Food

Peanut Butter cookies – a recipe

Published

4 weeks ago

December 18, 2020

So, you have just received a phone call and visitors are just checking you are in and they will pop in on the way past in about ten min! Whilst we all love the idea of visitors itf you are anything at all like me you need to know you have something to offer them.

Whilst i can usually knock up a cake quickly I haven’t always got everything needed to do so and if the guests are only ten mins away and not staying long you need to act fast!

These cookies are just that, very fast ,very easy and very moreish! Perfect with a cup of tea warm or cold and making sure I have a jar of peanut butter in the house hidden at the back of the cupboard has served me well over the years!

Ingredients

200g peanut butter (crunchy or smooth is fine)
175g sugar
1 egg

Method

1. Heat oven to 180C/160C fan/gas 4 and line 2 large baking trays with baking parchment.
2.Measure the peanut butter and sugar into a bowl. Add the egg and mix until the mixture forms a dough.
3.Break off chunks of dough and roll into balls, place, well spaced apart, on the trays. Press the cookies down with the back of a fork in a cross.
4.Bake for 12 mins, until golden around the edges and paler in the centre.
Enjoy!

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Food

Say Cheese! – What other food has the variety and versatility of cheese?

Published

6 days ago

January 11, 2021

Carole Ford

The phrase dates back to 1943 when the Big Spring Herald newspaper in Texas encouraged people to use the word to induce a smile when having a photograph taken. Prior to that date, people were encouraged to look serious in photographs, and the word “Prunes” was used, which produced a tight closed mouth. Regardless of its use in photography, there are many reasons to smile when thinking of cheese.

What other food has the variety and versatility of cheese? There are one thousand eight hundred types of cheese in the world and almost as many ways of classifying them. Starting with Cheddar, this is the most popular cheese in the UK, claiming 51% of the market. It is also the second most popular cheese in the USA, the most popular being Mortzarella. Cheddar is named after the town in Somerset where it was first produced. Cheddar cheese is now produced commercially worldwide. Only West Country Farmhouse Cheddar, uses local milk, and since 2007, is a protected brand.

Imagine you are making up a cheeseboard. In my case I would of course, knowing its popularity, choose Cheddar. Then I would choose another English cheese, Stilton. This can only be produced in Leicestershire, Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire, since a law was passed in 1993, protecting products made from traditional recipes, in a particular area. Such a cheese is Yorkshire Wensleydale, a mild cheese traditionally enjoyed with fruitcake. A third cheese I would add to my cheeseboard is Boursin, a soft creamy cheese, originally flavoured with garlic and herbs. This was first produced in 1957 by Francois Boursin in Normandy, France.

Finally, I would choose Edam, a semi hard cheese with a low-fat content. This Dutch cheese was the world’s most popular cheese in the fourteenth and eighteen centuries. There are a wide variety of biscuits sold that are made to compliment cheeses, so I would make a selection of these available. A cheeseboard, apart from the enjoyment of the cheeses, can make up for any culinary deficiencies in the preceding courses at a dinner table!

Apart from fine dining, there is also that great social event, the Wine and Cheese Party, where guests are able to help themselves to the perfect combination of wine and cheese. There is no need for people on a low-fat diet to miss out on cheese. Cottage Cheese, with zero fat content contains as much calcium as full fat cheese and is delicious with fruit. A very small piece of full fat cheese, the size of a small matchbox is sufficient for daily calcium requirements, and unless the diet is very strict, enables the sampling of the cheeses.

Cheese can be used in many ways in cooking. Just heat up the grill for a cheese toasty, or mix with pasta or rice, or use as a topping for a Jacket Potato. As well as being versatile, commercially produced Cheddar is also relatively cheap! A £2 slab will produce a variety of meals for several days, requiring very little preparation. I am tempted to say it has often saved my bacon!

Finally, there is a cheese, which is likely to raise a smile, but which I have never tasted. It is called “Stinking Bishop” It apparently has a distinctive odour, but the name derives from the Stinking Bishop Pear, which provides the Perry, used in the production process. (The Pear itself derived its name from a nineteenth century famer Frederich Bishop, who gained the name of “Stinking Bishop” due to his eccentric behaviour.) Made from the milk of Gloucestershire cattle, only twenty tons are produced each year and it is not on sale in supermarkets. It is a handmade cheese and may be found in Harrods, or Fortnum’s, or artisan grocery shops. It can also be purchased online from Charles Martell & Son Ltd estd 1972, Cheesemakers and Distillers.

Bon Appetit!

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Food

Boozy Croissant Pudding – Recipe

Published

2 weeks ago

January 2, 2021

Cheryl Marshall-Sheppard

I came across a basic recipe in a book after thinking I should find a way to use up stale croissants one Christmas holiday. However I tweaked it myself and invite you to do so using your favourite tipple or whatever is left in the dregs of your bottles !

INGREDIENTS

2 stale croissants
100 grams sugar
2 tablespoons water
250 mls of channel islands milk or a mix of double cream and full fat milk
2 tablespoons ( ok i tend to add rather a glug oe so extra!) Of your fave booze I LOVE amaretto or brandy.
2 large eggs (beaten)

METHOD

Preheat the oven to 180°C/160°C Fan/gas mark 4/350ºF.
Rip the croissants into pieces and put in a small dish
Put the sugar and water into a saucepan, mixing to dissolve the sugar before putting the saucepan on the hob ,
Caramelize the sugar and water mixture by letting it boil until it all turns a deep amber colour; this will take 3-5 minutes.
Turn heat down to low and add the milky mix and booze stirring carefully.
Take off the heat and, still whisking, add the beaten eggs.
Pour the mixture over the croissants and leave for a few minutes so they soak up all the liquid.
Place in the oven for 20 minutes and enjoy!

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Christmas

Twelfth night cake – the recipe

Published

3 weeks ago

December 29, 2020

Cheryl Marshall-Sheppard

Twelfth Night cake celebrated the last day of the festive season on 5 January when there were great feasts, of which cake was an essential part.The punch called wassail was also a main feature of the feast on Twelfth Night and although enjoyed throughout Christmas time, door-to-door wassailing (similar to singing Christmas carols) commanded ‘figgy pudding’ ( or 12th night cake) and hot punch. It is considered unlucky to leave Christmas decorations hanging after Twelfth Night So the home should be cleaned and cleared ready for the Epiphany on 6th January which marks the day when the nativity story tells us that the wise men visited the infant Jesus.

Baked inside the cake were a dried bean and pea, one in one half and the other. Not to be confused with a standard Christmas cake, this cake had a quirky significance attached to it. Baked inside the cake were a dried bean and pea, one in one half and the other in the second half. As visitors arrived to the feast they were given a slice of cake, ladies from the left and gentleman from the right. Whoever found the bean became King of the Revels for the night and the Queen was found with the pea, gaining power to instruct all to their heart’s content. the second half.

Ingredients

Butter – softened to room temperature 200g
Dark muscovado sugar 200g
Plain flour200g
Eggs – 4x beaten
Ground almond 50g
Sherry, sweet or dry 100ml
Candied peel, roughly chopped 85g
Glacé cherries – roughly chopped 85g
Raisins 250g
Currants 250g
Lemon zest from 1 lemon finely grated
Mixed spice1½ tsp
Ground cinnamon 1 tsp
Ground nutmeg ½ tsp
½ tsp ground ginger
2 tsp vanilla extract
Icing of your choice: pre-made royal or buttercream
½ tsp baking powder
Dried bean and a dried pea

Method

Heat oven to 160C/fan 140C/gas
Line the base and sides of a 20 cm round, 7.5 cm deep cake tin.
Beat the butter and sugar with an electric hand mixer for 1-2 mins until very creamy and pale in colour, scraping down the sides of the bowl half way through.
Stir in a spoonful of the flour, then stir in the beaten egg and the rest of the flour alternately, a quarter at a time, beating well each time with a wooden spoon. Stir in the almonds.
Mix in the sherry (the mix will look curdled), then add the peel, cherries, raisins, cherries, lemon zest, spices and vanilla. Beat together to mix, then stir in the baking powder.
Don’t forget to add in your dried bean and pea!
Spoon mixture into the tin and smooth the top, making a slight dip in the centre.
Bake for 30 mins, then lower temperature to 150C/fan 130C/gas 2 and bake a further 2-2¼ hours, until a skewer inserted in the middle comes out clean.
Leave to cool in the tin, then take out of the tin and peel off the lining paper.
When completely cold, wrap well in cling film and foil to store until ready to decorate. The cake will keep for several months
I like to decorate with simple icing and a crown for the king tower but it is all a matter of personal choice.