Lanys Linkage: Cookbook and Cooking Blog Love!

by Lany

I love cookbooks, really love looking at the fabulous pictures and reading the mouthwatering descriptions….

I’m lucky that I have kept home economics books from school and have been given and inherited  quite a few cookbooks from my family….but you really can’t have TOO MANY cookbooks……

Recently been lusting after these fabulous additions to any cookbook library!

• Veganomicon: The Ultimate Vegan Cookbook ~ Really have been lusting after this one, as I am a vegetarian (I’ve tried kicking cheese and eggs and butter but they’re just SO DELICIOUS) and I have heard really great things about this book! Would love to try out the recipes in this!
• Fifty Shade of Chicken: A Parody in a Cookbook ~ I don’t eat meat but my other half more than makes up for me in that regard, he really loves chicken, so being the sort of vegetarian that doesn’t mind cooking meat for others, I think this book would be a great addition to our collection (also, the title and the pun titles of some of the recipes- I am so easily amused).
• River Cottage Veg Every Day! ~ I really like the River Cottage series and the fact that the recipes focus around vegetables in season is a big plus for me.
• Alone in the Kitchen with an Eggplant ~ This isn’t really a recipe book more a collection of essays with some recipes strewn in amongst the prose. I love these sorts of books, a favourite cookbook of mine was given to me by my friend over on AuroraLaPetite it’s called The Flavour Thesaurus and is a strange mix of recipe book, food pairing directory/reference and anecdotal knowledge of food…I recommend it most heartily!
• Pastry ~ The title says it all really, pastry to me is perfection, and this book is apparently the holy grail of pastry…
• Gratins and Bakes ~ A womans weekly mini series book, it captured me with my fondness for comforting mammy food and all  of the safety, warmth and happiness that comes with well loved recipes!
• The Hummingbird Bakery Cookbook ~ Baking is a passion of mine and I already own many baking books, but this one has scrumptious photography and promises many amazing recipes….nom nom nom….
• New Larousse Gastronomique ~ This book has haunted me for a long time, I saw it in a small bookshop years ago, started reading the first page and realised it was the best guide to cooking I would be able to find….now I don’t know if it’s the best, but after reading up on it it does come highly lauded as one of the best out there, and the basis of many a cooks (or wannabe cooks) library!
• The Best Veggie Burgers on the Planet! ~ I love veggie burgers, they’re great to make ahead when you have company over as they don’t take you away from your guests for long and the food is still nutritious and delicious..anyway in my opinion you can never have too many options for veggie burgers!
• Laurels Kitchen Bread Book ~ I am a sucker for fresh delicious bread, and am currently debating with myself about splashing out on a bread machine next year sometime! This book is meant to be a handy collection of great recipes that work, and taste amazing!
• Ace of Cakes ~ Sophie got me hooked on the television series when I had a tv, and this book looks like a part biography of the owner of Ace of Cakes part inspirational cake art book….

Recently I have also found myself reading some really inspiring and great food blogs, some I have followed for years and other have been more recent acquisitions to my blog roll! I’m going to make this a short list of the top ten I have been visiting recently because if I made a record of all the food related blogs I follow I think I would both shame and shock myself….

• Cooking Comically ~ Definitely one of my favourite recipe blogs, adore the comic style, the delivery and the recipes are great too! Check out the blog post Sexy Pancakes if you need to be convinced further! Cannot wait for the cookbook that’s scheduled for release in autumn of next year!!
• Seasalt with Food ~ This is a blog filled with amazing photos of delicious looking food, and the recipe list is a really great addition/resource, one recipe I can recommend without hesitation is the Hasselback Potato recipe- so goooood.
• Oh She Glows ~ Vegan blog, but her recipes allow for plenty of experimentation and she talks her readers through her trials and errors as well as alternatives that she has tried! Big fan in particular of Strawberry Cheesecake Bites!
• The Girl Who Ate Everything ~ Really enjoy her conversational style of writing and her recipes are really great! The recipe index is great too, and has all sorts of food to tempt you! Particular mention to Broccoli Cheese Soup and Spinach Lasagna Rolls!
• Healthy Happy Life ~ Vegan blog again, has fabulous recipes, a lot of smoothie ones too, and advice along with little stories about how the blog post came into being etc, especially recommend the sweet potato burgers  (without avacado- ick! I really reaaaaaallly dislike avacado!) and her recent addition of apple citrus cinnamon salad– so good!
• {farmette} ~ This is the most recent blog I have started following, I cannot believe it took me so long to find it! PAcked with amazing recipes and an engaging attitude, she’s won me over! Cannot wait to try Bramley Apple Dumplins’!
• Vegan Yum Yum ~ This blog is back after a two year hiatus, and the recipe that caught my eye had some of my favourite ingredients in it, tomatoes, balsamic vinegar, sourdough bread and basil….Blackened Tomato Canapes. I’ve had variation on this theme but the photos and the instructions on this are so straight forward that it’s a relief and a joy to read.
• Nessas Family Kitchen  ~ Only started following this blog earlier this year but I cannot wait for her book Apron Strings to be released in April of 2013! One recipe that I have ear marked for simply ages now is the Lemon Curd Raspberry Meringue Roulade, it looks divine…….
• Veggie Belly ~ Great vegetarian blog, however a lot of the ingredients are unavailable in Ireland so I usually substitute with something more widely available or omit the ingredient and make up the mass with other stuff in the recipe! Standout recipe is her falafel, just so delicious. 
• Baking Obsession ~ Beautifully photographed food, and makes me absolutely  supremely jealous of her cake decorating skills! Seriously look at this and this!! Cannot wait to try the recent update of carrot orange muffins!

Sorry for the super link heavy post today, it’s a cliche but ~I really enjoy being in the kitchen and messing about with ingredients and tastes! 😀

Happy cooking!
Lany
xx

Professor Layton Cake!

by Lany

My sister is a huge fan of Professor Layton, so for her birthday (Happy Birthday!!) I preordered her the new game Professor Layton and the Miracle Mask, and I decided not to stop there but to also make her a cake of the man himself!

So here is the product of this weekends work in the kitchen!

I know he’s not perfect, but she still loved him and that’s all the matters!
The cake was a chocolate cake and everyone enjoyed it! Woo!

Hopefully more regular updates from next week on!
Lany
xx

Baking Goodies

by Lany

I got into a baking mood, as you do, and decided that I had to bake ALL OF THE THINGS!

I made some “eton mess” cupcakes and some “chocoholic” cupcakes and an apple pie.

I fell in love with Eton Mess when I had it in a restaurant in Dublin last year, and when I spotted meringues at the local shop I knew what had to be done!

“Eton Mess” cupcakes

for cupcakes:
2 eggs
125g golden brown sugar
125g self raising flour
1tsp baking powder
125g butter (room temperature)
1/2tsp vanilla essence
1/2tsp starwberry essence (if you can’t get it just use 1tsp vanilla)

for icing:
1 tin of strawberries or 14-16 fresh strawberries
2tsp golden brown sugar
100g butter
250g icing sugar
1tsp vanilla essence
1-2 meringues

Preheat oven to: 180deg C for an electric oven/170deg C for a fan oven/350deg F/ gas mark 3

Place cupcake cases into a bun tin, or use silicon cupcake cases.

To make cupcakes:
1. Whisk eggs and sugar together until slightly frothy
2. Gradually beat in the flour, baking powder and butter.
3. Beat in the essence(s). (You can also add food colouring here if you like, if you want to create a very “eton mess” look you could split the batter in half and add red colouring to one half and keep the other plain)
4. Divide mixture into the cases, filling each case to about 2/3 full, this should make about twelve cupcakes. (If you’ve split the mixture into half, add a spoon or so from each mixture)
5.  Place cupcakes into the oven and wait for 15-20 minutes. (Mins usually takes 16 minutes)
6. Cupcakes are done when the top of the sponge is springy and not soggy.

To make icing:
1. Drain tinned strawberries/chop fresh strawberries.
2. Place these into a pot with the sugar, melt over the lowest heat setting, be careful as it burns quickly.
3. Mash or puree the strawberries when they’ve “melted” into the sugar, creating a strawberry sauce.
4. In a separate bowl cream the butter and sugar together, add the sauce and blend all together well.
5. When the cupcakes are cool spread the mixture on top (or pipe it on if you’re fancy!).
6. Sprinkle crushed meringue on top of the strawberry icing.

et voila, “eton mess” cupcakes!
If I do say so myself…they turned out quite well for an experimental recipe! xD

I also have a terrible sweet tooth, in particular I’m a chocolate fiend….so when I was messing around waiting for the cupcakes to cool for the icing to be made I decided to have a root around in the press and see what else I could make….found some cocoa powder and I was off!

“chocoholic” cupcake

for cupcakes:
100g self raising flour
150g golden brown sugar
40g butter (room temperature)
30g cocoa powder (I use Bournville powder)
120ml milk (whole milk)
1 egg
1/2tsp vanilla essence
1tsp instant coffee in 1tsp hot water (I used caffeinated hot chocolate in water)
100g plain chocolate chips

for icing:
350g icing sugar
225g butter
50g cocoa powder
splash of milk (whole milk)

Peheat oven to: 180deg C/170degC fan oven/350deg F/gas mark 3.
Place cupcake cases into a bun tin/use silicon cupcake cases.

To make cupcakes:
1. Mix the flour, sugar, butter and cocoa powder together.
2. Gradually add half of the milk to the mix from step 1.
3. In a separate container combine the rest of the milk, the egg, the instant coffee mix/caffienated hot chocolate mix, and the vanilla essence.
4. Combine the two until smooth.
5. Fold in with a spoon the chocolate chips and make sure they are distributed evenly.
6. Divide mixture into the cupcake cases, filling each case 2/3 full, this should make about 12 cupcakes.
7. Place cupcakes in oven and wait for 15-20 minutes until the top is springy and not soggy.

for the icing:
1. Beat the icing sugar the butter and the cocoa together.
2. Add a small bit of milk, not too much or it’ll get too sloppy. Just enough to make the mixture lighter and fluffier.
3. Spread generously onto the cooled cupcakes.

Enjoy your chocoholic treat 😀

I decided to make apple pie which is super easy and really quick to make.

for apple pie:
4 cooking apples (large) or 6 medium cooking apples
225g plain flour
125g butter (room temperature)
100ml water
Caster sugar

Preheat oven to 180deg C/170deg C/350 deg F/gas mark 3
Grease the pie tin/pyrex plate that you’re using.

to make the pastry:
1. Combine the flour and the butter, they make a crumbly mixture.
2. Gradually add some water, be careful as its really easy to add too much (If you do add too much even it out with flour) until the pastry comes together in a dryish ball. (You can place it in cling film in the fridge at this stage if you want to)
3. Split pastry into two and on a floured surface roll and flatten one part with a rolling pin until it is large enough to cover the bottom of your pie tin/pyrex plate.
4. Cut up and slice (thinly) the cooking apples and place them into the centre of the pie.
5. Cover the apple slices in caster sugar, quite a generous amount is needed as cooking apples are not sweet.
6. On the floured surface roll out the second half of the pastry to the right size, and gently drape it across the top of the pie.
7. Trim the excess pastry and press the pie together around the edges using your thumbs.
8. Place into the oven for 30-45 mins until baked through.

It should turn out to be a delicious pie!!

I was all ready to post pictures of the goodies but when I got a chance to have my camera charged all the cupcakes were gone and nothing but crumbs remained of the tart!! I suppose it’s a good sign!
Hopefully next time I try these recipes I’ll take some photos!

I was at a training course last week and had limited internet access, so apologies for not thinking of that before annoucing the quiltalong!!
If you haven’t seen it, we’re planning a quiltalong!! 😀
The next update will be about the plans or it and how to join in 😀
Sound be good fun- I’m an absolute beginner so if you’re one like me don’t be afraid to join in!! 😀
(the same goes for the more experienced quilters out there!!)

Floury hugs and smiles all round!
Lany
xx

P.S.  Meringues are easy to bake too:
3 egg whites
175g castor sugar

Preheat oven to 150degC/300degF/gas mark 2.
Baking tray lined with greaseproof paper.

1. Whisk the eggs, going from slowest setting, gradually getting faster so that air bubbles have time to form, don’t go too fast as this will collapse the air bubbles and the mixture will be overwhisked and be really grainy liquid-if this happens you have to start again.
2. Add the sguar spoonful by spoonful and as you do so whip the whites and the sugar until the mix becomes stiff and really shiny/glossy.
3. On the greaseproof paper place spoonfuls of the meringue mix(I think piping gives a better result but spoonfuls work just as well).
4. Place into oven and immediately turn the oven temperature down to 140degC/280degF/gas mark 1.
5. When the meringues look baked on the outside should take about 50mins to an hour; turn off the oven and let them in the oven until it’s cold(without opening the door moisture ruins meringues), this will take 2-3 hours but this makes the meringues set properly on the outside but chewy and soft (and cooked!!) in the middle.

😀

A Game of Thrones themed birthday!

by Sophie

Hey everyone! Sorry for being out of action last week. I got sick and then I went to Limerick to visit my wonderful boyfriend for his birthday. I had been trying to decide for ages what to make him for his birthday as I love doing handmade things for peoples birthdays. One of the book series he’s really into at the moment is the series A Song of Ice and Fire (Or A Game of Thrones depending on where you heard of it from first). I’m currently only one and a half books into the series right now so I didn’t know a huge amount about it. However one of my favorite things about the entire series are the direwolves! I really love the direwolves in the series and they’re just so cool. Also currently in the book series the Stark household are the only house who aren’t completely horrible in one way or another.  Of course I know that that doesn’t mean that the wont be but I gotta go with what I know! Anyway I decided to make a direwolf themed card for his birthday.

I’ve always liked papercrafts and stuff and I enjoy bold colours and geometric shapes so card making can be quite enjoyable for me. The only problem I have with it is that I tend to get slightly obsessive and can over complicate cards because I want to make them so perfect. I had to stop myself doing that with this card. But I also bought extra card and glue just incase. I wanted to be able to redo the whole thing again if needed.

I was trying to think of something funny to do on the card and it was kind of difficult because A Game of Thrones is such a serious series. One of the first things I did was google “A Game of Thrones birthday” and one of the first results was this gem, which I then sadly forgot to put in the card:

I don’t know! Anyway I was going to put that in the inside of the card and I forgot, which made me a little sad because the picture is just so silly.

Anyway moving swiftly on I decided on using one of the ending scenes from the series as a joke where Ghost the direwolf brings back a frozen hand happily to his owner. I tried a bow to it and made it so that he was bringing it as a birthday present. I found it quite amusing!

I made the card in 3 rectangular layers with the hand and the wolf sitting on the top. All together I really liked how the card came out. It was really simple and the colours worked very well and it ended up being a little silly, which is always good.

I ended up getting a black envelope as well and because I was getting into the whole thing I ended up decorating that as well. I cut out a direwolf seal in both red and black and put them on the envelope, one on the front and one on the back.

So when I cut these direwolves out they ended up leaving really cool silhouettes on the card so I decided to use them as well. I made two little direwolf card thingies and a bookmark. I game the cut out one to my boyfriend in his card and kept the rest for myself. This is what happens when I buy extra caaaard!

I also ended up making him A Game of Thrones themed birthday cake. I made him a red velvet cake and then used rolling icing to make the top look like the Stark direwolf on the flag. I was pretty happy with how it turned out. More importantly the birthday boy thought it was really cool and wouldn’t let me cut it until a day later when there was more people there to see it!

 

 

I also got him an Iron Man tshirt that glows when you turn on a battery. It’s the ultimate in geeky! 8D All together I think he was very happy with the gifts and I had a hell of a lot of fun making them!

Hope everyone has a wonderful week! Hopefully we’ll be back to normal schedule’s soon! 8D

Blargh Baking! (Or The Nigel Cake)

by Lany

Hey you guys,

Wednesday was my boyfriends birthday so I decided to make him the most awesome cake I could think of….

Meet Nigel! =3

He’s a super delicious chocolate fudge cake, light enough to enjoy and still actually taste like chocolate!!

My other half loves the Nigel meme, and he loved this cake!!

I always think birthday cakes should have a happy birthday somewhere on them….

I used ready roll icing for this cake, while I enjoy making icing and trying different frostings, I needed this to have a smooth surface to work with.

I got the orange ready roll icing in Allens in Limerick, the white from the local supermarket and Sophie gave me the peachy one and the amazing sparkly black outline icing from a speciality store in Dublin!

All the cupcakes are vanilla flavoured, the ones with the chocolate frosting are plain and the coloured rainbow cupcakes are a batch I experimented with!
I made the plain vanilla cupcake mix and spilt it up into four bowls. As I only had three colours, I decided to have one each of red blue and green and the plain batter colour. I then filled the paper cases (light pink with white polka dots squeee~also from Allens) with spoonfuls from each bowl, in different orders to get different patterns in the cupcakes! They were a success although my housemates were not eager to try them, especially after my delicious pea muffin adventures! (The pea muffins were really tasty and amazing and everyone thought so until I told them what was in it! Sometimes the less you know!)

Altogether the whole day was a SMASHING success! 😀
Everyone take care and BLARGAHAGH!

Hugs and cupcakes!
Lany

xx

PS If anyone wants the recipe, just let me know in the comments! He was most delicious!

The Erotic Bakers Have Arrived!

by Lany

I had so many alternative titles, that were loaded with puns, that my head almost melted from the innuendo overload!

This story begins, as most do, with a carnal desire to bake.

Sophie and I, along with several friends went to Max’s birthday party last Saturday, and decided that as a present we would bequeath him a specific type of birthday cake. Brace yourselves people, for I am talking about giant boob cake!

You kinda had to be there to understand how funny we found making these!

The kitchen smelled D-I-V-I-N-E as all of the cakes exited the oven!
In total we used over 20 eggs to make these cakes! And soooo much sugar and butter! Not to mention what went into the icing!!

We spent the best portion of the day making cakes and letting them cool enough so we could stack and ice them.

It was almost time to leave when we put the >ahem< finishing touches to the cakes, i.e. the super perky nipples 😀

We had white buttons, mini marshmallows and pink icing left over, and after ingesting as much sugar as we had it, seemed like a brilliant idea to make nipple nibbles!!

Max really enjoyed the cake, I’m really glad to say! 😀
Here he is getting a handful!

 

I wish I could bottle the fun we had on Saturday, the innuendos (“make the icing stiff Sophie!”) and the puns, it was the breast of fun!
(Aw c’mon I HAD to slip at least one in!)

Please feel free to comment, let us know if you found it titillating!
(Ok! I promise, last one.)

Hugs and vanilla scented cookies!
LPL!
Lany
xx

Baking up a storm!

by Lany

All three of us have a lot of friends in common, which is what brought us together in the first place!

Both Sophie and I live in Ireland full-time (at the moment!) and since we have the aforementioned large amount of mutual friends, it’s no surprise when we get invited to a lot of the same parties!

One of our friends, a really awesome girl named Jen is leaving for a while to work in Japan, we’re all going to really miss her….and we’re all (not-so) secretly jealous of her well deserved opportunity!! A few weekends ago a goodbye party was thrown for her! I decided to bake some cupcakes and duely told Sophie of my plan. She approved and since both of us are somewhat of baking fiends we went a biiiiiit overboard when we got together in the kitchen….maybe it was all the sugar in the air or the effect of hyperness bouncing off hyperness to create a super hyperful mood…..

This isn’t even everything that was baked!! 😀
It was a glorious afternoon, the tantalising smell of cakes and cookies and other sweet treats filling the air!

When I was in the shop buying all that needed to be bought for a baking extravaganza I came across the essence selection; and I decided that another pot of vanilla essence wouldn’t go astray. I was taken by surprise when, instead of the rudimentary selection that had been there the week before  I came across a much improved selection!!  Being easily overexcited I started to imagine what I could do with all these delightful flavours!
However I have the misfortune of also being a realist, so I decided to only go a little over budget and pick up two new flavours; peppermint and strawberry!
Of course then I also had to pick up food colourings and toppings to go with these flavours!! ;D

Hence the flavoured cake and icing was born!

These buns were faintly vanilla flavoured, so I decided to put the flavourings in the icing. Man the strawberry essence smelled (and tasted!) delicious and it was hard to only add two drops to the icing sugar! The things on top of the icing were all just shapes made from coloured sugar, and I thought they were a nice decorative touch!

For the peppermint flavoured icing I chose a “honeycomb” topping! I got Sophies opinion and she also thought that peppermint and honeycomb go together surprisingly well! It was fun combining different flavours and seeing what happened!

The final batch of cupcakes were covered in vanilla icing and I decided instead of leaving the icing white I’d give it a splash of colour and make it blue instead…and sprinkle mini smarties on top! =D
As you can see these weren’t anything like professionally finished cupcakes!

In the end I made about 50 cupcakes!! ….I did say we had gone a bit overboard….

I also made a sponge cake, with the sponge itself being strawberry and vanilla flavoured!! (I got a bit carried away with strawberry flavouring!) When it came out of the oven, it had a slightly different texture to sponge cake with no flavours or only vanilla essence in it, a slightly “denser” texture? It was baked through though, which was the important part!!

When it came time to decorate the cooled cake I decided to go with what Jen loves, and one of the things she really likes is cream! I personally dislike the texture of cream but I adore strawberries…who doesn’t love strawberries? Strawberries decorated the top and were in the middle of the cake to give people a nice surprise when they bit into a slice! I may hate cream but Sophie definitely loves cream, as when I was finished with it she decided to help herself to the left overs!! xD

Our fridge is small, so I didn’t have space to shove the decorated cake inside, so part of the cream started to slide off the back of the cake taking with it most of the strawberries!! However some “ingenious” phptography later (i.e. I pushed everything back on top, turned it around and hoped for the best!) and it LOOKS as good as new!

While I was struggling with melting Sophie was having her way with the oven! She made awesome Oatmeal cookies! They were really good, so tasty and we were hoping that the idea that there was oats in them that they could be considered “good for you”…..but the sugar and butter content quickly negated that idea!!

She also made unusual brownies! Unlike brownies that I make that are laden with sugar and butter, Sophie had found and tried a recipe for not-so-bad for you brownies! They had sweetpotatoe and dark chocolate and a small bit of sugar and butter! I didn’t get a picture because by the time they were out of the oven they had to be whisked straight off to the party!

….there was a lot of cleaning up to be done also ;~;
Always the worst part of baking!!

I didn’t go to the party in the end because I started coming down with a horrible cold and I didn’t want to give it to Jen just before she left!
Sophie reported that the party was a great success and that everyone had a great time hanging out with each other for the evening!! 🙂

JEN YOU BETTER HAVE THE BEST TIME OVER THERE!! 😀
❤

All of our love!
L.D.S
xxx

P.S. Happy International Womens Day!!