Author Archives: kimsideas

Week Seventy Nine – Mary Berry’s English Muffins & Rich Cheesy Biscuits

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Week seventy nine and all birthday celebrations had been put to bed so what to choose this week? I delved into Mary Berry’s Baking Bible with less enthusiasm than usual as I felt we were all a bit “caked out” and needed something more savoury this week.

I found the English muffin recipe which I decided to give a go and no, no bread machine in sight this week, these little delights would be made by my own fair hands! I got up fairly early on Saturday and weighed all the dry ingredients into the bowl as per Mary’s instructions. Mary then suggests that you add the tepid milk gradually using a food mixer with dough hooks to help. I was pleased about this as I didn’t think I would have the strength to mix this by hand at the moment. (My recovery is going well but I am not back to full strength just yet). The dough came together nicely and I lightly floured my work top and rolled the dough out and used a 3″ cutter to cut the muffins out. I placed the muffins onto a floured tray, dusted the top with semolina and covered the tray with a large plastic bag. I left the tray on top of my cooker. Mary suggests leaving them for an hour to rise. I used fresh yeast but I ended up leaving mine for about an hour and a half as my kitchen doesn’t seem to be the optimum place for dough rising! Finally Mary suggests you use a griddle or heavy based saucepan- I only had a large saucepan and heat it and place the muffins in it in batches for about 7 minutes each side until they have a nice brown colour and have risen well again.

Mary Berry's English Muffins

I was gobsmacked at how well they turned out- I , for the first time felt like a “proper” baker this week and I was really chuffed with them. I phoned my official taster who came and collected some still fresh from the oven and between that batch and what we had left over, they didn’t last beyond the end of the day- yum yum!

Kim's English Muffins

The second recipe was Mary’s rich cheesy biscuits. Mary asks you to put all the dry ingredients in a bowl and then add the butter and rub it in so that the mix resembles breadcrumbs. My other mum recently treated me to the new Lurpack  cook range and I used the butter which can be used straight from the fridge and is still soft enough to cook with. It rubbed in beautifully. Mary then asks you to beat the eggs together and add most of the egg to the mix to create a dough and have some left to glaze the biscuits. When the dough has come together, Mary tells you to wrap the dough in cling film and pop it in the fridge for about 15 minutes. Mine was in the fridge a little bit longer as I then popped out to go and pay the ransom demand for my hubby’s birthday card from my mum from the Post Office – (apparently it was 11p extra than the 1st class stamp she put on it but I had to pay £1.11 ransom to get it !), then I cam home via the supermarket as I had no poppy seeds or sesame seeds which Mary advises to put on there. Like most of my trips to the supermarket, I couldn’t decide on the topping so bought both…and a few other bits while I was in there! Finally I got home, rolled out the dough and used a round cutter to cut my biscuits. I put them on baking trays and glazed them with the left over egg. I then sprinkled half of them with poppy seeds and half with sesame seeds. In the oven they went for about 15 minutes.

Mary Berry's Rich Cheesy Biscuits

They smelt mouth wateringly good and were beautifully crisp from the oven. they had that biscuit snap noise which both Mary and Paul go on and on about in The Great British Bake Off! Funnily enough, these biscuits were divided between us and the official taster and they didn’t last beyond Sunday- but sadly went a little soft in the tin overnight!

Kim's rich cheesy biscuits

This week I was really pleased with my muffins, I couldn’t believe how well they turned out and I will definitely make these again. I have been a bit nervous of anything yeasty but it has given me confidence to tackle the rest of Mary’s bread recipes without resorting to the bread machine!

Week Seventy Eight- Mary Berry’s Cornish Fairings & Very Best Chocolate Fudge Cake

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Week 78 already and as it has recently been my other mum’s birthday , I had given her a token with four choices of birthday cake (from  Mary Berry’s Baking Bible – of course) so that she could choose what birthday cake she got. Due to some recent ill health, no choice had been made and suddenly it’s hubby’s birthday too and so a joint birthday cake was the choice of the day otherwise we would be all caked out- literally!

Mary Berry's Very Best Chocolate Fudge Cake

So I dipped into the Baking Bible with hubby and he chose the very best chocolate fudge cake. This seemed like an easy recipe to do so off I set. I added cocoa to some hot water and mixed it together then added all the other ingredients and mixed it thoroughly. I then split the mix between 2 greased and lined sandwich tins and popped them in the oven. The smell as they cooked was mouth watering. The cakes rose well and no dips in the middle today so the oven behaved today. To make the topping/filling Mary asks you to melt the chocolate with some cream and when cool, use as a filling and topping. So nearly 2 bars of dark chocolate and a pot of cream later, I had to spread some in the middle and over the top!

Kim's Very Best Chocolate Fudge Cake

The second recipe- what to do as I had already made a cake that was going to be very rich and filling. I found the Cornish Fairings recipe and followed Mary’s recipe carefully.

Mary Berry's Cornish Fairings

I rubbed the butter into the flour and then added the sugar. I then heated the golden syrup and added this to the mix until it formed a dough. Mary then asks you to roll the dough into cherry size balls and bake for 10 minutes then remove the tray, bang it on a hard surface and return to the oven for 5 minutes. I found that the biscuits didn’t need to be banged although I did this anyway and that they burnt really easily and almost a quarter of mine were too far gone to be rescued. The one thing they did have going for them was that they had the biscuit snap when you broke them in half!

Kim's Cornish Fairings

So I want to wish a belated birthday to my other mum and I hope that you begin to feel better soon.

I would also like to wish my special hubby a happy birthday too. I know you didn’t get what you wanted for your birthday but we have each other and I love you very much…and so do the hairy hoolies!

Week Seventy Seven – Mary Berry’s Iced Gingerbread with Stem Ginger & Fork Biscuits

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Week seventy seven and what a week it has been! I had returned to work on half days and was thoroughly exhausted and hubby had a rather unpleasant encounter with a hot kettle! Plenty of wet towels, an ambulance ride and a six hour wait in A&E and we eventually got home. Not the ideal evening I had planned curled up on the sofa with painkillers and my trusty hot water bottle but needs must. I am now a dab hand with Jelonet and  latex-free bandages…more skills to add to my repertoire!

Evil Kettle

I picked up Mary Berry’s Baking Bible with a heavy heart this week given the recent events and the fact that I seem to be eternally tired while I continue to recover from my op. I scoured through Mary’s recipes trying to summon up some enthusiasm and having given up on that, settled on gingerbread and fork biscuits. The gingerbread recipe was quite simple and was one of her ( I am eternally grateful) throw everything pretty much in a bowl and mix. The only variance to this was adding the bicarb and milk to the mix and beating it in. I then poured the mix into my prepared tin and into the oven it went. I had to set the timer for an hour and then after an hour, turn the oven down and bake for a further half an hour.

Mary Berry's Iced Gingerbread with Stem Ginger

I think my oven is getting old and temperamental as from the time the gingerbread went in to the time it came out, the oven door was not opened once yet the cake sank in the middle….and no, I didn’t open the door, even the tiniest bit to check it! I looked through the window with the light on. So I turn the cake out and ice it upside down so all the icing doesn’t pool in the middle of the cake! Oh and thanks to hubby, I didn’t add the chopped up stem ginger to the icing as he “wasn’t keen”!!!!

Kim's Gingerbread Kim's Iced Gingerbread

The second recipe had to wait until the gingerbread had cooked as it required a hotter oven. It was Mary’s fork biscuit recipe which looked quick and simple and I used her suggestion at the bottom of making them citrusy by adding some grated orange peel. The recipe was again quite simple, mix the four ingredients together, and form a dough. Divide the dough into approximately 16 walnut size balls and use a fork to flatten the biscuits. Bake for about 15 minutes.

Mary Berry's Fork Biscuits

The resulting biscuits didn’t spread out as much as Mary suggests they do but they were light and quite tasty. I am keen on the Mary philosophy that they don’t all need to be the same size either to taste okay!  I might consider doing these again.

Kim's Fork Biscuits

I am missing all my favourite programmes at the moment- no more Great British Bake Off, no more Mary Berry Cooks and no more Dr Who at the moment. Having been off for a few weeks recovering though, I have watched an awful lot of TV lately and when I list what I have watched and enjoyed recently, you will get an insight into my TV tastes…lol….so here we go…..Haven, The Mentalist, The new Ironside, Hawaii Five O, The Following, Revolution, About a Boy, Grimm……see no soap operas in sight …..

Week Seventy Six – Mary Berry’s Farmhouse Brown Seeded Loaf & Easter Simnel Cake

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Week seventy six at last, I am back in the baking saddle but it is a tentative exploration during my recovery and I have found that the mind is willing but the body doesn’t want to stand in place for too long without moving or sitting down! So I decided to find some recipes from Mary Berry’s Baking Bible that I could manage this week.

The first being Mary’s farmhouse brown seeded loaf which I let my bread machine take the strain of as I was not up to kneading bread etc but wanted to make it so I followed Mary’s recipe but then let the machine do the proving and kneading and baking. A bit of  cheat I know but a girl can only do so much….

Mary Berry's Farmhouse Brown Seeded Loaf

The resulting bread doesn’t look as pretty as Mary’s loaf but it was light and tasty inside and it is one of Mary’s recipes that I will make again at some point.

Kim's Farmhouse Brown Seeded Loaf

The second recipe was Mary’s Easter Simnel Cake, I thought I had better make this as I am hoping that I will have completed Mary’s challenge by next Easter and it would be a bit weird making a simnel cake at any other time of year.

Mary Berry's Easter Simnel Cake

I struggled standing for the length of time needed to weigh out all the ingredients but it is one of Mary’s usual throw all the ingredients in and mix recipes and I used my electric had mixer to take up the strain of mixing it by hand. I poured half the mix into the lined cake tin, added a circle of marzipan and then the rest of the cake mix on the top.

After 2 1/2 hours the cake was done. I let it cool and then brushed the top with jam, topped it with another marzipan circle and 11 marzipan balls, brushed it with egg and then borrowed my other mum’s kitchen blowtorch to brown it all.

Kim's Easter Simnel Cake

Although I am not overly keen on marzipan, I am looking forward to having a slice of this.

I would like to take the time to thank all of you who follow this blog regularly and also to those who dip in and out as they discover it, welcome all and please feel free to pop back as often as you like. I have discovered a true love of baking through this challenge and enjoy sharing the experience on here, the good times and the disasters.

Endometrial Ablation – a personal view

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This week I underwent a gynaecological procedure called an endometrial ablation.

Without going into too much detail, it was because I had been having really heavy periods to the point that it was difficult to function and no medication made any difference to the pain or flow.

My gynaecologist advised that this procedure should help with this ( and with the endometriosis that causes the problems) and it was pretty much this or a hysterectomy. At the age of 44, and with only 1 ovary, I thought I should try it.

The procedure itself was straight forward and uncomplicated and you can read more about the procedure here.

I had done a lot of research about this on the internet and most forums seemed to have entries by “super women” who say that they have had the procedure done and been back to work and back to normal the next day. I didn’t think this was realistic but there was little other information from more average women so I have decided to blog about it as I want people to realise that everyone reacts in different ways to general anaesthetic and surgery and healing takes time.

When I went for my pre-op assessment, the nurse told me to take it really easy for the first week, not to lift or move anything heavier than a coffee cup and no standing in one place for a long time. No cooking , vacuuming, shopping, walking the dogs etc.

My surgeon said the procedure of the diagnostic hysteroscopy and the endometrial ablation were routine and uncomplicated but still signed me off work for 2 weeks with advice for a phased return.

To date, I have felt okay after the general anaesthetic, the pain has been mainly from the gas used to inflate my womb to inspect it and the main symptom has been tiredness. I know if I have spent more time up and walking or standing than I should as I get really shaky and have to sit down immediately and have a biscuit and drink to recover.

I wanted to put this out there for those women contemplating the procedure. You won’t all be “super women” who can have the procedure and be right as rain the day after. It is a serious intervention and you need to allow your body the time to heal and ensure that you look after yourself. This will not happen in 2 days.

I have had some pain from the operation and wasn’t sent home with any pain relief but I am managing the pain at home with hot water bottles and over the counter paracetamol and codeine and ibuprofen. The pain is no where near as bad as those bad period pain days and I am hoping that those days will no longer be in my future as this procedure should make any future periods light and manageable.

Good luck if you are looking to have this procedure done. It’s early days for me at the moment but so far so good in my recovery. Just remember that we all recover at different rates and listen to your body. Don’t try and do too much too soon.

10/05/2014 just a quick update. I am about five weeks post-op and now back to work full time. I cannot stress enough of the need to listen to your body. I still get tired more quickly than usual and last week I felt awful. My abdomen was tender and I felt off colour and had dreadful night sweats. I managed to get a GP appointment quickly. I had an infection despite do I g everything that I was told to for best recovery. A week of 2 lots of antibiotics and painkillers and I can honestly say I am actually feeling more like my old self.

Kim’s Cake Challenge- my favourite parts so far, with so many left to go….

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As I mentioned last week, I have had an operation which means that I am currently recovering and there will be no bake this week.

I must admit that I will miss not baking this week but I am not up to standing for any length of time. I went to the supermarket with my mum today and that has pretty wiped me out and I am now tucked up on the sofa.

I have been thinking back to my favourite bakes to date and I must say that in no particular order, I have particularly enjoyed the millionaire’s shortbread, the hot cross buns and the giant all in one Victoria sandwich cake so far. The millionaire’s shortbread reminded me of my nan and mum’s baking and I was amazed that I could produce hot cross buns that looked anything like they should!

Kim's large all in one victoria sanwich cakeKim's finished hot cross buns

Kim's Billionaire's Shortbread

 

My least favourite to date still has to be the parkin, perhaps it was my bake but whatever it was, I really didn’t like it and will not be making it again.

I don’t know how long baking the rest of the challenge will take but I am thoroughly looking forward to it and extending my baking skills further.

Week Seventy Five- Mary Berry’s Date & Chocolate Loaf & Iced Chocolate Tray Bake

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Week seventy five and I sat on Saturday with my coffee and my well used copy of Mary Berry’s Baking Bible to see what I fancied doing this weekend. I chose Mary Berry’s date & chocolate loaf firstly as I knew that my other mum would particularly like this and what else could I give her for Mother’s Day?!

Mary Berry's Date & Chocolate Loaf

Mary asks you to soak the dates in hot water for 30 minutes. Melt the chocolate and roughly chop the brazil nuts- they pinged every where! Add the dry ingredients to a bowl and pour in the egg and milk then everything else and mix well together. Pour the mix into a lined loaf tin and sprinkle some brazil nuts and sugar on the top. Put in the oven for about 1 1/4 hours.You might need to cover the top of it towards the end of the bake to prevent over-browning.

Kim's Date & Chocolate Loaf

The second recipe was one of Mary’s tray bakes which always go down well in our house.

Mary Berry's Iced Chocolate Loaf

Apart from blending the hot water and cocoa together, it’s one of Mary’s usual throw everything in together and mix. Pour into a tin , level it and put it in the oven for about 40 minutes. Allow to cool in the tin.

Once cool, melt some chocolate- I must admit, that Mary suggests dark chocolate but I went with galaxy for this topping! Beat in some icing sugar and pour over the cake. Mary suggests covering the top of the cake with some melted apricot jam first which I did.

Kim's Iced Chocolate Tray Bake

Once set, cut the cake into squares and serve.

So , 118 recipes to go, but there will now be a break for a week or maybe two as I go into hospital soon to have a procedure that should have been done last year. I will try and blog perhaps about the recovery and how I found it and also about my favourite bakes of the challenge so far.

Finally I would like to wish 2 special ladies a very happy mother’s day with love always. xx

Happy Mother's Day

Week Seventy Four – Mary Berry’s Sultana Streusel Buns & Banana & Chocolate Chip Bars

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Week Seventy four found me up at silly o’clock on a Sunday morning , having walked the dogs and completed both bakes by 8.45am! I chose Mary Berry’s sultana streusel buns and the banana & chocolate chip bars from her Baking Bible.

Mary Berry's Sultana Streusel Buns

I made doubly sure that I read the recipe for the sultana streusel buns before I started, as I didn’t want any disasters this week. Mary asks you to put the flour and baking powder in a bowl and rub in the butter until it looks like breadcrumbs. I must admit this is my least favourite method as I never feel that it looks like it should! Mary then asks you to stir in the sugar and the sultanas. Then lightly beat the egg and milk together and mix all in one go to the bowl and beat to a smooth mix. Put spoons of the mixture in the cases.

This recipe has a topping that is made by flour, sugar and melted butter. Use a fork to mix it until it is crumbly and put a spoon of this on top of each bun. Then put it in the oven.

Kim's Sultanas Streusel Buns

I have never made these before and they needed about 5-10 minutes longer to cook than Mary suggests but they looked quite unusual.

The second recipe was the banana and chocolate chip bars. As I have mentioned before, my hubby is allergic to banana and I have made other banana recipes when visiting my mum so that the family can eat them. Mary does suggest in this recipe that you can substitute apricots for the banana so that’s what I did.

Mary Berry's Banana & Chocolate Chip Bars

The recipe is quite simple. Mary asks you to put the flour, oats and sugar into a bowl and mix and then rub in the butter- ( did I mention that I don’t like this method?!) Put half the mix into a tin- Mary suggests a square tin but I put mine in a round one. Then add the apricots and then top with the rest of the mixture. Bake in the oven.

Kim's Apricot & Chocolate Chip Bars

Allow the finished product to cool in the tin and then cut into bars. I am renaming my bake to “Mary Berry’s Apricot & Chocolate Chip Bars”

The countdown continues…..120 left to go…..

Week Seventy Three- Mary Berry’s Swiss Wild Strawberry & Walnut Cake & Almond Tuiles

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Week seventy three and I should heed my words in a recent blog- read the recipe fully and carefully before attempting the bake! I dipped into Mary Berry’s Baking Bible and found the Swiss wild strawberry & walnut cake which sounded lovely.

Mary Berry's Swiss Wild Strawberry & Walnut Cake

Stupidly I weighed everything into a bowl and mixed it and turned it into the tin as I kind of assumed that Mary’s recipe would be her usual throw everything in a bowl and mix affair- how wrong I was- but I ended up with a rather thick pancake!

Kim's failed attempt!

So take two- Mary Berry’s Swiss wild strawberry & walnut cake – even though hubby was trying to persuade me to leave the walnuts out. After CAREFULLY reading the recipe and begging three eggs from my other mum, I put the three eggs in a bowl with the sugar and whisked until mousse like and thick, leaving a trail. Then fold in the sifted flour and walnuts. Put into the tin and bake for 45 minutes.

This time the cake rose but despite being on the right temperature for the full amount of time and the oven door not being opened, it still rose less in the middle. But it was 100% better than the last effort.

Kim's Walnut Sponge

When cool, Mary asks you to slice the cake into three- with trepidation I grasped the knife and made my first cut. The top layer came away quite easily as there was a slight crust on the top but the next cut was harder as the sponge is very light but I managed it. In my local Morrisons I found a box of Spanish strawberries which looked heavenly and when I opened them , they smelled amazing and tasted just like strawberries from my childhood. I whipped double cream until it was nice and thick and spread cream onto each layer with some strawberries and finally the cream spread over the top and sides and finished with more strawberries.

Kim's Swiss Wild Strawberry & Walnut Cake Kim's slice of Swiss Wild Strawberry & Walnut Cake

The second bake I had left for a while as I had watched with amusement the contestants on the last Great British Bake Off making tuile biscuits with varied results .

The almond tuiles recipe was rather bizarre in that you creamed the egg and sugar together. In another bowl, add the egg white and mix the flour in. What Mary doesn’t tell you is that it goes like glue! Then mix all the ingredients together including the chopped almonds. Mary then asks you to put a teaspoon of the mixture onto the baking tray- she suggests four spoonfuls on each tray to allow for spreading. Only bake four at a time and this is really important.

Mary Berry's Almond Tuiles

Bake them until they are brown around the edges but not the middle. Remove from the oven, time is of the essence here. Allow to cool for a few seconds and use a spatula to lift and drape over a rolling pin to create the curve. Allow to cool on this before putting on a rack for final cooling.

Kim's Almond Tuiles

I was pleased with my tuiles and the curves I managed to get!

I usually listen to music while I am in my own little world baking in the kitchen. I can become a bit of a sports widow while there is rugby or formula one on and baking is a good way of filling this time. I have been listening to Robbie Williams album “Swings Both Ways “ and its brilliant. Such an eclectic mix of music, quite different to his normal style and I can highly recommend it. He is no Michael Buble (sigh…) but he has certainly given him a run for his money with this album!

Oh, and the countdown now stands at T – 122 recipes left to go….

Week Seventy Two – Mary Berry’s Apricot & Orange Cheesecake & Lemon Drizzle Tray Bake

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I am still on a roll and managing to bake 2 of Mary Berry’s recipes from her Baking Bible. This week my mum came to stay and to celebrate, I decided to try one of the more difficult and lengthy cheesecake recipes. Mary Berry’s Apricot & Orange cheesecake started with melting butter and crushing digestive biscuits. Mix these together and press into a deep circular tin and chill.

Mary Berry's Apricote & Orange Cheesecake

The next part of the cheese cake involved boiling orange juice and the apricots for about five minutes, then blitz in a food processor and add the gelatine, sour cream, cream cheese, honey, and egg yolks and blitz again until smooth. Whip the egg whites with the sugar until stiff and fold into the cheesecake mix. Pour this onto the biscuit base and chill again  overnight. Finally , melt some apricot jam and pour over the top of the cheesecake. Chill again. Mark the cheesecake into 10 slices and decorate each slice with a whipped cream swirl and a ratafia biscuit. This has been the most complicated cheesecake I have ever made but it looked good and tasted even better!

Kim's Apricot & Orange Cheesecake

The second recipe was Mary’s lemon drizzle tray bake. This was one of Mary’s through all the ingredients in a bowl and mix. Line a tray bake tin ( Lakeland…) and bake for about 40 minutes.

Mary Berry's Lemon Drizzle Tray Bake

Once baked and cooled, mix granulated sugar with some lemon juice and drizzle over the top. Cut into squares.

Kim's Lemon Drizzle Tray Bake

I loved watching Mary’s show this week, with the dinner party recipes. I particularly liked the salmon mousse terrine with asparagus. I am looking forward to next week’s roast dinner recipes.