Lammas Lughnasadh crown

Happy Lammas to you all.

We are sat in the countryside, not 20 feet opposite a lovely large corn field which was harvested last night. The French it seems harvests at night all the time (we might too, it's just I've never seen it done then before) and the smell this morning is beautiful. The sun is shinning and the heat is high already (yeast out bubbling ready for the loaves in a moment).

So we asked if we could have a lttle of the corn, the farmer has left some in what appears to be no-man's land, amazing how far those seed throwers spread, and have started to make some dollies and a John Barleycorn crown for littleun.

All we did was plait 6 together for one side, six for the other and then with some course string tie them to form a round.

After that we weaved the remaining heads into the plaits and very quickly the crown formed. Littleun will wear it later when we have our meditation and give thanks. Later we are heading to a Dolmen, been there before and its lovely and peaceful, tucked away in a corn field we can connect with the earth so easily there.

Hope you all hve fantastic day, wherever you may be. BB

(ps sorry about the spacing on this post, blogger is being stubborn wth a mind of its own!)

Sundried Tomato Bread

Last year some friends of ours gave me some jars of tomatoes they had dried. Yummy and tasty they were too. And gone in a flash. or so I thought until Sunday when in a bit of a need to cheer up mood I went hunting through the cupboard to try and track down a lost bar of chocolate. There in the back corner was one remaining jar. Problem was I had nothing except cheese to eat it with. So after hearing a certain Someone say how well their loaf had turned out I thought well that's what I'll do, use some in a loaf and scoff the rest with the cheese.

Rather nice with the chutney and cider it was too:

Sundried Tomato Bread Recipe

you will need;

425gms of strong white bread flour

1tsp salt

40gms Parmesan Cheese (though I used the strong cheddar and that worked fine)

50gms Sundried Tomatoes chopped and drained

3tbsp Sundried Tomato Paste

2tbsp Oregano or Rosemary finely chopped

7gms Yeast

225ml Warm Water

Method:

Put the flour, salt cheese, tomatoes and paste into a large bowl. Add the chopped herbs and yeast then pour in the warm water.

Mix together with your hands until mixture combines to make a rough dough ball.

Tip dough ball out onto a lightly floured surface and stretch and knead the dough four about 10 mins till smooth ad elastic.

Shape into greased tin press indentations and scatter the extra herbs, drizzle with some of the oil from the tomatoes and sprinkle with salt.

Cover loosely with clingfilm. Leave in a warm place until doubled in size (about 30-40 mins).

Preheat oven to 220c/gas 7. Remove clingfilm from dough and reduce temp to 200c/gas 6. Bake for 35mins till golden.

Scoff.

Cherries Galore

It’s that time where I start to bake again. Having dragged myself out from under the 31days of Hades (otherwise known as the Tax Return season) I am now free to do a bit more of my things. This is a recipe for a friend who only likes cherry cakes. Unlike most that seem to use glace cherries this one uses fresh so would be better for the summer months but I am splashing out (I know goes against my live within season thoughts but he is worth it) and getting them now.

Ingredients:
250g unsalted butter, softened, plus extra for greasing
350g fresh cherries
8tbsp granulated sweetener
5 eggs, separated
1tsp almond extract
150g ground almonds
100g self-raising flour
You'll also need:
20cm loose-base cake tin or spring form tin



1. Preheat the oven to 180°C/gas 4. Grease and line the base and sides of a loose-base cake tin or spring form tin. Grease the paper. Halve and stone the cherries.

2. Using a hand-held electric whisk, whisk together the butter and all but 2tbsp of the sweetener until pale, creamy and very soft. Whisk in the egg yolks, almond extract, ground almonds, flour and 1tbsp warm water.

3. Whisk the egg whites in a thoroughly clean bowl until they form soft peaks, then whisk in the remaining sweetener. Using a large metal spoon, gently fold a quarter of the egg whites into the almond mixture. Gently fold in the remainder with half the cherries.

4. Turn the mixture into the tin and spread it out in an even layer. Scatter the remaining cherries on top. Bake for about 50 mins until the cake has risen and firm to the touch. Test by piercing the centre of the cake with a skewer, it should come out fairly clean. Leave to cool in the tin then transfer to a serving plate. The cake can be stored for a couple of days without drying out.

Rocky Road in a Stocking

Littleun has made quite a few new friends and he has found it difficult to choose who he would like to give gifts to this Yule. So we came up with an idea that meant he could give out a few without breaking the bank. Rocky Road in a bag. We were lucky as last year in the sales I managed to nab a brilliant deal on stockings (no not my leg coverings but the sort you hang up for Father Christmas). Lovely deep red velvets with fun appliquéd characters and just the right size. Well the idea is get all the ingredients (minus the butter) for the recipe, put them into the stocking with the printout on how to and tie the top with a ribbon. Hey presto, you have a gift which Littleun has helped put together and which his friends can make and do with their own families. If you fancy doing similar this is the recipe for Rocky Road (and yes couldn’t resist had to make some for ourselves, boy am I putting the weight on this year!).

Rocky Road Cake

400g bar milk chocolate
1 tin of condensed milk
100g butter
Bag of marshmallows
Tub of glace cherries
Packet of digestive biscuits
Raisins or sultanas

Put the digestive biscuits in a thick plastic bag and roughly crush so that you end up with nice chunky biscuit pieces, then set aside.
Melt the chocolate and the butter together on a low heat (or in the microwave), then once melted, add the condensed milk, mixing thoroughly.
Take the chocolate mixture off the heat and add in the digestive biscuit and all the other ingredients. Mix well. You can add as little or as much as you like of the other ingredients and vary it to suit your tastes.
Tip the mixture into a tin lined with cling film (this well help you later!), flatten out into the tin, and place in the fridge to set. When set, cut into pieces and turn out.

my camera has stopped working so photo credit is Tristan Tristan

Chocolate Cake (with a twist)

Do you have kids who love the naughty foods but aren't so great with the good veg foods etc? Well a friend of mine did so when they came round we got her littleun and mine to do some baking. This recipe mixed the fun of chocolate with the goodness of the secret ingredient... Courgette/zucchini.

to make you will need

450g courgettes/zucchini, peeled

250g butter, softened

250g light brown soft sugar

2 tsp vanilla extract

3 eggs

125ml milk

1tsp baking powder

350g self-raising flour

4tbsp cocoa powder

cake tin 30x20cm greased

Method:

Turn oven to 180c/350f/gas4.

Cut greaseproof paper to tin size to add extra protection.

Grate courgettes/zucchini finely.

Put softened butter, sugar and extract into bowl and beat with wooden spoon.

Crack eggs into a bowl and whisk with fork.

Gradually add eggs to the mixture, add the milk and whisk together.

Carefully sieve in the flour, baking powder and cocoa powder. Taking a metal spoon fold the mixture.

Spoon mix into the tin then bake for between 35 and 45 mins.

Test centre of cake with skewer and if right leave to cool.

Sit back and stuff yourself silly...

101 things to do with Blackberries

Well three things for now actually and yes I mean those lovely gleaming dark purple berries, not the latest phone!

Up at the allotment we have had a lot of blackberries come out, so far several lb’s worth and as much as I love making jam I thought I would have a look at the ‘net and see what else I could do with them.

The following are recipes and ideas pinched from Delia Smith, Ehow and Cookuk. All of them are great fun and if you have, like me, been forced to stay indoors for the min (Littleun has chickenpox) then they are also fun things that don’t take too long to do.

This dye comes out wonderfully and I have made our new altar cloth with it ready for Mabon:

Prepare the fabric by pre-soaking it in the first pot, using a fixative solution for berry dyes. See the "Tips" section for details on making this solution.

Put on rubber gloves to avoid staining your skin.

Use a measuring cup to determine how many cups of berries are to be placed in the second pot. Crush them lightly with the back of the wooden spoon. Place the pot containing the berries onto the stove.

Measure 2 times the amount of water as berries. For example, if you used 3 cups of berries, pour in 6 cups of water. Pour this water over the berries in the pot. Bring the contents to a boil, then immediately lower the heat to simmer. Wait until the water has turned a deep shade of purple. Strain the berries and discard them.

Place the damp, pre-soaked, fixative-treated fabric to be dyed into the pot. Let the fabric simmer in the dye until the desired shade is attained. Leaving it to rest in the dye overnight yields darker results. The fabric will appear lighter than the colour of the dye in the pot. Squeeze out the fabric under cool, running water and let it dry.

Tips & Warnings
If you are dyeing fabric, remember that natural fibres (as opposed to synthetic or manmade) will absorb colour better. Wool, cotton and silk are all good candidates. It helps if the fabric is already a light or neutral colour. If you choose to collect plant material in the wild, always leave at least 1/3 of the plant untouched, so it can naturally replenish itself. Always prepare fabrics to be dyed by simmering them in a "fixative" solution. The material that will be dyed should be placed in the solution and simmered for 60 minutes. Rinse the fabric in cool water and squeeze the water out 2 or 3 times. After this has been done, the damp fabric can be placed into the dye. The fixative helps the coloured dye adhere better to the fabric. To make a fixative for berry-based coloured dyes, use ½ cup plain salt mixed with 8 cups cool water.

To make a fixative for plant/herbal-based dyes, use 4 cups water and 1 cup of vinegar.

Avoid mixing dyed fabrics with your other laundry. Dyed cloth should always be laundered alone (or with similar colours) in cold water

Jam, well, just had to sneak on into the mix, yummy:

Ingredients

yield 10 lb
6 lb. blackberries1/4 pint water

Rind and juice of 2 lemons

6 lb. sugar
method

1. Put the cleaned fruit, the water and lemon rind and juice in the pan.

2. Simmer until the fruit is soft.

3. Stir in the sugar and boil rapidly until setting point is reached.

4. Remove from the heat, skim, pot, cover, and label.

This is the recipe I used for our Lammas pie, tasted so good that I didn’t get any! By the time it had done the circle and got back to me it was all gone. Just the excuse to make another:

Ingredients

For the shortcrust pastry:
6 oz (175 g) plain flour
pinch salt
1½ oz (40 g) lard
1½ oz (40 g) butter

For the filling:
4 medium cooking apples, about 1 lb (450 g)
8 oz (225 g) brambles or fresh or frozen blackberries, defrosted if frozen, and washed
3 oz (75 g) sugar

To glaze:
milk and caster sugar
Pre-heat the oven to gas mark 7, 425°F (220°C).

Equipment
You will also need a 1½ pint (850 ml) rimmed pie dish.

Method
Start by making the pastry : sift the flour and salt into a large mixing bowl, holding the sieve up as high as possible to give the flour an airing. Then cut the fat into small cubes and add to the flour. Now, using your fingertips, lightly and gently rub the pieces of fat into the flour – lifting your hands up high as you do this (again to incorporate air) and being as quick as possible. When the mixture looks uniformly crumbly, start to sprinkle roughly 2 tablespoons of cold water all over. Use a round-bladed knife to start the mixing, cutting and bringing the mixture together. Carefully add more water if needed, a little at a time, then finally bring the mixture together with your hands to form a smooth ball of dough that will leave the bowl clean (if there are any bits that won't adhere to it, you need a spot more water).

Now rest the pastry, wrapped in foil or polythene, in the refrigerator for 20-30 minutes while you peel, core and slice the apples straight into the pie dish. Then sprinkle in the brambles or blackberries and the sugar. Now roll out the pastry to about 1 in (2.5 cm) larger than the pie dish, then cut out a 1 in (2.5 cm) strip to fit the edge of the dish. Dampen the edge with water, then fit on the strip of pastry, pressing it firmly, and dampen that too. Then press the rest of the pastry over that to form a lid and, using a sharp knife, trim any excess pastry off. Use the blunt side of the knife and your thumb to press the two edges firmly together and knock the edges all round to give a layered effect. Then flute the edges by using your thumb to make an impression and the broad blade of the knife to draw in the edges of the pastry. Make a steam hole in the centre and, if you have time, make some decorative leaves with the pastry trimmings.
Now brush the pastry with milk and sprinkle on a light dusting of caster sugar. Place the pie on a baking sheet on a high shelf and bake for 10 minutes, then reduce the heat to gas mark 5, 375°F (190°C), and continue baking for a further 30 minutes. Then, using a skewer, take out a piece of apple from the centre to test if it's cooked: if it still feels very firm, give it another 5 minutes. Serve hot with chilled pouring cream to mingle with the juices.

Alban Heruin/Litha: Sun cake recipe

I’m always one looking for an excuse to eat cake and Lemon cake is a favourite too so thought why not make some with Littleun but instead of my usual loaf tin shape go for a round, that way when the icing is drizzled on it will look like a sunshine burst of colour. It will be a nice addition to our Litha/Midsummer picnic feast. Of course just to make sure it works we have to have a trial run so if you need to “test the waters” with me here is a scrummy recipe for you to try:

• 115g unsalted butter, softened

• 115g caster sugar

• 4 large eggs

• 180g ground almonds

• 30g poppy seeds

• zest and juice of 2 lemons

• 125g self-raising flour, sifted for the lemon syrup

• 100g caster sugar

• 90g lemon juicefor the lemon icing

• 225g icing sugar

• zest and juice of 1 lemon

Preheat the oven to 180ºC/350ºF/gas 4. Grease and line the bottom and sides of a 20cm springform cake tin with greaseproof paper.

Using an electric whisk, beat the butter with the caster sugar until light and creamy. Add the eggs one by one, beating each in well. Fold in your ground almonds, poppy seeds, the lemon zest and juice and the sifted flour. Spoon the mix into the prepared cake tin and bake in the preheated oven for 40 minutes or until lightly golden.You can check to see if the cake is cooked by poking a cocktail stick right into the sponge.

Remove it after 5 seconds and if it comes out clean the cake is cooked; if slightly sticky it needs a little longer, so put it back in the oven. Allow the cake to cool on a rack.

Make your lemon syrup by heating the sugar and lemon juice in a pan until the sugar has dissolved. While your cake is still warm, make lots of little holes in the top with a cocktail stick and pour your syrup over.

To make your icing, sift the icing sugar into a bowl and add the lemon zest and juice, stirring until smooth. When your cake is almost cool, put it on a serving plate and pour the icing carefully over the top. If you pour it on to the middle of the cake, then let gravity disperse the icing down the sides, you get the ‘drizzle’ effect.

Birthday cake, with Love

So this week it is Littleun's Dads birthday and although he isn’t here Littleun and I thought we’d celebrate it yesterday by making a cake for him, just a big excuse to have some yummy cake all to ourselves.

The following recipe is all Littleun’s.

2 Eggs, including bits of shell,
Equal weights of butter, dropped on counter and spread about a bit first,
Equal weight of flour; don’t forget to tip bag on Cat below, no longer a Tabby but now a Pure White,
Equal weight of caster sugar; don’t even ask what happened with that, still finding bits in corners.

Get Mum to mix butter and sugar together, tickle her and laugh when mess ends up in her hair. Add eggs and flour dump some in the tin and hope that Mum doesn’t notice me taking the spoon, tastes nice. Whisper a wish over cake and get Mum to put it into oven. Turn oven up when Mum isn’t looking, much prefer crunchy cake.

Wait for “a while Littleun”, keep waiting and waiting and waiting, “isn’t it done yet Mum?”

Finally, get Mum to take cake out of oven, “What we can’t eat it yet?!”

Wait lots more time for it to get cold, even though I want warm cake. Mum cuts it in half, apparently knives are dangerous. Ask Mum to make something called frosting, not sure what that is but it is hard to lick off my nose, though Mum tells me to do this, think she’s winding me up.

Oooh Jam!! One spoon for cake, one for me. And so on. Stick top of cake on. Chuck the sticky stuff on the top.

Eat cake, yay. Give some to Cat when Mum isn’t looking, oops she’s coming back in, better put her piece back on the plate, tell her I love her…..

Happy Birthday Daddy.

Eostre; Hot cross Buns

Well February went quickly! Happy St Davids day to the Welsh.

Right onto Hot Cross Buns. Whether the origin of these buns is Christian or Pagan doesn’t change the fact that they are rather scrummy and good fun to make with your Littleuns. The local supermarkets and bakers will have them if you really don’t want to make them but if like us you like a challenge and getting a little mucky then here’s the recipe:

Ingredients

For the ferment starter
1 large free-range egg, beaten

215ml/7½fl oz warm water
15g/½oz fresh yeast1 tsp sugar
55g/2oz strong white flour


For the dough

450g/1lb strong white flour, plus extra for dusting
1 tsp salt
2 tsp ground mixed spice
85g/3oz unsalted butter, cut into cubes, plus extra for greasing
85g/3oz sugar
1 lemon, zest only
170g/6oz mixed dried fruit


For the topping

2 tbsp plain flour
vegetable oil, for greasing
1 tbsp golden syrup, gently heated, for glazing

Method
1. For the ferment starter, mix the beaten egg with enough warm water to make up approximately 290ml/½ pint of liquid.

2. Whisk in the yeast, sugar and flour until the mixture is smooth and well combined, then cover and set aside in a warm place for 30 minutes.

3. For the dough, sieve the flour, salt and ground mixed spice into a large mixing bowl, then rub in the butter using your fingertips. Make a well in the centre of the mixture, then add the sugar and lemon zest to the well and pour in the ferment starter.

4. With your hands, gradually draw the flour at the edges of the bowl into the well in the centre, mixing well with the ferment starter, until the mixture comes together as a dough.

5. Turn out the dough onto a lightly floured work surface and knead lightly until smooth and elastic.

6. Carefully work the mixed dried fruit into the dough until well combined.

7. Grease a large, warm mixing bowl with butter. Shape the dough into a ball and place it into the prepared bowl, then cover with a clean tea towel and set aside in a warm place for one hour to prove.

8. Turn out the proved dough onto a lightly floured work surface and knock back the dough. Shape it into a ball again and return it to the bowl, then cover again with the tea towel and set aside for a further 30 minutes to rise.

9. Turn out the dough onto a lightly floured work surface and divide it into 12 equal pieces. Roll each piece into a ball, then flatten slightly into a bun shape using the palms of your hands. Cover the buns again with the tea towel and set aside to rest for 5-10 minutes.

10. Grease a baking tray with butter and transfer the buns to the tray. Cut a cross in each bun, almost cutting all the way through the dough, so that each bun is almost cut into quarters.

11. Wrap the tray with the buns on it loosely in greaseproof paper, then place inside a large polythene bag. Tie the end of the bag tightly so that no air can get in and set aside in a warm place for a further 40 minutes to rise.

12. Preheat the oven to 240C/475F/Gas 8.

13. Meanwhile, for the topping, mix the plain flour to a smooth paste with two tablespoons of cold water.

14. When the buns have risen, remove the polythene bag and the greaseproof paper. Spoon the flour mixture into a piping bag and pipe a cross over the cuts in each bun.

15. Transfer the buns to the oven and bake for 8-12 minutes, or until risen and pale golden-brown. As soon as you remove the buns from the oven, brush them with the hot golden syrup, then set aside to cool on a wire rack.

Enjoy!

Our Imbolc Fun days

I’ve had fun these last few days where I have been able to pay complete attention for once to Littleun. We’ve done so much. Gone to the park to feed the birds, turned out the squirrels were hungry too, made our Imbolc crown for Littleun to wear and the one for our altar, made Imbolc snowflake biscuits so we could test that they worked (my excuse anyhow) and Littleun came up with an idea that was all his own work. Whilst moving the biscuits I asked him why he was breaking them in half, his reply and I kid you not was “to let winter go mummy” the thought apparently was that if he broke the biscuits then winter would be free for spring to come. Think he might be taking in what I tell him more than I give him credit for! We’ve even got a little ahead of ourselves and made his Beltane mask, just couldn’t resist trying out the ideas on The Cauldrons site.

I’ve now started on preparing the food for our Imbolc feast. We are having simple but homely fare, Roast leg of Mutton with winter vegetables, Crepe suzette with homemade ice cream, cheese and Littleuns biscuits for later plus non-alcoholic mead.

Non-alcoholic Mead

4 cups spring water

1 cup honey
1/2 tsp. nutmeg
1/2 tsp. ginger
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1 lemon, sliced
1 orange, sliced

Bring the water, honey, nutmeg, ginger and cinnamon to a boil in a non-metallic pan. Stir until honey is dissolved; heaviness should disappear from bottom of the pan. Use wooden spoon to skim off skin that forms at top of brew. Add lemon and orange slices, squeezing as they are placed in the pan. Cool completely; strain. Store in bottle in refrigerator.

Imbolc Food; Sheep’s cheese and Milk Bread

Imbolc is a time of year where the milk supplies were very important. The word Imbolc comes in part from the phrase "ewe's milk," so dairy products became a big part of February celebrations. This time of year was hard for our ancestors, crop stores were very low with no fresh ones to replenish them. They had livestock pregnant and the lambing season would begin soon. As the ewes came into milk they knew they would have food again.
Making as much of our food is very important for me, not just for the Sabbats but all year round if possible so to combine the two and to have some recipes that the Littleun can easily join in we have made some sheep’s cheese and milk bread. You can use other milks such as goats.


Sheep’s Cheese; Makes 2 x 500g cheeses

Ingredients

1.7l fresh sheep's milk
10 drops vegetarian rennet (or follow the packet instructions)

1. Put the milk in a saucepan and heat gently until it reaches 37°C (blood temperature). If you don't have a cook's thermometer, dip your finger into the milk. When you can't feel the liquid - i.e., it is neither hotter nor colder than your hand - you'll know it's at blood temperature.
2. Take the pan off the heat and add the vegetarian rennet. Give it a quick stir then leave the curds and whey to separate (about 15 minutes). Use a sharp knife to cut the curd into small chunks (about 2.5cm) in the pan.
3. Line two sieves (or one very large one) with two layers of fine, untreated muslin. Place each sieve over a bowl. Spoon the cut curds and whey into the muslin. Gather up the corners of the muslin and tie them with string, then suspend the bundles over bowls overnight to allow the whey to drain away, leaving you with lovely, creamy soft cheese.

Milk Bread Makes 1 large loaf, Takes 50 minutes, plus proving

Ingredients

750g strong plain white flour, plus extra for dusting
2 tsp salt
75g butter, cut into small pieces, plus extra for greasing
7g sachet fast-action dried yeast
1 tbsp golden caster sugar
300ml milk

1. Put the flour into a large bowl and add the salt. Add the butter and rub it into the flour with your fingertips until it's like breadcrumbs. Tip in the yeast and sugar.
2. Pour the milk into a large measuring jug and stir in 150ml water. Microwave on high for 2 minutes until warm. (Or warm in a pan over a medium heat.) Add to the flour and stir with a wooden spoon. Use your hands to mix the dough until it forms a soft dough that leaves the sides of the bowl clean.
3. Sprinkle a work surface with flour, then tip the dough onto it. Stretch and work the dough for 10 minutes until smooth and elastic. Roll the dough into an oblong shape.
4. Preheat the oven to 220°C/fan 200°C/gas 7. Grease a 900g loaf tin and add the dough. Cover with greased cling film and leave to rise in a warm place for about 25 minutes, until the dough is almost at the top. Discard the cling film, dust with some extra flour and bake for 30 minutes, until risen and golden brown. Cool in the tin for at least 20 minutes.

A great way of warming up and doing things together, not so good on the waistline though...

Cakes, hmm yummy, I think...

“Mummy?”
“Yes Littleun”
“Can we make cakes mummy?”
“Ok”
“Got to be pink ones mum, with roses and jam and tom & jerry”
“Ok”

So we start making the mix but...

“No mum, blue, I said blue”
“No you didn’t Littleun, you said pink, and I’ve added the colour now”

Crying, well crocodile crying...

“Ok, hang on if I add enough blue it’ll turn it a purple, is that ok?”
“Yeess...”

15 mins later, we’ve taken them out of the oven and they are cooling nicely. I start to make the icing mix, checking the colour with Littleun, who agrees, blue. He pastes the top of them and the table and his hair and the cat...

“Noddy mum, Noddy”
“Haven’t got Noddy, you said Tom & Jerry”

More crocodile crying before he checks the cupboard, knocking a jar of lentils everywhere in the process...

“Right now you really want roses too or do you want to change your mind?”
“Of course I want roses, mummy I don’t think you’re listening to me, I’m going to count to 3, maybe that will give you time to understand me”...

Don’t you just love contrary kids who can parrot your words straight back to you?!