Mince Pies

There is little to say for this recipe as I made mince pies and there was little drama.

I used the mincemeat from the last recipe and made some pastry to go with them. However I did change the recipe slightly but not in a huge amount. Instead of using a disc for the top I used a star as it means that there is less pastry and is more about the actual mincemeat.

Also the recipe made more than it said that it would. Annie Bell manages to get 18 mince pies from it but I achieved well over 25 so that is strange but no one is complaining.

The mince pies were nice although the mincemeat was different but not in a bad way.

Generally good and perfect for Christmas. 

Sorry for it being so brief... 

Next Recipe: Chocolate Swiss Roll 

Mincemeat

This recipe is surprisingly simple. But I didn’t stick to it because the writer says you can improvise! 

So that’s what I did.

The thing is, is that by the time I had “improvised” it didn’t resemble her recipe in the slightest. 

Here are the changes I made.

1.       I didn’t have any currents so instead of 125g of raisins and 150g of currents, I just did 200g raisins.

2.       I didn’t have any stem ginger just crystallised stuff that comes in a jar from the last recipe so I used that instead.

3.       I added in 8 glace cherries because my mum has always used glace cherries and it would be weird without them

4.       I used an orange not a lemon- I thought it was more festive

5.       I didn’t like the sound of suet (meat in pudding-weird) so I used 2 apples instead of 1 to make up for it.

6.       I used mixed nuts no almonds because well just because…

7.       I added in some ginger syrup from the jar as the mixture wasn’t really a mixture it was just a bowl full of stuff and I thought it would help it to stick together.

8.       I put it on the hob for a while although she just says to leave it overnight, which I am still going to do.

9.       I also added in some dried blueberries which I realised after I had mixed them in that they had a best before date of 2010…. So that’s healthy

So in a way it is not really Annie Bell’s mincemeat recipe any more, it’s mine. I will tell you how it tastes in the next recipe which is…. (this will surprise you)

Next Recipe: Mince Pies

Ginger, Almond and Fig Meringue Cake

I’m just going to make one thing clear: I DO NOT LIKE FIGS! Or so I thought until I tried this cake. Actually I don’t know whether I like figs or this cake…Probably the cake... 

Another flour free recipe as we played host to a guest that couldn't eat loads of stuff including FLOUR ! Sad times indeed.

This is a very sticky recipe- the ginger is sticky, the fig is sticky and meringue is sticky. And the first two ingredients look a little bit like alien babies. Not that I have ever seen an alien baby…..

MOVING ON!             

But once I got past the stickiness it was fine. All you have to do is chop up roasted almonds, ginger (from a jar) and figs and then add it into a meringue mix. You mix it all together, poor it in to a tin, bake for ½ an hour and then voila! It is made. Hooray! 

It is also the first cake that I have made that can be made on the day and doesn't need to be prepared three years in advance, so that is good!

Everyone liked it and for me, the hater of figs, it was actually fine, when covered in cream.

Note: This cake could be improved if figs were swapped for dates

Sorry the photo is a bit on the fuzzy side... 

Next couple of recipes are going to be full of festive frolicking and hopefully will be very delicious.

Next Recipe: Mincemeat 

Chocolate Orange Macaroon Torte

Last weekend was Christmas in my household, well a mini one anyway as some relatives won’t be here for the real thing.

Anyway for this reason I decided to try and bake something that was festive but not the typical Christmas cake or pudding as those will be eaten in a few weeks’ time.  So the next most Christmassy food (bar sprouts and turkey) is of course the Chocolate Orange.

If you have never had one of these at Christmas you need to sort yourself out. Seriously.

So the chocolate orange macaroon torte seemed like a good bet. It is basically a chocolate orange mousse on a macaroon and as I have never made a mousse or a macaroon it was all new to me!

It was actually relatively simple, there was a lot of whipping involved (thank the lord for electric whisks, is all I can say) and after that you just kind of plop the mousse on the macaroon that I made earlier and put it in the fridge over night to set.

However….. I don’t think I did it completely right….

The macaroon base was quite moist but the author describes it as being firm…. So that is obviously not right. I don’t really know what went wrong consistency wise but the taste was good despite being quite adult as the chocolate was 70% cocoa. But it was good and the orange really came through.

I decorated it with orange peel because I felt it would add a bit of colour to a very brown pudding 

make it more jolly! 

Next Recipe: Ginger, Almond and Fig Meringue Cake 

How do you make a Swiss Roll?

Push him down a hill… or not…

What I didn’t realise was that a Swiss Roll is not made of Victoria sponge. WHO WOULD HAVE KNOWN? The sponge (a genoise apparently) is made of no butter and very little flour and I have to say it makes the coolest cake mix I have ever seen.

It is a white, fluffy, airy mass which is similar to meringue mix and it looks pretty damn cool.

So after getting over the initial shock of the cool-ness of the cake mix it was baked and it became immediately less cool… it just looks like sponge…

I rolled it in tea towel- let it cool and then re-rolled it with jam which had to be mixed so it would be more liquidy (not a word). Weird.

Anyway it turned out okay. It wouldn’t be sold in the window of a French patisserie but it was yummy enough for me and the family. So that’s good (or cool).

Next Recipe: Chocolate Orange Macaroon Torte 

The beginning...

I want to know how to bake....properly...so I can win The Great British Bake Off one day...obviously...

The only way to really learn how to bake a variety of things (without going on a baking course) is to work your way through  a cook book, so that's what I am going to do...

My book of choice is Annie Bell's Baking Bible, for two main reasons: pretty pictures and a funny foreword. Also it covers a lot of stuff.

Anyway I will bake my way through the book (note: not in order) and hopefully by the end I will truly know how to bake... well that's the plan anyway....

First Recipe: The Swiss Roll