Stacey's Gingerbread Cupcakes

Ho Ho Ho!

I'm getting really excited for Christmas now... only 9 sleeps to go! I think that "ginger" can officially be classified as the flavour of Christmas -so many of us went for a recipe containing ginger!

If you're baking all varieties, I'd bake the Mini Christmas Cakes first, as they both take the longest to bake and will keep fresh for longest. Then bake the Chocolate Peppermint Cupcakes, as these stay moist for ages and take a little longer to decorate, and finally the Gingerbread Cupcakes which are the quickest to make, but also dry out faster than the others.

Prep time: 15 minutes
Baking time: 15-18 minutes
Makes around 12 cupcakes


Ingredients:
150g margarine
150g soft light-brown sugar
2 medium eggs
150g self-raising flour
2 heaped teaspoons ground ginger
small pinch of cinnamon
1 tbsp milk


For the icing:
100g soft cream cheese
50g vegetable shortening
250g icing sugar
1 tbsp lemon juice
Sprinkles, for decoration

1. Preheat the oven to Gas Mark 4, and line a bun-tray with cupcake cases
2. Beat the margarine and sugar together until light and fluffy. Add one of the eggs, and beat well until you have a creamy batter, then fold in half of the flour and all of the spices. Repeat with the remaining egg and flour, then finally stir in the milk.
3. Place a heaped teaspoon of the batter into each cupcake case (you may find you have a little leftover...) and bake in the centre of the oven for 15-8 minutes, until golden brown and springy to the touch. Remove from the oven and place on a cooling rack.
4. Once cooled, create the icing by mixing together the cream cheese and shortening. Beat in the icing sugar a little at a time, followed by the lemon juice. Be careful not to over-mix this one, as the cream cheese and lemon juice can make it quite runny - mix until all the ingredients are combined and you have a nice consistency, but not much more than than! If yours does get a little runny, just pop it in the freezer for 5 minutes to firm it up a bit. :-)
5. Pipe or spread the icing onto the cooled cupcakes, and decorate with sprinkles as desired. 

Sally's squishy orange & spice cookies

 

 

Ingredients

Serves: 18

• 250g plain flour
• 1/2 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 170g unsalted butter, melted
• 200g dark brown soft sugar
• 100g caster sugar
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• 1 egg
• 1 egg yolk
• 325g chocolate chips (I used Green & Black's Maya Gold 100g bar, G&B's Burnt Toffee 100g bar, and almost all of G&B's milk chocolate cooking chocolate 150g bar)
• Zest of 1 orange
• Juice of half an orange
• As much mixed spice as you want (I think I used about 1-2 teaspoons)

Preparation method

Prep: 10 mins | Cook: 15 mins

1. Preheat the oven to 170 C / Gas mark 3. Grease baking trays or line with parchment.
2. Sift together the flour, bicarb and salt; set aside.
3. In a medium bowl, cream together the melted butter, brown sugar and caster sugar until well blended. Beat in the vanilla, egg and egg yolk until light and creamy. Mix in the sifted ingredients until just blended. Stir in the chocolate chips by hand using a wooden spoon. Drop cookie dough onto the prepared baking trays, with each cookie around 4 tablespoons of dough (for smaller cookies, drop 1 rounded tablespoonful and adjust baking time as necessary). Do not flatten the dough. Cookies should be about 8cm apart.
4. Bake for 15 to 17 minutes in the preheated oven, or until the edges are lightly toasted. Cool on baking trays for a few minutes before transferring to wire racks to cool completely.

Stacey's Chocolate Peppermint Cupcakes

I was a bit cheeky this time round, and decided to do a whole bunch of baking all in one go for Cake'n'Bake Club, but also for friends, family and colleagues' Christmas pressies! I ended up making 24 of each variety, so I've halved the quantities below, however don't be surprised if you end up with slightly more mixture than required for 12 cupcakes (as I recall I had a little bit left over for each!)

If you're baking all varieties, I'd bake the Mini Christmas Cakes first, as they both take the longest to bake and will keep fresh for longest. Then bake the Chocolate Peppermint Cupcakes, as these stay moist for ages and take a little longer to decorate, and finally the Gingerbread Cupcakes which are the quickest to make, but also dry out faster than the others.

Prep time: 15-20 minutes

Baking time 12-15 minutes

Makes around 12-14 cupcakes 

Ingredients:

65g cocoa powder

100g plain flour

pinch of salt

1tsp bicarbonate of soda

1tsp baking powder

60ml water

60ml milk (plus up to 60ml more for the filling/frosting, if required)

75g butter or margarine

150g granulated sugar
1 medium egg

100g box of "peppermint thins" (After Eights)

150g vegetable shortening

250g icing sugar

Peppermint flavouring, to taste

Sprinkles to decorate

1. Preheat the oven to gas mark 5 and line a bun tray with cupcake cases.
2. Sift the cocoa powder, flour, salt, bicarbonate of soda and baking powder together into a bowl and put to one side. In a second bowl or jug, mix together the water and 60ml of the milk. In a third (and final - I promise!) bowl, beat together the butter and sugar until fluffy, then add the egg and beat until combined to form a smooth batter.
3. Fold half of the dry ingredients mixture into the batter, then add the milk and water, followed by the remaining dry ingredients, stirring until combined between each addition.
4. Spoon a heaped teaspoon of the mixture into each cupcake case and bake for 12 - 15 mins until firm and spongy. Remove from the oven and allow to rest in the pan for 5 minutes before turning out onto a wire rack to cool completely.
5. Whilst the cupcakes are cooling begin to prepare your filling. Bring a pan of water to the boil, then reduce the heat as low as it will go. Put the peppermint thins into a glass bowl and rest this in the pan of boiling water, being careful not to get any water into the bowl. Stir this continuously until the mints have melted. They will probably form a gloopy ball at this stage, don't worry! Keeping the bowl in the hot water, stir milk into the chocolate a little at a time until you reach the desired consistency (it should be a ganache-like mixture, smooth enough to pipe but not too runny). Place this into a piping bag and put to one side to cool slightly.
6. Cut a well into the centre of each cupcake, pipe a generous amount of the chocolate peppermint ganache into the well, then replace the top of the cupcake. (Don't worry if these stick up a little, that will be hidden by the frosting!)
7. Once the cakes are completely cool, make your frosting by mixing the icing sugar into the shortening a little at a time. If your frosting is too stiff, add a little milk until it reaches the desire consistency, then add a few drops of peppermint flavouring. Spread or pipe the frosting on top of the cupcakes, then finish with sprinkles.
8. Take a big bite of one of them, just to make sure they are super tasty ;-)

Joy's Nut Roast Tartlets

I feel a little ashamed to admit to using shop-bought pastry after Sarah's post!

You will need:

Puff pastry (block/pre-rolled, whichever you prefer)
Half a finely diced onion (I use red because they're tastier & prettier)
1 garlic clove
Couple of finely diced mushrooms and/or any other veg that you want to use. Peppers, sundried tomatoes & olives work well too.
1/2 tsp flour
150ml veg stock
85g chopped mixed nuts
85g breadcrumbs
1/2 tbsp soy sauce
Salt, pepper & herbs to taste. I think I used basil, parsley, cumin & rosemary.
Something to stick the nut roast to the pastry and prevent them being too dry: this was a last minute thought & unfortunately the Co-op didn't have cranberry sauce so I went for apple sauce in some & tomato puree in others.

Method:
1. Stew onion in olive oil until soft. Add garlic & mushrooms.
2. Sprinkle on flour. Add stock, stirring continuously.
3. Bring to the boil & simmer for 2-3 mins.
4. Add remaining ingredients & allow to cool slightly.
5. Meanwhile, roll out your pastry & cut desired shapes. I used a traditional pastry cutter and stars.
6. Put pastry shapes into lightly greased (or Frylight-ed) bun tins and press down to form a cup.
7. Spoon in a small amount of sauce, and add a pressed ball of nut roast mixture.
8. I cut out little stars from my pastry offcuts & added these to the top to make them look more festive!
9. Bake at 220ºC until pastry is browned nicely, about 15-20mins I think.
10. Enjoy!

Sarah's rough puff pastry

I thought it easier to just give the recipe for the pastry as so many of you enjoyed it! It is pretty simple and gives a fantastic quick and easy alternative to puff pastry. It can be used for anything as well, sweet, savory, pies tarts etc.

Ingredients

450g plain flour, plus extra for dusting
large pinch salt
375g cold butter/block marge, cut into cubes
250ml cold water

Method

Sift the flour and salt into a large bowl and add the butter. Mix the butter around with a large metal spoon to coat it in flour - do not rub in the butter like short crust pastry recipes.

Pour two thirds of the water into the flour and butter mixture.

Using a round-tipped knife, cut across the contents of the bowl several times, turning the bowl continuously as you chop the butter into the flour, until the dough comes together.

When the dough has come together as a loose lump, tip it onto a lightly floured work surface and quickly shape it into a thick slab, roughly the dimensions of a house brick.

Flour the work surface and roll the dough out to a rectangle.

Fold one-third of the dough to the centre, then fold the other third over that. Roll the pastry out again. Fold in exactly the same way again.

Rotate the pastry a quarter turn and repeat. Continue rolling, folding, pressing and turning a quarter-turn 3-4 more times. Don't worry too much if the butter oozes through the dough occasionally.

After the last folding stage, wrap the pastry in cling film and place into the fridge to chill for several hours, preferably overnight.

When ready to use, if the pastry is very firm, allow it to warm in the room for a few minutes before using. (You can freeze this pastry for up to six weeks)

Any questions, just ask! Wednesday night's sausage rolls were my first ever attempt at rough puff - so give it a go and don't be afraid!

Charlie's Gingerbread Biscuits

Very Easy Gingerbread Biscuits

Ingredients:

350g Plain Flour

1 tsp Bicarbonate of Soda

1 tsp Ground Ginger

115g Unsalted Butter, chilled and diced

175g Light Muscovado Sugar

1 Egg

2 tbsp black treacle or golden syrup (I used golden syrup!)

1. Preheat the oven to 180. Grease 2 or 3 large baking sheets.

2. Put the flour, bicarbonate of soda, ginger and diced butter into the bowl of the food processor. Process until the mixture begins to resemble fine breadcrumbs.

3. Add the sugar, egg and treacle or syrup to the food processor and process the mixture until it begins to form into a ball.

4. Turn the dough out on to a lightly floured surface, and knead until its smooth and pliable.

5. Roll out the dough on a lightly floured surface (I kept the dough quite thick as I like gooey biscuits - but roll to thickness of your choice!). Cut out shapes using cutters, then transfer to the baking sheets. Re-roll any trimmings and cut out more shapes.

6. Bake for 15 minutes (I did 12 as a) I have a fan oven and b) I like gooey biscuits!!!) until slightly risen and starting to colour around the edges. Leave for 5 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool.

Decorate as you wish!!

December - Fabulously Festive

Delicious Festive Treats

For our December meeting we went with what only seemed natural for this time of year: "Fabulously Festive". Various festive bakes were made - including some savory ones this time - and we had a good old Christmas shindig, complete with cheesy Christmas songs, crackers and paper crowns! We also had a bit of a growth spurt this meeting - clearly baking is everyone's cup of tea!

There are a mixture of experienced and beginner amateur bakers in the group, but yet again the quality of the bakes were astounding. Craig's second ever attempt at baking was equally as successful as the first, with some lovely cinnamon and almond puds. Charlie's gingerbread biscuits were both delicious and beautifully decorated, and Joy's nut-roast tartlets went down a treat! Stacey bought in a few "cupcake selection boxes" containing 3 different varieties of Christmassy cupcakes. As for our new-comers, Rosie and Angel, being of Swiss and Bulgarian descent (respectively) bought us some traditional festive treats based on their mother's recipes- from Rosie a Swiss chocolaty biscuit and from Angel a Bulgarian feta-filled pastry (both of which I've forgotten the real names of, but I'm sure Rosie and Angel will update!) Sally baked some amazingly gooey spiced chocolate orange cookies, Catherine treated us to some pear and cranberry pies as well as some traditional gingerbread, and Sarah blew us all away with her sausage rolls, veggie rolls and cuter then cute reindeer cupcakes!

Doggybag time!

Although there were more mouths to feed this time, there were also more bakers present so we ended up with a lot more leftovers, and each took away a decent sized doggy-bag!

Looking forward to next time already!