Baking

Maybe it's because it's Christmas time.  Maybe it's because it's cold and wet and I just needed some comfort food.  Whatever it is, I have found a renewed love of baking.  I have even gone as far as investing in some ceramic beans for blind baking - although after the first disaster with them, they have been relegated to the back of the "cake making" drawer in my kitchen.  Perhaps I should give them another go before I give up on them altogether?

I found a delicious sounding recipe for a Christmas quiche - spinach, feta cheese, strong cheese, cranberries and pine nuts - yum!   This sounded so good that it necessitated aforementioned trip to Lakeland to buy beans - like I need an excuse to go to Lakeland!   Probably my most favourite shop in Norwich - certainly the shop where I spend most of my time!   And also a trip up into the loft as I was sure I had seen some quiche/ flan dishes up there while I was having an enormous clear out to make way for the much-anticipated craft room.  Which, incidentally, was supposed to be up and running last Easter.  Hey ho.  Overall, I was very pleased with my first attempt at pastry making - it wasn't the prettiest pastry in the world, although it had a very unusual patchwork bottom - but at least it wasn't a soggy bottom, so at least I got that right.  I usually have ready rolled frozen pastry in the freezer, but am attempting an economy drive now - ready made stuff is pretty expensive, but I always have flour, eggs and butter in which would work out much cheaper.   It tasted delicious anyway, so I can see I will be making more of these - with my own pastry or ready rolled remains to be seen.

Because a lot of my friends and family are scattered around, I don't always see them very often during the year, so try to make the extra effort at Christmas, to deliver presents rather than post them.  So quite a lot of my baking has been distributed around East Anglia - as far as Essex - on my visits. 

I've made cranberry and almond biscuits - very nice, although I'm not sure I should have put the cranberries into the mixer as they all got cut up very finely - they might have been better going in whole?   It made the biscuits a very red colour, when perhaps I should have mixed them in afterwards once all the other ingredients were mixed.   Strictly speaking, I could probably have not used the mixer at all, but Tescos had run out of ground almonds for weeks now, so I bought flaked and then ground them myself in the mixer.  Once that job was done, it was really easy to throw everything else in on top of them.   I will mix another batch by hand to see if they're any better.  

I had a go at a traybake also - although there was no actual baking involved!   It wasn't fudge either.  It's quite difficult to describe.   These were made with melted white chocolate, microwaved marshmallows - which made a dreadful mess everywhere! - pistachio nuts and cranberries again.   (Pretty much everything I've made in the past few weeks has had an element of cranberries in it!)  These fudge/ traybake goodies were amazing - although very sweet.  You wouldn't need much of them.

I also made the Tunis cake - this is something I remember from childhood, but you can't buy them any more.  So for the past three or four years, I've made this for the family.  I don't eat fruit cake, so this ensures I get some cake too over the festive season!  It's a very dense cake of ground almonds and lemon which you cook for a long time at a very low heat.  Once baked and cooled down, you make an icing of dark chocolate and then stick some marzipan fruit on the top.  I managed to find some Amaretto soaked marzipan fruit for the cake last year, but couldn't find any this year, which was a bit disappointing.   Again, you don't need much of this as it's so dense and the chocolate is very rich. 

Another family tradition now is my Christmas muffins which I make on Christmas morning and which are still warm by the time I get to Mum and Dad's at lunchtime.   They are made with cranberries - quelle surprise! - and orange and nutmeg.   Just evokes all those lovely Christmassy smells.  

I actually forgot the topping this year, but I don't think anyone noticed!  They are supposed to have a topping of demerara sugar with a little cinnamon mixed in to make them a little crunchy and sweet. 

So, I'm having a little break from baking now - I've eaten far too much over the festive period - and am back on soup and toast for a while to compensate.   I'm sure it won't be long before I start again though - on my never-ending quest to become a proper domestic goddess!