Strawberry jam and peach roll recipe

January 31st, 2012 by Penny Golightly

I’m taking part in the msavers challenge, where I’m going to make a reasonably-priced home made recipe using ingredients from the relaunched Morrisons M Savers range. The idea is to combine the best value food ingredients with low cost recipes, and cook up something really, really tasty.

My original plan was to make jam roly poly, but this is traditionally suet based and I don’t eat suet. It’s also traditionally steamed in a large pan for up to two hours, and I figured most modern households probably wouldn’t have a big enough pan plus the assorted steaming cloths and other related paraphernalia required. The steaming time is on top of the other prep time and time is at a premium in most households, plus there’s the gas/electricity bill to think of. The final kicker was the waste equation: will kids seriously eat this stuff? If not, however cheap the ingredients, it’s not a good use of funds. Read the rest of this entry »

PF Advent Day 18: Microwave baked apples recipe

December 18th, 2011 by Penny Golightly

I’ve been promising this recipe for a while, and have finally got round to writing it up for you. It’s an easy recipe for making baked apples using a microwave and it’s great once the weather turns colder. Oh, and it counts as one of your five a day too.

This is a dessert I make on wintry days when I’m not using the main oven, as it saves on electricity. You will need a microwave-safe glass casserole dish to make this recipe, preferably one with a lid.

Ingredients (serves 2)

  • 2 dessert apples
  • 2 dessert spoonfuls of raisins
  • 1 heaped teaspoon of flaked almonds
  • 1 heaped teaspoon of brown sugar
  • 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
  • 15g butter

1. Mix the sugar, cinnamon, almonds and raisins together.

2.  Cut a wide cone shape out of the top of each apple, then remove as much of the core as you can without going through the bottom of the apple (the skin needs to stay intact in this area or the apples will go soggy). Prick a few tiny holes in the skin of the upper half of each apple, so it doesn’t split when it’s cooking in the microwave.

3. Put a quarter of the butter into the cavity in each apple, then press in as much of the fruit and nut mixture as you can. Put the remaining butter on top, then sprinkle with any leftover sugar.

4. Place in glass baking dish, and add 2cm depth of boiling water from a kettle around the outside of the fruit without splashing the filling in the middle. Put the lid on the dish.

5. Microwave on full power for 1 minute, then carefully check to see whether the apples are cooked by slightly squeezing one of them. If it needs more cooking, replace the lid and cook on full power for another 30 seconds and check again. You might need to cook for a further 30 seconds again after this, but most apples will be cooked in about 2 minutes or so.

6. Take apples out of the water with a slotted spoon, and move to serving bowls. If you like, you can add cream, custard or ice cream, but they’re quite nice served plain too.

How do you like them apples?

PF Advent Day 13: Last minute Xmas cake recipe

December 13th, 2011 by Penny Golightly

Today we have a really easy Christmas cake recipe for you, in case you haven’t made one already. This is the perfect last minute cake, given a delicious fruity-toffee kind of flavour by the secret ingredient: crushed pineapple. It doesn’t need weeks to mature, and can be made without alcohol if you wish.

Ingredients

  • 300g raisins & sultanas (mixed)
  • 200g glacé cherries
  • 1/2 tin of crushed pineapple (or 1 small can)
  • 150g dark brown sugar
  • 200g butter/margarine
  • 2 eggs, beaten
  • 200g self-raising flour

1. Bring the raisins, sultanas, cherries, pineapple, sugar and butter to the boil in a large pan and simmer slowly for about 4 minutes. Remove from heat and allow to cool.

2. Add the eggs, then sift in the flour. Mix well.

3. Line a square or round deep 8″ cake tin with greaseproof paper. Place mixture in the tin and bake at 160 degrees C for approx 1.5 – 2 hours. Cake is cooked when a skewer pushed into the centre comes out clean and cake is firm to the touch.

4. Decorate with marzipan and icing for a traditional feel, or glaze with melted marmalade and add toasted whole almonds to the top for a nutty twist.

Happy baking!

PF Advent Day 8: Cherry & coconut cake recipe

December 8th, 2011 by Penny Golightly

Today it’s the return of Tea Loaf of the Month – this one’s a recipe for an easy, festive cherry and coconut cake that’s a welcome alternative to all those endless mince pies. Happy baking!

Ingredients

  • 200g pot of glace cherries (buy them already halved if you can)
  • 150g unsalted butter, softened
  • 150g caster sugar
  • 3 medium eggs, lightly beaten
  • 30ml milk
  • 200g self raising flour
  • 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • small pinch of salt
  • 75g dessicated coconut

1. Preheat the oven to 180C (Gas 4), and line a loaf tin with baking parchment.

2. Rinse the syrup off the glace cherries, and put them on a paper towel to dry off a little.

3. Cream together the butter and sugar, then slowly add the eggs one at a time while mixing thoroughly. After this, stir in the milk.

4. Sift in the flour, cinnamon and salt, with the cherry halves in the seive (this coats them in flour so they won’t sink to the bottom of the cake as it cooks). Then fold in the flour.

5. Fold in the coconut, then fold in the cherries.

6. Bake for about an hour, but check it after 45 minutes of cooking. It’s cooked when a wooden skewer inserted into the middle of the cake comes out clean.

If you’d like to fancy it up a bit you can add some water icing after it’s cooled, plus a few reserved cherry halves for decoration. Or go the whole hog and spread the top with chocolate icing or Nutella and sprinkle with dessicated coconut.

Are you going to give this one a go? Let us know how you get on.

 

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