Red Brolly

Eat:: French Vanilla Custard Tartlets

Go to any pattisserie in France and you'll be bombarded with a window full of amazing cakes, flans, croissants, danishes,  and fruit tarts. They look so delicious you just can't simply stop at one. You just have to sit in the cafe window, sip on some coffee, nibble on one of these little delicacies and watch the French street life pass you by.
I decided to make mine without the traditional fruit on the top, but it would be very easy for you to just add some raspberries or blueberries on top of the custard.
These traditional French tarts look like they could be quite complicated, but they are very simple to make really. You can either make your own pastry (which I'll show you how) or you can just use some of the store bought pastry to make them even simpler.

Makes 6 tartlets or 1 large 9" tart

For the Sweet Pastry:

1 1/2 cups plain flour (all purpose flour)
1/2 cup icing sugar (confectioners' sugar)
1/4 tsp. salt
9 Tabs cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
1 large egg yolk

For the vanilla pastry cream

2 cups whole milk
6 large egg yolks
1/2 cup sugar
1/3 cup cornstarch
1 1/2 pieces of vanilla bean (or 1 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract)
3 1/2 Tabs unsalted butter, but into pieces and at room temp.

The pastry is lovely and crumply and not too sweet.

To make the pastry

1. Butter your tart pans. Make sure they are the ones with a removable bottom

2. Put all dry ingredients in a food processor and pulse to combine.

3. Add the pieces of unsalted butter over the top of the dry ingredients, and pulse until the butter is cut in and the mixture looks like coarse meal. If you don't have a food processor, you can do it the old school way, and use your fingertips to rub in the butter. It should look like the photo below when finished.

4. Add the yolk to the food processor and process in long pulses until the dough just comes together. Again, you could also just mix this by hand.

5. Use your hands to bring the pastry together until it forms a ball. Becareful not to handle the dough too much.

6. Wrap in clingfilm and leave it to rest in the refrigerator for 30mins.

7. Roll out your dough until it's about .5cm thick.

8. Press the dough evenly over the bottom and up the sides of the pan. You want to keep it crumbly here, it doesn't have to be perfect. Freeze crust for 30 minutes.

9. Preheat your oven to 180 degrees Celsius (375 F).

10. Prick the bottom or your tart cases with a fork. Blind bake your pastry cases for 25 mins, until lightly golden brown.

11. Take your cases out of the oven and leave to cool whilst you make the vanilla custard.

To make the Vanilla Pastry Cream

1. Boil the milk and the vanilla (if using beans, scrape the seeds into the milk and include the pods)in a small saucepan.

2. As this is heating, in a medium saucepan whisk the yolks with the sugar and cornstarch, until thick and well blended.

3. Still whisking, drizzle in about 3/4 cup of the hot milk in order to warm the yolks. Continue whisking as you slowly add the rest of the milk.

Tip: Try not to scald your milk, or you will have clumps in your cream. Also be sure to gradually add your eggs so they won't cook in the hot milk.

4. Put the pan over medium heat and whisk constantly, bringing it to a boil. Keep mixture at a boil, continuing to whisk, for about 1-2 minutes, and remove from heat.

5. Let sit for 5 minutes, then whisk in the butter until they are fully incorporated. The pastry cream will be smooth and silky, not clumpy.

6. Scrape cream into a bowl and let it cool off. You can place a piece of plastic wrap right on the surface of the cream so you don't get a skin. Refrigerate until it is cold and ready to use.

Assembling your tartlets

1. When you are ready to serve your tartlets, pour the cooled pastry cream into the tart shells. I then grated fresh nutmeg on the top of the custard.

2. You could make a more traditional fruit tarts by adding fruits of your choice over the top. I find that raspberries, blackberries, strawberries, kiwi fruit and bluberries work best.

 Your tartlets are now ready to be served.




Yummo! Now let's sit down and have a cuppa and think of Paris.

 

Eat:: French inspired lavender infused cupcakes

 

I was busy looking for ideas on how to use lavender when I came across this recipe for Lavender infused cupcakes by Nigella Lawson. She decided to create a recipe for lavender cupcakes for serving at a coffee morning  in order to raise money for the London charity, Lavender Trust at Breast Cancer Care which was set up in memory of a friend who had passed away from breast cancer. You can find the original recipe in her book- Forever Summer.

I thought that Lavender infused cupcakes sounded interesting, and so I thought that I would give it a go. Lavender has traditionally been used as a flavouring throughout France, so I thought that it fitted in perfectly with our theme. I've never tried lavender flavoured food before so I was definitely keen to make these.

The recipe calls for lavender sugar...now don't be scared, it's very easy to make. Just take a few sprigs of lavender and mix it with some sugar. Leave it in a jar for a few days, when ready to use just sieve out the lavender. Nigella made her cupcakes with royal icing, but I decided to just make a buttercream icing for mine.

Makes 12 cupcakes

• 125g self-raising flour
• 125g very soft unsalted butter
• 125g lavender sugar sieved
• 2 eggs
• pinch salt
• few tablespoons milk

For the Buttercream icing

• 3 cups icing sugar (confectioners' sugar)
• 1 cup butter
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 to 2 tablespoons cream (whipping)
• purple food colouring

1. Preheat the oven to 200ºC/gas mark 6 and line a 12 cupcake tin with paper cases.
2. Remove butter, eggs and milk from the fridge in time to make sure they're at room temperature.
3. Put all the ingredients for the cupcakes, except for the milk, into the bowl of a food processor fitted with a double-bladed knife, and blitz till totally combined.
4. Process again, adding enough milk to make a batter with a smooth, flowing texture, then remove the blade and spoon and scrape the batter equally into the waiting cupcake cases.
5. Remember the cakes rise as they bake. There is enough mixture to fill each case adequately even if you panic when you first look at it.
6. Bake for about 20 minutes, by which time the sponge should be cooked through and springy to the touch.
7. Remove from the oven, leave for 5 minutes or so, then arrange the cupcakes in their paper cases on a wire rack to cool.

To make the icing

1.  Mix together sugar and butter. Mix on low speed until well blended and then increase speed to medium and beat for another 3 minutes.
2. Add vanilla and cream and continue to beat on medium speed for 1 minute more, adding more cream if needed for spreading consistency. 
3. Dye the mixture a faint lilac with a spot or two of food colouring.  In Nigella's words..."Go carefully, though. We want pastel serenity here, not 70s' 'record-sleeve murk'."
4. When cupcakes are cool, carefully ice each cupcake.
5. Top each pretty-pale cupcake with a little sprig of lavender before the icing's set dry.

You could also top the cupcakes with some pretty edible violets or pansies. They're very easy to make. Carefully wash your flowers and leave to dry. When dry, brush petals with some egg white and sprinkle with caster sugar. Leave to dry. When completely dry, place on top of your cupcakes.

I must say....the lavender wasn't over powering at all. They were lovely and light and delicate. And it was worth the effort of making the lavender sugar. Give them a go.

 

...Bronwyn

Eat:: Decadent French toast with cream cheese topping

 

Eat:: Fluffy Bunny Tail Meringue pops

Aren't these the cutest little things? Little fluffy bunny tails made from meringue. The little ones will love them this Sunday.

 

Very easy to make. Here's what you'll need...

4 large egg whites

Pinch of salt

220g (1 cup) caster sugar

1/4 tsp cream tartare/ or egg white powder (optional- it just makes your meringues keep their shape better)

Cake pop sticks

Sprinkles

 

1.    Preheat your oven to 120 degrees Celsius.

2.    Separate the egg whites into a small bowl. 

3.    Add the salt, cream of tartare and whisk the egg whites with an electric mixer or beaters until soft peaks form.

4.    Start adding the sugar, small amounts at a time.  Give a short whisk after each new tablespoon full until all of the sugar is incorporated.  Whisk for a further 2-3 minutes or until the mixture looks beautiful and glossy.  Test if the sugar has dissolved by rubbing some mixture between your fingers.  If it is silky smooth, stop whisking.  If the mixture feels grainy, keep whisking and test again in another minute.

5.   Cover baking tray with greasproof baking paper. Spoon the meringue mixture onto the tray in round, fluffy bunny tail shapes. Insert cake pop stick into meringue and cover in sprinkles.

6.    Place the meringues into the oven and reduce the temperature to 90 degrees Celsius. Bake the meringues for fifty (50) minutes.  The meringues are ready if they lift off the baking paper with a knife. If not ready, keep checking every 10 minutes, otherwise leave to cool in the oven. That last little tip is key in making meringues...when ready turn the oven off and leave the meringues to cool in the oven. This will make them crispy and crunchy on the outside and soft and fluffy in the middle.

(Note: You don't need to make them as meringue pops, they look just as good without the stick)

 

 

Eat:: Warm Cinnamon Walnut scrolls...perfect for Easter morning

Looking for something to bake for Easter morning? You must try these. The smell of cinnamon and brown sugar wafting through the house as these scrolls were baking was very tempting!

And they must be eaten fresh and warm.

They don't take too long to make and they are simply delicious. Warm and buttery with cinnamon brown sugar, seeping with sweet dizzles of icing and topped with freshly toasted walntus. A naughty indulgence!

Makes about 10 scrolls

2 1/2 cups (300g) plain flour

100g butter

1 tbsp sugar

25g dry yeast

1 egg

1/2 cup (100ml) milk

 

For the filling:

100g butter

1/4 cup firmly packed (150g) brown sugar

1 tbsp ground cinnamon

 

Icing

1/2 cup icing (powdered) sugar

1 tbsp water

1/2 cup walnuts

Preheat oven to 200 degrees C. Prepare a large tray, lined with baking paper.

Combine the yeast and sugar. Add teh egg, softened butter and milk. Sift in the flour and knead the dough until butter is thoroughly combined. Roll out the dough to make a thin sheet, about 2cm thick.

To make the filling, mix the butter, brown sugar and cinnamon to form a paste. Spread 3/4 of paste evenly all over the dough- right to the edges. Roll up the dough and cut into 10 slices.

Transfer them to your tray and flatten slightly. Dollop the remaining 1/4 of the cinnamon paste over the top of the scrolls. Leave to rise for 30 mins.

Bake in oven for about 15-20 mins.

Whilst scrolls are in the oven, roughly chop the walnut pieces. Take a fry pan and over a low-medium heat, lightly toast the walnuts. In a separate bowl, combine icing sugar and water, mix until smooth. You may need to add a little more water if required.

When scrolls are ready, take out of oven, and whilst still hot, lightly drizzle with icing and top with freshly toasted walnut pieces.

Serve immediately!

These would even be great for when your expecting visitors for a cuppa.

Eat:: Fresh, homemade rustic scones

There is nothing better than to sit down with a cup of tea, your latest copy of your favourite mag and eat a freshly made, warm scone with lovely, fresh strawberry jam, dollops of cream...double cream of course, and freshly cut strawberries. So simple, yet a real indulgence.

So on the weekend I treated myself and made some scones. I would've loved to have shared them with you, but you'll have to just settle for the recipe.

When making things like a simple cake, biscuits and scones I always revert back to the C.W.A (Country Women's Association) for their recipes.  Our mother's and our grandmother's used these recipes for generations, made from scatch, and shared among friends. I just think they know what they are talking about.

Ingredients (C.W.A's official recipe for the Royal Easter Show)

750g (6 cup) S.R. flour
1 teaspoon salt
250ml (1 cup) cream (pouring cream- 35% fat)
500ml approx (2 cups) milk

 

Method

Heat oven to 220C.

Sift dry ingredients.

Cut cream into dry ingredients with a flat bladed knife, then gradually add milk until there is enough to form a soft dough. Save a small amount of milk to brush on top of the scones.

Work quickly and gently, gather dough together on a floured bench. Try to handle the dough as little as possible shape the scone dough into a rectangle about 3cm thick. Try not to handle and overknead the dough as you will end up with tough, hard scones. C.W.A tip: Leave dough to rest for 5 mins

Using a round scone cutter, cut the dough and place each scone next to each other in a lined/greased tray.

C.W.A tip: Use a tray with high sides and place close together. Scones that cook up, rather than out, will be lighter and fluffier.

Lightly brush the tops of the scones with some extra milk using a pastry brush.

Bake for 10-15 mins, until scones are cooked through and tops are lightly browned.

Serve immediately with strawberry jam and dollops of double cream.

C.W.A tip: for scones with a hard top, leave to cool on a rack. For scones with a softer top, cover with a tea towel.

Do you have any tips for making scones?

How do you like to eat your scones? Why don't you make some this weekend?

 

 

Eat :: Raspberry Heart Valentine's Macarons

Happy Valentine's Day! Are you having a lovely day? Have you received something special? Well, here's my gift to you...some yummy, scrumptious raspberry heart macarons. They are delicious! Filled with a raspberry and white chocolate ganache. Do you love macarons as much as I do. I find though I can never just stop at one. They are so delicious, that one never seems quite enough. Don't you agree? I had some berries left over from our berry picking expedition and thought that I'd make these to share with the stitching girls.

Would you like to make these today? And don't be frightened off because they are macarons...you can do it. They're not as bad as everyone says ;-)

Here's what you'll need:-

Ingredients 

(makes about 15 macarons)

100g aged egg whites (aged just means that the egg whites are at room temperature.)

110g almond meal

200g icing sugar

50g caster sugar

1/2 tsp salt

To decorate:  pink food colouring, sprinkles

For the ganache:

200g white chocolate, finely chopped

120ml (roughly 1/2 cup) pouring cream (you know- the non thickened stuff)

1 tsp pure vanilla extract

1 cup raspberries

Method:

1. Print out the heart template sheet. Place it under the baking paper and usign a marker, trace around each heart shape. This will provide you with a template to use so your macarons are of consistent size. So you don't get marker on your macarons, turn the baking paper over.

Click here to Download your Red Brolly PDF heart template.

2. Place icing sugar, salt and almond meal in food processor and pulse for about 30 seconds to remove any lumps. Place in a large mixing bowl and set aside.

3. Using an electric mixer, beat egg whites in a medium mixing bowl foe a few minutes until it reaches soft peaks (if using a Kitchen Aid- put on setting 3 or 4).

4. Put the mixer on high speed (about 7 on the Kitchen Aid), gradually add the caster sugar and beat until it reaches stiff peaks.It should be very dry and stay inside the whisk attachment.

Add any colouring, and turn it up to setting 8, for 1 minute to give it a final mix and to show it who's boss!

5. Add the dry mixture (almond meal and icing sugar) to your meringue and mix. You can be quite rough and quick at first as you want to break down the bubbles in the egg white, then, as it starts to come together, start to mix carefully. This is the crucial stage where things can go sour. Don't mix it enough and you end up with rough, bumpy, dry macarons...mix it too much and your macarons will go runny and will spread everywhere. If this happens there is no recovery. Over mix it and you may as well throw them out and start again.

Here's the tip to look out for. The mixture will start to become shiny and the most common tip is that  the mixture should flow like lava and a streak of mixture spread over the surface of the rest of the mixture should disappear after about 30 seconds.

6. When you are happy with the consistency of your macarons, place mixture into a piping bag and using your template, pipe the mixture onto your baking paper.

7. Decorate with sprinkles

8. Leave to dry for at least half an hour, so that when you press the surface of one gently it does not stick to your finger. This helps prevent any cracking and helps the all important "feet" to form on the macaron base.

9. Preheat your oven to 140-150°C (285-300°F). Bake for about 20-25 minutes. Carefully test if the base of the shell is ready by gently lifting one and if it's still soft and sticking to the baking paper, then it needs to bake for a few minutes longer.

10.Remove from the oven and cool on the tray for a few minutes, then gently remove from the sheet and place on a wire rack to cool completely.

Prepare your ganache:

1. Mix raspberries together in a food processor. Push through a seive, using the back of a spoon, so you don't get any pulp or seeds into your ganache.

2. Place chopped chocolate, vanilla and cream in a heatproof bowl, slowly melt over a double boiler.  Using a whisk, gently combine mixture until it is smooth.  Add raspberry sauce. Set aside to cool until it is thick enough to pipe.

When ganache is cool enough, sandwich between two macarons. Place in airtight container and put in fridge to chill. Serve at room temperature.

Happy Baking!

From my kitchen to yours :: Fudgy Chocolatey Rocky Road

This Rocky Road is delicious! Everytime this recipe is made, the Rocky Road doesn't last long and I get requests for it all the time. I get a lot of people asking me for this recipe and I've shared it with you before several years ago, but for some reason the link has broken and I've lost the post altogether, so I thought that I would re-visit the recipe.


It makes a great handmade gift to pop into a Christmas basket or Jingle cone- or bring it out at the next quilting group.

It's a closely kept family recipe...so guard it with your life! I know that the person who shared it with me spent lots of time in the kitchen experimenting- it was a tough job, but somebody had to do it!

Ingredients

• 200g good-quality dark chocolate- roughly chopped
• 20g unsalted butter
• A generous 1/3 cup (120g) sweetened condensed milk
• 50g chopped unsalted pistachio nuts
• 50g chopped  dried cranberries
• 75g roughly chopped shortbread biscuits
• 200g marshmallows- roughly chopped
• 150g white chocolate- roughly chopped

 

Method

1. Grease an 8cm x 20cm bar pan. Line with baking paper, leaving some overhanging.

2. Place dark chocolate, butter and condensed milk in a heatproof bowl over a pan of simmering water. Allow to melt, then stir gently until smooth. Remove from heat and cool slightly. Stir in nuts, biscuit, marshmallows, cranberries and 100g chopped white chocolate. Spread mixture into pan.

3. Melt remaining 50g white chocolate as before. Drizzle over fudge, chill for 2-3 hours in the fridge, then cut into squares.

Yum...looking great! Now pop in the fridge to chill for a few hours. When ready slice into squares.

A handmade gift is extra special, it means that somebody took extra time to think of you and to make you something. I love it!

Speaking of Christmas...I was sent these gorgeous photos during the week from one of my followers that I just had to share them with you. These beautiful photos below come from Delores in Sweden, they make me want a white Christmas!

Thank you for sharing Delores, it looks a beautiful place to live.

 

From my kitchen to yours :: Bling your coffee cups with these Christmas cookies

Remember when I showed you how to make Dutch Christmas cookies using a traditional gingerbread recipe? I said that I was going to show you another way to use the recipe. Well this is it...TA-DA!

Aren't they cute? Don't you think they would be a perfect gift for someone, or when people drop in for a cuppa? Doens't your coffee cup look fab? I'm teling you this is the way to bling your coffee cup!

They are really very easy to make...I promise, and I think they look pretty good too.

All you need to do is to follow the recipe and make the gingerbread as I showed you....oh, and you'll also need a box of pre-bought fondant icing, and some jam.

Once you have your gingerbread dough, here's what you do...

Step 1: Roll out the dough to about 1 cm thick

Step 2: Cut out your shape using miniature cookie cutters

Step 3: Place your cookies on a tray lined with greasproof paper

Step 4: Using a sharp knife, cut a slit into each of the cookie- stop at about half way. Slightly spread the slit apart using yoru knife (remember that the dough will spread when cookie and the slit will close slightly).

Step 5: Bake your biscuits in a 180 degree oven for about 10-12 mins, or until they go slightly golden brown around the edges. Take out of the oven and leave to cool completely. Whilst your cookies are cooling, place 2 tablespoons of jam in a microwave container and heat for about 1 minute, until the jam is runny.

Step 6: Roll out your fondant- you can colour it if you like. Use the same cookie cutter as you did to make the biscuits, press into the fondant.

Step 7: Using a pstry brush, brush a small amount of your runny jam onto the biscuit (this will help the fondant to stick).

Step 8: Carefully place the fondant onto your jam covered cookie. All you need to do now is use your sharp knife to cut the slit in the fondant. Leave to dry and...Finished! Your coffee cups this Christmas are going to be fabulous! Your coffee cup has been blinged!

You can do different shapes too...

Gingerbread men...stars...reindeer would look cute too!

From my kitchen to yours :: Dutch Christmas Cookies

For those of you who don't know, I have a Dutch connection in the family. There's a whole celebration the Dutch have which culminates on the eve of the 5th December, which is the night Sinterklaas (the Dutch equivalent to Santa Claus) and his helper Zwarte Piet (Black Pete) leave presents and lollies for the children (If you're Dutch, please forgive my interpretation- it's a very short description).

 

I'm told that it's a huge celebration in the Netherlands, with Sinterklaas arriving by boat from Spain in mid November, to streets lined with people from the town come to welcome him and Zwarte Piet. 

 
The tradition varies between families, but I'm told that each night you leave your clogs at your door after Sinterklaas has arrived you will receive lollies in return along with traditional Dutch biscuits called "Pepernoten"...but you need to be singing traditional Sinterklaas songs. Which brings me to the point of this post. Today's recipe is for traditional Christmas Cookies, which I'm told by a reliable source (hopefully) that they taste quite like the Dutch biscuits-"Pepernoten."

These Christmas biscuits create the most delicious, Christmassy smell when baking. It really does make the house smell like wafts of Christmas. They taste a bit like gingerbread, but are softer and have a hint of extra spice :)

Today I'll share with you how to make these traditional Christmas biscuits, but I do have another use for this recipe which I'll share with you in a later post.

This will make (depending on the size of your cookie cutter) about 30-35 cookies.

What you'll need is a rolling pin and some miniature Christmas cookie cutters. You'll also need...

Ingredients:-

60g butter

160ml golden syrup

260g plain flour

1 tsp bicarbonate soda

1/2 tsp ground ginger

1/2 tsp ground cardamon

1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

1/2 tsp ground cloves

1/4 cup mixed peel, chopped

1 tablespoon cocoa

1 tablespoon milk

Method

Sift all dry ingredients together. Add peel.

Melt the butter and the golden syrup together. When melted remove from heat and leave to cool slightly.

 

Add the milk to the dry ingredients and the cooled butter mixture.

Stir until combined. Leave to stand for about 1 hr. To speed the process up a bit, you can chill the dough in the fridge for 30 mins.

Heat oven to 180 degrees celcius and grease oven trays.

Once dough is rested, knead slightly until dough looses its stickiness.
Roll out dough out on a floured surface until 8mm thick. Using your cookie cutter, cut out desired shape.

 

 Bake in a moderate oven for 10 mins, or until they are golden brown on the edges. Cool.

Once cool, dust with sifted icing sugar.

Voila! Traditional Dutch "Pepernoten" Christmas Biscuits. They would look great in one of my Christmas Goodie bags ;-) Now I don't know if they taste like they are supposed to, but there were none left at the end of the day and I got the thumbs up from the Dutchman!