Recipe Challenge: Custard Cream Biscuits

Seeing as the new series of The Great British Bake Off started last week, I decided that for this weeks recipe challenge I would do some baking. A few weeks ago one of the bloggers I regularly read made some Custard Creams, from "Feast" by Nigella Lawson, so I decided to give them a go because I had never made them before.

If you have a food processor, then they are so quick and easy to make. Basically you put all the ingredients - flour, custard powder, sugar, butter and shortening - into a food processor and whizz until it resembles breadcrumbs. Then you add the egg and milk until it combines to a dough. Pop the dough into the fridge for 20 minutes to firm up and then roll out. Cut out into whichever shape you choose and pop onto a baking sheet.

Then prick out a pretty pattern on each biscuit if you wish and bake in the oven for 15 minutes.

While they are cooking you can whizz up the custard cream icing, again in the food processor. Just pop in the icing sugar, custard powder, butter and boiled water and within a minute you have a lovely custard cream filling.

Once the biscuits are cooled, sandwich 2 biscuits together with the filling mixture and voila - yummy homemade custard creams!

Nigella makes her biscuits in a heart shape and says this recipe makes 15 biscuits. I used a fluted circular cutter and made 34 biscuits from mine! Obviously mine are smaller but psychologically I think eating 2 small biscuits is better than 1 large one because it feels more of a treat!

I don't have Nigella's book but I found the recipe on the lovely blog The Amber Spyglass and you can find the full recipe, including ingredients list here. 

VERDICT:

Would I bake these again? Yes, yes, yes!

My family gave these a 3.5 out of 4 thumbs up. I loved the biscuits texture, much more "melt in the mouth" than shop bought ones. They were a real winner and I have already made 2 more batches. They are simple to make and delicious. I have since passed on this recipe to 2 friends who have also loved them.

I am really enjoying doing this recipe challenge because we are trying something new each week. What have you baked this week?

Thanks for reading.

Enjoy the rest of your day.

Take care,

CJ xx

Recipe Challenge: Hit 'N' Run Traybaked Chicken

The recipe I chose for Week 2 of my recipe challenge was from Save With Jamie by Jamie Oliver. The recipe I chose was Hit 'N' Run Traybaked Chicken.

It is a very quick and easy recipe. You basically cut all the vegetables into large wedges, add unpeeled garlic cloves, sprinkle over the herbs and spices, drizzle with oil and balsamic vinegar, toss and ensure the chicken thighs are placed on top for roasting. Cooks in about an hour, and baste occasionally.

Here is Jamie's photo:

And here is my version:

VERDICT:
Would I cook it again? Unlikely. We have given this 2 out of 4 "thumbs up".
All four of us gave this a neutral halfway thumb! (Each recipe scores 1 point for a thumbs up, 0.5 for a halfway and 0 for a thumbs down!). None of us hated it but nobody loved it either. If I had this served to me, I would eat it, but I wouldn't go out of my way to cook it again because, in my opinion, there are much nicer recipes out there. Sorry Jamie!

We served this with crusty Tiger bread which was the best bit! Sadly not homemade!

I won't post the recipe here for copyright reasons, but you can find it on Page 100 of the Save With Jamie recipe book or online here.

Have you cooked anything new this week? Although this recipe wasn't a hit with my family, I am enjoying trying something new. What to cook next week...?

Thanks for reading.
Enjoy the rest of your day.
Take care,
CJ xx

Recipe Challenge: Chicken Pie with Stuffing Pastry

For week 1 of my Recipe challenge series I chose a recipe from The Way I Cook by Lisa Faulkner. The recipe I went for was Chicken Pie with Stuffing Pastry.

The stuffing pastry is made by smoothing a layer of stuffing over one half of the rolled out puff pastry, twice the size of the pie dish.

Then fold over the left half onto the right side and gentle roll down to form a seal.
The filling is basically a creamy chicken and mushroom filling and is a great way to use up leftover cooked chicken.

Here is Lisa's photo of her pie:

And here is my pie:

VERDICT:
Would I cook it again? Yes, I will give this 3.5 out of 4 "thumbs up". 
In our family, whenever I cook something new we have a "thumbs system". If they like it, it gets a thumbs up, if they dislike it, obviously it's a thumbs down, and if they think it's okay, then it is a neutral halfway thumb! There are 4 of us in our family and for this recipe there 
were 3 thumbs up and one neutral, hence the score of 3.5. Clear as mud, eh? But hey, it works for us!

A couple of points to note; I did double the amount of stock that Lisa specified in the recipe because I felt there wasn't enough sauce in the filling for us. Also, next time I make it, I will probably use a quarter less of the stuffing mix because the stuffing layer was a tad too thick for our taste.

Sorry but for copyright reasons I cannot publish her recipe here, but if you are interested in trying this recipe, it can be found online here. If you want to purchase her book, it is available here and you'll find this recipe on page 17.

What do you think of my pie? Did I do Lisa's recipe justice? Have you cooked anything new this week? I really enjoyed trying a new recipe and look forward to trying a different one next week.

Thanks for reading.
Enjoy the rest of your day.
Take care,
CJ xx

Stuck In a Rut?! Recipe Challenge!

Today's post is totally different to my usual content and is not beauty based at all. I wasn't even sure if I should post it at all considering this is essentially a beauty blog but I have been blogging for 5 months now (I know, I'm still a newbie!) and I feel blogs evolve and you should write about what interests you.

Well, besides beauty, I love baking and cooking. However, lately I have found myself stuck in a bit of a rut! I seem to be cooking the same dishes for my family over and over again. You know the ones - Cottage Pie, Spag Bol, Curry, Chilli, Roasts, Pizza, Toad in the Hole, etc. All the usual favourites which my family DO enjoy, but it does get a tad repetitive. The same goes for baking. I can knock up a Victoria Sandwich cake in my sleep, along with cookies, brownies, fairy cakes but again I stick to a few trusted recipes because I know my family love them and will eat them, rather than risk something they may not like.

Well not any more! I have 50+ recipe books and most of them have "post-it" tabs where I have marked recipes I like the sound of. Every couple of months I do indeed try a new recipe but then I return to the treadmill of the family faves listed previously. 

I have decided to try a new recipe every week, either baking or a family meal, and I shall post both my successes and failures here. If I hold myself accountable via this blog then hopefully I will stick with this challenge! I have already done my Meal Plans for the week ahead and I have chosen a new recipe to try on Wednesday. I will report back with the results later this week/beginning of next week.

Thank you for indulging me. Is anyone else going to join me in this challenge? It doesn't matter if you are a great cook, an average cook or a bad cook, just try something different.

Thanks for reading.
Enjoy the rest of your day.
Take care,
CJ xx