Strawberry Shortcake Cookies

Yet another #twookiparty recipe for you folks.  I know, I know.  I went a bit mental but sure you can knock up a batch of cookies in ten minutes and they go down so easy, too easy!  I have to say that I would probably add more strawberries to these next time as I found that the flavour was very weak but they were still delicious cookies.  See what you think for yourself.

Strawberry Shortcake Cookies

Yields approx 36
(I divided the dough in 3, baked a dozen and froze two rolls of dough to bake at a later date)

12oz Strawberries, hulled and cut into 1/4 inch dice
1tsp Fresh Lemon Juice
100g/3.5oz Granulated Sugar
240g/8.5oz Plain Flour
2tsp Baking Powder
1/2tsp Coarse Salt
90g/3oz Cold Unsalted Butter, cut into small pieces
160ml/5.5floz Double Cream
Granulated Sugar for Sprinkling

1.  Preheat the oven to 190C/375F/Gas Mark 5.
2.  Line 3 baking sheets with greaseproof paper. (If you are baking the cookies in batches line one baking sheet)
3.  In a small bowl combine the strawberries, lemon juice and 2 tablespoons of granulated sugar.

4.  Sieve the flour and baking powder into a large bowl and add the salt and remaining sugar.
5.  Cut in the butter with a pastry cutter or rub it in with your fingers, until the mixture rembles coarse crumbs. (Make sure hands are cold if you choose to rub in the butter to ensure the butter does not become too soft.)

6.  Add the cream and stir until the dough starts to come together and then add the strawberry mixture and stir to incorporate.
7.  Using a tablespoon sized measuring spoon, or a regular measuring spoon, drop balls of dough 2 inches apart on the prepared baking sheet.  Flatten slightly with the tines of a fork and sprinkle with some granulated sugar.
8.  Bake in the preheated oven for approximately 25 minutes (oven temperatures vary so times may be slightly different from oven to oven) until golden brown.
9.  Remove from the oven and allow to sit on the baking sheet for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool.

10. Store in an airtight container for up to 3 days.

Jamie Oliver's Party Cake

When I met Mr Boo the only reason for him to enter a kitchen was in order for someone else to hand him a lovingly cooked meal. Now I love to cook and deem great pleasure from cooking for those that I love but didn’t exactly want to spend everyday for the rest of my life cooking for someone who would not be able to return the favour every now and then. Mr Boo occasionally made murmurings along the lines that he wouldn’t mind possessing the skills to enable him to knock together a tasty dish from time to time. Then Jamie Oliver broke onto the scene and all of my prayers were answered. This little Cockney sparrow with all of his ‘pukka’ food only served to heighten Mr Boos eagerness to learn.

I could have kissed him, but there was a plane journey involved and I was spoken for, as was he so I didn’t. Anyhoo, when Mr Boo’s birthday rolled around I decided to get him Mr Oliver’s book as one of his little presents. He was delighted and wasted no time in getting himself into the kitchen and knocking out some very tasty dishes. Now, we didn’t have instant success, not by any means. I do remember one very bad night when I took a forkful of something WAY to salty but politely smiled and continued eating so as not to offend his efforts. Approximately 4 forkfuls later I had to make a mad dash for the loo where I was violently ill. I apologised, he apologised. “It was just a little to salty”, says I. “That’ll most probably be the anchovies”, says he. “How many did you put in”, I enquired. “Just the one jar” he replied. Yep that’ll do it I thought to myself before suggesting next time he trust the recipe and just put in the two fillets as specified.

Once we got that initial teething period out of the way we were flying and it became quite the tradition that of a Friday if his mam and dad popped out in the evening that he would cook a lovely romantic 3-course meal for me, complete with candles and soppy music. I loved those evenings. Something else he would do regularly but has not done in the last few years was to make me Jamie Oliver’s Party Cake and arrive at my door with it. It didn’t have to be a special occasion, just any random Friday or Saturday he might turn up outside my house in his bottle green Punto and produce this delicious chocolate concoction from his backseat all for me, because he loved me and because I love chocolate. That remains for me one of my favourite things he has ever done for me. All of that time, and love baked into a cake for me to eat and carry inside me. I don’t think a chocolate cake ever tasted so good.

As I have said he hasn’t made that cake for me for as long as I can remember. We are married and live together now so he shows his love in different ways. He might occasionally clean the kitchen, he buys pretty plants and plants them in the back garden for me to find when I have time to stop and smell the roses, he paints that room that I have been hinting about decorating and when I come home and decide I don’t like the colour he paints it a second time and only complains a little, when I hear a noise in the middle of the night he gets up from his sleep to investigate and returns with the news that all is well with the world and I can return to slumber. He does these ordinary mundane things and many more that show me he loves me every day, but he doesn’t bake me chocolate cakes that ooze cream and strawberries as you bite into them anymore. So, I have decided that I will bake him a chocolate cake that oozes cream and strawberries as you bite into it, because you know, I love him to, and I want to bake that into a cake for him to eat and carry around inside of him.

Party Cake

I have made a couple of alterations to the original recipe.  I omitted some flaked almonds and doubled the quantity of strawberries in favour of half strawberries and half raspberries, well it is National Strawberry Week after all.

3-rounded tbsp Cocoa Powder
200g/7oz Caster Sugar
200g/7oz Butter
3 Large Eggs, preferably free-range
200g/7oz Self-Raising Flour, sifted
1 rounded tsp Baking Powder
200ml/7floz Double Cream
2 large handfuls Strawberries, hulled and chopped

Chocolate Topping:
100g/3 ¾ oz Butter
100g/3 ¾ oz best quality Plain Chocolate
100g/3 ¾ oz Icing Sugar
3tbsp Milk

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F/Gas 4.

2. Line the bases of 2 x 20cm/8” cake tins with greased greaseproof paper.

3. Mix the cocoa powder with 4tbsp of boiling water until smooth.

4. In a separate bowl, beat the sugar and butter until fluffy, add the cocoa mixture, eggs, flour and baking powder.

5. Mix well and divide between the baking tins.

6. Place in the preheated oven and bake for about 25 minutes (a skewer inserted into the centre should come out clean when cooked).

7. Allow to cool then remove from the tins.

8. Melt the chocolate topping ingredients in a bowl over some lightly simmering water. Stir until blended well and allow to cool.

9. Whip the double cream to soft peaks and sweeten with a little sugar to taste.

10. To assemble the cake, remove the greaseproof paper from both sponges.

11. Spread the cream over one of the sponges, and then sprinkle the strawberries on top.

12. Sandwich the second sponge on top and press down.

13. Run a knife around the edge of the cake to smooth if off and drizzle over your chocolate topping.

14. Allow the chocolate topping to firm up slightly before getting stuck in.

Bord Bia Irish Food Bloggers Event Part Trois

I am entering this tart into English Mum's Big Bake Off due to some bullying, yes blatant bulling from The Glutton and of bit of Gluttony egging on from English Mum herself.  Wish me luck peeps.

I may have mentioned once or thrice that I recently attended a Food Bloggers Event in Bord Bia.  Well, for those of you who missed that I did.  As part of the days events the lovely people at Bord Bia fed and watered us very nicely indeedy.  Much to everyone's delight, having stuffed us full of delicious Irish Pork and various accompaniments, dessert followed in the form of a beautiful strawberry tart.  The room filled with 'oohs' and 'aahs' of appreciation as it was delivered to tables and I heard more than one person express an interest in receiving the recipe after lunch.  Now, as if the people of Bord Bia had not been good enough to us already they happily said they would make the recipe available to anyone interested, and they did.  Having put them to the trouble of emailing me with said recipe it would have been positively rude of me not to post about it, so here you go peeps, get ready to drool.  This is a deliciously light tart, perfect for summer entertaining.  I made it last night and it is no more this morning.  Mr. Boo and myself had a very generous slice each and my neighbours were the lucky and very grateful recipients of the rest. So go on, off to the kitchen with you and whip up this little lovely.  Go on, shoo!

White Chocolate and Strawberry Tart

Serves 12

250g Plain Flour
25g Icing Sugar
65g Cold Unsalted Butter
1 Egg
250g Mascarpone
200g bar of good quality white chocolate
145ml cream
400g Strawberries

1) Sieve the flour and icing sugar into a food processor. Add the butter and whiz until mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs. Add just enough egg to bring the mixture together.
2) Shape pastry into a disc and wrap in cling film and chill for 30 minutes.
3) Roll out the pastry and shape into a 20.5cm (8”) fluted pastry tin. Prick all over. Cover with a large circle of baking parchment and top with baking beans. Chill until firm. Preheat the oven to 190°C(170°C fan)/374°F/Mark 5.

4) Bake for 12-15 minutes until the pastry has set. Remove the beans and parchment and continue baking for 5-10 minutes until the pastry is dry and slightly sandy to the touch. Cool in the tin on a wire rack.
5) Melt the mascarpone and chocolate together in a heatproof bowl set over a pan of gently simmering water, making sure the base the of bowl doesn’t touch the water. Don’t stir; otherwise the mixture will thicken into a sticky mess.
6) Remove bowl from the pan and set aside to cool completely. Meanwhile, lightly whip the cream. Fold the chocolate mixture into the cream. Spoon the filling into the pastry case and chill.
7) To serve, top with strawberries cut in half and dust with icing sugar.

I have added some notes after the pics.

Notes: 

I forgot to dust it with icing sugar at the end as I was a tad over excited at the prospect of getting stuck into it!

I added the egg a couple of tablesppons at a time (I broke it into a small bowl and gave it a little whisk) until I had enough, rather than add it all at once and find I had too much.

I used my grease proof paper trick to line the pastry case but cut it a little big so that I could gather up the edges to remove the baking beans easily.

If you have neither the time nor the energy to bake your own pastry buy a ready made tart case from a supermarket and just make the filling. (I'm all for the easy life so don't worry I won't judge you, promise)

I know it says DO NOT STIR up there, but I just couldn't resist.  When I removed the chocolate mixture from the heat I did give it a quick stir to mix the chocolate and mascarpone as I was afraid they would not mix when added to the cream once chilled.  Sorry, but that was like asking Dougal NOT to press the big red button, it just wasn't going to happen.

OK lesson over, now off with yiz!

Happy Birthday M (3)

It was my niece's birthday last week and she had a little tea party on Saturday to celebrate.  She turned 3, imagine being 3 years old again and looking at all of the wonderful things the world is filled with through those innocent eyes.  For a 3 year old the world is indeed filled with wonder, even the tiniest of things can fill you with amazement and the most mundane can be turned into an adventure.  I see this when I look at my niece and revel in it.  Her eyes are always on the look out for the next mountain to climb, jungle to explore or villain to capture. 

She possesses a trait I never have and have always envied in my piers, and here she is at 3 and she has mastered it.  She is fearless in her outlook.  The higher she can climb, the further she has to fall the faster she can go on her swing and the taller she can bounce on her trampoline the better.  She doesn't stand back and weigh the situation in her mind, make a mental checklist of all the dangers that lie in the next action she is contemplating and then decide that on second thoughts it's not such a great idea, she just does it.  I have always been the opposite and still am to this day, I over analyse everything until all of the fun has been taken out of it.  I am a big old fraidy cat and know that I always will be.  I look at her with my stomach in my mouth (seriously, she is always attempting some stunt or other) and then watch as she emerges from each task triumphant and moves onto something a little more daring and hope if I spend enough time under her tutelage that her bravery might just rub off on me.

She is also a professional bossy boots.  Sometimes she does it in such a sweet and cute way you don't even realise you are being ordered here, there and yonder at her behest.  With age though she is developing a confidence in her powers and adopts a hands on the hips stance and a very stern voice as she points her little finger in the direction she is dispatching you.  She has the men in her life well and truly wrapped around her little pinkie, while the women around her will occasionally pull her up and give her a little talking to, the male of the species will do as she wishes without question.  Her granddad is the worst offender in this instance, it would seem age has softened him and he will let her away with murder allowing her worse misdemeanours to go unscolded and chastising anyone who dares to set her right.

When she is not being serious and keeping her minions in check she will be laughing somewhere, a gorgeous infectious all is right with the world laugh.  It is the kind of laugh that should be bottled and kept for dark and rainy days when nothing can lift the melancholic fog.  She laughs most when she is with her granddad, they are the bestest buds and have such fun together despite the 68 year age gap.  She is intelligent beyond her years and knows how to make others laugh and does so with the timing of Peter Kay to plaster a smile on all of the faces looking back on hers.  She generates laughter through her actions sometimes, making funny faces or a comedy fall, but more often than not it is through her witty dialogue.  She talks incessantly, never stops.  Even when you have moved your attentions from her and have started to converse with someone else she will still be nattering away at your elbow not stopping and just biding her time until your attentions return to her and her ridiculously funny and scarily intelligent ramblings.

These are just a few of the reasons why I love this tiny, golden haired beauty who came into all of our lives 3 years ago.  She was born to doting parents, a besotted granddad, and aunties and uncles who love her as though she were their own.  It is no wonder then that above all of her wonderful traits she is full of love and kindness.  She soaks it up like a sponge from all of those around her and it is so abundant in her that it seems to just ooze from every ounce of her tiny being.  I am amazed by her on an almost daily basis and will continue to watch her and learn from her over the years to come, and who knows maybe I will teach her a thing or two, just maybe.  Happy birthday M, love you lots.

In honour of M's birthday chocolate cupcakes were made and adorned with beautiful roses and sparkly glitter.  Now I was a bit lazy with the baking over the weekend (lazy might be the wrong word, I was pretty tired meaning all imagination went out the window) so baked the same cupcakes I tried out a few weeks ago so will just post a link to the recipe with some new photos.  I also made the 1st recipe I posted on the blog, an easy peasy Pavlova(meringue), so again will just post a link to the recipe with the addition of some photos taken before it was devoured.  Enjoy!

Chocolate Cupcakes with Chocolate Frosting
http://likemamusedtobake.blogspot.com/2010/02/where-have-all-fairy-cakes-gone.html

Wafer roses and edible glitter to decorate from Avoca

Pavlova(Meringue)
http://likemamusedtobake.blogspot.com/2009/09/old-faithful.html

Served with whipped cream and strawberries