I had a day off...

So I  had a day off and £4.75 in my bank... Then this happened!

Snicker Doodles

The Snicker Doodles I was really excited about because I LOVE cinnamon. But their  name is misleading, I thought they would be really gooey but they are quite a simple biscuit. Still tasty with a cup of tea though. More importantly they were SO much fun to make! I would recommend this recipe for anyone with kids who like to bake. This is from a Marks and Spencer Cookbook called Kitchen Encyclopaedia: Baking.

Ingredients:

• 75g Butter
• 175g Caster Sugar
• 1 Egg
• 1/2 Tsp Vanilla Extract
• 250g Plain Flour
• 1 Tsp Baking powder
• 3 Tbsp Sugar
• 1 Tbsp Cinnamon       

Method:

• Preheat oven to 180c and line two baking sheets with grease proof paper. 
• Mix butter and sugar until fluffy and then gradually beat in the egg and vanilla.
• Sift in the flour and baking powder and mix into a dough.
• Mix together the sugar and cinnamon on a plate and roll 24 small balls of the dough in it. 
• Pop the balls of dough onto the tray and press down lightly. Leave room for spreading.
• Bake for 12-14 minutes and cool on wire rack. 

Banana Bread

The banana bread is one of my favourites as my mum often makes it. I got this particular recipe from BBC Food mainly because it used buttermilk and I needed to use mine up! This is always great if you have bananas going a bit too ripe...although mine were fine...I just really wanted banana bread.

Honey and Granola Cupcakes

I also made these honey and granola cupcakes taken from a Primrose Bakery cupcake cookbook my brother got me for Christmas (yes I got a fair bit of cooking stuff this Christmas!) These cakes are loooovely. Kind of more like small muffins, they would be a good (albeit unhealthy) Sunday breakfast. I did substitute a bit of granola for chopped walnuts as I ran out after making the mixture! They turned out really well all the same.

Ingredients:

• 110g Butter
• 120g Light soft brown sugar
• 175g Clear honey
• 2 Eggs
• 220g Plain flour
• 1/2 baking powder
• 1/2 bicarb (I just doubled the baking powder)
• 1/2 Tsp Salt
• 65ml Semi Skimmed Milk
• 1/2 tsp Vanilla Extract
• 65ml Plain yogurt
• 250g Granola (I used 200g plus 50g chopped walnuts)

Method:

• Preheat oven to 160c and line muffin tray with cases. (I had small cases so it made a few more cakes)
• Mix together the butter, sugar and honey until fluffy then beat in one egg at a time.
• Sift together Flour, baking powder and Bicarb in a bowl and in a jug put together the milk, yogurt and vanilla. Then add one third of the flour followed by one third of the milk mixture and mix, then repeat until all ingredients are mixed. 
• Fold in the granola and fill the cases two-thirds full. Bake for 25 minutes and cool in tins for ten minutes before moving to a wire rack. 

In other news, I have been cooking a few savoury dishes that use potatoes. Basically, I clicked the wrong thing online food shopping and, well... I accidentally ordered five big bags of potatoes! Oops. What an idiot! So there has been a lot of cottage pie! Spanish omelette made a cheap, quick meal and got rid of some potatoes! But I have also made a potato and leek soup and STILL I have loads left! So recipe suggestions are welcome!

In the next few weeks I am doing something a little bit exciting and stupid and if anyone does see my blog I will be needing help and comments to make a cake related decision! But until then let me know if you try any of these recipes, know anything good to make with potatoes (rolls eyes)  and if you enjoy the blog!

P.S If anyone loves Mary Berry in the creepy, stalker way that I do then watch The Mary Berry Story  on BBC1.

Snow calls for soup

So I thought since its been very cold lately I would make some seasonal soup. I have made this once before and its good to take to work when its so bitterly cold outside. It also fits with the usual January obsession with dieting and healthy eating. This is a Mary Berry (aka the Queen) recipe from her Complete Cookbook that I had for Christmas this year. It's so easy and there's nothing fancy or pricey in it that you wouldn't have in your kitchen anyway.

Vegetable Soup

Ingredients: 

1 Carrot

1 Leek

1 Potato

1 Onion

1 Turnip (I used a swede, couldn't fine a turnip!) 

1 Stick of celery 

3 Cloves of garlic, crushed.

3 Spring onions

250g Spinach 

45g Butter

1.5 litres Stock (veg or chicken)

Salt and Pepper

Method: 

• Melt the butter in a large pan and then fry the leeks in it for a few minutes until soft.
• Dice all the vegetables and add them  and the garlic to the leeks and cook for 8-10 minutes.
• Add the stock and bring to the boil, season then simmer for 25 minutes or until the vegetables are soft.
• Add the chopped spring onions and de-stemmed, chopped spinach and continue to cook until the leaves are wilted.    

That's it! 

This is a great recipe if you are feeling the cold from taking your salad to work but still want to have a healthy lunch box. Its also really flexible as long as you compensate the amount of garlic with vegetable I think you could add whatever you like. Let me know what you thought of this recipe if you tried it yourself. 

In other news, everyone's talking about the GBBO Comic Relief Special. I think we all heard Paul Hollywood refer to Mary as BEZZER! I think I nearly spat my tea out laughing! And the innuendoes are still in full force which is always funny! Not even Paul and Mary could deny it on The Graham Norton Show on New Years Eve, if anyone didn't see this its amazing! Here's the clip http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WGvMlnhliIE Such a great idea to raise money and to have more bake off on telly. If anyone hasn't seen it yet and you like the bake off then don't miss it. It also includes Lorraine Pascale (another FAV)  meeting people in Ghana who will be helped by the money raised. 

Starting with a Classic...

Well, this is my first Blog! The reason behind this blog is to keep a record of recipes and to follow similar blogs about baking and cooking. I am by NO means an expert! I made it my new years resolution in 2012 to learn to cook. It had some ups and downs, (including burnt brownies and white gravy) but I have learnt a huge amount and want to carry on trying to make new things in the hope I will get better! This resolution stemmed from the desire to collect recipes from cookbooks, the internet, even T.V shows and to have a scrapbook filled with amazing recipes that I can make for my children one day... BUT why have a book when you can have a blog!? Storing all these ideas, pictures and stories online seemed like a great way to do it, and I hope that maybe someone out there might find my tried and tested recipes helpful.

I thought I would start of with an absolute classic! The Red Velvet Cupcake! I have never made them before, or eaten one for that matter! So I thought I would trek through the snow to get some inspiration from the King of the American cupcake, The Hummingbird Bakery. It was SO worth it!

Red Velvet Cupcake at the Hummingbird Bakery, Soho.

After seeing the ultimate Red Velvet Cupcake I was ready to try it myself! I used a recipe from a Marks and Spencer cookbook called The Kitchen Encyclopaedia. They turned out fab and I was very pleased, however, next time I would half the cocoa powder and be more confident with the food colouring as they didn't come out as a red as I would have liked (good thing I had red cake cases!). Also the frosting needed thickening up to decorate.

Red Velvet Cupcakes

                                                                                                                           

Ingredients

140g Plain Flour                                                                                    
1 tsp Bicarbonate Soda
2 tblsps Cocoa powder
115g Butter
140g Caster sugar
125ml Buttermilk
1 tsp Vinilla Extract
1 Egg
1 tbsp Red food colouring
Frosting:
140g Full-fat soft cheese
85g Butter
280g Icing sugar

Method:

• Preheat oven to 180 degees/350 F/Gas mark 4.
• Mix flour, bicarb and cocoa powder.
• In another bowl, beat together butter and sugar, then add the egg and half the flour mixture.
• Beat in the buttermilk, vanilla and food colouring and proceed to fold in the remaining flour.
• Divide evenly between twelve cases and bake for 15-20 mins. Cool on a wire rack.
• For the frosting, mix the butter and cheese and then add the icing sugar until creamy. 

To decorate this book had a great tip to make red sugar! Just put a few drops of food colouring on granulated or caster sugar and mix, was really effective and so simple! If you prefer you can decorate the Hummingbird way by using some left over sponge to spinkle on top. Also here is a link to some information about buttermilk if you have not used it before or cannot find it, I bought mine in a Whole Food store and it is not expensive. 

These are fantastic cakes for those with a sweet tooth and this recipe made cupcakes that were .. moist (I hate that word) and a perfect shape.  If anyone uses this recipe let me know how yours turned out! 

P.S Don't miss The Great British Bake Off Comic Relief Special tonight at 8.30pm on BBC2. I worship Mary Berry!