As you can see I have changed my recipe of the week to Sausage Rolls which is one of my family’s favourites. Also, I have added my Privacy Policy as a page on my blog. As well as those changes, I have had a bit of a baking marathon today.
Today, I have baked quite a lot of different things, some savoury and some sweet (to keep the family happy). The savoury dishes I made were a Carrot Soup containing carrot, sweet potato and red pepper soup and I made some white Bread Rolls to serve with it. My daughter helped me with the kneading and shaping of the bread rolls so that I could carry on with other jobs. I think she did a very good job with them and maybe I should have her make them all the time. The soup was a big hit but I think the bread rolls were an even bigger hit as the children were eating them as soon as the rolls were out of the oven. Hopefully, I can keep a few for dinner tonight – if I stand guard at the kitchen door perhaps!!
The sweet treats I made included a batch of Cookies laced with chocolate buttons and [amazon_textlink asin=’B0049ORRNQ’ text=’jelly beans’ template=’ProductLink’ store=’wwwlovetobake-21′ marketplace=’UK’ link_id=’c5ae7234-8e63-11e7-bda0-c99d6489e603′]. Something to keep the children going over the weekend – if they last that long. They have friends over this afternoon, so all the cookies may be gone by teatime.
Also, I was given some fresh rhubarb and some more plums from my friend who has a beautiful garden stacked full of edible treats. I would love a garden like that but as I am not that green fingered I will just have to manage with the yummy fresh grown treats from my friend. With my goodies, I decided to make something based on a crumble but that was versatile enough for my husband to take a slice to work as a snack. A Plum & Rhubarb Slice – cool name eh!! I made a sweet pastry base which is similar to the [amazon_textlink asin=’B002AEH6UQ’ text=’sweet mincemeat ‘ template=’ProductLink’ store=’wwwlovetobake-21′ marketplace=’UK’ link_id=’2417e8f6-8e64-11e7-bc9c-87c11ace3d6f’]pastry which I use a lot at Christmas. MMmmmsweet mincemeat!!
With the plums and rhubarb, I caramelised them first in a pan with water and sugar. To the simmering fruit I added chopped crystallised ginger as well as ground ginger to give a bit of warmth to the slice. When this had cooled down and thickened, on standing, I poured it on to the base, which I hadn’t blind baked. On top of the fruit I added a crumble mix and then I baked it in the oven till the the top was quite hard. This took a bit longer than a standard crumble as I wanted the slice to cut well so I needed the crumble to set more.
Whilst, the slice was baking, I was beginning to think I should have baked the base to begin with as I was worried that the fruit would soak into the base. I did make sure that there was not too much liquid when I cooked the fruit but with rhubarb you can never know how much more liquid will come out of the pieces when it is in the oven.
On trying the slice, I removed a piece from the middle to check the base as this would be where it was least baked and most soaked into. Much to my surprise the base appears okay so \I think the slice is a success. The proof of the pudding is in the eating and my husband will need to try it before the final decision is made.
Which recipe would you like me to add tomorrow :
- Carrot soup
- Bread rolls
- Plum & Rhubarb Slice
There is quite a bit of choice there is there not. Leave a comment at the bottom of my blog if you have a specific recipe you would like me to add tomorrow. Talking of recipes I woke my husband up last night to tell him about an idea I had which I need to work on but then this morning I totally forgot about it till later today. Needless to say, I haven’t tried this new idea out yet but I will. I am hoping I can offer it for sale through my online shop as I think it will travel really well, it is something I have not seen on any food site anywhere and I think it will be a very versatile recipe. I am not going to say anymore as I am keeping this idea under my hat until I have tried and tested it.
As for the shop, some of my packaging as arrived but I haven’t tried it out yet as I will begin all the trials next week when the children return to school. I am hoping at the weekend that I can make my husband work on the webshop with me – as two heads are better than one. If we get it all finalised then I know it is ready to go live when I have the packaging chosen. Decision, decisions, decisions – I just hope I make the right ones.