Edible christmas gifts

Wow in only 6 months time or less I'll be making these again! :p I collected empty glass jars and after scrubbing off the labels we put them in the dishwasher to sterilise them. After filling with chutney I put some of my Christmas napkins over the lids and tied with bakers string. They looked great - I had different shapes and sizes and better then spending £3 on a new fancy glass jar with the gingham lid.

Spicey tomato and apple chutney

By Rachel Allan (http://uktv.co.uk/food/recipe/aid/573902) and I made this last year but the consistency wasn't as good so I simmered it for an extra hour and the result was perfect. And very popular.

Spiced courgette chutney

 Recommended by Richard Freeman (http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/6342/spiced-courgette-chutney) and it was really interesting actually! supposedly a summer chutney but worked well with gammon at Christmas.

Homemade fudge
 

Two variations by Sophie Dahl and Hairy bikers. Sophie Dahl's was easy but melted when out of fridge and the Bikers one has a slight gritty texture that people seemed to enjoy? I'm not sure - must try and find the perfect recipe.
















Peanut butter cookies

I've blogged about this before - delish and as it was Christmas I used white chocolate. (http://tanyadoescooking.blogspot.com/2010/09/best-peanut-butter-cookies-ever.html)

Sweet things

Looking through my unpublished food snaps, I realised that 1) I bake A LOT 2) No wonder why I put on weight in the last year and 3) this has been a good couple of months in the McCarthy household with all these cakes. So have decided to put them all in one post.

Date Oat Bars

James's favourite thing I've ever baked apparently - an accolade indeed! the dates tasted like caramel once cooked in water - lovely. A Rachel Allen recipe.

Apple almond cinnamon muffins

A lovely Saturday morning breakfast - must make again. From Nigella's 'Kitchen' book.

Raspberry bakewell

I've made this twice in a few months! Everyone who's tried it loved it. With a pastry bottom, jam and fresh fruit middle then an almond cake sponge on the top this was lovely, fruity and almost a sweet tartness to it (an oxy moron I hear you cry?) no it''s possible, this was lovely, I must try a plum version in autumn with plum jam - that would be amazing! Or maybe a rhubarb and ginger version....

Chocolate beetroot cakes

When I was on my pre-wedding diet I still wanted the occasional treat at the weekend and knowing these weren't unhealthy made me feel better about my diet sin :p Dark chocolate, beetroot and honey instead of sugar - they were great and gluten free so my mother in law could eat them.

Coffee walnut cake

A layered coffee walnut cake! I made this to go with a new 1979 tea set I bought from a charity shop (that I hid from James for a year in my wardrobe - a long story). Why did this cake go out of fashion? It's lovely and I'm not a massive coffee fan but the sweet coffee taste/scent is so lovely. MUST make again or try cupcake versions.

Cinderella Cookies

Almond cookies with pink icing (Made approx 20 with my cookie cutter)

Babbled Intro:

Ok, so you thought the fairy cakes with edible glitter were girlie… :p Wanted to make some biscuits for a friends birthday and she likes shoes so the obvious baked treat for her was my now titled ‘Cinderella Cookies’. Cookie recipe was from the ‘Nigella Bites’ book which she calls’ Rainy day biscuits’ I believe (Which I halved). But with a cookie cutter and a bit of imagination I came up with these. And no my friend isn’t seven years old and still appreciated them!

Ingredients:

For the biscuit/cookie dough

85g soft butter

100g soft brown sugar

1 egg

Dash of almond extract

175g plain flour

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

For the icing:

100g icing sugar

Drop of pink food colouring

water to mix

Edible silver balls 

Method:

•  Cream butter and sugar then beat in the egg and almond extract.
• Add the dry ingredients and stir to combine into a dough.
• Flour surface and roll out dough to a thickness of half a centimetre. Use a cookie cutter that's dipped in flour, cut as many shapes out as possible.
• Place on baking sheets on baking tins leaving slight spadces between the biscuits. 
• 180c - Bake for 8-12 mins until slightly golden but stile pale.
• Leave to cool on a cooling rack.
• Mix the icing sugar with colouring and water to a thickish runny paste. Dip the biscuits into the icing and let the excess drip off one side. Add more decorations like the silver balls if using and then leave to dry.

 

My conclusion / review:

A cookie in disguise! As these look like plain biscuits but the texture is soft and crumbly, like you’d expect from a cookie. The almond extract gives it a nice hint of a flavour. Very nice with a cup of tea. I would say that although I was nervous, they did transport very well and none were damaged.

James's Verdict:
" 6/10 - nice biscuits, but just that really."