. It will fit on a 300mm / 12" square (or larger) cookie tray and easily go into any standard oven.

Double size mats (600 x 300mm) will also be available for use by bakeries.

Don't get me wrong, I've had quite a number of failed batches due to experimentation along the way. You do need to follow some of the basic rules of making macarons. As an example replacing the water with fruit juice to make the syrup for the italian meringue really does NOT work !

Macarons do have a bit of a learning curve, but once you master your macaronange (macaron batter) and cooking times / temperatures - it is possible to make batch after batch of near identical dainty delicacies. I've been successfully making macarons with both the French meringue and Italian meringue methods. For me, the Italian meringue is the hands-down winner. The shells are a little firmer and easier to handle and I prefer the feel in the mouth when you bite into them. The lemon ones in the other blog post were French meringue method and I'll post the recipe for those soon

Ok, enough chattering and on with the recipe. Note that you WILL need a sugar thermometer for this recipe. A double sided macaron mat is not essential (but having all your macarons the same size is such a pleasure and delight !)

I used two mats and made 50 large shells (25 x 2" macarons) and 26 shells (13 x 30mm macarons) from this recipe

Ingredients

180g icing (powdered) sugar

180g ground almonds

30g cocoa powder

5g cinnamon

160g of egg whites (split into two batches of 80g)

80ml water

200g of caster sugar

For the ganache

200g white chocolate

200g double (heavy) cream

5g cinnamon

3 heaped tablespoons of soft brown sugar

Set your oven to 150deg C fan / 170deg C electric.

Put the ground almonds and icing sugar into a food processor and blitz until superfine. Add the cocoa and cinnamon and blitz again. I use my hand held bamix and grinding mill attachment for this.

Break up any big lumps that have formed and sift into a large mixing bowl. Throw away any bits too large to fit through the seive.

Add one batch of egg whites and mix until a thick paste forms.

Put the caster sugar and water into a saucepan and boil until the sugar thermometer hits 110deg. As soon as temperature reaches 110deg C, whip your egg whites until stiff peaks form. Get the sugar syrup off the heat as soon as temperature hits 118deg C

You know your egg whites are stiff enough when you can hold the bowl upside down above your head and the whites stay put !

Using a hand held or stand mixer, whip the egg whites and add in the sugar syrup in a slow stream. Take care to try and keep the sugar syrup from coming into direct contact with the beaters (or the syrup may crystallise and change the texture). Keep whipping until the italian meringue is cool, stiff and glossy.

Mix about 1/3 of this into your paste of icing sugar, ground almonds, egg whites etc we already made to loosen in.

Fold in the remaining 2 /3rds. Make sure to incorporate it all fully. You want to mix it enough so that a ribbon of macaronage will start to disappear back into the bowl after about 30 seconds. If it doesn't fold another couple of times and try again. I reckon it takes about 25 full strokes (variable)

Once the macaronage is ready, put into a piping bag fitted with a plain tip. I like to use a 5mm nozzle for optimum control. I sometimes use a 10mm (1cm) tip - but the batter can flow a bit too fast, especially if you are using the small side of the mat.

Unfortuantely, I cannot pipe and take photos at the same time. Hopefully, I might have a macaron fanatic blogger friend that is good at photography too and might like to do some photos for me. If that sounds like you - do let me know !

Put the macaron mats on to baking trays.

Pipe the macaronage into the centre of each cell - leaving approx 3 > 4mm space around the outside of the batter to the cell walls to allow for expansion as they relax. You will only need to leave about 2mm on the smaller side. Once you've got the hang of it and made your first batch, you'll know what's right for you. Pipe in too much and it will overflow the cell walls.

If the macaronage is not dead centre, wet your finger and this will allow you to centre it. Handy trick whilst you get the hang of piping them centrally !

Rap the tray once or twice on your worktop to dispel any air bubbles and level the macaronage. Don't worry if not so level - they'll smooth out in the oven.

If you wish to add any edible glitter or sprinkles to the top of your macarons, do so now.

All macaron instructions I've ever seen involved leaving your macarons out for about 30mins to 1hour until a skin forms on the top before baking. Dr Tim Kinnaird was good enough to share a tip with me that I've used ever since.....

Simply pop the baking tray straight into the oven at 150deg C Fan, BUT leave the door open about 6" / 150mm for the first 5 minutes to dry off the tops. After that, shut the door to complete baking.

Baking time can be variable. I find in my oven that 2" / 50mm macarons always take 18mins to cook (excluding the first 5 mins with the door open) and the 30mm macarons take 13mins (excluding the first 5 mins with the door open)

When done, they should look like this when you remove from the oven. Out of this batch of macarons, I had not one with a cracked shell and all matched up size wise beautifully with the others.

Slide the mat from the tray on to a worktop and leave until TOTALLY cool before attempting to remove from the mat.

Macarons will be impossible to remove from the mat (or baking paper etc) if under cooked.

With silicone, general rules of baking as with any non-stick bakeware apply. Where there is a higher or equal sugar to fat content, always grease and flour before use, otherwise, your cake mix is likely to weld itself to any surface ! When making macarons however, you really DON'T want to grease or flour. I've found that every two or three uses, rubbing a tiny bit of cake release or vegetable fat rubbed into the mat seals the pores and makes a massive difference. You don't want it greasy or oily for macarons. You only want the tiniest tiniest bit so that after rubbing in it literally is invisible and totally dry to the touch.

This is a macaron peeled straight off the mat. I was too impatient and these were still a little warm. You will always get a little residue on the mats when they lift off, but this one had a little more than most (see bottom of cell in photo) as was still a touch warm. I left the rest another 5 > 10mins before removing.

For the ganache :

Put the white chocolate in a bowl

Add the cinnamon to the double cream and bring to a boil to scald. Add the sugar and stir to dissolve.

Pour the hot cream mixture over the chocolate and stir until the chocolate fully melts. Allow to cool, and then chill in the refrigerator for around 1 hour until firm enough to pipe between your shells.

For packaging, I rolled two pieces of fancy card around a rolling pin. I let the the first spring out enough in my hand to allow a macaron to slide down the centre of the tube. I then secured with double sided tape. I made a second, just a microscopic amount larger and secured again with double sided tape and some fancy ribbon.

I then made a cello wrap sleeve to go over the first tube. I put the macarons down tube 1, which made an easy job of packaging the macs into the cello wraps and tied at the top. The cello wrap was then small enough to fit inside the pretty outer sleeve. This way, you can make bespoke packaging any size and colour you wish.

More macarons coming soon !

Sarah-Jane Nash, www.siliconemoulds.com - January 2012

Entered into January MacTweets

Cardomom, Saffron & Lemon Yogurt Cake

2012-01-22T14:21:00.000-08:00

Ok - so this involved some playing around.... with a couple of new mould designs (due for release in March), a sponge cake recipe and then the cakes themselves.

Well - with small castle cakes, playing with the actual cakes became irresistible and simply had to be done ! From the minute I saw these, I was intent on making a cake to be played with and destroyed. Yes.... like most kids I was told not to play with my food, and have often found myself saying the same to Oliver. For once however, playing with food was actually encouraged !

The cake recipe should fill a large bundt / tube ring form. I used it to make 6 x round turret style cakes (like the one above) and 4 x more typical castle style ones that you can see further below. Each cake was probably plenty for 2 > 3 people to share and we had plenty fun reducing a few to crumbs.

It's lovely and moist and a rather delicate sponge. It could stand up well to some glace icing or buttercream perhaps. It managed to stand up to some rigorous play and destruction ! The saffron didn't do much. I hoped it would add another little twist of interest and perhaps a good injection of colour - but I don't think I used enough of it for that. I'll give you the recipe as I used it - but this cake was more about the annihalation !

225g butter

1.1/2 cups of sugar (my cup was 250ml volume)

6 eggs

4 tsp ground cardamom

1 tsp lemon extract

juice of 1/2 a lemon

1 cup of plain yogurt

pinch of saffron infused in a tablespoon of boiling water

1 tsp of salt

3 cups of self raising flour

Crack eggs and separate yolks and whites.

Cream butter and sugar until pale and fluffy. Beat in egg yolks. Alternately add 1/3 of sifted self raising flour, yogurt and egg whites until all incorporated. Add lemon juice, lemon extract and the saffron strands plus liquid they have infused in.

Grease and flour a large bundt ring mould (or two small castle / turret moulds) with a hard fat such as butter and tap out any excess flour. Put on a baking tray for support.

Small castle cakes baked at 170deg C Fan (about 190deg C normal) for approx 30 mins.

Allow to cool until just warm before carefully turning out.

Let your battle commence !

The two new moulds for these round turret and castle cakes will be available around the end of March.

Sarah-Jane Nash, www.siliconemmoulds.com - January, 2012

Sour Cherry & Cinnamon Griddle Cakes

2012-01-17T15:33:00.000-08:00

These are similar to Welsh cakes. Welsh cakes are traditionally cooked on a griddle and are similar to a cross between a scone and shortcrust pastry, packed full of currants and then tossed in sugar. They are delicious on their own warm, or cold with butter, jam or honey.

This recipe is a bit of a variation from the norm. I replaced lard with butter and mixed spice with vanilla. I changed the currants to chopped sour cherries and tossed in cinnamon sugar.

Absolutely delicious and the smell of the warm cinnamon sugar is intoxicating.

I made the dough this morning and took the griddle cakes, uncooked on a tray to work. I planned to cook them on a new cast iron pancake pan, but forgot I had not seasoned it first. It took a considerable time to burn off the wax before the pan was ready to use for the first time. So much so, that these griddle cakes were literally ready as we were packing up to go home !

The photos were terribly rushed, and I can back into the office with the tray of griddle cakes to get my laptop. In the 30 seconds it took me to put my laptop in it's bag..... my colleagues had snaffled all but one of them ! I don't think I've ever seen anything disappear so fast !

Perhaps I should rephrase that. Actually - I missed the event. I didn't see even one of those griddle cakes leave that tray. I only know mice that big just DON'T exist.

These are simple, quick and easy to make.

Ingredients

225g plain flour

85g granulated sugar

100g salted butter

1tsp of baking powder

1tsp vanilla extract

75g dried sour cherries (chopped)

1 beaten egg.

1/3 cup caster sugar (fine granulated) mixed with 1tsp of ground cinnamon (for tossing)

Rub the dry ingredients together and mix in the chopped sour cherries. Add beaten egg and vanilla.

Gently combine to form a ball of dough - similar to shortcrust pastry.

Roll to about 6mm thick (I rolled mine out on a silicone rolling mat) and cut out with 3" / 7.5cm cutter.

Mine made 15 griddle cakes.

Heat a frying pan and lightly grease. I used a cast iron pancake griddle (will be available very soon - we now have these in stock) and sprayed it with a little Frylight.

I cooked these 4 at a time on top of a cast iron wood burning stove in our showroom !

They take about 3 minutes on each side. They will rise a little - but really not much. These are MEANT to be very flat.

Remove from griddle pan and toss in the cinnamon sugar. Stand on a wire rack until cool enough to handle / eat. The only reason mine managed to make it as far as the rack is because staff know that eating before photos are taken would be a sackable offence ......

Simple Farmer's Curd Cheese

2012-01-16T19:01:00.000-08:00

I found the original recipe for this very simple and low fat curd cheese on Allrecipes.com

Many people seemed to struggle with it a bit, so I made my own revisions based on the reviews and used vinegar in place of the original lemon juice added. It was VERY simple and easy to make. The vinegar cannot be tasted in the resulting cheese.

With all the whey pressed out, it makes quite a dense cheese that can be sliced almost a little rubbery. Almost something like the drier mozzarella you put on top of pizzas I suppose. Rolling it in crushed peppercorms made it a little more exciting. Loads of whey / buttermilk left over which I'm intending making into soda bread tomorrow

True - this IS a bit bland - but I think this would be a super easy thing to make with kids to teach them the basic principles of cheesemaking. I've seen a riacotta recipe on Foodbuzz here that I'd like to try. Similar principles but a lot more fat content due to the cream and no squeezing out all the whey.

RECIPE

2 pints whole milk (organic, unhomoginised)

1/4 cup vinegar

good pinch of salt (or two)

crushed peppercorns (to roll in)

First of all - make SURE you get unhomogenised milk. Most supermarkets keep pasturised and homoginised. That means that the milk has been treated so the cream is suspended in it and does not float to the top. You will likely need to buy organic milk to get UNHOMOGENISED.

Put the milk in a pan and bring JUST to the boil on a medium heat, stirring so it does not scorch.

Remove from the heat. Add the salt and stir, followed by the vinegar.

Within a couple of minutes, the milk will curdle and the curds have formed

The curds should be white and the remaining liquid a yellowy colour. This shows that the milk proteins have all been separated. You can purposely see the bowl of whey in the background of one of photos further up.

Line a sieve with muslin and drain the whey from the curds.

Once cooled enough to handle, twist the muslin around the cheese to squeeze out any remaining whey. Roll the resulting ball of cheese in crushed peppercorns. Can be kept refrigerated for up to a week.

Yesterday, we had a lovely family afternoon out in Bury St Edmunds in the Abbey grounds. Oliver had a ball in the super play area and chasing seagulls and squirrels !

Rather chilly and overcast - but it was nice for all three of us to spend a Sunday together. Doesn't happen very often at all, but we've been lucky to have my husband Steve around the last TWO Sundays !

Oliver did get a bit of a telling off. He was rather too excited and a bit bargy. I told him off for trying to push in front of another kid to get on the slide. Huge sulk followed and it took him a good 5 minutes or more to get himself together and join in again.

I'm not so sure this wall of logs was really meant for walking on... but it was heaving in kids !

This is one angry face - actually - it was Oliver pretending to be a wild animal on a treetop bridge. He looked pretty wild to me !

Revolutionising Macarons - My Exciting New Secret !

2012-01-11T19:51:00.000-08:00

Lemon macarons with lemony white chocolate ganache filling

I've been itching to share news on this for a while.... and I guarantee it will be new to all of you.

Macarons are the most wonderful little almondy meringue cookies with a chewy centre - often recognised in leading patisseries for their little ruffled feet and being displayed in a wide range of often lurid colours. They are notorious for being hard to make (which actually is not true). Macaroons on the other hand are normally little coconut cookie moulds.... which I really must get round to making again soon.

The real problems in making macarons lie in the mixing - mixing too much, not mixing long enough and also in the baking times. I was very lucky and my first ever batch turned out really well. Since then, I've had many successes and a few failed batches which have taught me valuable lessons in baking macarons along the way.

One thing that really irritated me was the fact that I did not have enough oven space to bake an entire batch of macarons at one time. My big bug bear was getting them all exactly the same diameter. The OCD in me (obsessive compulsive disorder) was finding a way to get ALL my macarons exactly the same size !

The accepted way for pastry chefs to do this is by drawing circles out on a piece of baking paper, turning it over and then piping on the reverse. You need to leave about 2" / 50mm between the macarons as once the mix is piped it will spread. It's a darn good idea and most macarons will be near enough the same size once you get the hang of it. However, me being me, I had my digital calipers out measuring every macaron to make sure they were absolutely the same size to within quarter of a mm before pairing them together.

I found that the perfect size for macarons (in my opinion) is 50mm..... but I also like teeny weeny ones too !

Don't worry - I'll share my various macaron recipes very soon.

NOW - WHAT YOU ARE GOING TO SEE IS A NEW DESIGN CONCEPT.

(This product is patented to us and these will be available for sale from early next month.) At the moment, I have the only two in existence and have been using them LOTS with superb results every time.

Dr Tim Kinnaird of Macarons and More has kindly assisted me in initial testings before product development. He'll be getting the very first one available as soon as they arrive, and we'll be launching them at the SPRING FAIR trade show at the NEC in Birmingham next month.

I've designed a DOUBLE SIDED MACARON MAT. The mat is 300mm x 300mm and fits on a standard cookie sheet. Cookie sheets are widely available from all baking shops and most supermarkets at a low price - generally around £2.99 in the UK. If you want to splash out, I can personally recommend the slightly bigger (about 14" square) Bakingenius vegetable roasting tray from Lakeland (as shown below) which is far more robust.

This is what it looks like on a baking tray. What you do is pipe your macaronage (macaron batter) into the centre of each cell until about 3/4 full (leaving a gap of about 5mm right round the mix). The cells have a very tiny marked rim. As the macaronage spreads after piping, it should just get to the edges of each cell and give your macaron a perfect shape and size. It does take a batch or two practise piping and get it perfect every time.

This is what they looked like piped. The little ringed cells mean you can pipe more macarons on one baking sheet. On top of that, it's reusable too !

The large side makes 25 x 50mm / 2" macaron shells. See the picture below for a close up view, before they go in the oven.

THIS IS THE VERY FIRST BATCH OF MACARONS I MADE ON OUR NEW PROTOTYPE MAT !

Here is what they look like baked - ok - a couple of slightly wonky ones, but it WAS my first attempt !

These ones were peppermint and I filled them with white chocolate ganache

I so wanted to share these photos and this recipe at Christmas - but I've had to wait. It's impossible to explain how hard it's been to keep a secret !

As if that is not enough, don't forget, our mats are double sided.

YES ! Flip it over, and you can use the other side to make little mini macs.

The other side lets you make SIXTY FOUR mini macaron shells ! This picture shows the mat on a 12" square cookie sheet.

I've found that one batch of macaron mix lets me make two sheets worth of macarons. Even better - make two batches and flip your sheets over to use the other side too before you bother washing up.

This is what 64 mini shells look like.... almost the same size as a two pence piece.

These were chocolate with dark chocolate orange ganache filling. Oh - and if you spotted an EDIBLE GIFT TAG..... you might have a clue at what else is coming very soon !

The double sided macaron mats will also be available in double size - ie 600 x 300mm (50 shell one side, 128 shell on the other) to suit larger commercial ovens.

All comments and shares are very welcome. I'm really excited about my new product design and will be giving a few away on arrival to some bloggers for product testing and reviews.

Happy Baking !

Sarah-Jane Nash, January 2012

Chicken Liver and Brandy Pate & Puddle Jumping !

2012-01-06T20:36:00.000-08:00

A New Year and a new beginning. It's also time for me to reflect back on the things I've done and the things I want to do.

Loads of new things to cook and bake, new experiences. The last few months have been very difficult as workload had had a massive impact on my life and limited the one on one time I've been able to give Oliver. Don't get me wrong - I'm a workaholic and will always be a workaholic, but there if more to life than work and I'm glad that the madness of Christmas rush has eased off !

Nearly 4am and I'm still not in bed. Actually - I WAS in bed, but found I was too excited to sleep. That got me up and baking macarons. Yeah - you know you are a foodie when you put macarons in the oven at 2.30am !

I'll tell you what the excitement is about another day - it's still a secret I'm afraid, but is all about macarons.

The recipe I'd like to share with you now is for CHICKEN LIVER AND BRANDY PATE. I served it for New Years Day lunch along with rye sourdough crackers, sausage rolls and homemade bread (amongst other things)

For this recipe, I used a 1lb silicone loaf mould.

Ingredients :

300g chicken livers

150g salted butter

2 > 3 tsp brandy

clove of garlic (finely chopped)

1 onion

salt and pepper to season

a sprig of fresh thyme

First of all, prepare the chicken livers by removing any sinewy or discoloured parts.

Fry in approx 50g of the butter for around 5 mins until starting to colour nicely.

Remove the livers from the pan and set aside.

Add the remaining butter and chopped onion with the garlic to the pan and the thyme leaves (removed from stalks). Sweat off the onions until transparent and then add the brandy. Cook for a minute or two more and then add all the contents to a food processor and blend until smooth.

Put this warm paste into your 1lb silicone loaf mould and level the top.

Use some clarified butter to seal the top and refrigerate overnight.

Alternatively, make a savoury jelly to pour over the top. I used 120ml of chicken stock, to which I added a couple of bay leaves and 2 tbsp of orange juice. Sit this in a bowl with a leaf of gelatine for 5 mins. Add to a pan and bring to just below simmering point to dissolve the gelatine. Allow to cool to room temperature and then pour over the pate. I decorated the top of my pate first with a couple of orange slices and the bay leaves.

Unfortunately, due to lack of time, my pate only got about 2 hours to chill ! It really wasn't enough and tasted far better the next day.

Oh - we had these too.... apple crumble slices - same recipe as the mincemeat crumble slices (but mincemeat replaced with same weight of apples, sugar and cinnamon mix)

These photos of Oliver were taken Monday 2nd January. Had to believe it was just earlier this week. I've done so much since then !

I took him out for an afternoon at Eaton Park to run off some steam. It was glorious sunshine, but windy and bitterly cold. There was one puddle in the whole park and typically Oliver found it.

It was more like a pond than a puddle. This was one MASSIVE puddle. Thankfully, he was prepared with several layers of clothes and some new wellies. I had TRIED to put waterproof overalls on him underneath earlier, but that had resulted in a screaming match and I ended up giving up.

To start with, it was a paddle near the edge. No big deal, and loads of smiles. I got the camera out my handbag and snapped a few shots. An evil grin started spreading across his face I KNEW what was going to happen next, and no matter how much I tried to get his eye contact or yell at him - Mummy was totally ignored.

Yep - puddle jumping and lots of it. THIS was just the start. Note the thick winter jacket, the fleece underneath and the gloves. It was FREEZING cold. Passers by watched and laughed in amazement as my little monster tore around in that puddle like a total lunatic. Honestly - you would have thought it was the middle of summer !

Oliver was in that puddle for a good 30mins at least. I tried threats, I tried bribery. He wasn't coming out and belted off through the ware as fast as he could if I got remotely near. Eventually, I managed to grab him by the back of the jacket and chaos followed. He was not happy about being dragged out that puddle and it was a struggle to get him back to the car until I persuaded him that McDonalds would be shut if he wanted french fries and didn't hurry up. Total lie of course. I don't think Mc Donalds ever shuts !

His wellies were near impossible to get off as they were full to the brim with water. He was absolutely soaked to the skin. I had to strip him off. By then, Daddy had arrived and kept an eye on him wrapped up in a jacket whilst I made an emergency trip to the big superstore about 5 miles up the road to purchase a dry set of clothes as we were too far from home. Lunch at the pub (with french fries for Oliver did follow) and strangely enough there were no comments on how it wasn't Mc Donalds .

Hopefully next time Oliver does puddle jumping I'll have spare clothes in the car.

Sarah-Jane Nash - www.siliconemoulds.com - silicone bakeware specialists

GIVEAWAY - Small Selection Pack of New Design Moulds

2012-01-01T16:57:00.000-08:00

HELP PLEASE....

I'm looking for some website reviews from customers of moulds you have bought and use from our collection. We have many customers who regularly ask why there are not many online reviews when we sell SO many moulds. Truth is, few people ever bother to leave them !

Honest reviews are all welcome at www.siliconemoulds.com.

Reviews left by owners of our moulds at www.siliconemoulds.com between now and 4th January will enter into the giveway draw for a selection of some of our new release moulds (we've still got quite a number of new ones to add online)

Happy New Year !

THIS IS NOW CLOSED. WINNER WAS CHOSEN BY RANDOM GENERATOR (www.random.org) AS BELOW

Each person who left a review was given a number for every entry.

1.Nikki L

2. Nikki L

3. Nikki L

4. Nikki L

5. Jill M

6. Kerri M

7. Kerri M

8. Kerri M

9. Kerri M

10. Kerri M

11. Deirdre T

12. Deirdre T

13. Nicola I

14. Rosalyn F

15. Susan H

16. Susan H

17. Susan H

18. Katie G

19. Katie G

20. Ellie S

21. Ellie S

22. Ellie S

23.Ellie S

24. Ellie S

25. Sarah B

26. Sarah B

27. Sarah B

28. Jason Brogden

29. Jason Brogden

30. Jean Lacey

31. Roxana G

32. Roxana G

NICOLA IRELAND - it's YOU ! Congratulations !

Malibu Koi Carp Jelly Shots - Celebrate the New Year !

2011-12-31T18:06:00.000-08:00

I believe that koi carp fish are a symbolism of love, friendship and prosperity. For this reason, I've chosen to make some koi carp shaped jelly shots to share with you and celebrate the coming of 2012. For those of you out partying and celebrating the New Year - many of you may already be swimming like fish !

Happy New Year everyone - Wishing you all the best for 2012

These koi carp jelly shots were inspired by Ann Low of Anncoo Journal who made some awesome agar agar koi carp jellies a year ago. We've now got a new koi carp silicone bakeware mould now available. I'm just dying to make some chocolate fish or little fish cakes !

I used normal granulated gelatine powder (Dr Oetker) here. I don't think agar agar can be used with alcohol anyway .... and besides, I'm not over keen on the texture of it. Agar agar is kind of crunchy as opposed to wobbly. That probably won;t made any sense until you try eating it for the first time.

Compared to normal gelatine, agar agar is stupidly easy to work with. It un-moulds beautifully with zero effort. Normal jelly is easy enough to work with too, but for a shaped jelly, don't go with the concentration on the packet.... One sachet of Dr Oetkers gelatine granules is said to set 1 pint of liquid. That it will - but only firm enough to spoon from a bowl and not firm enough for turning out shaped set desserts. For that, I use double the volume of gelatine.

To start, lightly oil the inside of your silicone mold with some sunflower / vegetable oil and then use some kitchen roll to wipe away any excess. We don't want a pool of oil on the inside - only a thin film.

RECIPE FOR MALIBU KOI CARP JELLY SHOTZ

2/3 cup of white sugar

35g powdered gelatine (I used 3 sachets Dr Oetker)

1 cup of water

1 cup of milk

1.1/3 cups of Malibu (coconut liqueur)

2 sultanas

note - I used a 250ml volume cup

Sponge the gelatine in the cup of water and set aside for 10 mins.

When sponged, remove 1 heaped teaspoon and set aside.

Add sponged gelatine, milk and sugar into a pan. Bring slowly up to heat - just below boiling point - until sugar and gelatine are completely dissolved. DO NOT let it boil as this will affect the setting properties.

Remove from heat and add in the Malibu. Set aside to cool.

Take the reserved sponged gelatine and add to it a couple of tablespoons of water. I melted these together in the microwave in short bursts.

Cut the sultanas into little pieces. You need at least 12 (make one or two extra). Roll them into little balls with your fingers. Take a little gelatine solution on a spoon and roll the tiny sultana piece in the solution, then carefully place the sultana ball on the indentation on the inside of the mould where the eye is to be.

Add some food colouring to a saucer. Don't be scared of it - we want a strong colour. I used some red and yellow together to get a deep orange. Add a tablespoon or so of the gelatine mix to the food colouring and combine. Use this to highlight detail areas inside the mould using a teaspoon. Don't totally cover the inside.

Put the mould in the fridge for a few minutes to chill and set the coloured markings.

Any left over gelatine (without the colour) can be added back to the malibu mix.

Remove the mould from the fridge and add a teaspoon or two of the malibu mix to the mould. Refrigerate again for another few minutes. It won't take long to chill that volume - literally only 3 > 4 mins. The reason for doing this is that I found by skipping this step, the coloured markings lift off the inside of the mould when you pour in the rest of the liquid and end up floating to the top of your jelly (which will become the bottom)

Pour in the rest of the malibu jelly mix and allow to set for approx 3 hours before turning out.

Every little fish will have it's own unique markings. Time to meet (and eat) your little fishy friends !

Sarah-Jane Nash, www.siliconemoulds.com - silicone bakeware specialists, 1st Jan 2012

Mincemeat Crumble Slices & Christmas Photos

2011-12-29T12:33:00.000-08:00

These cake bars couldn't be easier and yet they can be made SO versatile and quick to make. I packed these full of my home made sweet mincemeat on this occasion, but diced peaches or apples with cinnamon and sugar work well - or even just a good thick layer of chunky jam !

Eat them as a cake slice or serve hot as a dessert with custard or a scoop of good vanilla ice cream.

Use a tray, tin or silicone bakeware mould approx 11 x 9" internal size - our Tray Bake Swiss silicone mould is perfect for this (as shown)

700g mincemeat (replace with suitable alternative as desired)

650g flour

325g sugar

300g butter

Rub the butter, flour and sugar together until it starts to clump together. I like to be able to compact it together in my hand so it holds as one lump and them crumble it again so it's like rubble more than crumbs.

Put half the mixture in the mould or tin and roll flat. Spread mincemeat / jam / choice of filling on top and then top with the remaining crumble.

Bake 180deg c fan oven (200deg C normal electric) for 30mins or until the top is starting to turn a light golden brown.

Allow to totally cool before slicing. Makes approx 12 large slices.

May be warmed again later and served as a dessert with good vanilla ice cream.

I've been spending a few days with family in Scotland. We shouted up the chimney just before we left Norfolk so that Santa would know where to bring Oliver's presents on Christmas morning ! I must Santa brought Oliver a spectacular load of toys....including the spitting dinosaur that he really wanted (but is actually rather scared of at the moment)

Uncle Simon (my brother) got given the job of putting all the fiddly little bits of a Playmobil set together.

Oliver was VERY excited on Christmas eve and getting him to bed was a bit of a nightmare. We wrongly presumed that since he was very late going to sleep, that he would not get up until a reasonable hour. Hmm 5.25am isn't quite what I had in mind.......!!!

This one - Smokey The Fire Engine - is most definitely the favourite.

Doctor Oliver doing an examination of Pappy (apparently contagious)

Riding Bullseye (Nanny's rocking horse) on Boxing Day

Santa was rather good to me too. I've got several rather super cookery books that I'm looking forward to trying out new recipes from family and a Masterclass at The Lavender House in Norfolk from my lovely husband.

Can't believe it's almost all over and we go home again tomorrow.

Hope you have all had a fantastic Christmas !

Sarah-Jane Nash, www.siliconemoulds.com - December 2011

Chocolate Hazelnut Soft Nougat Recipe (and other varieties)

2011-12-22T17:51:00.000-08:00

I made some Honey, Vanilla and Pistachio Nougat earlier this year. It was SO good.

Actually, I'd forgotten all about it until I was given an E book for my ipad of all my blog posts that Mum had made for me. Only looking back through it in book format, did I really appreciate the volume of things I've made over the last year and the amount of things Oliver and I have done !

Given Christmas is almost upon us, I decided to have another bash at nougat for Christmas gifts. I'll be making another batch of the original recipe - but my new adaptation of last year's recipe is just as good although not nearly so sticky to the touch. In an effort to create a chocolate nougat, I added some melted chocolate to the other ingredients. It gave a less sticky result. When white chocolate is used, it's really not detectable as having chocolate added ....

Recipe

2 egg whites

1.1/2 cups / 320g granulated sugar

300ml corn syrup (or glucose)

1/2 vanilla pod

60ml water

200g toasted hazelnuts

40g good cocoa powder

100g of dark chocolate (I used 65%)

for those in the UK, corn syrup can be bought from Amazon.co.uk. Works out considerably cheaper than buying liquid glucose. Golden syrup can be used as a substitute, but it's a lot sweeter in taste. Worth investing in corn syrup for candy making - the difference (ease) is incredible.

Scrape the seeds out the vanilla pod and put aside. Put the pod itself and the sugar, liquid glucose or corn syrup andd water into a large, heavy based saucepan (preferably non stick - you'll appreciate that later !)

Bring these slowly to a rolling boil and keep on the heat until temperature reaches 248 to 250deg F. This will take about 15 mins.

Just before the syrup mix is ready, whisk the two egg whites to stiff peaks in the bowl of a stand mixer.

Remove syrup from the heat and pour slowly into the egg whites with the mixer going at a medium / high rate. Try and keep the syrup from directly making contact with the whisk otherwise this can affect the texture I believe.

The mix will grow like meringue and look shiny. As soon as the syrup is all in, add the melted chocolate and cocoa powder and let the mixer combine. Quickly chuck in the hazelnuts. You want it to stick to the beaters like a good meringue, but it will be much stickier. Don't let it cool in there too much. You need to work quite quick with this one ! It doesn't take long in the mixer.... get it out within a minute or so of all the syrup going in.

Scrape into a well buttered silicone bakeware mould - I used a 9" square silicone bakeware mould - and allow to cool. Chill in the fridge to get it really nice and hard as it is generally easy to cut that way.

For other variations try :

100g pistachios, 50g dried cranberries, 50g dried cherries, 100g white chocolate (omit the cocoa powder)

150g walnuts, 60g white chocolate, 40g milk chocolate, 1tsp strong coffee granules (added to syrup)

Cut into strips (I got approx 6 per tray) wrap in cellophane and tie with some ribbon. Quick and simple store cupboard stand by items that can quickly and easily be turned into a beautiful gift !

Merry Christmas to All - and wishing everyone all the best for 2012.

I'll be taking a few days off work (by the end of tomorrow). Looking forward to some well earned rest and overdue time with my family. I hope to perhaps catch up and message many of you during the holiday and will be back with loads of new mould designs very early in the New Year.

Date & Honey Sourdough Bread and A Visit To Denver Windmill

2011-12-18T19:45:00.000-08:00

I started this blog post on the 27th of November - the evening Oliver and I got back from our trip to Denver windmill. I don't know where the time has gone since then.... I've been working crazy hours to cope with the volume of emails and orders due to the pre-Christmas rush and the blog has been sadly been neglected. I've not been ignoring any of you, I've simply not been around.

Denver Windmill is (was) the last remaining commercial working windmill in Norfolk producing stone ground flour. I say was, as only a month before our visit tragedy struck and the mill was badly damaged. You can read all about it here.

Here is my refreshment recipe for my starter.

2 tablespoons of starter from your vat in the fridge

5 well rounded tbsp of strong white bread flour

1 well rounded tbsp of rye flour

mix with enough luke warm water to reach a dropping consistency (much like cake batter !)

Cover with clingfilm and leave on the kitchen counter overnight.

It should be nice and bubbly by the morning. Discard about half (of put it in another bowl if you intend making more than one loaf and do the next following steps to both lots of gloop).

To the remaining gloop, add about 2 > 3 times the amount of white wheat flour and enough water to get it back to dropping consistency. Leave for about 6 hours and it's then ready to bake. If it's not bubbling nicely, this step can be repeated. As long as there are a good amount of bubbles there, don't worry if it is not as foamy as it was after sitting for 12 hours. I've been doing this bit by eye as above and without weighing.

Whilst there, I purchased some newly milled flour and made this honey, date and raisin sourdough loaf the next day.

HONEY, DATE AND RAISIN SOURDOUGH

100g rye flour

400g stoneground dressed bread flour *

10g salt

3 tbsp runny honey

220g refreshed sourdough starter

250g water

150g chopped medijool dates

50g raisins

This can be mixed together and kneaded by hand - or shove in a Kitchen Aid with dough hook for 10 mins. I know, I know sourdough should be treated softly softly... but it is not always as convenient to do the lot by hand. I had several things going on tonight in the kitchen whilst my trusty Kitchen Aid worked my dough.

Once the dough is kneaded and has become soft and silky, put it back in the mixing bowl and cover with either a plastic shower cap or some cling film and leave for approx 3 hours until risen by about 50 > 75%

Take out, knock back and shape as required.

Put on a baking tray and leave to rise for another 1 > 1.1.2 hours before baking in a relatively warm environment.

I cut out a stencil of initials from an envelope. Wet the stencil and apply to the bread.

Dust over lightly with flour

Remove stencil and bake for an artisan finish.

Yummy served slightly warm from the oven served simply with some butter and cheeses.

Of course, a visit to a windmill wouldn't be the same without going up the actual windmill. Oliver will show you around....

Oliver - scampering up the first lot of steps into the windmill

This is the floor where the flour is sent through a hopper system and into large sacks. These are then lowered to the floor below (via a hoist) through a hatch in the floor. Kind of hard to take decent photos as not really possible to get any further back.

You can see the hoppers a bit better in this semi aerial view from the stairs to the next level.

Milling stones are on the next floor above. Again, rather impossible to get much in. Loads of equipment lying around and cordoned off given everything is in a state of repair.

Oliver going up yet more stairs. They were very steep and getting interesting by this point. He did well and managed up no problem. Coming down took quite lot longer as he was not nearly so confident and was rather "interesting". Still - he was very brave and came home with a certificate to say he'd got to the top.

This is a hopper that the grain is fed into, which in turn is fed to the millstones on floors below.

Once so pretty, this windmill is now sadly need of some restoration work. Thankfully, the people who have the tenancy are still managing to operate thanks to an engine powered mill.

You can see in this photo why we couldn't go out the door of the tower and walk round the outside. Eeek !

Oliver was fascinated by the big gears on the top floor of the windmill. What a shame is wasn't working when we were there !

After all that - it was time for a cup of tea and some lunch in the tearoom. We can recommend the bread baked on site from the newly milled flour !

Homemade Boozy Mince Pies

2011-11-29T02:26:00.000-08:00

Mince pies have to be one of my favourite foods of Christmas. I adore the warmth from the mixed spice and cinnamon traditionally coupled with brandy. I kid you not - there is little easier to make than these adorable mini mince pies. Of course, bigger ones are just as easy - but it doesn't give me the excuse to eat two of them !

In many years gone by, it was common place for mincemeat for these sweet meat pies to ACTUALLY contain ground meat. Some people still make them like that. However, this version does not.

The batch of mincemeat is very very simple to make. It gets better with age and will keep several months properly stored. I made a batch of 24 mini mince pies in my silicone bakeware mould and still had enough mincemeat to fill about 5 good sized jam jars (each of which will be enough for another batch of pies). Makes a lovely Christmas gift !

FOR THE PASTRY (makes 24 mini pies)

275g plain cake flour

110g salted butter (cold and GRATED)

100g icing sugar

1 large egg

zest of a lemon

Rub the grated butter into the flour and icing sugar, until the mixture resembles crumbs. I like to use cold grated butter as it incorporates easier when rubbing together. You want to work pastry as little as possible to keep is short and melt in the mouth.

Add the beaten egg. You may want to combine with a wooden spoon as it does get very sticky - but I get in there with my hands.

Once combined, wrap in clingfilm and shove in the fridge for at least 20mins. This is a VERY soft sweet pastry. I don't even bother rolling it.

When you are ready to use it, pinch pieces off . I've forgotten the exact weight now.. but am pretty sure I used 15 grams per ball.

I used a pastry tamper to form the shapes and then finished the tops with my fingers.

Now fill your mini pies with as much of the mincemeat as they will hold. It's not much - about 1 heaped teaspoon. After filling the ones below, I went back round them and packed a bit more in

MY SWEET MINCEMEAT RECIPE

650g of luxury mixed dried fruit

(mine consisted of raisins, currants, mixed peel, cherries, pineapple, apricot)

100g roughly chopped pecans

juice and zest of a lemon

400g medium diced bramley apples

1 tsp cinnamon

3 tsp mixed spice

250g Atora suet

100g caster sugar

250g dark brown soft sugar

175ml of apple brandy

175g plum liqueur

Basically, put all the ingredients into a large bowl and stir. Pop it in the fridge, and give it another stir every time you walk past over the next two days.

The dried fruits will swell as they absorb the alcohol and strangely enough, the apples are going to shrink. There will be some thick syrupy stuff in the bottom.

After 2 > 3 days, spoon into sterilised jars and seal with a lid. Make sure you split the syrupy liquid evenly between the jars Some people think mincemeat is best left to mature for 2 > 3 weeks before use - but I've found the results and flavour just as good after the first 2 > 3 days.

The pastry tops for my little pies are 6 or 7 gram balls f pastry simply squashed in the palm of my hand.

Put a tiny slit in the top of each one. Liberally douse with caster sugar and bake in a 180deg C fan / 200deg C electric oven for approx 15 mins until the tops are slightly golden.

Enjoy warm with a cup of tea or a glass of mulled wine.

These will store up to a week in an airtight container. Why not make and freeze an entire tray in one go ? Ideal to pull out the freezer and bake when unexpected visitors arrive. Silicone bakeware moulds are totally safe to go from freezer to oven !

Spiced Crab Apple Jelly

2011-11-22T18:22:00.000-08:00

I'm very late in blogging this one. Been meaning to do it for several weeks. Already Autumn has passed and winter is upon us.

Nature brings a bountiful harvest. There is something special about harvesting bountiful wild crab apples and hedgerow berries. The vast majority of people pass them by without a second glance. To me, they are something special to be savoured. Easy to collect, and free to gather they impart beautiful flavours and are delicious made into jellies to serve on thickly buttered bread or toast and as a condiment alongside meats.

Add to a maslin pan :

2.5kg of crab apples

a thumb sized piece of root ginger

2 sticks of lemon grass

2 tsp ground ginger

1 tsp chilli flakes

1 stick of cinnamon

Juice and zest of a lemon

Add approx 1 litre of water and boil until the fruit becomes soft and pulpy.

Strain off the liquid through some muslin. Actually, an clean pillowcase works well too. I can't resist squeezing out any excess juice, but by doing so this will make jellies a little cloudy. For this reason, I generally pass the juice a second time through a muslin cloth.

Put the juices back in the pan - with 750g of sugar for every litre of juice. Boil until setting point for jam is reached on a sugar thermometer and then pour into sterilised jars

Other variations of this can be made. I also made some hedgerow jelly (not spiced) with 1.5kg of mixed hedgerow berries such as sloes, hawthorne, rose hips and 1kg crab apples. Delicious on warm buttered scones.

Apologies - I didn't get round to taking photos of the hedgerow jelly. Shame, as it was a beautiful pink hue.

Banana Cornflake Crumble Breakfast Muffins FOODBUZZ #5

2011-11-21T03:31:00.000-08:00

Our Crown muffin mould makes large American jumbo sized muffins. The silicone mould has a special rebated head so you can create those great big mushroom like tops that you find in all the well known cafes / coffee shops. It's almost impossible to recreate muffins like these at home without a special mould. If you've tried, you have no doubt experienced muffin mix overflowing the top of normal bakeware / moulds and a very messy end result.

The topping is optional. If used, the muffins are best eaten same day. They make large MAN FOOD sized muffins. Each is the same as two normal muffins (excluding topping) - so either hide in a corner whilst consuming or cut in half and share ! The picture in the foreground is one of these on a side plate. The 3 in the background are on a dinner plate (to give an idea of scale)

This recipe creates a lovely moist muffin. They seem to stay fresh in the fridge for a good 3 days (without topping). The cornflake crumble topping has a lovely crunchy texture.

300g plain (cake) flour

1.1/2tsp baking powder

1 tsp bicarbonate of soda

1/2 tsp salt

2 tsp cinnamon

100g of white chocolate chips (optional)

400g of mashed bananas

1 beaten egg

100ml milk

100ml vegetable oil

Prepare the crown muffin mould by greasing the inside of the rims at the top and dusting with flour. Tap out any excess. Don't bother this to the lower section of the mould unless you are not using paper liners.

The papers are designed only to stop where the rebated head starts.

Preheat oven to 180deg C fan / 200 deg C electric

Sift dry ingredients together. Add all wet ingredients and mix to combine. Do be careful not to overmix. Don't panic - it's going to be really lumpy, especially with the mashed banana.

Spoon mix into the cells in your mould. It will overflow the paper cases and partially into the rebated head area.

For the topping

50g salted butter

60g plain flour

50g granulated sugar

25g cornflakes

Rub the butter with your fingers into the flour and sugar. Lightly crush the cornflakes in your hand and add to the mix.

The mix should just hold together when clamped in your hand. If it is too crumbly, add a little more butter. You don't want a fine crumble. You want to clamp some in your hand and roughly crumble it in lumps over the muffin batter.

Bake for approx 25 mins until a cocktail stick comes out clean. The muffins should be well risen and golden.

My little cake tester approves ! This bit went missing whilst I was still taking the photos....

Sarah-Jane Nash, November 2011 - The joys of baking with Oliver !

Zingy Lemon & Ginger Iced Gingerbread Cake

2011-11-20T18:58:00.000-08:00

This was a beautifully moist, rich and spicy gingerbread cake which was topped with a zingy lemon and ginger icing.

It was good. Really good ! Has to be my all time favourite gingerbread recipe. So good infact, I made two in two days. One to take to work Saturday before last (coffee and cake for customers every Saturday morning) and the other for my friend Victoria.

The original recipe can be found on the BBC GOOD FOOD website here

My recipe was very similar - but method a little different and quicker. I used a 9" square silicone mold and cut the finished cake into 18 generous sized servings.

225g plain flour

3 tsp baking powder

1 tsp bicarbonate of soda

2 tsp ground ginger

2 tsp cinnamon

120g butter

250ml milk

115g dark brown soft (muscavado) sugar

200g black treacle

50g golden syrup

80g finely grated preserved ginger (syrup reserved)

Preheat the oven to 160deg C fan / 180deg normal

Line a 9" square silicone baking mould or tin with baking parchment.

This is very sticky stuff - especially when iced, so I recommend you don't skip this step. I wanted to lift it out by the paper and am glad I went to the extra effort of lining the mould. Saying that, I only lined the base and two sides with a strip (after greasing to make the paper stick) and did not bother lining the other two sides.

Sieve all dry ingredients into a large bowl and give a stir to combine.

Melt the sugars, milk and butter in a large saucepan until almost boiling.

Remove from the heat.

Quickly mix in all dry ingredients until no lumps can be seen. You may want to use a hand mixer to do this.

Transfer this mixture into a 9" square silicone mould or traditional baking tin (on a baking tray for support) and get it in the oven as quick as you can.

Bake until a cocktail stick comes out clean. Mine took approx 25 mins.

FOR THE ICING

250g powdered icing sugar

juice of 1 lemon

reserved syrup from preserved ginger

Mix these together until a thick, smooth paste is formed.

Spread on top of the hot gingerbread (just out the oven). It will start to melt as you spread, which gives a nice even coverage.

Leave overnight in the tin / mould to cool and for the icing to harden. If you can resist, leave for a couple of days in a tin to mature as it will improve given a chance !

Sarah-Jane Nash, November 2011 - www.siliconemoulds.com - Cooking with silicone bakeware

Bockwurst Sausages Baked in a Bun - MAN FOOD !

2011-11-16T03:35:00.000-08:00

I came up with this idea a few weeks ago and never got round to trying it out until today.. This photo is a little scary. These are my colleagues - not a bunch of ex convicts :-P

The guys got ripped into these when I took them in at lunchtime and it took them a little longer to demolish one than it does a dainty macaron !

I'm sure there will be someone else out there who may adapt these and make them look pretty. Forgive me, but this initial version is unadulterated MAN FOOD. It's rustic and huge. Made for eating with grubby, unwashed hands and cramming in a big gob (huge mouth) whilst on the move. Saying that, they smelt wonderful even if they did look rather silly.

Saying that, it worked pretty well.

I'd bought a big jar of 8 huge German Brockwurst sausages from Lidl. They are like big hotdogs, (though taste a lot better) and come in a jar with brine. I'm guessing they have a higher meat content than normal hot dogs and are 75% pork These were ready cooked and can be eaten cold or reheated. They're big old hot dogs at approx 8" long.

The recipe below produced enough dough to make 6 Bockwursts Baked in Buns.

First of all, I made a batch of bread dough very late last night. My Kitchenaid did all the work with a dough hook.

500g strong white bread flour

25g olive oil

1.5tsp salt

1tbsp sugar

14g dried active yeast - or 1 x sachet fast action bread maker yeast

35g wholegrain mustard

35g grated parmesan

1.5tsp dried mixed herbs

320ml luke warm water

It using dried active yeast, dissolve sugar in the water, add the yeast and leave for about 10mins to activate.

Proceed to combine all ingredients and make the dough. Knead for 10 mins until smooth and silky - or if it's 1.30am, you may choose to get the Kitchenaid to do it for you as I did !

Put the dough in an oiled bowl and cover with clingfilm. Shove in the fridge overnight - or leave to rise until doubled in size and ready to use.

I've been working with sour dough a lot recently. That does not rise as much as regular dough. I've been shoving my sour dough in the fridge in an oiled tupperware box rather than in a big bowl.

This was how much the dough had risen IN THE FRIDGE after about 2 hours before I went to bed... I knocked it back a bit, figured it wouldn't do much more (and had no where to go) before the morning and put it back in the fridge.

This is what I found this morning ....

I guess it had been trying to escape !

I took it out the box and divided into 6 x 140g balls. Each of these was rolled out. I put a generous squirt of chilli tomato ketchup on each one and a bockwurst on top.

Then sealed them up like packages. Do not forget to make a small air / steam hole in one end. The ones I didn't burst open at the seams on baking.. Glaze with egg wash and bake at approx 180deg C fan for 20mins.

I wish I'd scattered some sesame seeds on top too.

As you can see, they cam out a beautiful golden brown and the sausages stayed snuggly warm inside the soft dough outer for a considerable amount of time. They may look a bit more presentable cut in two across the diagonal and served in a basket with some hand cut chips (fries). But whatever way - offer to a man, and it's good food to grab and go !

Sarah-Jane Nash - experimenting in the kitchen, November 2011 - http://www.siliconemoulds.com

Beef Suet Pudding - A British Winter Classic

2011-11-14T17:32:00.000-08:00

A rich and luxurious beef steak suet pudding. Easily enough to feed 6+

I'd never made one of these - but it's easier than it looks. A pressure cooker drastically cuts down cooking time !

Recipe

For the filling (and enough to also do a steak pie !)

1kg shin beef (cubed)

all purpose flour

2 cloves of garlic, crushed / chopped

150g pickled onions, drained and sliced

1 > 2 medium onions, finely sliced

150g sliced mushrooms

2 sticks celery (finely sliced or small diced)

1 tsp ground black pepper

1 tsp thyme

1 tbsp black treacle

2 tsp marmite (or vegemite)

3 beef stock cubes

1 heaped tsp of english mustard

30g grated parmesan

Generously toss the cubed shin beef in flour until totally covered and fry in a little oil to brown in batches until starting to go golden on the outside. Set aside. Gently cook the garlic, celery and onion for a couple of minutes, before adding the onions, pickled onions, and mushrooms to the pan.

To approx 1pint of boiling water, dissolve the stock cubes. Stir in the pepper, thyme, treacle, mustard and parmesan. Pour over the meat / onions. Give it a good stir and cover with a tight fitting lid. Leave to gently simmer on the hob for a couple of hours, checking occasionally. More water can be added if needed, but we’re looking for a thick and luxurious gravy at the end before taking it off the heat.

To make the suet pastry

150g beef suet
300g self raising flour
1tsp dried mixed herbs
1 > 2 tsp baking powder
approx 200mls cold water.

Mix the dry ingredients together. Combine the ingredients together with cold water – just enough to bind and bring together. I also added a couple of tsp of dried mixed herbs

Take a pyrex glass pudding bowl and butter the inside generously.

Reserve about 1/3 of the pastry dough. Roll the rest out to about 5 or 6mm thick on a silicone work mat (stops it sticking to the work tops !) and use this to line the pudding bowl. There should be enough to allow for a small overhang. Rest / chill in the fridge for approx 20 mins.

Fill the pudding bowl to within about 30mm of the top, don't put in too much of the gravy ! Roll the remaining dough and place this over the top of the meat and seal using a pastry brush with a little water. Make sure to leave a gap of about 25mm / 1" from the top of the bowl to allow for expansion

Cover with some greaseproof paper and foil. Put a pleat in the middle to allow for expansion. I used an elastic band to hold this in place whilst I tied it with string.

Put about 3" of water in the bottom of a pressure cooker. Place a trivet on the bottom and a bowl on the top. Cook at high pressure for approx 1 hour. Alternatively, this can be steamed in around 2.1/2 hours.

Carefully remove from the pressure cooker or steamer when cooked. Remove foil and allow to sit for approx 10 mins to crisp up and retract a little before turning out. Additional reserved gravy can be poured over the top if required.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I can’t believe about 2 weeks have already passed since Oliver and I made this. The time has simply flown by ! It’s that time of year when I work so much that one day rolls into the next without me noticing. There is just SO much work to be done.......

Bed time is normally around 4am and I’m staggering back to my feet around 7am. For the most part, I cope with it - but every 10 days or so my body says no which results in a twelve hour or more straight of seriously deep sleep. I swear that during that time, I would be totally oblivious if a bomb had gone off and trying to wake me is totally pointless. Oliver will vouch for that ! Thankfully, it’s normally on a weekend when my husband is still around in the mornings.

I’ve had one of “those” nights and thankfully rather refreshed. Bright enough in fact to catch up on some well over due blog posting before I forget to post some of these entirely. After all, my mind is not what it was. I could be crazy, or senile – but thankfully it’s much more likely to be down to tiredness.

A week ago, one of Oliver’s little friends was having a birthday party at an indoor play centre. Feeling guilty that during the winter months Oliver (like me) has a non-existent social life, I decided to pull him out of nursery and take a couple of hours away from work to take him to Finlay’s party. Work could wait.... just a little while. After all, the world wasn’t going to stop turning just because I’d taken two hours out. We arrived about 15 minutes late. No big deal I suppose – and fairly normal for me at the moment given the hectic schedules I’ve been running to. Oliver was proudly carrying the little present and card we’d got for Finlay and was super excited about the party and seeing his friends.

Tears flowed.

Lots of them.

Bad Mummy had got it wrong. The party wasn’t today – we’d arrived a MONTH early ! No amount of apologies or chocolate could make it right. Yeah. Sometimes even chocolate is not enough to win over a kid..... Even a kid that loves chocolate.

I joke not – Oliver’s little face was STILL tripping him when I picked him up that night. I agreed to the request to make cake. I sort of made it up to him after work on the Saturday after work and took him (by special request) to the cafe at Goodies Farm shop too. He loves sitting in there and having some lunch, with a drawing book and a pile of crayons.

We had a good couple of hours the next day (last Sunday) too. I’d booked tickets months ago to take him to see “Roary The Racing Car”. We had ice cream in the city before going into the theatre. The seats we had were super – front row, right in the centre. Oliver loved it – but I can’t really say that I got into it. I think I fell asleep once or twice (was certainly on the cusp) although Oliver was rather unimpressed with Mummy for that !

By the time we got home, I realised that I’d lost my camera. It’s ALWAYS in my handbag, and I’d had it with us. That camera goes EVERYWHERE with me. I turned the car upside down. I phoned the cinema. I tried to back track where I’d been. ALL this week I’ve been looking for that damn camera and totally gutted that it was gone. I’d checked my handbag several times. Checked my laptop case, taken a pitch fork to the car. No camera. I didn’t think I’d ever see it again until I got a phone call from the cinema this afternoon. Yes, one of the staff had found a black camera left on the front row on Sunday.

My heart skipped a beat. I’d a load of photos on there of recipes I’ve not yet blogged. I’d photos and videos of Oliver I hadn’t downloaded. “Yeah, it’s a Samsung.”

Hell and damnation. Punch me why don’t you. “Mine’s a Panasonic.”

“Are you SURE ? Why don’t you come and get it ?”

I actually stopped to think. Maybe mine was a Samsung.... “Thanks – but mine’s a Panasonic”.

Nah. I’m sure that I’m sure I’m sure !

I rummaged in my handbag – searching for a couple of Neurofen to kill a migraine that was on the brew. They were in there somewhere. I needed them now. Even if they were lurking with fluff at the bottom I’d find them.

So was a black Panasonic camera.

Loaded Apple Spice Muffins (low fat content) FOODBUZZ #5 14/11/11

2011-11-12T17:27:00.000-08:00

I was totally taken in by the stunning images on Anncoo Journal of some wonderful Italian apple cupcakes. Gosh – they looked so good I visually ate the lot off the screen. The ingredients list was awesome too. There was whacking great amount of butter – bound to make any cake taste good.... but not exactly easy on the waistline. Then again, what cake doesn’t add inches to your waistline. Blimey. I’m sure just thinking about it makes mine expand.

Hmm. My apple trees did well this year. I’ve got a fridge drawer full of Bramleys, a shelf full of Empire Reds and a car load of Jonagolds. Apples are bountiful in England in the autumn and winter months. I’ve been good. I don’t each much cake these days. I’ve got an abundance of apples begging to be used. How many excuses does a fat girl (trying to get thin) need to bake ?

I’ve waited a week.

“Mummy .... I need to bake cake !” a little voice chirps up and a fluffy blond head pops round the door.

One. Just one. That’s all the excuse I need.

Three years ago, I was convinced I was going to have a little girl. I had dreams of riding ponies together and threading daisy chains on the grass. Instead, I was nurturing a little boy that would love mud and cars. I worried as he’s start to grow up, all he would want was to spend all his time with Daddy.

That may well happen.... buy my little boy loves mud, and cars and BAKING with Mummy.

Sure, this is cake, compared to Ann’s amazing Italian Apple Cakes, it’s much lower in fat. That does NOT mean eat six. Don’t eat cake in excess. You’ll get fat. Don’t sue me – I warned you !

RECIPE

Makes 12 > 14

255g all purpose flour

3tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

2 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp ginger

good couple of pinches nutmeg

good pinch of ground cloves

150g granulated sugar

90mls oil

150mls milk

1 beaten egg

350g finely cored and finely sliced apples ( I used some small Empire Reds, peel left on)

agave nectar (or warmed golden syrup) to glaze

Sift dry ingredients together.

In a separate bowl or jug, mix the wet ingredients together. Combine wet and dry ingredients, (taking care not to over mix) folding in the mass of apples in the final few strokes. It will look like mainly apples and not much batter !

Spoon into standard size cupcake / muffin paper cases in a muffin tray or silicone muffin mould. These need filling more or less to the top. There is so little batter in relation to apples that these muffins aren’t going to give a great rise.

Bake for approx 22mins at 180deg C fan oven until tops are golden and a cocktail stick comes out clean.

Glaze the top with some agave syrup brushed onto the tops of the hot muffins. Allow to cool and serve.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

On leaving the house this morning, I put one of these in these in the fridge for Oliver. We’d made 14, though next time, I’ll use the batter to make just 12. Oliver had already demolished one still a little warm before we left.

Twelve left.

I put the baking tray with the silicone mould containing the muffins on the back seat of the car. I didn’t box them up, as they were still a little warm. I wanted to take them into work to photograph and figured that the lads that work with me would find resisting these futile. What I didn’t forsee was that only 10 would make it to work.

I know what you are thinking.

The smell of my car was amazing. The wafts of warm spices cheered me up no end. Nothing like the smell of Christmassy spices to lift your soul. It made me hungry too.

The tray bounced and slid as I cursed and hit a pot hole that had escaped my notice. The tray slid and two muffins out and hit the floor. Only 10 lots of temptation remained.

I set my lightbox up on a table in the stove showroom to take a few snaps. I didn’t think it would take long before my colleagues would start coming to look at what I had in there. But it wasn’t Colin that was first (despite the fact he usually is). Nor Richard, or Martin. It was a little boy that came in the door with his mum to buy a fire grate as I was just starting to take some photos.

“I’m hungry!” he piped up.

Not much time for photos – they were a little hurried to say the least. I now wish I'd taken some more.

The little boy and his mum had a cake. Colin, Richard and Martin had a cake. Another customer coming in had a cake as did I .... and the postman. The last two ? I don’t know where they went !

I didn’t eat them. I SWEAR I didn’t eat them.

Wherever they went, that has to be the most amazing fastest cake disappearance I’ve ever seen. Five minutes max and ...... gone.

The paper muffin / cupcake cases are a new design just in. You can find the RED DOTTY HEARTS paper cases here in standard 50mm size.

Sarah-Jane Nash, November 2011 - www.siliconemoulds.com - silicone bakeware moulds.

Thanks for voting for these in the Foodbuzz top 9 !

Not So Sour Sourdough Bread !

2011-11-06T13:53:00.000-08:00

I recently went on a sourdough bread class with my friend Victoria. We had a super day and made some lovely things (you can see them here). However, I found that the 1/2 and 1/2 wholemeal and white sourdough loaf we made was pretty much inedible to me. It was just TOO sour.

I love the idea of being able to grow and nurture wild yeast. I like the fact that it can live dormant in the fridge for practically months at a time without a feed and yet can still be resurrected. Why use commercial yeast after all when you can make your own ? Convenience is of course a big factor ... and dried yeast offers that. It's not so convenient though when you've run out and forgotten to replace it !

I've been messing around with some starter and sourdough over the past two or three weeks trying to find the best way to make a tasty sourdough with a MILD tang that is not overpowering. Most people who love sourdough will be shaking their heads in disbelief I'm sure ..... as many aim to make it as sour as they possibly can. I know this is not the accepted way of doing things, but I'm sure there are probably many other bakers like me who find the taste of sourdough too strong......

For anyone who has not eaten sourdough before, it has a crispy / crunchy crust and a chewy interior. It's very different from commercially produced breads or those made with dried yeast !

There are various websites that list info for making a starter. Basically, it's just rye flour and water mixed together. Each day, 1/2 is thrown out and replaced with fresh to feed the growing culture. By the end of 5 days or so your should have created your own wild yeast which will be bubbly and lively. Unless you are planning on baking, this can go into a tub in the fridge and sit in a dormant state.

To bake with it, you need to take a tablespoon or two of the gloop in the fridge and add twice the volume of flour and water and mix to a paste. Cover with cling film and leave to sit on the kitchen counter for 12 hours or so until it starts to get bubbly.

Most recipes seem to then add more water and flour and leave overnight to make a sponge. More flour and water, sugar and salt are added to then make a dough. I've skipped that step.

Here is my Not So Sour White Sourdough Recipe.

2 tablespoons of starter from your vat in the fridge

5 well rounded tbsp of strong white bread flour

1 well rounded tbsp of rye flour

mix with enough luke warm water to reach a dropping consistency (much like cake batter !)

Cover with clingfilm and leave on the kitchen counter overnight.

It should be nice and bubbly by the morning. Discard about half (of put it in another bowl if you intend making more than one loaf and do the next following steps to both lots of gloop).

For the bread dough :

500g white bread flour

30g rye flour

10g salt

265g water

tablespoon of honey (or golden syrup !)

220g gloop as above

Take out, knock back and shape as required. You can see the air bubbles in my dough. I've knocked it back a bit, but don't want to be so harsh as to knock all those lovely bubbles out. There were much larger surface bubbles than this, but unfortunately my photos were out of focus.

Place on a baking tray, cover with cling film and leave for around another 1.1/2 hours before baking. You need a relatively warm kitchen for bread to rise. I've currently got my tumble drier on to dry the washing - so the dough is rising slowly but steadily.

Alternatively, you can let it rise in a banneton cane basket before turning on to a baking tray just prior to putting in the oven. DON'T PUT THE BANNETON IN THE OVEN !

A banneton will put artisan rings on your loaf and helps it keep shape and not spread. The dough will stick to the cane unless the banneton has been sealed with a slip of cornflour and water before first use. To the dough I put in these bannetons, I added a handful of roughly chopped kalamata olives.

This recipe makes approx 1kg of bread dough - enough for one large loaf or two small ones.

Once risen, you can either leave as is, or glaze with egg wash. On the large loaf shown below, I've slashed it diagonally a few times with a serrated bread knife.

I bake at 220deg C , turning down to 180deg C after 10 minutes until done. Just before you put the bread in the oven, pour some boiling water into a roasting tin and place on the shelf below the bread. It's the water in the tray that helps develop the crust.

My large loaf takes about 40 mins and the small ones about 25 to 30mins. They are done when you tap the bottom and they sound hollow.

This is how the large glazed loaf turned out.

I was a bit stupid turning the ones out the bannetons. I turned them out on to my hands (unfloured) and the dough typically stuck to my hands ! By the time I transferred the dough to the baking trays - it was rather distorted ....

Oh well - as long as it's edible - I'll forgive it for not being beautiful !

And here are the smaller distorted loaves made from the second batch of dough (with Kalamata olives). You can see both loaves sliced together at the top of the blog post.

Sarah-Jane Nash, November 2011 - www.siliconemoulds.com

Rumbledethumps With Stuffed Chicken Thighs

2011-11-05T18:33:00.000-07:00

Rumbledethumps - what a funny word. It certainly made Oliver giggle !

He seemed to like it though and gobbled the whole lot up at warp speed. Leftovers are easily reheated the following day.

Rumbledethumps is a traditional Scottish dish similar to Colcanon. It's smooth mashed potatoes, cooked savoy cabbage and some onions that have been sweated off to transparent. Mix them all together add some butter, a good grating of nutmeg and season with salt and pepper. Dress the top with some cheddar cheese if you wish (though I used some parmesan) and shove in the oven to finish off.

No real amounts here - but I did weigh what I used tonight :

650g floury potatoes

200g cabbage

1 medium onion

I'm sure you get the idea. This is enough to serve 4 > 6 people. We like plenty for left overs the next day !

I would have liked to have had it in the oven a bit longer to get some colour on top - but when a 3yo is hungry, aesthetics are the last thing on your mind....

For the stuffed chicken thighs, I boned two per person and left the skin on.

Then stuffed the middle with 1/2 a butcher's pork sausage, some chopped fresh herbs (thyme and oregano) and a little lemon zest.

Tied up with wasteful kitchen twine (I was in far too much of a hurry to look for enough silicone rope ties scattered through various kitchen drawers !)

Roasted in my halogen oven at 200deg C on bottom rack for approx 20mins

Simple, cheap, quick and easy family meal !

Sarah-Jane Nash, November 2011 - www.siliconemoulds.com

Rainbow Cake and Chocolate Cake - Oliver's 3rd Birthday Cake Fest.

2011-11-03T18:28:00.000-07:00

Yes - Oliver - aka my Little Cake Tester, is 3 ! It was his birthday last Tuesday and we had a steam train ride with his friends last Sunday which was super fun. Seems an eternity ago now already. Hard to believe it's 3 years since I was given the most beautiful little bundle I'd ever set eyes on.

Asked what he wanted for his birthday " Cake Mummy, just cake ! A big round chocolate cake and cupcakes to take to nursery.... and a Handy Manny cake with a car on it for my party"

Hmm. Not just one cake then. More like lots of cakes.... and lots of work

We started with this. After all, I couldn't not make my little rascal a cake to cut on the morning of his birthday ! A great big fudgy chocolate cake and a load of cupcakes with pirate toppers and flags. Did I mention Oliver likes pirates ? Ok - he's mad about pirates at the moment ...

You can find the chocolate cake recipe here.

This was not all the cupcakes - there were 24 of them and I put them all into little individual sealed pods after taking the photo, ready for the next morning.

At 8.30am....

There was chocolate cake for breakfast ... and a helicopter...

Don't worry. My kid doesn't normally eat cake for breakfast, but it's allowed on birthdays !

Oliver was very happy with the chocolate cakes, and the cupcakes seemed to go down a storm at nursery. We even posted a few to relatives and they seemingly arrived intact !

For the party, I'd arranged a steam train trip for 10 kids and 9 mummies. In the end 3 daddies and a nanny came along for the ride too ! I started making the cake you see at the top on the Saturday night after Oliver went to bed.

I admit it. I had every intention of copping out. I had bought a plastic Handy Manny car and intended making a simple sponge cake, fondant covering and then plonking said car on top.

Plenty of excuses.

I'm still not well.

I'm tired an have been working FAR too much

How many cakes does a 3yo need ?

But then again, what sort of food blogging mummy would I be to cheat and make a boring cake decorated with a plastic car ?

The challenge was on.

Something different. Something with wow factor. Shocking even - since it was also Halloween.

Have you ever heard of a Rainbow cake ? Six sponge layers like a rainbow. A hideous amount of food colouring. Layered with white swiss meringue buttercream.

I'd heard of it- but I'd never made one. I'd never even tasted swiss meringue buttercream either never mind made the stuff. 2am and no time to practice. It would either work, or be a mad rush for a cake at the supermarket in the morning !

Made the cake layers, made the swiss meringue buttercream.

Fondant covered the cake - that was hard. Didn't realise it should be refrigerated before covering this stuff. Swiss meringue buttercream has the texture of whipped cream ! Finish wasn't too bad. Ditched the plastic car idea and made a giant black topper with cut out skull and crossbones detail so the white icing shone through.

Cake looked cute, boyish and totally disguised what lay within....

Oliver ready to cut his cake....

and this is what was inside !

No one had seen one of these before and it certainly got it's fair share of attention. I felt like a kid again myself. It didn't look anything spectacular when putting it together but was rather breath-taking when sliced !

It's really funny to see kids with multi coloured cake crumbs all over their face. :-)

This is not an original idea. I found it at www.whisk-kid.com . The original recipe is here

Rainbow Cake

225g salted butter

400g caster sugar

5 egg whites

2tsp vanilla extract

400g self raising flour (sifted)

30g cornflour

350g luke warm milk

Weigh your mixing bowl.

Cream butter and sugar. Beat in egg whites followed by some of the flours, then some milk, more flour, more milk and vanilla until all incorporated.

Divide the mix equally into 6 bowls. I had 260g of mix in each bowl.

Add a stupid amount of gel paste food colouring to each until a very vibrant colour is achieved. I used red, orange, yellow, green, blue and violet.

Butter and flour (or grease and line) an 8" diameter silicone baking mould or standard tin for each bowl of mix. I made two cakes at a time. These cooked at 170deg C fan for about 13 minutes. Remove from the oven and allow to cool.

You could layer this with normal vanilla buttercream and it would be lovely. For me, the jury is still out on the Swiss Meringue Buttercream. I didn't much care for it before it went on the cake, but as a filling it was light, fluffy and quite tasty. I wouldn't want much of it though. Then again, I SHOULDN'T be eating cake anyway !

Swiss Meringue Buttercream (Whisk-Kid has a fantastic tutorial )

9 (NINE) egg whites

350g caster sugar

450g butter

2 tsp vanilla

100g white chocolate (melted and at room temperature)

Look at the link to the tutorial. I could not have made the SMB without it. I'd have chucked it out at the soupy stage !

Put the egg whites in a pan with the caster sugar over a low heat. Lightly whisk in the pan on the heat until the sugar is dissolved and the texture is no longer gritty.

Put this into a stand mixer and whisk until cool. Add tiny knobs of the butter and whisk until these totally disappear before adding more. It will eventually look really soup like. Whisk the life out of it for about 5 mins.. If it refuses to thicken up to whipped cream consistency, bung it in the fridge for 30 mins and then try again. Mine needed the time in the fridge...

Vicky was good enough to video the cake cutting for me...

A labour of love for the little one I treasure most.

Happy 3rd Birthday baby. All those cakes were worth every minute to see the smiles on your face !

Lots of Love Always, Mummy xx

Lavender Macarons with White Chocolate Ganache

2011-10-30T19:00:00.000-07:00

It's been a week of cake here in Norfolk. A load of testing for some new mould designs I'm working on for early next year and Oliver's 3rd birthday

RECIPE

160g icing sugar

160g ground almonds

4 large egg whites, separated into two equal batches -

160g caster sugar

80ml water

1 tablespoon lavender sugar

1/2 tsp violet gel paste food colouring

Sift the almonds and icing sugar and lavender sugar together. Blitz with a blender or in a mill. Add the food colouring paste / gel to two egg whites and put this on top of the icing sugar / ground almond mix. The colour should good SERIOUSLY STRONG. It will lighten when you add the egg white / syrup mix and again on cooking. You do want gel / paste as liquid food colouring is not strong enough colour and can thin the batter and interfere with the rise.

Heat caster sugar and water together until they reach 110deg C. Whip 2 egg whites to stiff peaks and then slowly drizzle and whip in the hot syrup to these until it becomes shiny and stiff. Avoid getting any syrup directly on the beaters if possible !

Fold the whipped egg white / syrup mix gently into the other bowl of mix. I started by adding a spoonful and mixing that through to loosen it up and then folded the rest in.

Transfer this into a piping bag. Pipe into small rounds on grease proof paper or silicone baking sheets.

You need to stand the macaron mix like this on the sheets for about 30mins or so until the surface does not stick to your finger when touched BEFORE you bake it. Otherwise, your shells are likely to crack and the finished result really isn't the same (been there - done that !) Put on some sprinkles (if using) now. I sprinkled some dried lavender on top.

Pop into a 145 > 150deg C oven for approx 15 minutes. Remove and immediately slide silicone sheet or greaseproof paper off the tray onto the work surface.

Leave to TOTALLY cool before removing. If even slightly warm, the insides of the macaron will leave themselves stuck to the paper or silicone sheet.

To make the lavender sugar, put some sprigs of fresh lavender during the summer months in a container o granulated sugar in exactly the same way as you would to make vanilla sugar. Rosemary sugar is lovely too and also made in the same way.

For the white chocolate gananche, I used 150g of chocolate and poured over 200ml of scalded cream. Stir to melt the chocolate. When melted and cooled to room temperature, put in the fridge for a little while until firm enough to pipe.

Sarah-Jane Nash - October 2011

Butternut Squash, Chestnut & Gruyere Jalousie

2011-10-22T19:54:00.000-07:00

Forgive me. This could be quite a large blog entry and photo heavy as I've got loads of photos etc this time to share. Unfortunately, the photos of my Jalousie do it no justice at all - but time and light were not in my favour....

Jalousie is a fancy name for an otherwise basic slatted / latticed tart or freeform pie. It can be as simple or as fancy as you wish. With so many lovely autumnal vegetables freshly available, it seemed silly not to put them to good use. I've come up with this amazingly delicious combination. It doesn't look overly special, but hey ho - we all have bad photo days. You'll struggle to go wrong if you choose to create your own. Whether sweet or savoury - shove all your favourite things in.....

jalousie [ˈʒælʊˌziː]

1. (Fine Arts & Visual Arts / Furniture) a window blind or shutter constructed from angled slats of wood, plastic, etc.

2. (Fine Arts & Visual Arts / Furniture) a window made of similarly angled slats of glass

[from Old French gelosie latticework screen, literally: jealousy, perhaps because one can look through the screen without being seen]

Jalousie shown above was served with fresh beetroot steamed in a foil packet with cumin

Recipe (serves approx 4 > 5)

I prepared this the night previous to cooking and refrigerated overnight - simply for convenience.

1 x 500g block pre-made puff pastry

2 > 3 good quality butchers sausages (omit for vegetarian option)

3 medium sized chestnut mushrooms (optional)

8 > 10 cooked chestnuts

1 small butternut squash

50g grated gruyere

some finely chopped fresh sage (if available)

Peel, de-seed and cube the butternut squash into approx 2cm chunks. I think I had around 350g of prepared raw weight. I drizzled these with olive oil and quickly roasted them on the top grill of my halogen oven at about 220deg until starting to brown. You could put them in your jalousie raw, but I wanted faster cooking time and something that could be shoved in the oven after work the next day...

Next. prepare the chestnuts. I used fresh sweet chestnuts and roasted them quickly on the top shelf of my halogen oven. I find that after cooking, cover them with a damp cloth to keep them hot and moist makes them easier to shell. I've made a rubbish little video of this... You may prefer to use canned or vaccum packed chestnuts for convenience !

Next, roll the puff pastry out on a silicone pastry rolling mat to approx 12" x 14". Using a blunt table knife, cut this down the middle into two equal pieces 6" x 14" (approx).

Start layering the ingredients - starting with thinly sliced mushrooms and chopped chestnuts. You can see I've then added the squash on top, sausages (removed from skins and rolled into balls approx 1cm dia.) before finally topping with the gruyere.

Top with the second piece of pastry and crimp round the edges. I use a fork handle and pull it up and over. This jalousie was so full, I really thought it may well burst out the seams !

If refrigerating overnight before baking, do cover with cling film to stop it drying out.

Glaze with a beaten egg before baking. I baked this at 210deg C Fan oven for about 25 mins.

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It's Autumn here in the UK, and it's been bright, sunny, warmer and drier than is generally normal for this time of year. We live in East Anglia - which is also known as the "Bread Basket" of Britain. It's prime agricultural land that offers the best of UK growing conditions.

Being lucky enough to live in a rural area like this has lots of advantages. In the (almost) 10 years I've lived here, I have NEVER bought eggs from a shop. Ok, so we have chickens now, but prior to that or in winter months when they don't lay so many - it's so easy to stop by a farm or house with a stall and honesty jar by the side of the road. Simply take what you need, put your money in the jar or tin and off you go. Easy as that. Good, locally produced, seasonal fruit and vegetables on our doorsteps.

I stopped just down the road earlier this week to buy a pumpkin and also saw those pears for sale. I love the photo above - they look so appealing. What an absolute shame I cannot stand pears ! I love the fact that this way of life often allows me to get hold of some produce I'd never find in the supermarket and unbeatably fresh (as well as inexpensive).

The other direction from home, I can currently get wet walnuts, honey and duck eggs - oh - not forgetting cider vinegar and more varieties of pressed apple juice than you can dream of.

There are lots of local farmers markets. These are generally run on Saturday mornings at local villages. Most alternate, so you know which Saturday where the market is. Wymondam Farmers Market is probably my favourite and on the 3rd Saturday of the month. This time of year, I generally work Saturday mornings - so getting to one of the markets is a rare occurrence.

I was at work today, but took last Saturday morning off due to being very poorly the day before. Oliver and I took a quick trip to Wymondham market to grab some goodies on offer....

Here is Oliver - munching on a cracker given to him by the lady on the fish stall. I don't know whether it because he was looking cute or half starved that he managed to wangle a cracker, but it certainly raised a huge smile ! Of course, he had to carry his own bag. He likes to choose things. He carries the light ones and I get the heavy stuff. First stop was for vegetables (loads of teeny weeny onions, butternut squash and broccoli.

From the fish lady, we got some lovely oak hot smoked salmon and a fresh dressed crab as well as a little pot of peeled brown shrimps. An expensive treat - but made a lovely Sunday evening meal with some thinly sliced toasted sour dough.

This guy is from ChillisGalore.co.uk . I used to mail order from them a long long time ago. They make some awesome chilli sauces, jams and jellies. My dad particularly likes their limited addition Lemon Drop Chilli Jelly and I managed to bag 3 jars for him last weekend...

Beautiful selection of Artisan Breads. I generally don't tend to buy this sort of bread as I adore making it myself given any excuse.... So much of it is such an irresistible smell though at the market ! Oliver picked a huge Rosemary and Olive oil Focaccia and a good 1/4 of had GONE in his tummy before we even got it home ! I chose a couple of little savoury tarts for tea - goats cheese and red onion and I think the other was pea, spinach and feta ? Sorry - I've forgotten. They were eaten a week ago...

The cake at the front is a new creation from Dr Tim Kinnaird (pastry chef and runner up of Masterchef 2010). I brought it home for my husband - but did have a little taste. I cannot find what it is online, but it was some sort of creamy brulee type top with a chocolatey middle and alcohol soaked sponge base. I'll tweet him and maybe we'll be lucky enough to find out.

This is some of the stuff we came back with. Notice I trimmed the focaccia up at the back since Oliver had eaten huge chunks on the way home !

Oliver ADORES macarons and picked a Salt Caramel macaron from Tim which was demolished in no time at all. After spending a small fortune at the market, we went into the library down the road for a little while. I'm ashamed to say we left about 20mins later without me even having a chance to read to Oliver - attempting to do so just resulted in continuous coughing fits and an inability to breathe. He had to put up with just having a browse on his own ! I'm a bit better now since the doctors started me on some steroids at the beginning of the week.....

On getting back to the car, Oliver found some massive piles of leaves and had such a ball jumping in them and kicking them in the air. If his back had not been facing me most of the time, I'm sure I could have got some super shots ! After that was over, Oliver was BEGGING for another macaron (rolls eyes). We walked back up to the market and he snagged the very last salted caramel macaron. I did ask nicely for a bite - but was told "NO WAY MUMMY !" I'd have bought my own macaron, but believe it or not, the diet is still going strong and I'm now 2st down..

That wasn't the end of the day.... from there we ended up at Goodies Farm Shop for locally stone milled flours and some locally reared meat from their in-house butchery. A coffee in the cafe was very welcome and Oliver munched his way through a lunch of some rather nice looking sausages and chips.

Coming home, we made some of those Rye Crackers I showed you from the sour dough bread course.. Well - I put the ingredients out to sit overnight and we made the crackers the following day. Good rolling Oliver (ok - you had a LITTLE help !) These were MASSIVE !

I'm popping the recipe in here for my convenience - since I often use my own blog recipes on the Ipad in the kitchen !

RYE CRACKERS

500g full fat milk

40g honey

30g rye sourdough starter

500g rye flour

250g white bread flour

20g salt

5g bicarbonate of soda

10g spice of choice - ie ginger, cardamom, cumin, caraway, fennel

Knead for 10 > 15 mins in Kitchenaid. Cover and leave overnight.

Next day, roll out balls of approx 50g as thinly as possible on to a silicone mat floured with rye flour. Prick with a fork. Brush with water and top with flaked sea salt and seeds / spices etc ( we used fennel on some and cummin on others).

Bake at 200deg C for approx 10mins

Couple of girls out riding on a stubble field one morning this week....

Some of my ponies in the field.... growing winter woolly coats. The one in the middle is Digger who you may remember was born in January this year.

Henrietta and scruffy looking Chicky (the chick we hatched a few weeks back).

Oliver (still sporting a chocolate face) and I - taking photos of yourself with a camera is never a great idea.... But here we are !

Sarah-Jane (and Oliver) Nash - October 2011

Sourdough - A Class With Virtuous Bread (and some Pea & Ham Soup)

2011-10-15T11:09:00.000-07:00

Sourdough bread is something I had been meaning to have a go at making for some time.... and another thing I had never got rough to doing.

It involves nurturing and feeding your own live yeast in order to make bread. Sounds rather daunting, but in reality it's not such a big deal.

Victoria and I took a day class last weekend with Rosie of Virtuous Bread in Norfolk. It was a relaxed day of fun and sticky doughs and stinky yeast starters ! Bit bonkers I suppose since I've been eating very little bread of late, but I booked the course some time ago and there is nothing to stop me making bread (even if I rarely eat it at the moment).

We made the 100% rye loaves above, a wholemeal and white loaf and the rye crackerbreads below.

Of all, the rye cracker breads were my favourite. The wholemeal and white loaf was a bit too sour for my palate. Then again, I'd never even tried sourdough before attending the class and I think it is a bit of an acquired taste.

The starter that Rosie (above) uses is a gloop of fermented rye flour and water. I believe it dates back to 1857 ! She is having it lab tested at the moment to try and trace back more details of time and place it first began. The results will be interesting....

Victoria, weighing out 50g balls of rye dough to make large crackers

A small amount of the starter is used and needs fed prior to baking with more flour and water and is then left for about 12 hours to get bubbly and gassy. I've actually been doing some considerable playing with mine over the past week... feeding twice daily with wholemeal flour, water and a teaspoon of lemon juice. The lemon is because we are in a very hard water area, so the lemon reduces the ph and helps get my starter more active.

I've found that by feeding it with double the amount of wholemeal flour and water, letting it mature then discarding all but 1/4 of a cup and feeding again just prior to use, makes for a less sour taste.

I've been eating a lot of soup at the moment as an evening meal. A pot tends to go a long way as my husband is not that fussed on soup - so it can be the same soup for 5 days in a row if I make a big batch. This is rarely a problem with a good pea and ham soup as it's so delicious I never get bored with it !

I make this in an electric pressure cooker as it's so quick and minimal fuss. You can obviously make it in a pot on the hob - or even in a slow cooker if you want to - and just adjust the cooking times.

Ingredients

1 smoked ham hock

1 large onion (peeled and quartered)

2 or 3 bay leaves

2 sticks of celery

5 vegetable stock cubes

500g dried, split green peas

Rinse the dried green peas thoroughly and then soak overnight in some cold water.

Put the smoked ham hock in a pressure cooker with the bay leaves, celery and onion. Cover with water and bring to pressure for approx 35mins. Alternatively, simmer in a pot with a tight fitting lid (or put in a slow cooker) until the meat is soft and falling apart.

Remove the ham hock from the water (now ham stock). Strip off and discard the skin and fat. Separate off the meat and set aside.

Put the soaked peas into the pressure cooker with the vegetable stock cubes and ham stock with onions and celery. Top up with water until you have a total of approx 3 litres.

Bring back to pressure for approx 15 mins (or cook until the peas are literally mush). Blitz with a hand blender and serve with some of the shredded ham hock meat on top. I additionally had one of the rye crackers we made at class alongside this. Very filling and yummy !

Sarah-Jane Nash, October 2011 - www.siliconemoulds.com

Almond & Cream Bundt Cake

2011-10-06T16:41:00.000-07:00

Well - if you want a really good basic cake recipe to use for birthday cakes / cakes for special occasions - or even just something plain and simple. I guess this has to be it.

This cake has a fine but dense crumb and cuts beautifully. It would make a super cake for carving.

This is the second time I've made it - this time in our new heart shaped bundt / tube pan. I have not dusted it with icing sugar - nor glazed it. This way, you can see absolutely all the details and it's impossible to hide any flaws ! To be honest, the cake does not need it. It's delicious as is, but adding a glaze when warm and letting it seep really makes it truly something special

Ingredients

some slivers of almonds
2.3/4 cups of flour
1/4 cup of corn flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
225g salted butter
3 cups white sugar
6 eggs
2 teaspoon vanilla (or almond) extract
1 cup double cream, with a good squeeze of lemon to sour

Preheat oven to 150deg C.

Take your bundt / tube ring pan - (I used our new silicone heart bundt bakeware mould) and lightly butter the inside. Dust with flour and tap out any excess over the sink.

Cream the butter and sugar together until pale and fluffy. Add one egg at a time, beating in well. After each egg, beat in a tablespoon or so of sieved flour to prevent the mixture curdling.

Once half the remaining sieved flour has been added, add the cream and flavouring extract, followed by the rest of the flour until just combined but no flour remains visible.

I put some slivers of almonds in the base of each heart shape so that these would show on the top.

Bake at 150deg C for approx 80mins until a toothpick comes out clean. As you can see, the mix did not QUITE fill to the top of this silicone mould.

As the silicone is very flexible, it was no problem to roll down the top of the mould once the cake had cooled.

I inserted cocktail sticks into the cake at the same height every 3inches or so right round the outside. I could then use these as a guide to cut the top part of the cake off with a serrated knife..... taking care not to cut the centre piece in the middle.

This off-cut was enough to serve 6 people in it's own right - it's a pretty big cake !

This is what it looked like after I cut the domed top part off, using the cocktail sticks as a guide. Perfect way to get a level cake !

Invert on to a serving plate and it's done.

If you want to glaze, try making a paste with orange or lemon juice and some icing sugar. Pour on the top whilst still hot and allow it to soak in. If the cake has cooled, you can always heat the orange / lemon juice and icing sugar until liquid and pour over the top as a syrup.

Sarah-Jane Nash (cheating - I made this in August !) - October 2011 - www.siliconemoulds.com

Mini Cherry Chocolate Mousses (low fat) and Dirty Bertie (FoodBuzz #7 6/10/11)

2011-10-04T05:56:00.000-07:00

Diets are all well and good, and for the main part I have no trouble sticking to one once I get started. However, every now and again, it's nice to have a little of something nice - perhaps something chocolatey yet not too sweet.

I saw a recipe for a yoghurt based chocolate mousse served with fresh fruit in one of the food magazines a month or so ago. I cannot for the life of me remember which one and cannot find it now to be able to cross reference for you. Anyway, I've modified the original recipe somewhat and it looks much different from the original. It's easy and quick. You get a nice chocolate hit from the dark chocolate and the mousse - without it being over sweet. That said, I can't think of anything that beats a really luxurious mousse made with cream.

Even I could eat one (JUST ONE) of these without feeling guilty as my once a week special treat. The rest went into work and to nursery with Oliver for the teachers. Leaving them sat in our fridge would have been temptation overload and besides, one was just enough !

I decided to make some little fluted chocolate cases with our new 12 cell fluted tart mould. This silicone bakeware mould is now also available in a larger 6 cell size. These little filled shells would make an ideal canape type dessert to pass round on a tray at a party... or perhaps to serve three different combinations as a dinner party dessert. Each one is little more than two bites.

Ingredients

200g dark chocolate (for the shells) (plus extra for seeding)

150g dark chocolate

8 tablespoons greek yoghurt

3 large egg whites

2 tablespoons powdered (icing) sugar

12 cherries

2 to 3 tablespoons of cherry preserve

Melt the chocolate in a double boiler. I like to boil some water, pour in a saucepan and simply place the broken chocolate in a glass bowl above the water until melted. Remove the bowl from the saucepan and stir in some broken pieces of chocolate to the melted chocolate until no more will melt. This procedure is called "seeding" and is a method of tempering chocolate to prevent the white mildew looking marks when the cocoa butter separates.

Using the back of a teaspoon, coat the inside of the 12 fluted mini tart mould with the chocolate. Refrigerate to harden and then repeat.

To make the mousse, melt the remaining chocolate and allow to cool.

Whip the egg whites with the (sieved) icing sugar until they reach firm peaks.

Stir the yoghurt into the chocolate and combine well, then fold in the egg whites using a metal spoon.

Put 1/2 to 1tsp of cherry preserve in the bottom of each chocolate shell and then top with some mousse. Refrigerate to set and then decorate with some chocolate curls and cherries. The little flowers on top of some of mine are made from modelling chocolate left over from making the chocolate roses in an earlier blog post.

Product description as copied from Amazon :

Review

"combines a wicked sense of humour and wacky illustrations... Children will laugh out loud" Booktrusted News

Product Description

Bertie has shockingly dirty habits, from nose-picking to weeing on the flowerbed! Whenever he does anything dirty, Bertie's family shouts "No, Bertie! That's dirty, Bertie!". Will Bertie ever kick his horrible habits?

A couple of weeks ago, I was sitting in the doctor's surgery with Oliver whilst we waited on my husband to be seen. There were about 7 or 8 people all sitting waiting to be seen (at a guess all 70yo +).

Oliver was the centre of attention and they were all sitting watching him play on the floor with a little toy car h had brought with him. In fact, many were being incorporated in his play and the car was zooming between feet. Had it been busy, I'd have had him say up nicely on a chair - but from the moment we had gone in he was the sole source of entertainment and bringing quite a number of smiles to some elderly people.

Anyway, eventually the car is no longer proving a distraction and Oliver decides he wants to read a book. The kiddies books in the doctors surgery are in pretty dire condition and falling to bits after many years of use. I was rather surprised when he came back from the little library area with an almost brand new looking book.... DIRTY BERTIE.

By this point, my husband is in with the doctor (prior to recently being admitted to hospital).

Oliver : " I like this book Mummy, it's Mrs Butcher's favourite !" (Mrs Butcher is his nursery class teacher)/

Oliver climbs up on my knee with the book. "Read it out loud Mummy. The old man will like this story".

Little did I know what was in store as I start reading the first page. "Louder Mummy - we can't hear you ...."

So, I start reading a bit louder. Comments from the other patients waiting indicated they did indeed want to hear the story too !

Every page that turned, the more Oliver giggled, the more the patients giggled and the redder my face got. I'm not kidding - this is one hideously embarrassing book to read in public to a small child. I swear someone put that in the doctor's surgery out of pure spite.

By 3/4 of the way through, I couldn't read it without laughing from sheer embarrassment about the vile habits of Dirty Bertie. Just when you think the worst is over .... the last page is something like....

"But Bertie does not do these horrid things any more. He's usually a good boy. However, when no one is looking, Bertie picks huge green bogies out his nose, puts them in his mouth and EATS THEM"

I suppose it made a few people laugh... but I was NOT amused when Oliver came back with another Dirty Bertie book - after having read that one. Your children will no doubt find this book hilarious - but I'd seriously recommend avoiding reading this one in public !

Sarah-Jane Nash, October 2011 - www.siliconemoulds.com

Garlic and Honey Marinated Lavender Lamb Kebabs

2011-10-03T18:10:00.000-07:00

First of all, apologies for my absence and not responding to previous comments.

The last few weeks have been very hard. My husband has been very poorly and was finally admitted to hospital on Monday last week. He did get home yesterday, but is extremely weak. It will be a long slow road to his recovery.

On top of that, I've got pneumonia and feel SO rough at the moment and little Oliver is now full of the snots. I can't lie down as breathing is almost impossible and the coughing unbearable.....so may as well do a middle of the night blog post and catch up a bit...

Garlic and Honey Marinated Lavender Lamb Kebabs

Gosh. That was a bit of a mouthful for a blog post title !

Saying that, I've eaten this twice for dinner in the couple of weeks and thoroughly enjoyed it.

There really is not much to this, and it could be easily scaled up to suit several people. There are no specific quantities ! It's makes an easy, quick and tasty meal.

Diced Lamb

some sprigs of lavender from the garden (can substitute with rosemary)

honey

lemon juice

garlic

Put the diced lamb in a non reactive bowl (such as glass). Add a good squeeze of lemon juice and a crushed garlic clove and approx 2 teaspoons of honey. I'd suggest this for one serving - so you'll likely need more of everything to scale up the recipe.

Give it a stir and leave (covered with cling film) for at least 1 hour to marinate.

Thread the marinated diced lamb pieces on to the lavender sprigs (or rosemary stalks with leaves removed). The flavour from the lavender or rosemary really infuses through the meat.

Put on a baking tray and drizzle with about 1/2 teaspoon more honey per skewer. I'd suggest two skewers per person (perhaps just one if serving with pitta bread and salad)

Grill in a halogen oven at about 230deg C on the top rack for approx 12 > 14 mins, turning once during cooking until a lovely golden brown.

I ate this with a fresh fig, drizzled with 1/2 tsp of honey and some diced cucumber in a tablespoon of Greek yoghurt with some chopped red chilli.

Here is my little cake tester about 2 weeks ago, wearing his new chef's outfit....

Oliver hard at work making chocolate krispie treats !

Sarah-Jane Nash, October 2011

My First Large, Fondant Covered Cake (with Chocolate Roses)

2011-09-18T17:52:00.000-07:00

Actually making a fondant covered celebration cake is something I've been meaning to do for at least the last year. This was one of the things on "my baking bucket list" along with swiss rolls, bagels, layered jellies and sour dough bread. All things that I've been really nervous of for some reason - yet when I've actually made the effort, found the nervousness totally unfounded.

The sour dough remains on that list - but I've actually booked a sour dough artisan bread class on the 9th of October. I'm going with my friend Victoria and am really looking forward to the day out !

The thing that worried me most about this was not baking the cake. I made a classic madeira cake which was ok, but nothing special. I'm not going to post the recipe, as I've found a far better recipe since that I would use next time I make a large covered cake.

My concerns lay in how good a job I'd do in fondant covering it. I was worried my fondant would all be cracked or bumpy and not smooth. If I'm going to take on a project, I like to make a good job of it. If I think it'll be a total hash - I'd rather not attempt it in the first place !

Given the fact that I was going to attempt this and also hoped it was something I could continue to do in future, I invested in a turntable. It really is not required, but does make the job of covering a cake so much easier.

On reading, I found that crumb coating is essential for a nice smooth surface. I had made two 8" madeira cakes. I trimmed these to level and used wild blueberry preserve and buttercream to fill. The buttercream needs to be quite soft and smooth to crumb coat. Basically, it involves covering the whole outside of the cake in a thin layer of buttercream. This fills any little air holes in the cake's surface and seals the crumbs in.

After leaving it to dry, I covered with my fondant. I used 1kg of regular pre-made block fondant. It was a bit on the sticky side (brand I've never used before) - so I decided to add a little colour and 3/4 cup of melted belgian chocolate. I simply kneaded the chocolate into the fondant, wrapped in cling film and left it to firm up.

There are loads of good youtube videos that show you how to fondant cover a large cake and I'd suggest watching some before your first attempt. Using a silicone work / rolling mat with a tiny amount of shortening rubbed in made the job easy. I had no need to dust with icing sugar or cornflour - there was absolutely no sticking whatsoever.

After fondant covering, the fun bit of decorating could commence.

I've recently been playing with modelling chocolate. It's basically melted chocolate mixed with corn syrup and mixed to a paste. Once left to harden, this turns into a clay that can be used almost like (or instead of) fondant. It's super good fun turning it into roses !

Corn syrup is not widely available in the UK - unless mail ordered from specialist American online stores.

As an alternative, I tried Agave nectar. That worked pretty well, but took a lot of beating with a spoon and a considerable time to get to a paste consistency. Golden syrup works well. It's thicker and I found I needed a little more of it. The final modelling chocolate is more resilient though and does not melt and stick to my hands at anything like the speed of the agave equivalent.

I used 300g of dark chocolate (54%) and 125ml of golden syrup. Only about 100ml of syrup is needed with white chocolate as this has a higher fat content.

Do have a look at this YouTube video which shows you how to make modelling chocolate and the roses. It really is fab....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=luQTkN-jmms

I need some practice yet - but these are my first chocolate roses....

Sarah-Jane Nash, September 2011 - www.siliconemoulds.com

Neapolitan Jellies - done my way ! (Foodbuzz #5 19/9/11)

2011-09-17T15:00:00.000-07:00

Just because I'm on a low carb, low fat diet doesn't mean I can't cook nice things. The world won't stop turning and I'm not going to stop baking.

It does however take a lot more initial thought and imagination (unless I've no intention of eating what I'm making). General meals are easy and very little effort, but treats take a lot of thought.

I came up with the idea for these last week and was desperate to get round to making them. I knew Oliver would love them if nothing else !

These pretty little jellies require very few ingredients and are easy for any cooking novice to make. However, if you want to make thin multi-coloured layer jellies (rather than one colour) it does take a little patience. Thicker layers like the other one I did in a 1lb silicone loaf mould are easy to do as you simply pour the mix in one lot at a time.

A graduated disposable pippette is essential. They are really really cheap - I've just bought a pack of 100 from Ebay for £3.70 including post (see item number). I'd also advise the use of a silicone bakeware mould - it makes jelly making SO easy. This mould is a brand new design we've got in called 6 JAGGY HEART. Blame Richard for the name ! Right enough - it's getting difficult as we're introducing more and more heart design moulds and have to be able to identify which is which.....

Recipe

250mls of ready made strawberry milkshake

250mls of ready made chocolate milk shake

250mls milk

1tsp vanilla extract

1/2 tin of condensed milk

3 sachets of gelatine granules (I used Dr. Oteker)

Start by lightly oiling your chosen mould with vegetable oil. You don't want loads - just the tiniest bit to create a film. The cells of the 6 JAGGY HEARTS mould are 60mls in volume. I made the six and used excess mixtures to make a simple 3 layer jelly in a 1lb loaf mould which was later cut into slices.

Start with the first flavoured "milk" you plan to use. I used Muller low fat milk shake. Put a sachet of gelatine granules into the pan and pour on the milk. Leave for 10 mins to sponge.

Put the milk on a low / medium heat and warm to just below simmering, stirring all the time. Remove from the heat stir in 2 to 3 tablespoons of condensed milk. Pour into a clean bowl. Repeat the process for the other flavoured milk.

To make the vanilla milk mixture, add the vanilla extract to the milk and gelatine granules. Repeat previous process. You may need to add a little extra condensed milk.

If you are using a detailed mould like the 6 JAGGY HEART, you can build up your layers a little at a time. After each layer, chill in the fridge until set. The thinner the layer, the faster it sets ! My first layer was set in about 3 minutes. Once set, add the next layer.

The only real tricky bit with this one was the outline round the edge. I only used about 4mls of jelly mix to do the tiny rim round the edge. I can't imagine it being achievable without a pipette.

The weather had been rather miserable (very over cast and high winds). The light in my kitchen was atrocious for taking photos. My results were dire and I was most disappointed as these jellies were so pretty. All of a sudden, the sky started clearing and a patch of blue appeared.

I legged it into the garden with my mirror board and literally grabbed about two minutes maximum of sunshine before the clouds all blew over once more. I used mirror board before to take photos of these jelly shots and I'm really starting to like it as a medium.

It's been an eventful week so far. This little chick hatched this morning, with some help. Henrietta has been broody for a few months now and was close to starving herself unless allowed to hatch out some chicks.

I got some bantam hatching eggs from a local chicken keeper and sat them under her 3 weeks today. One chick tried to hatch yesterday, but I found it dead still in the shell last night. On checking in on Henrietta this morning. This little chick was trying to hatch, but for whatever reason, Henrietta had kicked it out her nest. It was still in the shell, stoney cold and barely alive.

I brought it in the house and warmed in my hands and slowly helped it out the shell. At this point, I really thought it didn't stand a chance as it lay lifeless and cold in my hand. Tiny little thing - only about 2" long.

After breathing on it for quite some time, it started to revive and cheep. We then sat it on a tiny little hot water bottle inside a sandwich box and covered over with a tea towel. About an hour later, chick was gaining strength and had opened it's eyes.

Oliver was intrigued and sat with me the whole time as I had the box on my knee. He even brought his favourite toy elephant for the chick to cuddle and wanted to try and stuff it in the sandwich box !

As soon as it gained enough body heat, I took it back out and popped it back in with a very excited mummy hen. All we could do was hope the chick was going to be strong enough to make it. Henrietta tucked it underneath her, clucking away loudly.

On coming home tonight, Oliver and I went to check on how they were doing. Chick popped out for few seconds - long enough for a quick photo. It's all fluffed up now and very vocal. Fingers crossed, it should stand a good chance now. Henrietta still has another two eggs. There was no sign of pipping, but we'll see in tomorrow if any more are going to hatch.....

Yesterday, my 3yo washing machine broke. £45 call out later, I discover it was going to cost me another £45 call out and £180 for a new printed circuit board to fix it. I had stacks of washing backed up - so it spurred an emergency washing machine shopping spree. Thankfully, new one arrived this morning and I'm starting to get on top of my massive amount of laundry...... What fun !!

Sarah-Jane Nash - September 2011 - www.siliconemoulds.com

Baked Chicken Curry with Green Beans and Rice

2011-09-13T17:44:00.000-07:00

This recipe originates from Madhur Jaffrey, Curry Easy, but has been adapted a little. My dad got the book from Christmas (I don't think he's used it !) and it looked so good I had to go and buy a copy for myself.

I've used it a few times now and can really recommend this book for easy and tasty home made curries, most with minimal effort and suitable for weeknight cooking. I made this about 5 or 6 weeks ago. I'm afraid I still have a big backlog of blogging to do ... Despite the diet, I'm intending making this again soon but will sub the rice for some roasted red peppers that have been simply seasoned and just rubbed with the tiniest bit of olive oil.

The original recipe used 1.25kg of bone-in chicken, but I used 1kg of boneless chicken breast and drastically reduced cooking time

Ingredients for curry

1kg chicken breast fillets, each cut into bigish pieces but not too thick

1 tsp salt

2 tablespoons lemon juice

1 tablespoon freshly grated ginger

1 large clove of garlic, crushed

5 tablespoons of greek yoghurt

1.1/2 tablespoons ground corriander

2 tsp ground cumin

3/4 tsp ground turmeric

1/2 a tsp of cayenne pepper (or double as I did for a bit more punch)

6 cardamom pods

oil (for basting

4 tablespoons finely chopped red onion

Put the chicken in a large , non reactive dish in a single layer. Season with salt and pepper and the lemon juice. Set aside whilst you prepare the other ingredients

Combine all other ingredients (cumin, corriander, yoghurt, cracked cardamom pods, turmeric and cayenne) in a bowl and then smear this all over the chicken. Cover with cling film and refrigerate overnight.

Bring your marinaded chicken to room temperature the following day.

Preheat fan oven to 1800deg C

Put the chicken on a baking tray and drizzle with a little olive oil.

Scatter the chopped onions over the top and bake for 15 minutes.

Take out the oven, turn the chicken pieces over and baste with any juices / onion pieces. Cook for another 15 mins at approx 200deg C.

For halogen oven cooking, cook on backing tray at top rack at 250deg C (grill function) The chicken pieces will be cooked from raw in approx 12 minutes or less.

Serve the baked chicken with rice and your choice of vegetables. I used some green beans, boiled until just cooked and then stir fried with some cumin seeds, mustard seeds and linseed.

My mum and Oliver, Mellon Udrigle - late August 2011

At the end of last month, I took a trip with Oliver to the very north of Scotland to tiny little place called Mellon Udrigle where my parents have bought a little beach house.... It's quite a long trip to get there (plane flight and then 5 hours or so by car). Oliver and I intended to stay up there for a week, but unfortunately we had to make an emergency trip back home after just two days as my husband was taken very ill.

You really cannot get closer to a beach, and it's right on a secluded little bay. The weather when we were there was pretty dire - the whole of the UK was having very high winds and rain. In the two days, I think Oliver only got on the beach for about 2 hours total. You can see there is a lot of seaweed on the beach, ripped up from the seabed floor during the storm. I believe all the seaweed was taken back out to sea the following day and the beach left clean.

Steve is still very poorly. We spent Sunday night in a&e at the hospital. Doctors again tomorrow - it's been going on for a month now and we need some answers ! Rather stressful around here at the moment.

Another photo - shows how close the beach house is to the sands ! A stones throw....

I've had a few emails asking how the diet's going. I'm good thanks. 3.1/2 weeks in, 13lb down. Long road ahead - but I've adjusted well. Been doing a bit of baking (though not eating it personally) and have a few things to blog soon. You might start seeing things like loads of soup recipes in a month or so - as I'm generally having a bowl of homemade soup once a day and some salad or lean meat / fish and some fresh veg. That's about it..... but I'm not missing sugary stuff or carbs. Long may it continue !

Sarah-Jane Nash, www.siliconemoulds.com - September 2011