White Bread Loaf

Now I don't know about you guys, but when it gets to around about this time of year I just can't resist a freshly baked loaf.

I got this recipe from the back of the Allinson yeast packet.

Ingredients

650g Strong white bread flour

10g (2 tsp) Salt

5g (1 tsp) Sugar

15g Soft Butter or 1 tbsp Vegetable oil

7g Sachet of yeast

400ml Warm water

Step 1

Mix together the flour, salt, sugar and yeast in a large bowl.

Step 2

Rub butter in or stir in the vegetable oil.

Step 3

Add warm water and mix to form a dough. Knead for 10 minutes on a floured surface until it is smooth and elastic.

Step 4

Place into your loaf tins.

Step 5

Preheat oven to 230 Degrees Celsius/450 Fahrenheit/ Gas Mark 8  (I did mine at about 190 Degrees Celsius in fan oven).

Step 6

Cover dough with cling film or a damp tea towel and leave to rise in a warm place for about 45 minutes or until it doubles in size (I left mine in my airing cupboard!) Until it looks something like this.

Step 7

Put in the oven for around 30 minutes (i did mine for 20 minutes). Leave to cool on a wire rack.

Please leave any tips and suggestions in the comments below!

Thank you for stopping by! :)

Marble Cake

So today's recipe is not very linked to Christmas, but hey ho!

this recipe is from Paul Hollywood's 'How To Bake' and can be found here.

Ingredients

200g unsalted softened butter
200g caster sugar
1.5 tsp vanilla extract
3 large eggs
250g plain flour
3 tsp baking powder
40ml milk (the recipe suggests full-fat, but I used semi-skimmed)
2 tsp cocoa powder
Icing sugar for dusting

Step 1

Preheat your oven to 180 degrees Celsius (about 160 in fan oven). Also line a loaf tin with baking parchment.

Step 2

Beat in the butter, 180g of sugar and vanilla extract together until it looks something like this.

Step 3

Beat in the eggs one at a time. After that sift in the flour and baking powder and fold in with 2 tbsp of milk. by this point it should look something like this.

Step 4

Put two thirds of the mixture into the loaf tin (filling the tin to about three-quarters full).

Step 5

Sift cocoa powder and the remaining 20g of sugar into the mixture and mix with the rest of the milk. Then pour the chocolate mixture into the loaf tin.

Step 6

Run a fork through the mixture, creating the marble effect.

Step 7

The recipe says to bake for 55-70 minutes. I baked it for about 45 minutes. However my fan oven has an innate ability to burn anything bigger than a muffin!

Step 8

Leave to cool on a wire rack and then dust with icing sugar.

Please leave any tips and suggestion in the comments below!

Thanks for stopping by! :)

Shortbread Snow Children

Hi Guys!

Today's blog post is shortbread children. It is really simple and easy to make and doesn't take too long either (so not long to wait before you can gobble them up!)

This recipe is from the Mary Berry Baking Bible (it's under special shortbread biscuits) and can be found here.

So lets get started!

Ingredients

175g Plain Flour
75g Light muscavado sugar (I used caster sugar)

100g Butter

                         

You'll also need a girl and boy shaped cutter.

Step 1

Pre-heat oven to 160 degrees Celsius/140 fan/Gas 3 and lightly grease 2 baking trays.

Step 2

Put flour and sugar into a large bowl and rub the butter in with your finger until a dough is formed.

Flour and sugar mixed together

Step 3

On a floured surface, roll out the dough and use the cutters to create the people.

Step 4

Transfer onto the baking trays and bake for 15-20 minutes (mine were done in 15).

Step 5

Leave to cool on wire rack for about 15-20 minutes.

Step 6

Decorate using writing icing pens, making them hats and scarves!

Please leave me any tips and suggestions in the comments below!

Thanks for stopping by! :)

Cinnamon Trees

Hi Guys,

So as it is December I decided it was time to start Christmas baking.

This recipe is cinnamon trees. is a variation of the Woman's Weekly Shortbread Biscuit that are posted a couple of months ago.

The cookbook can be found here.

Ingredients

8oz/227g Butter
10oz/283g Plain flour
3oz/85g Caster sugar
1 tsp Cinnamon
Writing icing pens to decorate (mine were from Sainsbury's)

Step 1

Preheat your oven to 190 Degrees Celsius/375 Degrees Fahrenheit/Gas Mark 5. (I did it in my fan oven at 170 Degrees Celsius).

Step 2

Mix the sugar and butter together until it looks something like this.

Step 3

Then rub in the flour until it turns into a dough.

Step 4

Roll out the dough onto a floured surface and cut out the shapes using a tree shaped cutter.

(Use smaller cutters for any dough that it left such as a small snowman.)

Step 5

Transfer onto baking tray and bake in the oven for 15 minutes or until golden brown.


Step 6

Decorate using writing icing pens and enjoy!

Please leave me any tips or suggestions in the comments below!

Thank you for stopping by! :)

Halloween Buns

So finally Halloween is upon us. To be honest I don't really tend to do anything for Halloween, but I do enjoy a lovely tasty treat to go with a cosy night in.

This recipe is from a Next Homemade Recipes Book. Unfortunately I got this as a Christmas present in 2012. So I can't find it online. However it is just a simple cupcake recipe.

Ingredients 

115g/4oz Butter
115g/4oz Caster Sugar
2 Eggs
115g/4oz Self Raising Flour
1 tbsp Milk (I used semi-skimmed)

Step 1

Preheat the oven at 180 degrees Celsius/ 350 Fahrenheit/ Gas Mark 4.

Step 2

Put the butter and sugar in a bowl and beat until it looks something like this.

Step 3

Beat in the eggs a little at a time. sift in the flour and stir in the milk until it looks a bit like this.

Step 4

Spoon the mixture into the paper cases. Bake for 20 minute until they are golden brown. Then leave to cool.

Step 5

Decorate with icing pens. Making them look like different Halloween things.

Please leave any tips and suggestions in the comments section below!


Happy Halloween and thank you for stopping by! :)

Chocolate Chip Cookies

Ever since the newest addition to my ever growing cookbook collection popped, well squeezed, through my letter box earlier this week, I have been desperately wanting to try something out of it.

I thought I would make sort of a series to show you some of the recipes out of Mary Berry’s Baking Bible.  This book is great for anyone who wants everyday recipes on everything to do with baking. It can be found here.

Today I am going to attempt to make chocolate chip cookies. I have made these once before and I really wanted to see if this recipe was any good.

Ingredients

100g/4oz  softened butter

75g/3oz caster sugar

50g/2oz light muscovado sugar

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1 large beaten egg

150g/5 oz self-raising flour

100g/4 oz chocolate chips

(Please note I used 125g caster sugar as I didn't have any light muscovado sugar.)

Step 1

Preheat your oven to 190 Degrees Celsius/ 170 Fan Oven/ Gas Mark 5. Lightly grease 3 baking trays.

Step 2

mix the butter and the sugars together in a bowl until it looks something like this.

Step 3

Add the vanilla extract into the beaten egg. Then add a little at a time to buttery mixture, beating with every addition. 

Step 4

After that mix in the flour and the chocolate chips.

Step 5

Spoon large teaspoons of the mixture onto the baking trays, the recipe says it makes 20 cookies, but I only ended up with 16 (make sure to leave space for the cookies to spread, otherwise you will end up one big tasty mess!).

Step 6

Bake for 8-10 minutes or until the cookies are golden brown. (Make sure you watch them as they change very quickly).

Step 7

Leave cookies to cool down. Then transfer onto a wire rack to cool and enjoy!

Please leave me any tips and suggestions in the comments below!

Thanks for stopping by! :)

Shortbread Biscuits

Hi Guys!

These biscuits are a personal favourite of mine. It's really simple. Today it took me just over an hour and that includes baking time.

 They remind me of my childhood as I used to make them with my mum.

The most memorable time that I can remember making them was father day when I was 7 (gosh 2004!). I remember being really proud as I had managed to bake them almost on my own (with a bit of help with the oven from mum.) So they are great for baking with kids.

This recipe comes from an old woman’s weekly cookbook that my mum from her grandma when she was 16. It can be found here.

Ingredients

8 oz Butter

10 oz Plain flour

3 oz Caster sugar (be sure to use caster sugar as it makes for a more even bake)

The recipe says they make about 24, but I got 18.

Step 1

Preheat your oven to 190 Degrees Celsius/375 Degrees Fahrenheit/Gas Mark 5. (I did it in my fan oven at 170 Degrees Celsius).

Step 2

Sift the flour and sugar together until it look something like this.

Step 3

Add the butter cut into cubes and rub into the the flour until it is even and knead until all the ingredients are together.

Step 4

Cover with some cling film (or as i did cover it with a bowl) and place in the fridge for around 10 minutes. Then roll out the dough (the recipe says to a 1/4 inch thickness) on a lightly floured surface and use a cutter to cut out the biscuits. 

If you are finding they hard to pick up then split the mixture in half and increase the thickness of each biscuit making it easier to transfer.

Step 5

Transfer to baking trays and bake for 12-15 minutes or until golden brown. Then transfer onto a wire rack to cool.

You can flavour differently:

• Chocolate-substitute 1 oz cocoa powder for 1 oz for flour
• Cinnamon-sift 1 tsp ground cinnamon with the flour

Please leave me any tips or suggestions in the comments below!

Thank you for stopping by! :)