Baking and other housewifly pursuits

Birthday Cake

This is stolen from Delia's How to cook, but adapted to fit time, energy and family size. Just blitz fat and sugar together then chuck all the other ingredients. Blitz again and add a bit of milk until nice and smooth.

6oz self raising flour, butter, sugar
3 large eggs
1 1/4tsp baking powder
2-3 drops vanilla ess
bit of milk if the mixture isn't sloppy enough.

Split between two 7" tins and bake 30 mins at gas 3. Add butter icing aplenty and candles as appropriate!

Gingerbread for making with Kids

There are lots of gingerbread recipies about but I've found too many of them are no good for doing with kids as the dough is too squishy and gets stuck to the table, hands, ears, eye lashes etc and ends up no where near the oven. I've adjusted quantities a bit and found somthing that has a good moulding and prodding consistency but still tastes very good (and cooked biscuits have a nice softness to them)


400g (plus plenty for dusting) plain flour         125g softened butter
1tsp bicarb                                                         1 small egg
1tbs ginger 1tsp cinamon                                   175g soft brown sugar
4 tbsp syrup (dont warm it)...If the amount scares you I just did 3/4 dessert spoons and it worked fine

Mix all dry ingredients, add butten and blitz and add sugar.
Beat egg in with syrup and add to mixture.
Combine to form sticky dough and stick in fridge for 30 mins before rolling and prodding.

 

Form shapes as desired. If you want them to stay in their shapes, stick trays in fridge for 15 mins before cooking. I don't usually bother as my kids are too impatient! Bake at gas 4 for 15 mins. They will be golden but still pretty soft and will firm up when they cool.

 

 

Bread and Butter Pudding

 

Now I am a big fan of a decent pudding. My problem is, as Mr Anonimum pointed out, my take on pudding generally involves chocolate and icecream. In our new rural retreat frezer space is sadly too scarse for such things and shops are too far away to venture to on a cold evening. So, as the nights draw in I am resolved to experimenting with other duff possibilities which may be more larder based. Tonights successful attempt was this, having learnt from the Omletitti disaster.

 

300ml milk and 100ml cream

6-8 slices old bread (not the slices with mould on) from the bottom of the bread bin

3 eggs

some demerara sugar- I was robably a bit generous

Grating of nutmeg

Butter

handful or saultanas and big spoon of marmalade

 

Grease an oven proof dish and butter one side of the bread having cut off crusts

Beat eggs with milk and cream, lus most of your sugar.

Add a spoon of marmelade and handful of saultanas- mix well.

Pour over bread and leave for 20-30 mins. Grate nutmeg over and sprinkle on sugar.

 

Bake for 30 mins at gas 4 or 20 mins then a further 1 1/2 at gas 1 while you bathe kids, read stories and try to encourage screaming tots to sleep. Happily, it seems pretty resiliant to the extra cooking. I am informed that a good variation is stale brioche or pain au chocolate with a few bits or mars bar thrown in. Now that does sound like my type of pudding!

 



 

 

 

 

 

Really Dirty Easy Chocolate cake-far too good to waste on the kids!