Savoury Muffins

Hello Readers!
Yesterday I got busy baking again and so there will be quite a few recipes being uploaded soon, Hooray!

I got some posh muffin cases for Christmas and wanted to put them to good use as soon as possible so I decided to make some savoury muffins for a quick lunch. You don't need muffin cases if you don't have them you could just grease muffin or cupcake tins.
These muffins can be made in little muffin cases or tins and used as canapés at your new years party.
Makes 12 large muffins or 24 mini muffins.


275g plain flour
1tbsp baking powder
1 egg
225ml milk
Your chosen flavouring

Sieve the flour and baking powder into a bowl from a height to make sure there is lots of air in it.

In a jug beat the egg with the milk and slowly fold the liquid into the flour mix until there are no lumps of flour left.

Preheat the oven to 200C 180fan gas6.

Add your chosen flavouring, I added 100g strong cheddar cheese 2tbsp mixed herbs and a big dollop of tomato purée.

Spoon the mixture into your tin and bake for 20 minutes.

Enjoy,

Cinnamon Waffles with Grilled Banana

Hello Readers!
I'm back after a very busy few days Christmas partying I am feeling happy as everything went well except a disaster with a Yule log!
I hope everyone had a merry Christmas.

After a surge in readers during the Christmas event I have decided that I should be more committed to the blog and have therefore invested in a Bluetooth keyboard which means that I can blog on the go so expect more frequent posting.

This recipe isn't very accessible for all to everyone but I have created a recipe which allowed me to use a lot of the new equipment I have got for Christmas.
This recipe makes 10 waffles but if you don't want to at 10 in one go you can eat as many as you want then cook and freeze the rest or refrigerate the batter until you want it.

25g light brown sugar
300g plain flour
2tbsp baking powder
1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1 1/2tsp ground cinnamon
1/2tsp salt
390ml milk
90ml flavourless oil (like sunflower)
2 large eggs-beaten
1/2 a banana per waffle (this is 5 bananas if you are cooking all of the waffles in one go)

Crumble the sugar into a large bowl and add all the other dry ingredients, mix well.

Rest the batter for 5 minutes

Peel and chop the banana into thin slices.

Grill the banana slices on a grill or in a griddle pan.

Spoon the waffle batter into a preheated waffle maker or griddle pan and cook until the waffles are to your liking.

Serve the waffles immediately with the banana slices.

Enjoy!

Gifts!-Christmas Countdown Day 12

So, here we are on our final day of the Christmas countdown and therefore this is going to be my final post before the big day! As it is so likely that you will be very busy today I have produced a two part post.

The first part of this post is reflection and inspiration for you through a picture collage of my bakes from the past week (underwhelming I know but wait until the next part).

The second part of this post is my Christmas gift to you, the greatest gift you could get. This is the first ever food kid booklet-Confectionary and Baking-this is a booklet which contains 16 baking and confectionary recipes for your pleasure (admittedly some of the recipes have been posted on the blog before).

Unfortunately after spending my afternoon writing this booklet I have found that I cant actually post the booklet to blogger!!!!!!!!!!!!
So if you want the booklet send me an email at the address below, if anybody has any suggestions as to how to make it more accessible please let me know ASAP.

I hope you all have a very merry Christmas, I will be back around the 28th of December,

Christmas Pudding Truffles-Christmas Countdown Day 11

I cant really be excused from my persistent lateness any more so I wont bother apologising or even say waiting never hurt anyone so instead of dwelling on timekeeping issues lets get on with todays post.

These are so quick and easy if you don’t mind getting your hands dirty.
Makes 30 truffles.


500g Christmas Pudding
125g Dark chocolate.


Melt the dark chocolate in a large bowl and add the Christmas pudding (ripped into smaller pieces).


Use your hand to mix the ingredients together.


Roll the mixture into balls (the size is your choice) and place on a lined baking tray.


Refrigerate until required.

Apologies for the lack of photo,

Sausage Rolls with Flaky Pastry!-Christmas Countdown Day 10

Today is truly the start of Christmas for me as its the shortest day of the year and the day of my families Christmas party and guess whose doing most of the catering-me! I have written my spreadsheet up for the day (although this post is basically messing timings up anyway) and I am ready to go.
This recipe is the one I have used every time I need sausage rolls since I cooked them at school-they are a bit more complex than short-crust sausage rolls but the improved taste makes up for the time lost as they taste excellent! I have a vegetarian option to the meat filling if anybody wants it. Email thefoodkid@chef.net.

245g sausage meat
fresh herbs
salt and pepper

75g butter
110g plain flour
water

1egg/milk

Freeze the butter for 45 minutes or overnight.

Sieve the flour into a bowl. Take the butter out of the freezer and grate it into long strands-dip the butter into flour to make it easier to grate.Put the butter into the flour and coat it by using a palette knife.

Add enough cold water to the mix to form a soft but not sticky ball of dough.

Wrap and chill for at least 30 minutes.

Mix the filling together.

Roll the pastry into a 20cm by 30cm rectangle, cut this into 2 rectangles long-ways.

Split the filling into 2 large rolls along one of the long edges of the pastry.

Brush beaten egg on the opposite side of the pastry then roll and seal the edge, carefully repeat.

Cut each roll into 6, snip 3 V shapes on top and glaze with beaten egg or milk.

Bake for 20-25 minutes on a high heat.

Fudge!-Christmas Countdown Day 9

As the big day edges ever-closer we all start to panic more so sit back, relax and eat a whole box of this (you wont regret it).
This recipe is adapted from a recipe from Phil Vickery's a passion for puddings.

1x397g can condensed milk
150ml milk
450g demerara sugar
100g butter

Grease a 20cm square baking tray.

Heat the ingredients in a saucepan over a low heat until the sugar has dissolved.

Bring to the boil and simmer over a low heat for 10-15 minutes-stir continuously throughout this time. The mix is ready when a small ball of fudge forms when some of the fudge is dropped into a jug of cold water.

Remove from the heat and beat the mix until thick and grainy (about 10 minutes).

Pour into the prepared tin and leave to set.

Cut into squares and serve.

Merry Christmas,

Chocolate Fudge-Christmas Countdown Day 8

More confectionary today, this is a really quick and easy fudge recipe perfect for time limited people looking to make a quick Christmas gift.

300g dark chocolate
200ml condensed milk
2tsp vanilla essence

Line a 15cm square baking tray with greaseproof paper.

Stir all of the ingredients in a saucepan over a medium heat until the chocolate has melted.

Pour the mixture into the tray and smooth the top down.

Refrigerate until firm.

Cut the fudge into cubes and enjoy!













Merry Christmas,

Drying Oranges-Christmas Countdown Day 7

Again, apologies for the lateness of this post but as I said before waiting never hurt anyone. Back to something more Christmassy now and although it isn't edible its a great decoration for food based Christmas gifts.

1 Orange

Slice an orange into thin slices making sure that where the orange is picked is in the centre of the circle you are cutting.

Place the slices onto a wire rack turned upside down so that the legs of the rack are facing upwards.

Bake the slices at 120 degrees C for 2-3 hours turning after every 45 minutes.

Merry Christmas,

Book Review-Nigel Slaters Real Fast Puddings-Christmas Countdown Day 6

Hello Readers!
I have been given this book for Christmas and had a quick look through and made a test recipe so after the success of my previous review I have decided to do another.

Nigel Slater's real fast puddings is a fine collection of puddings separated by season and then by ingredient that take just 30 minutes to make.

I really like most of the recipes within the book although there are a couple dodgy ones (fried Christmas pudding).
Although the recipes are good there is one thing that is even better-the little notes about the ingredients and recipes are excellent! Although its not my thing I can see how the cheese recommendations for each season could be useful.

This book gains a solid ☆☆☆☆ for its trusty recipes and interesting notes, its not quite 5 as it could be a little less traditional in its way and PLEASE change the way its set out.

See the Link to buy the book on amazon.

Merry Christmas,

Toms Tips-Breaking Chocolate Quick-Christmas Countdown Day 5

This makes making rocky road so much quicker!

Smash the chocolate against the work-surface in thee wrapper then open the wrapper into your container.

Merry Christmas,

Toms Tips-How to Use an Egg Seperator-Christmas Countdown Day 4

Hello Readers!
First of all I would like to apologise for the lateness of this post as it is technically day 5 of the Christmas event but hey! Waiting never hurt anyone.
This is a new section where I give you some of my personal tips to save time in the kitchen.
This will be great for the Christmas season.

An egg separator is a useful tool to help you to separate eggs (the clues in the name) this saves time and money.

Put the separator on-top of a container and crack the egg into it.

Shake the container gently until all egg whites are removed.

Use you egg as you please.

Merry Christmas,

Bread!-Christmas Countdown Day 3

This is my family classic white bread recipe. The white flour can be swapped for wholemeal flour if you want, the shape of the bread is up to you (I like to make bread rolls and arrange them so they look like a Christmas tree) I have made a standard loaf of bread in a 2lb loaf tin. Remember, if the dough is too wet/dry add a little flour or water.

500g strong white bread flour
40g soft butter
12g dried, fast action yeast
2tsp salt
about 300ml tepid (warm) water
a little oil

Put the flour and butter (cubed) into a bowl and add the salt on one side and yeast on the other so that the salt doesn't kill the yeast. Mix.

Add half the water, mix with your hand until well combined. Add more water bit by bit until you have a soft, rough dough that isn't very sticky.

Put 1tsp of oil onto the work-surface. Knead the dough for 5-10 minutes until smooth and stretchy.
If you don't know how to knead see my previous post on bread making skills.

Prove the dough in a well oiled bowl-this does not need to be in a warm place covered in a tea towel.

Knock back the dough (see previous posts).

Shape the dough how you choose (see my suggestions above).

Bake for around 30 minutes. You can tell that the bread is cooked when you tap the bottom of it and it sounds hollow.

Sorry I forgot to take a photo of the finished product
Merry Christmas,

Honeycomb-Christmas Countdown Day 2!

Hello Readers!
The Christmas season continues and we are now on day 2 of our Christmas countdown. Today we have honeycomb, this is a great Christmas gift for family and friends. It keeps for around 2 weeks and is very, very tasty. Tip: When trying to clean the pans and equipment pour boiling water onto the honeycomb so it dissolves-this should leave you with clean pans. Tip 2: This is great dipped in chocolate.

100g caster sugar
4tbsp runny honey/golden syrup (whichever you have)
2tsp bicarbonate of soda

Line a baking tray with greaseproof paper.

Heat the sugar and honey/syrup together in a pan over a medium heat; this will not need stirring, just leave it until the sugar has melted and turned to a caramel colour.

At this point remove the pan from the heat and whisk in the bicarbonate of soda. The liquid will bubble.

Pour the liquid into the pan and leave to cool

Bash the honeycomb into little pieces.

 

Mince Pies-A Step by Step Guide-Christmas Countdown Day 1

Hello Readers!
Today is just 13 days until Christmas and the 1st day of The Food Kids Christmas countdown event! Today is a Christmas classic-mince pies. These mince pies are very luxurious and the most tasty recipe I have found. There is one problem with this recipe-the pastry is very soft and therefore delicate. This recipe makes 12 but can be easily doubled up and frozen for a less stressful Christmas (this is what I have done). NB: The pastry can be frozen before rolling as long as it is given 7 hours to defrost before use. I have used a food processor but you can use your hands if you wish.

1 small jar mincemeat
165g plain flour (plus extra for dusting)
25g ground almonds
120g chilled, unsalted butter
55g caster sugar
1 medium egg
milk

Stir the flour and almonds together in a food processor then add the butter (cubed). Mix until the mixture looks like fine breadcrumbs, stir in the sugar.

Break in the egg and mix it into the mix to form a soft dough. Be careful not to overwork this.

Cover the work-surface with flour and place the dough in it, produce a 4cm disc of pastry and wrap and chill for 3 hours before use-this is very important as otherwise the pastry is too soft.

Preheat your oven to 200 degrees C/180 fan/gas6

Cover your work-surface in flour and roll the pastry to 3mm thick and use a 8cm round cutter and 6cm round cutter to cut out 12 of each size. Place the 8cm circles into a greased cupcake tin. Fill each pastry case with mincemeat and place a 6cm lid on top.

Press the pastry layers together and brush the tops of the pies with milk then poke a hole in the top and bake for 20 minutes until golden brown.

Merry Christmas,

Breadmaking Skills-Kneading and Knocking Back

Hello Readers!
Today is all about that tasty, yeasty substance-Bread.
Bread is my favourite thing to bake-always. Its easy to make when you know how as well as being super cheap and easy to make. Bread needs no specialist equipment and is one of the most satisfying things to make as it takes time. In this post I will explain two bread making basics which mean that you will be able to make your own bread (see following recipe).

Kneading

Kneading is the process of stretching the gluten in flour to make the dough more elastic and give it its airy, soft texture. Kneading occurs in the bread making process after you have combined all of the ingredients but before proving.

To knead lightly oil a work surface (with about 1tsp of oil) and place your dough onto the surface and use the ball of your hand push the dough away from yourself then fold it back in on itself.

Turn the dough 90 degrees and continue to stretch and fold the dough until it is smooth and stretchy. This usually takes 5-10 minutes.

For more information click the Link.

Knocking Back

Knocking back is the removal of air from bread dough after a first prove.

To knock back punch and forcefully knead dough (see above) until the dough is a similar size to before proving.

For more information click the Link.

See my next post (white bread) to test your skills!