Chocolate Crackle Cakes.

Yum! Yum!  Don't you just love half term and all the extra treats you get to make (and maybe sample - just a little!)




Here then are our very easy Chocolate Crackle Cakes.

I searched on line for a recipe: there are loads, my original recipe (Good Housekeeping , 1962!) was very rich, and I have found that modern recipes use less chocolate, so I use the original but with less chocolate and it seems to work.




You need:

3 oz Rice Krispies (or Cornflakes)
2oz unsalted butter
1 to 2 tablespoon golden syrup
4  oz Chocolate



2oz raisins or sultanas (optional)

marshmallows and sprinkles (also optional)



1.  Over a pan of hot water
 melt the butter and chocolate together

2.  Add the syrup

3.  Put your cereal in a large bowl

4.  Add the dried fruit (this is optional, it is my gesture to healthy eating, you could add marshmallows as well if you wish)

4.  Pour over the chocolate, butter, syrup mixture and stir through so all cereal is coated.


5.  Divide the mixture between prepared cake cases.

6.  If you are working with a four year old, decorate liberally with sprinkles, marshmallows, or other sparkly additions!


7.  Pop them in the fridge for at least an hour, so the chocolate hardens up.

8.  Try not to eat all in one sitting!


Seriously, these are really easy, and great fun.  They are ready quickly, always work, there is no fiddling around with ovens, you can tweak ingredients to suit you.  Adding or taking things away as you need, or your store cupboard dictates, and children love making them.  They get a huge sense of achievement and then get great pleasure from giving them to their friends as little gifts.


Re: Chocolate, I always use dark chocolate.  As it is a luxury, I prefer to use a Fairtrade product.

So my cooking Chocolate is Divine.

Dark 70 percent cocoa.

They also make a lovely milk chocolate.



Additionally when white chocolate is required, I use Green and Black's Organic Fairtrade White Chocolate.

A piece of advice:  If you have a family hide your chocolate supply or when you plan to cook you may well  find empty wrappers, and a lot of very surprised (innocent) faces when you ask "Who ate all the chocolate?"



I will post the chocolate fairy cakes, with pink icing and zillions of sprinkles tomorrow.

Please check in.

Fairy Cakes, not Cup Cakes!!!!!

Gosh we have had a busy half term, catching up with old friends, and play dates with school friends.  I am exhausted.

I haven't had time to post this week.  But I have been cooking.

On Monday the little girl and I made Chocolate Crackle Cakes,

On Tuesday we made Fairy Cakes, and iced them with this
 chocolate butter icing.

The cakes are very simple:  I use a classic Victoria Sandwich mixture, the ratio is:

1 egg

2oz of sugar, butter, self raising flour and flavouring.

In this case I used:

6 oz sugar and butter, which I creamed together.

I then added the 3 eggs,  mixing well.

Finally, I added the flour with a teaspoonful of
vanilla extract.

This made exactly 24 fairy cakes, (put the mixture  in paper bun cases, which you have put in bun tins.)

Bake in the oven for 18 minutes,  you may need to turn them after 10 minutes.


Once they are cooled.  The butter icing is simplicity itself.

Sieve 6 oz icing sugar into a bowl, add 3oz butter, a tablespoonful of cocoa powder and a tiny bit of hot water.  Mix it all together and spread on your fairy cakes.  If you wish you can decorate with sprinkles, such as hundred and thousands.




We made some more fairy cakes this morning, and she and two friends spent a happy quarter of an hour decorating with pink icing and (loads) of sprinkles.  I'm off to restock next week!


I am insisting on calling these fairy cakes, as I believe that cup cakes are larger, and more elegant affairs, and they are American.  they tend to be decorated with exotic fondants and ganaches, which are piped, and even the cake cases tend to be fancier.  I do make them occasionally, but prefer the simplicity and ease of fairy cakes.

Anyway, I hope if you have children you have had a lovely half term break, roll on Easter holidays:-)

Next week, when I have a few spare minutes (read hours) I will post the chocolate crackles recipe and also chocolate fairy cakes with pink glace icing!

Vanilla Sugar

Making Vanilla Sugar, is one of those easy things to do and has the bonus of enhancing all your cooking.  The sugar gently flavours your baking, and additionally your stewed fruits, boiled milk and white sauces.  Indeed anywhere you chose to use it.

You simply need

a large canister or glass jar

caster sugar

vanilla pods

The vanilla pods are usually sold in thin glass or tin containers, and there are normally two in a jar.  The jars remind me of science lessons in school!  But this is not rocket science!!!

Pour a bag of sugar into your container, and add the vanilla pods, if the container is large you may want to top up with more sugar.

And that is it!  You now have lovely vanilla sugar for all your baking and cooking needs.

I also make vanilla sugar with golden caster sugar.  However, soft brown sugar, both light and dark, already have distinctive flavours, and when they are needed in a recipe, it is usually for those very flavours, so they do not benefit from the addition of vanilla or other flavours.

Enjoy!

Tuck Box Brownies

I have been making these for ages.  Both my sons adore them and they often took them to school and university in their tuck boxes. 

 I was watching Lorraine Pascale on television the other day, and she suggested that you get all your ingredients together before you begin to bake.  I would fully endorse this, because you can ruin your brownies if you leave out the salt, or (as I did once) THE EGGS! 

So here are my ingredients gathered together.  The canister at the back has vanilla sugar in it,  everything else is quite straight forward.

To make brownies you will need:

2 x (10x6 1/2 inch) shallow baking tins (lined with parchment paper)

5 oz butter (unsalted)

4 oz plain chocolate

12oz vanilla sugar

5oz self raising flour

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp vanilla extract

4 eggs (beaten)

4oz pecans or walnuts  (roughly chopped)

In a small bowl, or  jug (I use a pyrex measuring jug) melt the butter and chocolate over a pan of hot water (do not let the butter and chocolate boil.)

Remove the jug from the heat, you should have a smooth chocolate mixture.

Add the sugar and stir in.

Mix your flour and salt together  in a large bowl, add nuts.  ( I prefer pecans as they are softer and chewier then walnuts.)

Now you need to add the eggs, the chocolate mixture and the vanilla extract.  MIx all the ingredients together .  Place them in the lined baking tins.

Bake in the oven at 180 degrees, for  about 25 minutes, do check after 15 and turn the trays.  The brownies should be soft to the touch and have come away from the edge.  This is them just out of the oven.

Because they are soft, leave them in the tins for a while, before you put them on a cooling rack.  They are lovely with a buttery icing, but as these were travelling in a tin, I simply cut them into squares and sprinkled with icing sugar (through a sieve).  My son said they kept well for four days, (I don't know if they would keep longer, they are always eaten so quickly!)

Luckily the tin was not quite large enough for all the brownies, so there were a few left, which we forced ourselves to sample with coffee.  Really lovely Yum, Yum!

I really hope you enjoy these they are a perfect treat, and really easy to make.

Sprouts, bacon and chestnuts - Yes, it is a delicious combination!

Not a very inspiring title, but still delicious.

Here is a very quick and easy way to spruce up the sprouts.  I know they are a "love them or loathe them" vegetable, but I personally love them, so long as they are not OVER COOKED!!!!

You will need

Sprouts

bacon 

chestnuts

(as the title suggests!)

1.  Wash and prepare your sprouts, you need to remove any discoloured leaves, then boil them in a pan of slightly salted water for about 10 minutes.  Keep an eye on them, and don't let them get overcooked, or all the bacon and chestnuts in the world will not improve the flavour.

2.  While the sprouts are cooking, chop up the bacon and fry in a frying pan.  I tend to trim of some of the fat, and use that to fry the bacon, you want it crisp, but not burnt.

3.  When the bacon looks cooked add the chestnuts.  I usually buy my chestnuts in France, where there are  lovely large jars to be found, at  very reasonable prices.  Here, in the UK,  the jars (or tins) seem to be smaller, and more expensive, though the quality is as good.

4.  The chestnuts just need to be warmed through.  Now drain the sprouts, and mix the bacon and chestnuts with them.  Here I have served them with some lovely strips of steamed carrot.  The colour gave a lovely contrast, and the sweetness of the carrots added a further dimension to the savoury taste of the sprouts, bacon and chestnuts.  A good twist of black pepper will further enhance the flavour.

These winter vegetables are delicious with a Sunday roast or some sausages, (particularly venison, we had some last week, truly scrumptious.)

With some dishes, such as vegetables, I tend not to specify quantities, you know how many people you are cooking for and what their likes and dislikes are, so I leave it up to you.

Enjoy

Judex

My Two Kitchens - "A Tale of Two Kitchens"

I had really wanted to call my blog, "A tale of two kitchens".  I'm blessed with two homes.

Our main home is in a suburb of London, all that you would expect (the suburb that is), leafy, light, near a deer park and the river.  We have super shopping on our doorstep and lovely restaurants to visit.  As well as the attractions of central London  just a hop, skip and jump away (or should that be a bus, and tube journey!)

Our Breton house, is lovely.  If you walk very, very slowly you can be on a beautiful beach within a minute and a half.  Plus, of course, the food is just fab.  Fresh, local and very often organic.  Yum!

In both houses I am the main cook, and in both I have lovely, but bijoux kitchens.  Both houses are modern, and are open plan, so I can cook and talk with the rest of the family, even if they are not insight.

These first three photos are the London kitchen, I chose the range cooker, a Britannia, 15 years ago, it's a real workhorse, wonderful to cook on, and very reliable.

I use my mixer so much that I keep it out on the worktop.  Here I have a Kitchen Aid, and in France I have a Kenwood, I don't believe that there is anything to choose between them.  They both work fantastically.

The spice jars came from the brico marche  (DIY store)  in France.  My radio is usually tuned to Radio Four, I love listening to Woman's Hour, The Archers, the afternoon play (sometimes) and of course my favourite The Food Programme.

This is the kitchen in Brittany, we changed the door handles, they were cream, but I liked the idea of blue, as it is a seaside home.  We also replaced the oven and stove top, which were a little rusty, one of the problems with a home close to the sea.    As the oven is much smaller I tend to cook differently in France, using the stove more, partly because I cook far more fish, and boil crab and lobster.

You can just see the duplicate spice jars, and on the little shelf are some local Breton hot chocolate bowls.  These are delightful and I have three, one for each of my children.  You can buy them with names on, which makes them even more personal.  They are a great gift to bring from Brittany.

I hope, as this blog continues to write about the differences of cooking in two very contrasting places.

Check in every so often to see what I have to say.

I've just looked at this on Preview, and realise I will have to clean the oven in France, when I am there at Easter, I will put some more photos on then, when it's all sparkling!

Judex

A Pizza -without a crust?

When my sons were growing up we often had pizza's on Friday evenings.It was a (very) regular family tradition.  An ideal, relaxing meal after a busy working week.

I would get home from work, make some pizza dough, chop chorizo and ham, olives, anchovies and capers, slice the mozzarella and prepare a salad, and when my husband got home we would have pizzas, the weekend had started!

Now we have a little person, we prefer pizzas for Saturday lunch, one or other of the boys will usually be home and it is again a relaxing family meal.

In October, however,  I decided to cut out carbs for a few months, so I had to come up with non carb pizza for Saturday lunch, here is my solution;

No crust Pizza:

You will need,

small to medium vine tomatoes
small peppers
small courgettes
fennel
carrots (optional)
garlic
anchovies
capers
mixed herbs

and

mozzarella
basil
rocket leaves
olive oil

1.  Slice your peppers, courgettes and fennel, and carrots if you are using them.  

2.  You need to slice the tomatoes in half

3.  In each tomato half, place a thin slice of garlic, a caper and a sliver of anchovy

4.  Sprinkle liberally with mixed herbs

5.  Place all the vegetables on a baking sheet, drizzle with olive oil and bake in the oven for about 30-40 minutes at about 200 degrees

6. Let the vegetables cool slightly and then you can serve them with Mozzarella, basil and rocket.

6.  You will not miss the bread, this is really delicious, let me know how you find it.

I'll add a few more low carb ideas over the next few days, as a counter balance to all the baking.

Enjoy 

Jude x

A Trifle Rushed - my first post

In this blog I  am primarily interested in sharing my cooking ideas, tips and shortcuts, learnt over 25 years of motherhood (I have two grown up sons, and a little girl in Reception class at school)

I  have spent ages (or at least the last couple of weeks) trying to think up a clever, witty name, but, sadly they all seem to have been taken!  As there arewell over 300,000 food blogs already,  I really had to put my thinking cap on!

Eventually, I settled on "A Trifle Rushed" it seems appropriate, as it not only reflects my interest in food but also my constant state of hurry.

Up in the morning, walk the dog, get Little Girl up, breakfast, school run, home, iron, shop, cook, walk the dog, school run, homework, tea, bath, bed time stories, prayers, supper (adults), dishes, etc. etc. etc!  

You get the picture, and know what I mean?

As I have mentioned trifle in my title what better recipe to start with (drum roll!)

This lovely recipe is based on one from Delia Smith's "Complete Cookery Course".  It's one of those perfect recipes, once you have made it, you will never really need to try another trifle recipe, ever.

An everyday delicious trifle.

Ingredients: trifle sponges (1packet)
                    custard (1 pint)
                    double cream
                    raspberrries (1 punnet)
                    bananas  (3)
                    raspberry jam
                    sherry


















1. Break up the trifle sponges and cover as many sides as you can with jam,  line the bottom of a fairly   large glass bowl.

2.  Add the raspberries,  you may like to use two punnets, (one doesn't look like quite enough, does it?)   Then add the sliced bananas.

3.  Add a good measure of sherry over the sponges and fruit.

















4.  Now cover with your custard.  (This is where I cheat and use Birds custard, as it is far simpler and therefore far quicker then making an egg custard!  You could try bought custard, but it does need to be thick enough to cover the fruit, rather then sink through, please let me know if you try one and how well it works)

5.  At this stage you should put the trifle into the fridge (the trifle will be quite happy if you prepare it the day before you plan to eat it.)

6.  Before serving the trifle you need to whip up the cream and smother your trifle.

















You could decorate the top of the trifle with toasted almonds or some cake decorations such as fruit jellys or silver balls.  Fresh rapsberries would be another and really delicious idea.  Because I add the cream just before I am serving the trifle, I tend to leave it plain.

NB I prepare an individual trifle for my Little Girl, with out the sherry, which should obviously be left out if you are preparing this for a group of children.

Enjoy!