Celebrate Mothers Day with Afternoon Tea

It's Mothers Day or Mothering Sunday on 15th March, that's next Sunday!  It's a great opportunity to treat your Mum, but when you are a busy Mum too, it's sometimes nice to let someone else spoil you both.


The good news is that you can treat your mother and/or mother-in-law and yourself to an afternoon tea with these lovely treats from Marks and Spencer.

Daffodil Madeira Cake, all butter sponge filled with buttercream and raspberry jam with soft icing and royal icing flowers - £12.00
*The Daffodil Madeira Cake is soft and moist with a nice layer of buttercream and jam, the icing is very sweet.  The daffodil decoration is delightful and very effective, overall it is a good cake.

A selection of Sweet Treats, milk chocolate coated honeycomb, white chocolate covered strawberries and milk chocolate discs - £9.00
*It is nice to have a slightly different take on a box of chocolates.  I enjoyed the honeycomb covered in chocolate and the white chocolate strawberries have a bit of a zing to them, you can definitely taste the fruit.  The milk chocolate discs are smooth and shiny and the chocolate has a good taste.

All Butter Lemon Shortbread Thins, scrummy lemon shortbread baked in the Scottish Highlands - £3.00
*The shortbread thins have a nice snap to them , the flavour of lemon does not overwhelm the delicate buttery taste.

Mini  Scottish Shortbread Tea Cup, all butter Scottish Shortbread mini rounds in a beautifully decorated cup and saucer - £12.00
* This pretty cup is a good size for tea or coffee and the buttery mini shortbreads are ideal for a little nibble to go along with it.

Simply add a pot of tea, some pretty linen and china and a bunch of flowers and you have everything you need for a relaxed afternoon tea.

Thanks to Marks and Spencer for providing me with these sweet treats for Mothers Day, I was not paid for this review and all opinions are my own. 

Labels: cake, honeycomb, Marks and Spencer, Mother's Day, shortbread, tea

posted by Janice @ 05:30 16 Comments

Strawberry Shortcake Ice Cream Sandwich

I am totally sold on the concept of the  Ice Cream Sandwich.  You can pick it up and lick the ice cream from the centre with the melting ice cream running down your fingers or eat it from a bowl breaking through the crisp cookie to reach the sweet, icy centre.  Add  some delicious Scottish strawberries and you have the perfect dessert.

If you don't have time to make your own shortbread, you could buy some shortbread cookies and make this a really speedy treat, but there is not doubt that home made butter shortbread is much better and it's simple to make.


Shortbread Biscuits/Cookies
300g (10oz) plain flour
100g ( 4oz) caster sugar
200g (8oz) butter
caster (superfine) sugar for dredging

1. Sift the flour into a bowl and add the sugar. Work in the butter with your fingertips - keep it in one piece and gradually work in the dry ingredients. Knead well until the dough has come together. 
2. Pat down on a work surface and use a rolling pin to roll the dough to about 1/2 cm (1/8 in) and cut out with a cookie cutter. You will probably have to keep pushing the dough back together again as it is very crumbly.
3. Slide the cut biscuits off the work surface with a knife and onto a baking sheet. 
4. Bake in the oven at 170C (325F) Mark 3 for about 8 minutes until firm and pale golden brown.
5. Lift onto a cooling tray with a spatula and dredge with caster (superfine) sugar.


To make the ice cream sandwich: Using the ice cream of your choice, I used  ready made Strawberry Shortcake Frozen Yogurt, let it soften slightly and press it into the cookie cutter that you used to cut the biscuits, remove the cookie cutter and refreeze the ice cream patties.  Once I'd made these I realised that they were too deep for the sandwich so, once frozen,  I cut them through the middle to make six.  Then all you need to do is assemble the sandwich: take a biscuit,  layer on some sliced strawberries, add the ice cream pattie, more sliced berries, top with another biscuit and decorate with a halved strawberry.

Labels: butter, dessert, flour, ice cream, sandwich, shortbread, strawberry, sugar

posted by Janice @ 19:01 11 Comments

Chocolate Chip Shortbread Cookies

300g (10oz) plain flour
100g ( 4oz) caster sugar
200g (8oz) butter
100g chocolate chips or chopped chocolate
caster (superfine) sugar for dredging

1. Sift the flour into a bowl and add the sugar. Work in the butter with your fingertips - keep it in one piece and gradually work in the dry ingredients. Knead well adding in the chocolate chips or chopped chocolate once the dough has come together.
2. Pat down on a work surface and use a rolling pin to roll the dough to about 1/2 cm (1/8 in) and cut out with a cookie cutter. You will probably have to keep pushing the dough back together again as it is very crumbly.
3. Slide the cut biscuits off the work surface with a knife and onto a baking sheet.
4. Bake in the oven at 170C (325F) Mark 3 for about 8 minutes until firm and pale golden brown.
5. Lift onto a cooling tray with a spatula and dredge with caster (superfine) sugar.

  Butter, sugar, flour, chocolate, what more do I need to say?  Delicious! 

I am entering these cookies for We Should Cocoa, the blog challenge run by Choclette of Chocolate Log Blog and this month hosted by Rebecca at BakeNQuilt.

Labels: chocolate, chocolate chip, cookies, shortbread, We should Cocoa

posted by Janice @ 16:03 10 Comments

Best of British - The Scottish Round Up

Loch Tay from Kenmore

When the sun shines, Scotland is one of the most stunning places you could ever visit.  Glorious hills, lochs and coastal villages.  There is also a rich heritage and culture to enjoy.

Pittenweem Harbour

We also have some incredible produce, beef, lamb, seafood, milk, cheese, butter cream and glorious raspberries, strawberries and blackcurrants.

Langoustines

Blackcurrants

We are lucky that New World Appliances as proud BRITISH manufacturers of kitchen appliances are sponsoring this event for the first six months.  Each month, one entrant will be picked AT RANDOM to receive a £50 Amazon voucher.  And, at the end of the six month period we will have a regional showdown, with a judge to pick the best entry (we are still working on who that will be and should be able to announce it shortly).  New World Appliances have kindly offered £300 of Amazon vouchers for the overall winner, so if you enter every month you have 6 chances to win the grand prize!


Thank you to all the lovely food bloggers who entered the Scottish challenge for Best of British in partnership with New World Appliances , it was fun to read about what Scottish food means to you and see the delicious meals that you made.  Fiona will also be blogging the round up at the Face of New World blog 'A Whole New World', in the next few days.

1. First past the post was Chris Halfmann from 'Cooking Around the World' with his Scottish Whisky Cake and remember, the whisky is supposed to go IN the cake!

2. Next up is this fantastic Pork and Haggis Meatloaf with Honey Mustard and Whisky Apples from Claire at Under the Blue Gum Tree. Claire is based in South Africa and really impressed me sourcing haggis from local butcher with Scottish roots!

Skirlie

Selkirk Bannock

3.  Jill from Lapin d'Or and More wrote a lovely post telling about her time cooking at a shooting lodge in Tomintoul and a bit about Catherine Brown, author of  Scottish Regional Recipes, the book the recipes for Skirlie and the Selkirk Bannock came from.

4. Ros at The More Occassional Baker  consulted her Scottish friends who suggested she make one of the most difficult, but total delicious, Scottish sweets - TABLET!  Tablet is notoriously difficult to get right and although Ros felt hers was a bit on the soft side, it tasted just right, mmmmm I love tablet.


5.  Scottish Mum brings us Traditional Scottish Oatcakes a quick and simple biscuit (cracker) and a great accompaniment to stovies, corned beef hash, or any slow cooked meal, stew or stroganoff.  In fact that reminded me that as children, we used to crumble them into any gravy left on the plate, usually from mince, totally delicious!

6. Jacqueline of How to be a Gourmand made me laugh with her quote from Billy Connolly “There are two seasons in Scotland – Winter and July” although I have to say that this year, it would be hard to tell them apart!  Jacqueline chose Scottish Raspberries and made this lovely looking Scottish Raspberry and Pinenut Bake.


7. Caroline of Caroline Makes decided to recreate a Scottish tea time favourite, 'Tunnocks Teacakes' using some Marshmallow Fluff she had found at a bargain price and was happy enough with the results that she plans to make them again and may even make her own marshmallow next time.

 My own entry is an Iced Cranachan with Raspberries.  Cranachan contains cream, honey, oatmeal and whisky.  I used these ingredients to make an icecream and froze it into little moulds just to make it look more cheffy! 

8. Karen at Lavender and Lovage brings us some traditional Scottish baking, not in the oven but on the girdle, as we call it in Scotland, with her Scotch Griddle Cakes with Heather Honey .  These were probably the first thing I ever baked, standing on a stool at my granny's cooker, dropping spoonfuls onto the girdle and the eating them warm and dripping with butter.

9. It's breakfast time and time for Tattie Scones at the home of Tinned Tomatoes blogger, Jac!  Jac says "These are traditional potato scones, made in Scotland. A simple scone made from mashed potato, flour and butter. Once cooked they can be kept in the fridge and re-heated in a toaster or under a grill."

10. Back to the sweet stuff with traditional shortbread with a twist: this is Chocolate Scottish Shortbread from Janine at Cake of the Week and it come highly recommended!

11. Choclette at Chocolate Log Blog used the challenge as an opportunity to make Cranachan, she says  "It's been on my list of things to make for years AND I wasn't going to miss this opportunity to give it a whirl. For the uninitiated cranachan is a traditional Scottish celebration dish consisting of oatmeal, whipped cream, honey & whisky and sometimes raspberries."  It looks great and, of course, as it was from Choclette, it includes some sprinkles of white chocolate!


12. Caroline from Cake, Crumbs and Cooking is a big fan of Scottish Cook, Sue Lawrence, and chose to make Treacle Scones and Parlies.  Here's a photo of the Treacle Scones but you will have to visit Caroline's blog to exactly what the Parlies might be!


13. And so back to breakfast again, you would think that we Scots ate nothing but breakfast and tea, although those are some of our best meals.  Fiona of London Unattached is the instigator of the Best of British Challenge with help from Karen at Lavender and Lovage and a few co-conspirators hosting the regions.  Inspired by childhood memories of her Scottish aunts, Fiona chose to make a breakfast dish of Kippers and Oatcakes.

14. And so we come round full circle with a Whisky and Honey Cake from Gloria's Canela Kitchen.  A lovely confection of whisky, honey and almonds.

And the WINNER, chosen by Random Number Generator, is......drum roll please..........................

Labels: Best of British, cake, Cranachan, Griddle, haggis, honey, kippers, oatcakes, pancakes, raspberry, Scotland, Scottish, Selkirk Bannock, shortbread, skirlie, Tablet, Tattie Scones, whisky

posted by Janice @ 20:47 15 Comments

Farmersgirl Recipe Round Up 2011

Labels: 2011 round up, Beef Wellington, blondies, chickpea, chilli, chocolate pavlova, Christmas Cake, crumble, Gingerbread, jam, lasagne, marmlade, New Year, pepper steak, shortbread, smoked paprika, Soup, tomato

posted by Janice @ 11:00 11 Comments

The Great British Bake Off - Farmersgirl Bakes!

No, I'm not a contestant in the Great British Bake Off.  I am sure I would crack under the pressure and probably swear, maybe even throw my cake at Paul Hollywood and tip my macaroons into Mary Berry's lap.  Well, maybe I exaggerate a little, but I bake best when I have the kitchen to myself, some good music playing and permission to deviate from the recipe on a whim!

I have, however, given in and bought the book.  I got it yesterday in Tesco for a tenner, I used my points  vouchers which makes it feel like it cost nothing at all - result!

I thought I would honour the final of GBBO which will be shown on Tuesday 4th October by baking something from the book.   I needed to make something for the Macmillan Cancer coffee morning we are having at work, it's not till Thursday so it had to be a biscuit that I could put in an airtight tin to keep.





Good Luck to Holly, Jo and Mary Ann in the Final of the Great British Bake Off.  You have given us some fabulous bakes, some nail biting moments and it will be strange not to join you all on a Tuesday evening.

Labels: Great British Bake Off, Macmillan Cancer, Mary Berry, Paul Hollywood, shortbread

posted by Janice @ 11:00 8 Comments

It's beginning to feel a lot like Christmas...

My Christmas decorations went up yesterday, the earliest I've ever put them up, and today I made Uma Wylde's Spiced Cranberry Relish it was really easy to make, I made four times the recipe using 600g of fresh cranberries. Of course I had to have a little taste and it is delicious, not too sweet and lovely spicy flavours.

I also made some Shortbread Biscuits. My mum makes these every Christmas, she used to make up a box full for my Grandpa who really loved them. I usually make them too as they are easy to make and melt in your mouth.

Here is the recipe I use, you must use butter it's what makes the shortbread so delicious.


300g (10oz) plain flour
100g ( 4oz) caster sugar
200g (8oz) butter
caster (superfine) sugar for dredging

1. Sift the flour into a bowl and add the sugar. Work in the butter with your fingertips - keep it in one piece and gradually work in the dry ingredients. Knead well.
2. Pat down on a work surface and use a rolling pin to roll the dough to about 1/2 cm (1/8 in) and cut out with a cookie cutter. You will probably have to keep pushing the dough back together again as it is very crumbly.
3. Slide the cut biscuits off the work surface with a knife and onto a baking sheet.
4. Bake in the oven at 170C (325F) Mark 3 for about 8 minutes until firm and pale golden brown.
5. Lift onto a cooling tray with a spatula and dredge with caster (superfine) sugar.

Labels: Christmas, cranberries, shortbread

posted by Janice @ 18:06 18 Comments