Baking

Bramley Apple Week and the Prettiest Apple Tart

Bramley Apple Week and the Prettiest Apple Tart

.

Bramley Apple Week and the Prettiest Apple Tart

The Bramley is recognised by professional chefs and home cooks alike as the best apple for cooking. Grown only in Britain, the Bramley’s unique qualities make it a versatile ingredient, equally at home in a savoury stir fry or a traditional apple pie.

Bramley apples contain a higher acid content and lower sugar levels than other apples, which produces a stronger, tangier tasting apple whose flavour is retained when cooked.

Texture is also important and
Bramleys produce a ‘melt in the
mouth’ moist texture when cooked.

Caramelised apples set on top of a syrup-filled tart make this gorgeous dish a taste sensation!

Treacle Tart with Glazed Apples

This delightful Treacle Tart with Glazed Apples recipe is from the Diary Diary. For more delicious recipes visit the Dairy Diary Recipe Collection.

CLICK HERE FOR RECIPE

.

.

.

.

.

Bramley Apple Week and the Prettiest Apple Tart

Treacle-tart-with-glazed-apples

.

Bramley Apple Week and the Prettiest Apple Tart

The Bramley is recognised by professional chefs and home cooks alike as the best apple for cooking.

Grown only in Britain, the Bramley’s unique qualities make it a versatile ingredient, equally at home in a savoury stir fry or a traditional apple pie.

Bramley apples contain a higher acid content and lower sugar levels than other apples, which produces a stronger, tangier tasting apple whose flavour is retained when cooked. Texture is also important and Bramleys produce a ‘melt in the mouth’ moist texture when cooked.

Caramelised apples set on top
of a syrup-filled tart make this
gorgeous dish a taste sensation!

 

Treacle Tart with Glazed Apples

Serves 6
1¼ hours plus cooling
555 Kcals/portion
Fat 16g (7.2g sat) per portion
Suitable for freezing
Suitable for vegetarians

Plain flour 175g (6oz)
Butter 65g (2½oz), diced
White vegetable cooking fat or lard 40g (1½oz), diced
Golden syrup 454g tin
Ground ginger 1 tsp
Lemon 1, grated zest and juice
Fresh breadcrumbs 110g (4oz)
Bramley apples 2, peeled, cored and thinly sliced
Icing sugar 1 tbsp
Custard or ice cream to serve (optional)

1 To make the pastry, put the flour, 40g (1½oz) butter and fat in a bowl and rub in with your fingertips until you have fine crumbs. Gradually add 2 tbsp water and mix to a smooth dough. Alternatively, you could use a food processor.

2 Knead the pastry briefly, then roll out on a lightly floured surface until a little larger than a 24cm (9½in) diameter fluted loose-bottomed flan tin. Lift the pastry over the rolling pin, place in the tin then ease up the sides, pressing it in place. Trim the top of the pastry so that it stands a little above the tin. Chill for 15 minutes.

3 Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 190°C/375°F/Gas 5. Pour the syrup into a saucepan, add the ginger, lemon zest and half the juice and gently heat. Take the pan off the heat and stir in the breadcrumbs. Leave to cool.

4 Pour the syrup into the tart case. Toss the apple in the remaining lemon juice. Arrange the slices, overlapping, in rings over the top of the tart. Then melt the remaining butter and brush it over the apples. Bake for about 35 minutes until the apples are golden.

5 Sift the icing sugar over the top and return the tart to the oven for a further 5 minutes or until the sugar has caramelised. Leave to cool for 30 minutes, then remove the tart from the tin and cut into wedges. Serve with ice cream or custard, if you like.

Cook’s tip
Place any stale bread you have in a food processor and whizz into breadcrumbs. Separate into portions and freeze in polythene bags so that you have a ready-made supply.

 

Fantastic Food For Less cookbookRecipe taken from
Fantastic Food For Less
cookbook available now
at the Dairy Diary website
for just £7.99.

Top Five Family Favourite Recipes

Top 5 Family Favourite Recipes

.

Top 5 Family Favourite Recipes
from Dairy Diary

2015 has heralded an influx of requests for old Dairy Diary recipes. I always do my best to find these for people – they often have such sweet stories attached – but in truth we don’t have any form of filing system for the older books, it is literally a case of climbing a ladder and searching through the old books, so it sometimes takes quite some time!

These stories of much-loved long lost recipes have got me thinking about which recipes I most cherish and will want to pass on to my children. It’s really tricky to select just a few, but these Dairy Diary classics are cooked again and again in my kitchen.

Pear & Ginger Trifle

Pear & Ginger Trifle

1982. It’s a bit/lot before my time with Dairy Diary but after I stumbled across this it became a family classic and is my other half’s favourite dessert.

This Pear and Ginger Trifle recipe is a must! It is a twist on the classic trifle flavours and incorporates ginger cake, pears, cider, custard and cream. So easy to make and so delicious – it will become a firm family favourite! A Dairy Diary recipe. For more delicious recipes visit the Dairy Diary Recipe Collection.

CLICK HERE FOR RECIPE

Auntie Lous Bread Pudding

AUNTIE LOU’S BREAD & BUTTER PUDDING 

This moist bread pudding is packed with fruit and perfect for popping in the rucksack before a long walk (with an obligatory flask of course).

CLICK HERE FOR RECIPE 

Gourmet Beans on Toast

Gourmet Beans on Toast

This is so simple, it almost isn’t a recipe, but without it I would never thought of combining these ingredients. It’s perfect for Saturday lunch.

But not just for lunch – this must-try version of beans on toast with tuna and cheese, will fill you up until tomorrow! This yummy Gourmet Beans on Toast is a Dairy Diary recipe. For more delicious recipes visit the Dairy Diary Recipe Collection.

CLICK HERE FOR RECIPE

Peanut Noodles

Peanut Noodles

2012. When we’re squeezing dinner in between tidying and piano practise and reading stories, this super-quick recipe is easy to prepare but absolutely delicious.

Serves 2
Time 15 mins
Calories 474 per portion
Fat 17g of which 3.1g is saturated
Suitable for vegetarians

Sesame oil 1 tbsp
Courgette 1, cut into thin sticks
Carrots 2, peeled and cut into thin sticks
Baby corn 125g pack
Mushrooms 110g (4oz), sliced
Straight-to-wok noodles 300g pack
Milk 4 tbsp
Sweet chilli sauce 1 tbsp
Crunchy peanut butter 2 tbsp
Coriander to garnish

1 Heat oil in a wok and stir-fry vegetables for about 5 minutes.

2 Add noodles to wok and warm through for 2 minutes.

3 Meanwhile, put milk, sweet chilli sauce and peanut butter in a bowl and microwave on full power for 30–40 seconds. Whisk together.

4 Just before serving, stir peanut sauce into noodles and vegetables. Divide between two bowls and garnish with coriander leaves.

Lemon Chicken

Lemon Chicken

2013. I LOVE this recipe. It tastes like something a restaurant would serve, but it’s so easy and pretty healthy too. Win win win.

Serves 4
Time 1 ¼ hours
Calories 426 per portion
Fat 20g of which 6.9g is saturated

Potatoes 4 medium, peeled and cut into wedges
Olive oil 3 tbsp
Lemons 2, 1 cut into 6 wedges and the other cut into 8 slices
Garlic 4 cloves, unpeeled
Thyme sprigs a few
Chicken breasts 4, skin on
Freshly grated nutmeg
Parma ham 4 slices
Chicken stock 150ml (¼ pint)
Crème frâiche 4 tbsp

1 Preheat oven to 190°C/375°F/Gas 5 and heat a baking tray. Boil potato wedges for 5 minutes. Drain well and add to baking tray with 2 tbsp oil. Squeeze lemon wedges over potatoes and add to tray along with garlic and thyme. Roast near the bottom of the oven for 50 minutes, turning occasionally, until crisp and brown.

2 Meanwhile, put chicken in a roasting tin, season with salt and freshly ground pepper, and nutmeg. Place a piece of ham on each chicken breast and put 2 lemon slices on top. Drizzle with 1 tbsp of oil and bake in the oven above the potatoes for 20 minutes, then pour in the stock and bake for a further 20 minutes.

3 Transfer chicken and potatoes to hot plates. Whisk crème frâiche into pan juices and pour over the chicken.

Which classic recipes will you pass on to your loved ones?

.

.

.

.

.

.

Top tips for spending less and eating well in January

Half price sale

.

Top tips for spending less and eating well in January

Back to reality and time to reign back a little. After an indulgent time, January is a good month to eat a little less and spend a lot less.

To do this, I shall be planning all our meals in advance, so I can keep track of what we eat and what we spend.

Taking inspiration from our cookbook,
Fantastic Food for Less, which advocates
forward planning, making a shopping list
and sticking to it!

Dairy Diary recipeI have decided to make planning easier for us by first listing all our favourite meals (including the recipes that we most like from our cookbooks). This seems quite an arduous task, but once done I can print and laminate our list and glance at it for inspiration each time I plan our weekly meals (which are written on each day in the Dairy Diary).

No more umming and aaahing about what to eat each week, and by making a list of our meals and sticking to my shopping list, we should waste less and spend less too!

 

Half-price cookbook sale!

For more tips on how to save money and waste less food, as well as 100 delicious low-cost recipes see Fantastic Food for Less.

AND just for this week, it’s half price!

 

Here’s a taster of what Fantastic Food has to offer…..

 

Pea and Ham Quicke recipe

Pea & Ham Quiche

Time 1 hour
Per portion: 608 Kcal, 44g fat (22.1g saturated)
Serves 6
Suitable for freezing

Ready-made shortcrust pastry 375g (13oz)
Eggs 4, beaten
Crème fraîche 250ml tub
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Frozen peas 110g (4oz), defrosted
Spring onions 3, trimmed and finely chopped
Ham 250g (9oz), chopped into chunks
Double Gloucester cheese 75g (3oz), grated
Mixed leaf salad to serve (optional)

1 Preheat the oven to 200°C/400°F/Gas 6.

2 Fold the pastry in half and then roll out until a little larger than a 23cm (9in) fluted flan tin. Lift the pastry over the rolling pin, drape in the tin then ease up the sides pressing it in place with your fingertips. Trim the top of the pastry so that it stands a little above the top of the tin. Prick the base of the pastry and then chill for 15 minutes.

3 Line the pastry case with non-stick baking paper and baking beans and bake blind for 15 minutes.

4 Meanwhile, in a jug, mix together the eggs and crème fraîche and season well with salt and pepper.

5 Remove the paper and beans from the pastry case and reduce the oven temperature to 180°C/350°F/Gas 4. Pour in the creamy mixture and then evenly sprinkle in the peas, spring onions, ham and grated cheese.

6 Return the quiche to the oven and bake for 25–30 minutes, until it is just set and golden. Serve with a mixed salad if you like.

A Fabulous Food For Less recipe.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Traditions, old and new, that make Christmas even more magical

The-Snowman at Christmas

.

Traditions, old and new, that make Christmas even more magical

 The big day is almost here and I am so excited (possibly even more than the children!)

The build up began on the 1st with my oldest tradition – the opening of a wooden advent calendar that belonged to me when I was a child (we fill it with tiny chocolates and stickers). We have many more traditions, old and new, that I cherish and that make childhood and Christmas magical – just how it should be!

 

24 books of Christmas

I saw this idea on Facebook back in November, and I thought it was fabulous. I was going to buy 24 books from a charity shop but then my eldest child sorted through his books and selected 24 which are now too young for him. We wrapped each one individually and put them under the tree. Each day one of the younger children unwraps a book which we read that evening before bed.

 

Christmas decorations

Christmas Lights Express

This gorgeous idea was on the blog http://www.realcoake.com/2012/11/christmas-activities-christmas-express.html and I just couldn’t resist it!

One evening last week each child found a ticket under their pillow for the Christmas Express. We helped them into their dressing gowns, bundled them into the car with a little cup of hot chocolate and a cookie and took them around the local streets and town centre to see all the Christmas lights. It was lovely!

 

Christmas Concert

There’s nothing that quite gets you into the Christmas spirit than a carol concert or Christmas play. Usually, we go along to the local church carol concert but this year in place of a few gifts (they don’t need more toys!) we have bought tickets to see The Snowman at the Bridgewater Hall in Manchester. It will be the first time there for all of us and I can’t wait.

 

Christmas Eve Rituals

On Christmas Eve each child is given a package wrapped in brown paper and it contains a pair of new pyjamas and a tiny teddy (from the charity shop) to cuddle during the night. We bake Christmas biscuits (see the recipe below) and leave a couple out for Father Christmas with a glass of sherry and a carrot for Rudolf. We then all hang up our stockings before our final story and bed (after a large glass of wine and a sigh of relief for mum and dad!)

 

Christmas morning

Father Christmas usually forgets to clean his boots on the way in and leaves muddy prints by the patio. He even manages to leave a little bit of his beard (cotton wool) when munching on his biscuits! Despite his clumsiness, he has filled the stockings with exciting treasures, which we open first, and hidden some bigger gifts behind the sofa.

 

Have a wonderful Christmas everyone – I hope it is peaceful and happy, and you enjoy the Christmas traditions that are special to you and your family.

 

 

Christmas biscuits

.

Christmas biscuits

35–40 biscuits
15 mins prep time plus chilling
25 mins cooking time
65 Kcal per biscuit
4g fat per biscuit of which
0.3g is saturated
Suitable for vegetarians

Egg whites 2
Icing sugar 175g (6oz)
Ground cinnamon 2 tsp
Ground almonds 250g (9oz)
Lemon juice 2–3 tsp

1 Whisk the egg whites until stiff, fold in the icing sugar and cinnamon and whisk again until the mixture is of thick dropping consistency. Spoon about 6 tbsp of this meringue mixture into a small bowl, cover it and reserve. Continue whisking the rest of the mixture until it forms stiff peaks, then fold in the ground almonds and lemon juice and mix to a thick paste.

2 Form into a ball, wrap in cling film and chill in the fridge for about 1 hour, or until the mixture is firm enough to handle.

3 Preheat the oven to 200°C/400°F/Gas 6 and butter 2–3 baking sheets. Roll the dough out between two sheets of baking parchment until it’s about 5mm (¼in) thick.

4 Use a 2.5cm (1in) diameter star cutter to cut out shapes, then place on the baking sheets. Re-roll the trimmings and repeat the cutting out until all the paste is used up.

5 Bake the stars in the oven for 7–8 minutes, then remove from the oven. Reduce the oven temperature to 110°C/225°F/Gas ¼.

6 Use a pastry brush to paint the reserved meringue mixture over the top of the biscuits. Return the stars to the oven for about 15 minutes until the meringue has dried out but not browned. Remove the stars from the oven and transfer to a wire rack to cool. The biscuits will keep for up to 2 weeks if stored in a cool place in an airtight container.

Cook’s tip
Ensure that both the bowl and beaters are grease-free before making the meringue, otherwise the mixture will not whisk up to the full volume.

Recipe taken from Year Round Dairy Cookbook.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Perfect Christmas Gift for Parents & Grandparents

The Perfect Christmas Gift
for Parents & Grandparents

.

The perfect Christmas gifts for parents & grandparents

They may be friends, or family or neighbours, but people over a certain age can be very tricky to buy for (my own parents present a challenge each and every Christmas!)

Invest a little time in creating
something special and the
thought will be truly appreciated..

Why not bake two recipes from the Dairy Diary and present them (in beautiful wrapping of course) with the 2015 Dairy Diary? The edible gifts will be an instant delicious treat and then the Dairy Diary will provide a daily source of information and inspiration throughout the following year.

Win win win!

.

Mincemeat Bakewell Squares

Mincemeat Bakewell Squares 

With a crisp pastry base, juicy mincemeat and almondy Bakewell topping, this festive treat is perfect to accompany a mid-morning cuppa. Or present these delicious treats as an edible gift to someone else! These Mincemeat Bakewell Squares are a Dairy Diary recipe. For more delicious recipes visit the Dairy Diary Recipe Collection.

CLICK HERE FOR RECIPE

.

Luxury Coffee Truffles

Rich Chocolate Guinness Cupcakes 

Truly decadent and luxurious, chocolate lovers will delights in these little treats. (Remind the gift recipients to store these in the fridge when they receive them.)

Time 1 hr
Makes 16
Calories 373
Fat 24g of which 13.6g is saturated
Suitable for vegetarians

Cocoa powder 60g (2½oz)
Guinness 200ml (7fl oz)
Butter 250g (9oz), softened
Caster sugar 300g (11oz)
Eggs 2 large, beaten
Self-raising flour 225g (8oz), sifted
Baking powder 1 tsp
Buttermilk 75ml (2½fl oz)
Double cream 150ml (¼ pint)
Cook’s dark chocolate 150g (5oz), finely chopped
Green sugar and grated white chocolate to decorate, optional

1 Preheat oven to 180°C/Gas 4. Line 16 muffin tin holes with paper muffin cases.

2 Sift cocoa into a pan, add Guinness and bring up to boil, stirring. Cool for 10 minutes.

3 Using an electric mixer, cream 225g (8oz) butter with sugar until light and fluffy. Gradually beat in eggs, beating well after each addition. Fold in flour, baking powder, buttermilk and cocoa. Mix until blended. Divide mixture between cases, then bake for 25-30 minutes until firm. Leave to cool in tins for a few minutes, then cool completely on a wire rack.

4 Heat cream until almost boiling, then pour onto chocolate and remaining butter. Mix well. Spread onto each muffin and decorate if wished.

.

Dairy Diary 2015Recipes taken from 2015 Dairy Diary

To order a copy of the Dairy Diary
visit http://www.dairydiary.co.uk
or call 0845 0948 128.

You can have the diary delivered
to you or delivered to a different
address with a gift message.

Read the blogs on the Dairy Diary website.

1 … 24 25 26 … 37
Blog at WordPress.com.