Saturday 14 January 2012

Melting Moments

Sorry it has been a little while between posts but we will get better at this.  Ok - so it's me again (D).  E promises she'll put a post up soon and I know she will as she tried her first recipe run on Wednesday night (I was out) but came back to see the results.  Now to my post...

The 2nd recipe that I chose to do from our book for this month ( The Primrose Bakery Book) was 'Melting Moments'.  Looking at the picture and the ingredients it promised to be a simple enough biscuit recipe and reminded me of my early cookery lessons at boarding school: nothing like a little nostalgia!

So I came back from a day out determined to make them last Tuesday night.  I knew I had all the ingredients.  For the biscuits these were:
- unsalted butter
- icing sugar
- plain flour
- cornflour
- baking powder
(Actually - I forgot to check on the flour because we always have so much and so many varieties so used self raising flour.  I did choose to also use the baking powder, but used half the quantity)

So once everything was measured out, within reach and sifted I got started.  The first thing the book tells you to do is to sift ALL the dry ingredients into a bowl and mix well with the butter using an electric hand mixer.  A part of me wondered about the frivolity of this and how every time I used that technique I end up with a breadcrumb mixture...  But part of the reason for doing the blog is to follow the recipes 'as they are'!  So I did and yes, I ended up with a breadcrumb mixture and NOT biscuit dough!  Another by product of mixing butter and dry ingredients in this way is that you get a fine dust on everything (although I have a technique that stops this and keeps everything in the bowl.  :-) so be warned!

The next step is supposed to be rolling handfuls of the mixture into balls that you then flatten into your biscuit shape(s) on a tray.  Except that.... breadcrumbs don't hold together like dough does - funny that!  My solution was to add a couple of tablespoons of liquid (milk) to help it to bind and hold together and then got on with it.  At this point, I was a little less than unimpressed (to put it mildly) as I had also not been very successful in my dust-reduction method, either.  I finally got the biscuits into the oven and decided that the best way to better my mood would be to stand in front of the oven and scowl at the biscuits for the entire time they were in the oven (9 minutes)!  Not recommended - but great fun for friends either watching / hearing about it later!

(The bake...)

Despite my mood I was really impressed by the way that they expanded in size (and wished I had spread them out a little more on the tray) and the results weren't too bad.

(These were a little too golden and  misshapen but I was really unimpressed still and so decided these would just 'have to be the ones'.  The end results shows a better reflection of the actual result!)


The icing ingredients:
- custard powder
- unsalted butter
- icing sugar
- water
Not my favourite type of icing as I think we could be more decadent on this front - but that is what the recipe says...)

It was all pretty straightforward and the icing was smooth and easy to spread.

(I was a little heavy handed and uncaring on the  icing - shameful!)

All things considered and the biscuits sandwiched together, all was well.  E had people come round that evening and they were welcomed with the offer of home-baked goods with tea/coffee.  They seemed delighted by the offer and there were a lot less on the plate afterwards than what I expected to see!  The compliments poured out all round and this made me feel better about them all.  So - I would definitely say give them a go at home.  The only thing that I would change is I would say to cream the bitter and the sugar and then add the rest of the dry ingredients - you can still get lots of air in them and keep them light as they ought to be.


At the end - a great little biscuit that goes far... they are incredibly large and incredibly sweet so one is more than ample with a nice rich cup of coffee.  Well worth the grump and well worth putting the effort in.  Recommended but I would make the modifications that I mentioned above.

Two more recipes from me this month, then onto the next cookbook.

Monday 2 January 2012

Marshmallow Icing

So... this morning I went ahead and woke up early in order to ice my chocolate cupcakes.  i should have ideally done it all on the same day but hey.  The cupcakes were made less than a day ago and so were perfectly cooled and ready to be iced.


The icing involves making a hot caramel sauce and heating it up until it gets to the soft ball stage.  You remove it from the heat and add it add to the egg whites (which have been whisked and form soft peaks).  This all sounds really straightforward but it takes a little while!  you really have got to be patient, vigilant and on your toes with this!  I was patient for about half the mixture and then I thought "why not pour ALL of the remaining hot caramel into the egg whites?"  Well - I can tell you why...the moment I started to tip it all into the egg whites hindsight kicked in - just a little late!!  The entire amount of caramel that I had added in hardened into a ball that would NOT blend in with the rest of the mixture!  Lesson learnt!  I will most certainly spend a few extra minutes getting it right next time!  Anyway - this is sort of what it looked like...


Not too bad I didn't think.  It wasn't as thick as it could have been, especially as only half the caramel had gone into it!  Part of the finish of the icing is the glossy look at the end as well as the texture (which is how it gets its name - marshmallow icing).  It was surprisingly easy to make for my first time and the taste was phenomenal!  Here is what the finished article looked like:



This has definitely overtaken any other icing I have ever made as my default favourite!!  I can't wait to make it again and spend the necessary time making sure all the ingredients are blended together slowly and evenly.  I would definitely recommend this as an alternative to the traditional buttercream or cream cheese frosting.  There was a smooth blending of flavours with the chocolate although I feel that one cupcake was ample to satisfy most sweet fanatics out there.  I can't wait to make it once more and then begin to add little subtle changes and surprises to make it more 'my own'.  Watch this space... 

It was great to share the cupcakes with good friends at a New Years lunch today and they seemed to go down a treat!  I seem to have really gone off chocolate so I will definitely be steering clear of it for my next recipe trial (I think...).  I can't believe that is already recipe one!  Oh - before I go...

one with a little sparkle, befitting welcoming in the new year!

Till next time "Happy New Year"!  
Dx

Sunday 1 January 2012

Recipe one: Hummingbird chocolate cupcakes with Primrose Bakery Marshmallow Icing

Hi.  Welcome to our blog!  This is going to be an interesting year - hopefully one that is full of good food, good experiences and delicious smells in our kitchen! I embarked on our first recipe this afternoon - "start as you mean to go on" as they say.  It was relatively easy to make the cupcakes, if you can forgive the chocolate dust that rise up and rest on everything in your kitchen as you mix the dry ingredients with the butter.  A good trick I have found is to use a clean tea towel to cover the bowl whilst mixing and this eliminates most dust.  Do not, as I did, get your tea towel stuck between the paddles of your electric whisk as this greatly complicates and elongates the process! :-)

Although I (Dudz) have made the cupcakes the review is actually about the marshmallow icing from the Primrose Bakery Cookbook.  The ingredients are as follows:
- granulated sugar
- golden syrup
- water (!)
- egg whites
- good quality vanilla extract

I have made the cupcakes so tomorrow I will make the icing and write the first review....  See you tomorrow.