Scotch Pancakes

It was Pancake day a few days ago, so of course we made pancakes! My 4 year old son helped me to make these, and asked for golden syrup ones. These were so easy to whip up, and the Wee Man had a lot of fun mixing the batter. The trick is to use a dry but hot (not too hot though!) frying pan. Spoon the batter into the pan, then flip when lots of bubbles appear in the batter.

½ teaspoon white wine vinegar 
150 ml milk 
110 g Plain flour 
½ teaspoon bicarbonate of soda 
1 medium egg 
1 tablespoon Vegetable oil 
1 tablespoon Golden syrup

 Mix the oil, milk, vinegar and golden syrup in a bowl. Add the egg & mix. Tip in the flour & bicarb. soda and combine thoroughly. Its ok if very small lumps remain.

Heat a large frying pan, and spoon 1 tablespoon of batter into the pan. Repeat 3 more times until you have 4 pancakes in the pan. Flip over when bubbles appear on top. Cook for another minute on the other side then remove to a warm plate. repeat until there is no remaining batter.

Can be eaten warm or cold.

Bramley Apple Puffs

Again, another idea pinched from Lorraine Pascale! These are small, delicious apple puff pastry pies with a lovely cinnamon flavour. It was soup & pudding night in our house, and had French onion soup to start, but I needed a simple & easy pudding. These are made with shop-bought apple sauce, but you can make your own if you like. I also used ready rolled puff pastry for extra time saving. You can serve them with custard, whipped cream or ice cream.

Makes 8 pies

800g Bramley apple sauce (I used Tescos own, it was perfect)
Zest of 1 lemon
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp ground ginger

500g puff pastry
Brown sugar or icing sugar to dust
1 egg, beaten, to glaze

Preheat the oven to 200c.

Add the lemon zest, cinnamon and ginger to the apple sauce and mix thoroughly. Roll out your pastry on a floured surface, and roll it quite thin.  Cut into quarters, then each of the quarters into halves so that you have 8 rectangular pieces. Brush beaten egg round the edges.Divide the apple mixture between all 8 squares, dolloping it on just one half of the pastry. Fold the pastry over the sauce, and crimp the edges with your fingers. Brush the top with the beaten egg, sprinkle with brown sugar and pop ont a baking tray lined with greaseproof paper. Cook for 25 minutes, until all golden & puffed up.

Strawberry Chocolate Cheesecake

It was my girls birthday this week, and seeing as their big Mad Hatters Tea Party would be at the weekend (including their birthday cake), I let them pick another special dessert for their birthday tea. Both love this cheesecake! With strawberries in season just now, it tastes amazing. You could also use raspberries and swap the milk chocolate for white or dark. I am a bit of a messy cheesecake-maker, but it still tastes just as good.

150g fresh strawberries, sliced
300g cream cheese
200ml double cream
75g sugar
75g melted butter
180g digestive crumbs
100g milk chocolate, melted

Mix the digestive crumbs with the melted butter, and press into a loose-bottomed cake tin. Melt the chocolate, and poor over the biscuit base.

Combine the cream cheese, cream and sugar until thoroughly mixed, then stir in the chopped strawberries. Pile on top of the base, and smoooth down. Allow to chill for at least 2 hours in the fridge.

Pizza Hut Warm Cookie Dough dessert

I had this once at Pizza Hut, and fell totally in love with it! Hot cookie dough with ice cream! I am not usually a sweet-tooth person, but this pudding is amazing. I was thrilled when my new recipe book, More Takeaway Secrets (the sequel to my other favourite cookbook!) arrived and contained the recipe. I have tweaked it slightly to be more like the Pizza Hut version. It makes 4 portions, but beware these are LARGE portions! Finish off with a dollop of ice-cream and a swirl of chocolate sauce. It is warm, gooey, chocolatey and cookie-ish all at once.

125g butter
100g caster sugar
100g brown sugar
1 egg
1 ts vanilla essence
1/2 ts salt
225g self-raising flour
100g chocolate chips

In a large bowl, mix the butter, caster & brown sugar. Add the egg & vanilla essence a mix again. Next add the flour, salt and choc chips, and mix again thoroughly.

Preheat the oven to 200C.

Divide the mixture between 4 pie dishes (I used foil pie trays as they were the perfect shape). Press the dough into the dishes and then put into the oven for 6 minutes.

Reduce the oven temp to 180C and continue to bake for around another 7 minutes, It should be golden on the top & soft in the middle.

Serve with ice-cream & sauce.

Scones

Warm scones out of the oven, spread with butter that melts ...that was my Sunday lunch today. This is my first ever attempt at baking scones. It was a mess! I have totally wrecked my kitchen - I really think I went wrong somewhere. The recipe seems foolproof, but perhaps I am a speical kind of fool ha ha. I baked them anyway, and they tasted divine! Light & tasty instead of the dense "rocks" they sell at my local supermarket. I have plenty for packed lunches this week, so the kids will enjoy this treat. Mine are oddly shaped because the dough was so sticky, the cutter wouldnt cut out neat shapes, so I had to just make balls with my hands!

Recipe can be found here.

Layered vodka jelly shots

These were just for fun, when I had soem friends round for drinks. I replaced 1/3 of the cold water for vodka in each layer. Let each layer completely set before adding the next. I used a blackcurrent jelly on the bottom, lemon in the middle and raspberry on top.

Twix biscuits

These turned out quite messy but very tasty! It just a mix-up of recipes and ideas to fit with what I had in the cupboards. To make the Dulce De Leche, I boiled a tin of condensed milk in a pan of water for about 3 hours. You MUST ensure the water completly covers the can, or it will explode. I kept at least an inch of water above the can. Let it cool to room temperature before opening the can.

It's best to keep these in the fridge, as the caramel turns quite gloopy when at room temp.

200g digestive biscuits
75g butter
1 tin condensed milk made into Dulce De Leche
100g chocolate

Mix the crushed digestive with the welted butter, then push in a muffin tin, to make 12 bases for the biscuits. Put in the fridge to set. After half an hour, place a dollop of dulce de leche into each one, then put into the freezer for 2 hours. Melt the chocolate, and drizzle or pour over the top of each biscuit. Back into the fridge to set the chocolate, then they are ready to eat!

Banoffee Pie

My daughter requested a banoffee pie instead of a cake for her birthday. I'd never made one before! It was very easy to do, but it was also very sweet! Too sweet for me I think. The kids loved it though.

Ingredients

Base:

• 100g (3½oz) butter, melted
• 250g (9oz) digestive biscuits

Filling:

• 100g (3½oz) butter
• 100g (3½oz) dark brown soft sugar
• 397g can Carnation Condensed Milk

Topping:

• 4 small bananas
• 300ml carton double cream, lightly whipped
• grated chocolate

You will also need:

• 20cm (8”) loose-bottomed cake tin, greased

Method

1. To make the base, process the biscuits until crushed. Stir in the melted butter. Press the mixture into the base and 4cm (1½") up the sides of the tin. Chill the base while you make the filling.
2. To make the filling: place the butter and sugar into a non-stick saucepan over a low heat, stirring until the butter melts and the sugar dissolves. Add the condensed milk and bring gently to the boil, stirring continuously. When the caramel has started to boil, remove from the heat and pour over the biscuit base. Cool, and then leave to chill for about 1 hour, until firm.
3. To serve, remove the pie from the tin and place on a serving plate. Slice the bananas, fold half of them into the softly whipped cream and spoon over the caramel base. Decorate with the remaining bananas and finish with the grated chocolate.

Easy vanilla ice-cream

 I made very easy ice-cream with the kids yesterday. The kids loved it, with lots of sprinkles on! I dont have an ice-cream maker, so we had to stir by hand every 45 minutes. Even so, it was still very easy and only has 4 ingredients, perfect for children.
Excuse the rubbish photo! I didnt realisethere was shadow until after the kids had eaten all the ice cream!

Serves 3 children

120 ml semi-skimmed milk
50g white sugar
2 tsp vanilla extract
120 ml double cream

In one bowl, mix the milk, suagr & vanilla extract. In another bowl, whisk the double cream until thick.  Add to the milk mixture & combine. If you have an ice-cream maker, pour into the bowl & churn as per instructions.

If doing by hand, tip the mixture into a freezer-proof tub & place into teh freezer. Ever 40/45 minutes, mix the ice cream well, breaking up all ice crystals until smooth. Repeat until the mixture is completely frozen. Serve with plenty of sprinkles!

Nigella's Clementine Cake - Flourless gluten free cake!

Yesterday I made Nigella Lawson's Clementine Cake. It has no flour in it, so its great for those who avoid gluten in their diets. It's not the best tasting cake I have ever made, but it is still very flavoursome! Husband didnt like it, and 1 child didnt but my other two and I did!

Ingredients

• 4-5 clementines (about 375g total weight)
• 6 eggs
• 225g sugar
• 250g ground almonds
• 1 heaped teaspoon baking powder

Method

1. Put the clementines in a pan with some cold water, bring to the boil and cook for 2 hours. Drain and, when cool, cut each clementine in half and remove the pips. Dump the clementines - skins, pith, fruit and all - and give a quick blitz in a food processor (or by hand, of course). Preheat the oven to gas mark 5/190ºC. Butter and line a 21cm Springform tin.
2. You can then add all the other ingredients to the food processor and mix. Or, you can beat the eggs by hand adding the sugar, almonds and baking powder, mixing well, then finally adding the pulped oranges.
3. Pour the cake mixture into the prepared tin and bake for an hour, when a skewer will come out clean; you'll probably have to cover with foil or greaseproof after about 40 minutes to stop the top burning. Remove from the oven and leave to cool, on a rack, but in the tin. When the cake's cold, you can take it out of the tin. I think this is better a day after it's made, but I don't complain about eating it at any time.
4. I've also made this with an equal weight of oranges, and with lemons, in which case I increase the sugar to 250g and slightly anglicise it, too, by adding a glaze made of icing sugar mixed to a paste with lemon juice and a little water.

Sweet Cherry Bread

Today I made a sweet cherry almond loaf from a recipe that my cousin shared with me. Oh my, it's delicious! If you dont like marzipan though, you can use flaked almonds instead.

Ingredients

oil, to grease,

350g (12oz) strong white plain flour (bread flour) plus extra to dust,

1/2 tsp salt,

2tsp ground mixed spice,

1tbsp cinnamon,

25g (1oz) golden (or unrefined) caster sugar,

75g (3oz) unsalted butter at room temp diced,

25g (1oz) fresh yeast, OR, 15g (1/2oz) dried yeast,

200ml (7floz) full fat milk, Warmed,

125g (4oz) Almond paste, roughly chopped,

125g (4oz) Glace Cherries

3 tbsp honey, warmed,

75g (3oz) icing sugar sieved,

Method

1, Grease a 20.5cm (8inch) deep cake tin and line the base with greaseproof paper (an average sized spring form cake tin will do). Sift the flour, salt, spices, and caster sugar into a bowl (add the dried yeast at this point if using) and rub in the butter. Dissolve the fresh yeast in the milk, then add to the flour to make a dough (if you find the dough is too dry add a little more milk).

2, Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead for ten minutes. Don't be afraid of being a bit rough with the dough. For speed you can place the dough in a food processor that has a dough hook or use a hand blender with the same for 2-3 minutes (personally I would recommend doing it by hand. it may be slower but its MUCH more satisfying, especially if the kids have been frightful, you can get out a lot of annoyances of bread dough). Place the dough in a lightly oiled bowl cover and leave in a warm place for 2 hours or until it's doubled in size.

3, Turn the dough out on a lightly floured surface and knead lightly (no punching this time, you do NOT need to 'knock back' the air in this recipe). Shape into a 60cm (24inch) long oval. Scatter the almond paste (or roughly chopped nuts) and cherries on the surface and roll the dough up lengthways, then form a tight coil. Put in the prepared tin, cover and leave in a warm place for 30 mins or until doubled in size and spongy to touch. Preheat the over to 180C (160C fan oven) mark 4.

4, Bake the bread for 40 mins or until golden and the bread sounds hollow when tapped underneath. Remove from the oven and transfer to a cooling rack. When cool glaze with the warm honey.

5, to make the icing (yes this NEEDS icing lolz think 'Danish'), mix the icing sugar with a few drops of water to form a paste, then drizzle over the bread. leave to set before serving.

Little Eccles Mince Pies

Found this very easy recipe on the Good Food website.

I much prefer these to the tradtional mince pies, which I find too dry & filling. You can make these & freeze them before the baking stage, andthen bake from frozen when needed. I have about 10 in my freezer now, for when guests pop round.

Ingredients

• 500g block all-butter puff pastry
• flour , for dusting
• 450g mincemeat (see 'goes well with')
• 1 egg white , lightly beaten
• golden caster sugar 

1. Roll the pastry out to about the thickness of a 50p piece on to a floured surface, and cut out 10cm circles, then continue to re-roll and cut out until you have about 18 circles.
2. Place 1 tsp of mincemeat in the centre of each circle, brush the edges with egg white, then gather together tightly to completely encase the mincemeat.
3. Flip the pies over so the sealed edges are underneath, then squash them with your hand so you have a small puck-shaped pie.
4. Cut two small slits in the top of each pie, brush generously with egg white and scatter with sugar. The pies can now be frozen for up to 2 months. Heat oven to 200C/fan 180C/gas 6 and bake for 15 mins from raw or 25-30 mins from frozen.