We've gone a bit baking mad in my house, which makes a change from the usual barking mad I suppose. It was all spurred on by watching the celebrity Great British Bake Off and being very upset that we didn't have cake to enjoy it with.
So, with a cup of tea in our hands and hungry housemates to feed, Grace and I had 2 evenings of baking.
On the first evening we made Gluten Free Brownies with Strawberry and Blueberry Sorbet. AND THEY WERE DELICIOUS!!!! I was a bit dubious about how they would turn out because I've always used shop-brought gluten free flour rather than making my own, however my worry was for nothing. The only thing I would note is to make sure you grind the rice for the whole minute, I didn't because I thought it was ground enough, however the brownies were slightly gritty. It turns out recipes are meant to be followed.
85g almonds
140g white rice
200g unsalted butter
250g dark chocolate
3 eggs
110g brown sugar
100g nuts of your choice, chopped (we used walnuts)
1. Line a pan with grease proof paper and preheat the oven to 180º
2. Place almonds into the bowl and grind 10 seconds, speed 7. Set aside
3. Place the rice into the bowl and grind for 1 minute and speed 9. Set aside with the almonds
4. Place butter and chocolate into TM bowl and chop for 5 seconds at speed 7. Melt for 4 minutes/50º/Speed 3.
5. Add the eggs and mix 30 seconds/ speed 5.
6. Add the sugar and almond and rice flours, mix 15 seconds at speed 6.
7. Add the nuts and mis in by hand (well, with a spatula)
8. Pour into pan and cook for about 25 minutes
Make sure you stay in the kitchen when they are cooking because they smell amazing!
To make the sorbet I simply followed the Italian Style Sorbet recipe in the Fast and Easy cookbook on page 198.
To make these brownies it cost £6.12, which although may seem very expensive, gluten free brownies for sale in Sainsbury's cost £2 for 4, and we made about 24 , so is much better value for money!
On the second night, Gracie decided to share a recipe of hers with me, which was very exciting. She makes them regularly for her boyfriend as he loves peanut butter and make a perfect snack. You could also add raisins or other dried fruit for more flavour.
These are called 'Grace's Peanut Butter Treats':
150g unsalted butter
200g digestive biscuits
200g brown sugar
300g peanut butter (smooth or crunchy)
200g dark chocolate
1. Line a fairy deep baking tray with baking paper
2. Melt the butter for 3 minutes, 50º at speed 2. Pour into a bowl a set aside
3. Break the biscuits up roughly with you hands when adding them to the bowl and turbo pulse a few times to crumb them. Then add the sugar, peanut butter and butter and mix at speed 4 for 20 seconds, scrape down the side of the bowl and mix again at speed 4 for 10 seconds.
4. Spread evenly into the tray and pop into the fridge whilst you melt the chocolate.
5. Break the chocolate into the bowl and melt for 3 and a half minutes, 50º, at speed 2. The pour over the peanut butter base and spread it over evenly. (Also, make sure you lick the bowl out)
6. Leave to set in the fridge over night and then cut into pieces (or if you are really impatient like Grace and I, pop it in the freezer for 15 minutes)
Because these are cut into bite size pieces, we managed to make 48 of them! Considering it cost £4.37 to make, that is only 9p a treat. Delicious and it doesn't break the bank!!
Grace and I had a lovely time baking together, which was evident from the amount of chocolate we had round our faces when we had finished baking!
Over the weekend, I also made some Smarties cookies, totally delicious and I used Gluten free flour, so Grace friendly too! I used the recipe provided in the Fast and Easy Cookbook on page 217. Instead of using 180g of chocolate chips I added 4 tubes of Smarties, which made them yummy and colourful!!
These cost £2.07 to make and made about 15. You can buy Smarties cookies in the shops and they cost £1 for 5, so this is a big saving. And to be honest mine are probably much yummier!!!
After all this baking, I think I'm going to have to walk up Stanmore Lane about 3 times a day!!!
Thursday 31 January 2013
Saturday 19 January 2013
Papa Reid: an ego on the grow
One of the first things you learn when studying a science is the importance of accurate measurement. I have sat through hours of lecturers telling me how to measure properly and why it is so crucial.
So you would think this would stick with me. Apparently not.
Last week, finding myself back at uni land tasked with making budget dinners again, I thought I'd start off easy and make soup that costs pennies. So, in went an onion, carrot, lentils, spices, a stock cube and some water. And here is where the lesson lies: measure how much water goes into your soup. After 20 minutes of cooking, I ended up with a soup which was so thin, it was like water. Despite tasting wonderful, I wasn't sure whether to eat it with a spoon or drink it from a glass.
However, if you do want to try my yummy soup, it was very simple:
1 onion and 1 carrot (easy to measure), chopped up at speed 7 for a few seconds.
Lots of lentils (didn't measure those, either), a stock cube, curry powder (again, no measuring) and water (just don't put loads in), put it on for 20 minutes at 100º, speed 2.
I'm currently at home for the weekend and I've got my Dad excited about using the Thermomix! Hurrah!!
Getting in from the snow on Friday afternoon, I was politely demanded to supply my Dad with soup -he has a really good way of annoying me until I do what he says (it involves dancing) - so I thought I'd try the curried lentil and carrot soup again: but this time putting less water in!
This impressed my parents - especially dad, who today did something he has never done before. He made his own soup. Like, on his own. He didn't even have to ask me how to do it. Madness.
And now he thinks he is wonderful.
Working with Dad's new enthusiasm, he decided he wanted to cook dinner in the Thermomix too, so off we popped to Waitrose to get some inspiration and ingredients. I found a lovely looking spinach dahl, but we decided we could make one a lot yummier, cheaper and healthier! And low and behold, we did (and I remembered to measure this time!).
Here is the recipe for Sammie and Papa Reid's yummy potato and spinach dahl:
1 onion
1 clove of garlic
2cm (ish) of garlic
1 tsp of each spice: mustard seeds, turmeric, dried coriander, cumin
10g vegetable oil
150g red split pea lentils
250g potatoes, diced
1 carrot, diced
1 stock cube
700ml water
frozen peas (about 2 measuring cups worth)
a couple of handfuls of spinach
1. Put the onion, garlic clove and ginger into bowl and chop for a few seconds on speed 7.
2. Add the spices and oil and cook for 3 minutes, 90º, speed 2.
3. Add the lentils, potatoes, carrot, stock cube and water and cook for 20 minutes, 100º, speed 1, reverse blade.
4. The dahl is pretty much cooked after the 20 minutes, but it may be worth checking the consistency and adding more water if necessary. Add the peas now as well and cook for an additional 5 minutes, 100º, speed 1, reverse blade.
5. Once it has cooked, stir in the spinach with the spatula and serve with rice or pitta bread.
Be warned that this looks a bit like baby food, but it is incredibly delicious, which just feeds my dad's newly formed cooking ego even more.
So you would think this would stick with me. Apparently not.
Last week, finding myself back at uni land tasked with making budget dinners again, I thought I'd start off easy and make soup that costs pennies. So, in went an onion, carrot, lentils, spices, a stock cube and some water. And here is where the lesson lies: measure how much water goes into your soup. After 20 minutes of cooking, I ended up with a soup which was so thin, it was like water. Despite tasting wonderful, I wasn't sure whether to eat it with a spoon or drink it from a glass.
However, if you do want to try my yummy soup, it was very simple:
1 onion and 1 carrot (easy to measure), chopped up at speed 7 for a few seconds.
Lots of lentils (didn't measure those, either), a stock cube, curry powder (again, no measuring) and water (just don't put loads in), put it on for 20 minutes at 100º, speed 2.
I'm currently at home for the weekend and I've got my Dad excited about using the Thermomix! Hurrah!!
Getting in from the snow on Friday afternoon, I was politely demanded to supply my Dad with soup -he has a really good way of annoying me until I do what he says (it involves dancing) - so I thought I'd try the curried lentil and carrot soup again: but this time putting less water in!
This impressed my parents - especially dad, who today did something he has never done before. He made his own soup. Like, on his own. He didn't even have to ask me how to do it. Madness.
And now he thinks he is wonderful.
Working with Dad's new enthusiasm, he decided he wanted to cook dinner in the Thermomix too, so off we popped to Waitrose to get some inspiration and ingredients. I found a lovely looking spinach dahl, but we decided we could make one a lot yummier, cheaper and healthier! And low and behold, we did (and I remembered to measure this time!).
Here is the recipe for Sammie and Papa Reid's yummy potato and spinach dahl:
1 onion
1 clove of garlic
2cm (ish) of garlic
1 tsp of each spice: mustard seeds, turmeric, dried coriander, cumin
10g vegetable oil
150g red split pea lentils
250g potatoes, diced
1 carrot, diced
1 stock cube
700ml water
frozen peas (about 2 measuring cups worth)
a couple of handfuls of spinach
1. Put the onion, garlic clove and ginger into bowl and chop for a few seconds on speed 7.
2. Add the spices and oil and cook for 3 minutes, 90º, speed 2.
3. Add the lentils, potatoes, carrot, stock cube and water and cook for 20 minutes, 100º, speed 1, reverse blade.
4. The dahl is pretty much cooked after the 20 minutes, but it may be worth checking the consistency and adding more water if necessary. Add the peas now as well and cook for an additional 5 minutes, 100º, speed 1, reverse blade.
5. Once it has cooked, stir in the spinach with the spatula and serve with rice or pitta bread.
Be warned that this looks a bit like baby food, but it is incredibly delicious, which just feeds my dad's newly formed cooking ego even more.
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