Cheese straws

My dad was complaining about all the sweet things I've been baking lately and why I haven't made cheese scones or straws. I decide that cheese straws sounded nice so found a recipe in Simply Baking by Sybil Kapoor. The recipe was simple enough but not cheesy enough for my dad so I would recommend adding extra cheese if you like cheesy cheese straws.

Rooibos Tea Cakes

I do love a good cup of tea and trying many types of tea but on of my favourites is Rooibos tea, or red tea as some people call it. So after finding a recipe for early grey tea cakes in The Hummingbird Bakery - Cake Days cookbook I thought that it would be good to try a rooibos tea adaption, as there were variations for peppermint or fruit tea in the book. I had some tea laying around I gave them ago and was very pleased with the outcome.

I always half the icing quantity that that cookbooks say as I find that they make far to much and can always make more if I don't have enough. My recipe below uses half of the cookbooks ingredients for the icing and yet still covered all 24 cakes.

Bitesized Rose Scones

Scones have not been a strong point for me, however with a little practice I'm sure that I will get the hang of them one day. I used a recipe from National Trust Simply Baking by Sybil Kapoor, which had a plain scones recipe as a base and then some adaptations underneath. The adaption I tried was for Rose Scones. This was as simple as adding 1/2tsp of rose water/ flavour to the milk before mixing it into the flour. However, you really have to be careful using rose water/ flavour as can be extremely strong and overpower the bake. No more than 1/2 tsp (maybe a little less) is advised.

Although I have made about 24 bite-size scones, 8 larger ones can be made from the same quantity of dough. 

Recipe Below

Fresh Doughnuts

                                                   

My boyfriend told me that I couldn't make doughnuts as of the dirty oil but armed with fresh oil for the deep fryer I ready to attempt them! For a first go I think it went rather well. I found a doughnut recipe in John Whaite bakes book and the Great British Bake Off (which one) book they were both the same recipe except the method was written slightly differently as well as the type of filling they used. So I used John Whaite bakes.

                                       

Cherry Bread / Cake

Found this recipe on Pinterest which sent me to the recipe online:

http://www.averiecooks.com/2014/02/sweet-soft-cherry-bread-with-cherry-almond-glaze.html

I had a jar of morello cherries to use up as they started to ferment, and I do not like wasting things if I don't have too. It is a cake that has the outer texture of bread which is different but very nice. Cherry and Almond is a classic flavor combination that I love.


This recipe made 1 loaf and 6 cupcakes and used all my cherries up which was brilliant. Unfortunately my cherries were fermenting so they didn't hold their shape and there wasn't any cherry pieces throughout the loaf or cupcakes. As well as that they tasted a little alcoholic which I didn't mind but I wouldn't give any of this cake to children (I'm sure if you use non fermented cherries it would be better).

Recipe Below  

Fresh Apple and Blackberry Pie

I love this time of year as there is so much fresh (free) fruit out there. Down my road there is a bunch of blackberry bushes on public space which I have been picking from since I was little. Fresh free fruit is so much nicer than shop bought ones (which are usually £2 for 150g in tescos). The great thing about Norfolk is that there is a lot of country side road which are packed with blackberry bushes ripe with fruit in August. The photo shows just some from down my road.
 

                                            

As well as free fruit from around the neighbourhood my boyfriend has an allotment where he has some apple trees, I would highly recommend an allotment if you love fresh fruit and veg as it's just fantastic. Well I would say that as he does all the work growing the food, but then again he does enjoy my baking so works out well. So along side free blackberries I had free freshly picked apples. 

Caramel Shard Cookies

I have to say these were the first cookies that I have baked that turned out looking like shop bought ones!

Got this recipe from John Whaite bakes as wanted to bake cakes but ran out of eggs (I know what sort of person who loves food runs out of eggs...) so flicked through and came across these.

My boyfriend for my birthday bought me a cooking thermometer which I haven't had a chance to use yet made the idea of attempting caramel even more tempting. With 100g of caster sugar and 3tbsp of water I set to work, I say work I mean mixing sugar and water and then heating on a high temperature it till it turned a lovely amber colour (watch it when it becomes light Amber as can burn quickly) before pouring it onto a baking sheet. I'm not sure I did mine right as still had sugary lumps but I didn't burn it! This made a lovely thin caramel shard, and yes I did play with a little bit of caramel making it all stringy which was very fun. 

Once that had cooled, I broke it into small pieces and added to a cookie dough (I followed the one in the book, see below, but any cookie dough would work). Had to be very careful as felt like I was mixing glass into the dough as the broken caramel can be very sharp. 

                                           

       

Recipe below 

My first blog

My name is Karen and I am one of those people who absolutely loves food, I'll happily try anything once (and more than once if it's really good). Cooking, baking, eating out, eating in I just love it!

My world almost revolves around food, I'm always thinking what will I be having for my next meal or where I could try next! I am one of those people who hunt for offeres and discounts so that I can afford to try so many new places and when I find these deals I am happy to share them with you!

I usually browse through www.groupon.com, look on the bookatable app and if you live in Norwich the spree vouchers have a good range of offers. I do love a good bargain!

As well as eating out I own a wide range of cook books and love adapting their recipes to create wonderful meals and treats. I do have a sweet tooth and baking is something that gives me great pleasure in attempting, not everything goes well or looks like a 5* dish but at the end of the day as long as it tastes good and people enjoy them I'm happy.

P.s. So happy Great Bristish Bake Off back! 

Keep Loving Food

Karen