Its Brownie Time

Im doing a half batch at the request of my hubby. Havent made them in a while, so will let you know how it goes.

The oatmeal raisin cookies are waiting for the brownies to finish using the oven.

I need a bigger kitchen.

Pics to follow.

So far this is the chocolatey-ist thing I have ever made. I am calling it The Chocolate Obscenity. Its just that chocolatey.

Double chocolate fudge cake with dark chocolate butter icing, choc chips and dusted with....thats right, chocolate.

It didnt last long. Especially because Jayne arrived with a look of intent destruction so intense that I feared for my life if I stood between her and the cake.

Happy drools everyone :)

Apple cake revival

Its in the oven. Last time it was a total disaster - I am blaming the fact that I didnt have the right size tins and the whole thing just would not cook right.

I have a new tin.

If it goes wrong this time then its on my head ;)

I will keep you posted.

Malty Overload

Been having a wonderful time making malt cakes. Made a huge cupcake one for a friends birthday the other day and it was so good I decided to make a pure chocolate cake last night and dress it with malt icing.

Thats after a batch of little malt cupcakes were made and decorated too.

Goes best with very, very, VERY strong cawfeeeee!

Its been awhile...

But there you go. Time gets away from me, especially at the beginning of the year.

I am starting the cycle that begins with little seeds and ends up being lots of food today.

Been out into the garden on a wonderful, bright and warm afternoon and planted up the seeds for broccoli, celeriac, tomatoes, various lettuces, spring onions, leeks, sage and lemon coriander.

Its a start of what will go into our allotment. This year it looks like the allotment will be soley for me and my hubby rather than for us plus my Mam and her partner. So it will be a bunch more work, but it will be worth it. Lots of fresh, wonderful fruit and veggies that can be cooked and baked into some gorgeous things.

I love Spring.

The hunt for the veg.

Has begun.

We are off to a Christmas farmers market tomorrow to start the stock of the Christmas day dinner. We are having a ham cooked in cranberry and apple juice and it will be roasted. Usually I use honey and coca-cola. I love Christmas ham. I could never be a vegetarian.

Veggies so far - roast potatoes (done in goose fat - much higher temps result in much crispier on the outside and fluffier on the inside tatties!), soy broccoli, honeyed carrots and parsnips and two stuffings (one normal and one gingerbread). So these all have to be bought, although I am leaning to sourcing the meat at the Farmer's market and then going into town to find the veggies closer to the day.

Christmas pud. I havent the stones to make one from scratch just yet - the whole stewed fruit in a bag thing looks waaaay complicated. I will be buying a little one and probably be getting a sponge pudding as well (christmas pud being the aquired taste that it is!).

Stuff I will be baking - a wreath cake. I found a mold that puts a sponge into a wreath shape, but the wreath itself is segmented into portion size - put them together like a jigsaw to make the cake look like a wreath! Does that make sense?

Black cake - this is a Jamaican traditional cake, heavy fruited with all the fruit being marinated in lots of madiera and rum for anywhere between 2 weeks to 6 months. First year I am going to try it as I had an open bottle of madeira that needed a use. Will let you know how that turns out!

Whats on your list?

Tablet!

It wouldnt be Christmas without it - lovely, sugary tablet that melts in the mouth and gives you a ridiculous sugar rush. I have used the recipe from http://www.scuss.com/ - here it is! Turned out really well for a first go, although I did end up with the obligatory boiling sugar burn on my finger. I made vanilla sugar in August, and it has been used here.

Its fantastic. If I dont mind saying so myself...

 

Ingredients

• 1kg white cane vanilla granulated sugar
• 1 tin (appx. 400g) sweetened condensed milk
• 100g unsalted butter
• fresh milk to damp sugar

Notes on ingredients

Sugar

I prefer cane sugar, as beet sugar can make the tablet taste a bit like turnips. Unbleached sugar works well too, but causes little crystals of dark molasses to settle out. Aunt Celie's recipe didn't add any flavouring, but I've found that vanilla makes it just that bit better. If you don't have time to make vanilla sugar, skip the added flavour altogether. It'll taste almost as good, and far better than synthetic vanillin would.

Condensed milk

This is whole milk that has been heavily sugared, and boiled down to a thick, slightly caramelized, sticky liquid. Evaporated milk (the same, but unsweetened; as used in coffee in the Netherlands) doesn't give as good results.

Butter

This has to be unsalted, of the highest quality, and no margarine can be substituted. This recipe is so high in calories that you'd be wasting your time trying to save any by spoiling the taste.

How to make vanilla sugar

Simple, but time-consuming: Bury a dried vanilla pod deep in a bag of sugar. After a week or two, fish the pod out. The vanilla sugar is ready; you should be able to smell the flavouring from outside the bag.
Vanilla pods, though expensive, can be reused many times. They are worth it for the subtle flavour they impart.

Equipment

• large pan, not non-stick
• big wooden spoon
• glass of cold water
• teaspoon
• plate, as spoon rest and tester for mixture colour.
• large shallow baking tray, carefully buttered.

Method

Damp the sugar with cold milk in the pan. Add the butter and the condensed milk, and turn the heat on medium-high.
It's an idea to put a little dollop of the uncooked mix on the spoon rest plate. I find comparing the colours of the mixture as it cooks a better way of judging readiness than using a sugar thermometer.

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Keep stirring evenly until the mixture comes to the boil; this usually takes about ten minutes. If you start getting brownish streaks (caramel), turn the heat down a little, and keep up the stirring effort. If you get black streaks, you've burnt it. Good luck with cleaning the pan …

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Once the mixture boils, turn the heat down low. Stir occasionally to stop the mix sticking. When it's simmering, the mix can be more than twice its original volume, so let's hope you've chosen a big enough pan.

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You'll notice the mixture darken slightly; keep stirring now and then. It'll take about 20 minutes for the mix to cook.

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Transfer a little of the hot mix to a teaspoon, and plunge it into cold water. It should form a soft, sticky ball that should drip off the spoon very slowly. When it does this, it's ready.

(I'd like to add that the goo on the spoon is very tasty, but be advised that it keeps its heat inside the glob. You can burn your tongue quite remarkably. Beware!)

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Ready! I like my tablet a light colour, so it's usually done in twenty minutes or less (this took 18 from coming to the boil). If you prefer a stronger flavour, simmer for longer.
Now comes the difficult bit. Take the pan off the heat, and start stirring vigorously. Try to mix in some of the crystallized mixture that has formed on the side of the pan; what we're trying to do is to get the mixture to form large enough crystals that it will set, but small enough crystals that it will still pour. Once you feel the spoon stirring slightly grittily on the base of the pan, and the mixture being slightly stiffer, it's ready to pour.
The above is much harder to explain than to do; you'll know it when you feel the change. Of course, let it set too long or too fast, and you'll end up with a trayful of gritty lumps looking alarmingly similar to a cat box.

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Quickly pour the mixture into the buttered baking tray, which should be on a heat-resistant surface. Scrape out as much of the mixture as you can, as it will set in the pan to concrete hardness, and someone will just have to eat what's left in there.

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Here's the colour change, from uncooked mixture (cream coloured, in the middle -- almost the same colour as the plate) to the final colour, which is a golden fawn brown.

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Don't be alarmed if you see little crazed patterns appearing on the surface as the tablet cools. It's just the sugar crystallizing.
Once the mixture has fully cooled and set (usually overnight, if you can keep your paws off it that long), slice into bars or small chunks, and give it to your friends. If they weren't your friends before you gave them tablet, they will be afterwards.

Notes on the recipe

• I damp the sugar with about ½ cup milk. The amount isn't critical; too little, and you risk burning the mix. Too much, it just takes a while to boil off.
• 1kg of sugar is about 5½ cups.
• 100g butter is about 4/5 of a stick.
• I now use a 310×480mm (I think that's 11×19") large cookie pan for setting. It fills nicely, and makes nice thin slabs.
• My dad, probably one of the greater connoiseurs of Great-Aunt Celie's tablet, takes issue with my use of vanilla. He says that she never used vanilla, and that's what made it special. Feel free to miss out the vanilla if you want the authentic experience.
• Though I say not to use a non-stick pan to boil up the mixture, don't go out and buy a stainless pan just for this.
• A hint from my dad: If you've dried your throat out by eating tablet, but still want to eat some more, eat a tangerine! It magically clears your throat, and sets you up to eat plenty more.

Not part of a calorie-controlled diet.