Wednesday 31 October 2012

Jammin' Halloween!

So, it's Halloween and everyone is busy carving pumpkins, painting faces and decorating their homes ready to celebrate all that scares us in our dreams.......Zombie's, Ghosts my particular one Spider's. Even those toy ones give me the heebie geebie's.


Halloween is cancelled though in my house, the eldest is terrified of the dark and all of the aforementioned nightmare triggering ingredients although he now tells me if everyone is Frankenstien that would be quite alright?! I suppose if you look like Herman Munster, it really would be quite alright!!

 

 
So instead of the usual preparations today would give me I decided to turn my hand to making some Jam. The only fruit to hand was a depleted bowl of clemetines so Marmalade it is!!

I have tried several times to get the consitancy just right but manage to either have a rock hard substance suitable only for breaking paving slabs or one that has more sugar than fruit and tastes, well just awful!!

Not to be detered as practise does make perfect I went to task using the following ingredients and method:



2LB of clementines. Peel and seperate each segment removing as much white membrane as you can (I warn you without the right tools it is about 20 minutes fiddly work!)


Reserve the peel to be used later.

Some recipes call for you to halve each segment  and halve again and put into the pan however I found the method of Little Corner of Mine 's of pulsing the segments in a blender several times does the job just fine.

Cut the reserved peel to the size you like in your marmalade, I prefer it very thin and not too much of it!

I added 2LB of granulated sugar and 1 1/2 tbsp of Lemon Juice.

Put it all into the pan and bring to the boil, reduce to a simmer for about an hour. But keep an eye on it and stir it often or you'll end up with spills just like me!!!





Remove and pour into your prepared and sterilised Jam jar and seal. Your marmalade should thicken nicely once cooled. Mine is cooling and thickening nicely as I type.



And so I wait, the proof of the pudding is in the eating, as they say and marmalade on toast for breakfast sounds just nice!!

Enjoy your Halloween Holidays one and all, wrap up warm and stay safe :)



































































Friday 26 October 2012

Tea, Crumpets & Central Heating!

Having been forced to hide away from the cold and windy weather outside and feed my cold with Tea & Crumpets I thought, I would stop by and say Hi!


I've been busy, which is brilliant....I'm still very much in the early stages of creations but am lucky enough to have people willing to take a chance :) I suppose we all have to start somewhere, right?! 


I have had several orders through, some of them repeat orders, which I take to be a good sign and some through word of mouth.....even better, I have made more biscuits and cookies than I ever thought possible and still there are orders for more and I have even managed to stop dropping things which really helps the profit and loss margins!!!!


I actually had baking sheets of these little yummy cookies on nearly every flat surface of my house......wrestling a 2 year old away from them all wasn't easy!!





It's been a non-stop few weeks of practise to make perfect plus lots of ideas charging around my head for little Christmas treats and craft fair fancies.






I'm hoping 2013 will be the start of something quite special all pushed along by a little help and support from my friends. But first and foremost, I really need to learn to take a decent photo!!!



Feel free to follow my link to Pinterest and follow my likes dislikes and be kept updated on what I have been making and new recipes I have tried.


Wrap up warm folks, its a bit chilly out there!








Monday 8 October 2012

In the 'Black Forest'!


Over an unplanned coffee break with very large mugs and a cookie big enough to feed a small family, a very good friend of mine was discussing her Birthday the day before and how she was treated to a Waitrose finest 'Black Forest Gateau' as her celebratory cake. And mentions that if I could master one of those it wouldn't be a bad thing!


I'll give it a go I say with more confidence than I feel....


I'm slightly nervous about this, mostly because living up to the excellence of Waitrose is a not close to possible but most importantly I forgot to buy some Kirsch so it is now an alcohol free gateau. Did I mention that my friend and I don't mind a tipple or two?!


Oh well, onwards and upwards as they say but just one more note to self, do NOT drop one of the cakes when removing it from it's tin as the end result will resemble a 2 tier chocolate & cherry cake and nothing like a gateau!!


But I had fun and pleased that I tried, just really need to work on the presentation but I have time on my side......so what to make next? And whatever you suggest are you willing to put your taste buds forward for testing?


I hope so, I really do love what I am doing....let me know what you think?









If you can't stand the heat...

If you can't stand the heat........



....get out of the kitchen! Or in my case in it!!
 
 
It won't be long before my youngest son will be off to nursery and before I know it I will be surplus to requirements.....it'll happen and quickly and before I realise it, somehow my eldest son became 8 and is at the tipping point of knowing everything and I am now wrong more than I am right!
 
 
After trying several different hobbies and pass times I have finally settled on the one I love....baking!!
Never am I happier than having a boogie in the kitchen to my Newton Faulkner album rustling up something tasty to eat. As one of my good friends tells me, I am 'a feeder', at my happiest when providing something scrummy to eat. This is true.
 
 
Some of you will of already tried some of my baked goods and so far so good although there is massive room for improvement and this blog with be my diary and sanity keeper through my (hopefully) successful quest in selling tasty goods.
 
 
So if you want to try a slice of something nice and give me some feed back, feel free to to give me ideas on something you like and I am always happy for a visit from friends for a taste test and a nice cup of what you fancy. And if by chance you know of anyone who may want something baking for a fete, bizarre etc please do let me know.
 
 
So from here on in there may well be much rambling, self doubt and hopefully some success too….wish me luck!