Making marzipan fruits and Christmas baking

One thing I like to do when the occasion arises is to make marzipan fruit.

I don’t think I learnt to make these either from my mother or school; I think it must have been a book or leaflet.

For those of you who have never tried this is what you need. Some marzipan, of course, a grater (the small side), a skewer, some food colouring and cloves.

In this case I used orange colouring to get orange marzipan. I used to use cochineal and yellow colouring but the Asda red and yellow colouring when mixed gave me brown. I would not recommend Asda’s food colouring.

To get the full range of fruits I had in mind I created yellow, orange, green and pink marzipan. Be prepared to wash your hands at frequent intervals, between the different colours and whenever they begin to feel sticky when forming the fruit.

To make an orange: roll a piece of marzipan round and round in your hand as you did as a child with plasticine until you get a perfect ball. Then roll it gently round and round on the small side of the grater to create the texture of rind. The add a clove in the top.The ball on the right is before and the other is completed.

You make a lemon in the same way but need, obviously to make more of a lemon shape.

I also made a banana, four flattened sides, tapered and curved and here you do need something I didn’t mention before, namely a touch of cocoa for the colouring. I use the green marzipan for apples. Again you make a ball and I like to coat one half with a dab of red colouring (shades of Snow White!). You can stick a thin clove the other way round for a stalk and I like to mark the bottom with a skewer to suggest the part where the flower was attached. Of course a small change in shape and you have a pear!I kept a bit of the green for when making a strawberry with the pink.

Here I use the skewer to suggest the seeds and to make a hole to insert some green for the top. (The photographs were taken indoors under artificial light and the green marzipan came out very faded. So I adjusted it in some photos but not here!)

If you are feeling patient you can roll lots and lots of tiny balls and make a raspberry. I had a little green and some pink, so I made a green core (though I would normally use pink) and made one just to show you. And here is a whole plate (or rather saucer!ful)

I don’t try and make the fruit sizes proportional to real life. It is more a matter of using a similar amount of marzipan for each and they are normally about the right size to fit in sweet cases (except the banana!).

And here are some other things I have made.

Two Stollen. I think I have become much better at forming them so they don’t open up.

Compare these from 2012 As you can see this year I made a lot less dough. I made a quarter my original recipe that would make four large ones and used my food processor to do the kneading to save my wrists.

I also made some lavender shortbread snowflakes. I was making some millionaires shortbread for when my daughter came on a present drop and decided that that was the ideal time to make double the amount of shortbread and turn half of it into biscuits. I had been intending to try lavender shortbread ever since I had bought some in Waitrose and really loved them, so I put in plenty of lavender as I had had it a while. (Yes it is edible lavender – some lavender tea I had bought in Winchester.)

And here is my traditional Christmas cake. Just for me, so I added what dried fruit I had including some crystallised ginger! And here is my first attempt at a tunis cake. My son had said that he would be interested to try one and having been introduced to tunis cake years ago, when I first knew my husband, but then forgotten about them, I thought I would see if you could still buy them.

I found a few in supermarkets and a couple of recipes but they all seemed to be covered with ganache, or worse still fondant icing, when I remembered them as covered with a layer of solid chocolate.

So I decided that just for fun I would try to make one.

I wanted a rounded top to the cake but it rose a bit more than expected and so the chocolate I had bought was not enough to give a perfectly flat top but I decided to leave it as it is and see how it looks when cut. Then if I make one again I will adapt with either a flatter cake or more chocolate.zzz

 

Making mincemeat!

A few years ago I discovered that making mincemeat is really easy. Easier than Christmas pudding which I have never thought of buying. Of course it is possible, if not probable, that making mincemeat costs more than buying a jar, especially as you have to buy more of the ingredients than you need. But hopefully you can use the rest up in some other way.

This made me really happy, especially as I am more and more concerned about what might be in the food I eat. For instance, I always make sure these days that the ingredients in a jar of jam are just fruit and sugar, the ingredients list in some jars of jam, especially the cheaper sort, read like a laboratory list.

I probably had a few recipes for mincemeat in among my many cookbooks but I decided to go for a “Delia” recipe which I found on-line.

Now if I make full quantities it is more than enough for the dozen or so large mince pies I make to offer my son when he comes round, so this year I decided to make half quantities.

I have made too many mistakes when halving a recipe in my head, so I carefuly sat down and wrote out what half quantites were, double and triple checking as I went!

I had bought a Bramley cooking apple and the suet.I always have raisins and sultanas in the cupboard but currants are always a bit more problematical as the only thing I need currants for is pikelets and I rarely make them these days. I almost bought 500gm (smallest available) but then I had an idea. My two most popular fruit cake recipes use mixed fruit and mixed fruit contains currants, so I bought a bag of mixed fruit and sat down and sorted the fruit into currants, peel and raisins & sultanas. I didn’t bother to sort between raisins and sultanas as they are so similar.
Then I weighed each sort and wrote it down.I halved the sultanas/raisins pile and made them up to the required quantity, added all the currants, as you hadly need to be exact, and topped up the peel with other that I had bought.

I got out the orange, lemon and packet of brown sugar. I normally have brown sugar too but I had run out recently.Weighed out some almonds and cut them into slivers. This is half-way.

Measured out the spices. I have been extra generous with the cinnamon and nutmeg.

Having peeled the apple and chopped it into very small pieces, weighed out the suet and sugar and removed the zest and juice from half the orange and lemon, I added them to all the other ingredients and mixed well. The recipe says to leave this for twelve hours before adding the brandy so that is what I did.

Delia Smith says to put it in the oven at 120 deg C for 3 hours and that is what I did the first time but last year when I did that, I went and forgot about it and when I remembered it was frankly a bit on the burnt side, so I had to throw it away and start again. So for the second attempt last year and then this year, I decided to leave out that step, as in commercial jars you can normally see the suet so they can’t do it.

I did however add 3 dessertspoons of brandy and give it a good mix then put into a kilner jar in the fridge. Ready for when I get round to making some mince pies that I will freeze. They can then be cooked as and when they are needed.

I find 1lb flour and 8oz fat makes enough pastry for about a dozen large mince pies made in a muffin tin.

 

Not quite a recipe!

First a little story. I am very fond of the flowers of the Japanese quince (Chaenomeles), I had one in the last house, so when I moved here I planted one in the garden.

However a few years ago it became infested with a pest that covered it in fine cobwebs and which died down in the winter but came again the next year, so in the end, reluctantly, I chopped it down.

I was not able to did out the root however so that sprouted and I couldn’t quite bring myself to keep cutting the sprouts off, so this year it was flowering and when I came to look on the ground a few weeks ago there were a whole load of quinces on the ground. I picked them up because you can make jam with them, which I had done previously.

There was in fact about 1lb (454gms). Here are some of them.I had plenty of granulated sugar so I decided one day to make them into jam.

First I chopped them up. Here you can see what they look like inside.

And here are some chopped in pieces. When they were all chopped I covered them with water. and simmered them for about an hour. I then sieved them to remove the skins and pith. Put them in a saucepan with about 20oz of granulated sugar and boiled them for about 10 minutes.I had forgotten to weigh them after I had prepared them but 20oz seemed about right (which it was).

Here are my brief instruction notes from my recipe box. Luckily I had written instructions on how to prepare the jars on the back. I don’t make jam very often!I went in the garage and got out some of my favourite hexagonal and multi-sided jars that I had saved. I prepared them before the jam was finished so I was able to quickly fill them and cover with wax discs. I found I only needed two.

Then later I added the lids. I used one of the other sterilised jars for some mint jelly I was making at the same time. The mint jelly had to wait till I next had lamb but I had to have a taste of the jam straightaway. Sharp (as I expected) but delicious!(I have been eating rice cakes rather than bread lately.)

I would be happy to make more jam but I have a problem. I buy jam: apricot for Battenburg or maybe Christmas or Simnel cake, strawberry for scones with cream when people come to tea. Then as I don’t eat a lot, (I mean jam isn’t good for you is it? all that sugar!) the jars last for ages. I’d like to start eating the quince jam now but I have a quarter full jar of apricot and another quarter of strawberry! and if I leave them too long they will only go mouldy! even in the fridge. 😦

Maybe I should make a Victoria sandwich and some jam tarts! Mmmm…  🙂

One-a-penny, two-a-penny, Hot Cross Buns.

Just had to show you this year’s buns they look so much better than last year.

Made half quantities, so much more sensible with just me and as there are two eggs in the recipe easy to do.

I made the flour mixture for the crosses thicker this year But I can see room for improvement next year. The shop ones obviously have a groove marked first. Must try that.

Now taken out of the oven

And glazed and cooling, – taken under the kitchen lights; forgot to take without my shadow!

I will amend my recipe to add these pictures as last year’s tasted fine but looked a mess!

Bun cut in half so you can see the inside.

And buttered and ready to eat!

Almondy Stuffed Peaches

I realised when I made a picture menu for my recipes that I have not yet shared with you my favourite peach pudding. I suppose part of the reason for this is that I am normally making it when I have guests so I haven’t time to think of taking photographs along the way.

This week my granddaughter is visiting and one of the things she especially asked for was my ‘stuffed peaches’, so on Saturday we made the filling all ready for cooking as Sunday pudding.

I don’t know where we got the original recipe; it may have been off the back of a tin of peach halves. My mother used to make it when I was a child but we changed the recipe to suit what we had and our taste. In those day you could buy a large tin of peaches (1lb 13oz) that contained seven large peach halves or a smaller tin that contained seven small peach halves. Nowadays they only sell the smaller tins and they contain a random number of peach halves. When making the pudding on this occasion, two tins gave me eleven peach halves! The main difference with my version is that I make twice as much filling because it is so delicious.

It is a really quick and easy recipe. The filling can be prepared the day before but it really doesn’t take very long to mix up on the day.

Almondy Stuffed Peaches recipe (For 4)

You need two tins of peach halves which you drain and then pick out two of them to mash up as part of the filling. (If any of the peaches look a bit mushy these are the ones to use as they are much easier to mash and less good for being filled.)

Filling

Together with the two peach halves, you take

• 2 trifle sponges,
• 2oz (5og) ground almonds
• 1oz (25g) soft brown sugar,
• 1oz (25g) butter,
• a few drops of almond essence.

You crumble the trifles sponges.

Chop up the two peach halves.

Then put everthing into a bowl and blend together thoroughly.

The filling was enough for four people but Sunday I was only making it for three, so I put seven peaches in a dish.

Two each and one to fight over! 😉

You fill each peach half with a big blob of filling.

Spoon one tablespoon of the juice or syrup from the tin over each stuffed peach.

And put in the oven. The original recipe says 20 mins at 425 deg F (210 deg C) but I have been finding with my fan oven that 15 mins at a lower temperature is enough.

And this is how they look.

Serve with the remaining syrup/juice or cream. We go for the cream!

And enjoy. 🙂

 

 

 

Peachy pudding

I have not quite got used to only posting once a week and I have this recipe to share with you. So here it is.

This isn’t my favourite peach pudding (which I may share with you one day) but it is appropriate to this time of the year.

Stuffed Mincemeat Peaches

You need a casserole dish with a lid.

Tinned peach halves – I like to prepare two halves per person or three maybe if I have hungry guests.

Some mincemeat (this is the last of last years homemade mincemeat so it is a bit surgary but it cooks okay 🙂  )

And some red wine – you don’t need much and any sort will do.

You place the peach halves in a dish, cut side uppermost, and add a generous spoonful of mincemeat to each one. ( I was making these for myself and my son on Sunday.)

Pour a little red wine over each peach half

Cover the dish and cook for 20 minutes in a hot oven. I have a fan oven and I cooked mine at 190 deg C. (That is about 375 deg F but I would use 400 deg F in a conventional oven)

However timing and temperature are not too critical.

Here they are as they came out of the oven.

They taste good served plain or maybe with some cream. The cream does cool them down a lot though. (My son complained – well maybe he should have taken less cream. 😉 )

December Montage

In December I shared my pictures of my ‘violet’ garden as well as some showing what is flowering now.

I also, finally, finished the CAL blanket and showed you how it looks with my leafy edging.

There were pictures of my pre-Christmas cooking of fruit cake and stollen as well as the snowflake decorations that seem to predominate this year.

And lastly I showed you the crochet animals I had attached to key rings as presents for some of the family.

Christmas cooking

Yesterday and the day before (they took a long time to rise!) I made some Stollen using the same recipe I shared with you last year. – HERE

I was pleased because I had managed to shape them much better than last year so that they didn’t split in the middle – see below. (The two I didn’t show you last year were worse.  😦   )

I also made a different sort of Christmas cake. Normally I make the usual marzipaned and iced fruit cake but this year I decided to try a recipe I have been thinking of making for years and years. At least as long ago as when there were ‘Safeway’ supermarkets in this country.

I cooked it yesterday afternoon and this morning I added the final decoration.

Then, as I had had to cut off a slice at the top to level it, I sat down with half the offcut and a large mug of coffee to write this post.

which is what I am doing now.

Liver and Juniper berries

I realise that I haven’t shared a recipe with you for a while, so here is a favourite recipe of mine “Liver and Juniper berries”.

My son-in-law who has never liked liver enjoys this.

He told me that he didn’t eat liver because he had heard that polar bear liver was so full of vitamin A that it was poisonous, and how could you be sure that it wasn’t polar bear liver? 😉

In view of the recent horse meat scandal maybe he had a point, but he accepted my reassurances and tried this.

My photographs are based on me making a one helping’s worth for myself but I will give the ingredients as for four people.

You need to gather together the following.

The above picture shows about 5oz liver which I was using for me.

The ingredients for four people are as follows:-

• 1lb lambs liver – cut into very thin strips
• 1 large onion – sliced thinly and separated
• 1 clove of garlic – crushed
• 1oz butter
• 1 tablespoon oil
• 1 heaped teaspooon juniper berries – crushed
• 1/4 pint natural yogurt

The above picture shows the liver and the onion, garlic and juniper berries as prepared for my meal.

Method

Put the butter and oil in a large frying pan. I used olive oil but any cooking oil will do.

Once the oil and butter is hot add the onion, garlic and juniper berries and cook gently without browning for about ten minutes.

Then turn the heat up high and add the pieces of liver and brown quickly, turning to cook evenly. Be careful not to over-cook.

As soon as they are browned, turn the heat right down and add the yogurt, stirring well to combine all the ingredients.

Simmer very gently for about five minutes.

Finally season with salt and freshly ground black pepper.

And you have:-

One helping

The original recipe, that my mother cut out of a newspaper recipe page, suggests serving it with rice and a side salad. I normally serve it with rice but often add a green vegetable, such as brussel sprouts or brocolli.

I hope you like this recipe. Do you have any interesting ways of cooking liver?