Cornish Pasty all-in-one meal

Week 43, Bake 43. 

The Great British Bake Off is over! And I am really happy with the person who won. But now my Tuesday night has just gotten a little worse. So this week I decided to make something with pastry as I havn't done that in a while. I got this idea after my dad suggested it (then I adpated his idea) and I do feel guilty that I havnt made it for him, my plan was to go home in half term but its such a long way so I decided to make the pasty this week. This pasty has got a savory content at one end and then at the other end it has apple sauce as a dessert, a whole meal in one!

Ingredients:

• 500g of plain flour
• 125g of lard
• 125g of butter
• pinch of salt
• two small potatos
• half an onion
• 300g of pork sholder
• a few sprigs of rosemary
• half a can of sliced tinned peaches
• apples to make apple sauce
• caster sugar
• 1 egg beaten

Method:

1. In a large bowl rub together the salt, cold lard, cold butter and flour. You want to get it to become breadcrumbs-like. I do mine from a height so that air gets trapped in it. 
2.  Now using 6 tablespoons of water bring the pastry together and wrap in clingfilm to put in the fridge for 30-60mins. 
3. Meanwhile prepare your ingredients: dice the onion, potatoes and pork.Sprinkle the pork with seasoning and rosemary. 
4. Chop the peaches into chunks and drain some of the syrup off them by using kitchen towel. 
5. Make the applesauce by softening apples over a medium heat in some butter, adding caster sugar to taste. 
6. Pre-heat the oven to 220c.
7. It is time to assemble the pasty's now. Roll out a quarter of the dough into a circle about 23cm diameter. 
8. In a quarter of a circle pile up the potatoes, onion, meat and peaches. In the other quarter of the same half, pile up the cooled apple sauce. Leave enough of a ring around the filling to be able to crimp. 
9. Seal the pastry using the beaten egg then crimp the circular edge by folding it over. 
10. Egg wash the whole of the pasty and pop it onto a baking tray lined with baking parchment. 
11. Bake all 4 pasties in the oven for 10 minutes, then turning the temperature down to 180 after and baking for a further 40-45 minutes. 
12. Remove and serve warm. Yum!

Banoffee cupcakes

Week 42, Bake 42.

Banoffee cupcakes. This idea came to me one night (as they do) and so I decided to create a banoffee cupcake to take into work for my fellow therapists. As an added wow I thought I should use my new chocolate transfer paper!

Ingredients:

• 125g of soft butter
•  175g of caster sugar
• 2 eggs
• 2 large bananas mashed
• 1 tsp of baking soda
• 2 tablespoons of hot milk
• 1tsp of baking powder
• 225g of plain flour
• 1 packet of green and blacks dark chocolate
• 170g of butter (for the icing)
• 2 cups of icing sugar
• 60ml of water
• 100g of caster sugar
• 118ml of double cream
• 2 tsp of vinilla essence
• chocolate transfer paper

Method:

1. Pre-heat the oven to 170c.
2. Cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. 
3. Beat the eggs into a cup and add a little at a time whilst beating the butter/sugar mixture. 
4. Now fold in the mashed bananas. 
5. In a small mug, mix the baking soda and milk together until dissolved. 
6. Now add this to the cupcake mixture and fold in the sifted flour and baking powder. You dont want to loose too much air at this point.
7. Divide into cupcake cases (I piped mine in) and cook for 15-20 minutes. 
8. Remove the cupcakes from the tin and cool. 
9. Melt the chocolate in a bowl over a pan of simmering water. 
10. Now the exciting bit, get out the chocolate transfer paper and spread thinly your chocolate over it. Let it cool in a cool room. My flat was actually quite warm from all the cooking so it took longer to set. 
11. Once it is almost set carve out your shapes in the paper. 
12. Now, make the butter cream icing. Beat the butter till light and fluffy. 
13. Gradually add in the icing sugar and beat together. 
14. Either pipe or spread the icing over the cupcakes. 
15. Now make the caramel, in a clean saucepan mix together the water and sugar. 
16. Let it boil on a medium-high heat until it becomes amber. 
17. Now pour in the double cream (and vanilla essence) this will bubble and spit a lot so make sure you have your extractor fan on (I am very proud to say my fire alarm didn't go off!). 
18. Put back on the heat and continuously stir for 3 minutes. 
19. Now let it cool for a minute or two and then drizzle over the top of the cupcakes. 
20. Divide up the chocolate shards and pop into your cupcakes and your done!

Apple and Blueberry Slump

Week 41, Bake 41.

I have been ill this week. I do not like being ill, it is really really boring. I vaguely remember when I was a kid that we had a 'rainy days' box which my parents put in different bits and pieces which we could do when we were ill. So I remember there were colouring books and toy cars and just anything to keep you entertained when you were ill. Sadly I do not have one of these boxes anymore, and so I popped to TESCO and brought gossip magazines and a Christmas making magazine. I am rubbish at being ill, I have now exhausted sky+ and read all my magazines, but thankfully today I am a bit better. So I decided to bake... this recipe is my mothers (taken from some magazine ages ago) and has become a family classic. Sadly I cannot eat it tonight, as it is destined to go to a lunch with me tomorrow.

Ingredients:

• 450g of apples
• 30g of butter
• 150g of blueberries
• 75g of light brown sugar
• 250g of marscapone
• (For the slump):
• 85g of butter
• 200g of self-raising flour
• 50g of light brown sugar
• Zest of 1 lemon
• 1/4 pint of milk

Method:

1. Pre-heat the oven to 190c.
2. Peel, core and thinly slice the apples. In a frying pan, melt the butter and on a medium heat add the apples turning occasionally until soft. 
3. Tip in an oven proof dish and mix in the blueberries, now add the sugar and stir it together. 
4. In a large bowl, tip in the flour and cubed butter and rub it together with your fingers. Once it resembles breadcrumbs, mix in the sugar and the lemon zest. 
5. Make a well in the mixture and add in the milk and mix it until it becomes a paste. 
6. Now put blobs of the mixture on top of the apples and also put blobs of the marscapone on top to make sure the apples are covered. 
7. Cook for 20-25 minutes or until the the topping has risen and is golden.

Exotic Mushroom, Spinach and Ricotta Stuffed Crust Pizza

Week 40, Bake 40.

I decided to have a go at a stuffed crust... Dominos can't be the only ones who can do it ... right?

Ingredients:

• 250g of strong white bread flour
• 1/2 teaspoon of salt
• 4g of dried yeast
• 1/2 tablespoon of olive oil
• 150ml of water
• 1/2 a can of tinned cherry tomato's
• pinch of salt
• pinch of sugar
• glug of Worcester sauce
• a squirt of tomato puree
• 1 onion
• 1 clove of smoked garlic
• 1 ball of mozzarella
• Parmesan 
• spinach
• ricotta
• assorted mushrooms
• olive oil to drizzel

Method:

1. Mix the flour, salt and yeast together in a big bowl and make a well in the middle.
2. Now pour the water and oil into the well and bring the dough together, now knead it for 10-15 minutes or until it becomes elasticated. 
3. Pop back in the bowl and cover then allow it to rise for 1 hour. 
4. Meanwhile make the tomato sauce. Dice the onion. 
5. Now in a sauce pan, put the onion and some olive oil and let them soften, add the garlic and cook on a low heat.
6. Now add the tinned tomato's, salt, sugar, Worcester sauce, and tomato puree together and on a high heat reduce the sauce. 
7. Once thick enough, puree the sauce in a food processor. 
8. Pre-heat the oven to 170c.
9. Now, with the dough, punch it down and covering your hands in oil, pull it out to the size you want. 
10. Tear up the ball of mozzarella and then lay it a few centimetres in from the edges. Now roll the edges over to seal in the mozzarella and thus creating a stuffed crust. 
11.  Bake for 5 minutes. Then remove and start to assemble the toppings. 
12. Tomato sauce first, then a layer of spinach, grated Parmesan, the chopped exotic mushrooms (I used oyster and shittake) and then the ricotta. 
13. Now pop it in the oven for a further 10 minutes (or until the mushrooms are cooked). 
14. Serve straight away. 

The Cake and Bake Show

This week I have been very busy at work, but also last week I went to the Cake and Bake Show! It was such a busy day, and Earls Court was full of people all talking about baking. My day started with a lovely train ride to London, through the green misty fields of England. I saw deer frolicing in the fields, hot air ballons over the Somerset horizen, the sun rising over the kennet and avon canal so actually it was a lovely start to my day. I got to London, and as I came out of Earls Court tube station I was faced with a huge que! Not impressed, but as the true Brit I joined the long walking que. The further we walked the more worried I was getting about how long I would have to que and possibly miss my classroom session, thankfully in the quwerky way we Brits have, I ended up at the front of the que and able to go straight in.

So I ended up going to a classroom to learn how to paint flowers on cakes. I was rather dissopinted as I spent £5 extra to hear the same talk as people who could stand next to a small picket fence. Anyway the talk was helpful but I doubt my poor arty skills will let me paint flowers well on a cake.

The show was full of bakers, I saw Eric Lanlard, series one and two Great British Bake Off winners, Cathryn and Sarah-Jane from this years show and of course the ledgend Paul Hollywood. I caught some of the demonstrations by them but spent a lot of time looking round all of the lovely shops. I do now feel terrible (like I have cheated on baking) because I ended up going to a Betty Crocker class on how to use their cake mixes, in my defence, it was free, I got to take the cookie brownies I made home and ... it was free!

So to sum up, it was really busy (almost uncomfortably so), a good day but im not sure if I would do it again soon..

Cheese and Marmite Scones and the Cake and Bake show

Tomorrow I will be going to the Cake and Bake show! And of course I am very excited, a whole day of looking and learning about baking! Anyway as I can't bake tomorrow (on my usual baking day) I had to bake today and I didn't really want it to be too taxing as I am knackered from a long week at work and I didn't get in till past 11 last night after getting majorly lost! Anyway so here is this weeks bake, my love for marmite is still quite new (barley a year old) and yet I had to do at least one bake dedicated to it.

Ingredients:

• 225g of self-raising flour
• Pinch of salt
• 55g of butter
• 30g of grated cheddar
• 125ml of milk
• 4 teaspoons of marmite
• Extra cheese for sprinkling on top

Method:

1. Pre-heat the oven to 180c. 
2. In a large mixing bowl rub the butter and flour together with your fingers until you get fine breadcrumbs. 
3. Now grate the cheddar and mix into the bowl. 
4. In a jug pour the milk and then mix in the marmite. To make sure you get all the marmite off the spoon, first brush your measuring spoon with sunflower oil and this will help the marmite slide off easily. 
5. Now beat the marmite into the milk until it is all mixed in. 
6. Make a well in the flour mixture and pour in the milk and mix in using a knife. 
7. Only pour in enough to make the dough come together without any flour showing. 
8. Roll out until 2cm thick, then cut out with a 5cm pastry cutter and put your scones on greaseproof paper on a baking tray. 
9. Now add some cheese to sprinkle on top and cook for 15-20 minutes. 
10. Serve with butter

 I would have put pictures of the process but sadly I can't get the new blogger to work...

Apple crumble cupcakes

Week 38. Bake 38.

As I have been driving to work this week I have seen a sign about PYO apples. And so as I was up at 7:30 this morning (I know, a totally shocking time on a Saturday morning) I decided to pop along. I presumed (as there was no website to check) that it would open at 9am, so driving along at 9:15am past the sign in my little car this morning I happened to notice it was 10am it opened. So instead of going to the outlet centre and spending money I don't have, I decided to go for a walk up Glastonbury Tor. And so I walked up the Tor, I actually over took someone and enjoyed the view over somerset in the early morning. I finally found the apple orchard and rolled my little car onto the farm and found out there were over 10 varieties of apples to choose from. I picked at least one of everything but put them all in the same bag so have no clue which apple is which variety. Anyway, by 11am I had been up Glastonbury Tor, had ran into some children from my school, picked 6.5kg of apples and was back at home with a cuppa.

So this weeks back is again to celebrate autumn. I love autumn and this week has definitely felt like it!

Ingredients: (makes 6)

• 90g of plain flour
• 10g of corn flour
• 1/4 tsp of salt
• 1/4 tsp of baking soda
• 3/4 tsp of baking powder
• 1 egg
• 90g of caster sugar
• 3/4 tsp of vanilla essence
• 60ml of milk
• splash of lemon juice
• 60ml of vegetable oil
• 1/2 tsp of cinnamon
• 1 apple
• splash of apple juice
• 75g of unsalted butter (for the icing)
  
• icing sugar
• 1/4 tsp of cinnamon (for the icing)
• 100g of plain flour
• 50g of butter
• 25g of sugar
• a sprinkle of brown sugar

Method:

1. Pre-heat the oven to 180c.
2. In a bowl sift the flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt and cinnamon.
3. In a jug measure out the milk and add some lemon juice and leave for five minutes.
   
4. Now, in a separate bowl, beat the egg with a whisk and then add in the sugar and beat.
5. Add in the vanilla essence and the vegetable oil and beat.
6. Now beat in a third of the flour mixture, then a third of the milk and keep alternating between the two until it is incorporated.
7. Divide the mixture into the cupcake cases, they need to be about 3/4 full.
   
8. Now bake for 15-20 minutes.
9. Meanwhile, peel and core the apple and chop into chunks. Put in some water and the apple juice and stew until the apple is soft.
10. Remove the cupcakes from the oven and cool on a cooling rack.
    
11. Now make the crumble mix, rub the butter into the flour then add in the sugar. Put in a baking dish and sprinkle some brown sugar over the top then bake in the oven until golden brown.
    
12. Make the icing by beating butter and icing sugar together with 1/4 of a teaspoon of cinnamon (add more if you like, but I like mine to be subtle).
    
13. It is now time to assemble your cupcakes.
    
14. Cut the core out of the cupcakes and fill with the stewed apple.
    
15. Pipe the icing over the cupcake into a swirl.
    
16. Now break up the crumble topping and sprinkle over the top of the cupcake.
    
17. Finally dust the cupcake with a sprinkle of cinnamon.
    
18. And eat with a cuppa (because everything is better with a cuppa)