Salted Caramel Flapjacks

Salted caramel is a flavour combination I love and recently I've found

a really easy way to add this flavour to flapjacks, a baked treat I make quite

often for the family. I've looked at a few recipes for salted caramel flapjacks

and in most of them you have to make the caramel. It seems to be a bit of a faff,

I just use shop-bought salted caramel sauce. It's easy and quick and the result

has that nice combination of salty and sweet which is what I'm after. I've had to

tweak my recipe a few times but I'm finally happy with it and I thought I'd

share it here with you.

Ingredients:

175 grams   unsalted butter

150 grams  demerara sugar

                     1 tablespoon    golden syrup                           

          3 tablespoons   salted caramel sauce*

350grams  porridge oats

1/2teaspoon   sea salt flakes, plus extra to sprinkle

Pre-heat the oven to 180 C degrees. Grease and line with baking parchment

a square 8x8inch baking tin.

In a bowl, mix together the oats and sea salt flakes. Set aside.

Melt together the butter, sugar, golden syrup and caramel sauce in a saucepan

over low heat. Stir in the oats and sea salt. Mix well and turn into the prepared

baking tin. Press flat with the back of a spoon and sprinkle a pinch or two

of sea salt on top.

Bake in the pre-heated oven for 12 to 15 minutes or until light golden brown.

Leave to cool for a few minutes then mark into 16 squares. Leave to finish

cooling in the tin.

*I use salted caramel sauce from Aldi and Waitrose. They're both good.

I've tried this brand before but for brownies. I think it would be great, too, but

I haven't been able to find it in any of the local supermarkets lately.

Thank you for your lovely comments on my previous post. I hope we'll have
 a really good spring season this year - lots of blue skies and sunshine and
not too much rain.

See you soon! x

Days Before Christmas

I love these last few days before Christmas. School has finished for the holidays,
we're just finishing up our Christmas preparations and we're doing fun things like
going to the cinema, roller skating with friends, or baking and making Christmassy
things at home. In between all the activities, there's time for pottering about, reading,
crochet, even a game of pick-up sticks with the girls. We're feeling more rested and
relaxed and really enjoying spending time together. It's what holidays are about
and it's great.

I love a bit of festive faffing, getting little corners around our house to look a bit more
Christmassy. I also couldn't resist some Christmas crafting with the girls. We all had
a go at cutting out paper snowflakes, even my husband joined in. Fifteen minutes with
paper and scissors and we had these. I think they're festive and just perfect for filling
up the space between the two envelopes left on our Advent calendar branch.

We also made these personalized clay gift tags using leftover clay from tree decorations
 we made last year. It was fun and easy to make and they can be used as decorations,
too.We hope everyone will like them and will put them up on the tree after they've
unwrapped their presents on Christmas Day.

Last Sunday we made chocolate oat treats. These always go down well in our house
and now that the girls are a little older, making them is more fun, quicker and
so much easier.

We also made mixed spice biscuits. This recipe is new to us. Actually a copy was sent

to us by one of my husband's aunts, along with a robin-shaped biscuit cutter. She
knows we like to bake together and, of course, we just had to try both cutter
and biscuits.

The biscuit cutter is lovely to use and the biscuits themselves are nice. We haven't
had time to decorate them but I don't think they really need them. They're a little
crunchy, with that same warmth and hint of spiciness you get in gingerbread biscuits.
I'm also pleased because we've had an unopened little bottle of mixed spice in our
kitchen cupboard for years and it's finally been used! We'll be making these again.

This was our walk in Derbyshire yesterday morning. It was all blue skies,
open spaces, fresh air. Just glorious. And so lovely to get away from all the festive
hustle and bustle, even for just a couple of hours. We went home feeling refreshed and
energised. I think we're all ready for Christmas now. I'm spending this afternoon
wrapping up meaty little parcels for the dumpling soup and the filling for spring rolls
for tomorrow's Noche Buena. We're celebrating it with my husband's parents this year
and we'll be at theirs till Boxing Day.

Thanks to everyone who stop by here - I always appreciate your visits and your
comments. I hope you're all having a wonderful time and wish you a beautiful,
healthy and peaceful Christmas. See you in the New Year!!

Orangey Chocolate Cookies

I have a recipe I'd like to share with you today. It's for chocolate orange cookies and

I'm chuffed to say that it's my own. Well, soft of. It's generally based on the double

chocolate cookie recipe from the hummingbird bakery cookbook but I've added

my own little tweaks and twists to it and it had resulted to these completely different

but so delicious chocolate cookies. These are soft and chewy with an orangey scent

and flavour, plus a lovely bit of saltiness in every bite. If you're a fan of chocolate

and orange, then I'd love for you to try these.

You'll need:

50 grams unsalted butter

325 grams plain cooking chocolate, roughly chopped

2 eggs

170 grams soft light brown sugar

1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract

85 grams plain flour

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon coarse sea salt

zest of 2 large oranges

75 grams raisins

You'll also need to grease and line 2 baking trays with baking parchment.

And here's how to make them:

Preheat oven to 170 C/325 F/Gas 3.

Melt the butter and 225 grams of the chocolate in a heatproof bowl over

a saucepan of simmering water. Leave until melted and smooth.

Beat together the eggs, sugar and vanilla in a bowl. You can use an electric mixer

or do this by hand. Beat until well mixed. Pour in the chocolate mixture and beat

until both are well combined.

Sift the flour and baking powder into a separate bowl. The sea salt granules are

usually too big to pass through the sieve so I just add them after sifting the flour

and baking powder together. Stir these into the chocolate mixture in 2 or 3 additions,

mixing well. Stir in the orange zest then the remaining 100 grams of chocolate

and also the raisins.

Place spoonfuls of the mixture spaced well apart on the baking trays.

Bake for 10-12 minutes. They're done when the tops start to crack and look shiny.

Leave to cool on the trays for a few minutes then transfer to a wire rack

to cool completely.

This recipe makes about 15 cookies and they'll stay soft and chewy when

stored in an airtight container.

Everyone who had tried these cookies really liked them. They were well received

when my husband brought some to work and also by a friend and her family. So I really

hope you'll like them too. It's like the cookie version of Terry's Chocolate Orange,

but even better. Definitely much, much better.

Enjoy!

Sweet and Lemony

Last Christmas, I treated myself to a copy of Life is Sweet, the latest
cookbook from the popular Hummingbird Bakery in London. My
husband got me the first Hummingbird Bakery Cookbook a few years ago and it's become one of my favourites, along with Mary Berry's
Baking Bible. 

Life is Sweet is a collection of baking recipes all originating from America. It's the sort of baked goods their bakeries have become famous for and they're introducing us to more of these American style baking with this new book. I was initially amused to find a recipe for 7-Up Pound
Cake and Chocolate Bundt Cake that uses mayonnaise instead of oil or
butter but I also found them strangely familiar somehow. Then I remembered having cake flavoured with Merinda, an orange carbonated drink, and also Sprite when I was a child. I also recall an auntie making chocolate cake with a dollop of mayonnaise. So I now realize that some of the cakes from my childhood were American-influenced and this shouldn't really be so surprising as the Philippines was once an American colony. I just haven't thought much about it before.

 I'd like to make these cakes one of these days just to give my girls
 a little taste from my childhood. I'm planning to substitute 7-Up with Fanta for that orangey flavour from a long time ago. I'll tell you more once I've made them. For now, though,  I'd like to share a recipe for Lemon Crumb Squares from the book. It's a little less exotic but it's definitely very tasty and you might like to give it a try too.

 *Lemon Crumb Squares*

Pre-heat the oven to 175°C (350°F), Gas Mark 4. Line a 9x13 inch tin

with non-stick baking parchment.

To make the base and topping, sift together 180g plain flour, 1/2 tsp salt and 1 tsp baking power in a bowl and set aside.

Using an electric mixer or whisk, cream together 115g unsalted butter (softened) and 200g soft dark brown sugar for around 5 minutes on

 a medium-high speed until light and fluffy. Add 90g rolled oats and

the flour mixture to the butter and sugar and mix until it resembles 

breadcrumbs.

Press half of this mixture into the base of the prepared tin and set

the rest aside in a bowl.

To make the filling, whisk together 370 ml sweet condensed milk,

140 ml fresh lemon juice and the zest of one lemon.

To assemble, spread the filling evenly onto the pressed base.

Sprinkle the rest of the reserved topping gently over the filling.

Bake for 20-25 minutes until the topping begins to go brown.

Cool at room temperature for 30 minutes then in the fridge for

at least 1 hour. Cut into squares. 

This was so easy to make, I'm looking forward to making them

again with the girls. It's got a nice, crumbly base, a soft and gooey

middle that is both sweet and lemony, and a golden, crunchy topping.

 Actually we think it's like a traybake version of cheesecake

 but much thinner and with a condensed milk-lemon juice-zest filling 

instead of cream cheese. It's really good, especially with a hot drink.

I can see this becoming another family favourite.

Before I go I'd like to say thanks for all your comments and well
 wishes for last Monday. It went okey. The morning school run was
more chaotic than usual due to road works and closures around
the school but we made it on time and the girls came home in the afternoon very tired but happy. As back-to-school/nursery days go,
it was all right.

 Thanks again. Hope you enjoy the rest of your week.

Easy Chocolate Oat Treats

We tried a new recipe this week- 'easy chocolate oat treats' from
The Scandi Kitchen by Bronte Aurell. The cook book was featured
in last weekend's Saturday Times and the recipes included looked
lovely and delicious. I particularly liked this one because there was
no baking involved, just lots of sugar sprinkles and mixing and rolling
by hand. It sounded like something concocted with my girls in mind
 and making them certainly kept them happy and occupied on a rainy
half-term morning! They taste really good too and despite their sugary
appearance they're actually not too sweet, just a nice mix of chocolate,
 sugar and coffee flavours. They were very easy to make as well, just
as the name suggests. If you'd like to give them a try, here's how:


Ingredients

250g butter
400g rolled oats
175g caster sugar
4tbsp cocoa powder
4tbsp strong, cooled coffee
1tsp vanilla sugar
Dessicated coconut, sugar sprinkles or pearl sugar,
to decorate

1. Blitz all the ingredients, except the coconut, sugar sprinkles
    or pearl sugar, in a food processor, or mix by hand but allow
the butter to soften before doing so.
2. Put the mixture in the fridge to firm up a bit before using it
or it can be a bit too sticky. Add more oats if you feel the
the mixture is too soft.
3. Roll into 2.5cm diameter balls, then roll each ball in either
dessicated coconut, sugar sprinkles or pearl sugar.
4. Firm up in the fridge before eating.

Makes approx.40 and they will keep up to a week in the fridge.


We didn't have sugar pearls or dessicated coconut so we just
used what we've got which were mostly pink glimmer sugar and
hundreds and thousands, all leftovers from last June's birthday
baking. I didn't think the girls would like coconut anyway. And I
wasn't too sure at first about all that raw porridge oats but they
 all got absorbed into the mixture after they've been blitzed and
give the mix a bit of crunchiness. I've added this recipe to our list
of favourites, no doubt we'll be making these again soon.

Thank you so much for your comments on my last post especially

about the pop up restaurant. As Michelle said, it is crazy, but a good

sort of crazy. We're already making plans for the next one, hopefully on
November 28th. Thanks again for your kind and encouraging words.
Fingers crossed it will go well again, I'll keep you posted.


Enjoy your weekend and happy Halloween!

Autumnal Apple Cake

Saturday before last was Apples and Pears Day at the walled garden
in Wortley Hall. It was a beautiful autumn afternoon with blue skies
 and warm sunshine, just perfect for a wander round the grounds of the
estate and see all the organic vegetables and fruit trees grown within
 the hall's walled garden. There were lots to see but it was mostly the apples that caught my eye. They were all over the place, in trees,
 on the ground, in wooden crates, displayed in boxes on a table, and
 floating in water inside a plastic tub. I'm not sure why they were
 in that tub, to be honest, but anyway, they were just everywhere.
And of course there were delicious cakes and freshly pressed juice
too, all of which we tried and really enjoyed.

That lovely, apple-filled afternoon (sorry pears) inspired my cake-

baking this week. I found a recipe from the Bake-a-boo Bakery
 Cookbook that is very similar to one of the cakes I tasted that
Saturday. It's deliciously moist, full of apple and cinnamon flavours

 and, to me, very wonderfully autumnal. You might like to try it too.
Here's the recipe:


**Autumnal Apple Cake**

For the cake:

175g (6 oz) butter at room temperature
150g (5 oz) light muscovado sugar
3 large free-range eggs
200g (7 oz) apples, peeled, cored & sliced
100 g (3 1/2 oz) sultanas
175g (6 oz) self-raising flour, sifted
1tsp ground cinnamon
icing sugar, for dusting

For the topping:

2 apples, peeled, cored & finely sliced
2 tsps demerara sugar

Pre-heat oven to 180°C (350°F), Gas Mark 4. Grease and line
the bottom of a 20cm (8 inch) loose-bottomed cake tin.
Cream the butter and muscovado sugar together until smooth
and creamy, then beat in the eggs one at a time.

Stir in the apples and sultanas, then gently fold in the flour
and cinnamon until well combined. Transfer the mixture to the
prepared cake tin and level with a spoon.

Arrange the apple slices for the topping in a neat fan all the way
around the outer edge of the cake, then make a circle in the centre.
Sprinkle the apples with the demerara sugar, then cook in the
preheated oven for 45 minutes until a skewer inserted into the cake
comes out clean. Leave to cool in the tin, then release and serve
dusted with icing sugar.

I hope you'll like this cake as much as we do. I forgot to dust
the top with icing sugar but it doesn't really matter I think. It's still
very taste, especially paired with a cup of tea. Enjoy!

On another baking note, I'm very pleased for Nadiya for winning
this year's The Great British Bake Off. She was in great baking form
in the finals and aced through all three challenges. She's the real
deserving winner, well done to her.

A lovely Sunday evening to you all. See you soon!

Blackberry Pud and Brownies

I like blackberries. They're full of goodness, they are free, and there
are so many tasty things you can make with them. Last Sunday we
picked enough fruit from hedgerows growing around here to fill
two punnets. Half of them were made into blackberry sorbet and
 we've added some to apple crumble. (Apple and blackberry crumble
with vanilla custard is one of my favourite desserts ever. Yum!)
The rest were made into bread and butter pudding.

I've never made bread and butter pudding before. I can't even
remember if I'd ever tasted it. But Nigel Slater's recipe looked easy,
and that photo was very tempting, I decided blackberry bread
and butter pudding is the perfect new thing for us to try this week.

It was very easy to make, a bonus when you're baking with kids.
I buttered, cut and arranged the bread. The girls mixed the egg
custard and poured it over the bread. They also helped scatter
the blackberries around, helping themselves to one or two of the
fruit as they did. Oh well, perk of the job.

We baked this for about 45 minutes. The middle had a nice
little wobble when it was taken out of the oven and I've now
learned that this is a good sign - the custard had set just right.
I was expecting it to be rich and heavy with all that bread but
it's surprisingly light and to me, it tasted better after it had cooled
down a bit. Actually I liked it just as much cold from the fridge.
Is that wrong? Does it have to be eaten warm at all times? Anyway,
temperature aside, it tasted really good. The blackberries added
texture and a bit of sharpness that worked well with the sweet
custard. Really nice. I'll make sure to freeze some blackberries
so we can make this many more times this autumn and winter.

Aside from the bread and butter pud, we've also made brownies
this week. This one is Lorraine Pascal' s Cookies and Cream
Fudge brownies.

It was a bit of a faff to make compared with the ones we usually
make but it's worth it. It's very gooey, chocolatey and very naughty!
There's only a tiny bit of flour in this, the rest is sugar, butter, eggs,
chocolate and Oreo cookies. Not for anyone who's diabetic or
watching their weight but if you're not worried about those things
then this brownie is pure chocolate indulgence!

So that's all our baking for this week. I'm taking it very easy
this weekend. Did you enjoy Bake Off last Wednesday? The
technical challenge was a bit ridiculous. Does anyone make their
own pitta bread at home? But I'm pleased for Nadia. She deserved
to be star baker this week.

Before I go I'd like to say a big thank you for your kind, helpful
and understanding comments in my last post. Your words have
heartened and encouraged me, thank you. The first week back at
school had gone well and Lulu was happy and confident when we
dropped in at the nursery yesterday so I'm less worried now. I'm
looking forward to it now actually. Lots of crafting and crochet time
for me hopefully. Thanks again for your kind comments.

Have a great weekend!

Teabread and Cookies

Inspired by all that incredible bread making in last week's
Bake Off, I wanted to have a go, too. I had Chelsea buns in mind, but
the rest of the family wanted lemon squares. I couldn't quite decide
what to bake: lemon squares? Chelsea buns? Then I spied some
over ripe bananas in the fruit bowl and decided to make something
completely different. So there's no bread making this week, nor any lemony bake, what we have instead is Mary Berry's Banana and
 Honey teabread.

This turned out to be a good one to bake. The girls really enjoyed
helping out. There were plenty for them to get involved in- mashing
 the bananas,  rubbing the butter in with the flour and afterwards,
brushing the top of the cooked teabread with warmed honey.

I like that the girls had fun making this so no regrets about the

Chelsea buns. The teabread itself wasn't bad either. It's more dense

 than our usual banana loaf and full of interesting flavours with

 ground nutmeg, lemon zest and honey in the mix. 

We didn't have sugar cubes or nibbed sugar for the topping and
used demerara sugar instead. I always like a sugary, crunchy top
 and the demerara was a good substitute I think.

We all loved this teabread. It was gone the next day so we had
to do some more baking. I decided to try a new cookie recipe-
White Chocolate and Pecan Nut from The Hummingbird Bakery
Cookbook . Well, a version of it really. We couldn't find any pecans
 in the shops so ours turned out as White Chocolate and Hazelnut cookies.

I'm sure they'd taste differently with pecans but we're happy
with these. They're soft and chewy and not too sweet. It's one
of those recipes where you have to freeze the dough first before
baking and that was a bit too long to wait for two excited girls. But
we'll make these again and next time with the pecan nuts hopefully.

Did you enjoy this week's Bake Off?   I thought the wind torte (?)
they had to make in the technical challenge looked so dainty
and pretty. I hope some brides-to-be out there were watching
and make it their wedding cake.

Have a great weekend everyone!


PS. I still haven't given up on the Chelsea buns!

Courgettes Not Carrots

It's the second week of our Bake Off challenge and we've made
 Nigella's courgette cake.

Baking with courgettes is something new to me. Carrots? Yes.
But courgettes? No. Not even when we have to help use up the
glut from my father in law's allotment nearly every summer and
we're always looking for new ways to cook with them.

 But I know that cakes with courgettes can be lovely and moist;
I thought we should give it a go. We had most of the ingredients
already, so why not try it? It is something new and a bit different
 and this, after all, is what our little baking challenge is all about.

So we started off by grating the courgettes and then mixing the other
cake ingredients together before baking for half an hour.

It is very much like carrot cake: it has vegetable oil, sultanas and
the same cream cheese frosting, although it has lemon curd with
some lime juice for the filling.

It is also similar to carrot cake in taste and texture- very moist

and lovely, but it is more lemony because of the filling.

I really like this cake and Markie is a big fan too. She's says she only likes carrots but she doesn't seem to mind that this has courgettes,

 even when she can see little green flecks of this totally different

vegetable all over the cake. Lulu, on the other hand, hates it. Her

reaction when I was folding in the grated courgettes was less than enthusiastic. But I bet she won't be able to resist a chocolate version

 of this cake. We'll try that one out next time we have some of

 Grandad's homegrown courgettes. We're expecting more gifts 

from his allotment soon.

Hope you enjoyed the Bake Off last night. Those bread sculptures
were amazing! Enjoy the rest of your week!