Festive Gift Ideas from the Cath Kidston Caped Crusaders

Am not sure how it has happened but it is November the 21st. Which means Christmas is literally just over a month away. For my American friends "the holidays" are almost under way with next Thursday being Thanksgiving. So this week I decided to test various Christmas gift ideas and I knew just the woman to help me.

May I introduce my fellow Cath Kidston caped crusader Sarah. Sarah is an amazing chef and if you are skiing in Val D'Isere with Crystal this year and staying in a chalet she may be your chalet host! Sarah is one of those lovely people who it is a genuine pleasure to spend time with and is the only person who can get me to eat Eggs (she also survived growing up with Rachel and Laura). Well in advance of Sarah going to the frozen wastelands that is Val D'Isere on Wednesday  me and her decided to have a baking day. So what follows is our baking from today. With some Festive Gift Ideas for you to try

Christmas in a Glass

 

 

"It's noon on a Thursday why have you got a bottle of Vodka"

 

Sarah is going to do a ski season and is obviously taking a hip flask. So apart from sloe gin we thought we would find something else for her to take with her and we came across this nifty little recipe. Which explains to any concerned parents why we had a bottle of Vodka on a Thursday lunchtime

 

2 x 200g  Jars Cranberry Sauce

200ml Smooth Fresh Orange Juice

1 Cinnamon Stick

350ml Vodka

 

Preheat the oven to 140'c. Sterilise a large jar by washing it in hot soapy water, then rinse well. Put in the oven on its side for 30 minutes

 

Put the cranberry sauce, juice and cinnamon stick in a pan. Simmer gently for 5 minutes, stirring regularly ( Your kitchen will smell amazing during this period!) This is what it looks like as it cooks

 

 

 

Take off the heat and cool. Add the Vodka and transfer to the jar. Put on the lid, and keep in Fridge for 3 days

 

Strain through a sieve lined with a new J-Cloth. Sterilise two small bottles in the same way as the jar. When the bottles are cold add the vodka. Use within a month

 

We strongly advise not (overly) drinking and skiing. A Gluwein is OK in moderation but don't drink too much as one will help you ski better but two will make you fall over!

 

 

 

 

Festive Florentines

 

My mum is Gluten Intolerant and really misses some of the stuff she used to eat. So Sarah and I are forever trying out recipes that mum can eat. So today we made our festive Florentines. If you don't have a gluten intolerant mother feel free to use normal plain flour.

 

75g Unsalted Butter

75g Caster Sugar

2tbsp Clear Honey/Golden Syrup

75g Plain Flour

75g Dried Cranberries

50g Glace Cherries quartered

25g Mixed dried peel

25g Dried Apricots

50g Flaked Almonds

 

Preheat the oven to 180'C/ Gas 4 line 2 baking trays with baking paper ( or Magic Carpet baking sheets if you have them-these are amazing and worth investing in!)

 

Put the butter, sugar and honey or syrup in a pan. Heat gently, stirring, until the butter has melted and all the sugar has dissolved

 

Remove the saucepan from the heat and stir in the rest of the ingredients.

 

Put heaped teaspoonful's of mixture on the baking trays, leaving plenty of space between each one to allow the Florentines to spread during cooking (allow more room between them then you think!) Bake in the oven for 10-12 minutes until golden brown. Leave for 5 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool

 

 

 

An optional extra:- We melted a bar of plain chocolate down and spread it on the back of the Florentines. Leave it chocolate side up to set!

 

 

 

 

 

 

We made two more recipes and they will be published soon! Hope these wet your appetite and help you get in the mood

 

 

 

 



F is for Fat Free Post

Joke

Normal service will be resumed soon with a fabulous recipe for the letter F. Just trying to finalise my Guide Camp Permit paperwork! There is tonnes of it to do and I have developed a huge dislike to paperwork so am not allowing myself any cooking time until I pull this off.

But I felt a post was required today as it marks the return  of the GREAT BRITISH BAKE OFF. Tonight on BBC 2 at 8pm. Now I love this show for inspiration and the prevalence of soggy bottoms. I challenge you not to have anything to eat whilst watching it as it truly is mouth watering TV.

If you scroll down to the bottom of the home page of this blog you will come across the reason why I started this blog. Now it turns out the idea of cooking yourself out of a rut is a common experience and the BBC have written an article about the phenomenon.

So I promise a new blog post is coming soon - and it will be the proper F one.

E is for Egg

As well as baking one of the things I enjoy is being a Guide leader. For the last four days I have been "Oop the dale" at North Yorkshire Guides Campsite at Redmire camping with my Guides. We ask all the Guides to bring a cake with them to use as snacks during the camp. This year not one Guide brought a home made cake they all brought shop bought cakes. Now I understand the pressures many people are under but this is the first time we have never had any homemade cake (OK that's a lie as usual my mother sent a large chocolate cake). One girl said my mum doesn't know how to make a cake. Now here is an idiot proof recipe for an easy cake which is a classic and like most cakes the key ingredient is eggs. Eggs make the cake fluffy and light

 

A Classic Victoria Sponge

 

4 free-range eggs

225g/8oz caster sugar, plus a little extra for dusting the finished cake

225g/8oz self raising flour

2 tsp baking powder

225g/8oz baking spread, margarine or soft butter at room temperature, plus a little extra to grease the tins



 

For the filling

good-quality strawberry or raspberry jam

whipped double cream (optional)

 

 

Preheat the oven to 180C/350F/Gas 4.

 

Grease and line 2 x 20cm/8in sandwich tins: use a piece of baking or silicone paper to rub a little baking spread or butter around the inside of the tins until the sides and base are lightly coated. Line the bottom of the tins with a circle of baking or silicone paper (to do this, draw around the base of the tin onto the paper and cut out).

 

Break the eggs into a large mixing bowl, then add the sugar, flour, baking powder and baking spread.

 

Mix everything together until well combined. The easiest way to do this is with an electric hand mixer, but you can use a wooden spoon. Put a damp cloth under your bowl when you’re mixing to stop it moving around. Be careful not to over-mix – as soon as everything is blended you should stop. The finished mixture should be of a soft ‘dropping’ consistency – it should fall off a spoon easily.

 

Divide the mixture evenly between the tins: this doesn’t need to be exact, but you can weigh the filled tins if you want to check. Use a spatula to remove all of the mixture from the bowl and gently smooth the surface of the cakes.

 

Place the tins on the middle shelf of the oven and bake for 25 minutes. Don't be tempted to open the door while they're cooking, but after 20 minutes do look through the door to check them.

 

The cakes are done when they’re golden-brown and coming away from the edge of the tins. Press them gently to check – they should be springy to the touch. Remove them from the oven and set aside to cool in their tins for five minutes. Then run a palette or rounded butter knife around the inside edge of the tin and carefully turn the cakes out onto a cooling rack.

 

To take your cakes out of the tins without leaving a wire rack mark on the top, put the clean tea towel over the tin, put your hand onto the tea towel and turn the tin upside-down. The cake should come out onto your hand and the tea towel – then you can turn it from your hand onto the wire rack.

 

Set aside to cool completely.

 

To assemble the cake, place one cake upside down onto a plate and spread it with plenty of jam. If you want to, you can spread over whipped cream too.

 

Top with the second cake, top-side up. Sprinkle over the caster sugar

 

 

My Verdict:- This is the simplest cake in the world and really strips cakes back to basics. Even a complete novice could make this!

 

 

P.S  This post I want to draw your attention to a lovely little company called Connies Cakes. Now Connie is I believe in her late teens/ early twenties and makes some amazing cakes for special events in the Northallerton area. What she manages to make out of cake, chocolate, and icing are amazing- have a look https://www.facebook.com/pages/Connies-Cakes-Northallerton/179293378772423





D is for Diet Cola Cake

Now a bit of advice I was once told was the way to any mans heart is through his stomach. Never in my many years of baking have I come across a man who can resist a lovely baked treat. This cake is a James Martin recipe and I was a sceptic begin with. But I knew just the person to test this cake

I have a friend who, if they could would replace their blood with diet coke. They are rarely seen without a can of diet coke in their hand. Getting into the passenger seat of their car you have to fight through at least ten empty cans (Yes I know in my car there is usually a load of detritus in the passenger footwell but my car is very small). So when I found this recipe there was only one person to test it out on - and they love it and it always lets me get my own way!

Chocolate Diet Cola Cake

 

 

250g Butter, plus extra for greasing

250g Self Raising Flour

300g Caster Sugar

3 heaped tablespoons of cocoa powder

generous pinch of bicarbonate of soda

200ml Cola Drink

75ml Milk

2 eggs beaten

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

 

 

For the topping (I usually double this to make it even more decadent)

60g Butter

200g Icing sugar- sifted

2-3 tablespoon cocoa

2 tablespoon cola drink

 

 

Pre heat the oven to 180'C/350'F/Gas Mark 4. Grease and line the bottom of a  cake tin.

 

Sift the flour, sugar, cocoa and bicarbonate of soda into a bowl. Gently melt the butter and cola drink in a pan and add to the dry ingredients, together with the milk, eggs and vanilla extract. Mix gently thoroughly, then tip into the cake tin.

 

Bake for about 40 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the middle of cake comes out clean. Remove from the oven and leave to cool on a wire rack for 15 minutes whilst you make the topping

 

To make the topping, beat the butter, icing sugar and cocoa powder together in a bowl until blended. Beat in the diet cola to combine. Spread over the cake and allow to set

 

 

My Opinion:- This cake is always a winner. When you first combine the mixture it looks very runny don't be afraid- this makes the cake lovely and moist and it wont go hard fast. This is a great way of using the dregs in the bottom of a bottle of coke as it doesn't matter if the coke is fizzy or flat. I know this sounds a bit way out as a recipe but it is lovely. Try it

 

 

In other news Rachel (she of the Brownie fame) has introduced me to a brilliant procrastination method - Pinterest.  Here is my Little Miss Baker Bakes Board where I hope to gain inspiration for this blog. WARNING Pinterest can take over your life



C is for Cinnamon Breakfast Loaf

First of all sorry for this blog post taking so long to come. I had a job interview last week for a Campaign Managers roll. Which is basically a full time version of the job I was doing at RCA. Sadly I didn't get it allegedly I need more experience.

My friend Megan had her hen do the other week. Jen and I were in charge of catering for the champagne brunch.

I decided I wanted to make something special for the Brunch hence trawling through my cook book I came across the Cinnamon Breakfast Loaf

Cinnamon Breakfast Loaf

 

500g Strong White Bread Flour

1 1/2 teaspoons sea salt flakes-crushed

2 tablespoons caster sugar

1 x 7g Sachet fast-action dried yeast

125ml milk

50 g unsalted butter

1 Large free range egg, at room temperature

 

 

For the filling

50g Caster Sugar

1 teaspoon plain flour or white bread flour

1 tablespoon ground cinnamon

 

 

To finish

Milk for brushing

Small knob of butter

 

1 x 900g loaf tin, about 26x12.5x7.5cm greased baking paper

 

 

Mix together the flour, salt and sugar in a  large mixing bowl or the bowl of a large free standing electric mixer. If using dried yeast, stir it in. If using fresh yeast, crumble it into a small bowl and mix to a smooth liquid with about 7 tablespoons of the measured milk.

 

Gently warm the milk with 125ml water and the butter until lukewarm and the butter has melted. Remove from the heat. Add the egg and beat with a fork until combined, then add to the flour mixture ( with the fresh yeast mixture, if using). Work the ingredients together (use the mixer on the lowest speed) to make a very soft but not sticky dough. If there are dry crumbs at the base of the bowl, or the dough seems dry and hard to work, add more milk or water a tablespoon at a time. If the dough sticks to your hands or to the sides of the bowl then work in more flour a tablespoon at a time.

 

Turn out the dough onto a lightly floured worktop and knead thoroughly for about 10 minutes by hand, or knead for 5 minutes with the dough hook on low speed, until the dough is silky smooth and pliable. Return the dough to the bowl, cover with a snap on lid or cling film and leave to rise in a warm not hot place for about an hour until doubled in size.

 

Meanwhile prepare the tin. Cut a long strip of baking powder the same width as your tin and long enough to cover both short sides as well as the base. Press the paper into the tin- this makes the loaf easy to remove after baking in case the filling leaks. In a small bowl mix the sugar with the flour and cinnamon for the filling.

 

Punch down the risen dough to deflate, then turn out onto a lightly floured worktop and knead for a few seconds. Pat out to a rough rectangle about 2cm thick. Cover lightly with a sheet of cling film and leave to relax for 5 minutes- this will make it easier to roll out.

 

Lightly flour the rolling pin and roll out the dough to a rectangle as wide as the length of the tin and 48cm long. Keep the sides straight and neat. Brush the dough liberally with milk, then sprinkle over the sugar mixture in an even layer, leaving a 1cm border clear at one short end. Roll up the dough, neatly and tightly, from the other short end and pinch the seam together to seal it firmly.

 

Uncover the dough and brush lightly with milk. Bake for about 35 minutes until a good golden brown and the turned out loaf sounds hollow when it is tapped on the underside. If it sounds like a dull thud return it to the oven (set straight on the shelf) and bake for a further 5 minutes then test again

 

Transfer the turned out loaf to a wire rack and rub the butter over the top to give a glossy finish. Leave until completely cold before slicing

 

 

 

 

Here is the finished loaf being enjoyed at the hen do

 

My Opinion This recipe takes a lot of time to cook but is really worth it. Also hand kneading dough is a great workout for those upper arms which is good if your dress for the wedding does not have sleeves. Given the rate at which the loaf was devoured by the hens I take it was a success.

 

 



 





B is for Brownies

Sixteen years ago on the second Saturday of August, I was at the village show. Now Thornton-le-Beans Village show and sports happens every year and is the highlight of the Village Social Calender. Now this particular village show sticks out in the memory more than all the others for reason. It was this day I approached a girl dressed as a playing card, I was dressed as a Kitchen Table at the time - don't ask, and asked her if she wanted to be my partner for the fiercely competitive three legged race. Who was to know that the little playing card and I were to become best friends. So close we even have to this day keys to each other houses and regards the others house as a second home. Now sixteen years later we are still going strong.

There is one food that I associate with Rachel more than anything and that is her mums chocolate Brownies. This weekend Rachel and I got together to have a catch up and to draft ideas for her wedding cake- this ironically is not going to be Chocolate Brownies- but it has lead me to choose this recipe as my next recipe. So this post is dedicated to Rachel, Her mum Claire (Mum 2) and the world famous Turner Brownies

Claire's Chocolate Brownies



 

 

4 Eggs

 

1 Lb Caster Sugar

8oz Butter

 

3 oz Cocoa Powder

 

4 oz Self Raising Flour

 

 

Break the eggs and cream together in a bowl with the sugar

 

Melt the butter and add the Cocoa Powder and stir

 

 

Mix the Eggs mixture and the butter mixture together. When properly  mixed add the flour

 

 

Tip into a lined tray bake tin and cook in the oven for 20-25 minutes or until it reaches the desired texture at 180'c

 

 

Leave to cool and enjoy

 

 

My Opinion:- These brownies are such an integral part of my childhood that I can't criticise them. I have eaten them in floods of tears and at moments of great joy and they always make me smile.  At Uni I sometimes chucked in some cherries as well. They are another simple bake and are perfect for bribing the male of the species with! 

A is for Apple

 

I love Apples. They are possibly my favourite fruit. They are just a sensation overload for all the senses. The noise as you bite into a crisp granny smith, the juiciness, the smell and they are also very versatile. So it seemed logical for my first recipe to use my favourite food and like Eve I hope this apple can tempt you

 

Cinnamon Apple Muffins

 

1 Large or 2 small sharp eating apples

1 1/2 Teaspoons ground cinnamon

115g Plain Flour

Good Pinch of Salt

3-4 Gratings of Nutmeg

1 Teaspoon of Baking Powder

100g Caster Sugar

2 Large Free Range Eggs, at room temperature

2 Tablespoons low fat Natrual Yoghurt

3 Tablespoons vegetable oil

 

Optional 1 Small Apple

1/2 Teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 1/2 tablespoons light brown muscavado sugar

50g Pecan Pieces or nuts

 

Preheat the oven to 200'c/400f/Gas 6. Peel quarter and core the apples, then chop roughly into pieces about the sixe of your little fingernail. Put into a bowl, sprinkle over 1/2 teaspoon of the ground cinnamon and toss thoroughly. Set aside

 

Sift the flour into a large mixing bowl with the remaining 1 teaspoon cinnamon, the salt, nutmeg, baking powder and sugar. Whisk the eggs with the yoghurt and oil in another bowl or jug until combined, then add to the flour mixture. Mix together with a wooden spoon, then stir in the apples

 

Spoon the soft, sticky mixture into the muffin tin (which you have lined with paper cases).  Peel core and roughly chop another apple and mix in a bowl with the cinnamon, sugar and mixed nuts. Sprinkle on top of your cake mixture

 

And cook in the Oven for 25 minutes until firm to touch. The apples, sugar and nuts mixture makes a lovely caramelised topping

 

Remove from oven and leave to cool on a wire rack and enjoy!

 

 

My Opinion:- These muffins would make a good mid morning snack or breakfast on the run. They are really yummy and moreish! Never again will you want to pay for a muffin in Costa or Starbucks again.

They are also really easy to make as there is very little input. Good for Novice Bakers