Pear & Raspberry Crumble

This is my take on a slightly healthier pudding than usual

Ingredients

3 large Pears, peeled, cored & chopped

Handful of fresh or frozen Raspberries

2 teaspoons Raspberry, Apple & Lime Jam

100g Plain Flour

50g Butter cut into cubes

50g Castor Sugar

30g Porridge

Method

Cook pears and raspberries in pot with a tiny amount of water until they start to soften

Add jam and let it melt into the mixture to give a lovey saucy feel to the filling

Tip into your chosen pudding or casserole dish

In a large mixing bowl rub the butter into the flour until it resembles breadcrumbs. You can use a food processor or free standing mixer if preferred

Stir in the sugar and porridge oats then pour this evenly over the fruit filling

Bake at 160 for approximately 30 minutes until the crumble starts to brown

Serve with custard, ice cream, fresh cream or for a healthy option, natural yoghurt

Enjoy!

Leftovers Potato Bread

Yesterday we made an easy brunch using leftover mash from the night before

We were loading the kiln so we had a cheat dinner from M&S with some carrot & Swede mash and cheddar mash left over

So as easy as you like we combined the mash with an equal weight of plain flour and mashed it up into a ball

Then we just rolled it out on a floured surface and cooked it on a hot, floured griddle

Totally delicious with grilled bacon & a fried egg – Free range of course

Easiest Ever Lemon Meringue Pies

After my last complicated recipe for Lemon Meringue this cheats version is the easiest ever

I made my own pastry but you could cheat even more by using ready roll shortcrust pastry

PASTRY

200g Plain Flour

100g Butter

50g Caster Sugar

2 Free Range Egg Yolks (Save whites for meringue)

Water to mix

Rub the butter into the flour until it resembles breadcrumbs, by hand, in a food processor or free standing mixer

Stir in the sugar

Mix in the egg yolks and just enough water to form a ball. Refrigerate for 30 minutes

Roll onto a floured work surface and cut rounds to fit 9 floured muffin pans

Bake blind at 170 for 15 minutes

FILLING

One Jar Gin & Tonic Marmalade

Simply spoon a teaspoon full into each pastry case

MERINGUE TOPPING

2 Free Range Egg Whites

80g Caster Sugar

Whisk the egg whites until very stiff

Whisk in the sugar a little at a time

Spoon over the marmalade filling

Bake at 150 for 20 minutes or until lightly browned

Cool & enjoy

BBQ Sausage Rolls. Quick & Easy

We have been very much missing our Sausage Rolls from our favourite cafe/bakery The Jolly Sandwich in Enniskillen, so decided to have a go at making our own

We took a trip to the local butcher for some proper sausage meat, Dohertys or Kennedy Bacon have their own herds of pigs so you know exactly what you are getting, quality local pork, but I try not to think about that bit

We also used Asda own brand ready rolled puff pastry, our own BBQ Chutney and Cavanagh Eggs as again I know they are well cared for, free range local hens

So here’s how we did it

Ingredients

400g Proper Sausage Meat

1 pack Puff Pastry

1 Free Range Egg beaten

1 Jar BBQ Chutney

Oven Temp 170

Sprinkle flour on a plastic chopping board & your hands

Roll the sausage meat into long sausage shapes. You decide how far you want them, but ours were roughly 10 pence piece size

Place the sausage meat on the pastry and cut a strip wide enough to wrap round and overlap

Roll the sausage meat to one side and slather BBQ Chutney along the middle of the pastry

Brush one edge of the pastry in beaten egg then wrap the pastry around the sausage meat using the beaten egg to join the overlap pastry edges together

Cut sausage rolls to your desired length and place on baking tray joined edge to the bottom

You can cut a little slit in each Sausage Roll if you like

Brush over with beaten egg and bake at 170 for 15-20 minutes until brown and puffy

Ensure Sausage Meat is thoroughly cooked through before eating. Thicker Sausage rolls will take longer to cook

Eat & enjoy

Our Chutney is available in a six jar special offer on our Etsy shop https://etsy.me/2BbgXUF

Coconut Macaroons

Coconut Macaroon on our Owl Family Plate

I love the Coconut Macaroons stall at the Christmas Continental Market at the City Hall. I look forward to it every year!

I also remember these as a child and more recently when ‘Big Ron’ had his chocolate stall at St George’s where he dipped the bottoms in chocolate!

They are really simple & straightforward to make though. I’ve put half a cherry on top but you can leave those off if you prefer

Ingredients

2 Free Range Egg Whites

100g Caster Sugar

225g Dessicated Coconut

Glacé Cherries if liked

Line a large baking sheet with baking or greaseproof paper

In a large bowl whisk the egg whites until really stiff and pesky. I use my kenwood for nearly everything but find the hand whisk better for egg whites

Whisk in the Caster Sugar. It’s important not to have any lumps in the sugar so sieve if necessary

Stir in the coconut until well combined

Spoon large dessert spoons of the mixture onto the prepared baking tray and top with half a glacé cherry if desired

Bake at 170 for approximately 15 minutes until lightly browned

Allow to cool on the tray

Brownies!

These were without doubt the most popular item in our old tea room

In this recipe you don’t need to worry too much about the quality of the dark chocolate. Any good, dark chocolate will make you a lovely Brownie you don’t need to spend ages looking for 80% cocoa or anything, but only use butter, no margarine, work quickly and most importantly keep a close eye on the oven temperature and cooking time

Recipe

200g dark Chocolate broken into squares

180g Butter

280g Caster Sugar

130 g Plain Flour

3 Free Range Eggs

Heat oven to 170

Line a Swiss Roll tray with baking paper

Melt the Chocolate & butter together. I do this in the microwave and in my mixing bowl

Mix throughly so it’s nice and smooth with no unmelted lumps

Stir in the sugar

Beat in the eggs

Fold in the flour

Smooth into the prepared Swiss roll tin

Bake in oven. Now mine usually cracks on top when it’s ready. For a squidgy Brownie 20-25 minutes should do it, for a firmer, more cake like brownie 25-30 minutes

Allow to cool in tin

Remove from tin, sprinkle with icing sugar and cut into slices or squares

Eat as they are with a coffee or serve with Chocolate Sauce & Ice cream. They are really delicious warmed slightly with ice cream. Store in an airtight box