Suze Recipe...Scones!

A teatime favourite!

My friend Suze is an incredible baker...well that doesn't quite do her justice, she is quite an incredible person!  Anyway before I cause her much embarrassment let me tell you about her baking prowess.  Everything I have ever tasted that Suze makes is just mouth wateringly delicious.  Suze made me the most incredible chocolate cake for my birthday recently, it rendered me speechless, such was the scrumptiousness of it.  I am hoping to have the recipe for the chocolate cake (I am sure it must have a grander name than simply chocolate cake!) and I will share it with you as soon as I can. :) 

Just last week, Suze made yet another tantalising treat, beautiful, light and airy scones.  I cheekily asked her for the recipe so that I could try to recreate them here for you, together with photos!  I hope I've done the recipe justice! :)




You will need:

•   225g self-raising flour
•   80g butter (unsalted)
•   1 tablespoon caster sugar (I used golden in mine)
•   1/2 teaspoon baking powder
•   handful of currants
•   1 egg beaten with 5 teaspoons of milk (reserve a bit to    brush scone tops)
• 1/2 teaspoon salt (although I did not put any in my scones...cutting down!)

Method:

1. Sieve together the flour and baking powder (and salt if using) into a large mixing bowl

2. Rub the butter into the flour (it helps to cut the butter up into small pieces) until it resembles fine breadcrumbs

3. Stir in the sugar until evenly distributed

4. Add the currants

5. Add about half of the egg/milk mixture to get the dough to bind together (I used a spoon but you can use your hands)

6. Add a little more liquid if not holding together, don't pour in all the liquid or it will be too sticky

7. Turn the dough out onto a floured surface, and roll to a depth of approx 1 inch, using a cutter, cut our your scones. The quantity will depend on the size of your cutter, I used a 2 1/2 inch cutter and got 11 scones from the mix

8. Put onto a greased/floured baking sheet, brush tops with the egg/milk liquid (careful not to let it drip down the sides of the scones as this can prevent from rising evenly)

9. Put in oven for 10-12 mins Fan 180 C (please use a reliable conversion for Gas or other)

10. Allow to cool slightly on a wire rack before eating, then cut open spread with butter, jam (and maybe cream if you're feeling particularly decadent) and enjoy!

As with most scones and cakes, these are best eaten as fresh as possible!  Thank you Suze :) x

Just in case you need another pancake recipe...

...I've thrown my old recipes for pancakes out!  This recipe is easily the best I've ever tasted... Ingredients

110g plain flour 2 medium eggs 75ml water 200ml milk (semi) 2 tablespoons of melted butter

Method

1.  Put flour into a large mixing bowl. Make a well in the centre, break the eggs into it and whisk together. 2.  Combine the milk and water in a jug then gradually add to the batter while whisking continuously. Once all the liquid has been added, continue to whisk until the batter is smooth and creamy. 3.  Melt the butter and whisk 2 tbsp into the batter.  4.  Brush a 20cm frying pan with sunflower oil or vegetable oil, and heat until it is really hot, reduce the heat to medium and ladle about 3 tbsp of batter into the pan then immediately swirl around so the base is evenly covered. 5.  Cook for about 30 seconds or until the underside begins to turn golden, flip the pancake and briefly cook the other side. This recipe is totally gorgeous, producing very light, and lacey thin crepes!

Nothing to do with cakes or baking, but...

...as Valentine's Day approaches, most peoples thoughts will have turned to the subject of flowers ;)  I often struggle to keep my flowers looking fresh as a daisy after a few days, and 
have searched for tips to help keep them looking good for longer.

Try these tips to ensure your beautiful flowers look as good as the day they were bought:

1. Before placing flowers in water, remove excess leaves from the stems. This allows more water to get directly to the flower head. 

2. Always cut the flower stem at an angle. A bigger surface area means more water can be absorbed. 

3. Bacteria build-up in water encourages flowers to wilt. Ideally change water every day to prevent this. 

4. Add a 1p coin to the vase. The copper acts as a natural fungicide, killing mould and yeast and keeping the water cleaner for longer.

5. Try adding a pinch of salt or an aspirin to the water. Salt encourages plant cells to ‘drink’ more water and contains the ­nutrient potassium, while the salicylic acid in the aspirin will help to stop the growth of bacteria.

6. Pour in a splash of fizzy lemonade. The sugar in the drink provides nourishment to the bloom and slightly raises the acidity of the water, making it closer in pH to cell sap which, in turn, allows water to travel up the stem much more quickly. 

7. Another way to kill bacteria in plant water is by adding vodka or bleach. Make sure you add only a few drops of either otherwise your plant will die.

8. Keeping flowers cool is crucial. Direct sunlight and radiators are a definite no-no, drying them out faster.

9. Placing blooms close to fruit is also a bad idea. Fruit produces ethylene as it ripens, which causes flowers to mature quicker. Let the flowers have their own space. 

10. If an individual flower begins to wilt, remove it from the arrangement or it will spread bacteria and use up nutrients the other stems might need.

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Delicious toffee sauce to go with pancakes, ice-cream, sticky toffee pudding, meringues & berries.....

Home-made Delicious Toffee Sauce

How can something so simple be so delicious?  This sauce is so versatile and can add naughty delectability to just about any dessert dish.  You can even use to add a bit of something special to an everyday apple crumble, just spoon the sauce over the apple, then top with the crumble....Yum!  I adore it on pancakes too, so will be making some today!

You will need:

• 55g butter (unsalted is best, but salted will give you the In Vogue Salted Caramel taste)
• 80ml double cream (you can try to go a bit healthier with this and use the lower fat varieties!)
• 110g dark brown soft sugar (the darer the sugar the darker the sauce, so if you prefer a lighter colour then use light brown sugar)

Method:

1.  Put butter, cream and sugar into a pan over a medium heat
2.  Stir constantly until mixture bubbles and sugar is dissolved
3.  Drizzle over the dessert of your choice whilst still hot; or allow to cool slightly and pour into a jar with a  good seal/lid, store in fridge until you need it.

When I make a batch of this sauce, I usually have it in the fridge for about 1 month, just taking out small amounts as and when required and heating in microwave in a small jug or/ramekin for about 15-20 seconds.  I should also add that I always double up on the ingredients to make a larger quantity, which is maybe why it lasts me a month!  It is superb with the pancake recipe :)

Simple to make...Cookie Dough Truffle Pops holder

Materials

You will need :

• an oblong cardboard box (imagine a breadsticks box, similar dimensions to one of those boxes, or even a shoe box)
• Scissors
• some scrunched up (clean) paper to put inside your box if it is not sturdy, this will strengthen the box as the pops can be quite heavy especially if you have 24-30 of them!
• 1 lolly stick to act as a template

Instructions:

• stuff the scrunched up paper into the box to make it sturdier, and seal the end of the box that was once open
• using the scissors, make slots large enough for a lolly stick to be slotted into; ensuring that they are spaced far enough apart to allow for a cookie dough pop with chocolate covering to stand upright, without touching its neighbouring pop

That's all there is to it!  You can reuse the holder providing it isn't marked with this batch of cookie dough truffle pops!  If it will not wipe clean, you will need to discard and make another the next time you make more pops!

Cookie Dough Truffle Pops

Cookie Dough Truffle Pops...

Now I'll be honest with you, the idea of these instantly appealed to my sense of 'Cook's Perks'...you know that moment when you have the bowl you've mixed up your cake batter or biscuit/cookie dough in?  You are faced with the choice (difficult sometimes!) of either using your bowl scraper to remove every last remnant of batter/dough to boost up your baking quantities; or getting the remnants out and just eating them, raw so to speak!

For those of you who worry about the raw egg in the unbaked batter/dough, you can have total peace of mind with these delectable treats...no eggs were used in the making of them!  These cookie dough pops are HUGE in the USA, and they even have a National Cake Pop Day (1st February)  - whilst these are not cakes, they are a variation on the theme of, and cookie dough is almost a national delicacy in America anyway!

They are very easy to make, but a little time consuming to 'construct' into pops.  They can quite easily be made into a truffle (minus the lolly stick, as simply as that!), For those with nut allergies, or worried that your guests may have allergies, then omit the peanut butter from the recipe, it will make little difference to the consistency as so little is used, you could maybe add a little more butter if the mixture needs a bit more binding together at the creaming together of butter and sugar stage.  So here's the recipe, do let me know how you get on, and what variations you come up with!

Depending on the occasion you can decide on dark chocolate (for a more sophisticated petit four after a nice meal); or milk or white chocolate with colourful decoration in the shape of 100's and 1000's, or anything that takes your fancy, for parties and younger cake pop fans!

There are several recipes online currently, and mostly they share the same ingredients, some add bicarbonate of soda to the mix (not sure why, as they are not baked so no need for a rising agent), some add different coverings and decorations, some add flavourings.  I would say that you are limited by your own imagination with these, but do start off with the basic dough and work from there before adding your own touches to the pops.

Makes 24-30 depending on the size of your pops

110g unsalted butter  at room temperature and softened (not melted)
175g soft light brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 tablespoon smooth peanut butter (optional)
200g  plain flour
125g chocolate chips (or finely chopped chocolate)
50ml milk
200g melted chocolate (use either dark, milk or white)
12-15 lolly sticks cut in half to make 24-30 shorter lolly sticks (you can even write a little message on each lolly stick depending on the occasion!)


1.  Put sugar and butter into bowl, beat until light and fluffy
2.  Beat in vanilla extract, peanut butter if using, and when well beaten, stir in flour and milk. Stir until the dough is smooth.
3.  Stir in chocolate chips until well distributed in dough
4.  If the dough is very sticky (you will need to gather up a small amount and try to roll in your hands), add more flour, mix in until well combined.  The mixture needs to be firm, not sticky.
5.  When you are happy with the consistency of the dough, spoon small amounts of the dough onto a prepared tray (lined with greaseproof paper), try to get each amount roughly the same size, you could use some sort of measure for this to get uniform amounts.  I used a 1 tablespoon measure and made the amount slightly heaped.  At this stage it does not matter that you have very roughly shaped mounds.  Once all cookie dough is on the tray in small mounds, put in freezer to chill for about 30 minutes.  Any longer and they will begin to freeze and rolling into balls will quite painful on your hands!
6.  While the dough is chilling, break the chocolate into pieces into a glass bowl over a pan of boiling water, and melt the chocolate.  Remove from pan of water once melted, and leave to cool slightly.
7.  As soon as 30 minutes has elapsed, remove the chilled cookie dough mounds from freezer, and roll each mound into a ball between the palms of your hands.  Dip the cut end of the lolly stick into the melted chocolate and insert into the cookie dough ball (this should secure the stick into the cookie dough ball).  At this stage, you can just sit the cookie dough ball plus stick back onto the tray, awaiting its final chocolate coating
8.  Using a teaspoon, spoon the melted chocolate over the cookie dough ball, holding it by the stick, turn it round so that it runs all over the ball, and excess drips back into the bowl.  Then either lightly dip into a saucer of 100's and 1000's or other decoration, or sprinkle them on to the still liquid chocolate.  In a couple of minutes the chocolate will set (this will largely depend on the heat of the kitchen, the heat of the chocolate, and the coldness of the cookie dough ball).  As soon as the chocolate looks dry, put the lolly stick into holder (see instructions to make a simple one, as the acrylic holders which are purpose made are very expensive!), and leave to set completely (about half an hour or so).

These should keep nice and fresh in the fridge for 1 week, in an airtight container.  You can also put 3-4 of them into a nice cellophane bag tied with ribbon/raffia for a gift to someone special!