Week 47 - Florentines

Blimey it's cold! Hope you're managing to stay warm & haven't been snowed in, we've had rather pathetic flurry in the Royal Borough so sadly no snow days for me :-( I'm very excited that the Windsor Ice Rink returns this year! It's in Alexandra Gardens in the centre of Windsor, right by the banks of the river, it's a beautiful setting & sure to make you feel in the Christmas spirit. It opens this weekend, take a look at the website for opening times & booking information.

So I'm launching into full on foodie prep for the festive season & this weeks recipe has become a bit of an annual tradition. I really like making foodie gifts at Christmas & these are perfect to take to dinner or a party as a thank you gift. Last year I also made Santa cookies for my friends at work, the idea was to leave them for Santa on Christmas Eve, but if I'm honest I don't think many of them made it out of the office! Florentines are really easy to prepare, but if I'm honest once they come out of the oven they are a little fiddly to finish. But have patience & it'll be well worth it in the end!

150g butter
150g light brown sugar
100g flaked almonds
50g chopped nuts
40g mixed peel
100g glace cherries
100g raisins
150g dark chocolate, melted

1. Melt the butter in a pan, stir in the sugar & heat gently until it dissolves & just starts to bubble. Take off the heat & stir in all the other ingredients.

2. Line a baking sheet with baking paper & place small dollops of the mixture, leaving space in between for them to spread. Bake in the oven at 180c/GM4 for 8-10 minutes.

3. Lift out the oven, slide the paper off onto a wire rack for the florentines to cool. Line the tray with fresh paper & spoon out the next batch.

4. Once all cooked & completely cooled, carefully peel them off the paper, you might need to slide a knife underneath to help. Place them face down on the paper & cover the bottom with the melted chocolate & leave to set.

When the chocolate was completely set I packed them into sellophane gift bag. I bought mine from Morrisons supermarket, but did also notice them in Sainsburys. They were around £2 for a pack of 10, with ribbons & I just added a simple silver gift tag. My batch made 28 florentines, but you could easily half or double the quantities depending on how many you need. Enjoy! Next week I think I'll be trying my hand at some baking construction, until then, Rebecca x

Week 45 - Cherry Upside Down Cake

Evening everyone! Hope you're all well? I'm trying to relax (with a glass of red!) after a rather stressful day at work. I had a minor meltdown when I thought I'd lost my 3 year marketing plan presentation I'd been working on for weeks, with only an hour to go before I was due to present it to the whole company...arrgghhh! I was dealing with it quite calmly, but panic quickly set in & my poor colleague who I share an office had to deal with tears which could have quickly descended into a full on tantrum! Turns out our delightful IT system had saved it in a completely random place (to be honest that could have been me, it was late when I left the office last night!) & the presentation was safe & sound. Big sigh of relief, but man alive today has been a long day.

Anyway enough about work, can you believe it's only 31 days until Christmas? I have finally given in & made a start on my Christmas shopping at the weekend. To say thank you for the blog support I've had over the last year, I bought an extra gift which I'm giving away this week. Click here for details. The other thing I need to start planning is how I'm going to decorate the Christmas cake. I think it's ready, there's enough brandy in it, I realised the other day it's been fed the best part of half a bottle! I did say it usually comes with an ABV rating.

So this weeks recipe is my alternative take on a pineapple upside down cake. I love cherries & think they work really well in cakes. I've used my latest find, frozen sweet dark cherries, which I bought from Sainsburys. They are delicious & I've taken to adding them to desserts, yoghurt, as a garnish...anything really.

100g butter
225g self raising flour
100g caster sugar
175g frozen cherries
1 beaten egg
1/2tsp vanilla essence
75-150ml milk

1. Rub in the flour & butter until you get fine breadcrumbs. Stir in the sugar, then the egg & vanilla & enough milk until you get a soft dropping consistency.

2. Grease a loose bottomed cake tin & spread the cherries over the base of the tin. Pour over the cake batter & spread our evenly. Bake in the oven at 180c/GM4 for 1hour - 1hour15 until golden brown & firm to touch. (I'd recommend putting a baking tray on the shelf below in case the cherry juice leaks out!)

3. Leave to cool in the tin for 10 minutes, then turn out carefully onto a rack to cool.

The cherries sink into the cake mix, producing a delicious gooey topping & the cake itself is quite dense & rich. It goes really well with a cup of tea, but it would work equally as well as a dessert served warm with either a good lashing of custard or a scoop of vanilla ice-cream! Hope you enjoy, have a good week & don't forget to enter the giveaway, Rebecca x

Week 24 - Cherry Bakewell

Ok, so the psychic octopus got it right & England have crashed out of the world cup! Guess we have to pin our British hopes on the tennis now, GO MURRAY!! But there was quite enough talk about sport last week & to be honest I'm a bit bored with it...so on to more exciting things.

This weekend I'm heading off for a spot of camping, fresh air & the great outdoors (I have been assured there are showers & we are in walking distance of civilisation!) The weather is set to be pretty good so I'm hoping it'll be a chance to relax, although I'm a little concerned about how you can keep Rose chilled in a tent! Continuing with the trying new things theme of the year there is a stables near by, so I may have a go at horse riding, if for nothing else but to be able to say 'I'M ON A HORSE!' For those of you thinking, Rebecca, that's clearly not funny, click here, you'll laugh out loud, it's definitely one for the ladies!

This weeks recipe is a recommendation from the guys at www.bakingmad.com It's a lovely site about all things baking, they have a great archive of recipes & lots of baking tips. Have a peek if you get a chance. Now I really like Cherry Bakewells, but I have to admit I'm used to mine being from a certain Mr Kipling, topped with white icing & a cherry. Like the Millionaires Shortbread I made a few months back, I always thought they would be too tricky to make at home? It does take a little more effort than usual, but it is worth it. Baking Mad, I hope I've done your recipe justice, my cakes aren't known for looking perfect, but usually taste good!

For the base
300g plain flour
50g golden caster sugar
65g semolina
1/4 tsp baking powder
175g butter

For the filling
340g jar cherry jam

For the topping
4 eggs
1 egg yolk
175g golden caster sugar
175g ground almonds
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
175g butter melted
25g flaked almonds

1. Put the flour, sugar, semolina & baking powder into a bowl, rub in the butter until you get a soft dough. Take a baking tin approx 8 x 12 inches & press in the dough to form the base. I lined my tin with foil to make it easier to remove after cooking. Bake the base in the over on 180c/GM5 for 20 minutes. Lift out & leave to cool for a few minutes.

2. Whisk the eggs together, then stir in the sugar, ground almonds & vanilla. Next whisk in the melted butter.

3. Spread the base with the jam, I found it was easiest to empty the jam into a bowl & give it a good stir to loosen it up. Then pour over the eggy, almond mixture & pop back into the oven for another 25 minutes.

4. Sprinkle over the flaked almonds & return to the oven for a final 15-2o minutes, until the top is golden & set. Leave to cool completely in the tin (I tried to cut it when it was still warm & ended up with a gooey mess!), then lift out & cut into fingers, squares, whatever you like!

These are perfect with a cup of tea, sorry Mr K, your services are no longer required! Let me know what you think if you try them? I'm off to continue packing for the camping trip, it's currently a toss up between sleeping bag or shoes, there just isn't enough space in my rucksack & I've been told there's no way I can turn up with a wheelie suitcase! So, I'll see you in a week, when I will be all at one with nature & I'll tell you more about the plans to celebrate hitting half way in my 52 week baking challenge. Ta ta for now, Rebecca x