Yorkshire Tea Ice-cream

I haven't tried to make this yet, but when I return home from University, it will be right at the top of things I plan to make. When I have i'll update you on how it went, and what it's like.

Ingredients
2 egg yolks
½ vanilla pod
310g double cream whipped lightly
60g caster sugar
310g whole milk
2 tablespoons boiling water
3 Yorkshire Tea tea bags
1 tablespoon white sugar

Method
-Mix the sugar and boiling water together in a small bowl, add the teabags and brew to make a strong infusion, ideally for about 5 minutes.
-Place the whole milk in a pan, then split the vanilla pod, remove the seeds and add to the milk. Gently bring to the boil.
-In a bowl mix the 2 egg yolks with the caster sugar and whisk until pale and fluffy.
-Pour the milk mixture on to the tea mixture and remove the teabags.
-Then pour the milk/tea mixture on to the egg mix and whisk thoroughly.
-Return the milk and egg mixture to the pan and bring to 82 degrees (using a thermometer) or allow to hicken and warm (do not boil or the mixture will scramble).
-Remove from the heat and strain through a sieve in to a bowl.
-Whisk the mixture until it is cool.
-Fold in the whipped cream and place in the freezer.
-Whisk the mixture every 30 minutes until the ice cream is set…

Opps, just looked over my poor neglected blog, and realised I seem to have deleted all the pictures from my posts :S
More posts will be coming soon now I have the time to bake again. :)

Goats Cheese and Red Onion Muffins

After being told to make some savoury cupcakes, after being lazy for ages, I stumbled across this recipe, which I shall save and make for the first week of Easter holidays. Well caring is sharing.

You will need:
140grams self rasing flour
1 egg
112ml milk
pinch of salt
25grams red onion finely chopped
25grams goats cheese cut into cubes
1 teaspoon rosemary
5grams butter

Method:
-melt the butter in a pan and soften the onion
-mix the flour and salt into a bowl
-mix up the egg and milk then slowly fold into the flour
-mix in the onion, goats cheese, and rosemary
-spoon into muffin cases and cover the tops with egg and rosemary sprigs
-bake for about 20minutes at 200degrees

Yorkshire Tea Cupcakes

This I was requested to do a few months back by a friend, but I haven't had much time to make them. But this weekend was the best excuse, not that I had the free time, but because he needed cheering up and what Yorkshire man doesn't love Yorkshire tea?

Makes 12

For this recipe you will need:

140grams self raising flour

100grams caster sugar

1 egg

40grams unsalted butter

about 8 teabags

60ml semi-skimmed milk

icing sugar

Prep:

Take the milk and put in the teabags and leave it for two days, yes I may have over done it using 8 teabags but this way it really got the flavour through.

Method:

-first mix together the sugar, flour and butter until crumbly.

-add the egg and milk and stir until smooth.

-spoon into cupcake cases and bake at 170degree until golden, so about 20mins

For the icing:

I used basic water icing but instead of water I used the left over milk and a few tea leaves and just spooned it onto the top of the cakes.

And vola they are really yummy and enjoyed with even more tea. He may not be receiving all twelve after i've had my way with them.

Baileys and Dark Chocolate Cupcakes

This recipe is just a usual cupcake recipe replacing the milk with Baileys, and adding chocolate to the icing. It must be a good one, as out of the twelve I made I only have two left, as all my friends smelt the cakes and came running. Not that I blame them.

For this you will need;
100grams Self-raising flour
140grams caster sugar
1 egg
80grams dark chocolate
250grams icing sugar
60ml baileys
120grams unsalted butter.

Method;
-First mix together the flour, sugar, and 40grams of butter until crumbly
-Then mix in the egg and Baileys until smooth
-Spoon into cases and bake at 170degrees until golden brown, so about 15-20 minutes.

Icing
-Cream 80grams of butter
-Slowly mix in 250grams icing sugar
-Add in the melted chocolate and a touch of baileys.
-Spoon into a piping bag and decorate.
-Then eat quickly before all your friends eat them all.

Chilli and Chocolate Cupcakes

Well this was an interesting idea of mine. Having never tried this before we completely made this recipe up as we went along. (or more copying the Green Tea recipe)

You will need:

120ml water
Flaked Chilli
3 table spoons Chocolate Powder
100g plain flour
140g caster sugar
40g unsalted butter at room temperature
1 egg

Icing:

250g icing sugar, sifted
Flaked chilli
80g unsalted butter at room temperature
25ml water

Dark Chocolate
Red food dye

Method:

- Put about a teaspoon of chilli into a cup of boiled water (and when I say a teaspoon don't be adventurous and put in about five like us, that was a massive mistake)

- Put the flour, sugar, chocolate, and butter into a bowl and mix until everything is combined.

-  Mix in the egg into the flour mixture.
- Add about half the water to the mixture

- Continue mixing for a couple more minutes until the mixture is smooth.

- Bake at 170 degrees oven until golden

For the icing: 

- Beat together the icing sugar, butter until creamed. 
- Now half the mixture

- Slowly pour in the water and finish mixing when the mixture is all fluffy into half of it, then add the food dye
- For the other half melt the chocolate and mix into the other half

- When the cupcakes are cold, spoon the frosting into a piping bag, and decorate the cakes.

Green Tea Cupcakes

This is one of the cupcakes we have decided upon for the international food festival. Yes it may not seem as outgoing as making a curry, but we are catering for peoples more delicate tastes.

The recipe is one of The Hummingbird Bakery Recipes (and a few others we are using are being adapted from this)

 For this recipe you will need:

120ml whole milk
3 green tea bags
100g plain flour
140g caster sugar
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
a pinch of salt
40g unsalted butter at room temperature
1 egg
1/4 tsp vanilla extract

250g icing sugar, sifted
80g unsalted butter at room temperature
25ml whole milk

 Method:

- Put the milk and green tea bags in a jug, cover and refrigerate for a few hours, or over night if possible.

- Put the flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, and butter into a bowl and mix until everything is combined.

- Slowly pour half of the tea infused milk (with the vanilla extract and egg) into the flour mixture.

- Continue mixing for a couple more minutes until the mixture is smooth.

- Bake at 170 degrees oven until golden

For the green tea icing: 

- Beat together the icing sugar, butter until creamed. 

- Slowly pour in the milk and finish mixing when the mixture is all fluffy

- When the cupcakes are cold, spoon the frosting on top and decorate.

International Food Festival

Well I have been asked to cook something for our RAG week International Food Festival next week and this has set me in more of a panic than the presentation I am trying to commit to memory today. This is mainly due to the fact that International Cuisine is such a large category to cook for, and also as the ability to cook anything international is very much beyond my grasp. Right now all I can think of is some sort of inspired cupcake recipes, Lizzy however is an amazing cook, and the two of us together will think of something, even if it does become some odd cake like hybrid. Well it is all for charity anyway and I shall be sharing with you whatever it is we do make in the end.

Simple no bake Cheesecake

This is a tried and tested recipe and has never gone wrong for me. I made this for the first time during my first year at university as the cheesecake they served at dinner was horrid. So this is what I made, it became so popular I would sometimes make about two a week for my friends.

For this recipe you will need:
125grams of biscuits
40grams melted butter
250grams cream cheese
400grams extra thick double cream
lemon juice

Method:
-Crumble the biscuits and mix with the melted butter and press into a loose bottomed cake tin and leave to set
-Mix together the cream cheese and cream until smooth
-Add about a spoon of lemon juice and add icing sugar to taste.
-Spoon on top of the base and leave to cool for approx 2hours (if in a rush putting it in the freezer works well)
-Then when cool cut a slice and enjoy with a glass of lemonade.

It really is that simple.

The Flavour Thesaurus

I found this book in a charity shop and picked it up, mainly as it looked like a nice book to sit on my bookshelf. However once I actually sat down and have a read though it, I had been spoilt.
It really is a thesaurus full of a food wheel and a list of many different ingredients some which I never would have thought of combing, such as chocolate and goat's cheese. It became very handy when I returned to University a week earlier than catering started. So I went out and as per usual bought the most random ingredients, mainly the cheapest that I could find, with no idea to what I was actually going to eat at all that week, and when it came to actually cooking and evaluated what I had actually bought I flicked through my trusty new book and saw a new way to cook.
I do recommend this book as it really does show you which ingredients combine well together and in the short time I have had it I have used it more than I thought I would, and not only that it is a nice thing to look at as well.

Sushi For Beginners

I bought this for my Mother for Christmas from a recommendation from a friend. I myself am actually new to the genre as I spend most my time inside Sci-Fi books, so I had no idea what this book was going to be like. My mother completed the book in just under two days, and well that means nothing she finishes all books in about that time.

So once she finished I was given the book as a bit of light reading on the train, and part of me wishes she didn't. As this book was very entertaining, even if the story line is a bit predictable, and it actually had me trying and failing on occasions to stifle my laughs on the packed Norwich to Manchester train.

During this five hour train journey I found myself following the lives of three girls in Dublin each with their own story to tell. Clodagh the woman who seems to have everything but still feels as though she is missing something from life, Lisa the London big-shot who's dreams of New York have been drastically shot down and replaced with Dublin, and Ashling who worries about the lack of a waist and men.

Each of these characters are written to be very believable and you soon grow, or I did at least, an emotional attachment and can see parts of yourself in all three of them. I must mention the part which made me laugh the most was Ashlings reaction to seeing Sushi for the first time, as myself being an avid Sushi fan I saw how many of my friends look upon the food from a different angle.

Since reading this book, I have ordered two more from Marian Keyes to join this one on my book shelf.

Walnut and Caramel Cupcakes

This is another favourite of mine, I made a batch of these last week and I ate most of them in one day. I would lie and put it down to exam stress, but no, they are just that yummy.

For this recipe you will need:
3 eggs
160grams self raising flour
160grams mascarpone sugar
160grams butter
Walnuts (as many as you want really, I used about two handfuls)

Method:
-Cream the butter and sugar together until fluffy.
-Slowly add in the beaten eggs
-Once all the egg is added fold in the flour
-Add a little milk to the mixture and add the walnuts
-Simply spoon the mixture into cupcake cases and bake at 160 Degrees until golden
-Leave to cool and decorate with walnut halves and enjoy with a cup of hot chocolate.

Macaroons

As it is the start of a new semester at university I find myself with a fair bit of time on my hands, relatively speaking so I intend to make my favorite little treats sometime this week. This is an easy recipie to make macaroons and when I found it I was surprised, as one it did work, and two I had always thought these little things where ever difficult to make.

For this recipe you will need:

125grams ground almonds

200grams icing sugar

2tbsp caster sugar

3 egg whites

1/2  tsp cream of tartar

pinch of powdered food colouring

Filling:

200grams dark chocolate

200ml double cream

1tsp brandy

15grams unsalted butter

Method:

-Blend the almonds and icing sugar until well combined.

-Mix egg whites until stiff peaks.

-Slowly whisk in cream of tartar and caster sugar until smooth and glossy.

-Increase the speed as the mixture stiffens then fold in the food colouring and almond sugar mix.

-When the mixture looks like a sort of foam spoon the mixture into a piping bag with a 1cm nozzle and make 5cm circles.

-Tap the bottom of the baking tray to remove the air from inside.

-Set asside for approx 60mintues or until no longer sticky to touch.

-Preheat the oven to 160 Degrees and bake for 10 - 15minutes then leave to cool.

For filling:

-Heat double cream and chocolate in a saucepan on a low heat.

-Once the chocolate has melted add the brandy and butter then stir until smooth and leave to cool.

-Use the filling to sandwich the macaroons together and chill in the fridge for 30mintues.

-When all this is finished enjoy with a nice cup of tea.

Dearest Readers

This is my new blog, at the moment I have a little plan of what I intend to write here. However there will probably be no common theme between posts. Hopefully there shall be some reviews and such what. But we shall see as time progresses I guess.