Multi Seeded Flapjack / Granola Bars

After packing a few more boxes I rewarded myself with a baking session. 

There was a a very good reason to this. This recipe is a great way of using up lots of the little bits you get leftover from your other baking. I don't know about you but I have loads of packets & jars & boxes with just a few grams/ounces left in the them.

This is meant to be a healthy recipe and is loaded with good stuff but it also contains quite a goodly portion of sugar, syrup & butter etc so not what I would call a low calorie munchie - However it is extremely yummy.

I'll give you the proper recipe here first and then I'll tell you at the end what I actually put in it today.

100g Unsalted Butter

150g Golden Syrup

150g Light Brown Sugar

Melt these together in the microwave

1 Teaspoon Vanilla Essence

200g Rolled Oats

30g Pumpkin Seeds

30g Sesame Seeds

30g Sunflower Seeds

30g Pistachio Nuts

30g Whole Almonds

60g Chopped Dried Fruit

Add every thing else - easy peasy!

Spread and press down well into a lined tin 25cm x 35cm (10" x 14")

Bake at Gas No. 5, 180 C for bake for 10-20 minutes (if you use a smaller tine & make them thicker they will need more time.) until golden brown.

Leave for about 10-20 mins in the tin to set before slicing, but do it before it gets cold

 * * * * * * * * * 

Here's what I put in today:

100g Unsalted Butter

150g Golden Syrup

150g Soft Light Brown Sugar/Light Brown Muscavado Sugar

90g Mixed Seeds (sunflowers seeds, sesame seeds & pin nuts)

80g raisins/sultanas

50g coconut shavings

50g mixed peel

1 Teaspoon Vanilla Essence

200g Rolled Oats

80g mixed whole almonds, pecans, walnuts - roughly chopped

I have in the past also used dried cranberries, apricots, cherries, crystallised ginger etc so anything goes really.

 

It's hard not to eat it at this stage!

I'm rather proud of this bowl. It's recycled and was formerly the door of my old washing machine!

When baked & cut up it makes about 36 bars 

 

May have to take a few in to work tomorrow so I don't eat it all myself!

Sweet Potato, Squash, Parmesan & Pumpkin Seed Muffins

Whilst on a visit to London last summer I had a delicious savoury muffins from a street 'foodie' market with sweet potato and feta cheese. I have search high & low for a similar recipe to no avail. Sew I have culled information from a number of sources and made up my own.

I am proud to present my:

Sweet Potato, Squash, Parmesan & Pumpkin Seed Muffins

220g Plain Flour

2 Teaspoon Baking Powder

250g Low Fat Yoghurt

4 Tablespoon Olive Oil

40g Parmesan Cheese - grated. 2 thirds for in the muffins, 1 third to sprinkle on the top.

80g Squash - chopped into small chunks & steamed for 5 minutes till just soft

80g Sweet Potato - chopped into small chunks & steamed for 5 minutes till just soft

30g Pumpkin Seeds

2 Eggs

Salt & Pepper

In a large bowl mix all the dry ingredients: Flour, baking powder, 2 thirds of the Parmesan, salt & pepper

Mix the wet ingredients: Yoghurt (I only had 220g of yogurt so made it up with milk and it hasn't seemed to make any difference) , Eggs, Oil.

Pour into the dry ingredients

Then add the squash, sweet potato pumpkin seeds 

And gently fold all together.

Put into your prepared muffin cases. sprinkle with the reserved Parmesan cheese. It made a perfect 12 muffins.

I received some of this new parchment paper that is coated with foil. I cut it into squares and pushed it into the muffing tin with spice jar. It keeps the shape of the tin because of the foil and it all lovely and shiny silver on the out side.

Bake for approx 15-20 minutes at 200 C, gas No. 6 Check by inserting a skewer, if it comes out cleanly they are cooked. As I will be freezing & reheating these I erred on the soft side.

They turned out beautifully. Moist, tasty and yes there is a bit missing - I just had to have a bite and they are very yummy!

I'll be freezing these to stop me eating them all too quickly and because I plan to take them to work for lunch with a bowl of soup

Fudge, Truffles, Candied Orange Peel

...and finally a very yummy day, again with Mum making

Vanilla Fudge

2 lb Sugar

1 Large Tin Evaporated Milk + 1/2 the tin of water

8 oz Butter

Vanilla Essence

You do need a sugar thermometer for these to get the set completely right.

Melt all the ingredient slowly until the sugar has dissolved.

Bring to a simmer and cook stirring constantly to stop it burning on the bottom of the pan until you reach the soft ball stage 235 F, 118 C on a sugar thermometer. When you get to the correct temperature remove the pan from the heat and place it in some cold water (with ice if you can) to reduce the heat and whisk with an electric hand whisk until the mixture becomes pale and smooth and it gets stiff to whisk and leaves a trail behind. The more you whisk the smaller the sugar crystals become as it cools, the smoother and creamier the fudge will be. I personally don't like grainy fudge that you can feel the sugar crystals in. Pour into a 12" x 9" tin lined with baking parchment and refrigerate till set. Cut into squares or again it can be cut whilst not entirely set into shapes. The leftovers can be kneaded back into a flat sheet and re-cut.

Rum Truffles

8 oz Plain Dark Chocolate

4 oz Butter

2 oz Ground Almonds

2 oz Crushed Digestive Biscuits

2 Tablespoons Rum or more depending on your preference

4 oz Icing Sugar (you may need to add more, the more rum you add)

Chocolate strands, vermicelli, cocoa powder to cover

Melt chocolate, add butter then all other ingredients and mix well.

Chill in fridge

Roll into balls and roll in the covering

They get very sticky the warmer the mixture becomes so you may need to chill between rollings.
For this reason they are best stored in the the fridge.

Crystallised Orange Peel dipped in 85% dark chocolate

I did a bit of research on these and used a combination of a couple of recipes.

3 - 4 Large Oranges

Cut the top and the bottom off the orange. Quarter the peel and remove from the orange.

Try and remove some of the pith as well. It is the peel you want not too much pith.

Cut into slices 1/2 cm wide.

Plunge into boiling water and bring back to the boil. Boil for about 10 - 15 minutes and then drain.

I tasted them to check how bitter they were before draining. It depends on the orange.

2 Cups Water

1 Cup Sugar

Dissolve the sugar in the water.  Add the peel back in and simmer for approx 45 minutes to 1 hour. Most of the water will have disappeared and you will be left with a very stick orange syrup which I kept and have added to sponges etc. Remove the peel from the syrup and put onto a cooling rack so any excess syrup drips off.

1 cup of sugar for dredging

Roll the peel in the dredging sugar and then put back on the rack to dry. You can leave them over night to completely dry. Then they can be stored in an airtight box for use in cakes etc.

Alternatively you can dip them in melted plain dark chocolate and give away as delicious sweets (if you can bare to part with them that is!)

Chocolate Fudge

SewGorgeous then made chocolate fudge with my Mum when she came back from Uni (I was still as work humph!) which were also added into the little baggys. We cut them into adorable little hearts.

 

The recipe for these is amazingly easy.

350g Plain Dark Chocolate

2 Tablespoons of  Butter

400g Tin Condensed Milk

Nuts: 150g of your choice e.g. pecan, walnut, pistachio etc. chopped

Microwave the chocolate on high for 3 minutes or so until it has melted.

Add the condensed milk

Add the butter 

Add  the nuts

Pour into a tin tray approx 12" x 9" lined with baking parchment and refrigerate until set.

Either cut into squares when set or you can use a petite four cutter of a simple shape like a ring or a heart. We found dipping the cutter into hot water before cutting helped immensely.

We also thought it would be nice to add some chopped shortbread, crystallised ginger or maybe some rum soaked raisins. I will definitely try these next year.

That is all the Christmas food goodies for now.
Sew and craftiness next on the list. Watch this space!

Biscuits

Then a mammoth bake with Mum of biscuits. All tried and tested recipes from Mum (maybe even from Grandma Bateson!)

Ginger Biscuits

4 oz Plain Flour
1 Teaspoon Baking Powder

2 oz Butter or Marg

1 Heaped Tablespoon Golden Syrup

1 Heaped Teaspoon Ground Ginger

1/4 Teaspoon Salt
2 oz Sugar
1 Teaspoon Mixed Spice

Plus extra sugar for coating

Mix all dry together
Rub in marg
Work syrup in

Form into a long sausage approx 16-18" long and cut into 1" pieces.
This is a good way to get them all the same size.

Roll the pieces into balls. Flatten slightly.

Press the slightly flattened pieces into the sugar for coating, turn and do the other side too.

Bake 275 F, 140 C, Gas No 1 for 10 - 15 mins.

 

Almond Fork Biscuits

5oz Self Raising Flour

4oz Butter

2oz Soft Brown or Castor Sugar

Flavourings:  Lemon rind, orange rind, vanilla essence, almond essence or
replace 1oz of flour with 1oz cocoa

Beat butter and sugar together.

Add flavour of choice (I went for the almond essence and pushed a whole peeled almond into the top).

Add flour

Roll into a long sausage 16-18" long. Then cut into 1" pieces. Roll these into balls (they should be the size of a walnut). Pat down slightly and press a fork into them to flatten more. They spread a little during cooking and are very short and rather delicate after cooking.

Bake 350 F, Gas No.4, 170-180 C for 15 - 20 mins till they just turn golden.

Coconut Biscuits

8 oz Self Raising Flour

5 oz Butter
1 Egg
5 oz Sugar

4 oz Desiccated Coconut
Vanilla Essence

Soften buter
Beat in egg
Add rest of dry ingredient & knead together

Mix all together

Roll out to approx 3mm thick and cut with your choice of cutter (2 1/2" cutter = approx 40 biscuits)

Bake 325 F, 170 C, Gas No 3 for 10 - 15 mins until golden

All bagged up in these little cellophane bags, tied with raffia and labelled with the little black labels again