Baking

THE must-do recipe for Halloween

Halloween Pumpkin Streusel Muffins

Halloween is looming and my quest to find inexpensive costumes and then the inevitable sweet rationing will soon begin.

Whilst I’m not a big fan of the whole event, I do have three children so I need to enter into the spirit.

I love face painting and in
our house anything goes;
it doesn’t need to be scary.

In fact last year one of my little ones randomly chose ‘blue otter’, which baffled the neighbours!

I do love pumpkin carving. Choosing a few random sized pumpkins and carving something wacky is great fun and you can’t beat the glow of candlelight for atmosphere. (Just be careful folks, those Halloween costumes can be VERY flammable.)

And what to do with the leftover pumpkin?

Dairy Diary has the perfect recipe – it tastes SO good and it easy enough to make with the children.

Pumpkin Streusel Muffins

Servings: makes 12
Time: 75 mins
Difficulty: easy
Print

Calories 288 per portion
Fat 12g (7.1g sat) per portion
Suitable for vegetarians
Suitable for freezing

Ingredients

Butter 150g (5oz)
Plain flour 300g (11oz)
Baking powder 2 tsp
Ground cinnamon 1 tsp
Caster sugar 110g (4oz)
Eggs 2 large, beaten
Milk 200ml (7fl oz)
Pumpkin 275g (10oz), peeled, deseeded and grated
Raisins 75g (3oz)
Self-raising flour 50g (2oz)
Demerara sugar 50g (2oz)

Instructions

Preheat oven to 190°C/170°fan/Gas 5 and place 12 muffin cases in a muffin tin. Melt 110g (4oz) butter.
In a large mixing bowl sift plain flour, baking powder and cinnamon, then stir in caster sugar. Make a well in centre and pour in eggs, milk and melted butter. Stir until just combined, then fold in pumpkin and raisins. Spoon into muffin cases.
In a separate bowl rub remaining butter into self-raising flour then stir in demerara sugar. Sprinkle over batter in cases then bake for 30-40 minutes until risen and golden.
Leave in muffin tin for 5 minutes then cool on a wire rack. Serve warm or cold.

For lots more gorgeous recipes like this why not treat yourself to the 2017 Dairy Diary.

Only £7.99!! Click here to find out more.

#halloweenrecipe

#pumpkin

#dairydiary

Competition! Win a Gourmet Gadgetry Chocolate Fountain plus Chocolate Mint Biscuit Bars Recipe

Win a Gourmet Gadgetry Chocolate Fountain

Dairy Diary and Lakeland are offering you the chance to win the chocoholic’s ultimate dream – just imagine liquid chocolate gently cascading down the tiers of this fountain of sheer indulgence.

Certain to be a real show-stopper at any party.

Deliciously retro, these biscuit bars will go down a storm.

Taken from the fabulous 2017 Dairy Diary, which is on sale now! Click here.

Chocolate Mint Biscuit Bars

Servings: Makes 10
Time: 35 mins plus cooling
Difficulty: easy
Print

Calories 321 per portion
Fat 14g (8.7g sat) per portion
Suitable for vegetarians
Suitable for freezing

Ingredients

Butter 110g (4oz), softened
Caster sugar 110g (4oz)
Plain flour 175g (6oz)
Icing sugar 175g (6oz)
Peppermint extract ½ tspDark chocolate 175g (6oz), chopped

Instructions

Preheat oven to 180°C/160°fan/Gas 4 and grease a tin or dish 25cm x 17cm (10in x 7in). Cream butter and caster sugar together until pale and fluffy. Mix in flour and knead to a smooth dough. Press into tin, prick all over with a fork then bake for 15 minutes. Leave to cool in tin.
In a bowl, mix icing sugar with 1-2 tbsp water and peppermint extract then spread over shortbread base. Leave to set.
Melt chocolate in a bowl set over a pan of barely simmering water. Spread over icing and leave in tin to cool. When set, cut into bars.

This recipe is taken from the 2017 Dairy Diary. To find out more click here.

#chocolateweek
#win
#competition
#recipeoftheweek
#chocolateweek
#chocolaterecipes
#yum

It’s Chocolate Week!!

Enjoy these AMAZING recipes

As this week is Chocolate Week I couldn’t resist sharing two of our most delectable chocolate recipes with you.

But first, a few choccie facts!

The Famous Chocolate River in the original Charlie & the Chocolate Factory film was made from 15,000 gallons of water mixed with chocolate and cream.
We’re a continent of chocolate lovers – Europeans eat almost half of the world’s chocolate.
In celebration of its 100th birthday, Thornton’s created the world’s largest chocolate bar – weighing a record breaking 5,792.50kg.
So many Toblerone bars are sold each year that, if they were to be laid end to end, they would go on for 62,000km which is longer than the circumference of the Earth.

Facts courtesy of The Telegraph .

Now, time for chocolate!!

Chocolate Mint Biscuit Bars

Servings: Makes 10
Time: 35 mins plus cooling
Difficulty: easy
Print

Calories 321 per portion
Fat 14g (8.7g sat) per portion
Suitable for vegetarians
Suitable for freezing

Ingredients

Butter 110g (4oz), softened
Caster sugar 110g (4oz)
Plain flour 175g (6oz)
Icing sugar 175g (6oz)
Peppermint extract ½ tsp
Dark chocolate 175g (6oz), chopped

Instructions

Preheat oven to 180°C/160°fan/Gas 4 and grease a tin or dish 25cm x 17cm (10in x 7in). Cream butter and caster sugar together until pale and fluffy. Mix in flour and knead to a smooth dough. Press into tin, prick all over with a fork then bake for 15 minutes. Leave to cool in tin.
In a bowl, mix icing sugar with 1-2 tbsp water and peppermint extract then spread over shortbread base. Leave to set.
Melt chocolate in a bowl set over a pan of barely simmering water. Spread over icing and leave in tin to cool. When set, cut into bars.

This recipe is taken from the 2017 Dairy Diary. To find out more click here.

Chocolate Pear Flan

Servings: 6
Time: 50 minutes plus cooling
Difficulty: easy
Print

Calories 555 per portion
Fat 40g (26g sat) per portion
Suitable for vegetarians
Suitable for freezing

Ingredients

Plain flour 110g (4oz)
Drinking chocolate 25g (1oz)
Butter 110g (4oz)
Desiccated coconut 65g (2½oz)
Caster sugar 75g (3oz)
Dark chocolate 75g (3oz), chopped, plus extra grated to decorate
Egg yolk 1
Milk 150ml (¼ pint)
Double cream 150ml (½ pint)
Pear halves 410g can, drained

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 170°C/150°fan/Gas 3.
Sift 90g (3½oz) of the flour and the drinking chocolate into a bowl. Rub in the butter and stir in the coconut and 50g (2oz) of the sugar then press together gently to form a dough. Press the dough into the base and sides of a 20cm (8in) flan tin. Prick the base and bake for 30 minutes. Cool.
Melt the chocolate in a heatproof bowl set over a pan of barely simmering water.
In a pan, off the heat, beat the egg yolk and the remaining sugar together until thick. Stir in the remaining flour and the milk. Heat, stirring, until the mixture boils and thickens. Simmer for 3 minutes then remove from the heat and stir in the melted chocolate. Cool.
Remove the pastry case from the tin and spread the cold chocolate cream over the pastry. Whip the cream until soft peaks form and then spoon onto the chocolate. Arrange the pear halves on the cream and sprinkle with grated chocolate.

Cook’s tip

The shortbread base and chocolate filling can be prepped in advance but don’t add the whipped cream and pears until just as you are about to serve.

This recipe is taken from Dairy Diary Favourites cookbook. To find out more click here.

#chocolateweek

#chocolaterecipes

#yum

Recipe of the Week | Ham & Cheese Soufflé

Ham & Cheese Soufflé

This totally scrumptious Ham & Cheese Soufflé recipe is surprisingly easy to prepare. Tasty and sure to be a total winner with the family! A Dairy Diary recipe. For more delicious recipes visit the Dairy Diary Recipe Collection.

CLICK HERE FOR RECIPE

#delicious

#souffle

#dairydiaryfavourites

Celebrating 35 years of fantastic customers!

As a child, daily I watched my parents go out to work in jobs they hated. They rarely moaned but I knew they were unhappy in their work and just did what needed to be done to pay the bills.

I thought that this was what life was like as an adult and I didn’t particularly relish the prospect. So, when I found a job I loved (this one!) it came as a very pleasant surprise.

One of the main reasons that I love my job is
the support and loyalty we receive from our
customers. It is a delight to work on a product
that is enjoyed and cherished by so many.

I attended a conference last week held by one of our dairy customers and it talked about how much trust customers have in their milkman. It made me think about our consumers and the trust we have too. It’s a big responsibility to create a book that’s loved and trusted but year-after-year we are inundated with letters and phone calls of praise.

One of our customers even shared with us her love of diary keeping (and the Dairy Diary) in a Radio 4 Listening project. It’s a sad listen as Rachel has suffered devastating tragedy but she continues to document her daily life.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b04kf5zq

We also received a letter from a loyal purchaser who has had every single edition of the Dairy Diary since its inception but has never written in a single one as she loves them too much! She charmingly referred to them as her ‘old friends’.

Plus my family favourite recipe

Dairy Diary is 35 years old this year and we celebrate this with our new cookbook; Dairy Diary Favourites. It features 100 much-loved recipes, including at least one from every single edition.

I’ve struggled to choose my favourite as there are so many but this is one that is always a winner with my family – and it’s easier than you think!

Ham & Cheese Soufflé

CLICK HERE FOR RECIPE

#delicious

#souffle

#dairydiaryfavourites

Recipe of the Week: Decadent Red Velvet Cake

Decadent Red Velvet Cake

What a beautiful bake! A must-try and must-taste recipe from the 2017 Dairy Diary.

The Dairy Diary is unique, practical and pretty – the perfect choice for planning your busy life.

And with sales of over 30 million, Dairy Diary has been Britain’s favourite home diary since 1982!

Click here to buy your copy and enjoy recipes year-round.

Decadent Red Velvet Cake

Servings: 16
Time: Time 1¾ hrs
Difficulty: easy
Print

Calories 500 per portion
Fat 29g (18g sat) per portion
Suitable for vegetarians

Ingredients

Unsalted butter 475g (1lb 1oz)
Caster sugar 250g (9oz)
Eggs 3 large, separated
Vanilla extract 2 tsp
White wine vinegar 1 tsp
Specialist cake decorator’s red food colouring paste 1 tsp
Cocoa powder 1½ tbsp
Bicarbonate of soda 1 tsp
Self-raising flour 275g (10oz)
Buttermilk 284ml pot
Icing sugar 425g (15oz)
Full fat soft cheese 180g tub

Instructions

Preheat oven to 180°C/160°fan/Gas 4. Grease and line a round deep 20cm (8in) tin.
In a large bowl cream together 250g (9oz) butter and caster sugar until pale and fluffy. Beat in egg yolks, vanilla, vinegar and colouring. Sift in cocoa, bicarbonate and half the flour, then mix in half the buttermilk.
Mix in remaining flour and buttermilk. In a separate bowl whisk egg whites until foamy then fold into cake mixture.
Spoon into tin and bake for 50 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean. Cool in tin until cold.
Level top and cut in half horizontally, reserving crumbs. Beat together icing sugar, remaining butter and cheese. Use to sandwich cake together and spread around sides and top. Sprinkle with cake crumbs.

The iconic 2017 Dairy Diary is available to buy for just £7.99 from the milkman or online here.

#behindthescenes #dairydiary #redvelvetcake #tripletested

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Baking

THE must-do recipe for Halloween