Mincemeat Flapjacks

Hampers are a great gift for foodies - you get all the wonderful goodies (at least if someone took care creating the hamper) that you wouldn't normally buy. And since it is Christmas, a jar of mincemeat surely will be part of the hamper. If you are like me, you will be tired of mince pies by mid December, so here is a lovely alternative to mince pies for using a jar of mincemeat (it is also worth making your own, so much better than the shop bought unless you get an artisan one). Flapjacks last about 2 weeks in an airtight container and are therefore wonderful gifts to either add to (you might have guessed it) a hamper or simply a little token when you are invited for a dinner party. By the way, if you are still looking for an awesome hamper, check out Flemings Restaurant, Longueville House, Nash 19 and Bradley's Off License as well as Urru in Bandon.

I am using here my own mincemeat that I make every year and I think it is awesome (obviously) and I haven't bought a jar (the last one I bought was simply yuk). If your mincemeat seems a bit chunky, mince it down more, maybe adding a tbsp of Cointreau (or orange juice if children will eat it) - very tasty and it will go further.  It took Mr T only 2 days to finish the whole batch of flapjacks - yes, they are that good.

Mincemeat Flapjacks

• 400g porridge oats (I use normal ones, but try a mix of jumbo and normal oats)
• 100g almond slivers
• 150g butter
• 3 tbsp honey (or golden syrup)
• 2 tbsp vegetable oil
• 400g mincemeat

Pre-heat the oven to 180C

Grease and line a 20 x 20cm square tin.

Mix the oats and almonds together in a bowl. Melt the butter, honey (or golden syrup) and oil in a pan over a medium heat. Pour onto the oats mix and stir until well combined.

Press half the mix into the tin,  using the back of a spoon to press it down firmly. Spread the mincemeat over the mix and top with the rest of the oat mix, again pressing down firmly with the back of the spoon. Bake in the oven for about 20 mins until golden brown.

Using a knife, mark squares and leave to cool for about 30 mins before cutting it into the marked squares.

You could also add shredded coconut, sesame seeds and other dried fruit like blueberries to the oat mix.

Enjoy xx

Afternoon Tea - Forgotten Skill????

Sunday afternoon tea was a tradition in my house when I was a child. My mum was just finished with clearing the dinner table and did the washing up and the aroma of fresh baked cakes and biscuits would go through the house. Around 4 o'clock we all sat in the living room (eating was normally not allowed in the living room) and we got tea while my parents had coffee and we enjoyed the fresh baked goodies my mum made earlier. Sunday was always a family day until I turned about 16 and thought of myself too cool to be sitting with my parents and eating cake - how I miss that now. 

Of course, you could buy some cake and biscuits - and there is nothing wrong with that (but please try to get it from a local bakery/shop) but you might be surprised how easy it actually is to make your own afternoon tea goodies. In this series, I will give you recipe for lovely afternoon treats and hopefully that will inspire you to start your own tradition.

The other Saturday, Sally (a very close crazy friend of mine) and I decided that it is time to start that tradition again - so we divided the work (she did savoury and I did the sweet part) and it was a great get together with the girls without the alcohol. We chatted away and enjoyed all the treats. Sally did an amazing array of sandwiches with a menu. She named each sandwich (Italian Sun, French Kiss, German Forest etc). They were amazing and I will write about savoury options a bit later in this series. 

Here is a recipe for a Peanut Butter Tart - I saw a recipe in a magazine for a traybake and didn't like the look of it but still thought that it sounded good, so I went ahead and changed it around and this is what I came up with. It is very sweet but you can adjust the sugar amount in this. Also, I used individual tart forms which I thought were a bit big, but Mr T loved them as they were. Just one word of warning, this mixture will burn if you don't keep stirring - and I mean stirring.....

Peanut Butter Tarts

Peanut Butter Tarts

• Sweet shortcrust pastry
• 1 can condensed milk
• 200g crunchy peanut butter 
• 100g light brown sugar
• 100g plain (dark) chocolate
• 100g milk chocolate
• 50g white chocolate (optional)

Preheat the oven to 160C.

On a slightly floured surface, roll out the sweet pastry and line your individual tart tins (you can also do one big one but I think it is nicer to have small ones). Cover the pastry with baking paper and fill with baking beans or coins (1,2 and 5cent only - they are great as they distribute heat evenly) and blindbake for about 10 mins. Remove the baking beans and baking paper and return to the oven until the pastry is cooked and slightly browned. Leave to cool.

In a heavyset saucepan, add the condensed milk, peanut butter and sugar and put on a low/medium heat. Stir until the sugar has dissolved. Turn up the heat and bring the mixture to a boil - keep stirring, especially from the bottom as the mixture will burn. Boil rapidly - still stirring - for about 10 mins until the mixture turns slightly golden brown. Take off the heat and stir for a further 5 mins. Leave to cool for 10 mins.

Fill the pastry cases with the mixture and leave to set in the fridge for about 30-60 mins. 

Set a heatproof bowl over a pan of simmering water, making sure that the base of the bowl does not touch the water. Melt the dark and milk chocolate together. Pour over the tarts to cover the peanut butter mix. Leave to set. 

Melt the white chocolate in the same way as the dark chocolate and drizzle patterns over the set dark chocolate. Leave to set, then remove from the tins. 

Bon Appetit

Turkish Delight - Delightful

Turkish Delight

When I talked to Vakkas of the Half Moon Cafe in Blarney about the Turkish Night - I had the idea of making my own Turkish Delight to bring in as a petit four after the dinner. So I searched and googled and read through all my cookbooks to find out how it is actually made. It is easier than you might think but harder than I hoped but nevertheless - challenges are there to be met. So I went ahead and came up with a recipe that I thought might work and wasn't too difficult either. If you look online, everyone will tell you that it is hard.......it isn't - at least not if you follow my recipe below. I tried it and it worked first time.... yippeeeee and trust me, it is so much better than shop bought stuff...

• 3 tbsp powered gelatin
• 60ml boiling water
• 660g caster sugar
• 500ml water
• 110g cornflour
• 2 tbsp liquid glucose
• 30ml rosewater (or less - depending on your taste)
• red food colouring
• icing sugar to toss the delight in

Line a square baking tin with parchment paper (baking paper) and set aside.

Gelatin

Sprinkle the gelatin over the hot water in a small jug and stand the jug in a pot of simmering water and stir until it dissolves - keep it that way.

Combine the sugar with 180ml of the extra water in a saucepan, stir over a low heat until the sugar has dissolved. Bring to a boil and boil without stirring until the temperature reaches 116C on a sugar thermometer. Keep it at 116C for about 5 minutes, without stirring. Remove from heat.

Yeap, a lot of sugar

Combine the remaining water (310ml) and cornflour in another saucepan. Whisk until smooth and place over a low heat and bring to a boil, stirring all the time, until it thickens a bit (that can happen quite fast - no despair if it looks as if it is too thick).

Cornflour - it makes Turkish Delight

Bit by bit, add the sugar syrup, gelatin and liquid glucose into the cornflour mixture. bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer, stirring all the time until the mixture thickens slightly (can take up to 10 mins). Remove from the heat, add the rosewater and enough food colouring to give it a rich rose colour (keep in mind that it is easier to add then to remove food colouring).

Cornflour milk

Great colour

Strain the mixture through a sieve into the lined baking tin. Stand until it cooled down and covered it with a sheet of slightly oiled parchment paper and stand overnight at room temperature. Remove the parchment paper, cut with a sharp knife (dust it with icing sugar after each cut) into square and dust generously with icing sugar (that keeps the squares from sticking together). Keep in an airtight container for up to 3 weeks

Walnut Cookies

I should bake a lot more than I do at the moment so I rampaged through my cupboards the other day to see what I had to transform into something yummylicious and found a bag of walnuts..... shouldn't we all eat more nuts??

These cookies are easy to make and are not too 'walnutty' in case you have people who are not too keen on them and you will have most of the ingredients in your store cupboard already so you don't have an armlong shopping list to consider. Just one word of warning, these are easy to make but even easier to eat.. they keep a few days in an airtight container. I give here butter as ingredient but you can use margarine instead, I just don't like margarine and therefor always write butter.

You will need:

• 115g butter(soft)
• 50 caster sugar
• 115g plain flour
• 2 tsp vanilla essence
• 115g walnuts (chopped)

Preheat oven to 150C/Gas 2. Line a baking sheet with baking parchment (or simply grease it).

Cream the butter until soft and add the sugar and continue to beat until smooth and fluffy. Stir in the remaining ingredients. Using a teaspoon, drop the batter onto the baking sheet (leave space in between as they spread a bit). Bake the cookies for about 25 mins until light golden. Transfer to a wired rack and continue with the rest (if you have several baking sheets, do it in one batch). You should get about 40 cookies from the amount above - depending on the size of the drops. ..... And yes, it is that easy :-)

Bon Appetit

Fudge with White Chocolate - Yummmmmm

I always love making sweets and chocolates - not that I am addicted to sweets myself, but I love making them and put them in little boxes as gifts to friends. It also helps that Mr T got a really sweet tooth. My first fudge a few weeks back was made with condensed milk and I wanted to try if I can make it just with sugar and cream - yes I can :-) Here is what I came up with:

• 500g caster sugar (I used golden caster sugar which gave a lovely caramel colour)
• 500ml cream (use double if you have)
• 3 tbsp liquid glucose (Tesco has a squeeze tub of glucose, much easier to handle)
• 140g white chocolate (chopped into biggish chunks - small ones will melt)

Line a square tin with baking paper.

Put the caster sugar, cream and liquid glucose in a pan. Heat slowly, stirring the ingredients until the sugar melts and stops feeling grainy. Turn up the heat and fast boil. Make sure to keep an eye on the pan as the mixture can boil over very quickly. Make the 'drop-test' after about 6-7 minutes by dropping a small amount into a glass of cold water. If it sets into a soft ball, you have the right consistency. Turn off the heat and keep stirring for a further 5 mins. Sprinkle the chopped chocolate into the mixture and swirl it through the mixture. Pour into the prepared tin and leave the fudge to set (best overnight). Turn out and cut into squares.

You can keep the fudge in an airtight container for up to 2 month (bet it won't tho) and please don't store it in the fridge as it will get soggy.

Bon Appetit