Gingerbread Biscuits

I love spices. I love flavour, heat and zinginess in all of my food. Earlier this month I attempted to make my very own gingerbread house, but to my dismay, it all collapsed as I was assembling the last roof panel. It looked rather messy and hap-hazard, but it doesn't darrrrrrn good!! Here is a fool proof recipe that is guaranteed to produce you with some very delectable gingerbread biscuits. 

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Ingredients

(Makes about 25 biscuits)

125g Butter
50g Dark soft sugar
50 Light soft sugar
300g Plain Flour
1tsp Bicarbonate of Soda
3tbsp Golden Syrup
2tsp Ground Ginger (I like mine extra spicy so I always make sure these are HEAPED GENEROUSLY)

1. Preheat the oven to 200degreesC. Place baking paper on 4 baking trays.

2. Heat the butter, sugar and syrup in a saucepan until all of the sugar has disolved and the mixture is no longer 'granually'.

3. Sift the flour, bicarbonate of soda and ginger into a large mixing bowl and stir until the colour of the ingredients is a consistent light brown (due to the ginger).

4. Pour in the melted sugar, syrup and butter mixture into the flour and stir slowly until the mixture is thoroughly combined. Towards the end, begin to use your finger tips to roll the dough together into a ball shape. (The mixture is full of fat and sugar so will leave your hands sticky and glossy.)

5. Wrap the dough in some cling film and chill in the fridge for about 30mins.

6. Flour a work surface and rolling pin and roll out the dough until it is the thickness that you require. (Not too thin or they will break and burn.) Cut out your shapes carefully and place them onto an already prepared baking sheet.

7. Bake in the oven for about 12mins. Gingerbread does not take very long to cook and burns easily due to the high sugar content - KEEP AN EYE ON YOUR BISCUITS! After 12mins they will still feel slightly soft, do NOT worry about this - the biscuits get much harder as they cool.

8. Remove from the oven and allow to cool on a wire rack for at least 30mins.

9. Decorate however you wish! Personally, I love the combination of ginger and white chocolate. I like my gingerbread to be VERY spicy (to the point where your tastebuds tingle) and I find that the white chocolate just soothes your mouth after the zinginess and leaves a sweet, milky taste in your mouth....but you may prefer icing sugar and jelly diamonds!!

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They are very quick to make, and fun to decorate. I made this batch the night before going to the inlaws for Christmas so I wasn't too fussed about the decoration element as I didn't have much time, but actually thought that this melted white chocolate technique looked quite cool.

They were very addictive and didn't last very long between the family. And the white chocolate was absolutely scrummy with the ginger. This is a great recipe to try with the children over the Christmas holidays as it allows them to be as creative as they so wish. 

Bon Appetit!!

Cheddar and Leek Puff Pastry Plait

Every Christmas at school, the staff have what is known as a 'Shared Table' or a buffet lunch, where every member of staff brings in some form of party food and during the lunch break, staff are free to grab a plate of food for lunch. Now, having brought in some form of yummy treat every Friday throughout the term the pressure was kind of on for me...there was no way I could just bring in something shop bought. So after much discussion and consideration of what I had available in the house that needed to be used up before Christmas, I decided to go for this traditional pastry snack. Not very challenging, but my pastry work was practiced and improved.

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Ingredients

500g Puff Pastry
2 Leeks
250g Cheddar Cheese
1 Egg (2 if you prefer egg wash to milk)
Salt
Pepper
A little splash of Milk
Flour for the work surface

1. Preheat the oven to 180degreesC.

2. Chop the leeks into sizeable chunks and grate the cheese. Stir in a large bowl until mixed thoroughly. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

3. Beat the egg and pour into the cheese and leek mixture. Stir until everything is coated in the egg. Leave to stand whilst preparing the pastry.

4. Flour the work surface and your rolling pin. Roll the puff pastry into an oblong shape approximately 30cm long and 20cm wide.

5. Begin to spoon the cheese and leek mixture into the middle of the pastry, leaving a border of about 5cm all the way around the oblong. Pat the mixture into a neat sausage shape making sure it is rather tight and compact.

6. Starting at the left hand side (closest to you) of the plait, using a sharp knife, cut several strips diagonally downwards about 2cm apart from one another, working your way along the pastry. Repeat this on the other side.

7. Take the first pastry strip from the side closest to you and fold it tightly over the cheese and leek mixture, then take the first pastry strip from the side furthest to you and fold it over....causing a 'criss-cross' or plait type pattern. Do this all the way along the pastry, making sure each piece is tight around the mixture.

8. At the top and bottom ends you will have some excess pastry left over. It is important that you tightly seal the plait so that the cheese and leek filling doesn't petrude whilst in the oven. What I did here was just trim the pastry and then neatly fold it over then compressed it with a fork to make a nice frilly pattern at each end.

9. Before placing the plait in the oven put it onto a sheet of baking paper and pop it onto a baking tray. Using a pastry brush, lightly brush the outside of the plait with the milk/beaten egg. This will make the pastry nicely crisp and golden and will act as a glue, piecing the pastry together.

10. Bake in the oven for about 30mins, or until piping throughout.

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This was actually much nicer than I thought it was going to be. I've always been very honest in that I'm not too confident with my savoury snacks (especially pastry) but the flavours were sooo yummy together and really complemented one another.

And I'm really quite impressed at how it looked - not too shabby and rather professional, I think!! I made a little mini one and had it hot at home and I must say that it was so much nicer hot than cold, but was still a tasty snack. Well, at least the staff clearly thought so as there was a not a crumb left!!

Bon Appetit!!

Chocolate Fridge Cake

Another recipe that is steeped in memories for me is my Mum's (no bake) Chocolate Refrigerator Cake. Working as a nurse in care homes, my Mum would always drag my sister and I along to all of the fetes   that they would have and we were always allowed to help out on her stall - the cake stall!! You could guarantee that my Mum would bake 3 or 4 different cakes and every single one would sell out completely. And the fridge cake - well, that was mine and my sister's job. She would always allow us to help in the kitchen with the reward of licking the bowls clean afterwards. This fridge cake recipe is soooo easy and relatively quick to make. Also, it is possible to personalise it in any way that you so desire. 

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Ingredients

400g Milk Chocolate

250g Digestive Biscuits

100g Butter

6 tbsp Golden Syrup

Icing Sugar for dusting

200g - 250g Fruit/Nuts/Sweets/Chocolates 

(I often use a mixture of marshmallows, cherries, maltesers, smarties and crunchies)

1. Get a 20cm square dish and completely cover it with cling film, making sure that there is excess cling film hanging over each of the sides. (This will be helpful later on.)

2. Place the digestives into a food bag and smash them up using a rolling pin. Do NOT smash them until they are breadcrumbs - you still want some chunks of biscuit in the mixture. 

3. Melt the chocolate in a pyrex bowl above a saucepan of boiling water. Add in the butter and syrup and keep stirring until the mixture is smooth and glossy and thoroughly combined.

4. In a large mixing bowl, tip in your choice of sweets and treats, as well as the smashed up biscuits. Give them a quick stir and then pour in the melted chocolate. Mix thoroughly until all of the sweets and biscuits are covered in the chocolate.

5. Spoon the mixture into the square dish with the cling film, flattening it down with the back of your spoon. Try to make it as flat as possible. Place in the fridge and allow to set for 2hours.

6. Once the fridge cake has set and is hard to the touch, remove from the fridge and lever it out using the excess cling film. Chop it into sizeable chunks (triangles are the best shape in my opinion!) on your work surface and then sprinkle some icing sugar on the top if you wish. 

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This is a great recipe if you are in need of a sugar fix but can't decide what to make. It is super easy and nigh on impossible to mess up - brilliant if you have a brood of children long awaiting to do the all important taste test! It's great fun to make and you can get as messy as you so wish (or not). It's a must at any good children's birthday party!!

Gooey marshmallows, crunchy digestives, sweet honeycomb = simply divine!!

Boxed up and ready to go to school! Went down a treat on Friday with the staff. 

Bon Appetit!! 

Cinnamon Buns with Lemon Icing

The temperature has dropped, the snow is beginning to fall and Christmas is just around the corner. For me, spices are the most important accompaniment to food and drink at this time of year (a cheaper alternative to keeping you warm instead of putting the heating on!) and cinnamon is one of my favourites! I love it in my coffee, in my red wine AND in my sweets and puddings. As many of you will know, my sister is vegan and I can honestly say that she bakes some of the nicest cakes/biscuits/generic treats I have ever tasted!! And, for me, my favourite of her creations is her Cinnamon Buns...also known as Cinnamon Swirls and these are simply delightful.

 (C) Charlotte Rydz

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Ingredients

This recipe was baked in Andy's breadmaker, but you can use the old fashioned method. RESTING TIME is the most important with this recipe as the dough acts like a bread and needs time to rise.

Dough:                                                  Filling:                                                Icing:
225g Strong Bread Flour             30g Pure (melted)                       Icing Sugar
1 tsp Mixed Spice                             50g Brown Sugar                              Cold Water
1/2 tsp Salt                                       1/2 tsp Cinnamon                             Lemon Juice
1 and 1/2 tsp Dried Yeast              75g Sultanas
110ml Soya Milk
50g Vegetable Spread (Pure)

1. Place the pure and milk into the bread maker pan. Add in the flour, salt and spice. (Make sure there is no liquid viewable at the top as the yeast will start reacting as soon as it comes into contact with the milk.)

2. Spoon in the yeast on top of the flour in the middle of the bread pan. Set the bread maker to the dough programme. Sit back and relax for about 1hour and 30mins.

3. Remove the dough from the bread maker, place in a deep bottomed dish, cover with clingfilm and leave to rise for about another hour, just so that the dough is light and airy and you can get as many buns out of the dough as possible.

4. Start to make the filling - mix the sugar and sultanas together in a small bowl. 

5. On the stove, melt the pure in a saucepan until it resembles liquid gold.

6. Sprinkle some flour onto the work surface and roll out the dough into an oblong shape, about 30cm long and 25cm wide.

7. Brush the melted pure over the dough and evenly sprinkle the sugar and sultanas over the pure. 

8. Pre heat the oven to 190degrees C.

9. Gently roll the dough up - grab hold of the long side of the dough and roll to the other long side so it resembles a long, thin, swiss roll shape. Using a blunt/butter knife, cut the rolled up dough into little 'pinwheel' sort of shapes. 

10. Place into a deep baking dish (I used my roasting dish, my sister uses her lasagne dish) so that the pinwheel is facing upwards. Bake in the oven for 30mins until they have swelled, gone golden and are firm to the touch.

11. Whilst the buns are cooling, start to make the icing using the icing sugar, lemon juice and water to taste.

12. Once the buns are cool, drizzle the icing randomly over the buns. Allow the icing to set and Voila!! Easy peasy, professional looking Cinnamon Buns/Swirls!

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I was so so sooooo chuffed with how these turned out. I was quite anxious about giving my sister's recipe a go, as she always does them to perfection and I didn't want mine to be atrocious, but I was quite proud at how they turned out. I loved the size of the buns, a small, bitesize bun to go with your tea. Infact, I was so impressed with them, I took some into uni for my friends to try. They absolutely adored them and they were very much needed after a boring lecture at uni!! 

It just proves that just because something is described as 'vegan' doesn't mean it is going to be tasteless and raw like it is commonly perceived. Infact, I don't think I know anyone who cooks better or eats just as well than my sister. She definitely is my cooking (and eating!) role model. (Also, these are fab for anyone who is lactose intolerant.)

To find out more about my sister's and brother in law's vegan lifestyle, why don't you follow @theveggieblog on Twitter? Lots of yummy things to bake and eat, as well as reviews on vegan products and places to eat and drink. 

Bon Appetit!!