A lazy Sunday afternoon spent recovering from a rather busy twenty four hours. I am really not going in the kitchen today if I can help it to bake anything of any description. Sometimes the mood for baking does not even happen for the best of us and we all have to have a recharge sometimes.
I have ideas in my head about what I am going to bake with the ingredients which I have in the house as I don’t really want to buy anything in. This week will be a baking marathon of using up what is left in the baking cupboard. Something with dried fruit, bananas, sugars of varying description, spices, syrups, semolina, rice, vegetables galore, black cherry jam, lemon curd, peanut butter, cocoa, cooking chocolate, yeast and chocolate decorations (before the children eat the lot). Quite a lot to work with there so some strange creations will be baked.
I am going to be working on another recipe book soon which will be all sorts of recipes for the summer holidays, which can be made with the children, for picnics and the holiday by the sea. This time I will not have to make fifteen bakes in less than two weeks but my mind is full of ideas that I can bake and the notebook is being filled in as I finish off other jobs in the house. I really like this part of starting a book although the Easter Treat book was written very fast but I enjoyed the madness and the rush which ensued. I feel a lot calmer now but I can feel the excitement building. You seem to be enjoying my books from what I can see which can only be a good thing. If there is anything that you think I could improve on or you have read one of my books and would like to leave a review at Amazon or on my blog or send me an email please feel free as I would love some feedback. My books may suit myself and my husband is quite a good critique but another person’s input would be nice.
Today I am including my recipe for a Sticky Ginger Pudding. This is my favourite pudding at the moment and the best part is that the children don’t like it – rather cruel I know but they do have plenty of other home baked goodies to eat. Although I have written about this recipe on a previous blog post for ginger pudding I am adding it on my Yummly site and other food sites I use. I have found my list of old recipes which I had added to a word document from scrappy pieces of paper. From this I will work on baking them as I was planning to share these recipes with you.
[lt_recipe name=”Sticky Ginger Pudding” servings=”4″ prep_time=”10M” cook_time=”30M” total_time=”40M” difficulty=”Easy” print=”yes” summary=”Nutritionally, one portion contains 423 calories, 16.8g total fat (21% daily total fat), 64g total carbohydrate (23% daily total carbohydrate), 0.7g fibre (3% daily fibre) (based on a 2000 calorie diet).” image=”https://www.love-to-bake.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/gingerpud1.jpeg” ingredients=”For the pudding:;100g self raising flour;150g dark muscovado sugar;50g soft spread;1 egg;1tsp ginger;25g crystallised ginger;125 ml milk;1tsp vanilla essence;For the sauce:;100g dark muscovado sugar;500ml boiled water;25g soft spread;;” ]For the pudding:;Preheat the oven to gas 5.;Prepare a 1lb loaf tin and stand it on a tray.;In a mixing bowl weigh out the ingredients for the pudding.;Mix them together thoroughly.;Transfer to the tin.;Sprinkle the sugar over the top.;Add the soft spread over the top.;Pour the boiled water over the top.;Bake immediately for 25 – 30 minutes until a knife comes out clean.;Serve warm with custard, icecream, cream.;[/lt_recipe]
I have been thinking about the different allergens which are present in our foodstuffs which are labelled on processed foods and which are included in things that we bake. Whilst at the market I had to state the allergens which were present in each baked good. My family don’t have any allergic reactions to any foodstuff but they can be quite fussy when it comes to eating something. For example, one child would not eat anything but branded beans but when I did the taste test with her and gave her branded and shop own label she preferred the latter. Point proved and case won. Hahaha. 🙂
Over this next few weeks, I will be looking in detail at the ingredients which the Food Standards Agency in the UK state should be labelled on baked goods when sold to the public. I will add recipes and try out some of them to share the results on my blog and website.
The main allergens in food are gluten, eggs, milk, peanuts, fish, soy, semolina, celery, wheat, tree nuts, molluscs, mustards, sesame seeds and sulphur dioxide (from the Food Standard Agency). Some of these ingredients are added to food stuffs which you wouldn’t expect to have it in and this makes it very difficult to avoid but if you were to bake the food for yourself you can normally use an alternative ingredient and avoid the allergen. A lot of thought and preparation has to go into this especially when preparing and baking for a person who is allergic to an ingredient.
As you can see I have plenty to think about at the moment and when I have looked at what I have written I think I had better go and plan my week ahead on the diary.