Sugarcraft Workshop (and update)

I realise I haven't posted in a while but with Christmas, an exam and an essay to write I was slightly preoccupied. Apparently not occupied enough to not bake but oh well, it just means you've got lots of recipes to look forward to! Including millionaire's shortbread, ginger biscuits, Christmas cupcakes and more!

This post isn't really going to be a recipe, however, more...showing off? Well not really, it's just going to be about this workshop I did in York just before Christmas. If anybody is interested here's her website:

Cakes Unlimited

I went for four hours and it was a Christmas themed class decorating cupcakes and cake balls. I also made a little snow man which was really good fun. We went through how to make Italian meirange butter cream (which was VERY yummy), some basic piping and then sugar craft. The sugar craft was pretty much brand new to me but I really enjoyed all the intricate work that went in to it and now that I know the basics I'm sure you'll see an awful lot me of it!

Anyway, here's some pictures of the final products. (Will post some recipes soon, promise!)

- Emma xxx

Mince Pies

Perfect for the festive season! Super easy to make and really tasty. You can either buy mincemeat or make your own but I would really recommend making your own pastry because that's what really makes it! The pastry recipe comes from the Good Food website but I felt the mix was a bit dry which is why I add an egg yolk - it also makes it easier to roll out.

Ingredients:

(Pastry)

225g cold butter , diced
350g plain flour
100g Caster sugar
1 Egg Yolk

(Mincemeat)

300/400g Mincemeat Shop bought or make your own.

The best recipe for this I know of is Delia and you can find it here:

Delia Smith's Mincemeat Recipe

(Extra)

1 Egg (Beaten)
Icing sugar to dust the mince pies with

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 200°c.

2. To make the pastry, rub the butter into the flour to form breadcrumbs. Then mix in the sugar and the egg yolk.

3. Squeeze the mix into a ball, kneading slightly. You can either use the dough straight away or chill it for 20 minutes.

4. Roll out the mixture on to a floured surface and cut rounds the same size as your cupcake tin. Then line the tins with the rounds. (The mix should make between 12-18 mince pies)

5. Spoon a good teaspoon of mincemeat on to each round and then place another round on top, sealing the edges with your fingers.

6. Brush the tops of the pies with the beaten egg and then bake in the oven for 20 minutes. Once out of the oven leave to cool in the tins for five minutes before transferring them to the cooling rack.

7. Dust the mince pies with icing sugar before serving. Enjoy warm or cold.

Pudsey Bear Biscuits (Gluten Free)

These are the Pudsey bear biscuits I made for children in need but this is a gluten free recipe. Bit if you want to just use normal flour it's the same amount. This recipe is from the Lakeland cookie cutter, the recipe on the back. I just used gluten free flour instead and added a bit more sugar to over power the flour taste. This recipe would be good for normal shaped busicuits too I just made these with the cutter.

Ingredients:

100g Plain Gluten Free Flour
50g Corn Flour
60g Caster Sugar
100g Butter or Margarine

(For Chocolate cookies 25g Cornflour & 25g Cocoa Flour. These taste slightly better as they hide the gluten-free flour taste.

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 180°c.

2. Weigh everything in to a large mixing bowl and then rub all the ingredients together till you get a breadcrumb texture.

3. Then squeeze the mixture together to form a dough.

4. Dust a clean surface with flour and roll the ball of dough out quite thinly (and evenly!).

5. Using the cookie cutter (whatever you choose) cut out your cookie shapes and place on a baking tray.

6. Repeat the process until you've used all the mixture.

7. Chill the baking trays in the fridge for about five minutes and then place in the oven for 10-15 minutes depending on thickness.

8. Remove the cookies from the oven and leave to cool on the baking tray for five minutes before you take them off and place them on cooling racks.

9. DECORATE! - For the pudsey bear cookies I piped on the face features in black and smeared a bandage on. The bandage was made using just icing sugar and water. I then chose to decorate him retro style with just the red spots on the badage.

10. Enjoy, whether you are a celiac or not. Everyone in my house seemed to like them so that's always good news!

Tips for a White Sauce

I learnt how to make a white sauce in middle school and never looked back. There's something so wonderful about a nice thick white sauce. It's so useful to know how to make one too. You can make a cheese sauce for pasta, the white sauce on top of a lasange or a parsley sauce to go with your roast ham on a sunday. It's by far my favourite sauce but there are some easy to make mistakes with this seemingly simple sauce!

You need: Butter, Flour and Milk for the basic sauce but you can add to it at the end - cheese, parsley, chilli, bacon, the list goes on!

1. Melt a good knob of butter in the saucepan.

2. Slowly add a little flour at a time using a wooden spoon. Try to get the mixture to a warm bluetack consistency.

3. Once you have your rue start adding the milk. If you want a really thick sauce it would be better to add tiny amounts of milk to the mixture and stirring in till combined. It's a long process but it does pay off, I find this is better than just pouring all the milk in at once.

4. Once the mixture is starting to look runny add in the remainder of the milk and whisk.

5. Once you've whisked the sauce go back to your wooden spoon, turn the heat up a little bit and keep stirring until your sauce has thickened. Don't add Flour (unless you really need to) just have faith. Once the sauce is thick enough add any extras, but still add the salt and pepper to taste even if you're not adding more.

6. Use on lasange, pasta, potatos, roast dinner...anything!

Hope this guide helps, it's so much better than buying a sauce ready made and so much cheaper!!!

The 5 Minute Mug Cake

This is a must for students (or if you're just peckish and need something NOW!) It's not as good as the real thing but it comes awful close. All you need is a largish mug and a tablespoon.

Ingredients:

4 tbs Self-raising Flour
4 tbs Caster Sugar
1 Egg
3 tbs Milk
3 tbs Oil
1/2 tbs Vanilla Extract
Pinch of Salt

(For the chocolate version add 2 tbs Cocoa Powder and 3 tbs Chocolate chips)

Method:

1. Add dry ingredients to mug and mix well. Add the egg and mix thoroughly.

2. Add the milk and oil mixing well.

3. Add any other ingredients and stir until fully combined.

4. Place the mug in the microwave (maybe on a small plate just incase!) and cook of a high heat for 3 minutes.

5. Watch your cake grow! Don't be too alarmed if it goes over the top! Once it's cooked allow to cool a bit before tipping the cake out on to a plate.

6. Enjoy cold or warm with some ice-cream!

Please comment with pictures if you try making it, they tend to make rather ugly (yummy) cakes but there's something lovely and rustic about that! Have fun with this recipe, it is a lot like a school science experiement!

- Emma xxx

Spinach, Ricotta & Pea Tart(s)

Great dish for dinner (hot) or next day cold for lunch. Quite easy to make and a really nice vegetarian dish!

Ingredients:

1 tub of Ricotta (usually 250g)
3 Eggs
4 Frozen cubes of chopped Spinach (They'll be in most frozen sections in the supermarket)
1 Large Red onion
Peas (up to you how many!)

+ Puff pastry, either some you've made or shop bought. If I'm honest I have no desire to make puff pastry and for a quick meal in the evening I would recommend buying it but if you have the time go ahead!

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 180°c.

2. Finely chop the onion and gently fry along with the frozen spinach. Don't let it burn but keep going until all the spinach has melted.

3. In a large mixing bowl whisk the eggs and the ricotta together until smooth. Add some salt and pepper and if you fancy you can also add some milk or cream, but not too much.

4. Boil some peas for a few minutes while you sort out your pastry.

5. Pastry. Now it's up to you how big/small you make these. I've made them in muffin tins (could be good for parties), Yorkshire pudding tins (as seen below) or a tray bake. It's completely up to you! Roll out the pastry and line your chosen dish.

6. Drain the peas and add them to the egg and ricotta mix then add the spinach and onions.

7. Spoon the mixture into the pastry and try not to overfill.

8. Bake in the oven for 20-40 minutes depending on how large your tarts are.

9. Serve with veg and mash for dinner or cold with salad the next day for lunch!

Great hot or cold dish, maybe make one too many for your lunch the next day!!

- Emma xxx

Easy Peasy Chocolate Cake

This recipe I've been using for a while, can't remember where it came from and I've definitely changed parts here and there but it's really easy to make and never fails (plus is tastes great!)

Ingredients:

275g Self-raising Flour
225g Margarine
225g Golden Caster Sugar (Or just Caster Sugar)
4 Eggs
20/30g Cocoa Powder
4 tbs Milk
1 tsp Baking Powder
1 tsp Vanilla Extract

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 180°c.

2. Beat the butter and the sugar together until fluffy and then add the milk.

3. Add the beaten eggs (adding a little flour if it curdles). Then add the Vanilla.

4. Slowly add the dry ingredients and fold in.

5. Spoon into the cake tin or cupcake cakes and bake for 20-45 minutes depending on what you're using. Cup cakes take less time than a large cake.

6. Once the cake is cooked put on a cooling rack and once it's cooled you can start to have fun decorating! Chocolate butter cream goes really well with this to give you a chocolate explosion.

7. Enjoy!

I tend to use this recipe for birthday cakes because it is so easy to make, tastes great but it is also really easy to manipulate. It's light and fluffy but it doesn't fall apart when you try and cut it. Great all rounder!

- Emma xxx