Joy's Ginger & Chocolate /Cinnamon & Cranberry Cookies

This recipe was adapted from the "Stem Gingernuts" recipe in the Great British Bake Off book that I got for Christmas. I originally tried to make a vegan candied clementine cake (http://veganyumyum.com/2009/02/candied-clementine-cake/) but disaster struck due to a poorly chosen pan and lack of knowledge as to how far to fill the pan up! It looked a bit of a disaster but my partner assures me it was very tasty!

Please note that these quantities are from the book & make 24 cookies. I quartered the recipe as I didn't want loads & wanted to make 2 varieties:

350g self raising flour
1 tbsp ground ginger [or cinnamon for the second batch]
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
200g caster sugar
115g unsalted butter
85g goldern syrup
1 medium free range egg, beaten
Candied ginger to taste (the book uses stem ginger but I didn't have that), I used about three 1p sized pieces for my quarter batch) [or replace with dried cranberries for the second batch. I don't know how many I used as I used up the packet but just keep adding & stirring until it looks right!]
I also added very dark chocolate to my recipe, because it goes beautifully with both ginger & cranberry

Preheat oven to 170ºC and line 3 baking trays with baking paper/sheets

1. Gently melt the golden syrup & butter over a low heat & set aside to cool
2. Sift flour, ginger/cinnamon, bicarb & sugar into a mixing bowl
3. Pour the cooled syrup mixture into the dry ingredients, add the beaten egg, candied ginger/cranberries, chocolate & combine
4. Roll into 24 walnut sized balls and arrange on the baking trays, allowing a lot of room for spreading!
5. Bake for 15-20 mins (I did mine for 15 to keep them chewy & gooey!)

6. Enjoy!

Stacey's Chocolate and Pistachio Macaroons (or Macarons)

Making macaroons for the first time was a lot of fun, and even though I only made two batches I feel I learnt a lot about them, so I wanted to share some feedback/tips before the recipe. Originally, I had planned to make 4 varieties of macaroon: Vanilla, Raspberry, Chocolate and Pistachio; and I attempted the vanilla/raspberry batch first. The first thing I learnt was that ABSOLUTELY UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES should liquid flavouring and colouring be added to the batter at the end of the process - all liquid colours and flavouring should be added to the egg white/meringue BEFORE the dry ingredients are mixed in. If you decide to add, for example, raspberry syrup and pink food colouring to your batter AFTER the dry ingredients have been mixed in this will complete ruin the consistency of the batter and make it un-usable.

For comparison, I added the vanilla flavouring into the merringue before adding the dry ingredients, and that batter held it's shape and had a nice consistency. I added the raspberry flavouring and pink colouring after adding the dry ingredients, and... well you can see the difference.

Anyway, the second thing I learnt was that using "dry" flavourings (such as cocoa powder and ground pistachios) rather than "wet" flavourings (such as vanilla essence and raspberry syrup) made MUCH better macaroons, so in future I think I will definitely try to use dry flavourings. Joy came up with the idea to use paste flavourings, and I thought about exploring the potential of milkshake powder... but as I have tried neither suggestion I can't say which is best!

Well, I ended up throwing away all of the raspberry macaroons and half of the vanilla ones, so I'm not going to share that version of the recipe - but below is the recipe for the chocolate and pistachio varieties!

Note: this recipe makes half chocolate and half pistachio macaroons, if you'd like just one variety just amend the ingredients as necessary!

Prep time: 45 mins
Bake time: 20 mins per batch
Makes 30 macaroons (15 chocolate and 15 pistachio)

Ingredients:

40g ground almonds
2tbsp cocoa powder
170g icing sugar
60g pistachios (I used whole but ground can also be used)
3 medium eggs
A pinch of salt
75g caster sugar
a little extra cocoa powder and ground pistachio for decoration

for the chocolate filling:
60g margarine
100g icing sugar
1tbsp cocoa powder

for the pistachio filling:
30g margarine
30g cream cheese
120g icing sugar
10g roughly chopped pistachios

1. Line three baking trays with greaseproof paper and make sure that all of your equipment is clean and dry. Preheat the oven to Gas Mark 3.
2. Tip the ground almonds, cocoa powder and 80g of the icing sugar into a blender and blend to a fine powder. Place this mixture into a bowl and put to one side.
3. Tip the pistachio's and remaining icing sugar into the blender, and blend this to a fine powder. Place this mixture into another bowl and put to one side.
4. Place the egg whites and pinch of salt into a large clean bowl and whisk on a high speed. Once soft peaks form add the caster sugar a little at a time, continuously whisking, until a smooth, thick and glossy meringue has formed. Put half of the meringue into a separate bowl.
5. Take one of the bowls of meringue and gently fold in half of the chocolate dry mixture with a spatula. Once combined, fold in the remaining chocolate dry mixture, then place the chocolate mixture into a piping bag fitted with a 1cm nozzle.
6. Pipe 20 2cm rounds onto one of the baking trays, then lift and drop the baking tray onto the work surface a couple of time to help the mixture settle. Let the macaroons rest at room temperature for 10-15 minutes, or until a "skin" has formed on the top.
7. Repeat step 5 with the remaining bowl of meringue and the pistachio dry mixture, and pipe 20 2cm rounds of pistachio batter onto the second baking tray. Again lift and drop the tray onto the work surface a couple of times, then sprinkle some ground pistachios over each macaroon for decoration before placing to one side to rest.
8. You should have a little chocolate and a little pistachio mixture left in your piping bags. On the third baking tray, pipe 10 chocolate and 10 pistachio rounds, and tap against the work surface. Sprinkle the chocolate rounds with a little ground pistachio for decoration, and the pistachio rounds with a little cocoa powder for decoration. Leave the tray to rest with the others for 10-15 minutes.
9. Once a "skin" has formed over the macaroon shells (you should be able to touch them lightly without any mixture sticking to your finger) place them in the preheated oven for 20 minutes. Remove from the oven and allow to cool on the tray for at least 10 minutes. Carefully remove each macaroon from the baking sheets using a spatula, and place on a wire rack to cool completely.
10. Whilst the macaroons are cooling, prepare the fillings by mixing the ingredients together until a smooth paste has formed (obviously make the chocolate  filling and pistachio filling in separate bowls!), then place this into piping bags.
11. Sandwich two chocolate shells together with chocolate filling to make 10 chocolate macaroons, then sandwich the pistachio shells with the pistachio filling to make another 10 macaroons. You should be left with the chocolate shells with ground pistachios on, and the pistachio shells with the cocoa powder - these will be you "vice versa" macaroons. Sandwich the pistachio shells with chocolate filling, and the chocolate shells with pistachio filling - you should end up with 5 of each.
12. Pick up the most appetising looking one, take a big bite and marvel at the crunchy, gooey, sweetness!

January - New Year, New You

Happy New Year!

I forgot to get a snap of all the goodies together, so here's a collage.

For January's meeting, we decided to follow the New Year theme by baking something entirely new - a dish we've never attempted before. This was a fairly small meeting, with only 4 bakers (plus one guest!), but we had such a giggle and managed to almost over-run our time in the room!

This time Joy made some ginger and chocolate cookies, and some cranberry and chocolate cookies; Sally made some delicious sausage rolls; Sarah made delicious chocolate eclairs; and Stacey brought in some Macaroons (or Macarons, if you like)

We didn't have much left over at the end, which is a testament to how tasty everything was! Looking forward to February...

Stacey's Mini Christmas Cake Cupcakes

Note: bugger... I thought I'd posted this on 23rd December, but when I logged on today to make an early start on my post for January's meeting I saw this still in the drafts! Sorry!

I've left this recipe to the absolute last minute to post (I'm typing this on an iPad whilst standing in the aisle of a train to Leicester!)but that's OK because this recipe is perfect for last minute Christmas cakes. Most Christmas cake recipes require a lot of time and planning in advance, but this one only takes around an hour and is just as scrum my!.

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: 30 minutes:
Baking time: 20 minutes
Makes around 12 cupcakes

90g margarine
250g dried mixed fruit
Zest and juice of 1 orange
90g soft light brown sugar
100ml Guinness (plus extra for glaze)
1tsp bicarbonate of soda
2 small eggs
150g plain flour
1 heaped tsp mixed spice 
250g golden marzipan
250g ready to roll icing
Holly and berry sprinkles, to decorate

1. Preheat the oven to gas mark 4 and line a bun tray with cupcake cases. 
2. Chop the margarine into cubes and place this in a large saucepan, with the mixed dried fruit, the zest and juice of the orange, the light brown sugar, and the porter. Begin to heat the ingredients slowly, stirring consistently until the butter melts. Once the butter has melted increase the heat under the pan until the mixture comes to the boil. Reduce the heat and allow the mixture to simmer for 15 minutes.
3. Remove from the heat and allow the mixture to cool in the pan for at least 10 minutes, then stir in the bicarbonate of soda. The mixture will start to foam up, this is supposed to happen!
4. Beat the eggs in a separate bowl and then stir them into the mixture a little at a time.
5. Sift the flour and mixed spice into the pan and mix well until completely combined.
6. Place a heaped teaspoon of the mixture into each baking case, then bake in the oven for around 20 minutes
7. Remove the cupcakes from the oven and allow to rest in the tine for 5 minutes before turning onto a wire rack to cool.
8. Once cool, roll out the golden marzipan to around 5mm thick, then use a cutter to cut small circles. Brush a little bit of the leftover Guinness on top of the cupcake, then place a marzipan circle on top. Once all the cupcakes are covered in marzipan, dust your work surface with icing sugar and roll out the ready to roll icing, again to around 5mm thick. Repeat the process: cut out circles, brush a little Guinness onto the marzipan and then place the icing round on top of the marzipan, pressing down slightly to make sure they stick together.
9. Decorate with sprinkles or toppers as desire, then take a bite out of one of them - chefs duty :-)