#familyfavourites

Candied Orange Peel for Christmas

/ karen / 18 Comments

This year, more than ever before, we are rolling out the Christmas family favourite recipes. It seems more important than ever to have reminders of all the happy celebrations from the past.

Candied orange peel is easy to make and fills the kitchen with a wonderful, comforting scent. If you need to get into the Christmas spirit, take some oranges and sugar and turn them into these irresistible treats. You can add dark chocolate and give them as little gifts to friends and family. You can’t buy anything as good. Honestly.

INGREDIENTS

4 large oranges (unwaxed if available)

300g caster sugar

Water

Granulated sugar to coat

Dark chocolate (optional)

METHOD

Scrub the oranges in hot water, especially if they have been waxed.

Peel wedges of orange skin from the top to the bottom of the fruit.

They should be 5mm thick and include the pith as well as the skin.

Lay the wedges down and flatten. Cut them into matchsticks 7mm wide.

Place peel in a saucepan and cover with water. Bring to boil and simmer for 5 minutes.

Drain and throw away the water.

Cover peel with fresh water and simmer for 30 minutes.

Drain and reserve the liquid. You’ll need about 300ml. Add 300ml of sugar and heat until dissolved.

If you have more peel, the ratio is always 100ml of water to 100g of sugar.

Return the peel to the syrup (sugar/water mix) and simmer for 30 minutes.

Drain and place the orange peel on a wire rack set above some baking paper to catch drips. Put the rack and paper in an oven on the lowest setting for approx 30 minutes to dry.

You can use the reserved syrup in orange drizzle cakes, sponges and trifles.

Put some granulated sugar in a basin and add a few strips of peel at a time. Use a fork to toss them in the sugar and liberally coat. Lay on a clean wire rack to dry in a warm kitchen.

Optional: after adding the sugar, you can coat half of the sticks in dark chocolate which makes a delicious treat. Wrap in little packets of foil to give as home-made presents.

Variation: use lemon. Simmer and discard the water three times to remove bitterness.

Store candied peel in an airtight container. It will keep for 6-8 weeks.

Use for Christmas cakes, or toppings for sponge cakes, muffins and biscuits. Or just on their own as a teatime treat with hot chocolate or coffee. Utterly delicious. Enjoy 😊

Let me know what family favourite recipes you are cooking this year.

We have decided not to mix the households – even though the rules say we can. We can’t risk the health of elderly relatives. Especially when there’s a vaccine on the horizon. We must just be patient for a little longer. Everyone must decide what is best for them. Visits to the care home are still currently barred as we are still in tier 3. No flowers can be sent to my darling mother-in-law, J. But we can send jars of jam and home made treats and chocolates. So I’m concentrating on making this a Christmas we will all remember- and hopefully the last one we have to spend separated from one another.

More recipes to try:

Chocolate Panatone https://bramblegarden.com/2019/12/02/christmas-recipes-chocolate-panettone/

Chocolate marzipan cherries : https://bramblegarden.com/2018/12/04/family-favourite-recipes-chocolate-marzipan-cherries/

Apple Chutney: https://bramblegarden.com/2020/11/21/joans-christmas-apple-chutney-recipe/

Chocolate and Mandarin Crispy Cake Bars

/ karen / 7 Comments

Family Favourite Recipes.

Here’s the recipe for today’s BBC Radio Leicester cakes. I always take some home made cakes in each week for the Sunday staff. Our gardening programme is on at lunchtimes and we all get very hungry.

https://bramblegarden.com/tag/family/

This week’s recipe has the addition of some mandarins from the greenhouse. Add some zest to the mixture and place mandarin segments on top before the chocolate sets. Quite delicious for a cold wet day. You could also add Terry’s Chocolate Orange segments if you like.

    My cakes and home made treats relate to what I’m growing in the garden. This week I was talking about starting to water my citrus trees, feeding them and looking under the leaves for scale insects. You can sometimes find little flat insects attached to the leaves, and there might be black mould as well which is caused by their sugary excretions. You can scrape the scale insects off with a damp loofah sponge. Use horticultural soft soap to clean off the mould.

    Scale insect on a citrus leaf

    Citrus flower. Gloriously ~highly scented.

    Links: https://bramblegarden.com/tag/family/

    Citrus trees: https://www.victoriananursery.co.uk/Citrus-Fruits/

    Caring for citrus trees https://www.rhs.org.uk/advice/profile?PID=94

    Chocolate Chip Banana Bread or Muffins (Vegan & egg-free)

    / karen / 13 Comments

    Family favourite recipes

    Absolutely delicious cake. Good for anyone with egg / nut allergies.

    INGREDIENTS

    3 very ripe bananas

    1/4 cup vegetable oil

    1 tsp vanilla essence

    1 cup sugar

    2 cups plain flour

    1 tsp salt

    1 tsp bicarbonate of soda ( baking soda in the USA)

    1 cup vegan chocolate chips

    METHOD

    Preheat the oven to 350F/ 170C. Line a loaf tin with non stick paper. Or re-usable silicone muffin cases.

    Mash the bananas well. Add in the oil, vanilla and sugar. Mix well. Add flour, salt and bicarbonate of soda.

    Add chocolate chips. Can use white and dark chocolate chips.

    Mix until incorporated. Do not over mix.

    Pour the mixture into the loaf pan.

    Cook for between 45 and 60 minutes. Cover the cake if it is browning too much. Check with a knife to see if the cake is cooked right through.

    Cook muffins for 20- 30 minutes. Check carefully as they burn quickly.

    Cool for 10 minutes in the tin and then carefully turn out on to a cooling rack.

    Options :

    You can omit the chocolate chips and just have banana cake.

    You can add nuts – pecans, walnuts.

    You can add a handful of blueberries instead of chocolate. Very delicious!

    Enjoy 😊

    Here’s a useful conversion chart for American cup measurements. It’s from the Doves Farm flour website. https://www.dovesfarm.co.uk/hints-tips/cheat-sheets/us-cups-conversion-table

    Apple and Almond Slice- Family Favourite Recipes

    / karen / 7 Comments

    At this time of year, my kitchen work surfaces are covered with piles of apples. Little pyramids of golden cooking apples, tiny rosy red eating apples, giant Bramleys. My family complain. There’s nowhere for anyone to put anything down. I usually store them wrapped in newspaper in the potting shed, but I’m still trying to evict the mice, making many trips back and forth to the woods with my tunnel-like humane traps baited with peanut butter. I can’t kill them. They will take their chances in the leaf litter under the trees. I’m trying to ignore the tawny owl fledglings in the branches above, still being fed by harassed parents. I feel slightly guilty. But watching the mice run when I let them out, I think they stand a fair chance of surviving.

    Meanwhile, I’m steadily working my way through the apples. My mother always says, if you’ve got an apple, you’ve got a pudding. It can be an apple pie, a crumble, a cake, or if you are pressed for time, just apple purée with lashings of creamy custard, or Devon clotted cream. A special treat.

    Today’s recipe is another family favourite, an apple tray bake which is quick and easy to make and tastes of autumn. As usually, I’m recording it here for my children, in case they can’t find the scraps of paper these recipes are written on. It’s so lovely to see my grandmother’s best copper plate hand writing, as she lovingly wrote these recipes for me. Food, and cooking, bring back such special memories, don’t they.

     

    APPLE AND ALMOND SLICE:

    INGREDIENTS – FOR THE TOPPING

     

    30g butter or vegan margarine

    30g SR flour

    25g golden caster sugar

    2 tbsp. Jumbo oats

    1/2 tsp cinnamon

    25g flaked almonds

    METHOD

    Mix the butter, flour and sugar together. Fold in the cinnamon, oats and flaked almonds to make a crumble topping. Place in the fridge while you make the base.

    INGREDIENTS FOR THE BASE

    150g SR flour

    200g golden caster sugar

    200g butter or margarine

    3 eggs ( or use 6 tbsp. soya oat drink if vegan)

    100g ground almonds

    1/2 tsp baking powder

    1/2 tsp almond extract

    1/2 tsp cinnamon

    2 large apples slices and tossed in lemon juice

    100g any other fruit you have; blackberries, raspberries, blueberries, plums,

    METHOD

    Mix the flour, baking power , sugar and butter together. Whisk. Fold in the ground almonds and cinnamon. Add the beaten eggs.

    Put half the mixture in the base of the tin. Put apples on top. Add the rest of the base moisture. Press the blackberries or other fruit on the top.

    Cover with the crumble topping mixture.

    Cook for 40-50 minutes, or until a skewer come out clean.

    Gas mark 4, 180C oven, or 160C fan oven.

    You’ll need a 20cm tray bake tin, at least 4cm deep, lined with baking parchment.

    Put baking paper on top if it is browning too quickly. Leave to cool and slice into fingers.

    Can be frozen for 3 months.

    Enjoy!

     

    You might also like : Review of Orchard Odyssey by Naomi Slade here :

    https://bramblegarden.com/2019/09/27/an-orchard-odyssey-book-review-and-prize-draw/

     

    Also The Creative Kitchen by Stephanie Hafferty https://bramblegarden.com/2018/11/18/the-creative-kitchen-book-review/

    I’ll leave you with a photo of my 1930s summerhouse, looking autumnal today. There’s heaps of blankets to keep us warm when the temperatures start to dip. It’s quite cosy in here though.

    Plum Crumble- Family Favourite Recipes

    / karen / 11 Comments

    Crumbles are a simple family pudding which can be varied according to the fruits in season. At the moment, we have plums from our Victoria plum tree. We’ve filled the freezer and made jam. Here’s my favourite plum crumble, using a recipe that came from my grandmother.

    BASIC CRUMBLE TOPPING

    Ingredients:

    225g (8oz) plain flour

    150g (5oz) soft brown sugar

    75g (3oz) butter

    1 level teaspoon baking power

    METHOD

    Place all the ingredients in a food processor, or rub in with your fingertips, until combined.

    You can freeze this mixture until needed, if required.

    Sprinkle the mixture all over the fruit in a 1.75 litre (3 pint) pie dish, spreading it out with a fork.

    Bake for 30-40 minutes or until the top is tinged with brown.

    Oven temperature : 180C 350F gas mark 4

    FRUIT SUGGESTIONS

    Plum, Ginger and Almond : Add 1 teaspoon of powdered ginger to approx 900g plums cut in half with stones removed. Top the crumble mixture with a sprinkle of sliced almonds or chopped nuts. Take care not to burn the almonds.

    Rhubarb and Ginger: 900g chopped rhubarb, 1 level teaspoon powdered ginger, 75g brown sugar.

    Gooseberry: 900g fruit, topped and tailed. 6oz caster sugar.

    Apple: 900g apples, 25g soft brown sugar, quarter teaspoon cloves, 1 level teaspoon ground cinnamon, 75g raisins. Cook all the ingredients in a saucepan until the apple is soft. Remove cloves and place apple mixture in a pie dish. Cover with the crumble topping.

    Enjoy 😊

    More fruit from the garden. Blueberries and blackberries. Can be added to apples for a delicious alternative crumble.

    You might also like

    https://bramblegarden.com/2017/08/22/peaches-and-plums-crumble-and-jam/

    https://bramblegarden.com/2018/07/26/summer-fruit-harvest-and-making-garden-jam/