Domestic Tourist

My wee brother buying cakes @ St George's Market

I grew up in Northern Ireland. Ask me where Lurgan/Banbridge/Monkstown is and I haven't a clue. Ask me what county Aldershot is in, or where I would find Ashford and I know the answer. I doubt I'm alone in knowing other places better than I know my own home. When we are on holiday we tend to spend a bit of time researching the best museums/shops/historic homes to visit, the most awarding winning but still affordable restaurant and I can't tell you how many times I have been to the world's tallest something or other. At home I am a creature of habit and this time round I want to change that! You see our little family of three are moving to Northern Ireland. I want to say 'moving back' but only a third of our unit have ever lived there (me!). 

The lake at Mount Stewart

This time round I am gearing up with trip adviser, tourist information  maps and recommendations as to where to visit, what to eat and the tallest/largest/oldest whatsit. But I need help. Have you got any suggestions? Any favourite places, eateries or walks?

I'll make a list and blog about our visits. We move in May so you've got a bit of time to think ;-) 

Banana & Date Muffins.

I'm not going to lie. I waited until the bananas where what I would regard  as being 'beyond consumption' ie a little bit brown. I thought the only thing for it is banana bread but having packed my loaf tin I couldn't. Banana muffins it is. Husband suggested a smoothie but I had other ideas for how to squeeze in my 5 a day. 

When I'm in need of a new recipe I 'google' it first. I have a load of cook books but sometimes it's more fun going to real people for help. By real, I mean regular folk like us just wanting to make muffins, not people who are trained and whose recipes have been tried and tested by experts. And actually when I think about it we are ALL experts in taste...because we all eat. 

This recipe came from The English Kitchen. I liked the name of her blog. She sounded friendly (and like she knew what she was doing). So I went with it. The recipe is so straight forward and the results are Out Of This World. The only thing on the recipe list that I didn't have was the rum extract and because I needed* to make the muffins Then and There (they were turning brown remember) I just went ahead with it.

 *not strictly true. I could've had a smoothie...

This is The English Kitchen's recipe stolen borrowed straight from her blog (don't worry I asked her and she said it was fine =) ) 

200g of plain flour (2 cups) sifted
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
172g of butter, softened (3/4 cup)
132g of soft light brown sugar (2/3 cup packed)
2 large free range eggs
3 really ripe bananas, peeled and mashed well
1 tsp rum extract
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
75g chopped dates (1/2 cup)

For the glaze:
100g soft light brown sugar (1/2 cup packed)
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
2 TBS hot water

Preheat the oven to 180*C/350*F/ gas mark 4. Line a large sized muffin tins with paper liners, or butter well and dust with flour. Set aside.

Whisk together the flour and baking powder. Place the butter and brown sugar into a bowl. Cream together until light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs one at a time. Stir in the flour mixture. Stir the run and vanilla into the bananas and stir this into the batter, until well incorporated. Stir in the dates. Drop by heaped spoonfuls into the lined muffin cups filling each about 2/3 full.

Bake for 22 to 25 minutes, until risen, lightly browned and a toothpick inserted in the centre of one comes out clean!

Stir together the brown sugar, vanilla and hot water until smooth. Drizzle over top of the warm muffins, allowing it to soak in. Serve muffins warm or at room temperature. Store any leftovers in an airtight container.

Give it a go- you won't be sorry!! 

4 simple steps to amazing muffins!

Make space in your weekend for these simple yet glorious little balls of dough. Honestly you won't regret it. 

I made these on Good Friday. I tried to think of a way of inserting a Biblical reference, a little anecdote but couldn't and so I'm not going to shoehorn one in. I was up early (6:30 am) and had already assured husband that it was HIS turn to lie in. I am so slow/unwilling to get out of bed in the morning- he deserved a lie in. Baby and I had breakfast and I made the dough for the muffins. My infant is a little man of routine- no idea how. I tried to keep Gina Ford at arms length until I eventually had to give her back to the friend who lent her (her book that is) and now I find our lives ruled by his self imposed routine. ANYWAY. After some playing he went off for his nap allowing the dough time to rise. He was due to get up just as the muffins were ready to be cooked and this is the very reason you should try making muffins (see second photo down). I was so skeptical about this bread-in-frying-pan-method working and nervous that I'd invested time and been boasting about how amazing freshly made muffins would be. The results- a dream come true. So good that I text a friend to let her know I was bringing some fresh-off-the-pan muffins round that I burnt them. Serves me right really. 

The How-To. 

450g (1lb) strong white flour

1 tsp fast-action dried yeast

1 tsp salt

25g butter, melted

25g  ground rice or semolina (we didn't have any so I just used flour)

 1. Mix, yeast, and salt in a large bowl. Add the melted butter and 300ml  tepid water and mix to form a soft dough

2 Knead the dough for between 5-10 minutes and leave to rise in a bowl and cover in cling film. If you've never made bread before this part is important (set a timer if you think you'll cave too soon ;-) I do.)  

3 knead the dough briefly and separate into 10 balls of equal size. Spread the calls on a tea towel that has been dusted with flour to prevent them sticking. Press the dough balls gently to form a flatter shape. Cover with more flour (or semolina if you have it!) and put another towel on top -leave for 20-30mins. 

4.Now for the fun part! Heat a frying pan (one that hast a lid) there is no need for oil. Cook muffins on the pan with the lid on for 10-12 mins on a low heat. Turn over and cook for 3-4 on the other side. Both sides should be golden brown. 

(Recipe based on the one from the Dorling Kindersley book featured in previous post)

This basic dough recipe can also be used to make dough balls (with garlic butter mmm) and bread rolls. You can freeze any you don't use. 

Happy bread making!! 

Bread is the new Cake

For a while it looked as though cupcakes were never going to go out of fashion. Well I think that time has come. That's maybe a bit harsh. Cupcakes, cake pops and macaroons are all very nice but can anything take the place of bread? I don't mean sliced bread that seems to stay fresh forever- apparently the french don't even regard that is being bread! I mean the kind of bread that you have to eat the same day it was baked. Real, amazing, probably-not-very-good-for-your-health-but-fills-you-with-joy kinda bread. 

On my most recent trip to the farmers market I swapped my normal chocolate brownie for a big bit of garlic and olive bread. This was a monumental decision. The switch from gooey chocolatey happiness to Don't Come Too Close garlicky goodness turned out to be a really rewarding one. Not good for the diet but a girl has to eat! 

Bread is so basic. But. It's one of those foods that makes you wonder how on earth people thought to make it in the first place. I'm never really sure how much to trust Wikipedia  but short of time to do any lengthy research I thought I'd chance its questionable content. Apparently the history of bread goes back some 30,000 years- but who's counting. A few of my bready favourites are mentioned on there too, chapatis, pitas and the hallowed NAAN. I'm going to give making these a go. 

 My dad, and fellow bread fan, bought me this book...

Dorling Kindersley - printing you can trust! 

I'm going to start with English Muffins. Is there ANYTHING better than an English muffin buttered hot? And these days we are using real live actual butter. None of that half fat looks like butter but tastes like yellow nonsense. It's a poor substitute and word-of-mum rumor has it that it's not even better for you. 

Have you got a favourite bread recipe?

White chocolate mocha cake!

I love baking. I'm always inspired to bake but I nearly never get as far as well, the kitchen. This is largely because though there are three willing cake eaters, the baby shouldn't consume as much as he does. Birthdays and times when we have lots of people over necessitate cake. I want to say that this cake is my own recipe but that's not strictly true. It's a Nigella coffee sponge, with coffee butter icing and white chocolate ganache (see below for details) making a White Chocolate Mocha Cake!! Oh so good.

coffee sponge

A cake in process 

The finished article 

White Chocolate Ganache:

200g white chocolate

60g butter

140mls double cream

This is based on the ganache from another Nigella recipe only hers is for milk chocolate- white chocolate is technically not chocolate at all and so has different properties when used for cooking. It doesn't thicken as easily and it sets differently- be warned! 

Put all the ingredients in a pan and heat until the chocolate has melted (don't let it boil!) then take it off the heat and whisk it until it's thick(er). Chill the ganache in the fridge and then spread over the cake. Decorate with chocolate covered coffee beans*!

I'm not going to lie. This cake tasted so good!

* I got my beans in cafe nero because they sell little boxes with just the amount I needed, I went on their website to find out about the Nero's ethical policies and I found some corporate chat about how they want to look after the communities they buy their coffee from- a bit vague in my opinion! After my last post about buying fair trade I will be making my own chocolate covered coffee beans next time!

Easter cheesecake

Lent= giving up chocolate/every other good thing under the sun in order to lose a few pounds. 

Easter = overindulging in chocolate. Rabbits and possibly a few tiny chicks.

For me neither of these statements is true. Easter is well and truly about sacrifice, mercy, a kind of justice I'll never really get my head around and love. Our family are Christians and each year we try to make a big deal out of Easter. For us, so far, it has fewer traditions than Christmas but then I'm not really sure what's so religious about turkey. So. I have been thinking about Easter, and ways in which we can create our own 'things we do cause we've always done them'. 

3 250g tubs of soft cheese 

300g fair trade chocolate

packet of dijestive biscuits

icing sugar 

packet of mini eggs

bit of butter

(the stars on my cheesecake were leftovers from a pancake night we had and someone brought them to our house- a good excuse to use up leftovers!)

This no bake cheesecake is so simple to make and it tastes great! If you have been denying yourself chocolate then this is the perfect way to welcome it back into your life!! 

1. mash the biscuits in a polythene bag ( I found 'rolling' them with a rolling pin was faster!)

2. melt the butter and add to the biscuits. mix

3. put mixture in the tin and spread evenly, pat it a wee bit (though not too much or when it hardens you won't be able to cut through it!)

4. whilst that is setting, melt chocolate and add to the cream cheese, I did a layer of white chocolate and then a layer of milk chocolate but you could use all the same kind or a mix!

5. add a few tablespoons of icing sugar to the mix (if you don't have icing sugar I wouldn't run out and buy it just for this recipe- it'll taste great without!)

6. leave in the fridge- don't be tempted to put the eggs on too early, I found my egg shell 'bled' a little. 

This recipe serves 12 (at least!!) 

You might wonder why I specified fair trade chocolate and the truth is because I was so convicted when I went shopping for the ingredients that I should ALWAYS be using fair trade products where they are available. I feel as though I've become very complacent when it comes to buying fair trade products because often they are more expensive. For a recipe like this you could get away with using cheaper chocolate. True. But I don't need to make a chocolate cheesecake. I've been looking for fair trade replacements for the mini eggs so far I've only found these. I was reminded of this verse in Micah 6:8...(this is the message version)

But he’s already made it plain how to live, what to do,
    what God is looking for in men and women.
It’s quite simple: Do what is fair and just to your neighbor,
    be compassionate and loyal in your love,
And don’t take yourself too seriously—
    take God seriously.

We always buy fair trade tea and coffee but don't always look for it when we eat out- something for me to think about given I spend so much time drinking coffee. 

I hope you have a happy Easter next week!

Why Homebird?

I am a big Foy Vance fan. And this is one of my favourite songs. I love this video that someone's made for it and well though I wouldn't describe myself as a 'homebird' I do LOVE home and I spend most of my time there. Simple as that!