Mint Aero Bars

Deliciously minty treats that are really easy to make

Ingredients

I packet Digestive Biscuits 400g

I tin Condensed Milk 397g

1 bag Mint Aero Balls 92g

I bar white chocolate 150g

Chocolate to decorate

Method

Turn the digestive biscuits into crumbs using food processor or rolling pin, place in mixing bowl

Chop the mint aero balls and add to mixing bowl

Stir in the condensed milk until everything is thoroughly combined

Line a baking tray, Swiss roll tin with greaseproof paper

Tip contents of mixing bowl onto lined baking tray and spread evenly

To compact the mix, place a piece of greaseproof paper or baking parchment over the mixture and roll will rolling pin to get a flat, even surface

Roll over mixture to compact & even the surface

Melt the white chocolate and pour over the mix, spreading evenly with the back of a spoon

Chop some chocolate to decorate, I used mint aero, and sprinkle over top

Allow to cool then refrigerate overnight before cutting into bars

Store in an airtight tin

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!

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

Shortbread

We use a traditional recipe with just 4 ingredients, butter, sugar, cornflour and plain flour

They are absolutely delicious just sprinkled with sugar, but you can also smother or drizzle them with chocolate or cover in icing

We used to sell shamrock shaped ones at St Patrick’s day and at Christmas I love making shortbread snowmen, we’ve also had the odd Halloween Skeleton

The secret for me is to have really soft butter, and it must be butter, you can even soften it a bit in the microwave to make life easier

Traditional Shortbread on an Owl Friends Plate

Ingredients

200g Butter

110g Caster Sugar

130g Cornflour

180g Plain Flour

Cream the butter & Sugar together

Add in the flours until thoroughly combined. I just let my big old Kenwood Chef do all the work here but if you are using a hand held mixer you might need to combine the last of it by hand

Roll out to your desired thickness

Bake at 170 for 15-20 minutes or until lightly browned

Sprinkle with sugar* and allow to cool slightly on the baking tray before moving to a wire rack

Store in an airtight container. Always store shortbread on its own as it will make anything else in the tin go soft

*If you want to add icing or chocolate don’t sprinkle with sugar, just leave them plain

Date Wheaten Loaf

This is our favourite Wheaten Bread. It’s lovely and moist and keeps really well, not that it ever lasts that long in our house

I make it all in the jug I soak the dates in, so there’s hardly any washing up either. It’s low in fat but I normally spoil that with a nice chunk of cheddar. Some Chutney on top of that goes down a treat too…

It’s delicious and very morish but do remember it’s very high in fibre – just saying…

Ingredients

250g dates chopped

175ml hot black tea

250g Wholewheat or Wholemeal Flour

4tsp Baking Powder

1tsp ground mixed spice

100g Caster Sugar

1 free range Egg

Soak the dates in the tea for at least 2 hours, overnight is fine though

Grease & line a 1kg or 2lb loaf tin with baking paper

Mix the rest of the ingredients into the date mixture, combining well

Pour into prepared tin

Bake at 170 for around an hour. Cover with foil if it starts to burn slightly on top. It’s done when a knife inserted in the middle comes out clean

Cool & enjoy!

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