Cream Horn

Sometimes you want something sweet and naughty thats also light and speedy to make. Cream Horns are quick and easy pastries that I used to make with my mother when I was a child, she always made her puff pastry, it was magical watching her adding the butter and rolling and turning the pastry around but than having to wait while it cooled in the fridge seemed to take ages. You can save time by buying your puff pastry, but may sure it is cold for best results.

Preheat the oven to 200C/400F/Gas 6

You will need:
A set of horn moulds they normally come in sets of 4 or 6 (usually made of metal if anyone has seen silicone one please let me know)
1 sheet puff pastry or homemade puff pastry
Whipped cream
Strawberry jam (or preferred flavour)

Roll puff pastry out into a retangle and cut lenghtwise into 2½cm/ 1in strips.
Grease your moulds with butter or I sprayed mine with vegetable oil its quick and less messy.
Brush pastry lighty with water (the wet side touches the mould) and starting at the top of the mould wrap the pastry slighty overlapping around leaving a 1cm/ ½in space at the end (this helps when removing the cooked pastry)
Place on a greased baking tray (I use a non-stick sheet so don't need to grease)

You can brush the pastry with an egg wash or milk for an extra shiny pastry. For decoration you can also sprinkle with a little sugar.

Bake for 10-12 minutes, or until the pastry has risen and is golden-brown. Leave to cool than remove carefully from moulds.

Now add a little strawberry jam inside each cream horn, topping with whipped cream.











You can experiement instead of jam brush the inside of the pastry horn  with melted chocolate this forms a lining and add a mixture of chopped fresh fruits (anything you fancy) - strawberries, blueberries, cherries mixed with a little whipped cream.

Or for adults dip the rim of the pastry horn into melted dark chocolate, whip the cream with a liquor or flavouring of your choice (coffee is good)

Lemon Sponge Cakes

Very simple little sponge cakes flavoured with lemon zest and a little lemon oil. Because these are made without fats (butter or oil) the cakes should be eaten on the day they are made.

Ingredients: 

• 3 oz/ 75g of caster sugar
• 3 eggs (room temperate)
• 4 oz/ 100g of plain flour
• Zest of a lemon (unwaxed)
• Few drops of lemon oil

Electric whisk/ mixer

Preheat the oven to Gas mark 4

Put the eggs and sugar in a big mixing bowl and whisk an electric whisk is best until the mixture turns paler and is light and fluffy this take between 4-6 minutes usually for an electric whisk by hand a lot longer.

Add the lemon zest to the flour and fold it into the mixture using a metal spoon you can also add the lemon oil folding until just mixed, don't over mix it or you will lose all the air you added with the whisking.
Oil your cake moulds (I even used a little oil on my silicone mounds) or mixture put into paper cases, cook for approximately 10- 15 minutes or until golden brown and will risen. Remove from mounds as soon as you can, this stops the bottom of the cakes becoming wet and soggy. I just lightly dusted with icing sugar (powdered sugar)
Instead of lemon use orange or lime zest and oil or a mixture of citrus fruits :)

Teapot Shortbread

Buttery crisp shortbread biscuits in the shape of little teapots, these are quick and super tasty

 I have had these cute teapot cutters for a while I bought them in a sale and have never used them so decided it was time to play with them.
I have not made shortbread for ages and thought it would be prefect with the cutters.



 
Pre-heat oven to 190C/375F/Gas 5

Ingredients:

• 50g/ 2oz Caster Sugar
• 100g / 4oz Butter
• 150g/ 6oz Plain Flour

Beat the butter and the sugar together until smooth.

Stir in the flour to get a smooth paste, wrap and place in the fridge for 20 -30 minutes.

Place on to a work surface, gently roll out until 1cm/ ½in thick, using a fork prick the pasty all over.

Cut into your desired shapes and place onto a baking tray (I used a non stick liner on my baking tray, if you do not have one lightly oil the tray to prevent sticking)

Bake in the oven for approximately 20 minutes, or until pale golden-brown. 

after removing from the oven leave on the baking tray for 5 minutes than place biscuits to cool on a wire rack. 

Can be eaten as they are or decorated :)

I used basic water icing and with food colouring

Basic water icing = Approx 2 heaped tablespoons icing sugar (also known as powdered sugar) add a little warm water approximately 1 tsp than a few drops at a time until about runny as single cream, add food colouring of choice. You can play and add chocolate drops, sugar sprinkle, glace fruit, sweets have fun :)

Veggie Sausage & Onion Rolls

I made these veggie sausage rolls with Quorn sausages but you can use any sausages you like (even meat). I cook the sausages and onions first as I think it adds flavour. You can make your own puff pastry or buy it.

Ingredients makes approximately 6 rolls

• 1 sheet puff pastry (or make own puff or quick puff)
• 2 medium onions
• 6 Sausages of choice (I used Quorn sausages)
• Approximately 1 tablespoon of vegetable oil for browning/ cooking sausages and onions

Lightly cook sausages with a little oil if needed until browned leave to cool
Slice onions and cook with a little oil until soft (don't crisp or burn) season and leave to cool

Slice the pastry sheet into 6 rectangles (depending on the size of your pastry sheet you may get more or less) you want the pastry to be just better than the sausage on the short size and able to roll around the whole sausage with a little to over lap on the larger size of your rectangle.
Brush around the edge of the pastry rectangle with water. Add 1/6th of the softened onion to the left hand size edge and add a sausage, roll the pastry careful overlapping the pastry.



Transfer to a baking tray putting the overlapped edge underneath. Slash the rolls a few times with a sharp knife. You can brush the sausage rolls with milk or egg if you want extra browning and shine.






Halfway through cooking turn the sausage rolls over so the underside also cooks.
The rolls are cooked when your pasty is golden brown and well risen.
Best eaten warm with a little mustard

Christmas Eve Foodie Bargain - Delia's Spiced Cranberry & Orange Relish

I'm a Christmas Eve shopper I never seem to get enough time to shop before that so I now enjoy the last minute rush and also I find lots of last minute reductions. This Christmas one of my foodie shopping bargains was - Delia's Spiced Cranberry & Orange Relish pack from Waitrose reduced from £2.99 to 49p :)








After returning from shopping I followed the simple instructions to chop the cranberries I did it by hand (the instructions suggested use a food processor) and place them in a saucepan.

Then pare off the coloured part of the orange rind with a potato peeler and cut it into very fine shreds. juice of the orange, and spices and sugar mix to the cranberries..

Bring everything up to simmering point, stirring well and simmer very gently for about 5 minutes.

I did not add any port (not a flavour we like plus not everyone drinks alcohol), the only thing I did add myself was after tasting  a further desert spoonful of caster sugar.
after leaving to cool I removed the cloves and cinnamon and put the mixture in a nice glass jar I had been keeping (I got it in a sale last January it's glass with a ceramic lid, so can be easily washed and reused again) ready for our Christmas day diner.


The flavour the next day was excellent as all the spices had blended together and the smell was like Christmas in a jar.
I will make this again next year and just in case I don't get a bargain pack I found the recipe here on Delia's website :)

Graze box arrived

  A friend gave me a code to get a free snack box from an on-line company called Graze. I had looked at their website before and was very tempted to order a box and had planned to try them out in January (news years resolution healthy eating), so I was very happy to try a free box.

You get 3 choices the nibble box which has maximum variety with a choice from over 100 of the tasty natural nibbles or the nutrition box which has 2 different varieties the eatwellbox same as nibble box but no flapjacks, artisan breads, hone coated nuts or milk or white chocolate or the stricter energybox only has nuts, seeds, dried fruit and olives.

 I picked the nibble box, it arrived on my chosen day Friday, it was well packaged in a recyclable card box. Inside it contained 4 random boxes (you pick the things like this and dislike from over 100 snacks, it was very quick to do) I liked the idea of having something different to try. A little booklet with food values, calories and other facts is included for your 4 boxes making it feel personal. My box contained natural vanilla seed (vanilla sunflower seeds and vanilla pumpkin seeds) very yummy, banoffee pie (almond slices, fudge pieces, pecan nuts and banana coins) nice but the banana coins were very sweet, billionaire's shortbread (fudge pieces, blanched almonds, milk chocolate drops and cranberries) very tasty, dark rocky road (pecan nuts, dark chocolate buttons and cranberries) with 50% dark cocoa buttons super tasty.
I used my boxes to take to work each day and have as a snack with coffee and I enjoyed them very much and have now ordered another box 4 new snacks to try fruity ploughman's (bramley apple and pear chutney with a roasted poppy seed flatbread), apple and cinnamon flapjacks, fruit sangrisa(strawberries, physalis and orange sultanas) and pina colada (pineapple, coconut flakes and mango) a yummy week ahead.
They sent me a code to give to friends to get your first box free and your second box half price its 9554XRNFP and the link is http://www.graze.com/ I think it is time limited. 

Fig and Almond Tartlets

Ripe juicy figs are both pretty and tasty so I wanted to use them to show off to there fullest.

This is a quick and easy tart with little effect unless you make your puff pastry, I used purchased for this.

Ingredients:

• 1 sheet puff pastry cut into 4
• 2 large figs (half for each tart if you have smaller figs you will need more)
• 4 Heaped tablespoons ground almond
• 2 Tablespoons caster sugar
• Approx 4 heaped teaspoons honey

Preheat oven at 200C/400F/Gas Mark6

Score (to score make a shallow cut, don't go all the way through the pastry) a square about 2.5cm/ 1inch from the outside of the pastry, this will make the walls of the tart onto each piece of puff pastry and place on a baking tray

Mix the ground almonds and sugar and divide between the 4 square of puff pastry keeping the mixture inside your scored lines

Cut 1/2 fig into 4 wedges and place onto the almond mixture repeat for the other 3 tarts

Drizzle the honey over the figs (depending on the sweetness of the figs use more or less honey to taste)

Cook for 12-15 minutes (until the pastry is brown and puffed up)

Oven temperature 200C/400F/Gas Mark6

Tasty served warm or cold 

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