Home Ec Nemesis

Crumble and I do not have a harmonious relationship. Actually, during the days of Home Ec class, I didn't have a particularly positive experience with anything culinary! There was the soggy apple pie and the disastrous lasagne to name but a few and my apple crumble, like everything else was less than desirable by the time it got home that evening...

Alas, apple crumble is George's favourite. So much so that for the last two years, he's said, and I quote;

"If you can make an apple crumble as good as Grandma's, you'll have my love for forever."

... no pressure then.

Until this week, I haven't dared take on Grandma Rivers in the kitchen. Rumour has it her yorkshires are perfect, her mince pies are heavenly, and her strawberry tarts will make a man week at the knees.

However, this week I finished my University finals and had some spare time on my hands and so I said I would make George anything he wanted to see him through the final week of revision (he finishes a week after me). Of course, he chose crumble.

I rang his Aunt for her crumble recipe in hope that if I at least started with a good, tried and tested recipe, it may minimise the amount that could go wrong.

All in all, it went pretty smoothly! I didn't have a dish small enough so I could have done with a bit more crumble for the size of the dish but other than that, George said I did pretty good! (Phew.)

This seeming success has got me thinking - I've mastered lasagne in recent years, apparently I've mastered crumble... what other of my Home Ec nemesi can I tackle... Whatch this space!

Click here for Auntie Anne's Apple Crumble recipe 

The Gü Cake Experiment

Everyone loves Gü Cakes. Alas, being lactose intolerant, it's been a fair while since I have had had the hot chocolatey joy that is a Gü Cake. (World's smallest violin, I know.)

However, whilst making brownies the other day, I had an idea.

About a quarter of the brownie batter didn't fit in my baking tray and I had originally planned to make two batches. Then my housemate Dan (whilst steeling a sneaky fingertip full of batter from the bowl) commented that the batter tasted like Gü Cake insides.

I decided to put my left over batter to better use and poured it into four ramekins (left over from actual Gü Cakes - clearly this was meant to be). My four cakes actually sat in the fridge for two days (unbaked) as we were too full after dinner for them until last night, but no harm seems to have been done.

After 15 minutes in the oven, they were güey-galore with a thin layer of sponge all the way around. - Perfect even if I do say so myself!

See the Chocolate Brownies recipe for how to make Gü Cake batter. 

Or click here  for how to make Gü Cakes without the help of Sainsbury's.

(J)Amie’s Indulgence – Chocolate Brownies

This week is a very quick post as I'm slap bang in the middle of exam period. But everyone needs a break and everyone certainly needs chocolatey, gooey, life-time-on-the-hips kind of indulgences to keep them going during these long, laborious days of revision...

This week I adapted Jamie Oliver's recipe for Chocolate Brownies. As usual, these bad boys are lactofree, right down to the white chocolate buttons and Vanilla ice cream to serve them with - delish. (I'm going to need to go to the gym after exam period; I'll be fat as a house at this rate!)

(This is obviously cream, not ice cream - the cream wasn't lactofree... this was George's brownie!) 

As a side note, I've always said if the batter is tasty, it's a good sign. My housemates' reaction sums it up really:

Click here for (J)Amie's Chocolate Brownie recipe. 

Rum-Glazed Caribbean Muffins - "Seriously Easy Going"

Forgive me if this week's post is lacking in pazzaz and, quite frankly, any sense at all. I've suffered from a severe bout of sleep deprivation this week - Wednesday morning saw my brain momentarily short circuit as I put body wash in my hair instead of shampoo... I feel this is a low point in my week...

You see, Wednesday was my final ever coursework deadline of my final year at Uni.

This means, solitary confinement, late nights/early morning (depending on your perspective) and far too much caffeine.

By 3:30 on Wednesday afternoon, I was feeling "seriously easy going" - or maybe I was just delirious, either was plausible by that stage!

So this week, I took inspiration from the only place in this world that knows how to truly kick back, relax and chill -

Caribbean Muffins it is!

My Rum-Glazed Caribbean Muffins consisted of coconut, mango and pineapple, complete with rum icing giving them that truly Caribbean kick. I'm sorry to admit that this recipe isn't my own but from my Muffins Galore cookbook - but cut me some slack here, it's been a stressful week! Furthermore, a big shout-out to my housemate, Miss. Sophie Ray who chopped fruit for me for a good 20 minutes while I got everything else ready - not sure I wouldn't have fallen asleep face-down in the flour if I hadn't had a trusty sous-chef!

Alas, my freedom was short lived - exams start in a measly 3 days. At least I have a scrummy snack to keep me going!

Click here for the Rum-Glazed Caribbean Muffins recipe

Go Bananas for BBQs!

It would seem that April saw Britain’s allotted hours of sunshine for this year; since May began it’s been pretty dreary. (The seasons seem to be confused – isn’t April supposed to bring the showers?) So yesterday when it was warm for the first time in over a week we pulled the sofa into the garden, set the speakers to loud and cracked out the BBQ.

Everyone always seems to forget about dessert at BBQs; it’s all about the meat. So last night, I used up some of the fruit in my fridge and whipped up a really easy BBQ dessert:

BBQ Bananas and Fruit Skewers

I bring you this dessert in hope that for somebody somewhere it’s sunny and hot because this morning, in Nottingham, we woke up to the sound of rain on the skylights once again… until next April…

Click here to see how to make BBQ Bananas and Fruit Skewers.

Procrastination or the Perfect Break? - White Chocolate and Raspberry Cookies

In the run up to deadlines and exams, every student knows that there is an art to procrastination. Facebook is probably top of the list, You Tube a close second - it's surprising how much time you can waste stalking people and watching videos!

Today, however, I've been surprisingly productive on my essay and so thought I would take a break, get away from my desk (and the sweltering sun trap that is my attic room!) and finally bake my white chocolate and raspberry cookies.

I used the recipe I would usually use for your average cookie and simply added the filling. Despite not remaining entirely in cookie form - in fact, the morphed into a giant square cookie, spreading across the entire baking tray - they tasted pretty good. The dried raspberries gave them an extra tangy taste.

These are actually made with all dairy free ingredients, including the white chocolate but obviously could be made just as easily with dairy products.

Click here for my White Chocolate and Raspberry Cookies

How to: Make Dried Fruit - Third Time's the Charm

Sainsbury's was not my friend this week and supplied every kind of dried fruit there is except raspberries. What did I need? Raspberries, naturally. You see, George has requested white chocolate and raspberry cookies (recipe and details to follow soon). Alas, this week's little project was not to be straight forward...

Take 1
I decided to buy fresh raspberries, assuming I'd figure it out once I was home.  I was a bit wary, however, as I've never made cookies with fresh fruit and was worried they may add too much moisture to the mixture.
(If anyone can correct me here, feel free to comment or message me your recipe, would be interested to know!) 


So after much research, a very helpful gardening website finally supplied a method for drying fruit I was happy with. The instructions said dehydrate the raspberries for 10 hours at 100'F (40'C ish). However, I live in a house with 5 other people, so monopolising the oven all day isn't really plausible. I cranked the heat up to 70'C, thinking they may take a little less time without cooking the raspberries. In the meantime, however, the kitchen was filled with the pleasant aroma of warm raspberries for the day.

Verdict? Fail. Epic fail. The raspberries still took 10 hours and I learned that the final hour is crucial. I had checked the raspberries every hour on the hour all day and at the 9th hour they were looking good, by the 10th they were burnt to a crisp.

Take 2:
Made a little trip down to Tesco Express to pick up pack number 2 of raspberries. (Actually, that's a fib, my housemate picked them up for me as he was going anyway.) I opened the pack ready to start dehydrating and they were mouldy! Failure rears it's ugly head again...

Most sane bakers would call it quits at this point... But sanity makes life dull... roll on attempt number 3!

Take 3:
Non-mouldy raspberries: check
Oven, 70'C: check
Baking tray & grate to place over: check

Verdict? Success! I now have a container of dried raspberries ready for my cookies - finally! (George will be excited by this news I'm sure!)

The raspberries only took about 6 hours in the end with the oven on 70'C and with space for the air to reach all around the fruit - some of the smaller ones were ready at about 4 hours, the last few large ones took the full 6. They have the texture of raisins. I place my cooling rack on top of a baking tray to create my grate and balanced the raspberries on top - I checked them every hour (every 1/2 hour once they started to dehydrate fully) replacing any that had shrunk and fallen through the gaps.

These are great for baking (but more on that tomorrow!) but also, they're really a tasty snack. Easy for kids' lunches or for all nighters in the library through exam period! Obviously, it's quicker and easier to simply buy pre-dried fruit from the supermarket, but if you find some strawberries in your fridge that are near their sell by date, this is a great way to make sure you don't waste them - or that you can use them out of season.

Tomorrow, I will be making raspberry and white chocolate cookies. I'll actually be making them with dairy free ingredients (including the chocolate) but the recipe will work for dairy free or not.

Click here to find out how to dehydrate fruit

Baking News: Discounted Cupcake Decoration Class (Nottingham)

I am very excited today. I have booked a cake decorating class for after my exams as a treat to myself - I'm hoping I'll deserve one in three weeks when it's all over... perhaps it's premature.... keep your fingers crossed for me!

Based in Nottingham (where I'm at Uni - how convenient!) April Delights is what I suppose you would call 'cake design specialists'. They make cakes of all varieties from wedding cakes to cup cakes and also run workshops on cake decorating. I spotted it a few months ago on Groupon* for £29 down from £99 and decided I couldn't afford it at the time. I have since kicked myself and wished I'd cut back on something else to may for the afternoon of icing fun - when I saw the workshop was on offer again today I decided to grab it while I could! I'll be sure to upload images of what I learn to make and let you know how to do whatever I learn.

This offer for April Delights is only available until midnight tonight (May 4, 2011) so get it while you can! CLICK HERE for your discounted cupcake class (Nottingham only). 

Also, I'll be updating on the raspberries asap as promised at the weekend... there was a minor set back but all shall be revealed in good time! 

*Groupon: a discount website which is local to your area and region. Check it out, you can get some amazing deals on spa weekends, hotel breaks, restaurants, fitness, not to mention cup cake decorating classes! 

www.aprildelights.co.uk

www.groupon.co.uk 

Something to wet the appetite...

I'm drying out raspberries today in preparation for what I'm making tomorrow (Sainsbury's had every dried fruit under the sun apart from raspberries - typical). 

I'll let you know how the drying process goes and give you the lowdown so you can try it at home with other fruit as well as raspberries. So far, it seems relatively easy! But we'll see how that goes...

Come back in the next few days to see what's just popped out of the oven!