School Sports Day Essentials

26 June 2017
Editor
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Baking, Bread pudding, cath kinston, Competition, handbag

School Sports Day Essentials

Many of us parents and grandparents will soon be dashing off to see our beloved offspring attempting to race (with varying degrees of success!) in their school sports day.

None of my children have any competitive spirit whatsoever, so it’s a little like watching a comedy. Last year one of my twins even returned to help collect others’ beanbags before she decided to amble across the finish line!

It’s an enjoyable but lengthy afternoon
(often/hopefully in the sun), so it’s important
to take plenty of water to drink.

Many schools put on a bake sale as a fundraising initiative, so you may also want to take along something homemade. Avoid chocolatey cakes as they will melt in the heat. And don’t take anything containing nuts, which are often not permissible in school because of allergies. Perhaps opt for something moist, which will survive the afternoon.

One of my favourites is this bread pudding from the Dairy Diary Favourites cookbook.

Auntie Lou’s Bread Pudding

Servings: 16 squares
Time: 90 mins
Difficulty: easy
Print

Calories 228 per portion
Fat 9.8g (5.6g sat) per portion
Suitable for vegetarians
Suitable for freezing

Ingredients

White bread, crust removed 225g (8oz), 2–3 days old, torn into small pieces
Milk 375ml (13fl oz)
Oranges 2, grated zest of both, juice of 1
Mixed spice 1 tbsp
Raisins 175g (6oz)
Sultanas 150g (5oz)
Chopped mixed peel 50g (2oz)
Ready-to-eat dried prunes 75g (3oz), chopped
Ready-to-eat dried apricots 75g (3oz), chopped
Glacé cherries 75g (3oz), quartered
Eggs 3, beaten
Butter 150g (5oz), melted
Black treacle 1–2 tbsp
Granulated sugar to sprinkle

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 180°C/160°fan/Gas 4. Grease a 23cm (9in) square shallow ovenproof dish.
Soak the bread with the milk in a large bowl for 10 minutes.
Add the rest of the ingredients except the sugar and mix well.
Transfer to the baking dish, spread evenly and bake for 45–50 minutes until the pudding is lightly browned and set in the centre.
Sprinkle with sugar and serve hot. Or leave to cool, cover and chill. Serve cold, cut into squares.

Dairy Diary Favourites cookbook is an unmissable addition to your collection and is available to purchase from our online shop for just £8.25 (plus P&P).

Plus WIN a fabulous Cath Kidston handbag

And who wouldn’t want to turn up to a school event with a fabulous handbag?

Enter our competition and you could win this gorgeous Cath Kidston handbag, which has plenty of space for all those essentials (and your Dairy Diary of course!)

Click here to be in with a chance of winning.

#tripletested

#CathKidston

#Win

Recipe of the Week: Garlic Mushroom Tagliatelle

For a really speedy but delicious dinner try this creamy pasta dish.

Garlic Mushroom Tagliatelle

Servings: 4
Time: 20 mins
Difficulty: easy
Print

Calories 706 per portion
Fat 47g (26g sat) per portion
Suitable for vegetarians

Ingredients

Dried tagliatelle 300g (11oz)
Olive oil 2 tbsp
Red onion 1, peeled and chopped
Garlic 2 cloves, peeled and finely chopped
Portabella mushrooms 250g (9oz), wiped and sliced
Oyster mushrooms 110g (4oz), wiped and sliced
Baby mushrooms 150g (5oz), wiped and halved
Double cream 300ml pot
Chopped parsley and grated cheese to serve, optional

Instructions

Cook tagliatelle according to packet’s instructions.
Meanwhile, heat oil in a frying pan and cook onion and garlic gently for 5 minutes or until just soft.
Add mushrooms and cook, stirring, for 5 minutes or until soft. Add cream and bring to the boil. Simmer for 2-5 minutes until slightly thickened. Season to taste.
Drain tagliatelle and toss with mushroom and cream mixture. Divide between warm pasta bowls and scatter with chopped fresh parsley and grated cheese, if using.

#recipeoftheweek

#tripletested

A Fabulous Fern for Shady Corners

12 June 2017
Emily Davenport, Managing Editor
2 comments
fer, ferns, garden, ideas, planting, pot, Projects

Fabulous Fern

Here’s a show that’s strictly for the summer months – a magnificent bird’s-nest fern lighting up a shady corner with its huge, wavy-edged, apple-green fronds.

Warm, moist conditions in shade are a must – plus indoor shelter for the rest of the year.

Grow the fern as an indoor plant until summer temperatures outdoors are warm enough – 16°C (60°F) at the very least. Bring indoors again at the end of summer to a heated greenhouse, conservatory or living room.

Planting the fern should take about a hour or so – it’s quite big so will take some handling.

What you need

Plants
A specimen-sized bird’s-nest fern (Asplenium nidus).

Equipment

Large terracotta, ceramic or plastic container with drainage holes.
Humus-rich compost with added grit or sharp sand for drainage.
Broken crocks for drainage.
Trowel.

1 Line the container with broken crocks for drainage. Half-fill with the compost. Check the level of the compost by placing the fern, in its original pot, inside the container – it should be planted at the same level as it was before. Adjust the level of compost as necessary.

2 Plant the fern into the compost, firming in well. Top up the compost to within 5cm (2in) of the rim of the pot. Water thoroughly.

3 Bring the fern outside when the weather is warm and position in a shady, sheltered spot. Keep it moist at all times and feed weekly with a liquid fertiliser during the growing season.

Tip

If the care, attention and exacting conditions required by bird’s-nest fern seem a little daunting, then try its smaller relative, the hart’s-tongue fern (Asplenium scolopendrium, also known as Phyllitis scolopendrium or Scolopendrium vulgare). This fern is frost hardy and reaches about 30cm (12in) tall, with a spread of 45cm (18in). It does well in damp, shady places and likes well-drained, alkaline soil. The variety ‘Marginatum’ has most attractive frilly edged fronds.

Note

If conditions are right, bird’s-nest fern can produce fronds over 90cm (3ft) long and 20cm (8in) wide with their trademark thick black midrib. Bear this size in mind for when you need to move the plant around and when it comes to repotting into a larger container.

Aftercare

Remove old or damaged fronds as they appear. Keep warm, moist and humid at all times, though you can lessen watering during the winter.

A project from Seasonal Garden Ideas.

Now available for just £3.99!

How to make Embroidery Biscuits

Embroidery Biscuits

These exquisite biscuits, iced with pastel-coloured sugarpaste and decorated with delicate royal icing ‘embroidery’, will be the stars of any tea party.

They wouldn’t look out-of-place in an upmarket patisserie window and they are surprisingly simple to make.

Ingredients

For vanilla biscuits
Unsalted butter 175g (6oz), softened
Caster sugar 200g (7oz)
Eggs 2, at room temperature
Vanilla extract 1 tsp
Plain flour 400g (14oz)
Salt ½ tsp
For royal icing
Icing sugar 250g (9oz)
Egg white 1 large
Lemon juice ¼ tsp

To decorate

Sugarpaste in different pastel colours (about 15g/½oz for each biscuit)
Apricot jam warmed
Sugar pearls and tiny sugarpaste roses optional

BISCUITS

Using an electric mixer, cream butter and caster sugar together until pale and fluffy. Then gradually beat in eggs followed by vanilla extract.
Sift in flour and salt and stir until evenly mixed. Bring the mixture together with your hands to make a soft dough, then flatten it into a disc and wrap in cling film. Chill for at least 1 hour until firm.
Preheat oven to 180˚C/160˚fan/Gas 4 and line two baking sheets with baking parchment. Roll out dough on a lightly floured surface to about 5mm (¼in) thick and stamp out rounds using a 6.5cm (2½in) plain cutter, gathering up and re-rolling trimmings to make about 30 biscuits in total. Place onto baking sheets, leaving a little space between each, so they have room to spread.
Bake for 8-10 minutes or until their edges are just turning gold – don’t worry if the biscuits are still soft in the middle, they will firm up as they cool. Transfer to a wire rack and allow them to cool completely before decorating.

ROYAL ICING

Sieve icing sugar into a bowl, add egg white and whisk, using an electric mixer on a slow speed, for about 5 minutes until icing is standing in stiff peaks. Stir in lemon juice.
To prevent a crust from forming, press a sheet of cling film over the surface and cover the bowl with a damp cloth.

COVERING WITH SUGARPASTE

Working with one colour at a time, knead paste until smooth; on a non-stick surface using a non-stick rolling pin, roll out to 3mm (less than ¼in) thick.
Stamp out rounds of sugarpaste using the same cutter as for the biscuits. Brush a thin layer of jam onto each biscuit and place sugarpaste on top. Gently rub the top and edges to smooth out any marks.
Lightly press a large flower cutter into the paste to emboss it with the outline. Press a smaller flower cutter in the centre. Set aside for about 1 hour at room temperature to firm up.

BRUSH EMBROIDERY

Spoon royal icing into a piping bag fitted with a small round nozzle; then pipe a squiggly line of icing over the imprint of the large flower. Pipe a small section at a time to avoid the icing starting to dry.
Using a dampened, fine paintbrush, drag icing towards the centre in short strokes to achieve a feathered effect. Clean the paintbrush frequently.
Once the larger flower is complete, repeat for the inner section. Set aside for at least 2 hours to allow the icing to dry. Then, with a dab of royal icing, attach a small sugarpaste rose in the centre. Use a dry brush to remove any icing that oozes out from under the rose.

EXTRA GLAMOUR

As well as roses, add sugar pearls for a more elaborate design; or use sugar pearls on their own if you like.
If sugarpaste doesn’t entirely cover a biscuit, ice a border.

EXPERT TIPS

If biscuit dough is difficult to roll out, roll it between two sheets of cling film or baking parchment.
Unless the dough is really sticky, it’s best not to knead in more flour as this will make it dry, and your baked biscuits will be tough and chewy rather than crisp.

A Dairy Diary recipe.

#baking

#biscuits

Recipe of the Week: Frosty Top Lemon Loaf

27 May 2017
Editor
0 comments
bake, Cake, cookbook, lemon, Recipe, Recipe of the week

This light and zesty cake has a gorgeous crunchy topping.

It’s absolutely gorgeous!

Frosty Top Lemon Cake

Servings: 10 slices
Time: 45 mins
Difficulty: medium
Print

Calories 136 per portion
Fat 6g (2.9g sat) per portion
Suitable for vegetarians
Suitable for freezing

Ingredients

For the cake
Butter 50g (2oz), at room temperature
Caster sugar 75g (3oz)
Self-raising flour 75g (3oz)
Ground almonds 25g (1oz)
Egg 1 Lemon ½, grated zest only
For the topping
Lemon ½, juice only
Granulated sugar 50g (2oz)

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F/Gas 4, then strip line and grease a 450g (1lb) loaf tin with non-stick baking paper or use silicone bakeware.
In a large bowl, mix together all the cake ingredients until smoothly blended. Spread the mixture in the tin and bake for 35 minutes until just firm to the touch.
For the topping, mix the lemon juice with the sugar and spoon it evenly over the cake as soon as it comes out of the oven. Leave in the tin to cool for at least 10 minutes then turn out onto a wire rack to cool. Slice for serving.

Cook’s tip
Leave out the lemon zest and topping but add 50g (2oz) dried fruit to the mixture and sprinkle the top with 25g (1oz) chopped hazelnuts before baking.

Recipe taken from the fabulous Cooking For One Or Two cookbook.

Top 3 Freezable Cakes

22 May 2017
Editor
1 comment
cakes, chocolate, freezable, fudge, Gingerbread, Lemon Cake, recipes

It’s a busy and very exciting week for me this week as I get married on Sunday!

It’s going to be great fun, but it will be an inexpensive do and much of it is homemade, with generous help from friends and family.

Instead of purchasing a fancy wedding cake, we have asked guests to bring along their favourite bake – nothing fancy, just a tasty cake to add to the cake table and serve as dessert. I have also made three, but as I’ll be busy with other preparations, I chose my favourite Dairy Diary bakes that can be frozen.

Here are the three recipes – they’re ideal for any type of occasion, such as parties, fetes and fairs when you want to bake ahead. Just defrost the day before.

Frosty Top Lemon Cake

Servings: 10 slices
Time: 45 mins
Difficulty: medium
Print

Calories 136 per portion
Fat 6g (2.9g sat) per portion
Suitable for vegetarians
Suitable for freezing

Ingredients

For the cake
Butter 50g (2oz), at room temperature
Caster sugar 75g (3oz)
Self-raising flour 75g (3oz)
Ground almonds 25g (1oz)
Egg 1 Lemon ½, grated zest only
For the topping
Lemon ½, juice only
Granulated sugar 50g (2oz)

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F/Gas 4, then strip line and grease a 450g (1lb) loaf tin with non-stick baking paper or use silicone bakeware.
In a large bowl, mix together all the cake ingredients until smoothly blended. Spread the mixture in the tin and bake for 35 minutes until just firm to the touch.
For the topping, mix the lemon juice with the sugar and spoon it evenly over the cake as soon as it comes out of the oven. Leave in the tin to cool for at least 10 minutes then turn out onto a wire rack to cool. Slice for serving.

Cook’s tip
Leave out the lemon zest and topping but add 50g (2oz) dried fruit to the mixture and sprinkle the top with 25g (1oz) chopped hazelnuts before baking.

Chocolate Fudgey Cake

Servings: 16-20 squares
Time: 75 mins
Difficulty: medium
Print

Calories 202 per portion
Fat 11g (3g sat) per portion
Suitable for vegetarians
Suitable for freezing

Ingredients

Cocoa powder 75g (3oz)
Eggs 3
Light muscovado sugar 250g (9oz)
Olive oil or rapeseed oil 125ml (4fl oz)
Self-raising flour 150g (5oz)
Bicarbonate of soda 1 tsp
Dark chocolate 150g (5oz), broken into chunks
Butter 25g (1oz)
Milk 4 tbsp
Golden syrup 1 tbsp
Milk chocolate 50g (2oz), broken into pieces and melted in a bowl over a pan of hot water

Instructions

Whisk 50g (2oz) cocoa powder with 100ml (3½fl oz) boiling water in a small bowl until smooth. Leave to cool for a few minutes.
Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F/Gas 4 and line a 33 x 22cm (13 x 9in) tray bake tin with non-stick baking paper.
In a large bowl whisk the eggs, sugar and oil for 3 minutes, until smooth, using an electric whisk.
Mix in the flour, bicarbonate of soda and cocoa paste. Pour into the tin and allow to settle.
Bake for 35-40 minutes until the cake is risen and a skewer inserted comes out clean. Leave for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack to cool.
To make the icing, melt the dark chocolate with the butter in a bowl over a pan of barely simmering water and stir until smooth. At the same time, mix the remaining cocoa powder, milk and syrup in a pan and heat until almost boiling. Whisk it into the chocolate mixture to make a glossy icing.
Smooth the icing over the cake, drizzle with the milk chocolate and leave to set. Cut into squares.

To serve now: Enjoy the cakes and keep any extras in an airtight container for a few days.

To freeze: Place in rigid plastic containers in a single layer or between sheets of greaseproof paper. Cover, seal and label. Use within 2 months.

To serve from the freezer: Thaw at room temperature for about 2 hours or until defrosted.

Gooey Gingerbread

Servings: 18 bars
Time: 45 mins
Difficulty: medium
Print

Calories 157 per portion
Fat 6g (3.5g sat) per portion
Suitable for vegetarians
Suitable for freezing

Ingredients

Butter 110g (4oz)
Granulated sugar 75g (3oz)
Golden syrup 225g (8oz)
Marmalade 2 tbsp
Self-raising flour 225g (8oz)
Ground ginger 2 tsp
Bicarbonate of soda ½ tsp
Milk 150ml (¼ pint)
Eggs 2

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F/Gas 4. Butter a small roasting tin measuring about 18 x 28 x 4cm (7 x 11 x 1½in) and base line with non-stick baking paper.
Put the butter, sugar, syrup and marmalade into a saucepan and heat, stirring, until the butter has melted and the sugar dissolved. Take the pan off the heat and leave to cool slightly.
Mix the flour, ginger and bicarbonate of soda together in a bowl, then stir into the cooled butter and sugar mixture.
Beat the milk and eggs together, then stir into the ginger mixture. Pour into the prepared tin, level the surface and cook for about 25 minutes until the cake is well risen and golden. The cake is ready when the top springs back when pressed with your fingertips.
Leave the cake to cool in the tin, then take it out of the tin, peel off the paper and cut it into bars.

Cook’s tips
To store, wrap in foil and then keep in an airtight tub or tin.
It’s also delicious as a pudding with a splash of hot custard.

There are plenty more freezable recipes in the Eat & Freeze section of our fab cookbook; Just for One or Two.

The Just For One Or Two cookbook shows you how to cook delicious meals for one or two people with little effort and minimal waste.

A superb collection of recipes for all occasions including delicious main courses, sumptuous desserts and brilliant bakes.

Excellent value £8.25

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