Sunday 29 September 2013

Christmas Is A-Coming

A girl at work keeps telling us how long it is until Christmas. Not sure why as most of us have seen twice as many as she has! But it got me thinking about Christmas Cake and Pudding.

Homemade cake and pudding are a highlight of Christmas but I haven't made either for a few years now. I searched through my recipes and came across Hairy Bikers recipes which looked different. Listing the ingredients most were easily available in my local supermarket, one I found in a health food shop and one was made by crushing a spice.

I started with the pudding as that was going to take six hours to cook. The recipe was easy to follow and certainly smelt good before cooking. The only additional ingredient was a generous slug of whisky.

Once the pudding was merrily rattling away in the saucepan I turned my attention to the cake. I wasn't sure that my largest mixing bowl was going to be big enough (I have used a washing up bowl in the past!) but it was - just. The recipe is very fruity but does not contain sugar or butter. The sweetness comes from the fruit and also golden syrup and barley malt syrup. Trying to mix those in was fun!

One the cake was finished I found there was a bit too much for my cake tin. Rather than waste the mix I used it to fill some muffin cases to make individual cakes. These will be iced along with the main cake.

They turned out like this. Let's hope they taste as good as they look!




Saturday 28 September 2013

Tonight! Tonight!

This evening we have been for one of our periodical trips to the theatre this time to see West Side Story.

I remember watching musicals on TV usually on a Sunday afternoon after The Big Match had been on. It was either that or a western it seems. Because of that I have grown up with a love of musical theatre and visit whenever I can.

This particular production has been getting rave reviews all week and tonight didn't disappoint. The cast were full of energy and the choreography was superb. Although the lead role of Tony was played by the understudy it didn't detract from a wonderful performance. 

Baking - Part One

Baking is a skill passed to me by my mum who has always made cakes, pies and biscuits. Sadly it's also a skill I have let slip over the years but not for any particular reason. 

Although I have made some savoury items I haven't ventured back into cakes for a while now but having found a recipe for Rocky Road Muffins on the internet I thought I would give them a try.

For someone who hasn't baked for some time I was surprised to find I had all the ingredients in my cupboards so set about baking around the time my beloved CAFC were kicking off at Burnley.

Around 25 minutes later 12 muffins were placed in the oven and all I could do was wait. 15 minutes went by and a delicious chocolatey smell was coming from the kitchen. So far so good! Another 5 minutes and the muffins were ready and were sitting on a rack cooling down. 


I haven't tasted them yet but if you do decide to try them the link to the recipe is below

http://allrecipes.co.uk/m/recipe/12178/best-rocky-road-muffins.asps

For the record CAFC lost 0-3.