Daim Bar Cake

A friend at work loves Daim Bar's

and as it was her birthday,

I made her a Daim bar cake.

Basically it's a simple vanilla sponge

with some crushed Daim Bar pieces in the batter.

Then I iced the cake with 'Caramel Frosting'

(the recipe was found here: http://allrecipes.com/recipe/7506/caramel-frosting-i/

I doubled the quantities of the frosting recipe

so that I could put the frosting inside and on top.

Then I topped the cake with crushed Daim bar pieces

and mini Daim bars.

I believe it tasted ok ;o)

*****

I also embroidered a sheep 

in Bullion stitch on a heart as a little gift.

*****

Now I'm making another Minecraft patchwork block

as my other son has his birthday tomorrow....

I didn't measure this one 

so it's a bit of trial and error as to what it will end up as...

A tablet case WAS the plan, but we will see!

The Memory-Keeper's Daughter

I know this is the name of a book,

I think I have even read it....

but when I cleared out my Mother's flat

and saw that she had kept EVERYTHING.

(Even my old love letters *blush*),

I knew that for me,

my Mother had been the Memory-Keeper

and I the Memory-Keeper's daughter...

This was Mom's Hexagon quilt.

Made many many years ago.... 

It was patiently handquilted

And the edges were finished traditionally...

Backed with a white sheet.

The little hand stitches are beautiful and even.

I used to love having it on my bed 

and looking at all the different fabrics.

I would pick out my favourites

and especially loved all the rose ones.

Hence the inspiration for my Rose Hexagon quilt...

*****

One of the things of Mom's I was desperate to have

was her recipe book....

Many well loved recipes are contained within...

And some surprises!:

"BANANA WITH HAM -

Wrap 1 banana per person in a slice of ham.

Cover with cheese sauce and bake in oven."

I can safely say this was not one of Mom's signature dishes!!!

Although we are talking 1967 here!:

This hot milk sponge chocolate recipe I made

almost to death -

It's fantastic !:

And my Mom always made an amazing Chicken Liver Pate:

But sadly her famous Broccoli recipe was not inside.

Luckily she had given it to me years ago and I found it again:

(Cecile's) Broccoli Salad

Ingredients:

1-2    heads of Broccoli

1      small Onion

250g   Sunflower Seeds

250g   Seedless Raisins

250g   Bacon

For the Marinade:

75ml   Lemon Juice

15ml   Sugar

5ml    Mustard

250ml Olive Oil

Celery Salt (optional)

Instructions:

Cut the florets off the broccoli leaving very little of the stalks. Then break the florets into smaller pieces. Finely chop the onions. Chop the bacon into small pieces and cook the bacon until very crisp. Lightly fry the sunflower seeds and raisins in the leftover bacon oil.

Mix the lemon juice, sugar, mustard and olive oil together (include the celery salt if needed). Place the salad ingredients in a sealable container and pour over the marinade. Cover and leave to chill in the fridge for at least 3 hours, tossing the salad in the container every now and then to ensure that the entire broccoli is marinated in the oil.

Serve and enjoy…. 

Wordless Wednesday - Banana Bread

Coconut Oat Cookies

COCONUT & OAT COOKIES

I make these with Gluten-Free Flour

and Gluten-Free Oats 

(and a teaspoon Xantham Gum!)

INGREDIENTS

315 g plain flour

2 tsp baking powder

2 tsp bicarb

1 teaspoon salt

200 g caster sugar

220 g soft brown sugar

225 g unsalted butter

2 eggs

1 tsp vanilla extract

160 g porridge oats

150 g dessicated coconut

METHOD

Preheat oven to 180 degrees centigrade (Gas 4)

Lightly grease baking trays or use parchment paper

Sieve flour, bicarb, baking powder and salt together and set aside.

In another bowl cream butter and sugars together. 

Beat in egg and vanilla. 

Add flour mixture and beat until smooth, about 2 minutes. 

Stir in oats and coconut.

Shape dough into balls and place on prepared baking trays.

Bake at 180 c/ gas 4 for 12-15 minutes.

ENJOY!

The recipe was from allrecipes.com

I found the recipe on my tablet, 

but when I tried to find it on the desktop computer

the ingredients were different so I wrote them out 

and am posting them here to refer to again as these biscuits are fabulous!!!

Nigella's Pear Cake

I have made this cake before:

and looking in the fruit bowl at the unloved pears,

it's time to make it again!

This is a Nigella recipe and can be found here:

http://www.nigella.com/recipes/view/pear-cake-242

As I don't want to risk a broken link

and then not be able to make this super recipe again,

I have copied and pasted it below

and hope that Nigella doesn't mind ;)

I have several Nigella recipe books,

 her cakes are not only scrumdidlliumptious,

but also easy to make Gluten-Free.

Just swap regular Flour for Gluten-Free Flour

and add a teaspoon of Xantham Gum.

*****

 

PEAR CAKE

Ingredients 

250 grams unsalted butter

300 ml sugar

4 eggs

300 grams Flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

4 tablespoons milk (or cream)

6 pears (between 2 and 6, depending on size and personal taste

- I like this cake with quite a lot of pears)

demerara sugar (for sprinkling on top)

 

Method

1.In an electric mixer, mix butter and sugar until fluffy.

Add the eggs, one at the time, and stir well.

 

2.Sift the flour and baking powder together, mix some of it onto the batter,

then add some of the milk, then some of the batter....etc. until all is blended.

But mix as little as possible.

 

3.Smear half of the batter in a buttered spring form ("medium" sized, 23 cm or so).

 

4.Peel and take out the core of the pears, cut in pieces, and spread out on the bottom.

Cover with the rest of the batter, and add a new layer of pear pieces if you like.

Just push them a little down into the batter.

Sprinkle with Demerara sugar.

 

5.Bake in oven, 180 C (350 F) for 30-45 minutes,

depending on the amount of pears used. (Many pears - more moist - more time.)

But check after 30 minutes to be sure. Ready when a cake tester comes out clean.

This can also be made as a loaf cake, just adjust the cooking time and temperature.

Enjoy! Nom, nom, nom!!!

Onion Bhaji

To my absolute delight the other day,

I discovered Gram Flour.

(How can you not like a flour with a cute elephant logo LOL)

I was perusing the Asian food section 

of one of the larger supermarkets

and found Natco's Gram Flour...

 It's GLUTEN FREE!!!!

 And it had a really easy recipe for Onion Bhaji!:

 I have now made 3 batches.

So so easy!!!

 And according to the household food critic

"Very Authentic!"

No small praise!!!

Although, I thought as they were so delicious,

I wasn't too worried about authenticity myself!

 They are seriously yummy - try them!!

♥ Cherry Cake ♥

I was so excited to discover

that I could buy Morello cherries in the UK.

I used to buy them a lot when I lived in Germany.

I would make Cherry-misu

(before I discovered that I was Gluten-free* of course!)

Cherry-misu is basically Tiramisu, but

with Morello cherries added in the layers - Yum!

 I also found a bund tin a few weeks back

and wanted to make something in it other than a sponge...

 So I adapted a courgette cake recipe of Nigella's

and the results have been excellent

(taste-tested twice!!)

♥The recipe:♥

♥ Big jar of Morello cherries

-drained weight approx 350g

♥ 2 Large eggs

♥ 125ml Vegetable Oil

♥ 150g Caster Sugar

♥ 225g Self raising Flour

♥ Half a teaspoon Bicarbonate of Soda

♥ Half a teaspoon Baking Powder

 

♥ Bund tin (not sure of the size of mine,

but it compares to 2 x 21cm sandwich tins if that helps)

- greased with melted butter.

 

♥ Drain your jar of cherries before anything else!

♥ Pre-heat the oven to 180 degrees Centigrade/Gas mark 4

♥ Beat the eggs, oil and sugar together in a large mixing bowl until creamy.

♥ Sieve in the flour, bicarb, baking powder

and continue to beat until well combined.

♥ Stir in the cherries.

♥ Pour the mixture into your pre-greased tin.

♥ Bake for 40 minutes

(or if you're doing it in 2 sandwich tins then 30 minutes).

The cake should be lightly browned and firm to the touch.

♥ Leave in the tin for 5-10 minutes before turning out to cool on a rack.

 

 You can dust the cake lightly with icing sugar,

but I prefer it plain...

Slice. Share. Eat and Enjoy!

 

*To make this recipe Gluten-Free, I used Gluten-free Self Raising Flour

and added a teaspoon of Xanthan Gum :)

Onion Marmalade

I was going to make this Wordless Wednesday, or if I'd posted it yesterday it could have been Tasty Tuesday, the day before that could have been Marmalade Monday (think the vinegar fumes have gotten to me LOL), but anyway I have been making more of this great recipe and it needs words, in fact it needs the recipe!:

RED ONION MARMALADE WITH BALSAMIC VINEGAR

Ingredients
Makes about 600g

2 large red onions (about 550g) thinly sliced
120g brown sugar
125 ml red wine vinegar
50ml (about 3 tbsp) balsamic vinegar
salt and freshly ground pepper

Method
In a large, non reactive saucepan, combine the red onions and 2 tablespoons of the brown sugar and cook over moderate heat for about 25 mins or until the onions begin to caramalise.
Stir in the vinegar and the rest of the sugar, increase the heat and stir often, until most of the liquid has evaporated, about 15 minutes.

Season to taste with salt and pepper and pot in sterilised jars.
Keeps for 3 months.

You can get the original recipe here.
Courtesy of pickleandpreserve.co.uk