Month: July 2012

Chocolate Croissants

~ Phil Lengthorn ~ 1 Comment

Bakeathon enters the home straight. Today makes nine out of a planned ten baked products.

There are not many things that I can actually say 'I really, really like', but Croissants in a can I really, really like. It is the most amazing invention…

Now I understand how this could be seen as cheating, and that I haven't actually made anything, but I did open the can….

Furthermore, once the can was opened and separate pre-prepared triangles were exposed, I had to actually place some chocolate in them before rolling them into perfectly shaped Croissants. The result was perfect Chocolate Croissants that I really, really like….

The Croissants were quickly devoured for breakfast. This was followed by a bike ride with the dog and the new fitness mad Amy…

You'll be glad to hear that the tenth and final part of Bakeathon will be something spectacular….

 

Shortbread

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The 8th attempt at a bit of baking for July's Project brings us to the very simple, the very scrumy, the very tasty: Shortbread. But not just any old Shortbread, may I present, at risk of infringing copyright….Olympic Shortbread….

I am well aware of how simple Shortbread is to make (caster sugar, plain flour and butter) but it still has to be made, and made it has been. These are just a couple of the various comments that have been heard whilst people munch on them:

“Yuuuummmmmyyyyy”

“They're better than Sainsbury's Taste The Difference range”

Another complete success….

Only two more items to complete the project….next up Chocolate Croissants…..

 

Scones

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July’s Project goes from strength to strength. Today: Scones.

It would seem that I have become a magical being, Harry Potter stand aside, David Copperfield make some room, I can now turn this…

Into this…

These Scones with added cranberries went down a storm. Even my nephew said, “They’re well nice!”. This is the same nephew who was called, “Well hot!”, when he attended a middle school in Whitby during his work experience…

Today was spent, in the sun, eating said scones and guzzling glasses of wine…

Lovely jubbly!

Jam Turnovers

~ Phil Lengthorn ~ 1 Comment

July's Project trundles on….today we have Jam Turnovers.

With the aid of a pack of ready made puff pastry what could go wrong?

The answer is nothing.

After a little bit of rolling, a little dollop of jam, a little bit of folding and a little bit of an egg glaze we have half a dozen Jam Turnovers, and even a couple of Apple Turnovers that were specially requested….

Lovely Jubbly!!

A British Summer?

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A nice summer's walk with dog….didn't quite go to plan….

It was late afternoon, the sun was shining, it all seemed set for a nice walk with the dog in the Lincolnshire countryside. All began well, it was reasonably warm, so decided to skirt the edge of the field and head towards the woods so that Billy Boy could chase some squirrels.

The nice gentle walk soon turned into a mad dash for cover as an almighty storm came from nowhere. Finding cover in the woods seemed like the best plan, if the rain had started that quickly surely it wouldn't last that long. However, the rain grew heavier and heavier, it grew darker and darker, and staying dry became harder and harder…

It wasn't long before it became impossible to stay dry and a decision was needed as to whether to head home. I was already drenched so the ten minute walk home surely wouldn't make much difference.

I was by now deep in the woods, it was time to make my way home. It took me some time to negotiate various sodden muddy paths and fallen trees to reach the edge of the woods, which meant by the time I finally reached the fields the rain had subsided. I think the cows in the field were quite surprised to see me emerge from the woods….

By the time I had traversed the field and made it back to the ponds and the path that would take me back into town the sun had come out, although it was still raining….

We finally made it back home after nearly 2 hours, rather wet, but we made it….

Are we ever going to get a summer?

Carrot Cupcakes

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I must first admit to a big error: veering from my initial plan of only using recipes from 'celebrity' chefs.

Today's Carrot Cupcake recipe was taken from one of those dodgy 'Book Club' books that had been left in the staff room at school. May I just say at this point that I did not buy said book, I just stole the recipe. Big mistake.

After a run of reasonably successful baking a failure was always on the cards, although no one could have possibly guessed as to the size of the failure. Let me explain:

  • Carrot Cupcakes did not really taste of carrot.
  • Cakes did not really 'rise'.
  • The cake cases used were muffin cases, therefore making the cakes look even less 'risen'.
  • Icing was a disaster: did not set, in fact it would have worked well as a dipping side dish.

Final outcome was less than impressive, although they did taste ok, if you like carrot cakes that don't really taste of carrot…

And now for something completely different, and rather impressive considering she is only 8 months old, my niece, Grace, can do a fantastic Les Dawson impression…