Baking Bo

For most people, today is Boxing Day. Not here. Today is my Dad's birthday. My family is always together today so we go to a local National Trust garden, Wakehurst place, home of one of the most spectacular Christmas trees. As always, today we went for our walk and to see the tree, despite the rain and cold.  When I got home I made batch of cheese biscuits. I made one batch a couple of days ago for my parents' Christmas hamper using Stilton, rather than cheddar. They didn't last long. Cheese biscuits Ingredients 125g plain flour pinch of cayenne pepper 1 tsp soft brown sugar 100g soft, unsalted butter 25g parmesan  100g cheddar cheese A splash of water Method 1. Put the flour, pepper and sugar in a bowl. Add the butter and crumble the cheese in to the mix. Using your fingertips, mix all the ingredients together. Use a splash of water to bind it all together and make a dough. If you use Stilton, you won't need the water. 2. Roll the do

This Saturday all my friends & I gathered at my wonderful friend's flat where we had a turkey with all the trimmings, expertly cooked by Elisa & Jamie. We exchanged presents, including all of our Secret Santa gifts. And now I can finally reveal my secret foodie gift recipes! I gave all my friends & colleagues at work one of these handmade presents. Yes, even the labels!  Maple Toffee Vodka Ingredients 400g hard toffee sweets (Wethers Originals or similar)  200ml maple syrup 1L vodka Method 1. Put the toffee sweets and syrup into a large pan. Melt until the sweets have melted.  2. Transfer to a bowl. Slowly add the vodka. Leave to infuse for 24 hours.  3. Pass through a sieve, then pour into sterilised bottles.  The bottles of vodka I gave out on Saturday were opened and sampled right there in front of me! Gingerbread Mix jars  Ingredients 100g light brown sugar 175g plain flour 2 tsp ground ginger 1 tsp ground

On a rare day off from work I decided to attempt to make a gingerbread house, attempt being the operative word!  I will post the recipe I was following below. Basically, it all fell apart when I tried to put the roof on. I used the templates in the back of the GBBO cook book.  Ingredients for gingerbread 700g plain flour 2 tbsp ground ginger 2 tsp ground cinnamon 1 tsp ground mixed spice pinch of salt 2 tsp bicarbonate of soda 350g unsalted butter 300g dark muscovado sugar 8 tbsp golden syrup 4 clear boiled sweets. 2 bags of white chocolate buttons Ingredients for royal icing 3 egg whites few drops of lemon juice 550g icing sugar  Method 1. Sift the flour, ginger, cinnamon, mixed spice, salt and bicarb into a mixing bowl.  2. Put the butter, sugar and syrup into a saucepan. Melt until smooth then add to the flour mixture. Mix with a wooden spoon to form a dough. 3. Tip out onto a floured surface and knock into a ball. Wrap in cling film and chill for 20 minutes in the fridge

Apologies for my lack of new posts lately. It's been crazy busy at work lately & when I've had some free time to bake I've usually made gingerbread! I made some more marble cupcakes for my friends to take to our pub quiz and I didn't think it was worth posting repeats! So, today I finally had some time spare so I made some very rustic pasties.  For the pastry 225g plain flour pinch of salt 100g butter, cubed dash of water For the filling 4 potatoes, cubed 2 onions, cubed 100g cheese, cubed Method 1. To make the pastry, put the flour & salt in a bowl. Use your fingertips to rub in the butter until it resembles breadcrumbs. Add the water. Use a knife to cut through the mix to form a dough. Chill until needed. 2. Par-boil the potato until soft and leave to cool. Fry the onions.  3. Divide the pastry into 3. Roll out into circles. Assemble the pasties by putting some of the potato, onion and cheese in the middle of the pastry circle. Brush the edge wi

I made another batch of iced gingerbread stars to share with my friends at our weekly pub quiz. They went down very well and I think they were good luck as WE WON!  Recipe found here:  http://bakingbo.blogspot.co.uk/2012/11/iced-gingerbread-stars.html It didn't take long for them to empty the tin... Well, bravo tonight chums and thank you for being my guinea pigs X Bo

This weekend I went to visit my sister Helen in Oxford. Her friend Ashton  hosted a ceilidh to raise funds for his organisation,  Clamour Sound Craft. I went along to help out and took some of my gingerbread stars for the refreshment table. They went down very well and sold out before I could take a picture! The dancing was great fun and the music was played live by Ashton and his band. It was a wonderful weekend and well worth all the hours spent on trains getting there. One of the photos of Helen & I joining in the ceilidh  To find out more about Clamour, click here   http://www.clamoursoundcraft.org/  X Bo