I tried this recipe yesterday. I’ve never made scones before, and in all honesty…. I still haven’t. They didn’t work out at all.
All I hope is that they compost!
The problem was that I didn’t use self raising flour. I just used the plain flour I had in the cupboard.
At least I know for next time…. right?…. =).
Recipe - Foolproof Lemon Curd
This is someting I remember as being the only thing from my childhood that my Mum could make really well, consistently!
Unfortunately, I am not as gifted. I end up with lumps of cooked egg all through it.
Then I found this:
http://www.finecooking.com/articles/foolproof-lemon-curd-method.aspx
I am so trying this next week!
Recipe - Easy Bread
This is one of Richard Bertinet’s recipes and it couldn’t have been easier! I’ve NEVER made bread before IN MY LIFE, but 2 weeks ago my good friend Jesse told me that he could show me how. Since then I baked bread 5 times at home by myself and they have all worked out GREAT!
This is the loaf I made with Jesse.
Ingredients:
18 oz of good bread flour
3 teaspoons active dry yeast
1 teaspoon salt (the original recipe called for 2 teaspoons of salt, but we found it too salty. After reducing it twice (down to 1 teaspoon), it tasted even better!)
2 teaspoons un-salted butter
10.4 oz of water
4 tablespoons full fat milk
Method:
Put all the dry ingredients in your mixing bowl (including the butter), and all the wet ingredients in a bowl or jug so they mix. Then pour the wets on the dry and mix. If you’re using a mixer with a dough hook (I did), mix it for 2 mins on high and then on low for 10 mins for the needing part.
cover with a clean tea towel and put somewhere warm for 1 hour.
With a soft spatula/scraper type thing (I made one out of an ice cream container lid. Just cut a semi-circle out of it), and flour covered hands (and maybe a bit on the bench. Not too much though or you’ll change the amount of flour in the recipe), get all the dough out of the bowl and “knead” it by smoothing over the sides and pushing it up under the dough. Kind of like your making a ball shape with the top, and stretching the top surface by pulling the sides down and then shoving them back inside the ball from the bottom…..? No more than 30 seconds, really.
Then place the dough in a loaf pan, cover, and leave in a warm spot for another hour.
Start pre-heating your oven (medium heat) at the half hour mark.
Then put it in the oven (without the tea towel) for 30 mins, and your done!
The first loaf I made on my own:
And the second one!
I have always thought bread was a difficult thing to make.
It is soooo easy.
Thanks Jesse!
Recipe - Mays Pumpkin Curd
This is a recipe from a book that I have posted a picture of before (last week) called The National Trust Book of The Country Kitchen Store Cupboard.
(This one):
This recipe has intrigued me since I got the book, and I’ve been dying to try it ever since. Well, this week I finally got my wish!
Ingredients:
450g (1lb) chopped (cubed) pumpkin
450g castor sugar
2 or 3 eggs (depending on size)
The juice of 2 large lemons
Method:
Boil the pumpkin until soft and mash til smooth. Beat eggs and add to the pumpkin with the sugar. Juice the lemon (and grate the rind if you want to add it. I didn’t) and add to pumpkin mixture. Stir continuously over a low heat until the curd is thick, and pour in to warm jars.
I didn’t really know exactly how thick ‘thick’ was, so I went by guess work.
This recipe only makes 1 and a 1/2 jam jars of curd, so I made 2 lots, but will probably make more! It has a pumpkin-y texture but a really nice light flavour.
I really like it anyway. =).
Beetroot Bottling (easy recipe)
I found a couple of recipes on the net and crossed them over. This is what I came up with.
Boil your beetroot until soft enough to stick a fork tine through, strain into a colander (saving the liquid), and leave for about 15mins.
Remove the skins (this ‘ll be easy, they come off in your hands pretty much).
Slice them (1/4 inch thick-ish) or dice them, and roughly measure them before you put them in really, really clean jars (you need to know how many cups of cooked beetroot you have).
Then, for every cup of cooked beetroot you will need:
1/3 Cup Vinegar
1/4 Cup Sugar
1/4 Cup Beetroot Water (the water you saved from boiling them)
1/4 Teaspoon Salt
Bring them to the boil in a good sized pot, and keep it boiling for about 5mins.
Take it off the element and ladle carefully over the cooked beetroot in the jars.
Place the seal and ring on firmly, and turn the jars upside-down to cool over night on a tea towel. If the seal is depressed in the middle in the morning, label it and put it away. If not, take the ring and seal off and re-heat everything anyway you feel like (you can microwave it if you really want) and leave to cool upside-down again.
Yesterdays Craft Piece
I didn’t do one. I’m really sorry! I found a really easy jam recipe and made jam instead!
Here’s the turn out:
These are the ingredience, and that’s all there is! Just 3 things! You wont need all that butter though!
1 kg of fruit (I used all the strawberries, and raspberries I’d been collecting and
and freezing over summer. I also used fuschia berries! Fresh or
frozen is fine)
1 kg of Jam Setting Sugar (this is a chelsea product, so hopefully they sell it
where you are!)
10g of butter
This is the recipe on the packet.
1. Mash fruit coarsely with a potato masher, fork or food processor.
2. Place all fruit and sugar in a heavy 6 litre pot.
3. Heat mixture over a low heat until all sugar is dissolved, stirring occasionally with a wooden spoon. Do Not allow to boil.
4. Add the butter then increase the heat and bring to a full boil (a boil that cannot be stopped when stirred).
5. Boil for 4 minutes only, carefully skim of any foam from surface during cooking.
6. Spoon out a small amount on to a cold plate. Allow to cool slightly, then test for set; push finger gently through jam, when surface wrinkles remove pot from heat.
7. Bottle immediately in pre-sterilised jars. Refrigerate once opened.
Makes approx. 4-5 medium jars.
(It says 4-5 medium jars, but I only got 3 and a bit).
Some people wonder if making your own jam is really worth the effort when you figure in the costs. In this case it is! The fruit was all harvested for free, the butter was already in the fridge (some small cost, but almost neglegible), and the jam setting sugar cost $4.79. Which means each full jar cost a bit over a buck. We can’t buy jam for that in N.Z!
Best tip I can give you? Start saving your jars!
