Hello! How are you all this week, hope you survived the mini heatwave! I'm struggling a little bit with the heat at the minute. Some of you may know I live in a loft apartment (ooo...makes me sound very SATC!), only problem is heat rises & my flat is quickly turned into a sauna. Now seeing as I spent most of the winter complaining how cold it was in the flat, you'd think I'd be happy...but no, I'm British, it's genetic that I have to complain about the weather! Never mind, saunas are meant to be good for you no?So this weeks recipe is another one rescued from my Mum's scrapbook, she's raved about it for as long as I can remember, but I only ever think she's made it once! I've no idea where this recipe came from & I've never seen it in any other cookbooks, turns out it's a traditional Scottish recipe & that was about the sum total of Googles insight. That makes sense though, as both sides of my family are from the North East & I grew up pretty close to the borders. It's simple to make although I have to admit to taking a shortcut!
Now I know I've always said that baking is easy & cake mix shouldn't come out of a box, but LIFE'S TO SHORT TO MAKE PASTRY!! I have tried many times to make it & it always ends up a complete disaster. The first time I tried to blind bake pastry I didn't have any baking beans, the recipe said you could use rice instead. What I failed to notice was it said to wrap the rice in something first, I didn't, so ended up with uncooked grains of rice embedded in the pastry! I still haven't bought any baking beans & have come to terms with the fact that Jus-Rol can do something I can't & that doesn't make me a bad baker :-) Here goes...
250g shortcrust pastry (ready made or your own if you're feeling brave!)
100g butter
100g caster sugar
1 egg
60g glace cherries chopped
60g walnut pieces
60g ground almonds
100g sultanas
1. Grease a pie tin approx 18cm across. Roll out the pastry to line the tin, then trim off any excess
2. Cream together the butter & sugar, then beat in the egg until light & fluffy. Next stir in all the other ingredients & spread the mixture evenly into the pastry case, no need to blind bake!
3. Bake in the oven at 180c/GM5 for 25-30 minutes until the top is golden brown. Leave to cool in the tin completely before tipping out
That last point I share with you from first hand experience, I got a bit over excited & tried to tip it out early! Lets just say you're lucky there's a picture this week, it took me a good 15 minutes to reconstruct it. But as I've always said, my cakes are not supermodels & it still tastes fantastic, I can see why Mum has gone on about it so much!
Have a good week, I hope the sun stays with you. We're fast approaching half way in my baking challenge & I'd really love to include some more of your requests, so please send your ideas my way. Ta ta, Rebecca x
I go one step further with my pastry cheating - Asda sell ready made savoury and sweet pastry cases (both large and small).
ReplyDeleteSo with having the large amount of eggs we do, I always keep a stash of them in the cupboard so I can quickly turn out a quiche for tea if inspiration fails to strike!!
Sue xx
Request - Can you find a good oatmeal biscuit recipe? You know the sort more sweet than savoury, that you can keep in a tin to nibble on!
ReplyDeleteAlso a good Rock Cake recipe would be briliant, I used to make Rock Cakes when my boys were little and I've lost the notebook I used to jot things down in.
Thanks
Sue xx