Monday Crumble

This crumble is SO fast to make if you have the correct ingredients and it's one of my favourite family puddings. I created the recipe myself and it's perfect for any sweet tooth.

Apple and Blackberry Crumble
Ingredients:
1/2 cup margarine
1 cup plain flour
4 cups defrosted berries
1 1/2 apples
1 tsp cinnamon
4 tsp caster sugar
2 tbsp brown sugar

Method:

1. Pre-heat oven to 200 degrees C
2. Core and peel the apples
3. Place them in a microwave proof bowl with 1 tsp water and 1 tsp caster sugar
4. Microwave for 3 minutes
5. Once steaming, mash with a potato masher until they resemble a pulp
6. Leave to one side
7. Now mix 1/2 cup diced marg with the plain flour and rub with your fingertips until it looks like bread crumbs (you may add more flour if the mix is too doughy)
8. Add 1 tsp caster sugar to this
9. Wash the berries and place in a bowl with 2 tsp caster sugar and gently stir in the apple
10. Place this mixture in a stone baking tray and level out until the berries cover the entire bottom of the tray

11. Cover with the breadcrumbs until no berries can be seen

12. Sprinkle the brown sugar evenly over the surface and bake for 20 mins or until the top is golden brown and the fruit is steaming
13. Enjoy warm with a dollop of fresh cream, clotted cream or ice cream

Iced Coffee

Living in the Middle East, the constant sun often beckons a refreshing and energizing glass of iced coffee so, here's my recipe...

Iced Coffee
Ingredients:
Granulated Coffee
Milk
Brown Sugar
Ice Cubes

Method:

1. Boil some water in a kettle
2. Place 2 tsp granulated coffee in a jug and dissolve in the water until you make 1/3 of a cup of coffee
3. To this add 1 tbsp brown sugar and allow to dissolve
4. Then stir in 1 cup milk
5. Pour into a glass and add 1 cup ice

N.B. The quantity of coffee is down to personal preference, I don't like it very strong, hence I only put in 2 tsp coffee but this amount can be adjusted and the same amount of boiling water can be used

Sunday Afternoon Parcels

This dish is a quick and simple short-cut perfect for those Sunday afternoon tea time snacks.

Mushroom Parcels
Ingredients:
18 ready-made puff pastry squares / ready-made puff pastry that can be cut into 9cm x 9cm squares
100g mushrooms
2 tbsp soured cream
1 tsp garlic / 1 clove of garlic (crushed)
Mixed herbs
Salt

Method: 
* Ensure that your puff pastry has thawed before usage *

1. Pre-heat your oven to 200 degrees celcius
2. Crush the garlic and fry it in a pan with some olive oil until softened and slightly coloured
3. Cut the mushrooms into medium slices and place into the pan with the garlic
4. Add to them a sprinkle of mixed herbs and a pinch of salt
5. Once the mushrooms have wilted and are soft, mix in the soured cream and remove from the heat
6. Allow to rest for 10 minutes
7. Lay out the squares of puff pastry (or cut them into 9cm squares)
8. When the mushrooms have rested, spoon around 1 tsp of the mixture into the centre of the pastry squares
9. Fold the top corner over to meet the bottom corner diagonally so that the pastry is halved in a triangle
10. Now, with a fork, press down on the side to seal in the mixture
11. Ensure that a baking tray is buttered or greased 
12. Place the pastries into the tray one by one, taking care not to rip them, and leaving around 1cm gaps between each
13. Put them into the oven and bake for 20 minutes or until golden brown on the top
14. If you are unsure about whether the pastry is cooked, flip one of the pastries over and see if the pastry is wet and translucent looking underneath. If so, return into the oven for another 5 minutes. The pastry on the bottom should be of a similar colour as the top and slightly flaky.
15. Remove from the oven and allow them to rest for 2 minutes before eating
16. Enjoy warm or cold

Megadeath by Cupcakes

18th October is my friend's 18th birthday and so as a birthday treat we're going to see Megadeath - one of her favourite bands - and so, I decided to make some topical cupcakes.

Megadeath cupcakes
Ingredients:
175g butter
175g caster sugar
3 eggs
175g self-raising flour
pinch of salt

Method:

1. Pre-heat oven to 180 degrees c
2. Whisk butter and sugar together until pale and fluffy
3. Beat the eggs in a separate bowl and then gradually whisk them into the mixture
4. Now, sift in the self-raising flour and whisk
5. Spoon into paper cupcake cases in a yorkshire pudding tray, filling them half way up
6. Place in the oven and bake for 25-30 minutes until golden brown, firm and well-cooked in the middle
7. Top with icing made by combining 1 part butter with 2 parts icing sugar and spread on the cool cakes
8. Decorate as you wish (I coloured white marzipan black with confectioners food dye and then rolled it out and cut the symbols, shapes and letter with a knife and cutters)
9. Enjoy!

Meringue Macaroons

This bake came from the inspiration of the Great British Bake Off - the only tv show I regularly watch, whilst all my other friends are watching America's Next Top Model and Pretty Little Liars to name just a few.

Meringues
Ingredients:
4 egg whites
a pinch of salt
300g caster sugar / or granulated (- it works just fine)
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/8 tsp food colouring

Method:

1. Pre-heat the oven to 150 degrees C
2. Whisk together the egg whites and salt until the mixture looks foamy but slightly stiff
3. Now gradually add the sugar - try 1 tbsp at a time - until the mixture is firm and can be tipped upside down in the bowl and not budge an inch
4. Add the vanilla essence and colouring and gently mix them in with the back of a metal spoon. It is essential to mix this CAREFULLY to avoid destroying the structure of the mixture.
5. Now pipe the mix with a big nozzle in a piping bag or no nozzle at all into small circles on parchment paper
6. Put them in the oven and bake for 30 mins - watching carefully at around 25 minutes to ensure that they do not burn
7. When complete, turn off the oven but leave them in it with the oven door opened slightly to allow the warm air to escape and prevent the meringues cooking too quickly
8. After around 10 minutes remove them and wait until COMPLETELY cool before removing
9. Serve with whipped cream in the middle of two, with fresh fruits and/or with cream on top

The end result should be a harder and crunchy outer shell with a soft marshmallow in the middle. 

Enjoy!

Dubaicares

Dubaicares is a charity based in the UAE, set up by His Highness Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid in 2007. It is an organisation intent on helping deliver primary education to children in Less Economically Developed Countries. At my college we had a bake sale today in aid of this charity so I baked these cupcakes. They are a simple vanilla cupcake mix and creamy vanilla frosting; piped and decorated with edible baubarians. They seemed to go down pretty well!

A Couple of Cakes

 These are a few of the amateur cakes that I have made recently. I did find making them quite time consuming but, nevertheless, I'm incredibly happy with the results :D

Channel Handbag

Spanish 'good luck' flags

LTFC

'Thank you Miss' 

Life ring

Blackberry Curve

'Happy 18th'