Hand Made Christmas Pesents

Hand Made Christmas Pesents, originally uploaded by Quirky Confectioner.

I was on a tight budget this Christmas. These were hand made as stocking filler gifts for my family. The fillings are all homemade too.

This pic was used as the "clues" inside the box.

They went down really well, and I am fully intending to make them again next year, maybe with a few extra flavors. I may also invest in some chocolate molds.

Welsh English Wedding Cake

Welsh English Wedding Cake, originally uploaded by Quirky Confectioner.

Bunny Cake for Ben (aged 1)

Bunny Cake for Ben (aged 1), originally uploaded by Quirky Confectioner.

My fab hubby Kris suggested leaving the sides as an underground cross section. Thanks! It worked great.

Here comes the science.

So I am sat here on the sofa coughing and spluttering with the dreaded oink flu. All my best efforts to avoid being infected by the little angles at work or my colleagues came to naught. Yesterday I just lay in the dark, shivering and seeing pretty colours when I closed my eyes. Feeling a little better today, and I have discovered a new BBC science program through BBC iPlayer called "Bang Goes the Theory" (I missed it on telly earlier this year somehow).

Any way from their website www.bbc.co.uk/bang I found this butter and cream related gem. I think I am going to have to use this teaching about emulsions for GCSE science. I thought I would share it on my blog as I am not fit to bake anything other than germ cake just now.

Walnut and Maple Cupcakes

I felt in need of some autumn flavours this week. Walnuts are in season and I had stumbled upon a bottle of really good maple syrup at the shops (it can be hard to find in the UK).

The Cakes (makes 2 dozen)

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees C and line 2 muffin tins with cupcake papers.

Take 3 large eggs and measure their mass, it will be approx 200g. Measure out an equal mass of; Caster Sugar, Butter, Self Raising Flour and half the same mass of walnuts. You will also need 1 tsp high quality vanilla essence, 1 1/2 tablespoons of canola oil, 1/4 tsp baking powder and 12 teaspoons of coffee liqueur.

Beat together the butter and sugar until they go light in colour and fluffy.
Then add the eggs and vanilla and beat hard until smooth and frothy.
Sift in the flour and baking powder and fold into the mix, then stir in the oil.
Finally chop the walnuts into small pieces and stir in until evenly distributed through the mix. Divide evenly between the cupcake cases and bake in the middle of the oven for approximately 15-20 minutes.

Allow them to cool on a wire rack, then prick the tops a few times with a skewer. Drizzle 1/2 a teaspoon of coffee liqueur onto each cupcake.

The Cream Cheese Maple Icing

57g - 1/4 cup of butter
28g - 1/8 cup of vegetable shortening (Trex)
114g - 4oz cream cheese
400g - 14 oz Icing sugar
3 Tablespoons of Maple syrup.

Beat all these ingredients together until smooth. Cover tightly and refrigerate for about an hour before piping. This is necessary as the icing is a little softer than most cream cheese icing.

Vanilla and Nutmeg Biscuits

I have been searching far and wide for a biscuit/cookie recipe that holds it's shape really well and has the crunchiness of a proper English Biscuit. This weekend I found my biscuit nirvana! These are yummy, and to my taste buds, Vanilla and Nutmeg are a match made in heaven.

I also learned a few things about helping them stay in shape.

Numero Uno: In the past I have been rolling the dough too thin. I have found a thickness of 2-3 x £1 coin stacked gave me much better results.

Numero erm 2: When re rolling the uncut cookie dough bits, kneed them back together really well, and then chill again for 10 minutes before re rolling. I found this got rid of bubbling on the surface.

Here I have decorated them with Regal Ice Fondant and a touch of edible lustre. However they are also great with Royal Icing. Sweet and simple for tea at my Mother in Law's.

227 grams(1 cup)Butter, room temperature
300 grams (1 1/2 cups) White Caster Sugar
1 teaspoon Baking Powder
2 large Eggs
2 teaspoons high quality pure Vanilla Extract
460 grams (3 1/2 cups) Plain Flour
1 1/2 teaspoons of freshly grated Nutmeg (2 tsp if you really like nutmeg)

1. In a bowl, or your mixer, mix the butter and sugar until light coloured and fluffy.
2. Now beat in the eggs and Vanilla until smooth.
3. Sift in the Flour, Baking Powder and Nutmeg.
4. Now mix until the whole thing comes together into a dough(If using a mixer switch to the dough hook).
5. Wrap well and place in the fridge OVER NIGHT!

6. Next day heat the oven to 175 degrees C.
7. Roll out your dough to a thickness between 2-3 £1 coins stacked.
8. Cut into the desired shapes and place on a baking tray in the middle of the oven.
9. Bake for around 10 mins (depending on cookie size). They are ready when the edges are just starting to brown.
10. Cool on a wire rack before icing.

Sencha Cakes with Cardamom Frosting.

Sencha is a kind of Japanese Green Tea. It has a very delicate and fragrant flavour, and is full of anti oxidants (so you could even claim these cakes are healthy... ...err if you ate only celery for the rest of the day). They are not very sweet compared to most european cakes, but I find this balanced well with a sweet Cardamom Cream Cheese frosting. Note: The frosting recipe makes enough to pipe swirls on 12 cupcakes.

The Cakes

3 large eggs
130g - 2/3 cup caster sugar
80ml - 1/3 cup boiled water
2 tbsp sencha green tea leaves + 1 tsp
80ml - 1/3 cup vegetable oil (I used Canola oil)
160g - 1 1/3 cup flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
(A little mint green food colouring - optional)

Preheat oven in 360F / 180C

Brew 2 tbsps of sencha green tea in 1/3 cup of freshly boiled water. Cool the green tea then strain. Add the food colouring to the brewed tea if it is being used.

Whisk eggs in a bowl or your mixer.

Add sugar to the bowl. Then sift in the flour, baking powder, and 1 tsp of green tea leaves into the mixer and mix quickly.

Whilst mixing add the oil and green tea and mix the batter well.

Divide between 12 cupcake cases in a muffin tray.

Bake the cake for 25-35 minutes in the oven. Until they are risen, the tops are firm and a skewer will come out cleanly.

The Cream Cheese Cardamom Frosting

57g - 1/4 cup of butter

28g - 1/8 cup of vegetable shortening (Trex)
114g - 4oz cream cheese
400g - 14 oz Icing sugar
1 tablespoon grated lemon zest
1/2 tablespoon lemon juice
1 tsp ground cardamom
1/4 tsp vanilla extract

Beat all the ingredients together until smooth.