I wish you all...

Merry Christmas!

Christmas Cake and Festive Mood...

My Christmas cake drinks alcohol like crazy...Is now all soaked with brandy. Cannot wait to try it, my first Christmas cake! Now I am debating if decorating it with icing is necessary. It will look pretty but I am not a big fan of icing, it is way to sweet. Well, maybe I find a way to decorate it with something else, will see.

125g butter
150g dark brown soft sugar
250g mix dried fruits (sultanas, raisins, candied orange peel etc.)
200g currants
120g glacé cherries, quartered
Juice and grated zest of 1 large orange
100ml brandy, plus extra for "feeding"
2 eggs, lightly beaten
250g self-raising flour, sifted
½ tsp baking powder
½ tsp ground mixed spice
½ tsp ground cinnamon

Grease a deep, 20cm, loose-based cake tin and lay with baking paper. Preheat the oven to 150°C
Put the butter, sugar, dried fruit, cherries, orange zest and juice and 100ml brandy into a pan. Heat gently until the butter melts, then bring to the boil. Simmer gently for 5 minutes. Leave to cool for 30 minutes.
Mix the remaining ingredients with the fruit. Spoon into the tin and smooth out. Bake in the centre of the oven for 2-2½ hours. If the top gets too brown, cover with scrunched up foil. After 2 hours, test with a skewer to see if it is done - it should come out clean. When done, cool in the tin for 30 minutes. 
Remove from the tin, peel off the paper. Prick the top of the cake all over with a skewer. Drizzle over 2 tbsp brandy. Leave to cool completely. Wrap in 2 layers of greaseproof paper and a layer of foil. "Feed" with brandy every 2 weeks until Christmas. 

These says my kitchen smells of cinnamon, ginger, cranberries and mulled wine. Outside everything is covered with snow and I really think that this year Christmas is going to be just perfect..

Flu, snow and unexpected things in my fridge

I am stuck at home with flu. Outside snow is glowing in a winter sun and I sneeze, cough and sip hot tea, wrapped in duvet.What should I eat? Nothing exciting in the fridge..well, there is a small piece of goat's cheese, bag of spinach and some sad looking butternut squash. Oh, and gnocchi! Now I can call it a lunch!

450g butternut squash , peeled and cut into small chunks
3 garlic cloves
olive oil
500g pack gnocchi
200g bag spinach
100g goat's cheese

Heat oven to 200C.  Tip the squash into a roasting tin with the garlic and oil, salt and pepper and mix well. Roast for 20 minutes, shaking the pan halfway through, until tender and golden.
Meanwhile, boil the gnocchi. With a few secs to go, throw in the spinach, then drain the gnocchi and spinach together. Tip into the roasting tin, then mix everything together well, mashing the softened garlic.Crumble the goat's cheese over and bake for few more minutes.

Another roasted chicken

And probably the last one..I simply can't cope with such amount of meat. This was was delicious, with juicy peppers and aromatic chorizo but now just vegetables, and Christmas treats of course!
Cosy dinner in front of TV (the movie was crap but at least food was OK).

2 red onions, cut into wedges
3 cloves garlic, sliced
390g chorizo, cut into chunks
1-2 tsp paprika
1 chicken, about 1.8 kg
1tbsp olive oil
15g fresh rosemary
1 or 2  packs classic vine tomatoes, cut into halves or quarters
2 red peppers, deseeded and sliced
2 orange peppers, deseeded and sliced

Preheat the oven to 200°C. Scatter the onions, garlic and chunks of chorizo into a large roasting pan. Stir in the smoked paprika. Place the chicken on the onion mixture, brush with oil and season. Tuck the rosemary in the chicken cavity and amongst the onions and chorizo. Roast for about an hour. 
Add the tomatoes and peppers. Cook until the chicken is thoroughly cooked and there is no pink meat and its juices run clear.

I really like the colours - red and orange, served with yellow potatoes. And a glass of lager or course.

Nothing wrong with cheating- mince pies

Life got hectic with the end of uni term, Christmas preparation, re-designing my look, new job challenges and day-to-day housewife duties. And the, on top off all these, we had guests for few days. No time to bake and cook but I desperately wanted to make something nice to make them feel like at home.. Quick trip to the supermarket and I had an excellent idea ready! Almost-homemade mince pies! Ready made pastry and ready made mince meat. Actually two kinds of mince meat, one traditional, the other cranberry and port flavour. Both delicious.
I made a top part of my mini pies star-shaped and also sprinkled them with icing sugar. They looked very festive and proved to be a big hit as were gone within hours!

Chocolate Cupcakes

I made it! Perfect chocolate cupcakes! Nothing more to say, just try it.

Cupcakes:

100g plain flour
20g cocoa powder
140g caster sugar
1.5tsp baking powder
Pinch of salt
40g unsalted butter at room temperature
120ml whole milk
1 egg
¼tsp of vanilla extract

Creme icing:

Big pack of Mascarpone cheese
Icing sugar
Cocoa
Chicory & Coffee Essence
Coffee beans

Preheat the oven to 170°C. Put flour, cocoa, sugar and baking powder, salt and butter in a bowl. Mix together until you have a sandy consistency.
Whisk milk, egg and vanilla in a jug. Slowly pour half into the mixture, beat to combine. Pour in the remaining mixture. Continue to mix for a couple of minutes. Do not over mix.
Spoon mixture into the 12 cases and bake for 20 minutes. Remove from the oven and set aside to cool.
For the 'icing': mix together mascarpone cheese,icing sugar, butter and cocoa powder  and a splash of chicory essence. Beat for approx 3 minutes and mixture is light and fluffy.
Use a piping bag and metal nozzle to pipe onto top of cooled cupcakes. Decorate with coffee beans.

Deliciously moist cupcake with creamy icing. Not too sweet, with a hint of coffee flavour. Add gingerbread latte and you have a perfect winter breakfast. Or with masala chai for the afternoon treat!

Fig and Almond Tart and my New Tea Set

I've discovered fresh fig this year. Strange, right? But we never had them in Poland  when I was a kid and also my cooking frenzy started just few month ago... Now I am obsessed with fresh figs. The best are just baked with aromatic honey and cinnamon- beautiful winter treat. But I've decided to make a fig tart today, something more sophisticated to go with my afternoon tea.

Ingredients:

375g sweet shortcrust pastry
60g ground almonds
50g caster sugar
200g crème fraîche
3 large egg yolks
1 tsp vanilla extract
9-12 small figs

Preheat the oven to 190°Cand place a baking tray on a shelf in the top third of the oven. Line a 24cm loose-bottomed tart tin with the pastry. Put it in the fridge to rest for 30 minutes. 
Place it on the hot tray in the oven and cook for 10-15 minutes, until golden. Remove from oven and leave aside to cool down for few minutes 
Mix the ground almonds, sugar, crème fraîche and egg yolks in a bowl until you have a smooth mixture. Fill the pastry case. Trim the stems of the figs and halve them, then lay them closely together, cut-side up, on top of the mixture and push them in slightly; they will shrink during cooking. Bake the tart for 40–45 minutes, until the filling has set. Serve warm but cold is also delicious.

Oh, forgot to mention that last weekend I went to flea market and bought gorgeous tea set: two cups and saucers and tea pot.  I love shabby chic!