Custard creams

This recipe is from the River Cottage Handbook No. 8 : Cakes by Pam Corbin.
I have had very good comments about these custard creams so here is the recipe.

Variations: Jammy dodgers; remove the custard powder in the mixture and instead of the custard filling just use any jam of your choice.

Bourbon biscuits; instead of custard powder in the main mixture, use cocoa powder or drinking chocolate powder.
Instead of making a custard filling, just make the same thing but with either drinking chocolate powder or cocoa powder.

Ingredients (for the main dough):
175g of plain flour
75g of icing sugar
125g of salted butter (or unsalted and add a pinch of salt) cut into small cubes
1 egg yolk
1tbsp of custard powder

Ingredients (for the custard filling):
75g of softened unsalted butter
75g of icing sugar
25g custard powder

Equipment:
2 large baking trays, lined with baking parchment
Plain or crinkled cutter (choose your desired size, I would go with small -medium)
Heart, square, animal shape or any other of your choice (make sure that half of the biscuits are slightly bigger than the other half)

Directions:
Firstly, sift the flour, salt, custard powder and icing sugar into a large mixing bowl.

Then, add the butter and rub together until it becomes like breadcrumbs. Next, add the egg yolk and work it together until it becomes a smooth dough.

Leave it in the fridge for 25 - 30 minutes wrapped in cling film.
(You can do all this by hand or you can simply put all of the ingredients for the dough into a food processor and  blitz until it is a dough.)

Preheat the oven to Gas mark 3 (170°C). Divide the dough into two equal portions. Roll out one portion until it is about the thickness of about two fifty pence pieces.
Cut out the base rounds and then do the same with the tops (the other portion of dough) but cut them out with the slightly larger cutter.

Lay them gently onto the trays and bake them in the oven for 15 - 20 minutes or  until golden brown and crisp.

Meanwhile, beat together the ingredients for the custard filling in a medium sized bowl until creamy and smooth.

Sandwich the biscuits together using a pallette knife to spread the custard filling.
Then I decided to sprinkle them with icing sugar.

And then feel free to enjoy your biscuits!

Many thanks,
Rosie

Giant vanilla and white chocolate cookies

By
Makes 12

Prep time: 5 mins
Cook time: 15 mins

Ingredients:
2 cups All Purpose Flour
¼ cup of Cacao Powder
1 tsp Salt
1 tsp Baking Soda
1/4 tsp Ground Cinnamon
2 Eggs
1 tsp Vanilla Extract
1 cup of Unsalted Room Temperature Butter
¾ cup of Granulated Sugar
¾ of a Cup of Brown Sugar
2 cups White Chocolate Chips

Process,

1) Preheat your oven to 375 degrees.

2) Combine together the first 4 ingredients and set aside.

3) In a mixer bowl fitted with a paddle attachment, cream together the butter and both sugars. Add the eggs and vanilla and mix together until all creamy and combined. Scrape down the sides of the bowl to make sure everything is mixed well.

4) Add the dry ingredients and mix just to combine. Add the chocolate chips and mix just to distribute them through the batter.

5) Using a large ice cream scoop that’s the equivalent of ¼ cup, drop the cookie dough 4 inches apart onto an parchment lined baking sheet and bake for about 15 minutes or until deeply golden on the bottom.

6) Cool for 5 minutes on the baking sheet then remove onto wire rack and cool completely.

Recipe By: Laura Vitale

Thank you for reading this post,
Rosie

Hello Readers!

I hope you have had a good day!
Please feel free to comment anything. I am always happy to hear how I can improve this blog and my writing.

Got to go,
Many thanks,
Rosie

Date Oaties

Hello readers,

Today, I was offered a delicious date oat flapjack by my Grandma. Luckily I was offered the recipe. Here it is;

1 pound of porridge oats,
2 oz of flour (plain or white spelt)
4 oz of honey (or agave nectar/syrup)
6 oz of margarine (or butter)
6 oz of light brown sugar (optional)
8 oz of cooked dates

Melt the honey, margarine and sugar (depending on whether you are using it or not) together in a saucepan.
Add the oats and flour and mix thoroughly.
Using a wooden spoon, press out half of the mixture into a lined, greased, deep tin.
Measure out the dates and blitz until course, squishy crumbs in a food processor.
Top the dates with the remaining oats and flatten down.
Bake at Gas Mark 4 for about half an hour or until golden brown and crisp on top.
Cut into squares or bars.

Please comment below if you have a go at these at home!

Many thanks,
Rosie

My low fat pan fried chicken

It is very low fat and it is not deep fried. And my family says it is amazing! Give it a go if you want a quick 20 minute meal for as many people as you like!

Ingredients:

3-6 chicken breasts,
Spices and herbs e.g Smoked paprika, rosemary, nigella seed and turmeric.

You'll need:

A rolling pin,
Two pieces of greaseproof paper,
A medium size pan,
 Fry light spray,
 Pestle and mortar,
A fork.

Preparation:

Place the chicken breasts on to one of the two pieces of greaseproof paper. Leave it to rest for a while until it is at room temperature.

Then, place the other piece of greaseproof paper on top, using the rolling pin, gently flatten out the chicken until it is reasonably thin.

After that, heat up the pan and spray it with Fry Light.
Lay the chicken in the sizzling pan.

Cook until golden and repeat on the other side.
Cut into strips and serve hot or cold with salad or rice.

If you have a go at this, please comment below. I would love to hear all about it. Maybe even post a picture (if you can! I am not sure though!)

Many thanks,
Rosie

My chocolate, almond and coconut muesli

This is what it looks like before it is mixed

This muesli goes perfectly with yoghurt  or just with ice cold milk. There are choices of things you could put in muesli but this is my simple recipe. I've given the recipe as proportions so you can make as much or as little as you like.

Ingredients

60%-80% of the volume of the container of bran flakes and rolled oats

30% sliced almonds and desiccated coconut

10%-20%  sultanas

5%-10% chopped chocolate

Preparation 

Place the bran flakes and oats into a air tight container. Crush the bran flakes a little. Then add the nuts and the sultanas. Finally, top with the chopped chocolate. Shake until fully combined, then serve in a small bowl with yoghurt or ice cold milk.

(I told you it was simple!)

Daily Helpful Little Tips

If you are not sure if the baking time on your recipe is correct, then the best thing to do is bake them for five minutes LESS than it says, and if they are not done you can always bake them again.

(My sister helped with this idea!)