Unbelievably easy mince pies

Ingredients

225g cold butter, diced

350g plain flour
100g golden caster sugar

280g mincemeat
1 small egg

icing sugar, to dust

Method

1. To make the pastry, rub 225g cold, diced butter into 350g plain flour, then mix in 100g golden caster sugar and a pinch of salt. Combine the pastry into a ball – don’t add liquid – and knead it briefly. The dough will be fairly firm, like shortbread dough. You can use the dough immediately, or chill for later.
2. Preheat the oven to 200C/gas 6/fan 180C. Line 18 holes of two 12-hole patty tins, by pressing small walnut-sized balls of pastry into each hole. Spoon 280g mincemeat into the pies.
3. Take slightly smaller balls of pastry than before and pat them out between your hands to make round lids, big enough to cover the pies. Top the pies with their lids, pressing the edges gently together to seal – you don’t need to seal them with milk or egg as they will stick on their own. (The pies may now be frozen for up to 1 month).
4. Beat 1 small egg and brush the tops of the pies. Bake for 20 minutes until golden. Leave to cool in the tin for 5 minutes, then remove to a wire rack. To serve, lightly dust with icing sugar. They will keep for 3 to 4 days in an airtight container.

Recipe from Good Food magazine, December 2002

Notes: Use the magimix to combine the butter and flour to breadcrumbs, then add either some of the beaten egg or a bit of water and once it comes together finish kneading it by hand.  It can then be rolled out and cut as normal. Takes minutes to make, the pastry is like shortbread and is delicious (especially with homemade mincemeat).

This is the best thing you will put in your mouth for a very long time....

Lindsay's Chocolate Fudge

1lb (450g) granulated sugar

5oz dark chocolate

5oz butter

2oz honey

1/4 pt milk 

All into large, pref heavy-based pan, heat slowly, stirring til sugar dissolved then to boil without stirring to soft ball stage*. Put pan on cold surface for 5 mins then beat (elec. mixer) until thickening. Into tray, into fridge once cooled. Eat + enjoy!

* glass v.cold water - drop a tsp in. Once it forms droplets take out + see if you can roll into a ball

My notes: Smallest ring on the hob, low flame. You can tell the sugar is dissolved when you don't hear the gritty noises as you're stirring. Cold surface = outside my back door in the winter (make sure the lid is on and the dog is inside) or in the sink with cold water in the bottom in summer. It will do nothing for ages and then will suddenly thicken - don't overmix it. If it hasn't been boiled properly and just refuses to thicken, I have put it back on the heat and boiled it a bit longer, then cooled it again - didn't make any difference to the finished fudge. Tray - LINE IT! Either greaseproof/baking paper or clingfilm - makes getting it out and cutting it up soooo much easier.

And then thanks to Carnation - we can also have fudge-flavour fudge! 

http://www.carnation.co.uk/recipes/67/ultimate-fudge

1 tin / 397g condensed milk

1/4pt / 150ml milk

450g / 1lb sugar (Carnation actually state demerara but I just used granulated)

115g / 4oz butter

Then follow the above method. I imagine you could add a teaspoon of vanilla extract as well, but I forgot, and seeing as I could eat condensed milk out of the tin with a spoon, the omission did not detract at all. 

This makes a good proper batch, ideal for presents at Christmas and for school. 

Our (usually rhubarb in our house) Crumble

Ingredients:
1 tin of rhubarb
Any other fruit you like (apple/pear/blackberries etc)
75g butter
175g plain flour
50g granulated sugar
cinnamon
demerara sugar

Method:
Oven = 200C(ish)
Drain rhubarb tin, chuck in dish. Peel and chop the other fruit into dice-size bits, chuck in with the rhubarb.
Rub butter into flour to get breadcrumb-like consistency. Stir in the granulated sugar.
Sprinkle over fruit.
Dust with cinnnamon and a light scattering of demerara sugar.
Bake for about 20-25 mins til golden.

I found this brilliant recipe on http://www.femalefirst.co.uk/foodanddrink/Marguerite+Patten-230.html last year, when I was trying to find out if it was possible to microwave a homemade christmas pudding - anything to avoid the ridiculous (to my mind) notion of steaming it for the whole day on a hob! (Have you seen the price of fuel these days?!) 

Sure enough, the wonderful Marguerite Patten came up with this recipe (there is also a 'pudcast' if you want to watch her doing it). I made it about 3 weeks before Christmas and kept it wrapped up in a cold place until the day. It reheated in the microwave in a couple of minutes and was rich, fruity and delicious, light and not at all stodgy. Even my children loved it.  

Try it, save yourself 8 hours and in the wise old words of Why Don't You, go out and do something less boring instead.

Marguerite Patten's Perfect Christmas Pudding

This is a very special, traditional pudding but it can be cooked in 10 minutes in the microwave, the quick, modern and simple way – it’s beautifully easy!

The Ingredients

65g of Anchor,
50g of flour (preferably plain),
A teaspoon of mixed spice,
75g of soft breadcrumbs,
100g of soft brown sugar,
150g of sultanas,
75g of raisins,
50g of currents,
25g of chopped peel,
50g of soft dates, chopped up into small pieces
50g of glacier cherries,
2 tablespoons of black treacle or golden syrup,
2 eggs,
The juice of half a lemon,
Two tablespoons of orange juice,
75ml of apple juice,

Method

Put 50g of butter into a mixing bowl.

Place an additional 15g of Anchor into a basin in which the pudding is going to be cooked. Cover the basin on top with cling film or paper and put it into the microwave, for 30 seconds to soften the butter.

Mix all the remaining ingredients into a mixing bowl, and stir them all together.

With the small bit of melted butter, grease the pudding basin. Put at the bottom of the basin a small round piece of greaseproof paper to prevent the basin from sticking.

Now, spoon the mixture into the pudding basin. Put a greaseproof paper lid on top of the basin. (Make sure it is double or treble the thickness of the one used at the bottom.)

Make a few holes in the paper with a fork or scissors so that the steam can escape.

Place into the microwave. Set the microwave timer, at medium or medium to high rather than high to get a better steamed pudding.

Microwaves vary though, so take the pudding out and have a look at it after nine minutes.

Insert a skewer or a cocktail stick into the centre of the mixture, take it out and have a look at it.

If the mixture is still sticky, place the pudding back into the microwave for another half a minute or minute longer.

When there is no sticky mixture on the skewer, after doing the test, the pudding is ready.

Read more: http://www.femalefirst.co.uk/foodanddrink/Marguerite+Patten-230.html#ixzz2ja0CrcaU

Homemade mincemeat recipe - All recipes UK

Homemade mincemeat recipe - All recipes UK

Here is a classic mincemeat recipe without any suet. You can mix up the dried fruits a bit, substituting dried cranberries, cherries or blueberries for some of the raisins and sultanas. Perfect for your mince pies at Christmas!

Ingredients

Serves: 12 

• 250g seedless raisins
• 250g sultanas
• 250g currants
• 65g mixed peel
• 250g cooking apples, peeled and finely chopped
• 125g butter, softened
• grated zest of 1/2 a lemon

• grated zest of 1/2 an orange
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• pinch of nutmeg
• pinch of allspice
• 250g dark brown soft sugar
• 250ml brandy or dark rum

Method

Prep:10min  ›  Extra time:21days  ›  Ready in:21days10min 

1. Make sure all of the dried fruits are finely chopped to around the same size. In a large bowl, mix all the fruit, apples, butter, zest and spices together till well combined. Dissolve the sugar in the brandy and pour it over the mixture. Cover and let stand overnight.
2. The next day, stir the mixture again then place in sterile, dry jars for 3 to 4 weeks before using in your favourite recipe.

I was told by a member of staff in Aldi, that their lovely jelly beans have been discontinued. A quick web search says the same thing. What a shame! They were one of the things I always bought if I went into Aldi. Are they going to bring out a new improved version? Will they have bumped up the price? Who makes these daft decisions? 

Comparison between Lidl and Aldi Belgian chocolate seashells

Anyone who knows their chocolate seashells (think Guylian) knows that Lidl ones are just as good and more than half the price. I had a distant memory of trying Aldi ones and not being as impressed with them. However, in the interests of research, I decided I needed to answer this question once and for all - Are They The Same? 

Aldi ones are on the left, Lidl on the right. 

Mmmm, breathe in the smell....

The Aldi ones seem to be smaller per chocolate, and slightly different shapes. 

For the Test, I sampled the seahorse from each box. Aldi tail curls inwards, Lidl one curls outwards.

I only ever get Guylian ones if someone else buys them for me as a present, but I'm under the impression that the Lidl ones are equivalent sizes and shapes to Guylian.

Checking the ingredients list on the backs, Lidl list 7 different ingredients, whereas Aldi list 11. They also have a lower % of hazelnuts (21% vs 23%) and theirs are not listed as 'roasted' unlike Lidl. 

Taste: 

Aldi had much thicker chocolate, and less of the hazelnut praline. It had a sweeter much more vanilla flavour. 

Lidl not so much chocolate to interfere with the more intense praline flavour. 

WINNER: Lidl. Praline-tastic.

Mind Loft

This is going to be somewhere I can stick things until I can work out what to do with them. There may or may not be some kind of order to it at times. Most likely it will jump about all over the place with no coherent theme to anything.