‘Yummy, yummy, yummy’,  says Hannah!

It’s best to use proper paper muffin cases for these.

Ingredients

2 cups plain flour

1 cup caster sugar

1 tablespoon baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

2 eggs, beaten

3/4 cup milk

1/4 cup sunflower oil

4 tablespoons melted margarine or butter

1 teaspoon lemon juice

1 teaspoon vanilla essence

1 cup chocolate chips

How to make them

Preheat oven to 350F/175C/165C Fan Oven/ Gas Mark 3

1. Stir together flour, sugar, bakng powder, salt, chocolate chips.
2. Make a well in the centre of mixture. Add beaten eggs, milk, oil, melted margarine, lemon juice and vanilla.
3. Mix gently with a fork, just enough to blend. Do not stir briskly or attempt to make the mxture creamy and smooth or your muffins will be tough. Just mix enough to ensure that all the mxture is wet. Lumps are OK!
4. Divide mixture into 12 muffin cases and bake for about 25 minutes in the centre of the oven.

Tags: baking powder, butter, caster sugar, chocolate chips, lemon, milk, plain flour, sunflower oil, vanilla essence
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This recipe is ideal for making cut-out biscuits to ice for Christmas or parties but are just as nice eaten plain.

Ingredients

85g soft butter, unsalted is best but not essential

100g caster sugar

1 large egg

1/2 teaspoon vanilla essence

200g plain flour

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

How to make them

1. Cream the butter and sugar together until pale and creamy.

2. Beat in the egg and vanilla essence.

3. In another bowl, stir together the flour, baking powder and salt until well combined.

4. Add the dry ingredients to the creamed mixture and mix together gently.

5. If you’ve got time, wrap the dough in clingfilm and flatten a bit, and put in fridge for about an hour to   make it easier to handle. If you can’t wait and want to make the biscuits straight away, you may need to use some flour as you roll them out to prevent sticking.

6. Preheat the oven to 180C / 350F / 160C fan oven / Gas Mark 4

7. Sprinkle flour on the work top and roll out the dough to about 5mm thick. Then cut the dough into shapes, keeping the blade of the cutter dusted with flour to prevent sticking.

8. Place on lined baking sheet and bake in the oven for 8 – 10 mins until they are slightly golden around the edges. Cool on rack. Then ice if required using glace icing.

This recipe makes about 20 large biscuits. It is easy to double the quantity and make lots of small biscuits!

Tags: baking powder, butter, caster sugar, eggs, plain flour, salt, vanilla essence
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These are delicious, very crisp, and they keep very well in an airtight container (if you can leave them long enough!). Worth making a double quantity – then you won’t have half an egg left over! You could freeze half the dough for another batch later. (Make as far as step 3 and freeze the dough in a ball. Or you could go as far as rolling the biscuits in oats and then freeze them spread out on a tray. When they are frozen, put them in a bag and keep in the freezer. When you want to use them, just spread them out on a greased baking tray, allow to thaw for about 15 mins and bake. They will probably bake from frozen, but I haven’t tried it!

Ingredients

3 oz (75g) soft margarine

3 oz (75g) caster sugar

half a beaten egg

few drops of vanilla essence

1 oz (25g) porridge oats

4oz (100g) self raising flour

1/2  teaspoon baking powder

about 5 glace cherries, quartered

about 1/2 cup of porridge oats to roll the biscuits in  on a plate or flat dish

How to Make Them

Set the oven to 325F, 160C, gas mark 3, fan oven 150C.

1. Put margarine and sugar in a bowl and beat together until soft and creamy.

2. Add the egg and vanilla essence and beat together to combine.

3. Add the oats, flour and baking powder. Mix until it sticks together like dough.

4  Pull off small lumps of dough about the size of a table tennis ball (about 1″ diameter). Roll into a ball between palms of hands, then roll in oats to coat.

5. Place on a greased baking tray and flatten gently with a fork.

6. Place a quarter cherry on top of each biscuit and press in slightly to secure.

7. Bake for about 15 – 20 miutes until pale golden brown.

8. Cool on a wire rack and store in an airtight tin.

Tags: caster sugar, egg, glace cherries, margarine, porridge oats, self raising flour, vanilla essence
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Makes about 36 cookies

Ingredients

2 cups plain flour

1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

1 cup butter

3/4 cup caster sugar

1 cup soft brown sugar

2 large eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla essence

3 cups porridge oats

1 1/2 cups raisins or sultanas

How to make them

In a bowl, whisk together the flour, bicarbonate of soda, baking powder and salt and set aside.

In a large bowl, cream together butter, caster sugar, brown sugar, eggs and vanilla essence. Start with a slow speed and gradually increase. Beat until mixture is light and fluffy and mixture lightens in colour.

Stir the flour mixture into the creamed mixture until no flour is visible. Don’t overmix – just stop when the flour is mixwd in.

Now add oats and raisins and stir until mixed in.

Divide the mixture into 3 and form 2 parts into, wrap in clingfilm and freeze.

Using a cookie scoop (holds about 2 tablespoons dough), put scoopfuls on lightly greased baking sheet about 2″ apart. Or roll into balls.

Bake for 10 – 13 minutes at 350F until golden brown.

Cool on wire rack.

Store in airtight tin.

Tags: baking powder, bicarbonate of soda, butter, caster sugar, egg, plain flour, porridge oats, raisins, salt, soft brown sugar, vanilla essence
Posted in Biscuits | 2 Comments »

To make a pie that fits a pyrex glass plate

Ingredients

250g puff pastry

2 large or 3 small cooking apples

caster sugar

cinnamon

How to make it

1. Set oven to 200C, 400F.
2. Grease a pyrex pie plate or similar sized dish.
3. Lightly flour the table and roll out the pastry to fit as a lid on the pie.
4. Peel, core and slice the apples thinly.
5. Layer one apple over the pie dish.
6. Sprinkle with caster sugar to taste (about 2 tablespoons).
7. Sprinkle with approximately 1 dessertspoonful of ground cinnamon.
8. Layer the second apple over the first, and repeat with sugar and cinnamon.
9. Brush the edge of the dish with milk and cover with the pastry.
10. Cut off surplus pastry and make 2 small slits in centre to allow steam to escape.
11. Brush with milk and sprinkle with sugar if desired.
12. Bake in centre of oven for approximately 20-30 minutes, until golden brown.
13. Allow to cool a little and serve with double cream.

Tags: apple, caster sugar, cinnamon, puff pastry
Posted in Desserts, Pies and Pasties | No Comments »