Week Eighty Seven – Mary Berry’s Raspberry Meringue Roulade & Date & Walnut Tray Bake

Posted on Jul 28, 2014 by kimsideas

I really don’t know where the weeks go you know, I plan my bakes for the weekends but sometimes life generally just gets in the way. This is my bake from last week, a little late and no bake from this week so far as I have had a cold, studying to do and a birthday to celebrate so I will try to make something in the week to “bank” for the blog! My delve into Mary Berry’s Baking Bible dug out the roulade recipe and a tray bake. I made the roulade first. It was Mary’s usual whisk the egg whites together and add the caster sugar – but one teaspoon at a time. Really? The amount of sugar for the recipe, I would have been there all day, adding a spoon at a time and whisking well in between, so I am guilty of not following Mary’s recipe to the exact letter this week- tut tut!

Once I had added all the sugar- and yes it was slowly, I poured it into the lined tray, covered the top with flaked almonds and baked for the recommended time. Half way through, you have to turn the oven down and this needs careful timing. Once baked, remove from the oven and allow to cool slightly then turn out onto greaseproof paper. While waiting for it too cool a little more to roll, whisk the double cream and mix the fresh raspberries into it. Spread the cream and raspberry mix onto the meringue and use the greaseproof paper to help roll the meringue into a roulade. I thought this would be tricky but I didn’t find it too bad at all. Leave the roulade wrapped in the paper and put into the fridge. The roulade was really long!

The second recipe was the date and walnut tray bake. Slightly more fiddly in that Mary asks you to cut up the dates, put them in a bowl with the softened butter and some boiling water and allow to cool. In the meantime, put the rest of the ingredients into the bowl and mix, then add the date mix when cooler.

Line a tray bake tin and pour the mix in. Cook as per Mary’s recipe. Once cooked, allow to cool in the tin and make the icing topping. I must admit I was a bit dubious about making a lemon icing topping on a date and walnut tray bake but it seemed to compliment it well. Finally decorate with walnut pieces.

I divided my bakes as usual and gave some to my chief tasters ….who have now informed me that they are on strict diets so I may have to half Mary’s recipe amounts or I will have to resort to feeding the neighbourhood by putting a table outside!

My hubby informs me that our blog has now had over 50, 000 views since we started it – not just for my cake adventures, but also our photography, and Canadian adventure too so thank you all for helping to build up this figure!

Oh and my countdown continues…..93 to go….and having a week’s break isn’t helping…..but on a brighter note- the Great British Bake Off starts next week- I will be there, watching every bake!

Week Eighty Six – Mary Berry’s Mushroom & Garlic Stuffed Picnic Loaf & Cheese Straws

Posted on Jul 17, 2014 by kimsideas

Week eighty six and I thought I would be a little adventurous this week and attempt something with yeast! I delved into Mary Berry’s Baking Bible and found the mushroom and garlic stuffed picnic loaf and to complete the savoury theme, cheese straws to compliment.

I made the bread dough as per Mary’s instructions and left it to rise or prove for two hour. With the lovely weather we have been having, this wasn’t an issue for me this time! I read the recipe carefully and Mary suggests either making one whole loaf that is stuffed or rolls so I opted for rolls as they are shared more easily.

Mary Berry's Mushroom & Garlic stuffed picnic loaf

The only issue I had was following the instructions for filling and folding the dough which proved to be tricky as it isn’t a sealed loaf. I added the filling and molded, coaxed, prodded and poked the dough until it resembled a roll rather than a wreck and left them to prove for a while longer. Then finally they went into the oven for about 15 minutes. When they came out, I had to brush them with some of the mushroom oil from the recipe and leave them to cool.

The second recipe was for cheese straws. This was an easy dough to put together and then wrap in clingfilm for half an hour. Time ran out and the dough wasn’t used until the following day and needed to be worked a bit as it was a solid block!

I rolled it out and cut the dough into straws and brushed them with egg and sprinkled with fresh Parmesan cheese. Into the oven they went for a short while until golden and brown.

I have been trying to catch up with the Celebrity Master Chef – the episodes are currently stacked up ready to watch but I was pleasantly surprised to see how well Wayne Sleep did and how much he learned in such a short space of time.

I treated my kitchen this week too. I have seen some wall signs where the words are transferred directly onto the wall and found a lovely kitchen sign that reflected my love of baking! It was a bit of a pain to put up but worth it and I love it!

Week Eighty Five – Mary Berry’s Chocolate Chip Cookies & Lime Lattice Cookies

Posted on Jul 9, 2014 by kimsideas

Week eighty five and I delved with my usual glee into Mary Berry’s Baking Bible – I thought that perhaps with less than 100 now to go, that my choices would be getting more limited but not yet. There are I must admit some recipes I keep passing over, yes I know I have to do them all eventually….

Any how, I decided this week would be a bit of a cookie fest and I began with Mary’s Chocolate Chip Cookies. The way Mary describes them is that they should be soft and chewy, a bit like Millie’s cookies was what came to mind. I made the dough which was simple enough and then Mary asks you to put large teaspoons of the mixture on to baking sheets, fairly well spaced apart. I managed this and placed the trays in the oven to cook and set the timer.

Once the timer had pinged, I removed the cookies from the oven and allowed them to cool on the tray for a few minutes before transferring them to the cooling racks. I was pleased with how they came out and even if I do say so, they were as good as Millie’s cookies.

the second batch of cookies were Mary’s lime lattice cookies. Mary’s recipe for this is very simple and the hardest part was finely grating two limes. Mary suggests using a skewer to create a lattice pattern on top of these cookies but I used the wires from an egg slicer instead.

Mary asks you to add “walnut” sized pieces of dough onto the trays, create the lattice effect on top and bake. These were zesty and tangy, a lovely contrast to the rich chocolate chip cookies.

I am avidly awaiting the new series of The Great British Bake Off which is going to be shown this summer on BBC1. There was an article in The Metro about there being a spin off series on BBC2 called An Extra Slice to show more of the footage etc so I will have more to watch-yippee!