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Pancakes - from scratch

3/4/2014

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Makes 6
10 minutes prep. time
10 minutes cooking time

What you need:
  • 110g plain flour
  • pinch of salt
  • 2 eggs
  • 200ml milk mixed with 75ml water
  • Butter
For nice easy pancake, do the following:

Sift the flour and salt into a bowl.  Make a well in the middle of the sifted flour.  Break the eggs into the well. WHISK!
Slowly add the milk and water mixture whilst WHISKing.
When all your lumps are gone, you are ready!

Put a frying pan over a low heat.  Get a knob of butter and rub over all cooking surfaces of the frying pan.
Pour 3 ladles of the pancake mixture into the frying pan and distribute.  Once cooked on one side, FLIP!
Once cooked on the other side, remove and cover in your topping (I like the classic lemon and sugar).
Roll!  Eat!
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Flapjack

2/23/2014

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10 mins prep. time
20 mins cooking time
180°C (375°F) / Gas Mark 4

What you need:
  • 175g oats
  • 75g golden syrup
  • 125g soft light brown sugar
  • 3 tablespoons golden syrup
  • Anything else you want your flapjack to contain (nuts, fruit etc.)

Melt the butter and sugar in a saucepan on low heat.  Add the golden syrup and heat until well mixed.

Remove the mixture from the heat and add the oats.  You can use plain oats or mixed oats.  I used 4 sachets (which is conveniently 175g) of microwave porridge with dried blackcurrants.  Add any other bits for taste.
Mix well and spread evenly in a deep tray.

After 20-25 minutes in the oven you are ready to eat.
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Leek and Bacon Tartlets

12/29/2013

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40 mins prep. time
20 mins cooking time
200°C (400°F) / Gas Mark 6

What you need:
  • 100g unsalted butter
  • 1/2 teaspoon paprika
  • 225g plain flour
  • pinch salt
  • 1 teaspoon olive oil
  • 1 leek (trimmed and chopped)
  • 25g unsalted butter
  • 8 unsmoked streaky bacon (diced)
  • 2 eggs (beaten)
  • 150ml double cream
  • salt and pepper
You are going to need a muffin tin (7.5cm, 12 hole).  If you have a metal tin use some of the butter to lightly grease it.

Sift the flour, pinch of salt and paprika in a bowl and rub in the butter (100g) until it looks like breadcrumbs.  Add a little water until the dough starts to stick together and is knead-able.  Unfortunately this is where it can go terribly wrong.  You don't what it too gooey, but at the same time you don't want it too dry so tat you can't knead it.

Divide what you've just made, the pastry, in half and roll out 1 of the half.  Roll it out to about 0.5cm thick and using a cookie cutter (9cm) cut out 6 rounds.  Then roll out these rounds to 12cm.  Repeat this with the other half of pastry and place the 12cm rounds in the muffin tin and chill for 30 minutes.

While you're waiting preheat the oven and start to make the filling.
Melt the butter with the oil in a frying pan.  Add the leak and cook, stirring frequently.  Remove the leak and add the bacon to the frying pan and cook until crisp.  Remove from the heat.
Whisk the eggs and cream together and season to taste with salt and pepper.  Stir in the bacon and the leeks and set aside.

Take your pastry out of the fridge and put baking paper into the pastry cups.  Put baking beans on top of the baking paper, to hold it down, if you don't have any rice works fine.  Bake in the oven for 10 minutes.
Remove from the oven after 10 minutes and carefully remove the baking paper and baking beans.  Divide the filling between the cups and bake for a further 10 minutes until the tartlets are golden.  Leave to cool and transfer to a wire rack.

Enjoy!
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Grilled Biscotti

10/29/2013

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20 mins prep. time
40 mins cooking time180°C (375°F) / Gas Mark 4

What you need:
  • 2 eggs
  • 100g caster sygar
  • 200g plain flour
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder (heaped)
  • 2 limes (grated rind)
  • pinch of salt
  • 40g shelled pistachios (chopped)
  • 25g hazelnuts (chopped)
Whisk the sugar and eggs until pale and frothy.  Slowly add the flour and mix well with a wooden spoon.  Add the baking powder and lime rind.  Mix well.

On a lightly floured surface knead the soft dough.  Slowly add your chopped hazelnuts and pistachios while kneading.  Shape the dough into a log and flatten slightly.

Place your log on a greased baking tray and place in the oven until golden (this takes about 40 minutes).

Remove from the oven and leave to cool.

When you would like a taste, cut into thick slices and grill until crispy.
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Viennese Whirls

9/3/2013

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20 mins prep. time
15 mins cooking time
180°C (375°F) / Gas Mark 4

What you need:
  • 100g butter
  • 50g icing sugar
  • 2 egg yolks
  • 1/2 teaspoon vanilla essence
  • 125g self-raising flour
  • 25g cornflour
  • blackberries

Preheat your oven.

Beat the butter and icing sugar together until the mixture is pale and creamy.  Gradually beat in the egg yolks and vanilla essence.  Slowly beat in the self-raising flour and cornflour until the mixture is smooth.

Spoon the mixture into a piping bag with a star nozzle.  Pipe a double thickness of circles of the mixture in cup cake cases.  In the centre place a blackberry or two.

Bake in the oven for 15 minutes, or until golden.  Leave to cool and dust with some icing sugar.
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Stuffed Cherry Tomatoes

8/27/2013

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Picture
20 mins prep. time

What you need:
  • cherry tomatoes
  • 1/3 cup feta cheese
  • 1 teaspoon dried basil
  • 2 teaspoon olive oil
  • 1/2 garlic clove - minced
  • salt and pepper to taste

This is one of the amazing things ever made!  And so easy to make too.

First things first.  Chop off the tops of the cherry tomatoes and take out the insides of the tomatoes.

To make the filling put the feta cheese, basil, olive oil, garlic, salt and pepper in a bowl and mix together well.

Stuff the tomatoes with the filling and you have your quick scrummy snack.
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Almond Balls

7/30/2013

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Makes 24.
20 mins prep. time
37 mins cooking time180°C (350°F)/Gas Mark 4

What you need:
  • 140g ground almonds
  • 115g butter (unsalted)
  • 2 tablespoons caster sugar
  • 1/2 teaspoon vanilla essence
  • 140g plain flour
  • 2 tablespoons icing sugar
Beat the butter and the sugar together until the mixture is creamy.  Add the almonds, vanilla essence and flour.  Mix the mixture into a dough.

Roll the dough into balls of a desired size - I like bite size - and place them on a baking tray which has been covered in grease-proof paper.  Put the balls in the oven for 35 minutes.

Once you've taken them out of the oven, sprinkle them with icing sugar and place in the oven for another 2 minutes.

Allow to cool and eat away!
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Yoghurt Ice Lollies

7/24/2013

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Picture
Overnight prep.time

What you need:
Yoghurts (child size)
Lolly-sticks
I must admit that I couldn't resist eating mine before remembering to take a picture.

Most simple, delicious things you will ever make!  Poke your lolly-stick through the yoghurt lid.  Shove yoghurts into the freezer.  Take them out the next day and run them under the tape before removing the lid to loosen them up a little.  Slide them out of the yoghurt pot and you have a scrummy ice lolly!
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Pepperoni Crisps

7/23/2013

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1 min prep time
2 mins cooking time

What you need:
Pepperoni
A microwave recipe!

On your microwave tray place a fair number of kitchen roll sheets.  This is going to absorb the grease and oils.

On top of the microwaves sheets place your pepperoni slice so they are no overlapping.  Heat up the pepperoni for 60 seconds.  If the slices in the middle are not crisp heat up for another 15 seconds and continue until all slices are crisp.

Ta-da, pepperoni crisps.  Some people like these with a sprinkle of salt - give it a go!
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Pistachio Chocolate Bars

7/12/2013

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Picture
Makes 10
20 mins prep. time

What you need:
  • 50g butter
  • 400g condensed milk
  • 200g plain dark chocolate (broken)
  • 125g rich tea biscuits
  • 100g pistachio nuts
Use a little of the butter to grease the inside of a round tin (I used a 20cm (8 inch) tin).  Put the rest of the butter in a saucepan with the condensed milk and chocolate.  Heat gently, stirring until melted, then remove from the heat.

Place the biscuits in a plastic bag and crush into crunchy pieces.  Chop the pistachio nuts. I suggest removing the shells of the pistachio nuts before doing anything else, it takes an annoyingly long amount of time.

Stir the biscuits into the chocolate mixture then spoon the mixture into the tin making sure it is level.  Reserve some nuts for later and sprinkle the rest over the chocolate biscuit layer.  Cover with the remaining chocolate biscuit mixture and level the surface.  Sprinkle the rest of the nuts on top.

Chill for 3 hours.  Loosen the edges and cut into bite sizes pieces.
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