Festive Food - Cranberry And Ginger Tiffin

Although I've been a bit quiet with the Foodie Friday posts this year I thought I'd make it up to you this Christmas with a special recipe post. I love sweet things all year round but especially at Christmas and ever since I was tiny me and my mum have always made our own sweets and treats for the festive season, and whilst my Cranberry And Ginger Tiffin is a fairly new addition, for me it really sums up Christmas in just one mouthful.

This fabulous combination of creamy white chocolate, crunchy biscuit, nuts and dried fruit is fabulous at this time of year with a cup of coffee, or a mug of hot chocolate, and it will also make a great quick and easy home made gift

Cranberry And Ginger Tiffin

200g Ginger Biscuits

60g Dried Cranberries

60g Crystallised Ginger 

50g Pecan Nuts

125g Butter

2 Tbsp Golden Syrup

700g White Chocolate

To Decorate 

Extra Crystallised Ginger 

Edible Glitter, Sugar Stars, Sprinkles Or Whatever You Like 

1. Add you cranberries to a large mixing bow

2.  Using a rolling pin crush your ginger biscuits, you want some crumbs and some chunky bits. I'm using gluten free stem ginger cookies here for a bit of extra bite but you can use ginger snaps, ginger nuts or what ever you like. You could also use my Gluten Free Gingerbread Cookie recipe which can find here. 

3.Then roughly chop your pecan nuts and then add them to bowl,

and then finely chop the crystallised ginger and add that to the bowl and give it a stir

4. Chop 500g of the white chocolate and add it to another mixing bowl with the butter and syrup. Then melt it either over a pan of boiling water or in the microwave, till the butter, the syrup, and the chocolate are smooth and combined.

5. Then add the melted chocolate mixture to your dry ingredients and give it a good stir, the mixture might be a bit dry but don't worry about it.

6. Next grease and line a square brownie tin, or do what I do and use a silicone pan, and pour your mixture in, spread it out and smooth it down the best you can x 

7. Now to hold it all together you need to put the remaining 200g of white chocolate into another mixing bowl and by using a bain marie, or the microwave heat it slowly until it's all melted.

8. Pour your melted chocolate over the top of your tiffin, and spread it out till it's even and the top is completely covered. While the chocolate is still soft top your tiffin with some more finely chopped ginger, and whatever sprinkles and decorations you like. Ever the queen of subtle here I used edible glitter, and gold sugar stars, and sugar gingerbread men but you can use whatever you like. Then put it in a cool place or the fridge if you have room for a few hours until it set hard.

9. Then tip it out and using a sharp knife chop it into squares (You might find it easier to turn it upside down to cut it)

and either package it into cellophane bags for gifts, or put into a tin lined with greaseproof paper, and enjoy!

Unfortunately because of  my stupid teeth and the chewiness and the nuts I don't know how much of this I'm going to be able to eat but I can assure you that it's absolutely gorgeous. White chocolate can be a little bit sickly but in this case the tartness of the cranberries and the heat of the ginger seem to temper it down a bit. If you're still not a white chocolate fan though you could easily make this with either a milk or a dark chocolate or from a combination of the two. This mix of fruit, nuts and flavours are perfect for Christmas but again you could switch it up a bit depending on what you have in or what you like. Please let me know if you give this a try x I'd love to hear how you get one x Thanks for reading and happy eating xx 

Foodie Friday - Phil Vickery Seriously Good Gluten Free Vanilla & Raspberry Cupcake Mix

I love cookery programmes and celebrity chefs but being gluten free more often than not I'm left frustrated by their wheat laden offerings. Over the years I've learnt to adapt recipes but I still find it frustrating that so few celebrity chefs cater for people with food and dietary intolerance's.

There are exceptions though and one chef that 's probably done more than more for raising awareness of gluten intolerance, than anyone else, is Phil Vickery. A regular on ITV's This Morning, Phil Vickery has written 3 best selling books, full to the brim with gluten free recipes. I only own one of his books Seriously Good Gluten Free Cooking, but there some really good recipes in it ranging from main meals, to smoothies and of  course cakes and desserts.

I love baking from scratch but as you can see sometimes from Great British Bake Off sometimes baking isn't as easy as it looks. Although I've pretty much perfected my gluten free sponge, believe you me, me and Mummy Lou have has our disasters over the years. Baking and especially gluten free baking in my opinion takes practise, and patience but what if you don't have that patience? Well you could go the supermarket and buy a ready made cake or you could by a box of cake mix.

Packet cake mixes are ideal for beginners and there a great way of teaching young children how to bake. It's not the same as making a cake from scratch but at least you have the satisfaction of saying "I made that". If you're gluten free or dairy intolerant though, it's sometimes not that easy to go into a shop and buy a packet of free from cake mix. Thankfully as times change, and allergy awareness increases, it's much easier than it was, the selection  though still isn't amazing and more often than not you need to visit a specialist health food store or a large supermarket.

For choice I still buy a lot of food online and recently whilst searching for gluten free food I discovered  that the Phil Vickery (the chef not the rugby player obviously :) has introduced has own range of gluten free baking mixes. I decided to give them a go and ordered a couple of boxes of cake mix and some cookie mix. I'm going to review them all for you but I thought I'd start with some cupcakes.

Phil Vickery Seriously Good Gluten Free Vanilla & Raspberry Cupcake Mix, is both gluten free and dairy free (more on that later), and vegetarian, they do contain eggs though and the manufacturers can't guarantee that they're nut free.

The box makes 12 cupcakes, and contains 12 silver cupcake cases, a packet of sugar mix, a packet of vanilla sponge mix, and a packet of raspberry fondant icing mix, and a tub of glitter sprinkles.

The box comes with full, easy to follow instructions. All you need to do is add some eggs, some vegetable oil, and some milk, to the sugar and cake mix sachets. If you're dairy intolerant you can use whatever milk you  normally use, for example soy, coconut or almond, but I just used normal semi skimmed. Then you just fill up you cases and pop them in the oven for around 20 minutes.

When their done you just leave them to cool, and mix the icing sachet with some boiling water and then spoon it over your cakes, and top with your sprinkles.

Okay my decorating skills leave a bit to be desired but it's all about the taste, isn't it? The sponge is probably the fluffiest and lightest gluten free sponge that I've ever eaten, it had a light vanilla flavour and it wasn't too sweet, which was in direct contrast with the icing. The super sweet, bright pink icing contained real raspberry powder which gave it a subtle, real, raspberry flavour.

These cakes were yummy and even Mummy Lou couldn't tell that they were gluten free, The instructions were really easy to follow, and they came out perfectly. I love baking and I'd like to think that I'm pretty good at it, but even a complete beginner could make these cakes and enjoy them.

The one drawback is the price these usually retail at £5.95 a box, but they are currently on special at £3.57 from Squires Kitchen. However, you can get the Phil Vickery Seriously Good! Gluten-Free Bumper Baking Kit which was the kit that I got. It's currently on special for just £7.93, and contains a box of Vanilla and Raspberry Cupcakes, a box of Very Lemony Cupcakes, and a packet of Chocolate Chip Cookie Mix. I'll been reviewing these other two mixes soon but in the meantime if you're looking for some easy gluten free baking options then these Phil Vickery kits could be something to try. You can view the full range online at Squires Kitchen and you can find out more about Phil Vickery here. If you have any questions let me now and I hope you all have a nice weekend x

Foodie Friday On A Sunday - Gluten Free Gingerbread Cookies

I hope you all have a lovely Christmas, I certainly did and I'll tell you a little bit more about it tomorrow but in the meantime after a few days break I'm back with a new post. I meant to put this post up on Christmas Eve but I just didn't have time, never mind whist this recipe is associated with Christmas there is nothing to stop you making these lovely cookies, all year round - I present to you my Gluten Free Gingerbread Cookie Recipe. This recipe took a long, long time to perfect. If you've seen the Waitrose / Ocado advert then you'll probably feel my pain. Gluten Free flour is a bit of a pain to deal with as it seems to absorb liquid completely differently to wheat flour, so throughout my experiments the dough ended up both way too soft and way too dry until finally I got it right. This recipe is specifically for gluten free flour so it's not one that you can adapt back to to wheat flour.

Gluten Free Gingerbread Cookies

500g Gluten Free Self Raising Flour

3 tsp Ground Ginger

1 tsp Xanthan Gum

3 tsp Bicarbonate Of Soda

A Pinch Of Cinnamon 

 A Pinch Of Salt

75g Butter Or Margarine

125g Soft Brown Sugar 

3 tbsp Golden Syrup

1 Egg Beaten

1. Sieve your flour, your cinnamon, your ginger, your xanthan gum and your bicarbonate of soda into a large bowl. Then add a pinch of salt.

2. Set your bowl to one side and add your golden syrup, your fat and your sugar to a large pan

and warm until the fat and sugar are melted.

3. Preheat your oven to around 180 C, grease some baking trays and in a small bowl beat your egg.

4. Once your fat, sugar and syrup are melted add them to your flour 

and then add your beaten egg.

5. Mix all of the ingredients together until you achieve a firm dough. Start off with a spoon and then get your hands in and give it good knead. If it's too dry add a little milk or a egg and if it's too soft add some more flour

6. Leave the dough to cool for a little while then divide your dough into 4 - Gluten Free dough is notoriously hard to roll out so it's easier to do it in smaller batches.

7. Then flour your work surface and rolling pin and start to roll out your dough

and then using a floured cutter start cutting out your shapes. I find it easier to use a smaller cutter with gluten free dough because it's so fragile.

8. Put your cut out shapes on a baking tray, leaving a gap between each one because they do have a tendency to spread and bake for about 10-15 minutes till golden brown. Keep an eye on them though, all ovens are different and one of my trays only took about 7 minutes.

9. The cookies will still be soft so leave them to cool on your baking tray for a few minutes before carefully removing them with a palette knife and putting them onto a wire rack to cool completely.

These cookies should be crisp on the outside and soft and chewy in the middle. Obviously I've cut mine into Christmas shapes but you can cut them into all sorts of shapes including the traditional ginger bread person.

I intended to decorate mine with white glace icing and festive sprinkles, but I never got round to it. Obviously for gingerbread people you can add currants and mark out a face before their baked but you can also decorate them with icing, sprinkles and even melted chocolate.

These cookies are lovely with a nice cup of coffee and especially with a nice gingerbread latte. The taste just makes your think of Christmas but the child in me loves a gingerbread person all year round, and just for your information I bite the legs off first not the heads :)  x Thanks for reading and I'll see you soon with a Christmas outfit and nails post, and just a sneaky peek of some of the pressies that I was lucky enough to receive from Santa x 

Foodie Friday - An Introduction To Calico Cottage Fudge

Just say the word fudge and instantaneously I'm transported back to my childhood. In the run up to Christmas my mum used to make all sorts of sweets from peppermint creams, to coconut ice, rum truffles and one of my favourite ever things - fudge! I love fudge, and whilst I'm pretty partial to a box of Thorntons Chocolate Smothered Fudge and the odd finger of Fudge, nothing beats the taste of homemade fudge.

If I'm being honest though it is a bit of a faff, for most recipes you need a sugar thermometer, and even if your a seasoned fudge maker like my mum, it can sometimes go wrong and you end of with tablet or even something almost toffee like. There are some simpler recipes out there but a couple of years ago now I discovered a way of making yummy fudge, quickly, and easily and with very little risk.

If you've been reading my blog for a while now then you'll already know that I'm a bit of a QVC addict. Once upon a time people would scoff at shopping from the TV, but shopping from your armchair is now pretty much the accepted norm. I love the ease and the convenience of it all and I love the choice and array of products on show. From beauty products, to candles, jewellery and bedding we've bought it all but did you know that QVC actually sell food, with the same 30 day money back guarantee as the rest of their products?

Of course you did, you've read my Easi Yo post :) but yes, you can buy a box of chocolates from Thorntons, some popcorn from Joe and Sephs, or some pies from The Real Pie Company, all via QVC and if you don't like them you can send them back. I know this is probably sounding a bit like a paid or sponsored post but I can assure you it's not, I'm just a huge, huge QVC fan. As well as ready made food items, QVC  often sell a variety of make it yourself products, including Easi Yo, make your own cheese kits, and a range of products from a company called Calico Cottage. 

Calico Cottage are one of the biggest suppliers of fudge and fudge making ingredients in the UK. Their fudges are sold in theme parks, and tourist attractions throughout the country, not under the Calico name, but they're the company that more often than not will have made the fudge that you take home to remember your day out.

A few years ago now QVC started selling Calico Cottage fudge making kits, and being the curious beasts that we are, me and Mummy Lou ordered one. The first purchase triggered a bit of an obsession and over the years we've purchased several of their kits.

From the original Vanilla, Chocolate and Caramel varieties, you can now buy kits to make Red Velvet, Sticky Toffee Pudding, and Salted Caramel fudges, and even fudges with added extras such as jelly beans and honeycomb.

Each kit comes with an instruction and recipe book, as well as a ickle plastic spoon, a reusable cardboard tray, and several liners.

You can make the fudge in a pan but it's much easier and quicker to use a microwave. The method is identical no matter what flavour your using. All you do is put 30g of butter into a large bowl, then depending on what flavour of fudge your making, you add differing amounts of water. The instruction book tells you exactly how much you need. Here I'm making Salted Caramel, so it need 7 spoonfuls of cold water, which you measure out using the spoon provided.

Then you pop it into the microwave for about a minute. You don't want to boil it you just want the butter to melt into the water.

Then you add the entire bag of fudge mix

and give it a stir.

Your mix will look way too dry but don't panic pop into the microwave for another 30 seconds

Give it another stir, it will probably still look dry and powdery, so give it another 30 seconds

Keep stirring and, putting it in for 30 seconds at a time and eventually the texture and colour will change to something dark, and glossy and more like runny fudge.

You want it to be pretty smooth but you don't want to boil.

When it's done pour it into your tray, smooth it out and leave it. You don't need to refrigerate it, just leave it to cool at room temperature.

After an hour or so, your fudge will be set

Turn it out and then chop it into squares or slices, and keep it in a cool, dry place but there is no need to refrigerate. This fudge doesn't seem to go off, all it does is dry out a bit. If it does just pop it in the microwave to soften it up, and it's as good as new.

I'm not sure how well you can see the texture here but this is a gorgeous, moist crumbly fudge. With the Salted Caramel, the richness of the flavour really comes out but it's counteracted with just a hint of saltiness.

All of the fudges I've tried taste amazing as they are but you can have a play, and add different colourings and flavourings, and even things such as chocolate chips, nuts, dried fruit or other sweets.

Some of the fudges such as Red Velvet and the Vanilla can also be made with cream cheese instead of butter and layered to give a different texture and more of a dessert feel. When your making the fudge you can also alter how much water you add to make a fudge sauce, and you can also make a softer fudge which you can mold or use almost like a roll out icing.

I have to say I was sceptical at first but this really does what it promises. The fudge is tasty and very moreish, and it is so, so simple to make - it is pretty much foolproof. I think that this would be a great activity to do with little ones in the school holidays or even as a birthday party activity. The kits start at around £15 on QVC which does sound a little bit expensive but each kit makes around 8 generous trays. Calico Cottage also do various other sweet making kits, as well as cookie making kits and kits which contain something called Chocolate Fudge Pie, which is a gorgeous gluten free, squidgy brownie like dessert. 

If your scared of sweet making and baking I think that these kits are a great introduction, and whilst I've got my mum a copy of Sweets Made Simple for Christmas, I can see us continuing to purchase more Calico Cottage kits in the future. You can see their current range of kits on the QVC website here, and you can find out more about Calico Cottage on their own website. Are you a fudge fan? Leave me a comment and let me know x