Mmmm brownies. George and I made some this week for our friends. We have a fantastic new book called The Cookiepedia by Stacey Adimando filled full of yummy cookies and biscuits. I love how this recipe book has set itself apart from all the other baking books on my shelf. It is spiral bound and more like a textbook than a traditional recipe book and I like the style. The use of spiral binding is a simple idea, but very effective and I wish all my recipe books were so easy to use. Listen up publishers – spiral binding is a must for a user friendly recipe book.
Now, as the name suggested The Cookiepedia works its way through every type of cookie imaginable but in clear sections group cookie types together. For example there is a whole section on chocolate cookies, where my brownies fitted in (cookie or cake you decide) and another on fruity cookies which included the delicious oatmeal raisin cookies I’ve enjoyed making. There are lots of helpful hints with each recipe; a useful glossary, which I think most recipe books lack; and great food photography accompanied.
At the moment my copy of The Cookiepedia is my go to baking book and the one recipe book that is staying off my bookshelf and out on my kitchen counter – and in my kitchen that is the equivalent of my own special culinary award.
Looking back over my posts this year I’ve found the five most popular posts. There are a good mix of recipes and surprisingly my Smoked Salmon Pasta has been the most popular recipe all year round! Here are your favourite 5 posts:
If you have time and you want to make a quick last minute homemade gift or have something yummy to offer guests over the next week then check out these very cute Christmas pudding petits fours. Think of these as healthier versions of the chocolate truffle. They are about the same size, but packed full of dried fruit they are much better for you. I made mine with my little boy so they are a fun Christmas activity for kids to get involved with.
Here’s how to make them:
Ingredients:
400g fruit cake
50g softened unsalted butter
100g luxury mixed fruit (I combined dried figs, dried apricots and sultanas)
2 tsp mixed spice
1 tsp cinnamon
zest of one orange
1 pack marzipan
Green food colouring
Cloves
Method:
Crumble up the fruit cake into a large bowl and add the softened butter.
Put the mixed fruit into a fruit processor and blitz until it comes into a smooth paste.
Scrape the fruit paste into the bowl with the fruit cake, add the spices and orange zest.
Mix well with a wooden spoon until it is combined and a sticky consistency, this will take a few minutes to achieve.
Take a generous teaspoon of the mixture and roll into a ball, continue until you have used all the mixture.
Cut a small section of your marzipan, approx 50g and add a few drops of green food colouring. Kneed the marzipan until the colour has distributed evenly. Take very small pieces and shape into leaves.
Wash your hands to remove any food colouring and then take small pinches of the plain marzipan roll into small balls and then flatten to look like a penny coin.
Mold the marzipan on top of the mini christmas puddings and then place the green leaf on top, push a clove into the leave to secure the leaf.
I have wrapped my gifts in greaseproof paper and tied with ribbon, you could also use cellophane before wrapping in christmas paper.
Look what I’ve found for the Christmas stocking. These gorgeous Lindt chocolate teddy bears. They are absolutely adorable and just right for something to add to the a Christmas stocking. I always go for chocolate coins but that’s boring, these festive chocolate teddy bears are much better. I know my little boy is going to love them – not least because he has already shown them to me when we were out shopping!
There are other stocking fillers to choose from:
I hope this is a useful idea for your Christmas stocking, or maybe even a small gift for children big or small.
Christmas is coming fast! I’ve been suffering with a virus and unable to get on with my edible gifts. It’s time to get back in the kitchen and share some recipes with you. One of the first things I’m going to be making is Marmalade. I’ve never made marmalade before, but I saw this 15 Minute Marmalade recipe on Abel and Cole’s website sometime ago and wanted to give it a try. This will make a great edible gift as homemade marmalade is so much better than shop bought. This recipe is by the beautiful Rachel de Thample, of Abel and Cole,whose book I reviewed earlier this year. Here is the video for you:
It has been some time since I last blogged. I had 25 guests for my last Supper Club so preparing and then recovering has taken some time! Also we have all been suffering with colds. My little boy suffers with asthma and I really have to watch him like a hawk when he has a cold, so the blog has gone on the back burner.
I wanted to share a couple of pictures of my Supper Club. I wasn’t able to photo my food as it was so hectic in the kitchen but I’ve put together a couple of pictures which give a feel of the evening.
Coming up on the blog I’m going to start Christmas preparations. This will include edible gifts, easy Christmas recipes to make yourself, like mincemeat and some of the traditional dishes I cook at Christmas time. Do you have any Christmas blog requests? Please leave a comment…..
I am excited by this recipe. It is full of so many ‘good for you’ ingredients. Sometime ago I cooked a Jamie Oliver lasanga recipe which included butternut squash; it was yummy. This is a vegetarian lasanga which I think is also a money saving dish.
This recipes suggests making your own pasta, I skipped that and scrolled down to the recipe using shop bough lasanga sheets.
If you scoop out the seeds of your pumpkin (which you can wash and roast) peel and chop it into chunks, then it can be cooked in a curry just like carrots or potato.
This curry recipe is a Nigella, and I have cooked it before, definitely worth a try! Yummy!
Roasted Pumpkin
Image @ http://www.countryliving.com
One of the easiest ways to use a pumpkin is to serve it as a side vegetable.
Here is a delicious recipe roasting it alongside shallots.
Cooking pumpkin like this makes it a perfect accompaniment to a Sunday roast.
This weekend I’m going to buy some pumpkins and get baking. Following all the requests I’ve had for pumpkin recipes here are some of the sweet recipes I would like to try. Click on the titles to read the recipes and see the blogs they come from:
I love the look of these scones. There are lots of recipes online, but this recipe looks easy to follow. I’m going to try this minus the butterscotch chips, because I haven’t seen these in my local shop, maybe it’s an American thing?
These also call for buttermilk. I usually make this myself by using semi-skimmed milk and adding a teaspoon of lemon juice. Leave the milk for 10 minutes and it can be used just as buttermilk. This is good as it stops me having to make a special trip out to buy buttermilk.
Pumpkin Spice Cupcakes
Image @ http://www.icancookthat.org
These look totally yummy! I can’t wait to bake these.
Again it is an American recipe and there are a few adjustments to this recipe to be made. They use something called “Green Mountain Pumpkin Spice” which I understand as ground coffee with spice. Either leave this out altogether or add a couple of spoonfuls of plain coffee.
Canola oil is used, instead use vegetable oil.
Pumpkin Pie
Image @ http://www.dimasharif.com
I’ve eaten Pumpkin Pie once before and really enjoyed it. I’m not sure I’ll be cooking it this weekend, but I couldn’t leave it off my list!
This recipe uses a bought pumpkin spice mix, which I isn’t easily available in the UK. Instead refer to the spices I added to my pumpkin parfait recipe. Basically, ground cinnamon and ground allspice, but nutmeg and ginger as well would be good.
Yesterday I wrote about how to make pumpkin puree which is popular in American cooking. They use it to make cakes, scones, puddings and pies. If you don’t want to make your own pureed pumpkin a canned version which is available from this website: Americansweets.co.uk
I used my pumpkin puree in a parfait, adding spices and honey before layering it with muesli and Greek yogurt as seen in my photograph above.
Serves 6 portions of parfait
Ingredients:
500g pumpkin puree
1/4 tsp vanilla extract
1-2 tbsp runny honey
1 ripe mashed banana
1 tsp ground cinnamon
2 tsp ground allspice (or ground mixed spice)
1 500g tub of plain yogurt
200g muesli
Method:
Stir into pumpkin puree all the ingredients.
Mix well and taste, add more spices or sugar to your liking.
Layer alternately puree, yogurt, muesli for about three layers (see my photo for inspiration)
I’m Victoria and this is my food blog. I’ve started saving time and money by organising my cooking with weekly meal plans. Here I share my meal plans and blog about everything food related.
I’m Victoria and this is my food blog. I’ve started saving time and money by organising my cooking with weekly meal plans. Here I share my meal plans and blog about everything food related.