Thanks to the power of random.org I have selected a winner for the World Baking Day Competition. Thank you so much for all of your entries, I’ve spent the last few days drooling. I hope that you will all still bake something special on Sunday, I know I will, any excuse really.
So the winner is, comment 49 from Corrina Stone. Corrina if you can email me (likemamusedtobake@hotmail.com) or DM me if you’re on Twitter with your address please that would be great.
Did you know that next Sunday, May 19th, is World Baking Day? No? I didn’t myself until last week. The shame of it. Me with a wooden spoon permanently attached to my hand and I hadn’t a notion. Anyhoo, the lovely people at Stork have a hamper full of baking goodies up for grabs for one lucky blog reader, so have a little looksie below if you would like to be in with a chance to win. Oh, and dust off your mixing bowl so that you can bake up a storm with the rest of the world on Sunday.
Fancy conquering a cake you have never baked before? Well here’s your chance! To celebrate World Baking Day on Sunday 19th May, Stork has a hamper full of goodies to give away to one lucky Like Mam Used to Bake reader. The hamper is jam packed with home baking accessories such as edible decorations, cupcake wrappers and baking tins to help you up your game and ‘Bake Brave’ for World Baking Day!
World Baking Day is a global event and everyone is invited to join in the fun, from beginner to master baker, and from food blogger to food celebrity. No matter what your level of skill, you are invited to step out of your comfort zone and bake something fabulous.
The event is sponsored by Stork and for World Baking Day 2013, the theme ‘Bake Brave’ is being introduced to inspire people to share in the joy of baking. There’s even a ‘Bake Brave 100′, featuring 100 indulgent cake recipes which range in difficulty, from level 1 for a complete novice up to level 100 for a master baker.
So why not give it a go? To enter simply leave me a comment telling what you would bake for World Baking Day 2013 if you won the hamper. One entry per person please. Entrants must have a ROI address. A winner will be drawn at random.* Competition closes at midnight on Wednesday May 15th 2013. For more info visit www.worldbakingday.com or check it out on Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest and Youtube.
I won’t respond to comments on this post to avoid random selection confusion but I will read each one, and probably drool a lot too.
*By entering the competition you agree that you are happy for me to pass your postal details on to Stork to ensure delivery of the prize if selected as the winner.
THIS COMPETITION IS NOW CLOSED. YOU ARE MORE THAN WELCOME TO STILL COMMENT ON THIS POST BUT YOUR COMMENT WILL NOT BE ELIGIBLE FOR THE PRIZE. THANK YOU.
Following on from the Quiche post a few weeks ago I thought I would run with another slightly retro recipe today. Sausage rolls don’t exactly excite me. They often featured on tea time tables of yore, and to be fair they were proper sausage rolls and rather delicious. However somewhere between then and now the sausage roll fell in with a bad crowd, got a bad rep in my opinion. A party food stalwart, usually straight from a box in the freezer to the oven, they just didn’t do it for me and I have been rather turned off them for a very long time.
Thankfully, somewhere in the recesses of my mind I held on to a memory of buttery flaky pastry encasing gently spiced sausage meat, and that memory has spoken to me quite a bit over the past year or two. Last summer I scribbled down a note in my blog notebook to try a sausage roll lined with bacon jam. I write A LOT of notes in my notebook though and sometimes it takes a loooooonnnggg time for me to actually get around to making them. I had 1lb of lovely streaky bacon from the butchers in the fridge that somehow didn’t get gobbled up for breakfast on Monday so I decided to make a jar of bacon jam. And sure while I was making the jam I thought I might as well finally give the sausage roll idea a whirl too.
With picnic season upon us (would you believe I actually held a straight face as I typed that, picnic season…in Ireland bahahahahaha), these are perfect to pop in a lunch box or picnic basket. They would also be a wonderful addition to a party table or a bbq, or just for a regular old lunch with some salad on the side. I had one fresh from the oven yesterday and it took all of my willpower not to wolf down a second straight away. Mr. LMUTB had one cold last night while he waited for one to heat in the oven, honest to God, and he declared both hot and cold equally delicious.
A little bit of housekeeping:
I based my bacon jam on this recipe here, but I did make a few changes. I left out the red wine vinegar as I had none to hand. Instead of 2 chipotles in adobe I added 2tsp of crushed chillies, if you don’t like things too spicy though just add 1 tsp. I did blitz mine in a food processor, not until completely smooth but just until the bacon pieces were fairly fine. Finally once the jam had cooled a little but not completely I stirred through 2 tbsp. of honey followed by 2 tsp. of vanilla extract, might sound a bit strange but this really adds an extra depth of flavour, divine! The jam can be made in advance and stored in a sealed jar in the fridge until you are ready for it. If you don’t make the jam in advance ensure that it has cooled completely before spreading on the pastry.
You can also make the pastry in advance and either chill it overnight, remove it from the fridge a few minutes before rolling if you do this, or freeze and defrost when needed.
The recipe below makes 8 large sausage rolls, if you would like to make smaller ones simply cut the pastry into 16 pieces instead of 8. Alternatively you can assemble 8 and cut them in half using a sharp knife.
If you need to reheat them simply pop into an oven set to 180C/350F/Gas Mark 4 for 15-20 minutes to ensure they are warmed through.
Makes 8
225g plain flour
1/4tsp. salt
200g unsalted butter, straight from the fridge & cut into cubes
150ml cold water
200g bacon jam
1lb sausage meat, divided into 8 equal logs
1 egg, beaten
Sift the flour and salt into a large bowl. Add the butter and toss through so that it is coated in the flour. Add the cold water and mix through with a knife (not a sharp one, I don’t want any lost fingers) until the dough comes together, if you feel the dough is too dry add a little water at a time until you have a consistency you are happy with. You want to retain some nice pieces of butter so don’t break it down too much, it will give a lovely marbled effect later on & makes for a seriously rich and buttery pastry.
Tip the pastry out onto a floured work surface, dust the top with flour and gently pat into a rectangle. Using a floured rolling-pin roll the pastry in one direction only, you are aiming to roll it into a long rectangle but not to increase the width in proportion too. Now fold one-third of the pastry in on itself, and then fold the remaining third over this. Repeat the rolling and folding step 4 times. Really the pastry should chill in the fridge for a few minutes in between each roll but I would forget it and the pastry would never get made so I find doing all of the rolling and folding in one go works fine. Wrap the pastry in some cling film and place in the fridge for 2 hours.
If you haven’t made your bacon jam in advance do that now.
Preheat the oven to 220C/425F/Gas Mark 7. Line a lipped baking sheet with parchment paper. The pastry is very buttery and there is some moisture in the jam so if you don’t use a lipped sheet you will have a puddle at the bottom of your oven.
Place the pastry onto a floured work surface and dust the top with flour. Roll out to a rectangle roughly 32cm x 28cm in size, now I mean roughly, don’t go stressing with rulers. Cut the pastry in half lengthways. Now cut it in half widthways, and cut each of these in half widthways too. You should now have 8 rectangles of pastry.
Spread 2tsp. of bacon jam on each piece of pastry making sure to leave 1cm free at 1 of the short edges. Brush the free edge of each pastry rectangle with some beaten egg.
Place the sausage log on the opposite edge of the pastry and roll up sealing with the egg washed edge, place seal side down on the prepared baking sheet. Brush the top of each roll with the beaten egg.
Slash the top of each roll 4 times with a sharp knife. Place the baking sheet into the preheated oven and bake for 35 minutes, until golden brown. Remove from the oven and allow to cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool just enough that they won’t burn your tongue when you tuck in. Enjoy!
A few years ago before I baked as regularly as I do now I developed quite an addiction to a box of cupcakes from the supermarket. They weren’t anything special, a light vanilla sponge with a layer of chocolate on top, but they were incredibly moreish. A box could pretty much always be found in the press. It has been years since I have bought them now, but they were on my mind the past few days so I decided to bake up my own version.
The sponge of the original cupcakes was ridiculously light, with a very tender crumb. I’m really pleased with the result of mine, light and moist, much different to the more robust and humble fairy cake. To top them off I simply melted some butter, added some chocolate and stirred until smooth. Heaven! I mean what’s not to love when butter and chocolate melt into one?
60g unsalted butter, softened and cubed
140g caster sugar
1 large egg
1tsp. vanilla extract
120g plain flour
1tsp. bicarbonate of soda
¼ tsp. salt
100ml buttermilk
100g unsalted butter, cubed
100g plain chocolate, broken up
Gold stars, optional
Preheat the oven to 170°C/325°F/Gas Mark 3. Line a 12 hole bun tin with paper cases.
In a large bowl mix together the 60g of butter and sugar using an electric hand whisk/standalone mixer until they resemble clumps of damp sand.
Add the egg and vanilla and mix just until smooth, 30 seconds to a minute should do it.
Sift in the flour, bicarbonate of soda and salt and again mix just until smooth, about a minute or so.
Finally add the buttermilk and once more mix just until smooth, 30 seconds to a minute should be more than enough to form a smooth mixture.
Divide the mixture evenly between the paper cases, place the bun tin into the preheated oven and bake for 20-25 minutes or until a clean skewer inserted into the centre of the cakes comes out clean. Remove from the oven and allow to cool in the tin for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.
While the cakes are cooling make the chocolate topping. Place the 100g butter into a small saucepan set over a medium heat to melt. Once the butter has melted remove from the heat and add the chocolate, stirring until it is melted and the mixture is smooth. Spoon one tablespoon of the melted chocolate over each cupcake easing it out to the edges with the back of the spoon. Now repeat by spooning a second tablespoon of chocolate over each cupcake, this time the chocolate should self level but if it doesn’t give it a little helping hand. Sprinkle with gold stars if using. Pop into the fridge for an hour to set the chocolate and enjoy.
Image via Quirk Books
I received a copy of Pure Vanilla, Irresistible Recipes and Essential Techniques by Shauna Sever before Christmas. I know, that’s AGES ago now, but I’ve been a little bit busy. I have leafed through the book many times since then and learn something new with each read. I am a big vanilla fan. I add it to practically everything that I bake. I love to scent the house with it and also douse myself in vanilla based perfumes. I will admit though that until reading this book I didn’t quite give vanilla the reverence it deserves. Maybe that’s because I use it so often, or maybe it’s because I have never researched it properly before now.
The book starts with a comprehensive history of vanilla, in addition to information on the process from orchid to extract, and an overview of the varieties grown. Having read about the painstaking labour that is involved in cultivating and harvesting pods I now have a greater appreciation for the long wrinkly pods that occupy a space in my baking cupboard. The book’s introduction also explains the various vanilla products available and what they are most suitable for, and it has introduced me to the term vanilla caviar, how decadent does that sound?
The recipe chapters are broken down into breakfasts, cakes & pies, cookies & bars, candies & confections, custards & creams and drinks. In addition to the obvious uses for vanilla the book is packed full of recipes that really show this ‘humble’ ingredient in a whole new light. Rather than playing a background supporting role to other flavours vanilla takes centre stage. One of my favourite recipes is for frosted vanilla almonds. Who would have thought that coating almonds in egg white, sugar and vanilla before roasting them would produce such an addictive treat?
With its clean and fresh design, and mouth-watering photos throughout, Pure Vanilla is a beautiful book and one that I will happily pull from my bookcase time and time again. My one teeny tiny gripe is that the recipes are written in American measurements, but there are conversion tables at the back so it’s no biggy. Pure Vanilla by Shauna Sever is published by Quirk Books, and is available in Ivybooks, O’Mahoney’s, Easons and Dubray.
The other day I posted a picture of a sign that I made and hung next to my front door. We get waves of unsolicited callers to the door and some weeks have multiple organisations knocking on any given night. I have a pain in my face saying ‘sorry I’m not interested’ and it falling on deaf ears. They smile at me and say ‘but’ so in the end I stand and listen for 10 minutes before saying ‘I’m not interested’ for the gazillionth time. The sign is a polite and humorous hint to future callers not to ring the doorbell, and will hopefully save me precious minutes listening politely while the dinner promptly turns to cinders in the kitchen. A couple of people requested a downloadable version so as I’m such a generous soul, here it is if you fancy printing out a copy.
A couple of notes:
It’s set to print on an A4 sized page.
Obviously this will be hanging outdoors so will encounter various weather conditions so pop it into a weather proof frame, or if you are handy you might know a way to transfer the text onto a wooden plague that can be sealed.
Finally, the sign is a little bit of light hearted fun, just a polite deterrent.
Growing up I had 3 aunties on my mam’s side. The 4 sisters were great pals and every night my mam would settle herself down on the phone seat, do yiz remember them, where she would happily sit for hours chatting to them. Throw in the nightly phone call to her best friend, who she saw every day anyway, and she would be missing in action for the night. I reckon Eircom are still in mourning following her passing. In addition to these marathon telephone sessions the wimmin and children would gather regularly for Sunday tea, each taking their turn to host. Looking back now it feels like we gathered every Sunday, I think we probably did.
That’s how it was back then, the wimmin gathered together and did wimminly things. And the men gathered to do manly things, I presume. I’m always amazed by the story of mam and dad & a gang of their friends driving down the country for a holiday. Once they had arrived safely the men piled back into cars and drove back to Dublin for a night out. Honest to God.
Sunday tea was always a female affair, and they were wonderful days. We got to play with our cousins while the mammies chatted in the kitchen, all offering to lend a hand to protestations of ‘no I’m grand, you just relax’ from the week’s host. The ‘spread’ didn’t vary too much from house to house. Various salad components in little bowls, some cold meats, a stack of buttered bread and 9 times out of ten a Quiche was the star attraction.
My auntie’s friend had a coffee shop, when it was my mam’s week to host there was always a phone call a few days before to say ‘will you pick up a quiche from Louie and I’ll fix you up’. Louie did a storming trade in Quiche back then. It’s something that I rarely see in cafés, or indeed on kitchen tables these days. It feels a little dated, like that other old favourite of mine the vol au vent. What’s wrong with a little vol au vent? This recipe was intended for the book, have I mentioned I’ve a book coming out *cough*, but it was decided it didn’t quite sit right in the chapter I had it in. With a limited word count it was harder to explain its relevance in the head note, but I didn’t want it to go to waste so here you go. Enjoy!
Note: Last night on Twitter Paula started a discussion about weddings which brought up some lovely (and funny) memories. With them fresh in my mind while writing this post some memories of stories of mam and dad’s honeymoon came to mind. When I mentioned this on Twitter Paula said she had better get a mention, so howaya Paula, you’re lookin fabillis today. Fair play in all in any ways.
175g plain flour
75g unsalted butter, straight from the fridge
Cold water
150ml milk
2 large eggs
Pinch of salt
Black pepper
4 scallions, roughly chopped
3 slices Parma ham
Note: I chopped my scallions in half and added them along with the Parma ham after I had poured the egg mixture to the pastry. This is just so that they were visible for the purpose of a photograph, your finished Quiche may look slightly different.
1. Sift the flour into a large mixing bowl. Grate in the cold butter and cut through with a knife until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs.
2. Add cold water a tablespoon at a time and continue to mix with the knife until a soft dough forms. Tip the dough out onto a lightly floured work surface and knead gently until it just binds together. Wrap in cling film and chill for 30 minutes.
3. Roll the dough out on a lightly floured work surface to approximately 5mm thick and line a 23cm/9in pie dish with it. Chill in the fridge for a further 30 minutes.
4. Preheat the oven to 190°C/375°F/Gas Mark 5. Prick the pastry all over with a fork. Trim any excess from the edges, line with parchment paper and fill with baking beans or rice. Bake ‘blind’ in the preheated oven for 20 minutes. Remove the pastry case and reduce the oven temperature to 170°C/325°F/Gas Mark 3.
5. While the pastry is blind baking, prepare your fillings and make the egg mixture by beating the milk, eggs, salt and pepper together.
6. Add the Parma ham and chopped scallions to the base of the pastry case and then pour over the egg mixture. Bake in the preheated oven for 35 minutes. Remove from the oven and allow to cool and set.
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I spotted a retweet on Twitter last week about a project from GIY Ireland. Having had mixed success with growing veg in the past, and having also enjoyed growing from seed I decided to sign up for it. While we’re not technically a family here in LMUTB HQ, as we’re lacking in sproglettes lolling about making the place look untidy, I’m sure the good people of GIY won’t mind us joining in. And when I say us, I mean me, as Mr. LMUTB tends to leave everything other than grass cutting in my (questionably) capable hands.
Operation: GIY Nation will run for six months. Each month GIY Ireland will set a new project to get people growing vegetables in their garden, on their balcony or wherever it is they like to grow stuffs basically. You will receive an email for each new project with instructions and advice and as we’re all in this together there are plenty of people to ask for advice if you get stuck.
I made a plant marker using a cocktail stick & some washi tape.
You can also write on the shell with marker as in the picture above.
The main reason that I have signed up is to motivate me to grow more edibles in the garden. I have had mixed success in the past but what I have grown tasted wonderful so it’s a great incentive to try new things each year. If you do have kids it’s a great fun activity to do with them, they love to ‘help’ out & I’m sure excitement levels at seeing a tiny seed turn into a proper vegetable that they can eat will encourage them in the kitchen too. With grocery prices only rising it is also a cost-effective way to feed a family. A packet of seeds can be purchased for a fraction of the price of buying veg direct from a supermarket, and taking the time to nurture from seed to plant teaches a new appreciation for food and discourages food waste.
Signs of life after only 2 days!
This months project is cress and so I toddled along to a nearby garden centre on Sunday to pick up some seeds. They set me back a whopping €1.99. Given the instructions to plant the seeds in some egg shells, which I saved from that morning’s breakfast, you can see this is a budget friendly project. I did deviate slightly from instructions though as I might plant the cress out into my window box once grown, so I used soil instead of cotton wool. Within a matter of minutes I had my seeds planted and sitting pretty on the kitchen windowsill. If you would like to participate in Operation: GIY Nation you can follow the link here.
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This is a little break from the norm here in LMUTB HQ, but it’s something that has been on my mind (a lot) lately, so I thought I might as well just get it out of my system and write it down. My life and the path that I had mapped out for myself was very different a few years ago to the path I have found myself on today. This is down to a number of factors, and at one point I reckon I thought the world was conspiring against me, throwing me off course. Today I feel quite differently about that. While my life is not perfect, far from it, and it’s still stressful, I have learned and am still learning to look at things differently.
One of the main changes I have noticed in myself over the last couple of years is that I try not to negatively compare myself to others as much as I used to. By this I mean I don’t look at how well a person is doing in one area of their life, and feel like a failure because I am not doing so well myself.
I know a number of people who at any given time (even in the midst of a crisis) if I walk into their house it will look like a showroom. Not a thing out of place. Seriously like. How do they do it? If you walk into my house on cleaning day, which varies from week to week, it might look like a showroom. Kinda. A little bit. If you squint and tilt your head. The rest of the week it looks like 2 people live in it. Mr. LMUTB’s runners/clothes/general crap can be found in various locations around the house. Dishes are probably draining on the sink. A book (or sevorial) will be dotted around the place having been removed from a bookcase and not put back. So if you call into us on speck it’s likely that you will see a modern art installation, I’ll call it ‘Life’, and we live it here. I have learned that it’s OK that I clean our house once a week. Some people do cleaning well, I do other things well.
I also know a number of people who if I bump into them at any given time, on any given street will look impeccably turned out. Hair styled, make up on, all items of clothing complimenting each other and the person wearing them. It’s likely that if you bump into me at any given time on any given street I will have allowed my hair to dry naturally that morning, I will be bare-faced, and my clothes most likely clash with my accessories and my bare face. If you’re lucky you might catch me on one of the 2-3 days a week that I do bother to make an effort, and sure you’ll think I’m only fabillis. Keep that in mind to recall the next time you bump into me & I’m a hot mess.
Then there are the people who have a much bigger bank balance than me. The ones who can afford a weekly hair and beauty session, weekly clothes shopping trips and a cleaner. So they always have a clean house AND always look perfect when you just bump into them at any given time on any given street. Probably with a gick load of pretty paper bags filled with pretty clothes and shoes in their hands. Actually, that one still really gets to me. Wah?!
And let’s not forget the people I know who are tall and thin. I’ll never be tall. I accepted that a while back. I mean God marked my card on that one a long time ago. The thin bit is probably a bit out of my reach too, given that I’m a lazy cow. But I’m happy for them. Honest to God. You see I’ve figured out that most of the people who I know that are both tall and thin tend to exercise in some form or other, so in fairness to them they’ve kinda earned the thin bit. I’m working on it. I’m back jolking a few times a week again. It mightn’t last but sure we’ll see.
So we’ve established that I’m slightly allergic to cleaning, I often leave the house looking like a hobo, I don’t have gajillions in the bank and I’m short and well let’s say cuddly. BUT I have my strong points, and do you know what, the people that I measure my capabilities against are doing the exact same thing. Maybe not with me, but somewhere out there someone is doing something they wish they could do better.
So my point (I do have one) is don’t be so hard on yourself. If someone does something better than you, have a little think about what you are really good at and praise yourself for that instead. Maybe they wish they were good at that too. We all put our best foot forward for the outside world, we forget to mention that there are things we can’t do, don’t do or are too scared to do. We set the bar high for others. We set the bar high for ourselves. So do what you do well, and the rest, do it as well as you can. Or if it’s not all that important don’t do it at all.
I’m only one woman. I can’t do it all, and if I try I won’t have time to do the fun things. Now if you’ll excuse me I’m off to bake a cake, I’m not too bad at that one.
I first encountered whipped feta in Crackbird. I think they do a lemon whipped feta, but don’t quote me on that. The other day I spotted a picture of some on Pinterest and it really put a goo on me. I usually forget about theses things after a couple of minutes, my memory is shocking bad, but for some reason the longing stuck with me. On Friday, when I could ignore the screaming from my brain ‘MAKE THE WHIPPED FETA ALREADY LADY’ no longer, I gave in and set to sperimentin in the kitchen.
I had just mixed up some dough for a nice sourdough loaf to bake on Saturday morning and decided the two would make for some pretty good snacking bedfellows. I had picked up some solo garlic the previous weekend and decided that would have to feature. Roasted until tender with just a drizzle of honey and olive oil it whipped beautifully through the feta. When eaten raw I find that solo garlic has a stronger flavour than regular garlic so feel free to adjust the quantities to your own liking, using less if you wish. If you can’t find solo garlic 6-8 regular cloves should do the job, or if you’re a garlic fiend like me go ahead and roast a full bulb. The feta is a strong enough flavour that I think it can handle a lot of garlic without either becoming overpowering.
2 solo garlic
drizzle of olive oil
drizzle of honey
200g block of feta cheese, roughly crumbled
3tbsp. natural yoghurt
3tbsp. olive oil
1tbsp. lemon juice
1tbsp. honey
black pepper to season
1. Preheat the oven to 180C/325F/Gas Mark 4.
2. Top, tail and peel the solo garlic. Place them into an oven proof dish, drizzle with a little honey and olive oil and place in the preheated oven for 15 minutes, or until tender. Remove from the oven and set aside to cool.
3. Place the feta cheese, yoghurt, olive oil, lemon, honey, garlic and a good grind of black pepper into a food processor. Blitz on a medium speed for approximately 4 or 5 minutes until smooth and creamy. If not using straight away pop into an airtight container, I used a clean jar, and keep in the fridge for up to 3 days. Remove from the fridge half an hour or so before serving to allow it to soften a little.
