Cinnamon sugar palmiers

I've mentioned before that I love palmiers but the last time I tried to make it at home, it wasn't perfect. So after a little research I decided to give it another go. My main inspiration comes from one of my favourite blogs Joy the Baker. I then saw a cinnamon version on 365 days of baking based on Joy's recipe. The pictures on both blogs looked amazing and I had high hopes for my second attempt. I'm very pleased to report that I was not disappointed in the least. The result was exactly what I was looking for. Crisp, buttery, sugary and cinnamonny (is that even a word?!) Perfect for Christmas so I am entering this to the English Mum's Big Christmas Bakeoff 

This is really easy to make and all you need are 3 ingredients - puff pastry, sugar and cinnamon. To make the cinnamon sugar, mix 1 cup of sugar with 2 teaspoons of cinnamon. 

 spread lots of cinnamon sugar on a worksurface

 Place puff pastry on top and sprinkle more cinnamon sugar on top. Roll out the edges of the puff pastry with a rolling pin 

 fold one end to the middle and repeat on the other end so you end up with.... 

...something like this

 scroll like 

 place in the fridge for about 30 minutes then slice and place on baking tray. Bake for about 20 minutes and... 

..voila! 

Chocolate, orange and cranberry cookies

It's a new month and therefore a new We Should Cocoa Challenge. December is hosted by Choclette from Chocolate Log Blog and she chose orange as the ingredient for this month. Chocolate and orange is quite a classic pairing and a few ideas ran through my head - cupcakes, cakes, brownies, cookies.... I finally decided that I would create my own recipe in the form of a cookie. I absolutely love cookies, probably more than cake! My inspiration came from this lovely bag of Orange Nice Spice Puddles from Hotel Chocolat - they were part of the Christmas Collection Gift Bag that I won from a giveaway hosted by purelyfood - thank you so much! :)

So on to the cookies. Well it's a basic sugar cookie with the addition of orange zest, fresh orange juice, dried cranberries and the orange puddles. The result - a really lovely and festive cookie. You can clearly taste the individual flavours which complemented each other well. The cookie was light with a slight crunch and smelled amazing! I'm definitely making these again. You can substitute the chocolate puddles for chopped chocolate or chocolate chips - I'm thinking bits of Terry's Chocolate Orange next.

 adding the orange zest 

 I made sure every cookie had at least 1 chocolate puddle :)

I'm also submitting this to Vanessa's Let's Make Christmas Event as it would be a great Christmas gift

And finally to a cookie bloghop from mikesbaking #cookielove

An original recipe by bakingaddict

Makes 22 cookies of size shown

125g butter

75g sugar

1 egg

Zest of 1 orange

Juice of 1/2 orange

150g plain flour, sifted

110g chocolate puddles as shown here

50g dried cranberries 

• Preheat the oven to 180C.
• Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper. 
• Cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
• Add the egg and mix well.
• Add in the zest of 1 orange and juice of 1/2 an orange.
• Sift in the flour and mix well.
• Finally stir in the chocolate puddles and dried cranberries with a spatula. 
• Use a small ice cream scoop to place cookies on the baking tray spaced apart. 
• Bake for approximately 12-15 minutes until lightly brown around the edges.
• Allow to cool on the tray for a few minutes before transferring to a cooling rack to cool completely. 

Ninjabreadmen

This Christmas I present to you some 'Ginja Ninja's!' Everyone loves gingerbread (possibly with the exception of myself!) and this is a really fun twist to making gingerbread.  It's simple to bake and if you have kids, they can join in the fun too. 

I was sent these ninjabread cookie cutters by find-me-a-gift.co.uk to review. They are made of stainless steel and come in a set of three. There's a recipe for gingerbread on the back of the pack which I used to make these ninjas.  These are seriously cute cookie cutters and I'm sure I will be making lots of ninjas throughout the year.  Everyone has been impressed with the results and keep asking where they can buy these cookie cutters. Unfortunately the supplier has run out of stock currently but they should be getting more stock in so check back to find-me-a-gift.co.uk later. They would make excellent Christmas presents :)

*update: cookie cutters are now back in stock. Click here to buy some for yourself * 

The fun thing about making gingerbread ninjas (or men or women) is that you can be really creative with the decorating.  I'm afraid I'm not terribly creative and just went with the picture on the website and the pack. I might try my hand at royal icing next time.

As this is a Christmassy treat, I am entering this into the tea time treats challenge. This is a monthly event hosted on alternate months by Kate from What Kate Baked and Karen from Lavender and Lovage.  Kate, the host for this month has chosen Christmas as the theme.

I'm also entering it into Vanessa's Let's Make Christmas event. Do check out her blog if you haven't already for the ultimate guide to making your own edible Christmas gift.

And to Let's Cook for Christmas Red and Green, hosted by simply food

And to the holiday goodies link up over at Diary of a Semi-Health Nut hosted by Amanda

 the ninjas! 

 making ninja's

 ready to go in the oven 

 

 

 

 spot the odd one out :) 

Many thanks to find-me-a-gift.co.uk for providing me with the ninjabreadmen cookie cutters. 

Recipe from the back of the pack: Makes 24 ninja's and 1 gingerbreadman 

350g plain flour

2 teaspoons ground ginger (I used 3)

1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda

100g butter or margarine

175g soft light brown sugar

1 egg

4 tablespoons golden syrup (I used just over 5 as the dough was still crumbly)

• Preheat the oven to 190C.
• Line 2 baking trays with parchment paper. 
• Sift the flour, ginger and soda into a bowl.
• Rub in the butter with your fingertips. 
• Add the sugar then stir in the syrup and egg. 
• This should make a firm dough.
• Roll out onto a floured surface about 5mm thick and cut out your ninjabreadmen. 
• Place onto baking trays, spacing them apart as they will expand.
• Bake for 10 to 15 minutes until golden brown.
• Once cooked, leave to firm up for about 10 minutes before placing on to a wire rack to cool completely. 
• Decorate with coloured icing. 

Mini Custard Pots

I had 4 egg yolks leftover from making these peanut butter chip pillows recently. I was debating what to do with them so I sent out a tweet asking for suggestions which did not include custard and got the following replies: lemon curd, lemon meringue, meringue pie/tart and golden cake (thank you to those who replied)

What did I end up making? Custard which I did not want to make initially but I honestly just couldn't resist having seen them on Laura's blog and tweets. I had to wait another day to make them as I didn't have any cream in the house so the anticipation had been building up and they were well worth it.

I made a few different flavours - vanilla, lemon, lemon and honey, coffee and chocolate. My favourite was the coffee one which was a surprise as I don't drink coffee but then again I do like coffee based desserts. Surprisingly, the chocolate ones were my least favourite.

These custard pots are really smooth and silky and taste much better chilled. Writing this post makes me wish I still have some in the fridge!

 first time baking in a bain marie

 forgot to take a picture until it was almost all gone! 

 my favourite coffee one - tastes much better than it looks! 

Recipe adapted from cakeandfeminism 

4 egg yolks (you can also use whole eggs)

140g golden caster sugar

300ml double cream

300ml whole milk

Flavour variations

For vanilla - add 1 teaspoon vanilla essence or 1/2 vanilla pod (for 2 ramekins) 

For lemon - add 1 teaspoon grated lemon zest and 1-2 teaspoons of fresh lemon juice (to taste)

For honey and lemon - add 1 teaspoon grated lemon zest and 1 teaspoon honey

For coffee - add 1 teaspoon instant coffee dissolved in 1 tablespoon of hot water

For chocolate - add a few chunks of melted chocolate

• Preheat oven to 150C. 
• Whisk egg yolks and sugar in a large bowl.
• Bring the cream and milk to a boil in a large saucepan. 
• Pour onto the egg mixture, whisking throughout. 
• Pour the custard into ramekin dishes. 
• Add flavours as suggested above.
• Sprinkle ground nutmeg or cocoa powder on top depending on flavour used. 
• Bake for 1 hour in the centre of the oven. 
• It should be set around the edges but still have a wobble in the middle. 
• Allow to cool then place in the fridge.
• Best eaten chilled.

BBC Good Food Show and Great British Bake Off

Last weekend, I managed to visit the BBC Good Food Show in Birmingham. It was a really good day out but I was exhausted by the end of it. It was a really busy show and there were hundreds and hundreds of people there! I managed to buy a few foodie items to take back with me but the highlight for me was my "Great British Bake off Experience".  I was lucky enough to book seats for the GBBO theatre. Paul Hollywood and Mary Berry showed us how to make an 8-plait bread and meringue roulade respectively. It was really nice to watch them live having seen them on television earlier that year. 

Jo Wheatley, winner of GBBO 2011 and Edd Kimber, winner of GBBO 2010 also come on stage showcasing their meringue roulades. There was an audience vote and Jo won! I took quite a few photos and videos but unfortunately I can't upload all the videos here. I'm not tech savvy and the only reason I can think of is that the file is too large. It won't let me upload certain videos - if anyone can help, I would be grateful and I can upload them later. I have one of Mary Berry showing you how to roll the roulade. 

 Paul's intricate looking bread 

 'here's one I made earlier' 

 

This video shows you how it's done. Paul said (jokingly I hope!) that it should be a technical challenge in the next series of GBBO. If you've applied, do take notes :)

 "it's tough being a judge"

   judging the meringue roulades - Jo won!

 with Jo and Edd on stage 

 The lovely and talented Mary Berry. I was so excited and pleased that I got to meet her. I was completely starstruck! She and Jo did a book signing where the Q was so long, they had to turn people away as they only had a 30 minute slot! I think they added a second session later in the day though. She must have had hundreds of photos taken of her that day! Jo was just as I imagined from watching her on the show. 

 Mary and Jo signed my book :) 

 

Edd also signed my book and I had a little chat with him. I was quite nervous and starstruck but I got to show him pictures of his cakes that I made and asked for some advice. (I brought my own book hence the coloured tabs)

Edd doing a live demo where he showed us how to make blackberry millefeuille and chewy speculaas blondies (below). I got to sample one of these and they were delicious! 

I also visited the Great British Bake Off stall and had a chat to the team there. They were busy recruiting for the new series. Unfortunately, I missed seeing the other GBBO contestants who had been at the stall earlier. I also visited Ruth Clemens at StovesUK and had a brief chat to her. I also felt quite nervous and starstruck but she was really friendly and nice. I didn't take a picture of her though!

Finally, just before I had to leave to catch my train, I saw Rob Billington demoing a sea salt caramel I think... only stayed for a few minutes :( and in case you are wondering he looks even better in person :)

Did anyone else get to the Good Food Show? What did you think?

Cake club: Glitz & Glamour

I attended the inaugural Cakes4Fun Cake Club in Putney, London last week. Thank you Caroline for inviting me.  It's a monthly get together where everyone bakes something according to the set theme for that month. It's a great excuse to eat cake, have a drink and chat about baking. The theme for November was 'Glitz & Glamour'. There were 6 very glamourous cakes there, 5 with a chocolate base (clearly great minds think alike) and 1 non-chocolate cake. Obviously there was glitter and shimmer everywhere :)  

Fran was our lovely host and she gave us really useful hints and tips along the way. We each got a chance to 'present' our cake - why we made it and how and answer any questions and then of course the important tasting. It was fun to swap baking tips and stories over cake, tea and wine.  

Next month's cake club is on Jan 26th, the theme being ‘New Year….New you’ Healthy cakes to kick start your January. Contact cakes4fun for more details if you are interested in attending. 

And now I present the lovely, glitzy and glamourous cakes.....

This was a lovely potato and chocolate cake. Yes you read it correctly - potato! It was absolutely delicious and you really can't taste the potato. I love the little gold homemade truffles too.

Next up a Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall chocolate torte cake. Love the decoration here. This was lovely and moist and fudgey. 

 Moving on to a chocolate and banana cake with honeycomb on top. As you know banana is one of my favourite baked flavours and the addition of honeycomb made it even better. 

 This was Laura's white and dark chocolate cake. It was lovely and moist and I really loved the decorations! To read more about this cake, check out her blog here.

 Look at the lovely layers... yum! 

 This was made by my friend Caroline and was the only non chocolate cake of the evening. It's a hummingbird cake which is made from bananas, pineapples, walnuts. It was lovely and moist and made a refreshing change from all the chocolatey-goodness we were consuming.  It's one of my favourite cakes to make and eat so I was pleased to see it on the table. She used a gold shimmer spray and made the cute toppers from candy moulds from hobbycraft. Please take a moment to visit her blog which she has recently started. 

 Finally we had my ultimate chocolate cake which sadly arrived in pieces. This cake does not fare well on long bus and tube journeys! The collar had to be broken anyway to cut into the cake so it wasn't a major disaster and everyone kindly said that it looked quite artistic. It was lovely, soft and moist and surprisingly light as it looks like a 'heavy' cake.  Still loving the gold maltesers :) 

 Fran showed us a feather cake she was going to make at the weekend. Can you believe this is all edible? Do check out the cakes4fun website for more amazing cakes. I had a chance to look at some of their display cakes - wow!