Peanut Butter and Sesame Cookies

I'm really loving my latest cookbook purchase, Make Bake Love by Lilly Higgins and this is the second bake from the book. I haven't made peanut butter cookies in a long time and these, with the addition of sesame seeds, sounded great! This is another straight-forward and quick recipe to rustle up. The end result delivering a very moreish and yummy cookie, with the sesame seeds giving it a gorgeous nutty texture.


Peanut Butter and Sesame Cookies

Makes about 36 regular or 60 bite-sized cookies

Ingredients
125g butter, softened
85g caster sugar
80g Demerara sugar
125g smooth peanut butter
1 tsp vanilla extract
200g plain flour
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
50g sesame seeds

Preheat the oven to 170oC. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.

Cream the butter and both sugars together in a bowl until soft and fluffy. Add the peanut butter and vanilla and mix well.

Sieve the flour and bicarbonate of soda together in a bowl, then add to the peanut butter mixture. Combine well but don't overbeat.

Roll teaspoons of the dough into balls. Roll the balls in the sesame seeds and place on the lined baking sheet. Flatten slightly.

Bake for 10-15 minutes (or 7 for tiny cookies), until golden brown. Leave to cool slightly on the baking sheet, then transfer to a rack.

Blueberry Muffins

This recipe hails from the newest addition to my cookbook collection which arrived today, Make Bake Love by Lily Higgins. It has a wonderful collection of delicious baked treats and there are so many recipes I want to try in the coming weeks, so watch this space. The recipes are all pretty straight-forward and do not require 100 ingredients, I'm all for keeping it simple most days. Blueberry muffins are an all-time classic and perfect for breakfast, lunch boxes or to enjoy with your afternoon cup of tea! I just happened to buy some blueberries in M&S yesterday that were marked down and was very pleased when I came across this recipe in the book. These muffins are moist and bursting with flavour but not overly sweet.

Blueberry Muffins

Makes 12

Ingredients
225g plain flour
1 tbsp baking powder
75g Demerara sugar
1 egg
150ml milk
40ml sunflower oil
1 tsp vanilla extract
160g blueberries

Preheat the oven to 190oC/fan 170oC. Line a 12-hole muffin tin with muffin cases.

Sieve the flour and baking powder together in a bowl, then stir in the sugar.

Whisk the egg, milk, oil and vanilla together in a jug. Pour into the dry ingredients and mix gently. Fold in the blueberries.

Use an ice cream scoop or spoon to divide the batter evenly amongst the muffin cases. Bake for 15-20 minutes, until golden and risen. Remove the muffins from the tin and cool on a rack.

Chunky Sausage and Tomato Pasta

I've damaged the arch in my foot (again) after a session of Zumba yesterday. This is a result of not exercising in ages and I'm now unable to exercise, so frustrating! I can hardly walk and it's very painful when I do. Due to my injury I needed a meal that was quick to rustle up, so I opted for a favourite pasta recipe that I've not cooked in ages. It ticked all the boxes, quick, easy, comforting and really yummy!


Chunky Sausage and Tomato Pasta

Serves 4

Ingredients
1 tbsp olive oil
4 thick pork sausages, cut into bite-sized pieces
2 garlic cloves, crushed
200ml/7fl oz medium white wine
1 tbsp tomato purée
400g can chopped tomatoes
500g pack rigatoni or penne
Handful of basil leaves, torn, (optional)
Parmesan, to serve

Heat the olive oil in a heavy-based pan (preferably not non-stick) and add the sausages. Fry for about 8 mins until golden and cooked through. Tip in the garlic and fry for 1 min. Pour in the white wine and boil until it has reduced by half.

Stir in the tomato purée and tomatoes, and season to taste. Simmer for 15 mins until the sauce is rich and thick.

While the sauce cooks, boil the pasta according to pack instructions and drain. Stir in the basil if using, and cooked pasta into the sauce, then serve in bowls with grated or shaved parmesan.

Beef Stew with mustard and thyme dumplings

The weather has become very cold in the UK, with temperatures dropping to -3 Celsius some nights. Following on from my promise to try new recipes I decided to try out a new beef stew for our Sunday meal. This stew is the perfect comfort food that we crave for during this cold weather. I've never made my own dumplings and couldn't beleive how easy they were to make, they turned out great if I do say so myself. I served the stew with creamy mash and it was delicious.


Beef Stew and mustard and thyme dumplings

Serves 6
Ingredients
1.5kg braising or chuck steak
about 2 tbsp seasoned flour
2 tbsp olive oil
2 large onions, peeled and chopped
6 garlic cloves, peeled and left whole
sea salt and black pepper
4 celery stalks, sliced
4 large leeks, cleaned and cut into short lengths
1 small swede, peeled and cut into cubes
1 small celeriac, peeled and cut into cubes
1 bottle of robust red wine
400g tin of chopped tomatoes
a bouquet garni of parsley, thyme, rosemary, bay and 2 strips of orange peel, tied together

For the dumplings:
110g self-raising flour
55g beef of vegetable suet
1 tbsp thyme leaves, chopped, or 2 tbsp chopped parsley
1 tbsp grain mustard or 1 tsp Colman's English mustard powder, or 2tp freshly grated horseradish

Preheat the oven to 150oC/Gas 2. Cut the beef into large cubes. Tip the flour into a Ziplock bag, add the meat, lock and shake to coat. Take out the meat, shaking off excess flour. Heat about 1 tbsp olive oil in a large, heavy-bottomed pan and brown the meat in batches all over, removing it to a plate when browned and adding extra oil as needed.

Add the onions and garlic to the pan and sprinkle with a little salt. After a few minutes, as they begin to soften, add the celery, carrots, leeks, swede and celeriac, if using. Saute for a few minutes and then return the meat to the pan. Meanwhile, heat the red wine.

Add the tinned tomatoes to the pan and chop them down into the meat and veg. When the liquid is bubbling away merrily, add the wine to just cover. Once the pot has come up to the bubble again, tuck the bouquet garni down into the depths, add a circle of greaseproof paper (a cartouche) to just cover the stew and put the lid on. Transfer to the oven and cook for 2 hours or until the vegetables are tender but not reduced to mush.

Meanwhile, make the dumplings. Sift the flour into a large bowl and throw in the suet. Add the herbs, mustard or horseradish and seasoning, and mix with your hands or a spoon until the dough coheres but is not too wet and sticky. If it becomes too damp, scatter over a little more flour and roll the ball of dough gently. Flour your hands and pull small, walnut-sized pieces of dough from the ball, rolling them between your palms into balls.

About 20 minutes before the stew will be ready, uncover and sit the dumplings on top. Put the lid back on and return to the oven. After 20 minutes, check that the dumplings have swollen and are cooked through. Serve with mash or colcannon.

Linguine Amatriciana

I've decided that this year I will be making more of an effort to make and try new recipes. It's so easy to stick with the same recipes week in week out and you end up getting bored of eating the same dishes. I came across this recipe on Nigella's site and after reading her review I had to make it. This recipe is from Anna Conte's cookbook, Cooking with Coco, which I plan on purchasing very soon after reading Nigella's review on it. In Nigella's words there isn't a recipe in this book she wouldn't want to try. I love Italian food and pasta has a regular presence in my cooking, which makes this book very appealing. This is a simple recipe but one that is really satisfying and delish! I didn't have any Bucatini pasta which is the type used in this recipe but I will be buying some on my next shopping trip to use next time.


Linguine Amatriciana

Serves 4-5

Ingredients
tbsp olive oil
350g unsmoked pancetta cubes
1 onion, very finely chopped
1 garlic clove, finely chopped
1 dried chilli, seeded and finely chopped
100ml red wine
450g tin chopped tomatoes
400g linguine
6 tbsp grated mature pecorino
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano, to serve

Heat the oil in a frying pan large enough to contain the cooked pasta later and, when hot, throw in the pancetta and fry until crisp. Remove it to a plate with a fish slice.

Now add the onion to the pan, season with a pinch of salt and saute for 7-8 minutes, until soft. Add the garlic and chilli and cook for a further minute, stirring frequently. Splash with the wine and let it bubble away to reduce by half. Pour in the chopped tomatoes and cook on moderate heat for about 20-25 minutes.

Taste and add more salt if necessary and black pepper if you want, although the sauce is already quite hot due to the chilli.

Cook the linguine in plenty of salted water as usual.

Drain thoroughly.

Slide the pasta into the frying pan, add the pancetta, and shower with percorino. Stir-fry for about 2 minutes, turning the linguine over and over with 2 forks.

Serve straight from the pan, with Parmesan handed round.

Spring Chicken in Wintertime

This evening for dinner I decided to make Nigella's Spring Chicken from her cookbook Kitchen. Although this is titled "spring" chicken, it is perfect for this time of the year, a warming casserole is just what you crave at the end of a cold winters day. This casserole has an amazing depth of flavour and would work equally well served with new potatoes, rice, barley or other grains. Alternatively it could be served with a baquette or other crusty bread to mop up the juices. We thoroughly enjoyed this comforting dish and I plan to make it again soon.


Spring Chicken

Serves 4-6

Ingredients
1 tsp olive oil
140g pancetta cubes
12 chicken thighs (bone in with or without skin)
1 leek, cleaned, quartered lengthwise then finely sliced
1 stick celery, quartered lengthwise then finely sliced
3 cloves garlic, peeled and chopped
2 tsp freeze-dried tarragon
1 tsp sea salt flakes or 1/2 tsp pouring salt
good grinding white pepper
1 x 500ml bottle dry cider
300g frozen petit pois
1 x 15ml tbsp Dijon mustard
2 Little Gem lettuces, suct into strips or roughly shredded
2 x 15ml tbsp chopped fresh tarragon

Heat the oil in a large, wide casserole that comes with a lid and add the pancetta cubes, cooking them until they begin to give off their juices and start to colour.

Add the chicken thighs (skin-side down if yours have skin), tossing the pancetta cubes on top of the meat (to stop the pancetta burning and to make space) as you put the poultry in the pan, and cook for about 5 minutes over a medium heat.

Turn the thighs over and tip in the prepared leek, celery and garlic. Season with the dried tarragon, salt and pepper, then stir everything around a bit, letting it cook for another 5 minutes.

Pour in the cider, then sprinkle in the frozen peas. Bring the pan to the boil then cover, turn down to a very gentle heat and cook for 40 minutes. Do check after 30, though, to see if the chicken is cooked through, and if you are using boneless thighs, then 20 minutes should do it.

Remove the lid, stir in the mustard, and then toss the shredded lettuce over the chicken, letting it wilt in the hot sauce for a couple of minutes.

Scatter the chopped tarragon over the casserole. Serve with new potatoes or rice.

Merry Christmas!

A very Merry Christmas to everyone!! Hope you are all having a wonderful festive season. Below are some of the goodies I have baked this Christmas for my family and friends to enjoy.

My Christmas Cake.

Yule Log.

My delicious Christmas Pudding.

Chocolate Peanut-Butter Cups.

Chocolate Christmas Biscuits.

Glittery Christmas Tree Cookies.

Ollie my gorgeous grandson :)

Sweet Snowballs

These Sweet Snowballs are seriously delish and are the perfect edible festive gift. An alternative to truffles, these chocolatey bitesize treats contain white Maltesers, coconut, marshmallow, cranberries, cake crumbs and rich tea biscuits! I made these to give to family and friends and they were very much appreciated.



Sweet Snowballs

Ingredients
400g white chocolate
100g rich tea biscuits
50g white Maltesers
50g mini marshmallows
50g dried cranberries
50g cake crumbs (shop-bought Madeira Cake)
3 tbsp golden syrup
100g dessicated coconut
edible glitter

Melt the white chocolate, broken into pieces, in a bowl over a pan of simmering water. Meanwhile, crush the rich tea biscuits and white maltesers in a large bowl with a rolling pin.

Add the mini marshmallows, dried cranberries and cake crumbs, then the chocolate and golden syrup. Mix well. Tip the desiccated coconut onto a plate. Drop large spoonfuls of mixture onto the plate, then roll them around, coating in coconut and shaping into balls. Place on a baking tray and chill for 30 minutes before serving. Sprinkle with edible glitter if you like.

Star-Topped Mince Pies

You can't beat home-made mince pies, especially mince pies made with your own home-made mincemeat! I tend to shy away from pastry but this recipe is seriously easy and make these year after year. I made these gorgeous mince pies especially for Sunday when we had family and friends over to celebrate the festive season. As always they went down a treat and everyone loved them. This is definitely another recipe that will feature again in my house this month.


Star-Topped Mince Pies

Ingredients

240g/8oz plain flour

60g/2oz vegetable shortening

60g/2oz cold butter, cut into small cubes

1 orange, juice only

pinch salt

350g/12oz mincemeat

icing sugar, for dusting

You will need a miniature tart tray, each indent 4.5cm/1¾in diameter, a 5.5cm/2¼in round fluted biscuit cutter and a 4cm/1½in star-shaped pastry cutter.

Sift the flour into a shallow freezer-proof bowl, then add small mounds of vegetable shortening. Add the butter, shake to cover it, then place into the freezer to chill for 20 minutes. (This will make the pastry tender and flaky.)

Mix the orange juice and salt in a separate bowl. Cover and leave in the fridge to chill.

After the 20 minutes, empty the chilled flour and shortening mixture into the bowl of a food processor and pulse to make porridge-like crumbs. Gradually add the chilled salted orange juice, pulsing until the mixture is just coming together as a dough. Stop just before it comes together (even if some orange juice is left). If all the juice is used up before the dough has begun to come together, add some iced water.

Turn the mixture out onto a clean, floured work surface and, using your hands, knead the mixture to form a dough. Divide and shape into three equal-sized discs (you’ll need to make the mince pies in three separate batches of 12, unless you’ve got enough tart tins to make all 36 pies at once).Wrap each disc in cling film and place into the fridge to rest for 20 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 220C/425F/Gas 7.

Remove a pastry disc from the fridge and roll out on a floured work surface thinly, but so that it will be sturdy enough to support the dense mincemeat filling. Using a fluted pastry cutter, cut out 12 circles a little wider than the moulds in the tart tins. Press the circles gently into the moulds. Place a teaspoon of mincemeat into each pastry case. Reroll any remaining dough to a similar thickness, then using a star-shaped cutter, cut out 12 stars and place each lightly onto the mincemeat filling.

Transfer to the oven and bake for 10-15 minutes, or until the pastry is golden-brown. Keep an eye on them as they don’t take very long to cook.

Remove from the oven, prising out the little pies straight away and placing onto a wire rack to cool. Allow the empty tray to cool down before repeating the steps. Repeat until you have made 36 mince pies.

Dust the mince pies with icing sugar and serve.

Gold-Dust Star Cookies

Who doesn't love a bit of glitter and sparkle at Christmas? It would not be Christmas in my home without it and you can never have enough glitter! I bake these cookies every Christmas and they never fail to impress with family, friends and work colleagues alike. Apart from them being seriously yummy and moreish, they leave a lasting impression....you will find evidence in glitter form over the faces of those who have indulged, hahaha. These cookies never last long and will feature a few times over the festive season.


Gold-Dust Star Cookies

Ingredients
90g soft butter
100g caster sugar
1 large egg
1 teaspoon ground ginger (or vanilla extract)
200g plain flour, plus more for sprinkling
½ teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon fine salt
Edible gold dust or glitter flakes

Preheat the oven to 180oC/gas mark 4 and line a baking sheet or two with baking parchment or Bake-O-Glide.

Cream the butter and sugar together until whipped soft and pale, then beat in the egg, followed by the ginger (or vanilla), flour, baking powder and salt and continue mixing until it all comes together to make a soft dough.

Form into 2 discs, wrap each one in clingfilm and let it rest in the fridge for 20-30 minutes.

Sprinkle a suitable surface with flour, place a disc of dough on it and sprinkle a little more flour on top. Then roll out to a thickness of about 5mm.

Cut into shapes, dipping the cutter into flour as you go, and place the biscuits a little apart on the lined baking sheet/s. Keep the scraps of the first disc, to mix with the scraps of the second and roll and cut, re-roll and cut, until you’ve used up the mixture. This is wonderfully pliable dough, which makes it an unstressful joy to work with.

Bake in the oven for 18-12 minutes: this depends on their shape, how many sheets are in the oven at the same time, and whether on the upper or lower shelf, though you can swap them around after 5 minutes. When they’re ready, expect them to be tinged a pronounced pale gold around the edges; they’ll be softish still in the middle, but will harden on cooling.

Take the sheets out of the oven, remove the cookies, with a flat, preferably flexible, spatula to a wire rack and leave to cool.

Using a small (unused) paintbrush or eyeshadow brush, dip in the edible gold dust or glitter flakes, and give each cookies its gilded coating.

Little Mince Pie Cakes

These Little Mince Pie Cakes are a regular bake over the festive period. It's a great variation to the traditional mince pie and made with your home-made mincemeat will taste even better. These always go down a treat with everyone, especially my hubby!


Little Mince Pie Cakes

Ingredients
175g self-raising flour
100g light muscovado sugar
1 tsp mixed spice
175g softened butter
3 eggs
2 tbsp milk
about 140g mincemeat (I used my home-made mincemeat)
icing sugar , for dusting

Heat oven to 190C/fan 170C/gas 5. Line 12 bun tins with paper cases. Put the flour, sugar, spice, butter, eggs and milk into a mixing bowl and beat with an electric hand whisk or wooden spoon for 2-3 mins, until the mix is light and fluffy.

Put a spoonful of cake mix in each case, then a rounded tsp of mincemeat. Cover the mincemeat with a spoonful of cake mix and smooth.

Bake for 15-18 mins until golden brown and firm. Dust with icing sugar and serve warm or cold.

Cranberry Jam

This Cranberry Jam is another seasonal favourite that I make every year. This has to be one of the easiest jams to make and only has 2 ingredients, cranberries and caster sugar. In our home we love this jam spread over hot buttered toast, a perfect way to start the day!


Cranberry Jam

Ingredients
350g/12oz cranberries
350g/12oz caster sugar

Put a film of water in the bottom of a large saucepan and add the cranberries and sugar. Stir patiently over a low heat to dissolve the sugar; this will take a little while. Turn up the heat and boil the pan rapidly until setting point is reached, about 7 minutes. (Alternatively it will have reached a jam-like consistency.)

Pour the jam into a sterilized jar (s) and seal immediately.

Makes approx 350mls.

Traditional Christmas Pudding

You really can't beat a home-made Christmas Pudding and I have kept the tradition of making one every year for the past 8 years. Factory made puddings sold in shops don't come anywhere near a home-made pud, with it's luscious combination of vine fruits, nuts and citrus peels, laced with stout and rum then slowly steamed into a dark fragrant combination of intense flavours. If you find the thought of making your own Christmas Pudding a daunting task and you are put off by the 8 hours of steaming, I can only encourage you to give it a go. The steaming only requires your attention periodically to top up the water level and the end result is the best ever pud you and your family will have tasted, then like myself you will never go back to a shop bought Christmas pudding.


Traditional Christmas Pudding

Ingredients
110g shredded suet
110g white breadcrumbs
1 level tsp ground mixed spice
1/4 tsp nutmeg, freshly grated
a good pinch of ground cinnamon
225g soft dark brown sugar
110g sultanas
110g raisins
275g currants
25g mix candied peel
25g whole almonds, chopped
1 small cooking apple, cored and finely chopped (no need to peel)
the grated zest of 1/2 large navel orange
the grated zest of 1/2 large lemon
2 tbsp rum
150ml stout
2 eggs
50g self-raising flour, sifted

A 1.2 litre pudding basin, lightly greased, baking parchment, foil and string.

Method
Begin the day before you want to steam the pudding. Take your largest, roomiest mixing bowl and start by putting in the suet and breadcrumbs, spices and sugar. Mix these ingredients very thoroughly together, then gradually mix in all the dried fruit, peel and nuts followed by the apple and the grated orange and lemon zests. Don't forget to tick everything off as you go to make sure nothing gets left out. Next in a smaller basin, measure out the rum and stout, then add the eggs and beat these thoroughly together. Next pour this over all the other ingredients and begin to mix thoroughly. It's now traditional to gather all the family round, especially the children, and invite everyone to have a really good stir and make a wish! The mixture should have a fairly sloppy consistency - that is, it should fall instantly from the spoon when this is tapped on the side of the bowl. If you think it needs a bit more liquid add a spot more stout. Cover the bowl and leave overnight.

Next day stir in the sifted flour quite thoroughly, then pack the mixture into the lightly greased basin, cover it with a double layer of baking parchment and a sheet of foil and tie it securely with string. It's also a good idea to tie a piece of string across the top to make a handle. Place the pudding in a steamer set over a saucepan filled with simmering water and steam the pudding for 8 hours. Do make sure you keep a regular eye on the water underneath and top it up with boiling water straight from the kettleabout halfway through the time. When the pudding is steamed, let it get quite cold, then remove the baking parchment and foil and replace them with some fresh ones, again making a string handle for easy manoeuvring. Now your Christmas pudding is ready for Christmas Day. Keep it in a cool place away from light. Under the bed in an unheated bedroom is an ideal place.

On Christmas Day steam your Christmas Pudding for 2 1/4 hours, checking on the water from time to time and maybe top it up a bit.