Week Forty Four – Mary Berry’s Drop Scones

Posted on Jul 30, 2013 by kimsideas

Week forty four and it was also my birthday this week. I was going to make one of Mary Berry‘s cakes from her Baking Bible but there was “secret squirrel” stuff going on and I had the most amazing surprise of a birthday cake appearing at the restaurant on my birthday courtesy of my hubby and my other mum and dad.

So, with a massive birthday cake to eat , what could I choose to make this week that meant I kept to my challenge? Drop Scones were the answer and that’s what we had for this evening’s tea as neither of us were overly hungry.

The mix was very straight forward, all the ingredients in a bowl and whisk until the consistency was like cream. I didn’t have a griddle but I had my trusty frying pan and set to work. The pancakes were very tasty , an easy challenge week and a scrummy supper.

Week Forty Three – Mary Berry’s American Cheesecake

Posted on Jul 25, 2013 by kimsideas

I thought this recipe was going to quick and easy for week forty three but between all the steps needed to make it and the chilling time, we are suddenly in Thursday and the blog won’t write itself! Mary Berry’s American Cheesecake sounded lovely and the base was easy enough, Mary tells you to melt the butter and add crushed digestive biscuits and press into the tin and chill.

The middle section- the cheese of the cheesecake was next. As usual Mary wants full fat soft cheese and full fat greek yoghurt and double cream. Well by now, you know that I will be looking to try and make it slightly healthier so I shopped for low fat soft cheese, fat free greek yoghurt and the usual Elmlea double lite. These all had to be added together and then the juice of one and half lemons had to be added gradually. Pour this mix onto the biscuit base and chill at least overnight.

The final part was to add raspberries to the top of the cheesecake and some redcurrant jelly. Then- you guessed it, allow it to chill and set. I had initially used my trusty flan/quiche tin to make this but quickly realised when I added the cheese layer that the tin wasn’t going to be deep enough for the fruit topping. So I re-read the Mary Berry Baking Bible and she recommends using a spring form tin. Well, the hardship was going to do some retail therapy and buy a tin. Luckily it was only slightly bigger than the quiche tin so it transferred well. All I had to do was press the cheese layer to the edge of the tin so that the fruit topping and jelly didn’t go down the sides.

The final cheesecake looked okay, I was pleased with it. I added the ingredients to the app on my phone which works out how many calories per slice…. the cheesecake serves eight, and one slice was THREE HUNDRED AND FORTY SIX calories! God knows what the calorie count would have been if I had used Mary’s full fat ingredients..

Week Forty Two – Mary Berry’s Apple Strudel

Posted on Jul 14, 2013 by kimsideas

Week Forty Two and boy, has it been a hot weekend. I wanted something this week to make that didn’t involve slaving over a hot stove or bending too many times down to check cakes in an oven. Mary Berry’s Baking Bible didn’t fail me, the apple strudel fitted the bill perfectly.

Best of all, Mary clearly states she buys her filo pastry so I did exactly that. Mary asks you to core, peel and roughly cut the apple, add the juice of half a lemon, Demerara sugar, sultanas and cinnamon. Mix it all together and spread it between the filo pastry sheets, brushing the sheets with melted butter and folding. I managed to make 6.

The dogs loved the off cuts of the cooking apple but remember, do not give them the core as apple pips are not good for dogs ( neither is any dried fruit) The finished strudels were brushed with the remaining butter and put in the pre heated oven for about 20 minutes. When they were done, Mary asks you to glaze them with some caster sugar melted in some water and then dust with icing sugar when they are cold.

After a long hot day, with the hairy hoolies in the garden with some water and a paddling pool, the strudels, still slightly warm went down very well indeed!

Week Forty One – Mary Berry’s Hazelnut Meringue

Posted on Jul 9, 2013 by kimsideas

So many recipes done , yet so many more to go! I thought it would get easier to make a choice on what to make but it hasn’t yet! This week needed to be a pudding to follow a b-b-q with my mum, hubby, my other mum and dad and the hairy hoolies!

I made the meringue as Mary Berry’s Baking Bible described, and folded in some ground hazelnuts at the end. Then I had to pour the mix between 2 lined sandwich tins which would help the meringue hold it’s shape. Then into the oven they went and I set the timer. When the pinger went, I took the tins out, allowed them to cool slightly and then tipped them out and put them on the cooling rack. I left them to cool totally and put them in an airtight container overnight.

The next morning, I added some weightwatchers thick cream and raspberries to the middle and top and put the whole thing in the fridge. Mary recommends you do this at least 3 hours before you want to eat it so that it will slice easily.